Dear. M 디어엠
KBS2 (2021-22) 12 One Hour Episodes
College Drama / Romance Grade: B+
Korean Drama Fan Review by Winnie, USA
~~~~~~~~~~~
This
nice college drama, Dear. M, felt just about
perfect at only twelve episodes. Any longer and it
would have overstayed its welcome. I loved the young
cast, especially the two leads, Park Hye Soo (who
played the young Saimdang in 2017's Saimdang,
Light's Diary), and new to acting NCT
boy idol Jeong Jae Hyun, who reminded me a lot of a
young Seung Hun Song in appearance. They were really
sweet together and I enjoyed both their performances a
lot. I loved watching how their relationship developed
from friendship into love. The Korean entertainment
world is really good at featuring these kinds of
developing platonic love relationships.
There was some controversy that developed over this
planned drama, a spin off of an earlier drama called Love
Playlist, which I did not watch. Just as the
drama was supposed to start in 2021 some former
elementary school classmates of the leading lady Park
Hye Soo came forward and accused her of bullying them
while they were all in school together. The
accusations were most likely false, since text
messages the girls exchanged with one another at the
time didn't prove any fighting, and the drama went
ahead and premiered in 2022. (Text messages
revealed here).
It's really not fair for people to come forward with a
decade old tale of supposed bullying right when a
star's new drama is about to premiere. Why didn't they
say something earlier in her career if it was
true?
Leading Lady Park Hye Soo
in Saimdang, Light's Diary and Dear. M
Leading Man Jeong Jae Hyun His Acting Debut in Dear. M
The Story:
The gossip
chain is set abuzz on a college campus when an anonymous
love confession is posted on Seoyeon University's public
web forum. All the college students wonder who the
"secret admirer" could be, and who the object of their
affection could be. Ma Joo Ah (Park Hye Soo) is majoring
in business and interacts with the computer majors a lot
because of her long time friend Cha Min Ho (Jeong Jae
Hyun), who is a computer major. They have been best
friends for twelve years but the audience definitely can
sense that Min Ho might want something more. Joo Ah's
ultimate dream is to become a sports' announcer, and she
even gets a chance to audition for an important job,
although the opportunity falls flat because she has no
experience, only ambition.
Joo Ah has never had a
romantic relationship but develops her first crush on
one of the boys in Min Ho's major, and gets Min Ho to
reluctantly play wing-man, causing jealousy in him for
the first time. Seo Ji Min (Roh Jeong Eui) is one of Joo
Ah's roommates and is one half of the "it" couple on
campus. She is beautiful, with many admirers, and is
completely happy in her relationship and dreams of
leading the Cheer Leader squad on campus. She is a
"justice warrior" and has a talent for standing up to
bullies. The third roommate, Hwangbo Young (Woo Da Vi)
is a bit older than the others, and has a very cool,
no-nonsense approach to dating. Her potential partners
either meet her dating expectations right away, or she
quickly moves on. With a lot of dating experience, and
deep insight, she gives advice to others on dating. Park
Ha Neul (Bae Hyun Sung) is Ji Min's devoted boyfriend
and the second half of the campus "it" couple. He is
well liked, personable and goal oriented. Gil Mok Jin
(Lee Jin Hyuk) is a psychology major who actually
struggles to understand the psychology of others. He is
a neat freak who has driven other roommates away in the
past, but finds tolerance and understanding with his
current roomies Ha Neul and Min Ho.
These computer,
economic, psychology and business majors all come
together as roommates, friends, and sometimes more, as
they navigate toward their academic and professional
goals. As they grow closer day by day they soon have a
common goal -- to find out just who wrote this love
confession on the public forum? It's a mystery that
intrigues them and binds them together.
When there
are multiple romances in a K-drama I often find at least
one of them to be tedious, but I liked all of the
romances in Dear. M. I loved all the characters.
The "villains" in this drama were also interesting
because there was some redemption for one of them, and
the other at least never grew worse.
It is a heart warming story and I found myself rooting
for them all in pursuit of their educational and career
goals, in their friendships, and in their romantic
encounters. The "mystery" around who was writing the
letters was also very well executed. Hints were dropped
that would lead you to one or the other and I felt like
it was surprising when there was the "big reveal." I
highly recommend this to anyone who likes coming of age,
heart warming romances, compelling friendships, and the
slice of college life you get in this friendship group.
You can watch Dear. M on Viki.
