Presentation
Korean Title: 그놈이 그놈이다
Aired in: 2020 (16 episodes)
Channel: KBS2
Grade: 8.5/10
Actors: Hwang Jung Eum and Yoon Hyun Min
For more…
Hwang Jung Eum:
– She was Pretty
– My Lucky Romance
– Kill Me Heal Me
– Unstoppable High Kick 2
Moon Hyun Min:
– My Holo Love
– Mama Fairy and the Woodcutter
– Witch’s Court
– My Daughter Geum Sa Wol
Seo Ji Hoon:
– Meow: The Secret Boy
– My First Love
– School 2017
– Flower Crew: Joseon Marriage Agency
Analysis
Synopsis
When she was a child, Seo Hyun Joo fell into a lake and was reminded of three of her past lives. In each of them, she was abandoned by her husband. Since then, she decided to never get married. One day, she meets Hwang Ji Woo, who seems to know everything about her and her past lives.
My Opinion (No Spoilers)
In overall, I liked the idea of the drama. The fact that we were focusing on reincarnated lives, emphasized by a love triangle in the present and the past was very interesting. There was also a great sense of humor that was conveyed throughout the drama. However, Men are Men didn’t manage to steal my heart and have me fully convinced! Indeed, some elements were not sufficiently worked on, which unfortunately created a bittersweet taste.
If you wish to look at a fun drama with the amazing Hwang Jung Eum, go ahead; but this is clearly not her best role. Instead, I would really recommend “She was Pretty”; “Kill Me, Heal Me”; “Secret Love” or “Lucky Romance”.
Analysis (Spoiler Alert)
What I disliked?
Let’s start with the elements and details that really either disappointed or annoyed me in the drama.
Uncompleted time periods: The basis of the drama and the foundation of Hwang Ji Woo’s (Yoon Hyun Min) and Seo Hyun Joo’s (Hang Jung Eum) relationships is the fact that they actually have known each other for hundreds of years. Indeed, they have been married in three different timelines: during the Joseon era, in the 1930s and in the 1980s. During the drama, viewers uncover each timeline little by little, as Hyun Joo gets to remember more and more pieces of her past.
Everything starts during the Joseon era, when Hyun Joo’s past self dies, while waiting for her husband. He left her promising he would come back but never did. The first details that Hyun Joo remembers from that time are the pain of being left alone and the tree she prayed to until her last breath. Switching to the second period, she is married to Ji Woo’s past self. However, he leaves her for no reason, rejecting her and her love. We later find out that he did so because he was working with the independence movement and that, to protect Hyun Joo, he had to stay away from her. Finally, in her last reincarnated life, Hyun Joo was once again married to Ji Woo or at least supposed to get married to him. Yet, shortly before their wedding, Ji Woo left her, once again without an explanation.
The promise of having four actual timelines (counting the present one) was actually very thrilling. I was very eager to see how characters would either be the same or evolve depending on the time period. I also had the same expectation regarding their relationship. However, I found myself very disappointed, when I saw that only the timeline in the 1980s was developed. I understood that being the closest reincarnated life and being the reason why Hyun Joo and Ji Woo’s relationship is hindered in the present, were reason enough to focus on it. Still, I really would’ve loved to see more about the 1930s, which is such an interesting historical time period, that really could’ve added some tragic, beauty and patriotism to the overall story.
In fact, I was expected to see different stories, different lives and different personalities all united by the same constant: Ji Woo having to leave Hyun Joo heartbroken.
Therefore, not having this highlight or at least the same amount of explanation for each period was kind of disappointing. In that case, I believe they should’ve centered their story on the Joseon era and 1980s timelines, since they really had a role to play in the romance. Indeed, on the one side the Joseon time showed that their love went way back and the 1980s was a reflection of their actual problems. Still, the 1930s were quite useless in that matter.
Second-leads: I have seen a lot of dramas and I can say that I really thought that the glorious days for pushy second leads were behind us. It is true that today, stories that have pushy second leads tend to revisit their implication and involvement in the drama. Unfortunately, it was not the case for this one. On the one side, Park Do Gyeom (Seo Ji Hoon) was playing the figure of the brother/best friend, who realizes he is in love with Hyun Joo exactly when she starts falling in love with someone else. (Come on!). On the other side, we had Kim Sun Hee (Choi Myung Gil), who was desperately clinging to the past and incapable of letting go. Indeed, she was pushing her daughter towards a man, when neither was actually for it. Plus, she was compromising Hyun Joo’s relationship with Ji Woo, Ji Woo’s company and quite everything else. At some point, both really annoyed the hell out of me, because they were incapable of understanding that pushing yourself onto someone is not going to make him/her like you more. They were very selfish and self-centered characters, especially Sun Hee.
Also, am I the only one thinking it is super weird for a mother to force her daughter to get married to her old crush, just because they share the same face? I mean, first, this is insane and second, can we please think about the daughter’s feelings in that story?
In overall, annoying characters: To that point, even Hyun Joo and her parents started to really get on my nerves. Hyun Joo was constantly swayed by other’s opinion or her stubbornness without trying to uncover the truth regarding her past lives. She disrespected so many times Ji Woo’s feelings, that I started to think they might be better apart. Hyun Joo’s parents were also too stereotypical, obsessed with marriage and disregarding their daughter’s opinion. Finally, Ji Woo was also very bad at handling that situation. He started on a very creepy note, following and manipulating Hyun Joo, then he concealed so many details from her (about their past lives, their present, his feelings…), which partly explains her lack of trust in him. I admit that some characters are not good at communicating, but this time he jumped into a relationship using lies and secrets to make it work. Of course, had I been Hyun Joo, I myself would’ve doubted him and his love.
What I liked?
Even though there were, in my opinion, some problems related to the characters’ personalities; the themes that were actually discussed were pretty new, original and debatable.
Marriage and convention: I think the main theme of the drama was marriage in general. Indeed, all couples and characters were going through very distinct marriages. Among Hyun Joo’s friends, one was a rich housewife, spending money and not doing anything; another one was divorced but unable to cut ties with her ex-husband; and the last one was single and wishing to get married so that she could have kids. Generally speaking, very different marital situations. We also had diverse marriage experiences lived by Hyun Joo and Ji Woo in their past lives, with a rather tragic outcome, a long-lasting and solid relationship embodied by Hyun Joo’s parents and a cold and distant marriage life demonstrated through Kim Sun Hee’s character.
I really loved the plurality of marriages that were shown in the drama, highlighting the fact that married life is not the same for everyone. Moreover, Hyun Joo was really standing up for her case as a woman, not wishing to get married. Indeed, she repeatedly broke conventions and social norms, by getting married to herself for example or refusing her ex-boyfriend’s proposal. From that point of view, Hyun Joo appeared to me as a strong-minded, determined and unconventional character. She was not afraid of standing up for her beliefs and convictions, even after falling in love. Moreover, I thought her very brave and affirmative in her struggle. Even though she is surrounded by people telling her what to do, because that is how society works, she doesn’t give in. That was really admirable of her and I really liked the fact that her character was antagonizing the actual Korean society. The message conveyed: “you don’t need to be married to someone to be happy” was rather powerful and accurate. Certainly, it is true that marriage is just a piece of paper! You and your partner should be the one deciding whether or not you want to get married, kids… and not society and strangers, trying to shame you for not following the so-called established rules.
Fulfilling one’s dream: More than just breaking conventions, the drama really showed that fulfilling your dreams as an individual should be a priority. Indeed, Hyun Joo’s dream has always been to become a webtoon artist. At the beginning of the drama, her dream is crushed and she nearly gives up on it. Yet, she manages to find hope and courage from the right people (Hwang Ji Woo and her brother), which makes her thrive in the end. She decided to put forward her career, dream and life and make it prevail on social norms. Once again, an admirable message that is shared by most characters, accepting her choices. I believe that this part of the drama is quite important as well, as finding the right people around you to bring you strength and encouragement, when need be, is properly one of the most essential things to do in your life.
Destiny and reincarnated lives: The idea of using reincarnated life as the foundation of a romance is quite new and original. Of course, it comes with its drawbacks (mentioned earlier), but also with its advantages. Indeed, it emphasized the fact that some people are just meant to be, they are a match made in heaven because they love and accept each other for who they are. No matter the time period, the circumstances or the hurdles, Hyun Joo and Ji Woo always managed to find each other.
Also, it was heartbreaking to see how sacrificial Ji Woo was towards Hyun Joo to protect her. To sum up their tragic love story in the 1980s, both were fighting against the government through riots. Police was after the leaders of these riots, meaning Hwang Ji Woo’s past self. Young Sun Hee was dying of jealousy because she had a crush on Ji Woo, irrevocably in love with Hyun Joo. To separate them, she sent a note to Hyun Joo so that she would be arrested by the police, but it is Ji Woo who went instead of her. In the end, he was the one arrested and tortured. After becoming paralyzed, he lied to Hyun Joo, pretending he didn’t love her anymore. He died because of his wounds, while Hyun Joo died in a car accident with her best friend: Do Gyeom’s past self. In each story, I could clearly see that Ji Woo was hopelessly in love with Hyun Joo to the point that he was willing to let her go to protect her. A beautiful and sad confession of love.
Letting go of the past: Talking about letting go, Kim Sun Hee is probably the character, who needed to change the most. She is stuck in the past, obsessed by her first love, grieving his death and overwhelmed by unsuspected guilt. I believe that when she tries to get her daughter married to Ji Woo, it is also a way for her to get rid of her guilt and forgive herself for causing his death. Providing him with a nice and empathetic woman, such as her daughter, might right the wrongs of the past. Of course, it is a bad reasoning but still a probable one. In the end, she has to let go of everything, just like the main characters actually. They were all stuck in the past and prevented themselves from moving forward because of the previous misunderstandings between them, clouding their actual relationship. Since the happy ending was unavoidable, they perfectly manage to move towards the future. Once again, this was a pleasant message to convey: “look forward and not backward”; even if the taste is bittersweet.
Also, huge respect to Han Seo Yoon (Jo Woo Ri), who was just the perfect daughter! She forgave her mother and helped her overcoming her guilt; she tried to seduce Do Gyeom without ever being pushy and managed to successfully fulfill her dream of working in the webtoon industry. What a nice character!
Jealousy: I couldn’t leave aside that issue, that is central to the drama. Jealousy is the reason why everything went astray. Indeed, Sun Hee’s jealousy precipitated our main leads’ tragic ending. This emotion was the trigger of it all in the past and in the present and needed to be destroyed properly in order to build a relationship on good grounds. Thanks to Ji Woo who confronted Sun Hee at the end and finally opened her eyes; even if it meant wounding and hurting her. Like the saying said: “Jealousy is a cruel mistress”!
Homosexuality: Finally, a romantic comedy such as Men are Men couldn’t be complete without a little bit of humor. The love triangle was developed in an unexpected way, shedding light on a potential bromance. At the beginning of the drama, Hyun Joo is convinced that Ji Woo is trying to get closer to Do Gyeom, creating a whole lot of hilarious misunderstandings. This also was a good way for the drama to tackle the theme of homosexuality, like many dramas do these days!
In a nutshell, Men are Men stands out thanks to its story and themes questioned and discussed throughout the entire drama. Yet, it loses some points because of its kind of stereotypical characters and its unfinished historical timeline.
Once Upon a Drama 