It’s Okay to Not be Okay Drops Significantly in Second Episode Ratings to 4.7% as Tension and Intensity Ratchets Up Between Kim Soo Hyun and Seo Ji

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• You forget JCW’s MMS

  • Koala clearly said "top male actors". He is not one haha. His current drama is way even worse.

    • Jcw is a STAR so shut the hell up

    • I dont think he's in the same league with Gong Yoo, Hyunbin, Kim soo hyun and Leeminho. He's a big name but not an A list. Cmiiw.

    • @Khushi lol chill. Whether u swear or scream, JCW isn’t gonna suddenly be a top star. He’s popular sure but he’s no KSH, GY, LMH lol.

    • @jenni, lols. the emphasis. i do like wookie but i kinda agree that he hasn't had any great project - rating wise that will promote him as A list actor like names given. though for his beniefit, he definitely is a hallyu star.

    • Huh? JCW has a better record than success than most actors. From Smile Again, to Warrior Baek, to Empress Ki, to Healer, to K2, to Suspicious Partner, if that doesn't equal A List actor, I don't know what does. Every drama he's been in has been successful besides his latest one.

    • Not a top actor? Are you talking about JCW? Do you even watch Korean dramas or are you just hurt. Lol. JCW and LMH are the most popular actors of SK and globally too. BR is a hit internationally. Keep burning mate. And get ur facts straight

  • And will probably be followed by Backstreet Rookie. What a mess for JCW.

  • he's a hallyu star, but he's nowhere in the same league as fellow hallyu stars Kim Soo Hyun, Gong Yoo, Hyun Bin, Lee Min Ho, Park Seo Joon, Song Joong Ki, Park Bo Gum in his home country. all of these men have had domestic hits aside from their hallyu relevance.

    • Agree. I love JCW, but he's not as popular as KSH, LMH, Gong Yoo or Hyun bin, etc etc. But I believe he's still an A list star. And he's a good actor, so really that's good enough for me.

      As for ratings for It's Okay To Not Be Okay, guys, just enjoy the drama :)

  • Once I picked this one up ... there was no way I could stomach JCW's Backstreet Rookie. The acting there ...

  • I really liked this drama, the two main actors are doing an excellent job, crazy? Sure, but there is a lot of hidden issues that will make it even more interesting. Mental issues are never easy, some worst than others I hope we get to see a softer side of her soon. He is such a good actor, loved the way he cares for his brother and how he interact with her, interested but not submissive.

• it's boring

  • Exactly. It tries so hard but there's no direction for either a compassionate line or an ice queen love triangle with predictable kdrama fluff. Either make it raw and gritty as it deals with mental health or forget it

    • Personally, I’m bored with typical fluff kind of romance. It might be just that IONTBO may not be your cup of tea but it's definitely not boring haha. It's been so long since I quite invested in a drama that got me hooked in the first couple of episodes.

• The ratings are disappointing but it’s okay as long as we love it! And I love it marvelously :)

  • TRUEEEEE!!!

• Thank you for this review. This is my first time following ratings of a kdrama so it's surprising and disappointing to see the numbers dropping when I and the majority (from what I can see based on comments online) seem to love it.

  I hope this is a success for KSH as it's his "comeback" and I really hope he, SYJ and OHS win awards this season!!

• I am loving this drama. Perhaps the best drama thus far this year. I don’t expect our ML to rescue the FL tho.; it is turning out that she will be the catalyst to get him to face his own fears and trauma and in turn, he will try to help her. I get that dark dramas about mental health aren’t for everyone and that is fine. But I see it as reallly innovative storytelling that tries to question who is normal these day?! What is normal? Why we value imperfect people less? I was also a huge fan of Hotel Del Luna and I get the comparison of a strong, independent beautifully wardrobes FL, there isn’t much similarity at all between MY and JMW besides they both faced trauma. JMW was a vengeful ghost trying to move on and did so because of KCS. MY was abused by her parents and has a personality disorder that borders psychotic and has trouble empathizing and caring for people because of her trauma. She isn’t a caricature to me at all - I can see her anger, fear, vulnerability and obsession just in the first two episodes.

  • Your comment struck a chord with me. Totally agree on holding a less judgmental perspective of people. And really, who are we to judge? We are in 21st century, an increasingly complex era as we advanced further and innovate a lot more. And plot and story-lines have to keep up with times to stay relevant. I enjoyed this drama which brings to light people with disorders and how they can "heal" through more empathy and compassion from the world at large. Even seemingly "normal" people suffer some forms mental afflictions, simply because no one is perfect.

    Both male and female leads' portrayal of the characters are spot on. Their shift in emotions are projected well with subtlety in their gazes. I look forward to how this plot will unfold. Hope there will be a twist, to push the story line beyond the boundaries of norms/convention.

• The ratings dropped because the second episode was a whole lot of nothing. Nothing much happened. It was 70 minutes but I can barely remember anything of significance happening.

  Style over substance for me, so far.

  • Some truth to this. Direction is stellar and the leads are obviously super talented.. But what else? What is the narrative trying to say..

    KSH's character has some decent build up - the tragic childhood, the caretaker who helps others but has absolved any sense of personal self hood..

    But with SYJ.. Despite the masterful performance - her character feels unrelatable, and we have the generic overdone office histrionics, the obsession with the main lead sort of off putting..

    I'm still in for an episode or two.. for it is stylish. And SYJ & KSH is killing it. But I hope the world building picks up.

    • The characters aren't supposed to be relatable to be likable man, it's retelling a perspective of a person who’s trying to overcome a mental depression prompted in their childhood. Not many people go through that route of life, it's not like people walk in the shoes of other people. Many great things happened in the second episode tbh IONTBO just might not be your cup of tea:) cause I love this drama so much to the extent I have no self-control of waiting another episode ach week without rewatching it haha??

• I feel is good drama but subject matter too heavy for many people to like it.

  • I haven't seen It's Okay to Not be Okay so I can't really comment on it however I want to disagree with the line which talks about other A-list actors' epic flops. I hope by flop you mean to say the dramas which did not do well domestically. I'm no blind fan, but I've seen Big, Hyde Jekyll and Me and TKEM out of which I can definitely say TKEM was not a storywise flop. Also is it okay to to call it a flop solely because it did not do as expected in South Korea? International fans absolutely lapped it up, not only for Lee Min Ho but because the plot was unlike anything else in K-drama world until now. Time travel, fantasy, sci-fi and even parallel universes all with romance? Sure, it was very ambitious but for me personally it was a huge hit. The drama hit the right notes despite the complaints of excessive PPL, no chemistry between the leads and the plot being too boring. No story develops in the first two episodes and people who skipped out on this definitely missed one of the best dramas storywise, if not ratings-wise.

    • Yes, I agree, so many people just are too used watching fluff soft romance than a series with a spectacular plot that it blew their tiny heads off.

• Very well said Koala. I liked your recaps and I enjoy your insight. I still believe in KSH, but I think the plot is a little too extraordinary for my entertainment. The writer better beefs up the storyline or else...

• LOVE all 2 episodes of it!

  Pretty entertaining, and they both have good chemistry.
  His brother - overacts the autism a bir, especially if he's highly functioning.

  I am glad they're doing a Drama on MH - about time.
  The OK hospital - it's the same one from Romantic Dr Kim?

• I still don't understand how IU's character could be shipped with Lee Do Hyun's character, he messed up so much! Because of him a lot of people were killed and he didn't let her choose and used her to kill himself...

  For this drama, I didn't think the story will be so dark with the murderer of the mother and the Hyung who seemed to see it.