The K-List #4: My Mister

It’s time for yet another trip into K-Drama land, number 4 in the K-List, although I’m going to tackle what’s number one in my Mount Rushmore of favorite K-Dramas.

This is not going to be a romcom, neither a crime nor a sci-fi…then what? Good question, tough answer. This opera, because that’s what it deserves to be called, is an ensemble of genres yet it doesn’t adhere to a standard, a movie-like series that is bound to compell, pull your heartstrings and take you to a marvelous journey.

This unique drama, a 2018 tvN production, is called My Mister.

• Genres: drama, family
• Eps: 16
• Runtime: 1 hr-1.30 hr
• Leads: Lee Sun Kyun, IU
• Storyline: a 40-something man sees his life spiraling down while a 20-something woman tries to cope with her poor situation and survive day by day. The two meet and decide to help each other.
• Major Awards: Grand Prize at the Seoul Drama Awards, Best Drama and Screenplay at the BaekSang Art Awards.

Strengths

• Family, whatever it means

You may wonder why in the Genres category I wrote “family”, something that is not a genre per se rather a construction, a device usually put in play to further develop the plot and create action, drama and problems to characters as they go by.

In My Mister family is everything, from the core to the outskirts of the series, much more than a collection of parents and siblings deployed with some intention. What makes it so beautiful, and in a sense poetic, is that the definition of family is tackled in every nook and cranny.

There’s your usual family, the one you have without a choice, the one you’re born into: our ML has a couple of brothers, each with his own bleak future and flaws, one with a failed career as a director, the other living on small jobs and trying to regroup after a divorce.

There’s also the family you don’t have, and the FL knows all about it: she’s alone in the world, fending off for herself without a father or mother supporting her, nor a brother/sister to hold on to. How having or not an “acquired” family changes everything is shown by comparing ML and FL as they deal with hardships: while the former is helped and flanked by, admittedly not great, brothers, the latter has to deal with it on her own.

That leads to another kind of family, the one made out of love: the ML seemingly has one, a wife and family plans, yet things take all two seconds to go south, his brothers are also on the wrong side of it: the director lost a chance due to his crumbling career, the eldest had a go at it but failed due to his financial issues.

Finally, going back to the FL, there’s the family you choose, one that doesn’t necessarily have to do with romance or love: friendship, kinship, a helpful relationship between people that leads to reciprocated improvements and what Koreans love to call “healing”, a restorative bond between different human beings that makes them better in the end.

By getting to know each other’s misery, our leads form that kind of connection and, after a myriad of twists and turns, they are left in much better shape than we found them at first.

• More than just a singer

There’s always a risk when an actor is not “purely” an actor: there have been countless pop-stars, athletes and whatnot that tried their shot in front of the cameras and missed the mark by a wide margin, from Madonna to Vinnie Jones.

In Korea is much more common than you may think: a lot of idols, women and men belonging to girl groups and boy bands, choose the small/big screen as their career after the musical one is either over, group disbandments and retirements, or in the middle of it.

IU, born Lee Ji Eun, is one of the latter: a famous k-pop singer, always soloist, she started to act as a side dish while keeping her musical career first, and she’s become one of the greatest stars in Korea on both fields, a Shohei Ohtani of Korean entertainment. Her songs are always an all kill as they are released, topping charts nation-wide, while her acting has improved as years go by, from The Producers to Persona to Hotel del Luna, and in this one she gives her best display of acting skills.

Her rendition of a complex, troubled young woman, entrenched in a dire situation without escape nor help, is impactful to say the least. She hardened up during her poor upbringing and has become almost emotionless, cold. Her only aim in life is going through the night while getting what she can, all while being as invisible as a ghost to avoid all relationship and people on her path.

That all changes after she meets the ML, his brothers and the crew that comes with them: she has found a family that cherishes her and she starts to feel, to care about and to be bothered. Her acting follows suit: from a static, gaze-driven performance in the first few eps we get to emotional displays, reckless choices for the sake of the people she wants to protect and a character that is almost unrecognizable from her starting point.

Not that the ML, a Lee Sun Kyun playing his part as an apatic yet full of angst working class man, or the other characters, from the two brothers, making a trio of sad yet foolishly affable middle aged veterans, to the women that love them are less than great. The entire cast is easily above average, made of skilled, talented and proven actors on their peak, yet IU shines the brightest.

• All about the value

What separates this series from many great others is the quality on its intangibles, from the script to the direction.

There’s not a real plot to be spoken of, rather a lot of small situations and shenanigans linking our leads one to the other, sometimes in a straight line or otherwise stopping by many different secondary characters. The absence of a main driving scenario makes it so that the element of surprise is in play early and often, moreover it avoids any kind of stagnancy as far as character development is concerned.

On the other hand, production and direction are A+: each shot is cured to the bits and the balance of dialogues, long silences and things not said but showed through expressions is admirable, something unusual in a mini-series and much closer to a long movie.

Musics and OSTs are a perfect fit for the general aura of the series, somber, heavy-hearted and nostalgic. There’s IU and that’s only for the better, but the entire playlist is a mood, a quiet and peaceful soundtrack that is well suited if you’re planning to drive in the night.

Weaknesses

• Starting with a bang…or not!

Up to this point you’ve almost surely understood that My Mister is not your run of the mill comedy, nor is it a hard-boiled thriller or a shocker-filled makjang.

This series is as heavy as they come, it requires a lot of effort and focus to be watched and savoured properly and that makes it a niche on its own.

Then there’s the first episode and let’s be real: it’s the slowest premiere I’ve ever seen. If the first impact makes it or breaks it, a lot of you will be shattered by the static, long scenes and absence of action, but let me tell you something: bear with it and keep going.

It gets much better as eps goes by, so that when our leads collide the drama picks up the pace and goes on a roll, succeeding where a lot of others fail in maintaining a high level up until the ending, a beautiful picture of what connecting, meeting and socializing can mean in the life of a person, and why it’s so important to be out there and not close yourself from others.

It’s a hard hour and spare to get into but it’s worth the effort!

• Age is just a number, maybe…

This has always been the point of debate for this series: given that our ML is 40+ and the FL on her twenties, how can they have a romantic relationship, or better, is it proper to have one given the age gap?

This is your and your preference only, personally I don’t mind it but that’s just me, although one thing must be pointed out: there isn’t a real romance going on between the leads.

While there are some hints of feelings developing in scenes here and there, there’s nothing that screams love out loud. As I saw their relationship, it resembled more a father-daughter bond than one between lovers, so the difference in age really didn’t bother me at all.

Score: 9/10

The fact I couldn’t find a third weakness tells you all: My Mister is simply gorgeous, a delight for fans of series and movies alike, a drama that relies completely on its characters rather than a story dragging them on, and they deliver on all accounts.

Everything is on the high side of the quality bar: direction? Check. Acting? A cast to be proud of. Musics? Got a whole hour of them if you need a good background while studying, or doing everything else to be honest.

A writing able to develop such characters and then give them their space without confining them in relationships, places or roles is a rarity and deserves as much praise as anything.

My Mister is not for everyone yet everyone should try and watch it: the same healing process the leads go through is bound to be taken by the spectator, and as they end up being kinder, more human and positive in their bang average daily lives, so do we. How many series can do that? Not many, but My Mister does and that makes it worth of a spot in my K-List.

That was it for now, see ya at the next stop! And never forget how important it is to be in touch with each other, in any way, as that’s our only shot to be better!