'My Holo Love' Review: Netflix's show paints the importance of self-acceptance and self-love well
'My Holo Love' is a 12-episode Korean Netflix original that premiered on February 7 and it captures one's attention quite early on. The show is about bringing two people together who are forced to be loners because of their situations otherwise. The catalyst in their relationship happens to be a hologram AI and how the relationship and chemistry between the three of them progress over time is the crux of the plot. The AI called Holo is designed by Ko Nan-do (Yoon Hyun-Min), and the Holo that he designed looks just like him. Then we have So-hyeon (Ko Sung-Hee), who suffers from face blindness and she gets her hands on the spectacles that control Holo by chance.
So-hyeon was timid and shy before she finds a friend in Holo and this friend doesn't judge her for her flaw. Holo tries to get the real characteristics that she has buried within to surface and even tries to help her date her senior at work. She has been crushing on him for a while now, and with Holo's help, she finally gets the courage to show interest in him. This is a big step forward for So-hyeon.
Taking the first step, however, doesn't mean that they will succeed. Her constant conversations with Holo in the form of texting disturb this man she dates. So she finally decides to tell him the truth about Holo and bring the spectacles along with her, however, Nan-do finds Holo's recent actions problematic and tries to hit reset to ensure Holo is not ruled by recklessness when he begins to serve other clients.
Holo has three rules he must follow. The first is to ensure that whoever owns him is happy because of him. The second is to follow the rules of the country that his owner lives in and the third is to never lie to the person who owns him. With So-hyeon though, Holo believes that the first rule trumps the other rules and in an effort to make her happy he begins to break the other rules. He even does things that are unusual for an AI, which includes going through human emotions and responding to questions like humans do -- with uncertainty.
So Nan-do tries to format Holo and take him back to the time when he hadn't met Se-hyeon. Nan-do believes Holo's changed behavior is her fault and so taking him back in time might return the AI to be what he was meant to be -- a companion. The resulting conflict between the AI and his creator stems from their long friendship. Holo is trying to ensure that Nan-do can begin to feel emotions like humans do and for some reason, he believes that So-hyeon would be able to help Nan-do as well. In an attempt to bring two people who have been forced to avoid normal human relationships because of the judgments and lies such a relationship entails, Holo tries to bridge a gap that is evergrowing.
It might be logically impossible to accept that an AI could feel these emotions or take such drastic steps for its creator but that is mostly plot device that has been used for dramatic effect. It makes the show more entertaining and engaging but when you see beyond that as the show does a great job of portraying the need for self-acceptance and self-love. It is about finding the courage to accept yourself despite all the flaws. If one doesn't know how to love oneself, how can one really be expected to understand and love someone else?
Both Nan-do and So-hyeon have to understand this and actively take steps to be who they are unapologetically. The two also have a heartbreaking flashback, one that connects their insecurities and as the episodes progress, we see different pieces of the puzzle fall into place to make the picture whole. The villain of the show is set to steal the Hologlass by taking extreme steps and that adds to the drama making 'My Holo Love' a decent show to binge over the weekend.