The drama It’s Okay To Not Be Okay will be forever iconic and cherished by the audience for coming forward with one of the most unique blends of genres of all time. This drama combines Psychology and romance together so skillfully that successfully touched the hearts and minds of every audience. This drama deals with psychological wounds, mental health and self-discovery of the characters shown in this drama which is also very normal yet not normalized in our society. This drama boldly talks about all these issues. Today in this article, It’s Okay to Not Be Okay full review, we are going to talk about this amazing drama and will try to understand the inner message that this drama is trying to give us. Let’s start.
Plot Summary and Key Storylines
Moon Gang Tae is a nurse who works in a psychological hospital. He is calm and polite and has great patience. In his family, he only has a brother, but his brother Moon Sang Tae is mentally unstable. To take care of him, Gang Tae started working in the mental hospitals. Sang Tae has a mental trauma that he got after he saw his mother being murdered. Meanwhile, we have Ko Moon Young, who is a children’s storybook writer. Her personality is not so normal. Ko Moon Young had a depressive past, her manipulative mother used to control her in a very negative way and ultimately left her. However, Gang Tae took Sang Tae to a fan sign event of his favorite writer which was none other than Ko Moon Young. Gang Tae came to Moon Young’s life as a blessing. They fall in love, Moon Young becomes the obsessed lover and Gang Tae becomes the warmest hug to Moon Young. Gang Tae calms every issue of Moon Young down and makes her mentally strong. The life struggles of the other patients of the hospital are also touchy as all of them face different kinds of challenges and some of them overcome them so well.
Character Analysis
Every character of this drama is significant in their own way. They conveyed the message so well to the audience. Without the stories of other characters, this drama would have been meaningless. But for now, we are going to know about the main characters of the drama It’s Okay To Not Be Okay.
Moon Gang Tae
Moon Gang Tae is the male lead of the drama. The role is played by Kim Soo Hyun. His personality is calm and gentle. As for the family, he only has an elder brother who is mentally ill. He dedicates his life to look after his brother. He also has some issues that bother him from his early childhood. He works in a psychiatric hospital as a caregiver where he is quite popular among both the staff and the patients for his patience.
Ko Moon Young
The role of a careless children’s storybook writer Ko Moon Young is played by Seo Ye Ji. She has antisocial personality disorder, from the very beginning of her childhood she can not stand people around her. She is strong yet vulnerable. She needs no one yet she needs someone. At this point of her life she meets Moon Gang Tae and becomes obsessed with him.
Moon Sang Tae
Oh Jung Se played the role of Moon Sang Tae who is mentally unstable, safe to say he has autism. Moon Sang Tae is the elder brother of Moon Gang Tae. He is a huge fan of writer Moon Young and dreams of being an illustrator. In his young age, he saw his mother being murdered by someone and also saw butterflies somewhere and developed a trauma about butterflies. This fear makes them run from place to place every year.
Themes of Healing and Mental Health
This drama is more of a psychological one than just a romantic one because this drama mostly deals with the themes of healing, mental health and character growth.
Mental Health
Almost all the characters here suffer from some major or minor mental issues. This topic is indeed a sensitive issue in our society but this drama portrays this issue with a lot of care and makes it look like a normal issue that can be discussed openly. In every episode of this drama, we see different patients undergo trauma, PTSD, autism and many more mental issues. And it shows how others should behave with them. Two of the main characters have a serious mental issue, Sang Tae has autism and Moon Young, the female lead, has childhood trauma which makes their character complex. Not only them, but the normal people also have something on their plate, as we see Gang Tae also fights with his inner and outer thoughts, fear and guilt.
Healing and Growth
The most satisfying part of the drama is when the characters heal from the inside and go back to their home. And as for the main characters, Sang Tae became confident at the end of the drama and was able to leave Gang Tae to live both their lives as they wanted. Moon Young, the antisocial heroine, started enjoying other people’s company. She learned to love, laugh and trust others as Gang Tae healed the scars of her life. Moon Gang Tae also starts loving himself and learns self-care.
Cinematography and Aesthetics
If we are talking about the emotion and psychology that lies in between the story and characters then it is a must to talk about the cinematography and color palette of this drama because they also play a significant role in shaping the emotional tone of the drama. The eerie mansion of Moon Young represents the turbulent psyche of her and the emotional side of her characters which is kind of shabby. The atmosphere around Gang Tae refers to his steadying influence.
The vivid and dreamlike visuals reflect each and all the character’s inner mental state. The use of a symbolic color palette and the moody lighting adds depth, especially in scenes of emotional intensity. Meanwhile, the carefully crafted visuals highlight the story’s surreal and fairytale quality, which effortlessly blends fantasy with reality to enhance the overall impact of the narrative.
OST and Soundtrack
In this drama, there are a total of 13 official OSTs, which makes the audience emotionally connected with the theme and story. Let’s make a shortlist of the OSTs and then I will highlight a popular one, the best one, the fan favorite and a masterpiece among the list.
Shortlist:
- You’re Cold by Heize
- Sketch Book by Janet Suhh
- Wake Up by Elain
- In Silence by Janet Suhh
- Got You by Ga Eun
- Little by Little by CHEEZE
- Hallelujah by Kim Feel
- Breath by Sam Kim
- I’m Your Psycho by Janet Suhh
- Puzzle by YOUNGZOO
- My Tale by Park Won
- Your Day By Kim Ki Won
- In Your Time by Lee Suhyun (AKMU)
These soundtracks without any doubt played an important role to set the tone of the drama in every episode. They successfully highlighted the emotions like love, pain, healing and many more.
Now we are going to know the most popular one, the best one, the fan favorite and a masterpiece from the list.
Most Popular One:
You’re Cold by Heize became the most popular soundtrack among all the tracks of the drama It’s Okay to Not Be Okay. It gained its popularity because it serves the emotions of the drama to the hearts of the viewers. Heize’s soulful voice perfectly touched the audience and made it the most popular song of the drama.
The Best One:
Breath sung by Sam Kim is considered to be the best song of the drama because it captures the warmth that is shown in this drama. This song is mostly celebrated for its heartfelt lyrics and also for how it showcases the emotions and vulnerabilities of the main characters. When you listen to this song it somehow makes you feel good.
Fan Favorite:
I’m Your Psycho by Janet Suhh is one of fans’ most favorites among the songs of the drama. This track is literally different from the other tracks. While other songs come to the fans as a warm hug this song comes out as something that gives a chill.
The Masterpiece:
The song Hallelujah is considered as a masterpiece for its powerful emotional delivery. The song is sung by Kim Feel whose voice totally blends with the core theme of the drama. The lyrics along with the melody compelled the audience to love this song for a long time.
To conclude, this drama to be honest stands out as a masterpiece kdrama of all time. This drama is not only loved for its storyline or theme or symbolism but also for the amazing cinematography and visuals. All the cast and crew did a very good job of portraying the core theme and passing a strong social message of normalizing the mental and psychological issues of the people of our society. It talks about the most sensitive topics which are trauma, mental health, and personal growth which is definitely a bold step. Not only these, this drama also focuses on the topic of self-love. The heartfelt OSTs also show their charm and capture the attention of the viewers. The couple is also known as one of the most iconic couples in the Kdrama world of all time. And personally, I remember this for a long time because of the climax of the drama, the twist that happened there just blew my mind.
Ultimately, It’s Okay To Not Be Okay is more than just entertainment; it’s an emotional story that will stay with you for a long time. The title of the drama itself is a relaxing one. It gives you that comfort that you need by saying it is totally okay if you are not the same as the people around you.