This review may contain spoilers
If I hadn’t known and loved Choi Woo-Shik I probably would’ve never knew of this drama nor would I have cared to watch it.
This drama was everything I didn’t expect an Asian drama to have, the topics that were brought into question and talked about is rarely seen in Asian dramas, if ever. I think that Hogu’s Love stands out for that reason alone and I find myself relating to the show better because they cover issues of homosexuality, sexual assault, sex protection and single motherhood. That said, I may have not been through any of those big issues but it happens in our world today, these problems occur everywhere so I enjoy the realism and the awareness spread.
Initially, I didn’t see the plot going anywhere after Do Hee has the baby and Ho Goo tries to figure out who the father is until a big, amazing plot twist happened. Ho Goo suspects an old classmate from high school, a smart man known as Byun Kang Chul who was the school president who had a relationship with Do Do Hee and is now a successful lawyer. I have never seen so much misunderstanding of more than one situation in my life until I watched Byun Kang Chul’s involvement with Kang Ho Goo and Do Do Hee and that is what made me continue watching the show, there were backstories within these characters that are vaguely explained and I wanted to find out more about them because they were like mysteries that I needed to solve because it affected the plot and the characters’ feelings that came to be.
Our lead character, Kang Ho Goo has a heart that is obese, his absolute kindness to others and altruism tends to be taken for granted or taken advantage of. He’s weak in independence, he puts everything on the line for Do Hee throughout the series and is willing to take care of her and her baby. All that went through my mind was how pitiful the guy was, I pitied him so much to the point where it hurt. They purposefully made his character that way, Ho Goo was not meant to be a strong and independent protagonist, his personality takes after his own name, Fool. But I like him. I actually love this aspect of Ho Goo because everyone has a Ho Goo in their life, someone who’s always foolishly taken for granted or advantaged of, or lacks strength in dating. I enjoy that connection to the character. Ho Goo is very fun to watch, he’s feels like a friend to the viewer.
I want to mention that Choi Woo-shik was a perfect casting choice for Ho Goo, his physical appearance suited the role best and his acting was spot on with expressing a different side to Ho Goo of confrontation and honestly that shapes his character to be more than just a one dimensional fool.
Uee’s acting really sparks in this role as a young pregnant single mother, she did a great job on representing Do Hee’s personal afflictions as she doesn’t smile and speaks with a monotone voice as if all colour was drained out of her. I did have a difficult time relating to her though, I think that’s one problem with her character but I still liked watching her. The chemistry between Ho Goo was depicted as a lost love, it was as if their relationship was already built and now they just needed to revise it. It might have needed a bit more development for the viewers to see, I myself wanted to see more build up.
Byun Kang Chul, played by Lim Seulong, stole my attention and the show as a whole throughout the middle to end of the drama. His character was very interesting, he came off as cold, arrogant, and skeptical; I liked the depth within his character as his insecurities unfolded and his personal confessions were made, I was very immersed with him and I really cared about him. Even as an adult, throughout the drama he continued to go through a unique self discovery, (when you watch the show or if you watched it you would understand what I mean by ‘unique’). His relationship with Ho Goo’s sister Ko-Kyung was more developed than the two main leads, there was realization that came into Byun Kang Chul’s relationship that made it grow.
There is too much to say about Hogu’s Love even without spoiling it, one last thing I wanted to talk to share was how my eyes watered and I shed a tear during a certain scene in one of the last episodes where Ho Goo was telling Do Hee not to feel any guilt for what happened in her past and with her baby and reassured her that she doesn’t have to apologize all the time; something about the topic really hit me and I’ve never cried while watching a K Drama before.
Hogu’s Love has it’s flaws like every drama with one big plot hole that still bothers me (I cannot say it because it is a spoiler) but it can be overlooked, it really depicts certain morals and social norms of Korean society which makes an interesting subplot. I enjoyed the main characters without a doubt and was invested in their problems and wanted to know the outcome of it all as their issues were gradually growing. There was good comic relief in Ho Goo’s friends as well, I enjoyed every scene with them as well as Ko-Kyung interacting with her parents and drinking with her friends.
Hogu’s Love is a very interesting drama I must say with vulnerable and intense topics and themes that I haven’t seen in any Korean drama yet, it has a good balance of humour, drama and romance. It’s definitely worth watching, if you love plot twists and want to watch a drama without an actual love triangle (you will understand what I mean when you watch it) then this is your kind of show then.
Hogu’s Love deserves an 8.5/10
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