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2.2 - Episode 2 of It's Okay to Not Be Okay

In this episode, we recap and analyze episode 2 of It’s Okay to Not Be Okay, the hit K Drama on Netflix from 2020. Sang Tae attends a book signing by Meun Young and gets in trouble when he touches a kid wearing a dinosaur costume. Gang Tae comes to his rescue and Meun Young intervenes, causing a huge scene when she gets mad at the child’s parents. While waiting for Sang Tae to calm down, Meun Young asks Gang Tae to be her safety pin. She ends up pushing a book critic, further jeopardizing her career. We also find out that Gang Tae and Sang Tae’s mother was murdered and Sang Tae says it was the butterfly that killer her. Jae-soo and Gang Tae realize it’s time to move again, before the butterflies appear. Sung Hee comes back as our guest!

We do a recap of the show, and then we dive deep into the episode. We talk about our first impressions of the show and what we loved about the first episode. We discuss:


  • The song Breathe by Sam Kim, a Korean-American singer, songwriter, producer and guitarist.

  • What we thought of this episode.

  • The children’s story in this episode, namely the Girl with the Red Shoes by Hans Christian Anderson.

  • Obsession and what things in the show cannot be separated.

  • How we see the world through San Tae’s eyes as he is walking toward the book signing.

  • How Gang Tae, Sang Tae and Mun Yeoung are all distorted in their emotional reactions to the world around them.

  • What we think the butterflies mean.

  • What we know about the Moon brothers’ mom being murdered.

  • How we learn more about Meun Young, specifically about her parents.

  • How Meun Young seems to get herself in trouble when Gang Tae is around.

  • How Meun Young debated whether or not to help Gang Tae when they were little kids, and at the book signing.

  • The triangles forming between the characters.

  • The K Drama elements we see in this episode, and there are a lot of them.

  • Our favorite Meun Young outfit.

  • Our favorite lines from the episode.

  • Kim Soo Hyun, his career, his military service, and how he decided on It’s Okay to Not Be Okay as his comeback show.

  • How the South Korean parliament is considering a law that would allow internationally recognized K Pop stars to complete their military service in just three weeks.


References:


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K Drama Chat is a weekly podcast where we take one Korean (K) Drama each season and and recap and analyze each episode. K Drama Chat is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and Stitcher.

Comments

  1. AnonymousApril 2, 2025 at 4:36 PM

    I really liked your takes on the inseparable things referring to the tale of the girl with the red shoes. Also I enjoyed your analysis of the relationship of Gang Tae and Sang Tae and how all of the main characters are distorted in their emotional reactions. You're acknowledging their different behaviours and Sang Tae's autism without playing it down or being disrespectful which is an important criteria in my opinion.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Joanna PinedaSeptember 4, 2025 at 8:33 PM

      Hi Anonymous. Thank you for your comments. We absolutely adore this show and appreciate that you think we're discussing Sang Tae's autism with respect. We think Oh Jung Se did a phenomenal job with this role!

      Also, in Season 12 of K Drama Chat, we are covering Extraordinary Attorney Woo. We hope you are joining us for that show! Attorney Woo is amazing!

      Delete

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