| Title: | It's Alright, That's Love |
| Alternate Title(s): | It's Ok, It's Love |
| Network: | SBS |
| Year Produced: | 2014 |
Summary: It's Alright, That's Love is a romantic dramedy about family, love, domestic abuse, and mental illness. Ji Hae Soo (Kong Hyo Jin) is a psychiatrist that suffers from an anxiety disorder that prevents her from experiencing physical intimacy. But she's determined to overcome it with her own efforts. Jang Jae Yeol (Zo In Sung) is a famous author and radio personality suffering from OCD as a result of physical and emotional abuse experienced as a child. But he's accepted it and lives with the condition as a fact of his life. The unlikely pair meet when they serve as special guests on a talk show and their personalities clash both on and off the camera. When they are reunited as roommates, they come to realize that they may be more alike than different and set off on a journey of healing and self-discovery.
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| 4.5 = Just About Perfect |
Recommendation: It's Alright, That's Love is easily one of the best k-dramas of 2014. This is what a grown-up k-drama should look like once it graduates from the school of bathroom humor, love triangles, and social status conflicts. The dialogue is smart, sexy, and fast paced. The characters are complex. The writers manage to deftly sidestep the presentation of k-drama stereotypes while giving the audience relatable characters with realistically messy relationships. I am not familiar with Zo In Sung's prior work but for me this was a stand-out performance. He captured the essence of mental illness without going over-the-top. In fact, it was the "quiet" moments where he most often brought me to tears. While the director executed the plot perfectly from start to finish, I found one small miss. The final episode was a little too... happy. Yes, I want my k-dramas to end on a positive note. However, mental illness is a predominant theme in the series, which is a lifelong struggle. The ending should have been less, "...they lived happily ever after," and more, "...they worked hard to make each day better than the one that came before it."