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From Wikipedia: “It’s Okay to Not Be Okay” is a 2020 South Korean romance drama television series written by Jo Yong and directed by Park Shin-woo. It stars Kim Soo-hyun, Seo Yea-ji, Oh Jung-se, and Park Gyu-young. The series follows a selfless psych ward caretaker and an antisocial children’s book writer.
Genre: romance, drama, comedy
The series was broadcast for 16 episodes on tvN and Netflix from June 20, 2020, to August 9, 2020. According to Nielsen Korea, it recorded an average nationwide TV viewership rating of 5.4%. It was the most popular show of 2020 in the romance genre on Netflix in South Korea.
“It’s Okay to Not Be Okay” was the most popular show of 2020 on Netflix in South Korea in its romance genre. It was the most popular Korean drama series on Netflix in Taiwan, and the "most enduring Korean drama" in Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, being in Netflix’s top 10 list for more than 100 days. The series was also one of the most popular Korean drama of 2020 on Netflix in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Japan and South Africa.
The New York Times named “It’s Okay to Not Be Okay” one of “The Best International Shows of 2020.” At the 57th Baeksang Arts Awards, it received eight nominations with two wins.
Joan MacDonald of Forbes called it “the most visually appealing drama of 2020” and said, “Not only are the actors beautiful, but the drama’s graphics, cinematography and costumes are also gorgeous.”
How I wrote these episode summaries with no spoilers
1. I assumed that you will be reading these summaries and watching the videos chronologically.
2. I narrated some of the main actions in each episode without revealing the plot’s twists and turns.
3. At the beginning of each summary starting with Episode 2, I placed in a table a recap of the major twists and turns of the previous episode. But because you have already watched the video of the previous episode, they aren’t spoilers anymore.
4. I followed this structure all throughout, except for Ep. 16 (Finale) where I included spoilers. Reason — most people want to know if the drama has a good/happy ending or a sad ending before they invest the time in watching it. And yes, “It’s Okay to Not Be Okay” has a happy ending.
Episode 1: “The boy who fed on nightmares”
Intro (animation) ... A lonely young girl lives in a castle deep in a forest. She tries to make friends with some
children from the town, but the children reject her, calling her a monster that brings the shadow of death.
The lonely girl goes to a river where, after reeling in some fish that she stomps to death, she reels in a young boy. She saves the young boy, and the shadow of death leaves her. The young boy begins to follow her around, but later on, she scares away the boy with what she does with a butterfly. The shadow of death returns and whispers to her that no one will stay by her side because she’s a monster.
Present times ...
Moon Kang-tae works as a caregiver at a psychiatric hospital in Seoul. He is the guardian of his older and autistic brother Sang-tae; after Sang-tae creates another disturbance in school, the school’s administrator tells him to enroll Sang-tae in a special-needs school.
Go Moon-young is a famous author of children’s books. But she scares people off with her anti-social behavior. After meeting a young fan at a restaurant, she cuts herself with a knife; impressed by the knife’s sharpness, she takes it and puts it into her bag.
Moon-young, art director Yoo Seung-jae, and Lee Sang-in (Moon-young’s publisher) are on their way to the children’s ward of a psychiatric hospital where Kang-tae works; Moon-young is scheduled to give there a reading from one of her books. Sang-in gets a call from a nurse named Nam Joo-ri, who works at OK Psychiatric Hospital located outside of Seoul. She wants Moon-young to sign for the surgery of a patient who’s suffering from severe dementia. But Moon-young says that tbe patient is dead to her and that if nurse Joo-ri wants her signature, she must come to her personally.
Sang-tae finds out that his favorite author Go Moon-young is visiting Kang-tae’s hospital. He becomes agitated about wanting to meet Moon-young, but Kang-tae shouts at him that he can’t come to the hospital. To calm Sang-tae down, Kang-tae promises to get Moon-young’s autograph for him.
Before the event, Kang-tae sees Moon-young smoking in the hospital grounds. When he tells Moon-young to put her cigarette out, she dumps her cigarette into his coffee cup.
At the event, Moon-young shocks her audience by screaming into the microphone. Later, her reading is interrupted when some hospital staff burst into the auditorium looking for a new patient who had tried to kill himself and his daughter. As Moon-young confronts the patient backstage by herself, the knife falls out from her bag. The patient sees the knife and rushes to grab it.
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Episode 2: “The lady in red shoes”
| Ep. 1 recap:
The lonely young girl in the castle is Moon-young; when the dark shadow of death whispers to her that no one will ever stay by her side, she answers, “Yes, Mother.” During their first meeting, Moon-young asks Kang-tae, “Do you believe in destiny?” The patient with severe dementia is Moon-young’s father. As Moon-young struggles with the patient in the auditorium, she has flashbacks of her father trying to strangle her. Kang-tae stops Moon-young from stabbing the patient by holding on to the knife’s blade. Later on, however, the hospital’s administrator tells Kang-tae to resign. Nurse Joo-ri went to school with Moon-young 20 years ago; as she gets Moon-young’s signature for the surgery, she reminds Moon-young that her mother could still be alive. But Moon-young replies that she had filed her mother’s death certificate. Kang-tae and his friend Jo Jae-soo forge Moon-young’s autograph, but Sang-tae knows at once that it was forged. The patient who caused the ruckus in the auditorium commits suicide. Kang-tae reads Moon-young’s book; later, when Sang-tae has another dream about butterflies, he thinks that it’s time for him and Sang-tae to move again. Sang-in (Moon-young’s publisher) tries to settle things with Kang-tae for the injury he got from Moon-young. At the publishing house, Kang-tae and Moon-young meet again. Kang-tae surprises Moon-young by saying, “I was hoping I could see you again.” Flashback ... Moon-young stands alone at the balcony while Kang-tae is standing outside the gate, holding some flowers. |
Flashback ... Kang-tae remembers how he nearly drowned after falling into an icy river.
Sang-in tries to bribe Kang-tae so that he’ll forget what happened at the hospital, but Kang-tae refuses to accept it. As Moon-young watches Kang-tae walk away, she orders Seung-jae to find out everything about him.
Joo-ri meets Jae-soo in his restaurant, and they reminisce about their early days with Kang-tae and Sang-tae in Seongjin City. Later on, Joo-ri visits Kang-tae at his new job at a warehouse; she tells him of a vacancy in OK Psychiatric Hospital in Seongjin City. But remembering what happened to him and Sang-tae after their mother died, Kang-tae refuses to consider the offer.
Kang-tae takes Sang-tae to Moon-young’s book launching event. With dozens upon dozens of reporters and fans at the event and while lining up to get Moon-young’s autograph, Sang-tae’s attention turns to a young boy wearing a dinosaur costume.
Sang-tae becomes hysterical, and Kang-tae protects him from the people taking photos and videos of the unfolding scene, with Moon-young looking stoically at what’s happening. He takes Sang-tae away and puts him inside a storage room to cool down.
Moon-young finds Kang-tae in front of the storage room. As they’re talking, a renowned literary critic appears. After saying that Moon-young and her mother are alike in so many ways, the critic wonders if she’ll end up like her parents who are either dead or in the hospital. He warns Kang-tae not to get involved with Moon-young.
Enraged, Moon-young breaks free from Kang-tae who tries to restrain her; she catches up with the critic, who threatens to ruin her career. She grabs his pen and attacks him with it, lunging towards his eye.
Episode 3: “Sleeping witch”
| Ep. 2 recap:
Flashback ... After hesitating, the young Moon-young saves Kang-tae from drowning in the icy river. From then on, Kang-tae followed Moon-young wherever she went ... until he saw Moon-young tearing butterflies apart. At the book launching event, when Sang-tae touches the costume, the boy’s father blows up, shoving him and grabbing his hair. Moon-young creates a scandal by grabbing the hair of the boy’s father and telling the boy’s mother that she’s a crazy bitch. During their childhood days, Kang-tae and Sang-tae’s mother was murdered; Sang-tae became traumatized and kept saying things about a butterfly killing their mother. Every spring, Sang-tae begins remembering the butterfly, and Kang-tae then moves Sang-tae and himself to a new town, with Jae-soo always following them. Moon-young pushes the critic down the stairs; as the ambulance takes the critic away, he vows vengeance against Moon-young. Meanwhile, confused with Moon-young’s words about him becoming his safety pin to prevent her from exploding, Kang-tae walks away from her. As he goes into the elevator, Moon-young calls him a “coward.” Later on, all the stories about Moon-young’s past scandals are published on the Internet, sending Sang-in into panic and damage-control mode. Kang-tae and Sang-tae move back to Seongjin City, with Kang-tae taking the job offered by Joo-ri at the OK Psychiatric Hospital. Finding out about it, Moon-young decides to see Kang-tae in Seongjin City. On the way there, she tells Sang-in about the “The Red Shoes” story by Hans Christian Andersen. At the hospital, Moon-young tells a confused Kang-tae, “I came because I missed you.” |
Oh Ji-wang, the director of OK Psychiatric Hospital, meets Moon-young and tells her of the complications with her father’s condition. He also asks if she could teach literature twice a week for the hospital’s therapy program.
On the way home, Joo-ri asks Kang-tae what’s his relationship is with Moon-young; meanwhile, Moon-young goes back to the old mansion in the forest which her father built for her mother.
The hospital welcomes a VIP patient named Kwon Gi-do, who’s the son of District Assemblyman Kwon Man-sua and who suffers from manic attacks. His latest incident involved spending 20 million won in a nightclub and running out naked onto the street.
As Moon-young begins to teach her literature class, she pursues Kang-tae, unmindful of the hospital staff and patients. When Kang-tae confronts her after her latest provocation, she tells him that he’s a hypocrite. After leaving him stunned, she comes across her father, who screams after seeing her.
While the hospital’s nurses and caregivers watch Gi-do’s father on TV promise his audience to get rid of OK Psychiatric Hospital and the juvenile hall, Gi-do escapes from the hospital. He meets Moon-young in the parking lot, who invites him to join her in a joyride.
On the way to the hospital, Kang-tae gets a call that Gi-do escaped. Getting off from Joo-ri’s car, he stands in the middle of the road and stretches out his arms, yelling at Moon-young to stop. Gi-do sees Kang-tae from the sunroof of Moo-young’s car and yells at Moon-young as she accelerates towards Kang-tae.
Episode 4: “Zombie Boy”
| Ep. 3 recap:
In the mansion, Moon-young dreams about a woman narrating “Sleeping Beauty.“ Whispering that Moon-young will never escape her destiny, the woman threatens that she will kill Kang-tae. With Kang-tae and Joo-ri watching, Moon-young causes a stir in her literature class by telling the patients that “a fairy tale is a cruel fantasy that illustrates the brutality and violence of this world in a paradoxical manner.” She tells the patients to accept who and what they are in order to live happily. Director Oh asks Sang-tae to paint a mural of the hospital’s great view on an empty wall, but Sang-tae says that he needs to get paid for it. Kang-tae finds out later on that Sang-tae is saving up money to buy a camper van. Kang-tae takes Joo-ri’s car and chases after Moon-young and Gi-do, who stop at Assemblyman Kwon’s election campaign event. Gi-do interrupts the event by bounding up to the stage and proclaiming how his father maltreated him because he was dumb and didn’t get good grades in school, unlike everyone else in his family who went to Seoul National University Law School. As Kang-tae watches Gi-do being chased by Assemblyman Kwon’s men and cheerfully eluding them, he wonders if he should just give in and have fun with Moon-young. Surprised, Moon-young slowly smiles at him. |
At the hospital, the staff become afraid that they’ll be sued for the scandal that Gi-do caused; someone suggests placing all the blame on Moon-young. Meanwhile, on their way back to the hospital, Moon-young advises Kang-tae to read her book “Zombie Boy.” When Kang-tae asks why Moon-young doesn’t take walks with her father as Director Oh suggested, she replies that her father is better off dead.
That night at Jae-soo’s pizza place, Sang-in meets Joo-ri; meanwhile, Kang-tae helps Sang-tae buy art supplies for the mural.
The next day, Assemblyman Kwon barges into the hospital with his men and demands that Director Oh, Moon-young, and Kang-yae go down on their knees and apologize for ruining his reputation. When he says that he will transfer his useless son Gi-do to another institution, Kang-tae confronts him on why Gi-do is useless. But Assemblyman Kwon slaps him.
Moon-young notices the red mark on Kang-tae’s face and demands to know who hit him. But Kang-tae drags her away from Sang-tae, and in a private place, berates her, saying that she doesn’t know and understand everything about him and never will understand him until the day she dies.
Episode 5: “Rapunzel and the cursed castle”
| Ep. 4 recap:
Kang-tae remembers how his mother beat him up for neglecting Sang-tae; he becomes more deeply hurt when his mother says that she gave birth to him so that he could take care of Sang-tae. At the mansion, Moon-young remembers when as a young girl, she saw blood oozing out of her mother’s room. Moon-young and her father meet at the hospital. He asks why she’s still alive and then jumps out of his wheelchair to strangle her. Joo-ri and the other staff pull Moon-young’s father away from her, but Moon-young stays on the ground laughing and crying at the same time. On the bus going home, Kang-tae sees Moon-young walking on the street. At home, he picks up her book “Zombie Boy” and begins reading it. As he reads it, he remembers how much he hungered for his mother’s affection. Finding out from Jae-soo what happened between Moon-young and her father at the hospital, Kang-tae takes Jae-soo’s motorcycle and heads out under the pouring rain to look for Moon-young. He finds her and, after wrapping his jacket around her, he embraces her. |
The next day, chaos breaks out and recriminations abound when Joo-ri, her mother, Jae-soo, and Sang-tae find out that Kang-tae and Moon-young spent the night together.
As Kang-tae gets drunk in the pizza place, Jae-soo reminds him of the scar on his hand from the first time he and Moon-young met. Kang-tae agrees that he shouldn’t get involved with Moon-young.
The next day, Sang-in and Seung-jae arrive at the mansion and inform Moon-young that their publishing company has become bankrupt.
At the hospital, Joo-ri investigates the “humming ghost” which one of the female patients has reported, but she gets slapped in the ensuing argument between the patient and her roommate.
After overhearing Kang-tae and Joo-ri’s conversation on the hospital’s rooftop, Moon-young takes Sang-tae to the mansion.
Episode 6: “Bluebeard’s secret”
| Ep. 5 recap:
Because Kang-tae and Moon-young don’t have any money, Kang-tae can’t leave Moon-young at the motel. He allows her to sleep in his apartment, without telling anyone. The next day, Moon-young and Joo-ri get into a hair-pulling fight over Kang-tae. At the hospital, someone tries to strangle Moon-young’s father. Joo-ri’s mother tells her that their whole neighborhood knows that she’s in love with Kang-tae. Later on, however, Kang-tae dashes Joo-ri’s hopes for any romantic relationship with him. Kang-tae and Moon-young finally confirm their childhood connection. He goes to the mansion to get Sang-tae and bring him home. |
When Sang-in and Seung-jae arrive at the mansion, Sang-tae shuts the door on them. Later on, as he wanders around the mansion, Moon-young catches him. She tells him about the fairy tale "Bluebeard" and how Bluebeard hid the corpses of his previous wives in his basement. She then warns him about the mansion’s basement.
At the hospital, Director Oh and Nurse Park discuss the incident between Moon-young and her father. Director Oh thinks that the father may have been delusional, confusing Moon-young with someone else.
The elderly patient named Eun-ja continues to try and set up a date between her daughter and Kang-tae; later, as Moon-young follows her out to an empty hospital room, she shocks Moon-young by saying, “It’s me, your mom.”
Episode 7: “The Cheerful Dog”
| Ep. 6 recap:
When Sang-tae falls into the icy river, Kang-tae hesitates in rescuing him; Moon-young tells him to let Sang-tae die. After rescuing Sang-tae, Kang-tae becomes trapped in the river. After some dilly-dallying, Moon-young saves him. Kang-tae decides to move into the mansion, laying down several conditions that Moon-young must comply with. Flashback ... Moon-young found her mother’s bloody body in the mansion’s basement. Nurse Park tells Kang-tae that Eun-ja suffers from hallucinations, thinking that she’s wealthy when in reality, she is a single mom on welfare and whose daughter died in an accident. Eun-ja faints when Moon-young shouts at her to stop referring to herself as her mother. Moon-young has a nightmare about her mother, who says that she will kill Moon-young’s prince. Kang-tae hears her crying and rushes into her bedroom. |
Kang-tae takes the day off to buy some medicine for Moon-young. On the bus, Sang-tae reads to him some passages from Moon-young’s book “The Cheerful Dog”: “Your body is honest. When you’re in physical pain, you cry. But the heart is a liar. It stays quiet even when it’s hurting. Then, when you’re asleep, you finally weep and whimper like a dog.”
At Jae-soo’s pizza place, Kang-tae gets a call from Sang-in, and he tells Sang-in that Moon-young is sick. Later, Sang-in goes to the mansion and tries to force Moon-young to go back to Seoul with him.
Joo-ri calls up Kang-tae to find out why he didn’t go to work, but it’s Moon-young who answers the phone. Heartbroken, she goes to a convenience store to get drunk.
Director Oh finds out from Kang-tae what happened between Moon-young and Eun-ja. He tells Kang-tae that Moon-young’s mother disappeared after writing her last book and was declared dead five years later. As he reviews his notes of Moon-young’s father, he reads that Moon-young’s mother used to sing to her the song “Oh My Darling, Clementine.”
Moon-young finds out that her literature class was canceled without anyone notifying her about it. In the hospital garden, she sees Director Oh talking with Eun-ja. Seeing Moon-young rushing towards him, Director Oh runs away, leaving Eun-ja to deal with Moon-young. After taking Eun-ja’s precious shawl (a gift from her daughter) and on the way out of the hospital, she meets her father, who tells her, “You will end up like your mother. You won’t be able to escape.”
Episode 8: “Beauty and the Beast”
| Ep. 7 recap:
Kang-tae stops Sang-in from forcing Moon-young to go back to Seoul with him. At the apartment, Kang-tae gets drunk and asks Jae-soo and Joo-ri’s mother if his mother ever felt sorry for how she treated him unfairly in favor of Sang-tae. Later, back at the mansion, he gives Moon-young a doll he named “Mang-tae,” which he says will catch all of Moon-young’s nightmares. Eun-ja comes to terms with why her daughter died. Later on, when she meets Moon-young after Director Oh runs away, she gives Moon-young the shawl that her daughter wanted to give to her. Kang-tae tells Moon-young that, as in her book “The Cheerful Dog,” she helped cut the leash that tied Eun-ja down. During her childhood years, Moon-young was ordered by her mother to never cut her hair. She cuts the leash that has tied her down by cutting her hair. In the hospital, Moon-young’s father hears someone humming the song “Oh My Darling, Clementine.” Screaming, he stumbles out of his room. |
At a Subway restaurant, Sang-in gets from Seung-jae the detailed background check on Joo-ri. Later on, he goes to OK Psychiatric Hospital to meet Joo-ri’s mother.
Kang-tae finds out that Moon-young’s father had a seizure last night. On the other hand, after studying the CCTV footage, Director Oh thinks that he recognizes the woman with long hair who was passing by the hallway when Moon-young’s father had the seizure.
Director Oh orders Kang-tae to watch the woman, a patient named Park Ok-ran. In exchange, he grants Kang-tae’s request for Moon-young to continue with her literature class with the patients.
While Kang-tae and Moon-young are in a coffee shop, Moon-young meets a fan, who’s a good-looking guy. To Kang-tae’s irritation, she asks him to take pictures of her and the fan.
Ah-reum (the female patient who wants so much to impress Moon-young) is involved in a romantic relationship with Jung-tae, the male patient she’s always with. But Kang-tae catches them coming out of the supply room. He warns them about the hospital’s policy against romantic relationships between patients and that one of them will have to be transferred to another hospital.
During the literature class, while Kang-tae is watching from outside the classroom, Moon-young explains her interpretation of “Beauty and the Beast.” But Ah-reum angrily disagrees with her, saying that Belle’s love for the Beast healed his wounded soul.
Episode 9: “King Donkey Ears”
| Ep. 8 recap:
Sang-tae becomes worried about losing Kang-tae to Moon-young. He also fights with Moon-young over Mang-tae, the doll. Joo-ri’s mother allows Sang-in to share Jae-soo’s room, with Seung-jae sharing Joo-ri’s room. She advises Joo-ri to turn her attention towards Sang-in. Park Ok-ran is the patient who slapped Joo-ri. Questioned by Director Oh about her whereabouts the night before, she says that she isn’t the ghost. At the coffee shop, Moon-young steals the fan’s pen. Kang-tae realizes that he has become jealous and has developed romantic feelings for Moon-young. Ah-reum’s ex-husband visits her at the hospital and pleads with her for a reconciliation. When Ah-reum says that she likes someone else, her ex-husband suddenly becomes abusive. Moon-young comes to Ah-reum’s rescue, but the ex-husband punches her. Kang-tae sees it and punches him in rage. Another caretaker tries to restrain Kang-tae from punching the ex-husband again, and Nurse Park screams at Kang-tae to stop. Director Oh suspends Kang-tae without pay. On his way out of the hospital, he smiles as he runs up to Moon-young and tells her that they can run away, just like Moon-young promised before. |
During the music therapy class, Park Ok-ran keeps staring at Moon-young’s father. Afterwards, Director Oh talks with Moon-young’s father, who tells him that Moon-young and her mother are alike. He surprises Director Oh by saying that he killed Moon-young’s mother.
Kang-tae leaves Sang-tae in Jae-soo’s care, and he leaves with Moon-young on their getaway. Despite his hesitation, he and Moon-young stay overnight in a guest lodge. There, Moon-young tells him about her ill-fated friendship with Joo-ri during their childhood days.
The gossip that Kang-tae and Moon-young are getting married spreads in the hospital and reaches Sang-tae.
Episode 10: “The girl who cried wolf”
| Ep. 9 recap:
Kang-tae and Moon-young find out that Ah-reum and Jung-tae eloped. Moon-young helps them get a room in the guest lodge as an excuse to spend the night with Kang-tae. During their childhood days, Joo-ri tried to avoid being bullied by becoming friends with Moon-young, who’s feared by the bullies. But their friendship breaks up when Moon-young wants an exclusive friendship with her. The morning before they go back from their getaway, Kang-tae surprises Moon-young with flowers and a kiss. At the hospital, with the staff witnessing everything, Sang-tae becomes hysterical and accuses Kang-tae of abandoning him when he was about to drown in the river. |
The staff sedate Sang-tae and place him in the isolation room. Meanwhile, Moon-young assures Kang-tae that he did nothing wrong that day when Sang-tae fell into the icy river. But Kang-tae blames her and says that saving him that day has led to his burdensome, guilt-ridden life.
Sang-tae refuses to leave the isolation room to see anyone, even Jae-soo, who leaves some pizza for him. Later on, he finds in the room a copy of the last book written by Moon-young’s mother; tucked inside the book is a note that reads, “The little brother kills his big brother.”
Joo-ri’s mother later on brings Sang-tae back to the house, and Kang-tae tries to apologize to Sang-tae. Meanwhile, Joo-ri visits Moon-young in the mansion.
The next day, at the hospital, Moon-young’s father hears someone humming “Oh, My Darling Clementine.” When he turns and sees Park Ok-ran, he attacks and chokes her. Kang-tae pulls him off from Park Ok-ran, while the other staff lead Park Ok-ran away.
Episode 11: “The ugly duckling”
| Ep. 10 recap:
Kang-tae tells Moon-young that there’s no chance for them to be together. But Moon-young refuses to give him up. On her birthday, Moon-young goes to visit Joo-ri’s mother. Later, she offers to give back to Sang-tae the doll Mang-tae as long as, in return, he comes back to the mansion. When Sang-tae shuts the door on her, she narrates to him the tale of the boy who cried wolf. Director Oh tells Kang-tae that Park Ok-ran could be Moon-young’s mother. Park Ok-ran escapes from the hospital and goes to the mansion. At the door, she greets Moon-young with a “Happy Birthday!” and a sinister smile. |
Kang-tae reveals to Moon-young that his mother was murdered and that Sang-tae was the only witness; he says that because of Sang-tae’s trauma, they had to uproot themselves and move away whenever spring comes and the butterflies arrive.
The hospital staff gather Park Ok-ran’s stuff to turn them over to the police; meanwhile, Director Oh finds out that Park Ok-ran was an obscure stage actress and had multiple plastic surgeries.
Moon-young tries to win Sang-tae’s approval, but Sang-tae rejects her. Later on, Sang-tae and Kang-tae get into a full-blown fight.
Sang-in visits Moon-young and tells her that her father’s condition has worsened, with the doctors saying that an operation would be useless. Moon-young replies, however, that her father is dead to her.
Episode 12: “Romeo and Juliet”
| Ep. 11 recap:
Park Ok-ran tells Moon-young that she’s a fan of her mother. Moon-young gets injured in her struggle with Park Ok-ran over a fountain pen. Kang-tae and Sang-tae’s mother was killed by a woman wearing high heels and with a butterfly brooch on her jacket. Kang-tae tells Director Oh why Sang-tae has been traumatized by butterflies. Using the tale of “The ugly duckling,” Kang-tae appeals to Sang-tae to act as an adult because he is the older brother. As Sang-tae accepts Moon-young, he and Kang-tae move back into the mansion. While Moon-young, Kang-tae, and Sang-tae sleep in their rooms, a woman takes a butterfly brooch in the basement and then goes into their bedrooms. |
As Kang-tae puts the art supplies on Sang-tae’s desk, he finds a letter left there by Park Ok-ran.
Kang Pil-wong (the patient who spies on other patients for Director Oh) goes on his day out. Meanwhile, Nurse Park tells Kang-tae to look for razors and other things that the patients may have hidden in their rooms. As Kang-tae searches the rooms, he finds Moon-young’s framed family portrait with the face of her mother obscured because of the broken glass.
On his way back to the hospital, Kang Pil-wong meets Sang-tae who has a counseling appointment with Director Oh. He encourages Sang-tae to work out his problems because he might end up like him as a patient in the hospital. As the bus they’re riding on passes by a construction area, however, he goes into a severe panic attack.
During the counseling session, Sang-tae recounts to Director Oh what he saw and heard the night his mother was murdered. Kang-tae, who’s in the counseling session, is shocked when Sang-tae describes the butterfly he saw as a "baby butterfly over a mother butterfly."
Kang-tae wanders off to an empty hallway and, while crying, punches the wall over and over again.
Episode 13: “The father of the two sisters”
| Ep. 12 recap:
The letter left by Park Ok-ran contained a butterfly and a message that says, “I will come for you soon.” Director Oh manages to convince Sang-tae to go through counseling by saying that in Greek culture, butterflies symbolize “cure.” The “baby butterfly over a mother butterfly” that Sang-tae saw was a brooch that belonged to Moon-young’s mother. Kang-tae confides in Director Oh that the woman who killed his and Kang-tae’s mother could have been Moon-young’s mother. During their drinking session, Moon-young tells Kang-tae that her father killed her mother but that her mother’s body later disappeared; she’s not sure if her mother is dead or still alive. Deeply conflicted, Kang-tae refuses to go with Moon-young and Sang-tae to the photo studio. Moon-young and Sang-tae thus go to the photo studio by themselves to have their pictures taken for the book they’re working on. At the last moment, however, Kang-tae arrives and joins them for a family portrait. |
Kang-tae shows Director Oh the letter that Park Ok-ran left in the mansion and her scribbled notes. After Director Oh cautions him not to trust anyone in the hospital, he tells Sang-tae to go home immediately after working on the mural.
Kang-tae pleads with Moon-young to visit her father and say whatever she needs to say before he dies, but Moon-young refuses. Meanwhile, Director Oh scolds the father of a patient (the shaman) who suffers from dissociative personality disorder; the father disregarded his wife’s abusive behavior but now wants his daughter to donate her kidney to him.
Flashback ... Moon-young’s mother (Do Hui-jae) and her father get into an argument over their missing housekeeper. Her father pushes her mother down the stairs and then drags the body into the basement. Later, he dumps the body (placed into a suitcase) into the river.
Episode 14: “The hand, the monkfish”
| Ep. 13 recap:
After dumping the body into the river, Moon-young’s father tries to kill her, afraid that she would turn out to be like her mother. When Kang-tae, Moon-young, and Sang-tae arrive at the hospital, they see that a big butterfly had been drawn on Sang-tae’s mural. Moon-young is shocked as she recognizes that the butterfly’s design is the same as that of her mother’s brooch. While in her car, Nurse Park wears the butterfly brooch and hums “Oh, My Darling Clementine.” |
Nurse Park remembers the words she spoke to Moon-young’s father as he’s about to die. She also remembers how she had worked in Kang-tae’s previous hospital and how she caused the patient who attacked Moon-young to kill himself.
At the mansion, Sang-in tells Kang-tae that Moon-young’s mother went to medical school and that the last volume of her novel, highly coveted by publishers, has never been found.
Kang-tae assures Moon-young that even if her mother killed his mother, his feelings for her have not changed. But Moon-young calls him a hypocrite. Later on, when Kang-tae tells her that it was Nurse Park who painted the butterfly on Sang-tae’s mural, she says that, even with plastic surgery, there’s no way Nurse Park is her mother.
Episode 15: “A tale of two brothers”
| Ep. 14 recap:
Moon-young recognizes the butterfly drawn over Sang-tae’s mural as the “mutated butterfly” (a butterfly with three pairs of wings) that was designed by her mother for a brooch. Kang-tae finds a copy of Moon-young’s book “The Hand, The Monkfish”; inside it is a note from Nurse Park (Do Hui-jae). Moon-young finds the final volume of her mother’s novel “The Murder of the Witch of the West.” The next day, to Sang-in and Seung-jae’s surprise, the news breaks out that the novel will be published by Sang-in’s company. Nurse Park (Do Hui-jae) meets with Sang-tae. When Sang-in confronts Moon-young about the news reports on the release of her mother’s novel, she says that it’s her way of bringing her mother out into the open. Sang-in then tells Moon-young that Nurse Park wants to meet him about the novel, but he’s simply following Kang-tae’s request for him to take Moon-young away from the mansion. On their way, Moon-young realizes what’s happening and orders Sang-in to stop the car. She gets off the car and starts running back to the mansion. Kang-tae arrives at the mansion and sees Nurse Park (Do Hui-jae) there, with Sang-tae unconscious beside her. |
Kang-tae lunges at Nurse Park (Do Hui-jae) and chokes her. She urges him to kill her, knowing that if he did, it will drive a wedge between him and Moon-young. But remembering what Moon-young said the night she got drunk, he slowly releases his hold on her.
Nurse Park (Do Hui-jae) grabs a tranquilizer from her bag and stabs Kang-tae with it. As Kang-tae starts to fall, she calls him a coward.
Moon-young arrives at the mansion, and seeing what’s happening, she takes a pen and attacks Nurse Park (Do Hui-jae). But Nurse Park (Do Hui-jae) grabs her by the hair and takes the pen to stab Kang-tae.
Episode 16, Finale: “Finding the real face” (with spoilers)
| Ep. 15 recap:
Sang-tae regains consciousness just in time and knocks out Nurse Park (Do Hui-jae) with a book. Notified by Director Oh, the police arrive and arrest Nurse Park (Do Hui-jae). Overwhelmed by guilt, Moon-young breaks up with Kang-tae and tells Sang-tae that she won’t be writing books anymore. At the hospital, Kang-tae and Sang-tae plant a tree in their mother’s memory. Kang-tae also enlists the help of Joo-ri and her mother, Sang-in, and Jae-soo to help change Moon-young’s mind. |
Moon-young offers Sang-in a choice — publish either her last fairy tale or her mother’s last installment of her novel, which publishers have long coveted. Sang-in chooses her fairy tale.
After visiting her mother in jail, Moon-young goes to the hospital and sees Sang-tae working on his mural.
Moon-young’s fairy tale “Finding the Real, Real Face” is published with Sang-tae’s name included on the cover as illustrator. Afterwards, Moon-young, Kang-tae, and Sang-tae visit their mother’s tree at the hospital.Later, however, Moon-young and Sang-tae fight about who’s going to do the live reading of the fairy tale at the hospital.
While Sang-in worries about Moon-young’s latest outburst already being online, Joo-ri assures him that he’ll be okay. When she asks when he’ll be going back to Seoul, he says that he’s staying in Seongjin City.
Using the camping car given by Director Oh, Kang-tae, Moon-young, and Sang-tae finally go on their road trip.
Historical / cultural backgrounders and other information
A. “How a TV drama is helping address South Korea’s mental health crisis” (Nikkei Asia) by Daphne K. Lee, November 2020:
One way to tackle a taboo topic in South Korea is to package it in a television drama series. A good example is this year’s hit K-drama “It’s Okay to Not Be Okay” aired by South Korean channel TVN and Netflix, which approaches difficult conversations about mental health with a dark twist on fairy tales.
As suggested by the title, the series attempts to humanize mental illness and, to borrow Director Park Shin-woo’s words, show that “all of us are crazy in one way or another.” Beyond trying to give ordinary people the courage to admit and overcome their emotional weaknesses, the show sheds light on the elephant in the room: South Korea’s mental health crisis.
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| “South Korea’s Mental Health Problem — That Koreans Don’t Admit” |
Thirty-six Koreans commit suicide every day. That translates into one death every 40 minutes.
But that has long ceased to be news here. Korea has held the title of “suicide nation” among OECD countries. According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare Tuesday, about 13,000 people ended their lives in 2016, including 1,900 individuals in their 30s, 2,600 in their 40s, and 2,700 in their 50s.
“Stressed and Depressed: Mental Health in South Korea” (Borgen Project)
In South Korea, there is no such thing as a mental health problem. The national attitude concerning mental illness is not looked at as something that could and should be openly discussed. South Korea has always been advanced in its work ethic and technology breakthroughs. South Koreans are known to put in very long hours at the office as well as being very competitive, not to mention the amount of pressure put on students to do well in school.
B. The stop-motion animation and artworks for the children’s books depicted in this drama were created by Jamsan, noted Korean illustrator.
From “Concept artist discusses success behind ’It’s Okay to Not Be Okay’ storybooks” (The Korea Times):
Following the massive success of its fairy tale romance, the production company has decided to publish five storybooks: “The Boy Who Fed on Nightmares,” “Zombie Kid,” “The Cheerful Dog,” “The Hand, the Monkfish” and “Finding the Real Face.”
Compared with “Encounter,” in which he created a fairytale-style rendering of the introduction and ending of the series, Jamsan had to build illustrations for each of the episode in “It’s Okay to Not Be Okay.” The 47-year-old artist said he changed the overall feeling of the illustration styles to reflect how characters overcame their fears and bad memories.
Related resource: “Illustrator Jamsan Provides All Stop Motion and Fairy Tale Book Drawings for It’s Okay to Not Be Okay Reuniting with Same PD of Encounter” (Koala’s Playground)
Lessons in photography from “It’s Okay to Not Be Okay” with in-depth analysis of its cinematography
In-depth analysis of this drama's gorgeous visuals and stylish cinematography (Note: this section is a work in progress.)
Index: Introduction; Stop motion photography and artworks by Jamsan (noted Korean illustrator who also designed the intro and outro animations in “Encounter”); Creative camera movements and great editing (including transitions, camera shake to depict emotional tension, arc shots, emotional or psychological effects of push in and pull out shots, change in aspect ratio similar to award-winning film “Life of Pi,” cross dissolves, and shots possibly inspired by a famous scene from “Parasite”); Rack focus: A K-drama isn’t a K-drama if it doesn't have rack focus shots; Visual cues (lines, frames, Dutch angle shots); Memorable shots or scenes / miscellaneous observations
A. Reason why I differentiated in this section’s title between “(gorgeous) visuals” and “(stylish) cinematography”
(1) Studio Binder in its article “What is Cinematography? Defining the Art and Craft” enumerates the elements of cinematography as: lighting; shot size; camera focus; shot composition; camera placement; and camera movement.
Based on this definition, when people say that IOTNBO has “gorgeous” cinematography (you can use other adjectives such as “excellent”), they’re probably referring more to its visuals or overall look, rather than its cinematography.
IOTNBO is gorgeous to watch because of its visuals (stop motion animations, artworks for the fairy tale books, production sets, color schemes, visual effects, filming locations, costumes, etc.) These, however, weren’t done in camera by the cinematographer. These were decided upon by the director, the producers, and locations manager, and created by the production and costume designers, and the animation creator. Or they were added during the post production stage by the color grader, the visual effects team, or the editor.
Relevant resources: “Film 101: What Is Cinematography and What Does a Cinematographer Do?” (Masterclass) and filming locations used in IOTNBO (Korean Dramaland).
(2) We have to differentiate between cinematography and editing, or between the work of the cinematographer and of the editor. In simplistic terms, the cinematographer shoots the film or drama, and the editor chooses and arranges the shots taken by the cinematographer.
Based on the screenplay, the director prepares what is called the “shot list,” which guides the cinematographer (aka DP or director of photography) in lighting the scene, choosing the camera placement and movement, and selecting the lens to use. When shooting a scene, the cinematographer does what is called “coverage,” that is, he/she shoots a scene from various viewpoints. During the post production, the editor chooses what shots to use and in what order, for example.
(When I was writing my analysis of the cinematography of “Into The Ring,” I read that award-winning director Yorgos Lanthimos doesn’t like “coverage.”)
From “What is Film Editing — Editing Principles & Techniques Explained” (Studio Binder):
Scene transitions, sudden sounds, quick cuts, off-screen voices, and narrative flow are just among the many terms associated with the “invisible art” known as film editing.
Originally seen as a technical tool in the movie making process, film editing quickly evolved to become one of the most important creative aspects of filmmaking.
What is film editing?
Film editing is the art and craft of cutting and assembling finished film. This work is done by a film editor who helps complete the director’s vision of the movie. The creative choices of an editor are usually a combination of what they think is best for the film and what the director (and producers) want for the finished project. Mostly done during post-production, aspects of film editing can involve physical strips of celluloid film, digital files, or both.
B. Stop motion animation and artworks by Jamsan (noted Korean illustrator who also designed the intro and outro animations in “Encounter”)
Joan MacDonald of Forbes called IOTNBO “the most visually appealing drama of 2020” and said, “Not only are the actors beautiful, but the drama’s graphics, cinematography and costumes are also gorgeous.”
A central part of IOTNBO’s gorgeous visuals is the “stop motion animations” in the episode intros and in certain episodes. I thought Jamsan only did the artworks for the children’s books in this drama, but the website “Koala’s Playground” says that he also did all the stop motion animation.
Ep. 1
Ep. 4 epilogue
Ep. 7, The Cheerful Dog
Relevant resources:
“DIY Animation: What is Stop Motion Animation and How to Try it at Home” (Studio Binder):
What is stop motion animation?
Stop motion animation is a filmmaking technique in which objects are physically moved in small increments and captured one frame at a time so that when played back, it will give the illusion of motion. If one thinks of a flip book, stop motion is similar only it uses physical objects, instead of drawings.
This kind of animation takes a fairly long time to execute as it is estimated 12 frames (or pictures) are about one second of video. There are a few types of stop motion animation and they include manipulating objects, clay, people, cutouts, puppets, and more.
Types of stop motion animation
- Object-Motion — moving or animating objects
- Claymation — moving clay
- Pixilation — moving or animating people
- Cutout-Motion — moving paper/2D material
- Puppet Animation — moving puppets
- Silhouette Animation — backlighting cutouts
“What Is Stop Motion Animation and How Does It Work? | Mashable Explains”
C. Creative camera movements and great editing (including creative transitions, change in aspect ratio similar to award-winning film “Life of Pi,” and scenes that may have been inspired by a famous scene from “Parasite”)
1. Ep. 2, change in aspect ratio with effect similar to the famous “flying fish” scene from “Life of Pi” (award-winning 2012 movie directed by Ang Lee and filmed by Claudio Miranda):
Notice in the GIF below that as Sang-tae looks at the window display, the change in aspect ratio begins when the letterboxes appear at the top and bottom portions of the frame. In the movie “Life of Pi,” the change in aspect ratio isn’t as obvious as in this scene from IOTNBO. In the movie, the scene is first full frame; at the point when the tiger gets hit by the fish thrown at it by “Pi” Patel, the aspect ratio had already changed, as shown by the letterboxes.
In this more complete GIF, we can see the letterboxes appear and how excited and jouful Sang-tae over the prospect of meeting Moon-young in person.
Notice in the GIF below how Sang-tae seemingly jumps out of the frame; the letterboxes then begin to disappear.
I’m not sure, however, if the director and the cinematographer of IOTNBO actually resorted to changing the aspect ratio. The seeming change in aspect ratio could have been simply added during the post production stage, that is, the black bars (letterboxes) were simply superimposed on the top and bottom edges of the frame.
2. Creative transitions from scene to scene
Ep. 5 (transition with rack focus): The young Kang-tae walks away from the mansion after Moon-young rejects him. He becomes out of focus as he walks away. The steel bars of the gate then become in focus and become overgrown with creeping vines to show the passage of time. The camera moves up (“pedestals up”) as we see something in the background. The adult Kang-tae becomes in focus as he walks up to the gate, and the steel bars become out of focus.
Ep. 6: Kang-tae leaves the mansion after Sang-tae refuses to go back to their apartment. As he turns to his left, he sees his young self running home happily to tell his mother that he got his red belt in Taekwondo. As he becomes out of focus and his young self runs behind him, night turns to day as his young self reaches home.
Ep. 2 (film burn and vignetted shots): The present-day confrontation between Kang-tae and Moon-young at the publishing house transitions into the vignetted shots of the young Moon-young; the flashback scenes then transition through another film burn into the present-day confrontation between Kang-tae and Moon-young.
Ep. 2 (film burn): Moon-young has become obsessed with Kang-tae and impulsively drives to Seongjin City to see him. As she drives, she remembers the young Kang-tae waiting at the mansion’s gate and holding some flowers; a film burn is used as a transition device. There’s a rack focus of Moon-young and the flowers that Kang-tae is holding. A film burn is used again to transition from that flashback scene to the shot of Moon-young driving.
Ep. 2 (cross dissolve and rack focus): Sang-tae holds up a shirt as he looks at himself on a mirror. The shot cross dissolves into a shot of an aquarium at Jae-soo’s chicken place; as the goldfish become out of focus, Joo-ri becomes in focus.
Ep. 2: Joo-ri is on the bus on her way home to Seongjin City after meeting Kang-tae. The camera trucks (moves parallel to) her until she’s out of the frame, and what we see is her reflection on the window. The camera seems to continue moving into the scene where she was talking to Jae-soo about Kang-tae earlier. These are actually two shots stitched together.
Ep. 2: The young Kang-tae and Sang-tae board a bus as they escape from Seongjin City. Their bus moving to the right serves as some kind of “wipe” that reveals the next shot of the adult Kang-tae seeing Joo-ri off at the bus station.
Ep. 2: Moon-young watches Kang-tae walk away from the publishing house. The upper part of the frame shows her and Seung-jae at the balcony while the lower half is an out if focus wide shot of the street with buildings, buses, and cars. As the train passes by and the blue bus comes into full focus, Moon-young and Seung-jae are out of focus. The next shot shows Kang-tae riding on the bus.
Ep. 2: Kang-tae is on a bus; as he throws Moon-young’s book aside, he’s shot from outside the bus. We then see two hands putting up a poster on a glass window; Jae-soo is putting up a sign at his chicken place while taking a call from Kang-tae, who has already reached home.
Ep. 2 (white flash, shooting against the light): The vignetted, drone shot shows the young Kang-tae following Moon-young on a field of flowers. There’s a white flash, and the next shot (a dramatic low angle shot of Kang-tae and Moon-young confronting each other at the publishing house) starts with a flash of light because the camera is shooting against the light.
Ep. 2 (film burn): After Kang-tae says that the woman he remembers completely lacked warmth, the director and the editor use a film burn to transition to a flashback scene of the young Moon-young. As the brief flashback ends, the director and the editor use film burn again to transition back to the adult Kang-tae and Moon-young.
Ep. 2: Kang-tae is sitting down with Joo-ri, who tells him about all the new developments in Seongjin City. The high angle shot shows him holding a canned drink. As the camera trucks (moves parallel to) the pavement, the stains on the pavement transition into profuse blood flowing from Kang-tae’s mother, who’s lying face down on the ground.
Ep. 3: The staff study the CCTV footage to see how Gi-do escaped from the hospital. The camera zooms in to the computer screen, and the shot transitions into a flashback scene of Gi-do blocking Moon-young’s car.
Ep. 3: With tears in her eyes, Moon-young lies in bed, imagining her mother beside her. The scene transitions with some kind of wipe that fades to black and then shows the young Moon-young looking at her reflection on the river.
Ep. 4: Assemblyman Kwon slaps Kang-tae hard. Director Oh looks at the CCTV camera and winks at it. There’s white flash that turns into a horizontal light streak against a black background that’s extinguished as the screen becomes completely black. The next scene shows Director Oh and Nurse Park talking about what Assemblyman Kwon did to Kang-tae.
Ep. 7 (transition for flashback scene): As Kang-tae and Moon-young look at Sang-tae’s unfinished mural, the camera pushes in towards the canvas, and the animated image of a cheerful dog appears. A green bus comes into the frame from the left, with the mural still visible. As the bus obscures the view of the dog, the shot cross dissolves into the shot of the green bus that Kang-tae and Sang-tae rode on earlier (flashback scene).
Ep. 15: Moon-young surprises Joo-ri’s mother by suddenly showing up at her house and reminding her that she invited her to come and eat there anytime. The shot of Joo-ri, her mother, Sang-in, and Seung-jae shows them having fun. As the camera moves up and pans right, their image disappears as Moon-young becomes in focus.
3. “It’s Okay to Not Be Okay” uses some great arc shots.
From Wikipedia: An “arc shot” is a dolly shot where the camera moves in an arc along a circular or elliptical radius in relation to the subject (“arc left” or “arc right”). The article “Arc Shots and 360-degree Tracking Shots” enumerates the various uses of arc shots:
Arc shots can also be used to mark transitions, create suspense, add intensity or emotionality to a scene and much more.
The use of the arc shot can also be symbolism for shift or a transition, either in the story or within the characters themselves.
The arc shot causes the camera to shift in the physical space and can signal a turning point.
The arc shot can also be used to add suspense to a thrilling scene.
Ep. 15 (push in, arc shot): Sang-tae stands over Nurse Park/Do Hui-jae whom he had just hit on the head with a heavy book. The camera pushes in on Nurse Park/Do Hui-jae and then arcs around her to slowly reveal the young Moon-young, Kang-tae, and Sang-tae.
Ep. 3 (tracking shot, arc shot): Sang-tae arrives at the hospital; to visually reinforce his confusion about being unable to contact Kang-tae, the camera arcs around him even as Joo-ri arrives and talks to him. The shot continues by tracking Joo-ri as she goes to the counter; to show her confusion when she turns to find that Sang-tae is nowhere to be seen, the camera arcs around her.
Note: The GIF program that I use has a limit of only 30 seconds per GIF, and so I had to cut this long tracking shot into two parts.
Ep. 1 (arc shot and rack focus): Kang-tae goes to the publishing house because Sang-in invited him and because he wanted to see Moon-young. Moon-young sees him, and the camera arcs counterclockwise around Kang-tae. As the camera completes its arc, Kang-tae is in focus at the foreground while Moon-young is in the deep background and out of focus. Moon-young calls out to Kang-tae, and as Kang-tae turns around, he becomes out of focus while Moon-young becomes in focus.
Ep 13 (arc focus): When they arrive at the hospital, Kang-tae, Moon-young, and Sang-tae are stunned to see that a butterfly has been painted on Sang-tae’s mural. They’re shot from behind as they arrive, but as the camera arcs counterclockwise, we later see their various facial expressions of shock.
4. Recurring technique: The camera either trucks (moves parallel) or arcs around a foreground character or object to show another character in the background; inspired by Bong Joo-ho’s Oscar-winning movie “Parasite”?
One of the most-talked about scenes in the 2019 Oscar-winning movie “Parasite” by Bong Joon-ho is that scene when Mrs. Park is stunned when Jessica tells her that her son has artistic talent. Mrs. Park (played by Jo Yeo-jeong) is frame left while Jessica (played by Park So-dam) is frame right. The camera then moves around Jessica (in the foreground), briefly obscuring Mrs. Park completely (in the background), until the viewer can see Mrs. Park completely; Mrs. Park is now frame right while Jessica (partially seen from behind) is now frame left.
(The technical expression for what happened is that the cinematographer “crossed the line” or “broke the 180-degree rule.” The 180-degree rule is generally used by cinematographers so that the viewers won’t get confused as to the positions of the characters in the frame, that is, which character is on the left side of the frame, and which character is on the right side of the frame. In this scene from “Parasite,” Bong Joon-ho deliberately broke the 180-degree rule to achieve his desired result.)
I’ve noticed several shots in IOTNBO where the cinematographer used either the same technique from “Parasite” or some variation of the technique. With the variation, the camera either trucks (moves parallel) or arcs around a foreground character or object to show another character in the background, with or without a change in the characters’ position in the frame.
Ep. 8 (hilarious pillow fight between Moon-young and Sang-tae over the doll Mang-tae): Moon-young and Sang-tae are frame left while Kang-tae is frame right. The camera arcs counterclockwise around Kang-tae, briefly obscuring Moon-young, until the camera stops with Kang-tae now frame left while Moon-young and Sang-tae are now frame right.
5. Camera shake to emphasize a character’s emotional agitation
The characters in a frame or scene can be shot with the camera placed on a tripod, a gimbal, or through a Steadicam. I’ve noticed that, in several instances in this drama when one or two characters are emotionally agitated, the camera isn’t stabilized and moves up or down (as if the camera is breathing) or sways from side to side. (In these instances, the camera is handheld or shoulder mounted.) This “camera shake” is often done in a subtle manner with exceptions.
Ep. 1 (very noticeable camera shake): Kang-tae is forced to go to the technical school where Sang-tae just had a panic attack. In four shots, the camera tracks him with a very noticeable camera shake.
Ep. 4 (subtle camera shake): Gi-do has been captured after he interrupts his father’s campaign event. As he explains things to Kang-tae and Joo-ri, the camera sways from right to left or vice-versa.
Ep. 5 (more noticeable camera shake): Kang-tae confronts Moon-young and says that she doesn’t own him. Besides being shaky, the camera also pushes in closer to focus on Moon-young’s face as Kang-tae steps towards her.
Ep. 6 (subtle camera shake): The young Moon-young picks off the petals of a flower as she deliberates on whether to rescue Kang-tae from drowning in the icy river.
Ep. 9 (subtle camera shake): Sang-tae begins to breakdown at the hospital, accusing Kang-tae of lying.
D. Visual cues in “It’s Okay to Not Be Okay”
“Visual cues” are explained in an excellent series of articles from “My Drama List” written by someone with the username “3GGG.”
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“Parasite” visual cues (dividing lines), starting at 4:47 mark
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Popular Visual Cues in K-Dramas, Part 2: boxing to establish a character’s vulnerability, solitude, or fear; comfort and respite; change; danger; showdown
Popular Visual Cues in K-Dramas, Part 3: Dutch angle
Popular Visual Cues in K-Dramas, Part 4: Interpersonal cues (using cues simultaneously or one after another)
These MDL articles on visual cues will help you better “read” (understand and appreciate) K-dramas. I prefer, however, the term “framing” instead of “boxing.” I used these visual cues in my analyses of the cinematography of dramas such as “Flower of Evil” and “Start-Up.”
Ep. 1: Sang-tae worries as Kang-tae speaks with the technical school’s administrator after he went into a panic attack during a machine shop class. The director and cinematographer use frames to emphasize his emotional agitation.
Later, after the administrator told Kang-tae that Sang-tae can’t study there anymore, the director and cinematographer use a Dutch angle to emphasize Sang-tae’s agitation that Kang-tae is angry with him. Notice that the lines begind Sang-tae are not paralllel to the edges of the frame.
Ep. 1: Kang-tae stops Moon-young from assaulting the escaped patient. Notice the line on the wall behind them that visually reinforces the conflict between them.
Ep 1: Joo-ri is emotionally deflated after Moon-young makes it difficult giving permission for her father’s operation. The director and the cinematographer emphasize her emotional state by using the elevator doors to frame her.
Ep. 1: The director and the cinematographer use a window and the trees in the background to frame Kang-tae in visually feinforcing his hesitation into going into Sang-in’s publishing house.
Ep. 2: Moon-young orders Seung-jae to find out everything about Kang-tae. Seung-jae tries to convince her relatives (uncles?) to use their official positions to dig up the background info on Kang-tae. Notice the frame that reinforces her dilemma.
Ep. 2: In the last scene, Moon-young goes to OK Psychiatric Hospital, having become obsessed with Kang-tae. Notice that Kang-tae and Moon-young are placed within separate frames.
Ep. 2: Notice that, now, Kang-tae and Moon-young are now within the same frame. The MDL article says that characters within the same frame could indicate either unity or conflict, depending on the context.
Ep. 2: Kang-tae and Moon-young are shot from another angle, and again, they’re placed into different frames.
Ep. 3: Inside the classroom where Moon-young will teach her literature class, she’s confronted by Kang-tae. The confrontation is visually reinforced by their placement into different frames created by the glass windows.
Ep. 3: Kang-tae’s dilemma is visually reinforced by the frame created by the half-opened door.
Ep. 5: The division between the young Kang-tae and the young Moon-young is reinforced visually by the diagonal lines formed by the gate (shot from a high angle point of view).
Ep. 6: Kang-tae faces a dilemma when Sang-tae refuses to leave Moon-young’s mansion. His dilemma is visually reinforced by the frame created by the out of focus foreground element.
Ep. 6: Moon-young’s emotional tension is visually reinforced by the several frames that box her in.
Ep. 6: The elderly female patient named Eun-ja shocks Moon-young by saying, “It’s me, your mom.” To show the tension between them, the director and the cinematographer used a frame to box them in and a line to separate them.
Ep. 6: Sang-in tries to convince Kang-tae to leave the mansion, but Kang-tae refuses. To visually reinforce the conflict between them, the director and the cinematographer used the lines of the table tennis net to divide them.
Ep. 10: Sang-tae’s breaks down in the hospital lobby, shouting for everyone to hear that Kang-tae wants him dead. Kang-tae’s emotional agitation is visually reinforced by the frame created by the glass window of the isolation room where Sang-tae has been sedated.
Ep. 10: Moon-young blames herself for Sang-tae’s breakdown. Her sense of guilt is visually reinforced when the camera slowly pulls out and she’s framed by the bedroom door.
Ep. 10: Seung-jae blows up at Sang-in’s unreasonable order for her to stand guard at the mansion. Her emotional tension is visually reinforced by the frame created by the balustrades of the stairs.
Ep. 10: Joo-ri brings some food for Moon-young, who resents her presence there. To show the conflict between them, they’re shot with a Dutch angle; they’re enclosed by a frame; and the pillar serves as a dividing line.
Ep. 10: Sang-tae hides in the clothes cabinet because he refuses to talk to Kang-tae. His emotional tension is visually reinforced by the frame created by the clothes.
Ep. 11: Sang-tae realizes that, being the older brother, he must act like an adult and take care of Kang-tae. He has been saving his money in order to buy a camping car, and thus, he’s in a dilemma about using part of the money to give Kang-tae an allowance. His dilemma is visually reinforced by the frame created by the opened clothes cabinet.
Ep. 11: Moon-young tries to win Sang-tae’s approval; after lunch, as Sang-tae walks away, Moon-young shouts at him that she wants him as his older brother. Sang-tae looks back, and he’s torn because accepting Moon-young could mean losing Kang-tae. His dilemma is visually reinforced by the frame created by the out of focus, partial figures of Moon-young and Kang-tae.
Ep. 12: Kang-tae realizes that it was Moon-young’s mother who killed his and Sang-tae’s mother. He goes to a secluded part of the hospital and punches the wall repeatedly. His dilemma and emotional agitation are visually reinforced by the slight Dutch angle and the frame created by the door.
Ep. 12: Kang-tae finds Moon-young’s framed family picture and sees the butterfly brooch; to show the tension over his finding of the family picture and seeing the brooch, he’s framed by the windows. The tension is further increased by the numerous diagonal lines in the shot.
Dutch angle or Dutch tilt shots to show physical, emotional, or psychological tension:
E. Rack focus: A K-drama isn’t a K-drama if it doesnt have rach focus shots
In a rack focus shot, an object in the foreground is in focus, while an object in the background is out of focus (or vice versa); the object in the foreground then becomes out of focus, while the object in the background becomes in focus (or vice versa).
Ep. 4 (shallow depth of field and rack focus): Kang-tae deflates Moon-young by saying that she’s a mere empty can. Notice that in the extreme closeup of Moon-young’s eyes, her right eye (from our POV) is in focus while her left eye (from our POV) is out of focus. Then her right eye becomes out of focus while her left eye becomes in focus.
The rack focus on Moon-young’s eyes may have been done during the post production stage; if it was done in camera by the cinematographer, I would be very impressed.
Ep. 7 (multiple rack focus): Joo-ri is flanked by Nurse Park, who’s frame left, and another nurse, who’s frame right. Nurse,Park is in focus while Joo-ri and the other nurse are out of focus. As Joo-ri turns to face the other nurse, she becomes in focus while Nurse Park becomes out of focus. As the other nurse turns around to face Kang-tae, she becomes in focus while Joo-ri and Nurse Park are now both out of focus.
Ep. 16 (multiple rack focus): Moon-young sits inside her car thinking of whether to visit her mother in jail or not. She becomes out of focus as the reflection of the jail’s facade and the flags become in focus. Then, she becomes in focus again as the jail’s facade and the flags become out of focus.
Ep. 5: Moon-young (represented by her feet) sees Kang-tae and Joo-ri talking on the rooftop. As Kang-tae and Joo-ri become out of focus, her feet become in focus.
Ep. 5: Young Kang-tae is at the mansion’s gate, holding flowers; young Moon-young imprisoned in the mansion by being framed by steel bars of the gate.
Ep. 7: Moon-young decides to cut off her hair as her way unleashing herself from her mother’s obsessive hold on her. Shot from a low angle, the scissors become out of focus as she becomes in focus.
F. Memorable shots or scenes / miscellaneous obeservations
Ep. 2 (chiaroscuro, Dutch angle, push in, rack focus): This is is one of the most memorable scenes in tbhos drama; credit to this scene’s success goes to the editor. Moon-young becomes obsessed with Kang-tae and goes to see him at OK Psychiatric Hospital in Seongjin City. The corridor is dark, with the power having gone out: the only light is from the intermittent flashes of lightning.
1st shot - Kang-tae is in focus while Moon-young, in the background, is silhouetted and out of focus.
2nd shot - The camera pushes in on Kang-tae, who’s wondering who the person could be.
3rd shot - Very noticeable Dutch angle shot of a silhouetted Moon-young walking towards Kang-tae in slow motion
4th shot - Over the shoulder shot of Kang-tae in the foreground while Moon-young, in the background, is still in silhouette.
5th shot - Medium shot of a silhouetted Moon-young with flashes of lightning behind her, with only a slight Dutch angle
6th shot - Wide shot of Kang-tae from the knees up as the camera pushes in on him
7th shot - Medium shot of Moon-young as she now moves alternately between being in the shadows and being in the light, still in slow motion
8th shot - Above the waist shot of Kang-tae as the camera pushes in on him
9th shot - Medium shot of Moon-young as she continues walking towards Kang-tae
10th shot - Closeup shot of the grandfather clock with Moon-young’s reflection; as she moves past the clock, the clock becomes in focus.
Ep. 2 (elevator scene):
1st shot - Kang-tae is inside the elevator: as the doors close, we briefly see Moon-young’s reflection on the doors.
2nd shot - reverse angle; we see Moon-young from Kang-tae’s POV, that is, she’s outside the elevator. As the doors close, we see Kang-tae’s reflection on the doors.
Ep. 10 (puah in): The staff sedate Sang-tae and place him in the isolation room, with Kang-tae sitting on a bench facing the room. At the end of the corridor, Moon-young watches Kang-tae. The camera pushes in on Moon-young; there’s a cut to Kang-tae, and the camera also pushes in on him.
Push in shots are used to “create subtle intimacy, tension rising, and importance.” From “The Push-in” (YouTube video): “The Push-In, sometimes called the Character Dolly, is a camera move where the camera dollies forward toward the subject of the shot. A short push-in is like an exclamation mark. A long, slow push-in builds drama and heightens the emotional meaning of the scene. The push-in is a powerful cinematic tool for heightening tension and dramatizing a revelation, and it’s one of the fundamental techniques of the cinematographer and layout artist.”
Ep. 13 (pull out and rack focus): Kang-tae fails to convince Moon-young to visit her father, who’s on his deathbed. As he watches over a sleeping Moon-young, the camera pulls out. We then hear a high piercing sound as the camera continues to pull out. The next shot shows the monitors attached to Moon-young’s father, who has flatlined. As the camera pulls out, the monitors become out of focus as Moon-young’s father becomes in focus.
“When the camera pulls out from a character to show empty space around them, it creates a feeling of isolation and loneliness, abandonment, or rejection.” Please read “The Effects of a Push in vs. Pull out” (Cinematography).
Ep. 12 (pull out): Kang-tae finds the letter left by Park Ok-ran that threatens Sang-tae. He stands outside of the room as the camera slowly pulls out to visually reinforce his fears and worries about the threat against Sang-tae.
Ep. 10 (pull out): Moon-young blames herself for Sang-tae’s breakdown. Her sense of guilt is visually reinforced when the camera slowly pulls out and she’s framed by the bedroom door.
Ep. 2: Kang-tae searches for Moon-young who wants to confront the literary critic. In the deep background, we see Kang-tae; as the camera trucks (moves parallel) to the left, we see Moon-young coming down the stairs. These two shots were probably stitched together.
Lessons in photography from “It’s Okay to Not Be Okay”
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| Sidelighting, reflection |
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| Background blur |
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| Linear perspective, natural frames |
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| Low angle shot |
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| Natural frame |
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| Shallow depth of field |
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| Lines (vertical, horizontal, and diagonal) |
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| Background blur, leading lines |
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| Foreground blur, linear perspective |
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| Lines of direction |
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| Natural frame |
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| Natural frame |
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| Natural frame |
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| Foreground blur |
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| Reflections |
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| Silhouette |
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| Lines (vertical, horizontal, and diagonal) |
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