Produced by Studio Dragon, Korean drama It’s Okay To Not Be Okay (2020) shares with you unsuspecting fairy tales written in each episode to hide away from the real dark undertones of the story, as well as mental illness experienced by the characters themselves.

One of the newest Netflix dramas, It’s Okay To Not Be Okay has already managed to snatch the hearts of many viewers worldwide after being released on June 20. The series revolves around the character of Ko Mun-Yeong, a popular children’s book author with antisocial personality disorder, who also lacks empathy for other people’s lives.

Hidden dark stories of fairy tales

As Ko Mun-Yeong (Seo Ye-ji) meets Moon Gang-Tae (Kim Soo-hyun) who is a caregiver in a psychiatric hospital, she becomes obsessed with him to the point of acting up in a reckless behavior. On the other hand, Moon Gang-Tae only lives for his older brother Moon Sang-Tae (Oh Jung Se) who was born with Autism Spectrum Disorder, having to act like an adult early on.

With her charming appearance and daunting aura, Ko Mun-yeong looks like someone who came out of a children’s book herself, displaying a female character unlike any other. However, she is no likeable princess, and more of a selfish and arrogant witch as her personality was aggravated by her childhood’s psychological wounds.

As Ko Mun-Yeong gets closer to Moon Gang-Tae, his emotional state turns messy where he decides to forget everything holding him back, even his brother whom he loves so dearly. He begins to run away when situations get too painful.

Meanwhile, the series enlightens its audience about prejudices on mental illnesses in each episode as well, showing how people judge immediately what they do not understand.

When you think it would get boring, the screen shows great cinematography and snippets of animation reminiscent of Tim Burton’s style. Also, the way it is directed is not too triggering, like how they cleverly replace parts like vomit into a scene with fishes splashing around. The disappointing part, however, is how it failed to break out of the typical childhood friends trope where it is seen in flashbacks of characters; a cliché touch that most Korean dramas have.

Ultimately, It’s Okay To Not Be Okay makes it hard for viewers to immediately like the unusual yet interesting characters. Instead of displaying perfection, they are all flawed with Ko Mun-Yeong lacking social skills and Moon Gang Tae being a pushover and a coward.

Aside from the main leads, other characters also give off stories about their own mental health struggles to widen perspectives even more. While watching this, you would realize that “it’s okay to not be okay” with how the characters are as complex as they are, and they turn to deeply grow on you while you get to know them better.

It’s Okay To Not Be Okay is an on-going series that currently has six episodes and airs every Saturday and Sunday at 21:00 (KST).