Lee Jong Suk Marathon: Phase 2, I Hear Your Voice

Confession time: I'd heard so much in praise of I Hear Your Voice I was skeptical. The components seemed a little odd, and I can often find these teenager/adult relationships off-putting unless I seriously adjust my lens.

Guess who was wonderfully surprised?

Spoilers under the cut.





OHMYGOD LEE JUNG SEOK COULD YOU BE ANY CUTER?

No. Clearly. The answer is that it's impossible. Because as the bleeding heart mindreader/highschooler Park Su Ha, madly in love with the noona who helped convict his father's murderer, the anguish-ridden adorableness hit max levels.



The first half of the show mostly revolves around her public defender case-of-the-week crime solving. It's a bit obvious, but it serves the purpose of teaching our characters the various shades and meanings of justice It also means he gets to help her with his mind-reading powers, which means flirting and longing gazes, sooo...I really have no objection.



And, of course, it means they develop a closeness.

One of the best things about this show is that Park Su Ha idealizes Jang Hye Seong his entire childhood, just to meet her and realize precisely how different reality is from daydreams. She's a slob, with a high opinion of herself and a chip on her shoulder. She's difficult and cranky and completely 4-D with no time  for his little boy fantasies.

So he learns to love the real her, with all her flaws and wonders. This is how love stories should be done.

 She's hesitant about him, of course-- she hates that he reminds her of a traumatic incident in her past, and she doesn't run around seeking extra responsibility of her life. Plus, he's an inconvenient extra prod at her sleepy conscience.

But before she knows it, she cares about him. She looks out for him (sometimes to his dismay, because he wants to be the protector), and worries about his choices.



And in the end, they make each other better people. It's probably one of the best love stories I've seen in that regard, because isn't that the point of love? Being with someone who makes you the best version of yourself?

The half way point changed the direction of the story. It went from lesson-a-week/little boy crushes to big decisions/questions about morality/how to deal with loving someone you're afraid of losing.

Which was both a good development, but also got a little repetitive, with the same notes being hit over and over again (the grave danger of all kdramas that few escape it seems). 

Like I said, adult/teen relationships aren't always my thing, but this was handled in a great way, because part of the story was how much he wanted to grow up to be a man...someone worthy of her. It's a joy to watch him trying to find how adulthood fits him, playing dress up.









This drama did mostly avoid the drag of the usual trope though, God help us, there was amnesia. But the thing is, it was so well done! Never thought I'd see the day. When our cocky young hero with superpowers becomes a scared normal boy uncertain what he's capable of, the relationship gets to go through an interesting maturing phase. Plus, our heroine had to finally face the feelings she'd been denying because how do you abandon someone who needs you so badly?




And they didn't let it overstay its welcome so we could back to the dynamic  we really loved. Goofy, charming, electric. With some real honesty finally in place.

 Which meant more relationship development! Who doesn't love that??

The main plot of the drama has a lot of other things going on--there's a murderer, and a few secrets, and  the big question about the right or wrong of revenge. And it's all fun. It's all good.



But the strength of this show will always be Park Su Ha and Jang Hye Song. How could it be otherwise?



Final verdict: Charmingly excellent, though it suffered from its two episode extension

Lee Jong Suk verdict: He hits his stride with this character, giving him a vivid heart and soul.

(all pictures courtesy of Dramabeans)