The world is starting to become more open to mental health discussions and this is in no small part due to the prolific inclusion of such topics in mainstream media. I mentioned certain K-dramas in my initial thoughts post that touched on mental health and of course, Mad for Each Other is just another addition to that category. As a short-form KakaoTV web drama as well as a Netflix Original, this drama was definitely a quick watch but by including a good amount of distressing scenes in the series, we get a fairly troubling story that can be a little hard to stomach. Without further ado, let's dive in.
SERIES RETROSPECT AND REVIEW (SPOILER ALERT)
There're a lot of sensitive topics covered here, first and foremost being mental illness but we also get things like dating violence/assault, trauma recovery and acceptance of those different from the norm. As we know, South Korea is a fairly conservative nation (although becoming steadily more progressive) so Mad for Each Other would've touched on a lot of things that wouldn't normally be discussed in their society. As I've said in my initial thoughts post, this a romcom revolving around our two mentally unstable leads Hwi-oh and Min-kyung, both of whom have different disorders. As the series progresses, we get a better understanding at what caused them to be this way and it's more shocking than you think.
Hwi-oh suffers from PTED and anger management issues, although the latter seems to have been a problem that has plagued him for very long. Initially a detective, he's suspended from service following a botched (unauthorised) drug raid on a karaoke bar which resulted in his partner being severely injured. Hwi-oh's questioning goes poorly, with the prosecution indicting him with alleged prostitution even though he was only there for a drug bust and this sense of injustice builds up in our hero, resulting in his eventual PTED diagnosis. On top of the guilt of his reckless actions inadvertently crippling his partner, his then-fiancé also breaks off their engagement prior to their wedding, citing his inability to take care of himself or her. All this has exacerbated our male lead's downward spiral and his anger continues to boil in him.
Hwi-oh's situation sounds bad but in my opinion, it pales in comparison to Min-kyung's backstory. Episode 1 showed us that she suffers from severe cases of delusional disorder, PTSD and OCD, choosing to shy away from social interaction as much as possible because of her crippling illnesses. A repeated idea in the drama is that Min-kyung "can't trust herself", reflected in her constant checking of her gas meter for example, among other things. The truth is, her past is insane. Once a proud career woman in a loving relationship, she finds out that her boyfriend Seon-ho is actually a married man (albeit in a loveless marriage heading towards divorce) and Min-kyung gets confronted by his wife, who insults and pours coffee over her in a classic makjang moment. Following this, our heroine breaks up with Seon-ho, who tries to stop her to no avail. Angered that she's looking down on him, Seon-ho physically and verbally abuses her, seriously assaulting her and getting caught on CCTV. Of course, this results in him being jailed and Min-kyung runs away, trying to leave behind everything from the past.
This is why our female lead says she can't trust herself because she didn't even know that the man she was so in love with, who whispered sweet nothings to her and gave her gifts, was playing her all along. Although her confidence and sense of self-worth has been totally destroyed, Min-kyung maintains some form of pride, refusing to settle with Seon-ho's rich family and wanting him to stay in jail for a long long time. She also has a hard time trusting others as she didn't even tell her mother where her current apartment was for fear that Seon-ho will be able to track her down somehow. Anyway, when both our leads meet each other as neighbours, shenanigans ensue. They start out hating each other's guts, Hwi-oh completely exasperated with Min-kyung's blatant and unfounded accusations of him, and Min-kyung finding him loud, brash and rude.
Just like a typical romcom though, they end up falling for each other. Hwi-oh thinks that despite being the source of a lot of his rage, being around Min-kyung helps him to move beyond and learn from his rage. As for Min-kyung, while she struggles with her past trauma and disorders, she feels safe and protected by Hwi-oh, who she often likens to a "guard dog". Their relationship continues to grow and everything seems smooth sailing for them but of course, K-dramas are never this simple. Unbeknownst to Min-kyung, Seon-ho has managed to be bailed out of jail, with a requirement being that he has to stay away from her. Naturally, things don't work out like that and he starts to stalk Min-kyung, even going so far as to poison her dog. Our distressed heroine turns to the only person she can, Hwi-oh, but when she knocks on his door, his ex-fiancé answers. Despite the fact that she was only there to inform Hwi-oh that the apartment's now completely his (since they once shared ownership) and while both evidently have no more feelings for each other, delusions start to cloud Min-kyung's mind and her distrust of Hwi-oh sets in once more.
After he explains everything to her, Min-kyung brings up her dog's poisoning and theorises that Seon-ho is the culprit, even though at this point they're unaware of his release from prison. Hwi-oh obviously doesn't believe her, which is perfectly logical, since Min-kyung has been known to jump to conclusions because of her delusional disorder, but that one moment of doubt creates a rift in their relationship and everything spirals out of control after Hwi-oh loses his temper at her. A while later, Hwi-oh catches Seon-ho trying to break into Min-kyung's home and savagely beats him, with Min-kyung trying to stop him. In his rage, our male lead accidentally hits Min-kyung across the face while shrugging her off and this brings back all of her terrible memories of being a victim of dating violence. Hwi-oh realises the err of his ways and tries to make amends but the damage has already been done. The situation only gets worse when Seon-ho drugs and kidnaps Min-kyung, leading to an insane car chase that injures Hwi-oh and winds up with Seon-ho being arrested. Everything seems to end well for our leads, they get back together, Hwi-oh gets his job as a police officer back (after he uncovers deeply-rooted corruption in the police) and Min-kyung travels to Mongolia to clear her head. While it's never revealed if she's cured from her mental disorders, she seems happy and so does Hwi-oh.
Super abridged version of events there but those are really the most important parts plot-wise. Let's talk about how this drama portrays mental health. This is evidently the central point of the series, as we see how our leads interact with others despite their disorders and we see how they grow as people. Would I say it's a realistic portrayal of those with mental health issues? It's hard to say but in my eyes, yes it is. The problems our leads went through prior to diagnosis are things that could happen in real life, especially the dating violence. Min-kyung becoming extremely paranoid about everything is definitely something that could happen to trauma survivors and Hwi-oh's anger management issues is also something that happens all the time. However, the drama has crafted a narrative that forces our leads into very typical K-drama gender roles.
In recent years, we've seen an uptick in strong K-drama female leads, whether it's Run On's Oh Mi-joo, who understood the importance of self-love, or Vincenzo's Hong Cha-young, a confident lawyer-cum-vigilante. Unfortunately, this isn't really the case with Min-kyung. Yes, she knows that she has problems and wants to work through them but she very often falls into the damsel-in-distress role, needing Hwi-oh to come to her rescue more than once. She was even gifted a whistle by him and when she blows on it, he'll come running to protect her regardless of whether she's actually in danger or not. That takes his guard dog role to the next level. In fact, Hwi-oh's mental issues, specifically his anger management, very often ends up being glorified and unlike Min-kyung, who's practically crippled by all her disorders, his seems to help him and those around him, allowing him to do such things like catch criminals or protect Min-kyung.
It's regrettable that this drama's female lead is portrayed as more of a weaker character than most but I guess in line with her character's mental issues it makes sense. Thankfully though, our leads have insane chemistry that really helps to sell this drama. Jung Woo, who plays Hwi-oh, hasn't had much presence in dramas of late, with his last appearance having been in 2013's Reply 1994. He was excellent in that and he's excellent here. Hwi-oh's primary emotion is rage (of course) and even when he's expressing any other emotion, he always defaults towards anger, something that Jung Woo portrays really really well. Alongside Oh Yeon-seo, who plays Min-kyung, the pair are really kooky and hilarious to watch on screen. At the same time, when the pair are hurting and expressing their sorrow at each other, the acting prowess of our lead cast really shines through.
Another big part of Mad for Each Other's storyline is the acceptance of those different from you. Obviously this applies to our leads but I want to take a look more at the supporting character of Lee Sang-yeop (played by Ahn Woo-yeon), otherwise known as Samantha. If you're confused as to why I've assigned two names of contrasting genders to the same character, don't be. We're introduced to Sang-yeop when he's "detained" by the neighbourhood watch and called a pervert for being a crossdresser under the name Samantha. He makes it a point to mention that he doesn't consider himself as gay or transgender, merely using Samantha as an outlet to express himself against societal norms. It could be seen as strange, in fact many people see Samantha in a weird light but he forms a close friendship with neighbour Su-hyun (played by AKMU's Lee Su-hyun), who doesn't treat him differently at all. Over time, the people in the neighbourhood open up to him and accept him for who he is as well. This idea of acceptance is something that's so important in today's society, where we're seeing more people coming out with their own problems so we need to be able to accept them for who they are. This is reflected in the drama not just with Sang-yeop's sexuality but on a larger scale with our leads' mental issues and backstories. I'm really glad the drama touched on this.
Although Mad for Each Other doesn't really explore the idea of mental health as much as I thought it would and does fall into some typical K-drama tropes, this was a really enjoyable romcom. With a bunch of side characters that are also very entertaining, adding a lot of heart and humour to the series, you'll definitely enjoy this drama as much as I did. Thanks for reading.
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