[HanCinema's Drama Review] "It's Okay, That's Love" Episode 6

The romance narrative has now moved into the push the other person away, not sure what to do next phase. Which is a very good phase to get into, since I, at least, needed time apart from the antics of these two. Hopefully the next time we get into an intimacy upgrade there will be some genuine affection involved rather than the skeevy pick up techniques that Jae-yeol has been using so far.

Advertisement

Instead, most of the focus here is on Jae-yeol's mental problems. I did like the bit at the beginning where Dong-min, finally having figured out the main improbable coincidence necessary to have both these plot points in the same drama, gets agitated at the way he and the other housemates were somewhat deceived. Although I have to admit I'm surprised this is the point that he's gotten fed up with, rather than the never-ending stream of roommate drama that happens whenever Jae-yeol has a conversation with anyone.

Jae-yeol's conversations with Kang-woo, by contrast, take a very dark turn here, as Jae-yeol ends up literally wrestling with his inner demons and past trauma. To be honest, I'd probably have found these bits a lot more engaging if it weren't for the romantic plot also being a constant element. Jae-yeol is the same character in both these storylines, yet there's no common thematic thread linking the two as far as I can tell.

Still, "It's Okay, That's Love" does at least boast decent production values, as well as effective foreshadowing. Director Kim Kyoo-tae does a good job deliberately setting up the occasional shot to give us broader context of the overall situation. Apparent missed connections become relevant quickly in later scenes. I'm still really not buying the transition between constant fighting and hey, we should help Jae-yeol out because he's not a complete jerk. But I imagine anyone who's watch the drama up until this point without any reservations on that will probably be fine for the foreseeable future.

These overall aspects of the premise still make me uncomfortable though. "It's Okay, That's Love" has been pretty unexpectedly violent. And while this does work every so often to display a certain amount of psychological trauma, a lot of the time it feels like this stuff is just being thrown in to inspire excitement in the heart of the viewer. This time around, at least, most of it just inspired a lot of tired indifference, at least from me.

Review by William Schwartz

"It's Okay, That's Love" is directed by Kim Kyoo-tae, written by Noh Hee-kyeong and features Zo In-sung, Kong Hyo-jin, Sung Dong-il and Lee Kwang-soo.

 

Watch on Viki