Presentation
Korean Title: 반의반
Aired in: 2020 (12 episodes)
Channel: tvN
Grade: 10/10
Actors: Chae Soo Bin and Jung Hae In
For more…
Chae Soo Bin:
– I am not a Robot
– Where Stars Land
– Strongest Deliveryman
– Love in the Moonlight
Jung Hae In:
– Pretty Noona who Buys me Food
– Spring Night
– Prison Playbook
– While you were Sleeping
Dramas directed by Lee Sang Yeob:
– Shopaholic King Louis
– Mr Baek
– Familiar Wife
– My Holo Love
Analysis
Synopsis
Moon Ha Won has been in love for years with Kim Ji Soo. However, she never reciprocated his love and got married to another man. Over the years, they grew apart. Ha Won became a brilliant AI engineer, who created his company, currently working on a communication device for patients, that uses someone’s voice and recreates his/her personality. In order to test his device, he recruits Han Seo Woo, a sound engineer to record Ji Soo’s voice. Han Seo Woo becomes close friends with Ji Soo and Ha Won, without knowing their relationship.
My Opinion (No Spoilers)
This drama is a hidden gem! It actually ranks high on my top favorites!
I don’t want to give too much information in the synopsis because you will uncover the different parts of the intrigue little by little during those 12 heart-warming episodes. Directed by Lee Sang Yeob (who also directed My Holo Love, Familiar Wife or Shopaholic Louis) and written by Lee Sook Yun (who is also the creator of Tune in For Love with Jung Hae In), this drama had everything to grab my attention.
Because I have watched a whole lot of dramas, I am more and more looking for original, realistic and different types of dramas, that fit in no categories. The plot of A Piece of Your Mind clearly made it stand out, which pushed me towards it.
I agree the first episode is a bit difficult to understand (many viewers criticized it) but it gave this unfamiliar and confusing impression, setting the entire drama apart. The tenderness, the slow pace (and I am not generally a huge fan of it!) and the close ties between characters turned this drama into a very curious and strangely attractive one to me. I strongly recommend you don’t judge the drama based on that first episode, or you will miss the opportunity to immerse yourself in a new kind of genre in Dramaland.
This drama is unfamiliar, not entirely understandable as it keeps a mystical vibe, but the romance and the links tied between characters (not necessarily love ones) are feel-good.
Analysis (Spoiler Alert)
Characters: The actual common point between all characters is my opinion is their loneliness. They are suffering and living their lives alone; because they are not good at sharing and connecting. Plus, they have been through one or two major life-changing events, for which they now carry the burden (Ha Won’s loss of his mother; Seo Woo’s loss of her parents; Kang In Wook’s involvement in Ha Won’s mother’s death; Ji Soo holding the secret regarding her husband’s responsibility; Moon Soon Ho’s break-up). They have some trust and communication issues because of this crumbling moments.
Moon Ha Won (Jung Hae In) has met Ji Soo (Park Joo Hyun) in Norway and they became very close friends, since they were the only Koreans there. They have spent most of their adolescence together and were separated at Ha Won’s mother’s death (he had to go back to Korea then). Ha Won has always had feelings for Ji Soo, even 15 years later, when Ji Soo happens to be married. Because of his one-sided love, he never tried to create bonds with other, has never known any kind of relationship and has always been alone. The loss of his mother at a very young age pushed him to isolate himself. Even though he is a very lonely character, but this doesn’t make him cold or distant. As he tries to overcome Ji Soo’s death through his device, he finds solace and warmth in Seo Woo.
Han Seo Woo (played by Chae Soo Bin) is also a very solitary soul (she lost both her parents when she was adolescent) and remains traumatized. Her greatest qualities are her empathy I think and her kindness; she always tries to help others, even if it means being invisible. The only thing she actually longs for is feeling needed, what Ha Won will bring her. Before her death, Ji Soo and Seo Woo created this rapid and intense bond, understanding one another and feeling connected to each other.
Ji Soo is married to Kang In Wook (Kim Sung Kyu). They had a happy married life and shared a lot of past memories (they lived in Norway together), but their happiness crumbles when Kang In Wook reveals to his wife that he played a part in the death of Ha Won’s mother. Considering Ha Won as a childhood friend, Ji Soo wants her husband to tell the truth. This revelation creates a gap in their relationship, that Ji Soo’s death sets in stone forever. Kang In Wook is completely devastated by Ji Soo’s death and we see him drowning in his guilt, up to a point that he end ups in a slump (he is a pianist). He is angry, hurt and scared, hopelessly looking for a way to overcome this huge amount of emotions.
Moon Soon Ho (Lee Ha Na) is Ha Won’s adoptive aunt. She suffered a terrible break-up some years ago, which made her leave the city and hide away for 9 years in the countryside. She is also very empathetic and tries to protect Kang In Wook, when Ha Won finally discovers his implication.
What I loved to see in that drama is how tightly each character is connected by a red thread to another. Ha Won and Seo Woo meet coincidentally at the music study they both rent at different hours. Soon Ho becomes the manager of the same music study because Ha Won buys it (without Seo Woo knowing) and meets Seo Woo and In Wook, who work together.
The study and Ji Soo actually act as catalysts, they unite (in a good or bad way) all characters. The study is the place of encounter and also of healing; and I found it amazing to discover how some hints and clues like the plant, the picture, the blanket, the music sheets and the device had been strategically placed inside the study, so that characters would uncover by themselves each other’s identities.
Ji Soo is a central character. Even though she is not physically there, she helps Ha Won healing and moving on in his life and she supports Seo Woo by intervening through the device.
Second leads are also incredibly well-written and put the emphasis on the fact that you can also find support in the most unusual people (I will let you discover them!).
The device: This little device is destined to patients, who lost loved ones, to helping them overcome their grief by talking to themselves, rediscovering the way they were before and moving on. In the drama, it is in my opinion an excellent way of helping characters expressing their feelings and finding answers.
Ambiance: It is very difficult to describe the atmosphere of the drama but there is first a sort of mysticism, especially regarding Norway and the forest and the snow, that gives a little something to the story (Ji Soo dies in the forest, Ha Won’s mother during a blizzard: both death are actually taking place in similar circumstances). Then, the drama is obviously a romance, but atypical since the device, the music studio and Ji Soo (external elements) connect Seo Woo and Ha Won at first and not a potential attraction or else. The feelings are very cold and distant at the beginning but move on to being very warm, tender and strong (cc the reason why Seo Woo and Ha Won can’t sleep at night and manage when they are together). The romance blooms slowly but is profound and I really enjoyed seeing the main leads opening up to each other, showing their own vulnerable side and weaknesses. Ji Soo connected them at first and then they didn’t even need the device.
It was very heart-warming to see how both characters could lean on one another and learned how to trust others.
Plus, the confusion that we felt at the beginning was a way for me to express the confusion of characters’ feelings. Seeing that, by the end, secrets are revealed and (almost) forgiven, the burden of the truth is lifted and characters are finally free to advance; is very satisfying.
The theme tackled: Apart from relationships, the actual main theme is grief and the different types of mourning that people adopt. Kang In Wook is completely crushed and it was very moving to see him trying to mourn, deal with his guilt and accept death on his own. Kim Min Jung (played by the excellent Lee Jung Eun) also goes though a tough moment after her daughter’s death and intents to fight grief the best way she can. Seo Woo and Ha Won lose Ji Soo and their respective parents and still deal with the consequences.
Even when it comes to break-up, there is a mourning phase, that the drama tackles perfectly.
A Piece of Your Mind amazingly portrays different types of reaction when faced with loss and gives some possible responses on how to deal with it.
The end of love and the beginning of a new one beautifully overlap each other in this drama and I can only advice you to take a close look at that story, that moved me to tears (happy and sad ones!).
P.S: Did you know that the drama was supposed to be made up of 16 episodes but was shortened to 12?
Once Upon a Drama 