'It's Okay to Not be Okay' Episode 1: Kim Soo-hyun and Seo Ye-ji's characters are destined to find each other
'It's Okay to Not be Okay' in its first episode does a brilliant job of introducing characters whose minds are fragmented and whose souls have experienced unspeakable trauma through a beautiful children's tale. Children's book author Ko Moon-young's (Seo Ye-ji) tales are dark and twisted, but the sincerity in her tale is palpable. Her characters are flawed, and so the moral of her tale is also about how a flawed character can learn to live life.
Then there is medical caretaker Moon Kang-tae (Kim Soo-hyun), who works at a psychiatric facility and cares for patients with a finesse that has come with practice and sensitivity. His brother Sang-tae seems to have a mental condition that requires care and attention, and Kang-tae seems to understand his brother too well. There is no burden that comes along with caring for someone who is not able to care for themselves that is portrayed in the episode. This episode is more about telling us where each character stands. For instance, Kang-tae only works at a hospital for less than a year and has never stayed in any facility longer than that.
We learn that this has to do with his brother's condition, but only towards the end of the episode do we see how his brother is constantly terrorized by nightmares that feature a huge number of butterflies following him and Sang-tae believes that they are out to kill him. Every time he has this nightmare, it is hinted that Kang-tae moves to a different location along with his brother. However, we do not see why this particular nightmare affects Sang-tae the most.
Similarly, author Moon-young is haunted by her own past and that is clearly depicted in the opening scene, which is a tale about a lonely young girl who tries her best to find friends to play with. However, every time she approaches other young kids, the scary shadow that follows her scares them away. However, one fine day she saves a young boy from drowning and the boy begins to follow her everywhere. He follows her through different seasons, through her different moods and more, and only when she shows him her truly evil side does he abandon her. This somehow seems to have a connection to Sang-tae, because the little girl scares the little boy by tearing apart a butterfly.
In this story, the little girl is Moong-young, who from what we have seen so far has been in an abusive relationship with her father. She recalls a moment when her father had tried to kill her after that she comes in contact with another father who attempts to kill his daughter in the present. This is when she is invited to a psychiatric facility to read her story for the children under treatment. This is also where she meets Kang-tae and from the beginning, the chemistry between the two is off the charts. The dynamic between the two begins with anger followed by frustration on Kang-tae's part, but the next time he meets her, he tells her a story about a young girl that he had known who had the same look as Moon-young.
He explains the girl that he once knew had a look similar to that of Moon-young where there is no warmth, but only all that is reflected is selfishness and a look that mirrors unreachable pits. She wonders, was he scared of her? To this Kang-tae responds in the negative, and says he had liked her. We then see a flash in his past and the scenes are eerily similar to the tale of the little girl that we saw at the beginning of the episode and that makes us wonder, is Moon-young someone that Kang-tae had known while he was younger?
'It's Okay to Not Be Okay' originally airs on tvN on Saturdays and Sundays at 9 pm KST in South Korea and can be streamed on Netflix.
