K-Drama Reaction: Be Melodramatic

It’s been a while since we wrote a K-drama reaction piece!!!! But since I’m quite hooked with this new romcom series, I thought it’s the perfect way to get back into the groove of writing K-drama content. I hope this ahjumma’s penchant for watching “slice of life” K-dramas would also magically bring back my eagerness to write episodic reactions. LOL. Anyway, I hope you’re on board as we look back into this spoiler-filled first four episodes of the newest female-centric drama that entered our small screens, Be Melodramatic. I’m going to use its English title, but the drama is also known as “Melo Suits Me,” and “Melo is my Nature” in other streaming sites.

I know everyone’s been rambling about how this new drama is giving us major “Because This is my First Life” + “Age of Youth” vibes. And I could not agree more. I know this type of storytelling is not everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s definitely my style. As an ahjumma (yes, I am, it’s not just a blogger’s pseudonym), I could totally relate how these three women in their 30s are all facing different phases both in their personal lives and respective careers. What hooked me into the drama completely was the way the three leads’ lives unfolded right in front of me, yet I felt three different emotional roller coaster rides in every single introduction.

We were first introduced to Im Jin-joo (Chun Woo-hee). a rookie screenwriter who has broken up with her boyfriend of seven years. The break up was a result of falling out on her part, and a whole lot of absurdity from his side. After months of trying to put her life back together, Jin-joo finally got herself a job as an assistant of a really famous drama writer, Jeong Hye-jeong (Baek Ji-won). Despite the lack of work-life balance, she managed to submit her own drama script into a scriptwriting contest at a cable channel but failed to win.

Jin-joo’s relationship with her boss ended sourly, but before she was fired, she met the hit director Son Beom-soo (Ahn Jae-hong), an award-winning PD who made five consecutive hit dramas. A sought-after director in the small screen, Beom-soo managed to read Jin-joo’s submitted script for the contest and got hooked with it. Now that Jin-joo is on her own, Beom-soo is trying to flex all his might to persuade Jin-joo into doing the drama with him, even though this meant Jin-joo had to also work with his assistant PD, who is coincidentally Jin-joo’s ex Kim Hwan-dong (Lee Yu-jin)! What an interesting twist of fate, right????

I have to admit I have yet to feel the chemistry between Jin-joo and Beom-soo, because he has this tough outer shell that makes it hard for me to loosen up to him in the first two episodes. But after watching how he opened up about his views on love to Jin-joo, I think they’re going to be a force to be reckoned with. I’m looking forward to the dynamics between the two, and how this will work out in the filming of their new drama. Not to mention Beom-soo’s budding attraction and apparent jealousy against his hoobae and Jin-joo’s ex Hwan-dong!

Anyway, let’s meet our next heroine, Hwang Han-joo (Han Ji-eun), a single mom who is now working as a marketing team leader of a drama production company. I love her, but I love her son more!! Hwang In-gook (Seol Woo-hyung) is a gem and his lines were #realtalk, not just for his mom but also for his aunts. I thought Jin-joo’s love and moving on story was already realistic to watch, but man, Han-joo’s backstory was also worthy of a facepalm emoji 🤦. Han-joo used to be the most popular girl in college. Boys lined up to play badminton with her. She was peppered with gifts and compliments by her suitors. But just like the usual girl meets boy tragedy, she fell in love with a nameless outsider who pursued her every day.We got to know him as Noh Seung-hyo (Lee Hak-joo). His daily visits to Han-joo were pretty romantic for a college student, which was why I couldn’t blame our girl for falling hard and letting her guard down. Han-joo got pregnant and lived with Hak-joo for a while before he left her because he was unhappy with his life. By this time I was starting to question if this drama would be surrounded with jerks because their count was increasing already. Han-joo was forced to raise In-gook on her own, busy making ends meet while her ex-boyfriend was living the time of his life as a successful comedian. Fast forward to the present, our dear strong mom is a marketing TL who is still busy brushing up to other people for product placements in drama shoots. What a life, Han-joo. What a life.

But at least, this heroine seems to be lucky in love this time around! She eventually meets Chu Jae-hoon (Gong Myung), a new hire who works hard just as much as Han-joo, and is eager to learn the ropes of marketing from his sunbae. I like Jae-hoon’s personality, but I want to get to know him more especially after that brief encounter with his crazy ex-girlfriend in Episode 4! It’s a good thing he broke up with that party raccoon right off the bat! I can’t believe she even made a scene at Jae-hoon’s office, no breeding at all!

And if you thought the first two introductions were the best, wait until you meet Lee Eun-jung (Jeon Yeo-bin), aka my favorite character. Yes. I know it’s too early to have favorites but damn, her backstory was just so interesting and her personality is unpredictable. Uri Eun-jungi worked her way up to become one of the most successful documentary directors in the country. The first (and most shocking for me) twist in the drama was her loving boyfriend Hong-dae (Han Joon-woo) passing away so suddenly and now she has post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). She often hallucinates and talks to him. The pilot didn’t delve much into Hong-dae’s illness so I won’t talk about him much.

All I can say is that Eun-jung is also fighting for her life by living without Hong-dae. I could not imagine the pain she must have felt for her mind to create a hallucination of him every single day. Hong-dae’s image accompanies her in everything she does, whether it be at home or outside. And this hallucination episodes caused her dongsaeng Lee Hyo-bong (Yoon Ji-on) to call his noona’s friends for help. And that’s how the four of them started to live under one roof – to make sure Eun-jung keeps her sanity, and at the same time for their respective selves to be able to hold it together while also struggling together.

GRUMPY ALLEY

Ahh, I can’t believe I’m resurrecting this segment back from the dead! LOL

Hyo-bong’s love life was a bold move for the drama. I know the K-drama world is slowly opening up to these types of characters, and it’s honestly a long time coming. But the way they revealed his relationship with another male producer was jaw-dropping!