POV: 12 thoughts I had while watching Park Bo Young’s Our Unwritten Seoul!

Our Unwritten Seoul is a heartfelt love letter to the city and anyone who is struggling to keep their life on-track in the form of a K-drama!

Our Unwritten Seoul, directed by Park Shin-Woo revolves around identical twin sisters Mi-Rae and Mi-Ji. Mi-Rae is the star of the family who does everything by the book. But when she is on the verge of an emotional breakdown, the two sisters decide to swap their lives for a few weeks, just like they did when they were kids. Thus, begins a series of mishaps, setting things straight, forming new relationships and adjusting into each other’s lives! The series stars the powerhouse of talent, Park Bo-Young who plays a double role in the show. Alongside her is Park Jin-Young from GOT7. The K-pop Idol turned actor plays her love interest Ho-Su. Ryu-Kyung-Soo, Jang Young-Nam, Im Chul-Soo and Kim Sun-Young also play other pivotal roles in the film. The twelve episode series feels like a hug on a rainy day and is sure to bring out varied emotions out of you. Some happy and some that you will resonate with a lot!

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For instance, here’s everything it left me thinking about!

The scene where the twins switch places was impactful to say the least but was I the only one who thought of Seeta aur Geeta in that moment?

Mi-Ji’s idea to switch places with her twin sister so she gets a break from work is the scene that makes or breaks the entire show and just the sheer impact of that scene has me sobbing! But in that moment, I was instantly reminded of Hema Malini’s iconic film ‘Seeta Aur Geeta’ where she plays twin sisters who swap places as well. While both stories are polar opposites from each other, the core of switching places, living each other’s lives and eventually falling in love with your sister’s friend remains intact and serves as an interesting plotline!

Mi-Rae’s daily hustle life and eventual burnout hits too close to home!

Even though Mi-Rae landed herself a job at a top corporate firm, the life there wasn’t what she always imagined it to be. Soon enough, that became her entire world and she constantly came home late, leading to an insane burnout that she just could not handle anymore. While it’s not to this extent, all of us have often prioritized work above health or personal life which has led to a burnout that we could no longer ignore. Mi-Rae’s story feels like a hug to everyone who's just trying to survive each day in the adult world and works as a reminder that it is okay to take it slow!

While Mi-Rae represents every elder sibling who has the pressure to be good, Mi-Ji represents every younger sibling who just goes with the flow!

Mi-Rae and Mi-Ji’s similarities starts and ends with them being identical twins. When it comes to their personalities, the two sisters are absolutely different from each other. Mi-Rae is the classic example of the eldest child who has the pressure to be the best, be it the top student in school, or landing herself a dreamy job in Seoul and provide for the family, she had to do it all! Because of this Mi-Ji has the liberty to take it slow and live her life the way she wants. Whether it is taking up jobs that pay her by the day or staying with her mom and helping around the house, she had a little more freedom when it came to her time management. Their polar opposite lives is what made the switch so interesting in the first place!

Seoul from Mi-Ji’s eyes felt so refreshing!

After the switch, Mi-Ji was experiencing Seoul for the first time and she sure had a list of her own. Her excitement of eating Ramyeon at Han River or exploring different neighborhoods like Ikseon-Dong in Seoul along with Ho-Su only made me miss my good old days in Seoul! No matter how tough it got for her there, her love for the place never died down and the way she let the city accept her back totally justified why the Korean title for the show is called ‘Mi-Ji’s Seoul’

Kim Ro-Sa’s character feels like a love letter to everyone who struggles with asking for help!

As someone who personally struggles with watching elderly people suffer on-screen, Kim Ro-Sa’s entire story just tugged at my heart. She was a woman who survived abuse, somehow lived her life all these years without being able to read due to her dyslexia and even went to jail so her only best friend could have a better life. After all of this, she finally found her footing with her restaurant only to be harassed by Mi-Rae’s corporate firm into selling it for their benefit. Because of her traumatic past, she found it difficult to trust anyone but here’s when Mi-ji and Ho-Su came into the picture and went above and beyond to help her out. The look on her face when she realizes she has people who have her back and will help her out no matter what is so precious! While most of us believe we can do everything by ourselves, it’s okay to stop and ask for help when it gets too overwhelming!

Lee Ho-Su is yet another K-drama green flag we didn’t know we needed!

Lee Ho-Su loved Mi-Ji since day 1 of moving to the house next to her when they were teens. Her constant support and infectious energy healed him in a way that he thought he never could. When Mi-Ji and Mi-Rae make the switch and Mi-Ji moves to Seoul, he was one of the first few people she meets there. Even though he could tell that the sisters had switched places from very early on, he let Mi-Ji take her time and reveal that to him. His love for her is gentle yet thoughtful and he is an acts of service guy through and through! Be it waiting for her post work, giving her piggy back rides when she was tired or giving her the sweetest confession, he was too good to be true!

Beon Hong and Ok-Hui’s character arcs are reminders that this is our parents’ first life too!

Ok-Hui is tough on Mi-Rae and Mi-Ji because her own mother barely tried to understand her or showed emotions. Beon-Hong left her entire family to raise Ho-Su, who isn’t even her biological son. The two were navigating motherhood in a way that they have never got to experience in their life and it does make you stop and think maybe that’s all moms out there? And maybe we should cut them some slack sometimes. Even though Ok-Hui was constantly hard on herself for not being able to tell her twins apart even though she is their mother and Beon-Hong just tried too hard for Ho-Su to never feel like she isn’t his real mom, the two were still perfect in their own way and in the unique friendship they shared!

Sometimes you find love when you’re least expecting it!

Mi-Rae went back home and started working at the strawberry farm with really no goal in mind. But not only did she fall in love with farming, she also met a man like Hang Se-Jin who liked her for who she is. He recognized her strengths and encouraged her to build on that and was kinder to her flaws. He gave her room to make errors and not be the best for once, which was an alien yet calming feeling for her!

Standing up to workplace bullying is crucial even if it feels like the end of the world!

The kind of workplace bullying and sexual harassment that Mi-Rae went through added to her eventually wanting to run away from her problems and making the switch. Even though she filed complaints for all of it, she withdrew as she did not feel heard or respected which is the story for most victims today! Standing up to bullies at work, which is the place you spend the most amount of time at is the need of the hour, even if it requires one to have difficult conversations. 

Lee Cheung-Gu, Ho-Su and Kim Ro-Sa were all well fleshed out characters that went beyond just their disabilities!

Lee Cheung-Gu had a walking disability which is why he used the wheel chair most of the time. But his character was never about that at all. He was a fierce lawyer at a top law firm who made sure his clients won their cases by hook or by crook. He was righteous yet evil when he had to be and his arc was never built around his disability. Similarly, Ho-Su's hearing impairment wasn’t the only focus of his arc. His morals and ethics at work as a lawyer, his love for Mi-Ji and his relationship with his mother came way above his sudden hearing loss even though he was insecure about it. Kim Ro-Sa’s dyslexia also did not stop us from seeing her as a strong old lady who is fighting the bad guys while making a living for herself. The makers don’t use disability as a reason to lure the audiences in, in fact they prove that these characters are more than just that!

It’s never too late to start over!

Both Mi-Rae and Mi-Ji find what they actually like doing by the end of the show and start all over again to flourish their new career paths. Be it Mi-Rae studying about farming or Mi-Ji finally going to college, both sisters comfort you by showing that there is no time cap for starting over!

Park Bo-Young has hit it out of the park yet again!

Park Bo-Young, as Mi-Rae and Mi-Ji, convinces you that they're played by two different people. Her beat for playing both of these characters is so different that it constantly makes you wonder how she has pulled off playing two characters with such different schemes of emotions. She dials it down as the burdened and done and dusted Mi-Rae and has a burst of expressions as the happy-go-lucky Mi-Ji. After this, I guess it is safe to say that there is no such thing as a bad Park Bo-Young performance!

Have you watched the series yet? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

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