[HanCinema's Drama Review] "That Man Oh Soo" Episode 11

The affected voice Oh Soo talks with now is starting to drive me crazy. It makes him sound weirdly effeminate. Although that's really just part and parcel for Oh Soo's whole personality change, wherein he is just too unconditionally nice and lovey-dovey all the time. That's not romantic, it's just corny. Romances are effective because we see characters get together in spite of their flaws, and even loving each other all the more because of them. Now? Oh Soo has no flaws, and is even explicitly described as virginal. Now there's an odd trait for a leading man.

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Yet another romantic subplot between Ga-na and Hyo-jin underscores this, as a flashback to what happened in the hotel room briefly manages to be interesting. There, we see Ga-na and Hyo-jin's flaws in full force. Ga-na behaves like a blunt, dorky child, while Hyo-jin is both standoffish and needy. Neither of them are especially likable, yet in that moment, both are surprisingly sympathetic. They feel human.

But there's a good reason I describe that scene as being only briefly interesting. Instead of going the tried comedy route of giving us an non-intuitive explanation as to how Ga-na came to be naked that also explains his weird head wound, writer Jung Yoo-seon just has that scene play out in pretty much the same way as had already been implied. What a missed opportunity! Although it's kind of late to be starting a subplot like that anyway.

Not that any other plots have really started. While we get a brief recap of what Oh Soo's magic tea powers do and their limitations, we still don't know why he has them, what their purpose is, and how it relates to the magic tree. Worse, the night stalker storyline calls attention to the fact that Oh Soo could use these powers to solve mysteries, which is relevant since his girlfriend is a cop. But alas, a lack of motivation just leaves Oh Soo looking like an overly jealous boyfriend.

We are maybe finally getting to some plot, though, since this episode features the implication that Yoo-ri's nosebleeds are actually related to that time she drank Oh Soo's magic tea without permission. I expected at the time that Yoo-ri's impulsive decision to drink that tea was going to be the driver to the whole main storyline, but this plot point was never followed up on. Well, better late than never I guess.

Review by William Schwartz

"That Man Oh Soo" is directed by Nam Gi-hoon, written by Jung Yoo-seon, and features Lee Jong-hyun, Kim So-eun, Kang Tae-oh, Heo Jung-min.

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