I've been watching some pretty intense dramas of late, lots of thriller and science fiction. That kind of stuff gets a little tiring to watch sometimes, which is why I'm very happy to be able to start another romcom. Not just any romcom though, we're going into the realm of fantasy with Hello, Me! (or literally translated as Hello? It's Me!). Based on the 2011 novel Fantastical Girl by Kim Hye-jung, this drama tells the story of a 37-year-old woman drifting through her life with no dreams or goals who miraculously meets her 17-year-old self and together, she undergoes a journey of self-healing. Starring Choi Kang-hee (Queen of Mystery, Good Casting) as female lead BAHN HA-NI and Kim Young-kwang (The Guardians, The Secret Life of My Secretary) as male lead HAN YOO-HYUN, this drama is be a very nice and more relaxing change from the previous few series I've caught. Let's dive in.
INITIAL THOUGHTS AND COMMENTS (SPOILER ALERT)
Episode 1 opens with Ha-ni writing a letter to someone, asking if they were able to get back safely and whether things had changed a lot, before including a greeting of "hello, me" (hence the drama's title). We then cut to her being rushed to the hospital after getting into a car accident and unlike most people, she says that one of her final thoughts now that she's on the verge of death is how she'd rather die than be revived. I mentioned in my introductory paragraph that Ha-ni is a 37-year-old woman with a fairly aimless life and for all intents and purposes is at rock bottom, with her dying thoughts being proof of that. We're then shown events that lead to the accident and we see that she simply just can't catch a break.
As a contract worker in a supermarket, wearing a silly squid costume and promoting squid snacks, she has to deal with rude customers who blame her when their son (who's allergic to squid) eats the samples (even though Ha-ni has no idea about the allergy). Not only that, she's then arrested and detained at a police station for ignoring summons, as she's been accused of slander by second male lead AHN SO-NI [Eum Moon-seok (The Fiery Priest, Backstreet Rookie)], otherwise known as Anthony (I'll refer to him as such from here on out), a famous actor. Turns out Ha-ni and Anthony have a bit of a history, having met at one of his previous filming locations, specifically a nature reserve with no toilets. While Anthony empties his bowels in some bushes, Ha-ni is next to him taking photos of the scenery with her father's film camera. The actor thinks that she's stalking and taking inappropriate photos of him, and destroys her camera and her film, without finding out the truth.
This leads to Ha-ni posting mean comments about him online under the username "Poopy Anthony". Although the belligerent movie star initially refuses to settle with her, he agrees in the end rather than have her reveal his embarrassing situation. While she was detained, Ha-ni would end up meeting Yoo-hyun, who gets arrested after being mistaken for a pervert. How did he end up in this situation you ask? Well Yoo-hyun is the 30-year-old good-for-nothing son of a rich man, pampered since childhood by his father and aunt after the death of his mother. He hasn't earned a single cent in his life and instead goes around attaining "useless" licenses like paragliding or horseback riding. Yoo-hyun's father ultimately kicks him out of the house in nothing but his underwear and a coat, right in front of some policemen who think Yoo-hyun is a flasher. This will be the first time that our two leads meet, in a really awkward situation with terrible first impressions.
Anyway, Ha-ni leaves after writing a letter of apology while Yoo-hyun is bailed out by his cousin-in-law Ji-eun. Ha-ni's next misadventure is a blind date arranged by her older sister Ha-young. As K-drama law dictates, Ha-ni would end up in the same restaurant as Yoo-hyun, who's enjoying a good meal with his cousin Do-yoon's credit card. Ha-ni seemingly has a good blind date, with her date showering her with praises and acting like a gentleman, only to reject and ditch her at the restaurant after transferring money for the food. To make matters worse, Ha-ni ends up spilling red wine on her blouse, which she had been planning on getting a refund for, with the hefty price tag still attached to it. Unable to wash out the stain, our dejected heroine is about to leave when Yoo-hyun asks her to foot his bill, since his cousin's card was frozen by Yoo-hyun's father, who orders the rest of the Han family not to bail his son out.
After they both leave the restaurant, Ha-ni and Yoo-hyun meet again at a convenience store, with the former taking some solace that despite her disastrous life, Yoo-hyun seems to be in more dire straits than her. Amidst all the chaos, Ha-ni forgets to visit the customer's son from earlier, who's in the hospital, and finds out that the customer's unreasonable complaints have been making rounds online about her supposed unprofessionalism, tarnishing the reputation of her workplace and snack brand. Our distressed female lead rushes out to the road to hail a taxi but ends up in a path of a truck. Instead of moving away, Ha-ni welcomes death and gets into an accident, which brings us up to speed with the earlier accident scene. Of course, that isn't the end of the episode because we need to find out more about our heroine's past, as she states that all her hopes and dreams were crushed on a fateful day 20 years ago.
Flashback to 20 years ago, where 17-year-old Ha-ni [Lee Re (Come Back Mister, Start-Up)] is her high school's queen bee, being super popular for her beauty and dance skills. Tons of boys have a crush on her and she revels in the attention. Funnily enough, Anthony was one of her admirers, with his real name being Yang Chun-sik. Just like in the present day, Anthony is a huge dick, very arrogant and having a posse of lackeys following him around. Young Ha-ni wants nothing more than to be an idol, practicing popular dance moves in her living room and even sneaking out of school to attend a large-scale audition. She thoroughly impresses the judges but her journey to stardom is temporarily cut short by her mother, who is vehemently against her daughter's idol dreams and is hopping mad at her for cutting school. While her family is in the car home, a young Ha-ni makes a run for it, wanting to head for another audition regardless of her family's wishes, with her father running after her. Unfortunately, she runs in the path of a truck and like a deer in headlights gets into an accident. It's at this moment that the lives of young Ha-ni and current Ha-ni coincide and the world cuts to white.
Back in the present day, Ha-ni wakes up in the hospital and while she's giving her personal information, she hears a young girl next to her sharing the same information. Pulling away the curtain separating them, Ha-ni finds (much to her shock and horror) her younger self right next to her. In an epilogue, we see young Ha-ni writing a letter to her 37-year-old self as a school assignment, saying that she's sure that even 20 years later, she's still as awesome and well-loved by everyone around her. Oh how wrong you were young Ha-ni.
I think I'm really going to enjoy this drama, especially because of this unique premise. Time travel dramas aren't new to the scene, heck the previous one I caught was Sisyphus: The Myth (please refer to my previous post for more information) but I think it'll be very heartwarming to see the defeated current Ha-ni interacting with her younger self, full of passion and spunk. How will either version of our female lead change after meeting each other? That'll probably be explored heavily throughout the series. It was mentioned earlier that that day 20 years ago was when all of Ha-ni's dreams were crushed and my theory is that her father, who she shared a very close relationship with, would end up dying while trying to save her from getting hit by the truck. From there, it's entirely possible that her life just went on a never-ending downward spiral that landed her in the current state she's in. Instead of being the same bright and confident girl she was in high school, Ha-ni's now ruined by the harsh reality of the world.
Along the way, I'm sure that Ha-ni and Yoo-hyun will end up becoming love interests as K-drama law dictates but as of right now, I'm not really invested in our male lead's story. It'll probably be the typical chaebol heir who goes from riches to rags and ends up getting his selfish ways changed by the down-on-her-luck female lead. It happens all the time and is a classic in K-drama. However, I really think that it'll be a lot better if the drama purely focuses on Ha-ni's journey of self-discovery, as well as how both her current and younger self learn from this experience. I hope you'll join me on this interesting journey as we continue to watch Hello, Me!
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