Mr. Plankton (2024)

Good watch for those who enjoy tragic love stories....

This drama is really good if you enjoy dramas with a beautiful emotional love story. It’s a story of 2 people who did not have a childhood filled with happiness. They found each other and fell in love however unfortunate events kept happening to them.

I watched the entire show in a day so it’s definitely possible to binge watch the show. #Woodohwan and #Leeyoumi had insane chemistry and their acting was so good! Haejo’s character was very free spirited and he liked doing things without any plans. Jaemi is very extroverted and has an outgoing personality. Both of them suit each other well cause they relate to similar pain.

Now the story is really very simple, there is no plot twist and nothing really shocking. It’s a very simple deep love story. So for this genre it’s good but personally not my style of show so there were parts where I just skipped…

I enjoyed the relationships shown in the drama especially Haejo and Bongsuk who was basically his guardian since he was young. She cared for him as a mother / sister and was always there for him.

Jaemi had a fiancé who she was going to marry and he was deeply in love with her. Initially I didn’t think he was going to have such a big role in the drama. But he is actually the second male lead. So there are many scenes regarding his family issues as well. He was an understanding SML though always thinking about her happiness so nothing toxic! (just that maybe there was too much screen time regarding his issues)

I’m sure everyone who will watch this knows the ending so…. 🙃 Everything is revealed in episode 1 itself so there isn’t any shocking reveals after that.

For those who really like the emotional tragedy kind of romance then this is for you! There is fluff definitely but it’s all under the shadow of tragedy so… 🥺

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Woo Do-Hwan never fails!

Woo Do-Hwan never fails to please!

My two top Korean actors right now are Woo Do Hwan and Lee Do-Hyun.

I first saw WDH in Save Me and my favourite ones out of his dramas would have to be:

My Country and Bloodhounds.

With Mr Plankton I really enjoyed it for the first 7 episodes and then I'm not sure where it quite started turning for me, but it did.

I hesitated to watch this drama because I knew the fate of his character and didn't want to go through that all again like with My Country.

With Mr Plankton the ending was sad, but not as devastatingly sad for me like what happened in My Country for some reason.

Have seen others of his dramas in full like: Save Me, Tempted and Mad Dog which I really enjoyed as well.

As for Joseon Attorney (4-6 episodes) and King Eternal Monarch (half) and didn't mind these either except maybe Joseon Attorney would probably be the least liked one out of them all. Not because of him, but rather the story itself.

King Monarch I would probably finish only he isn't the male lead.

In regards to Mr Plankton it is about the main character being diagnosed with a terminal disease (less than 3 months to live) so he goes on this personal journey to find his real father only decides to kidnap his ex girlfriend at the start just as she is about to get married with a gang on his tail out for revenge.

It has a great mix of humour, a solid story line, drama, action, a sad or bittersweet feel, romance and adventure.

The music is so so - nothing really stood out like Stay With Me (Goblin) or Butterflies (Wedding Impossible).

A major dislike for me would be the female in this as she got on my nerves with her crying - it is the worst, also, her hissy fits. I really wish I could have reached through the screen to slap her out of it. Really annoying!!! Far too many scenes for my liking and she grated me the wrong way as she sounded terrible. Couldn't stand it! Her other scenes were mostly fine - just the sobbing and hysterics were irritating. Terrible! She really did come across as being idiotic quite a bit of the time which was unfortunate - I'm not sure what he saw in her. Another minor peeve was the way she ran. Weird!

Wouldn't it be something to have a female that is mature even when annoyed yet sassy, full of spunk, charismatic and adorable even if not dropdead gorgeous. Just not a cry baby, nagger, whiner or screamer.

I need a female actor that can pull it off like WDH, who in my humble opinion, is one the BEST actors in the industry for crying, laughing and emoting expressions and feelings. His crying or sobbing scenes in My Country were believable, but especially that one scene inside the room with that silk item and his name embroidered on it probably due to the significance of what it meant.

Simply the BEST!!!

The gut wrenching moments in this drama definitely have momentum, but not as impactful as two specific scenes in My Country.

What else?

I really enjoyed the bond that was made on the road trip back to Seoul between the Heir and character played by WDH - the bromance was fantastic and seemed better than what was between WDH and the main female lead at times!

WDH has a beautiful laugh, way of chuckling and tantalising manner with particular words or expressions.

Him and only him!

Anyways, Mr Plankton is recommended for those that like a good mix of everything, but after episode 7 it doesn't seem as exciting and seems rushed or done so as not to leave any loose ends. But...done so without depth.

Maybe one loose end actually - I don't remember seeing anything about the test results of the 3rd candidate. 🧐

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Mr. Plankton Review - ZyKuu

"Two drifters embark on their final trip together" - The story is very chaotic but entertaining, and there are many valuable life lessons taught throughout the show. The cast was sweet and sour for me. I am a huge fan on the main lead Hae-jo, I thought he played his role well and was the most excellent amongst the cast. The female lead Jae-mi was wonderful as well and she really displayed her acting ability. Their romantic chemistry was great. Other roles that I enjoyed were Bong-suk and KKari. I found them to be great side characters that added to every moment and made the show more memorable. The OST was good and I was pleased by the shows aesthetic. This drama is somewhat random, but everything ties together neatly. The show is very eventful, and the lessons taught within are golden.

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Good Enough

Korean Drama '' Mr. Plankton '' is a dramedy with a crazy plot mixed up with a tragic core.

The drama has some pretty tragic characters who fight against the odds to be happy, often, however, failing to achieve that happiness. Also, the process of that was filled with many comical elements.

Alas, that mixture was a failure. The comedy didn't blend smoothly with the drama, and the plot was more often than not all over the place, with the characters constantly moving from one place to another so quickly that the plot didn't organically develop. Thus, the story fails to engage.

Fortunately, the performances were stellar and the actors and actresses handled their characters nicely.

So, overall, six out of ten.

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Please make her stop screaming

A new judging criteria should be added: scream level. FL starts as a little girl always smiling hoping that a happy and nice child will be more easily adopted than a sad and crying one, but as an adult she cries and above all screams a lot..maybe too much. A good story is somehow ruined by this interpretation, like it happened with Kill me Heal me.
And talking about comparison, here you can't help but compare Woo Do Hwan with Kim Woo Bin (Uncontrollably fond) and Lee Jun Ho (Just between lovers) and I'm sorry to say that the result is not so positive. Maybe his performance is ruined ruined by the over the top acting of Yoo Mi Lee.
Anyway, I enjoyed whatching this drama even if it didn't involve me emotionally as I thought.

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Worth watching for the acting

I was very excited when I started watching this drama because of Woo Dohwan who is basically one of my favorite actors (yes he is handsome but his acting skills are pretty amazing too).

At the beginning, I was really intrigued about his character Hae Jo. And the first half of the drama was really exciting and fun!!! the whole chase through the country, the drama, the funny moments were on point, if only the drama had continued like that…

Basically, after they got rescued from the island and came back to Seoul everything went down the drain…
In my opinion there was a lot of unnecessary drama and the plot was not moving on. The main lead was sulking and treating Jae Mi like trash and it kept on going back and forth. I got quite bored during a few episodes to be honest…
And then the scene when Hae Jo leaves Jae Mi in front of her mother’s door and runs away! Why??? Why did he have to run away??? I was sooo confused! What was the point anyway if you were gonna go back to Seoul afterwards? I thought he was gonna start his journey to look for his father with Heung but no they just went back to Seoul!!! I got really annoyed tbh and I also got annoyed at Jae Mi a couple of times. At the beginning she was acting like a spoiled child, punching Hae Jo and telling him to die etc. I think thats a little bit too much to say to someone, no matter how shitty they treated you…
Ofc I was also a little bit annoyed at Hae Jo at times. Why did he have to agree to kidnap the first woman from her wedding? And why did he say such mean things to Jae Mi in their first relationship? And then being so egocentric and kidnapping her and throwing away her shoes etc.
In general I also found it kinda sad how quickly and easily Jae Mi got over Heung and the treatment of his mother and how easy it was for her to move on and fall in love with Hae Jo again… I don’t think she was really in love with him… he was just a nice man she wanted to have kids with…

And finally, I was reallyyyy annoyed about how the drama started with the search for Hae Jo’s father but was never finished!!!! Like what was the point of watching (except for Woo Dohwan’s naked upper body)??? We already knew how it was gonna end (him dying in the snow) so what other new information did we gain??? I was very confused and quite disappointed to be honest…

The storyline is definitely lacking and most of the characters were very problematic too. However here are some good points:

1. The quotes: Hae Jo had some impressive quotes and it brought me to tears many times.
2. In general it did have some tearjerking moments. I dont understand why the movie’s genre is romance/comedy… it is more of a drama imo.
3. The acting skills!!! Like no matter how annoying some characters were, the actors brought them to life sooo well and authentically… Kudos to all of these high class actors.
4. The music especially the instrumental one in dramatically sad scenes (for example when Hae Jobwas dying in the snow). It was one of the reasons I got hooked on the show. The music, directing and screenplay were done sooo well!!! I couldn’t stop thinking about it…

In general I think it is okay to watch it if you are interested but be prepared for some toxic characters and relationships…

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Toxicity is just io much here...

So i started watching this series casually and was hooked at the beginning until became just too much.... It started off ok, a kind of angsty romance which I'm usually here for. This is until the the ML became just too toxic, which the FL was somehow increasingly ok with.

- For the good
I really liked that in this series, the FL wasn't this shy girl who is scared to touch a guy, not mentioning sleeping with him. Same goes for the ML. When they are romantically close, they seem to be quite open and grown up, which I always appreciate in a series. No need to make a kiss sth so scary when u r a full grown adult.

-For the not so good....
The dynamic between the FL and ML is just bad. All the shouting, shaking, grabbing and forcefully pulling.... you would think it was some old school romance kdrama from 2010 but no. The writers were trying their best to make him this complicated character with complicated past, which should somehow excuse his awful behaviour but I was having none of that. Just because you have a brain tumour doesn't mean you are allowed to treat people like shit. Nor does it allow you to completely ruin the life of your ex girlfriend just cuz u feel lonely. Even if it's only for 3 months.

While this whole mess of a human being was looking for his father, the FL fell for him all over again, to the point where her low effort escape attempts were just.... pathetic. And her telling him, basically screaming, that he ruined her life is.... very dramatic but very useless because he manhandles her and she just gives in, always coming back to him.

The dynamic between those 2 characters was incredibly toxic but the way it's written, we should cheer for this couple and be happy that each time she has an opportunity to run away, she doesn't. Look at him, he saw that she liked some shoes and got it for her such a great guy (sarcasm) ...... bleh.

We shouldn't forget that there's the SML, the man the FL was supposed to marry and another guy who is the friend of the ML, both being the comedic relief of this angsty drama. Jokes about 2 guys acting gay, a guy pissing him self from fear, a dumb spoiled mammas boy... how are those even funny ? Those "comedic" moments made me feel as if I'm watching an old poorly aged kdrama.... cmon, we r in 2024...... we can do better than that....

Overall, I'm not gonna even finish the drama. The development so far has been meh and I'm tired of seeing the FL just accepting all the harassment coming from the ML just cuz. And im also tired of this series trying to put the ML in the positive light using the most low effort things. Their relationship is awful and I'm not here for it.

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messy and noisy plot

I was excited when I learned that Woo Do Hwan and Lee Yu Mi were the main leads. I enjoyed their acting in previous projects, and I thought they matched well—Woo Do Hwan has a sharp, intense look, while Lee Yu Mi gives off a bubbly vibe.

However, the plot just didn’t work for me. I found it messy. The story tried to pack in too much information, but I didn’t care for the side plots—for instance, the whole bloodline thing and the gang’s revenge. I was more interested in the main leads’ relationship and the male lead’s journey to find his biological father, especially since we knew he was sick. All of the side plots made the series feel too noisy, in my opinion. About halfway through, I also started getting annoyed with Lee Yu Mi’s character because she screamed a lot, which kinda ruined the mood.

I wanted to like this series. In fact, I had high expectations since I like both main leads, and the premise had so much potentials. But sadly, this one is not for me.

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The Writers Forgot...

I watched this as part of a watch party. For the most part, the first six episodes of the show, although not perfect, were fun, and the story surrounding his biological father had me intrigued. The comedy, although exaggerated, had me cackling. I enjoyed them a lot. Up till then, the show was an 8 to an 8.5. Then, episode 7 happened.

The show went on a downward spiral from there. I thought it would recover before the end, but it didn't. The female lead was annoying and childish. Her crying started grating on my nerves and the way she kept hitting the male lead's head despite knowing his condition baffled me. She was completely devoid of critical thinking. Hae Jo, the male lead, had strong douchebag tendencies. I know the way he tried to push people out of his life stemmed from the neglect he suffered while growing up, but there were times that I had to shake my head at the comments he made to the people around him. They were honestly kind of perfect for each other... There were also too many filler scenes and dubious relationships. At times, it felt like the writer(s) were suffering from the same terminal illness as the male lead. Why would you write all this tension surrounding Eo Heung and John, only to have her ask him to be her second son? What? Come again? That was not the only strange relationship dynamic, there were others. It was like they simply forgot what they had written previously. The reconciliation with the trash father was also irritating, anticlimactic, and felt like an afterthought as it was not well developed. I am not going to delve deeper into that. This show could have also been 8 episodes. It did not need 10. This story had so much potential and it could have been one of the better 2024 K-dramas.

The show features California Dreamin’ by The Mamas & the Papas which is honestly one of my favorite songs and the other OST songs are decent too. It also had beautiful cinematography. There were truly beautiful shots.

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Entertaining Plot, Annoying Leads

My 4 categories are Acting/Cast, Writing, Direction/SFX/Music, Entertainment Value.

I decided to watch this because people seemed to really like it and it stars Woo Do Hwan (우도환). I want to like him, but I haven’t liked him in anything I’ve seen him in so far. Maybe this drama will be the one that changes my mind.

Acting/Cast: Many familiar faces in this drama. That was nice. I can say Woo Do Hwan’s acting was better in this drama, but unfortunately his character wasn’t likable. The female lead started off alright, but she became increasingly annoying over the course of the drama. The second male lead was a decent character though. 4.5/10

Writing: I’m just not into the red flag male leads at this age. I want more green flags and healthy relationships. The constant fighting between the leads, the constant psychological abuse (the female lead is an orphan and, knowing this, the male lead repeatedly abandons her)…it was just…not cute at all. And after all the torment the male lead puts her through, she is the one that needs to repeatedly prove her love for him. By the end of the drama, I was thoroughly irritated by the whole thing and I was completely okay with the idea of the male lead dying. I wasn’t buying their chemistry as a couple. I actually thought her chemistry with the second male lead was better, although I couldn’t support their relationship either. There are also questionable things in this drama that was difficult for me to even want to watch…relationships with large age gaps…even grooming?? The humor is also very cringey to me. Instead of laughing, I’d be saying ‘wtf??’ or ‘ew…’ (for instance, the second male lead had a habit of exposing himself in public as an act of protest, as well as having scenes that insinuated that he might whip it out randomly and sexually assault someone.) The male lead’s character didn’t feel realistic. He would be a broody asshole one moment and then suddenly be super goofy and happy the next. The female lead’s character also didn’t feel authentic. After all the psychological abuse she’s endured, there’s no way she would be that cheerful. The message of the drama was lame as hell. There’s two storylines happening and both are all about the importance of bloodlines. By the end, the two leads and the second lead and his mom (all with their own issues regarding their own bloodlines) finally realize that blood isn’t what makes people family or makes people happy. Well yeah, no shit...welcome to the 21st century. So, nothing revolutionary here at all. The basic plot of the drama is actually entertaining – a guy kidnaps his ex from her wedding to have her go on a quest with him to find his biological dad before he dies, while getting chased by gangs and falling in love again – but this bloodline obsession stuff is just weak. This drama was fun when it wasn’t taking itself too seriously. 1.5/10

Direction/SFX/Music: I didn’t have much complaints in this area. It’s definitely a well-produced drama, which is a big reason why it held my attention despite all the issues I had with the writing. The music is ok, but there's something that bothers me about it. They used an American song called California Dreamin'...maybe that's why? It doesn't fit? 6/10

Entertainment Value: The plot is pretty exciting, especially for the first half. The characters weren’t likeable enough for me to really care about them by the end of the drama though. Their toxic behavior becomes repetitive and annoying. The overall message was too basic to have any lasting impact on me. The toxic relationships left me feeling weird about the whole thing (especially the grooming…wtf?). 4.5/10

Overall, I gave this drama a 4/10. This was tough to rate. It was entertaining, well-produced, and well-acted. But there were so many things in the writing that just didn’t work for me personally and I felt like it was a waste. I can’t recommend this drama, especially to those who have been in abusive relationships (I feel this drama normalizes psychological abuse in relationships and even romanticizes it). However, it is a quick watch (only 10 episodes) and easy to binge.

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