To be honest, I didn’t expect to write about I Miss You. After all, the drama’s been over for a while, and it’s been literally months since I dropped it.
But my dear friend Michele requested this post, and since I basically bailed on her when we’d agreed to watch this drama together, I feel like I owe it to her, y’know?
Now, I like to think of myself as a pretty decent friend. And I honestly *pinky swear!* thought that since we’d be watching this together, that my commitment to her, combined with her encouragement, would be enough to keep me on this boat through to the very end.
Uh. That so didn’t happen.
After 14 episodes, I just could not bring myself to watch another hour of this drama, and I bailed, leaving poor Michele to soldier on without me (I’m still sorry, Michele! And, I still won’t watch this show! 😛 ).
So, why did I even attempt this drama, given that I already knew this was a heavy melodramatic cry-fest?
Three words. Yoo. Seung. Ho.
Well, ok. I also have affection for Yoon Eun Hye and Park Yoo Chun, having enjoyed them in Coffee Prince (2007) and Sungkyunkwan Scandal (2010) respectively.
If I’m being honest, though, I’d have to say that Yoo Seung Ho was the reason why I even dipped my toes into this sobfest.
I’d really, really enjoyed Yoo Seung Ho in Operation Proposal (2012), and then in Arang and the Magistrate (also 2012).
Not only is he an excellent actor, he’s got the most soulful, amazing, beautiful eyes. Looking into his eyes pretty much feels like drowning in gorgeous hypnotic pools of magnetic intensity.
Like, seriously. I could stare at his eyes all day. (Go on, try it. Just gaze at that screenshot up above. He’s got a magnetic gaze, doesn’t he?)
I am particularly selective when it comes to melos, and I didn’t feel especially drawn to this one, which is why I shelved it for an emergency.
After all, Yoo Seung Ho had up and enlisted in the military, and I fully expected to experience some kind of withdrawal during his military stint (yay that he’s out now, and is preparing his comeback!).
The Upside
I Miss You delivered on the Yoo Seung Ho awesome, at least for a good stretch.
His smoldery sexy gaze made for a good number of squee-out-loud moments with leading lady Yoon Eun Hye.
I felt so conflicted, honestly, coz he was adorable and all kinds of wonderful sharing scenes with her, so much so that I shipped them together, even though I knew it was a fruitless endeavor. On top of that, he was pretty swoony all on his own too.
Since Yoo Seung Ho’s brand of dreamy pretty much made up my entire upside to this show, I’m gonna indulge in a bit of a screenshot spasm.
If you haven’t seen the show, you can thank me now. I’ve extracted the best bits of Yoo Seung Ho awesome from the show, and now you don’t have to watch it, heh.
Gaze with me:
Swoon~. Those eyes, right?
Augh. And those lips, too. Mmm..
I could’ve happily gazed at Yoo Seung Ho and his dreamy, dreamy eyes for 21 full episodes.
If only Show hadn’t thought to supersize its downside. Boo.
The Downside
Pain. Lots and lots of pain.
If I had to distill the biggest thing that didn’t work for me in this show, it would be its fondness for gratuitous pain. Well, that, and eventually the plot goes crazy and nothing really makes sense. But first, let’s start with the Pain.
From beginning to end, this show was littered with pain. No, wait. Littered makes it feel like there was just a touch of it here and there, and that is so not the case. Brimming is a better word.
This show was literally brimming with pain, from the get-go. It was chockablock, standing-room-only, jam-packed with pain.
Our heroine endures some of the most horrendous, sickening events imaginable, particularly in her younger days (younger heroine played by Kim So Hyun).
Without going into specifics, let’s just say that she suffered mental, emotional and physical trauma to an extreme, so much so that she literally ended up looking like a walking, bloody, undead mummy.
I honestly felt like the writer was purposefully trying to heap pain on our heroine – and by extension, on us as viewers – to the extent that we would all be tipped flung as far over the edge as possible.
Even if writer-nim had held back and spared our heroine from a few of the things that she had to endure, it would’ve still been A Lot Of Pain, and we as an audience would’ve fully sympathized with her, enough to root for her.
But no, writer-nim clearly believes in the mantra: “Go big or go home.”
Of course, enduring this kind of extreme trauma is going to leave festering, untended mental and emotional wounds, and our adult heroine eventually ends up looking like this:
Literally. ALL. The. Time. I kid you not.
By the time I checked out of the show after episode 14, Yoon Eun Hye was showing up in basically every scene with her eyes and nose all red from crying.
And then the people around her started walking around with red teary eyes a lot of the time too:
It just all got a bit much, y’know?
And then the plot went crazy.
Crazy Plot
Given that I survived until episode 14, I think I really did put up with more than my fair share of crazy plot points.
Again, without going into specifics, let’s just say that as long as my One Big Reason for watching this show stayed unscathed, I was able to put up with A Lot.
The moment writer-nim started to let Yoo Seung Ho’s character go to pot, though, I was on a slippery slope of no return.
[SPOILER ALERT]
I mean, taking Yoo Seung Ho’s heretofore wonderful, sweet, caring character, and turning him into a psychopathic stalker-murderer is just Not Okay.
The logic supporting this arc wasn’t even all that strong.
Even the diplomatic Yoo Seung Ho said in an interview that he struggled to understand his character.
But yes, logic, schmogic. There never really was a lot of that in this show.
[END SPOILER]
My point is, when you take away the one thing that’s keeping me going in the show, I just can’t muster up the will to carry on anymore.
Much as I love Michele and didn’t want to disappoint/abandon/betray her, I bailed after episode 14 and have never looked back.
I’m sorry, Yoo Seung Ho-sshi. I didn’t love you enough to finish this turkey agonizing macrocosm of Painnn.
Ik this is an older post so you probably don’t even remember the details of this drama or don’t care anymore but I recently rewatched it and wanted to add my two cents…
I don’t think harry had “psychotic tendencies” from the beginning. He had heard through the phone that his mother’s killer is on his way to get them so when he sees a man lurking at their hideout his first instinct is to do something to block him from getting to them. So he put the soda can under the brakes. He didn’t know it was her adoptive father/detective coming to find her…
I think it’s unfair to paint him as a psycho murderer when he was just a traumatized kid who was trying to survive and help soyeon. Yes he snaps later in the drama but I believe it’s as a result of all the trauma he had to endure growing up and on top of that he was abandoned and being deceived by the woman he loves… if he was the protagonist plotting the writers would’ve developed his character better but since he’s the second lead they just randomly made him out to be the bad guy and everybody else a victim when he’s a victim himself. There’s a reason why a lot of viewers sympathize with him more.
I bailed out after ep16 😧 and i hate myself why i have to reach ep16 before i realize to drop it 😦 i wasted my tears 😂 aaahhhhh…..!!!!!!!!
This comment made me laugh so much. I’ve been there, way more than once and felt so angry about it too.
Ack, I feel you, April! This was such a pointless pain fest, from my point of view! I guess dropping it later is better than finishing the whole thing? 😅
I had never seen Yoo Seung Ho before I watched this. I remember thinking he was SO very young looking in comparison to Yoo chan and Yoon Eun-Hye (because he was, by a lot, and his character was much younger than them too). The young age, combined with his totally controlling whining behavior, had me wanting to slap him in every scene.
I need to unsubscribe (only to this post) because it’s like re-living a really bad post-traumatic event by revisiting the beautiful screen caps here. This was awful and I was a K-drama newbie back then. It ripped my K-drama innocence from me. I think this show is probably why I usually avoid all melos.
Aw, I’m sorry this was your introduction to Yoo Seung Ho, beez! That, combined with your need to finish a show if you start it, must’ve been quite horrible. Especially since this was your first melo too. Gah. Not a good combination at all. 😛 I hope you’ll be able to give both Yoo Seung Ho and melos in general another chance. Yoo Seung Ho did a pretty great job with I’m Not A Robot – MUCH lighter fare than I Miss You.
I’ve watched him in Warrior Baek Dan Doo and while he was good, I felt he was miscast. Nothing wrong with his acting skills, but to be the leader of a league of assassins that has existed for centuries, and to fill the shoes of previous leader, Choi Min-Soo – he lacked the weight in terms of age and literal girth to fill out his hanbok, IMO. It didn’t ring true that these assassins would follow such a young guy.
I really enjoyed him in Remember, Son’s War, but the ending left me with a big wad of uncooked dough in my stomach.
That’s true. I felt that his storyline in WBDS was rather odd too. The whole born to be a killer thing, along with being the leader of the entire sect. And given the performance Choi Min Soo gave, which was enough to explode any screen, ANYONE would’ve had problems taking his place, I think! 😛 I didn’t watch Remember coz it sounded too melo for my taste, but I liked him well in Operation Proposal, which I’d categorize as a medium-strength melo. I’m Not A Robot was quite endearing too, if you’re in the mood for it. He and Chae Soo Bin share excellent chemistry, I thought 🙂
me too.imnin ep 13 i want ed to end here.i feel sad what will gonna happend.i like ysh.i just watch this bec.of ysh.
Heh. I watched this one just for YSH too. But I never made it to the finish line, thankfully. If you haven’t seen Operation Proposal, that might be worth considering. I liked it quite well. Just don’t think of it as a rom-com, because it’s more of a light to medium melo. 🙂
I watched the whole thing. You made the right choice to drop it. I’m a tad OCD and couldn’t drop something if I’d watched 14 hours (or 4). I wish I could, especially for this drama.
Oh my. You poor dear. This must’ve been terrible to watch to the end. I found it so painful to watch, even though I didn’t finish it! 😛 Thanks for affirming my decision to drop this one. Although, it wasn’t quite a decision. More like, I just could not take it anymore, and could not bring myself to watch another episode, ha. 😆
I know what you mean about Yoo seung Ho’s eyes – his whole face! In the last month I have loved him in “Ruler of the mask” and “I am not a Robot.” How did you like his work in “Warrior Baek Dong Su”? Ji Chang Wook is my all-round, all-time favorite, but Yoo S. Ho is a close second.
I loved Yoo Seung Ho in Warrior Baek Dong Soo! 😍 So swoony-broody. You can find my review of WBDS here, for some thoughts & squee 😉
Thank you for this. I got most of the way through episode 1 and already the warning lights were going off in my brain. I will stop now, back away slowly, and then run. 🙂
Giggle. Your comment made me laugh out loud, Barrie! 😂 Yes, I do recommend getting as far away from this show as you can.. I’ve concluded that NOTHING is worth sitting through all that painnnn. 😂
I watched the first four and a half episodes with the young actors, then I had to stop. There was so much point in the episodes that I watched, and I would like to keep the my belief that as they parted, they had better lives and respectively had happy futures, or something along those lines.
Aw, I know what you mean, Jo! Sometimes, it just really helps to just go with what your imagination says, doesn’t it?? And if you were wanting to believe that the characters had better lives and happy futures, your imagination is definitely the way to go, where this show is concerned. 😉
Ditto to all the comments above, but may I change the subject and ask if you have reviewed “My Daughter, Seo Young” or “Angel Eyes” or “Tree with Deep Roots”? I would like to read some thorough critiques of Lee Sang Yoon’s works and also Lee Bo Young’s.
Hello Ann! I’m sorry to say that I haven’t reviewed any of the 3 shows you’ve mentioned. I do love Tree with Deep Roots and think it’s an excellent drama. I am unlikely to write a review for Tree, since I watched that quite a while before starting this blog. But I do plan to write a review for Liar Game, in which Lee Sang Yoon is pretty cool. I hope that helps! 🙂 For a review that talks a little more about Lee Bo Young, you might be interested to read my take on I Hear Your Voice. You can find that review here. 🙂
*** possible spoilers ***
i’ve just finished watching “My Daughter, Seo Young”, having a different perspective on family relations than the one presented in this show and thus being more attentive to the actual acting … imo Lee Sang Yoon portrayed Kang Woo Jae very good throughout the entire show. the main character emotions (in all the different situations) were clearly delivered and the gradual transformation was also perceivable at a closer look (aka not every straight face is the same straight face, personality change is never radical in real life and he managed to show us this slow & gradual process). what i personally enjoyed most of his acting in this show was the part where Lee Sam Jae gets hospitalized up to the next kiss scene … i’ve rarely seen despair portrayed in such a convincing manner by a male actor. Lee Bo Young’s acting was imo also top-notch and impressive, almost every scene hinting at “there’s much more beyond what’s displayed and said”. in her case i was very pleased to see that she didn’t overact the last part when Lee Seo Young starts to express herself more openly. considering also Choi Yoon Young’s portrayal of Choi Ho Jung, as well as the majority of the other characters very well delivered in this show, i’d say the show was worth the time spent watching it.
i don’t read reviews before watching but i was curious why your new post in the dropped section. now i’m glad i’ve subconsciously avoided to watch this show. thank you.
Lol. Your subconscious decision definitely served you well imo, INTJ! I am not averse to tears and pain in principle, and believe that there are solid dramas out there that deal with tears and pain in thoughtful and sensitive ways. But this show, to me, didn’t fall into that category, and all the pain seemed to be inserted more for the shock factor than to maintain narrative integrity. Which is why I found it so hard-going, despite the fact that I enjoyed the YSH eye candy. I honestly don’t think you missed anything in not checking this one out. 🙂
Nooooooooooo!
Hahahaha!!! Why the long “Nooooooooooo!” Nelly?? I mean, you totally knew I dropped this one when I did – you, me & Michele were tweeting about it together, and you were even watching along, a little bit! And in this post, I did give your YSH the loving spotlight *ahem* I think I’ve done what I could, with IMY. 😉
I was hoping you would change your mind over time and give it some love. Kekeke but yeah, i knew it. My poor Harry 😉
Aw, poor Harry indeed. I wish the writers would’ve done something different with his character. :/ I did very much enjoy what I did see of YSH in the first 13-14 eps of this show, so it wasn’t a complete waste of time! ^^
you lasted longer then i did… I thing i stopped watching after the first few episodes… a friend told me it was a good drama and in my opinion its not…
I think this show really divides viewers. Most of us agree that it’s just too much gratuitous pain, but there are bona fide fans of this show, like your friend. I can’t say I’ll ever understand why, but I’m happy to know I’m not alone in dropping this one!
Haha… your not alone… I guess i’d rather watch something that is less emotional and more fun…
Oh yes, we should totally pick our dramas according to our moods, I totally feel that! If I’m in the mood for fun, this drama is SO not it! XD But then again, even if I’m in the mood for angsty and emotional, this one is simply just too much for me!
yes!!!! it was just to much… yes a good cry is good during a drama but i don’t have to flood my freaking room because every second is just over emotional…
Haha, you made me laugh with your comment, Britni! XD I can see how this show might’ve flooded a couple of bedrooms! Although to be honest, once I got to the point when I felt the show was manipulating me for my tears, that’s kinda when I stopped caring about what happened with this story. 😛
but some people can be sympathy criers… that would be me sometimes… but the drama didn’t even have anything good to watch… it was all drama filled tears…
This was one of those dramas where I bailed out early as I could see the shape of things to come. I followed it through re-caps from time to time and boy, was I glad I didn’t even try to continue beyond the cut off point. Weep-fests and overdone paaaiiiin are not something I want in my dramas.
You chose well to bail early, Timescout! Especially if weep-fests are not your thing. I have nothing against tears as a general rule. In fact, I really loved One Warm Word (thanks again for the recommendation!), and there was plenty of angsty crying in that. It’s just, this particular show seemed to be kind of sadistic in heaping on the pain. At least, that what it felt like from where I was sitting, and I just couldn’t bring myself to sit through another episode, once YSH’s character started showing distinct signs of crazy. 😛
Hahaha! That last pic of YSH and the caption had me cracking up. Very swoony too. See, even the poster has tears streaming down YEH’s face.
You are a brave soul to endure all those tears and pain for 14 episodes, and so is Michele for watching the whole thing. I bailed after 5 episodes. I couldn’t take the tears and buckets of angst heaped on my head.
If I can get into Writernim’s head for a minute, I’m pretty sure what happened is this. YSH as the 2nd lead was too good for his own good. He was pushing the 1st lead MYC into the dust. So producers probably turned around and said, that’s it, time to turn him psycho.
I’m so used to those sudden changes in characters, I was wondering when it would happen to my beloved ‘David’ from the JGS mess, Pretty Boy. Thankfully it didn’t.
But to defend Writernim’s action this time, the meltdown was not a surprise to me. That kid was psycho from the beginning when he caused the father’s accident. Remember that? He did everything to to keep the girl by his side. He had her trapped in that mansion. He was manipulative and domineering in his own sweet way. At least in my eyes. It was only a matter of time before he snapped when MYC came into the picture and found her again. I got that impression from the beginning. But YSH is not a bias of mine, so I really wasn’t swayed by his charms.
Hee. I’m glad you like the last pic of YSH. He may be young, but boy has one of the most old-soul intent smoldery gazes that I’ve seen, and I can’t wait to see what he brings to our screens as he makes that transition from boy-man to All Man. ;D
Great point, about his character having had a psycho streak from the beginning. Darn. Why’d they have to make him a psycho? Coz I was happy to look past all the heavy-handed pain and angst (and conveniently forget about past psychotic actions by his younger self!) as long as YSH’s character got some swoony screen-time. Much as I also like Yoo Chun, it just wasn’t enough to keep me afloat when everyone on the show started crying so much. That, and they also gave Yoo Chun bad hair in the later half of the show. (See, look at me being all shallow again! XD )
I lost track while reading momentarily ooh-ing and aah-ing over the YSH screenshots!! You know, you have been long forgiven for bailing!! You made up for it good with SKKS which gave us adequate (and much more warranted) squee time for Yoochun! In addition to SO MUCH more (thank you Song Joong Ki and Yoo Ah In).
Your points here are well taken and true. I don’t know why I hung in here for this one. I guess it is my overall stubborn nature…once I started, I felt I had to finish but I was certainly screaming and throwing things at my screen by the final ep. The writers did not treat Harry Borrison well, but those early eps with him and YEH…….definite swoon material. So happy he has completed his MS and is coming back to us!!! Yippeeeee!!!
Thank you for writing this…now let’s both forget we watched it!^^
Hee. YSH really does look dreamy in some of those screenshots, doesn’t he? He totally is the reason that I made it as far as I did. And SKKS!! Gosh that was SO MUCH FUN! So much cracktastic, swoony FUN. I still hope to write a review for SKKS – I just have too many reviews that I want to write! 😛
You were a total trooper, sticking with this show to the bitter end. After you told me the details around the ending, I actually went and watched the last episode – well, most of it anyway – and it’s as crazy as you described! That’s when I thought, “Gosh, now I’m SO glad I dropped this one!” XD
Yes, so glad YSH’s done with MS and is already preparing his comeback project! It’s been long enough; I’m ready for some fresh smolder from YSH! 😉