'It's Okay to Not be Okay' Episode 11: Mun-yeong, Sang-tae and Kang-tae are now family but evil lurks close
'It's Okay to Not be Okay' in many ways is about how fragile human beings and their relationships are in the face of trauma, and heartbreak. Since the beginning of the show, each episode was aimed at healing a part of its lead characters in different ways and thereby it gave hope to viewers watching the show about how mental illness, birth conditions such as autism and more are just another part of life that one can learn to live with, with the support of friends, family and at large an educated society. In this vein, episode 11 of the show sees Sang-tae, who has autism, struggle with the concept of sharing his brother's affection with someone new.
In fact, in a spectacular scene where Mun-yeong tries to convince Sang-tae to let her continue to be around his brother, we see Sang-tae vehemently announce that he is not going to give Kang-tae to her. So when Mun-yeong tells him that Kang-tae is his brother, not an object, and that he belongs to himself, Sang-tae agrees with everything except he repeats again -- "Kang-tae is mine". Mun-yeong is exasperated and tells Kang-tae that she did her best and in what is an enlightening moment for Mun-yeong, Kang-tae explains that she only tried to convince Sang-tae to let Kang-tae go. However, what she should be doing is to convince him to let her in. Let her be a part of their family and become Sang-tae's best friend like she had said.
Kang-tae has also changed as a person as we see him let go of the control that he had had over himself. He doesn't take abuse from his brother and in what is a first, he also tries to teach his brother why he shouldn't hit, bite or hurt Kang-tae. He tells Sang-tae that he is Kang-tae's elder brother and should act like one and for a moment -- it seems as if Kang-tae crossed some line. However, what surprises everyone including the viewer is Sang-tae's reaction. He goes all out in trying to teach his younger brother a lesson about how to treat an elder brother.
The reason why Kang-tae got the courage to face his brother the way he did was because of Mun-yeong. After rushing to be by her side when patient Ko Mi-ran escaped from the hospital to go to Mun-yeong's house, a lot changed between Kang-tae and Mun-yeong. Speaking of Mun-yeong -- who supposedly has Antisocial behavior Disorder -- she is a perfect example of how a person with ABD can be taught behaviors, emotions, and interaction. So when Mi-ran meets Mun-yeong on her birthday and even ends up stabbing her with a sharp object, Mun-yeong's instinct to return the favor is strong. Yet, she remembers how Kang-tae taught her to control such instincts and she holds her temper.
Kang-tae reaches right after to see blood dripping from Mun-yeong's hand and all the worry that he had held in until then ends up bursting out. He hugs her hard and begins to feel better. However, when he checks about the patient, Mun-yeong loses her temper because he ended up running to her because of a patient and not because of her. She throws a childlike temper and it is at this point that we see Kang-tae let go of his control the first time. The moment that fans had waited for -- a kiss that was passionate enough to express the intense emotions that both Kang-tae and Mun-yeong had felt -- finally took place.
After sharing a very intimate moment with Mun-yeong, Kang-tae tells her that he will not leave his brother's side and explains Sang-tae's trauma to her. He asks her to be by his side and support him, while he stays next to his brother. He asks her to be his family and she agrees. She is moved by everything that she heard from Kang-tae so the two come to an understanding about how their life together would be.
Mun-yeong also loves the gift that Sang-tae gave, or more accurately, threw at her. The drawing of Sang-tae, Kang-tae and Mun-yeong driving away into the sunset in the camping car moves Mun-yeong who has never understood the true meaning of what it means to be family. Now, she sees a chance at being one with Kang-tae and his brother. In fact, when she sees Sang-tae begin to act like an elder brother -- something that Kang-tae had asked him to do -- she wants the same. She wants to be treated to dinner by an elder brother, get spending money and when Sang-tae ignores her, she yells loudly that she also wants to have a brother like Sang-tae.
When she yells this, Sang-tae remembers the look on Kang-tae's face the night before in his sleep. He looked happy and he repeatedly said -- "Hyung brother, I like her". When Sang-tae matches this to the expressions on her wall, he realizes that his brother is happy. He also realizes that this is the first time his brother has ever looked truly happy and marvels at it as he watches Kang-tae sleep. These two incidents together convince Sang-tae that Mun-yeong can be a part of his family and that is how the two brothers end up moving back into Mun-yeong's place.
However, something evil is lurking close by and if our guesses are right -- it is none other than Mun-yeong's mother. The only one who knows about the butterfly lapel pin was Sang-tae. He saw this lapel pin on the killer who killed his mother and until this episode, we couldn't have guessed who owned it. However, towards the end of the episode, a woman with short hair opens the draw on the dressing table in a dark room and picks this lapel pin. She is surrounded by a huge portrait of Mun-yeong and her father and it is this that convinces us that the killer could be none other than Mun-yeong's mother. How she will influence Mun-yeong's life and if she will strike fear in her daughter again is something that we would have to watch out for in the upcoming episodes.
'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.
