First of all, in every role, Woo Do-Hwang is pure K-Drama candy. And in Mr. Plankton he's at his absolute best. Here, he plays Hae Jo: a young man who's dying from a rare, incurable, brain disease and who kidnaps his ex wife Jae-mi (Lee Yoo-mi Squid Game) on her (second) wedding day to take her with him on his last journey and quest to find his biological (sperm donor) father. The two then take us on a ten-episode, literal emotional-roller-coaster ride filled with fun, comedic antics, joy, sorrow, and the kind of love and despair that can only be shared between two people who have felt cruelly abandoned most of their lives. The other cast of characters are all wonderful, and it was especially delightful to see Kim Hae-sook (the grandmother in No Gain No Love) in her role as the stern, rigid-on-the-outside-but soft-inside heiress to an old Korean family whose main mission in life is to continue the family line through her weak but lovable son, Eo Heung (Oh Jung-se of It's Okay to Not Be Okay.) Even Mr Sunglasses (my name for him) (John Na, played by Alex Landi) steals every scene with such heart without saying hardly a word. All the characters were brilliantly cast and directed. Like any good story about a journey, this is an Oddysey of its own where the spectators are urged to look deeper and see that best life lived is the one that teaches you that the best parts of it were really beautiful-regardless of how small a part it was (plankton.)
This is one of the more philosophical KDramas where metaphor provides meaning where language fails (like plankton as the tiniest source of light and life-giving food and oxygen: something seemingly insignificant as in one, short, disregarded life that is still a source of light and life. So many scenes repeat this unspoken theme like snow seen through the condensation forming on a car window, or the Milky Way far above a couple exploring their love for each other again, or aquarium dust floating in illuminated water...all eerily resembling plankton and reminding us of the tiniest of life that is everywhere in seemingly different forms and mostly unseen, unnoticed. What a beautiful way to convey that life is always taking on different forms, even when we cannot see it. Such symbolism is brilliantly hopeful for anyone who ponders about death and wonders just how life goes on beyond death (and even before life.)
Even though I couldn't find his music in most playlists for this drama, Junha Park (who sounds so much like Damien Rice) has two songs that play often during the most moving of scenes and so deserves special attention here. The rest of the OST that makes the official list is good too. 9/10 from me on this one and well deserved! 10/10 for the acting and directing!
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