Our Unwritten Seoul: Episodes 1-2 » Dramabeans

Our Unwritten Seoul: Episodes 1-2

by quirkycase

When a pair of identical twin sisters find themselves struggling in their 30s, they decide to live as each other for a much needed reset. It might be an over-the-top premise, but the drama is grounded by our lovable, polar opposite twins who find themselves questioning the choices that have led them to the present. If only we all could pull off a twin swap for some perspective.

 
EPISODES 1-2

I’ve been excited about this drama since I first heard about it. A healing twin swap with the Park Bo-young at the helm alongside Jinyoung? I was so ready, and the first episodes didn’t disappoint. We’ve got a great cast of characters with depth, a lovely sisterly bond, and a fun premise. It’s a promising start!

At the heart of the story are identical twin sisters YOO MI-JI and YOO MI-RAE (both played by Park Bo-young) who, on the surface, couldn’t be more different. And those differences take them on separate journeys as they grow up. The serious, studious Mi-rae went to university in Seoul on scholarship, later landing a coveted, well-paying corporate job. Mi-ji, on the other hand, works part-time and contract gigs after a brief claim to fame as a rising track star in high school (she had to quit due to injury).

There’s a clear narrative of Mi-rae being the good twin while Mi-ji is the disappointment. Mom KIM OK-HEE (Jang Young-nam) seems embarrassed by Mi-ji who lives in Mi-rae’s shadow. Mi-ji may not live up to expectations, but we quickly see her kind and loyal nature. She turns down an opportunity to make her current temp job permanent since it would mean pushing out the woman who is on temporary leave. When her beloved halmoni KANG WOL-SOON (Cha Mi-kyung) fell ill, Mi-ji is the one who stepped up to care for her, choosing to forgo college.

Without a degree, Mi-ji is stuck taking whatever odd jobs she can find, often multiple at once. She may have a naturally upbeat personality, but there’s only so much derision and comparison to your perfect sister you can take before it gets to you. Mi-ji smiles and acts unbothered most of the time, but she can’t help feeling pathetic when her mom harps on her for being a lay about while Mi-rae sends back money to take care of the family.

Mi-ji’s emotional labor is clearly not as valued by their mother. Ok-hee has been the family breadwinner their whole lives, while their father (who passed when the twins were young) was a stay-at-home dad. Mi-ji inherited their father’s warm personality while Mi-rae takes after their mother’s sense of duty and financial responsibility.

Mi-rae is the beloved neighborhood success story, alongside LEE HO-SOO (Jinyoung), a lawyer for a big firm in Seoul. He grew up with the twins, and despite a rocky start with Mi-ji, became friends with both. Mi-ji may be warm, but she’s also impulsive and can be thoughtless. At first, she didn’t realize Ho-soo suffered hearing loss after a bad car accident (that also left him with severe burns on half of his body), and she assumed he was ignoring her on purpose. After they both realized the other wasn’t being mean intentionally, they became friends. Mi-ji appears to have long had a crush on him, and it’s possible he reciprocates, but he’s reserved enough it’s ambiguous.

Despite Mi-rae’s outward success, she’s overworked and stressed to the point of depression. Mi-rae stood beside a wronged and bullied coworker as a whistleblower, which has made her work life miserable for the past year. Now, Mi-rae has cut everyone off – even Mi-ji hasn’t seen her in over a year. But when Ho-soo says he ran into Mi-rae and she seemed unwell, Mi-ji makes a trip to visit her.

Mi-rae tries to hide it, but she’s very clearly not okay. She casually talks about jumping off a building (not to die, just to get hurt enough to get out of work) and then leaves when Mi-ji is in the bathroom. Mi-ji finds her actually about to jump from her 3rd floor apartment and grabs her. They both fall, but thankfully neither is hurt. The scare is enough to launch Mi-ji into action. She convinces Mi-rae to revert to an old trick of theirs: swap places like when they were kids and compensated for each other’s weaknesses.

After one episode, I already love these sisters. Park Bo-young is killing it, as I had no doubt she would, making Mi-rae and Mi-ji feel real and likable while being incredibly different people. I love the bond between the sisters; it’s understated but steely. They may not always be close or have a showy kind of love, but they’ll never let each other struggle alone.

Switching places when you’re 10 might be a cinch, but it’s a little tougher when you’re 30. Mi-ji assures her worried sister she won’t stir up trouble, but her impulsive and honest personality isn’t built for corporate power plays. She immediately falls into a trap at work and ends up accepting the impossible task of convincing a stubborn restaurant owner to sell so they can move forward with redevelopment.

Not that Mi-rae is doing much better back home. She fills in for Mi-ji at her new gig at a strawberry farm for quirky farm owner HAN SE-JIN (Ryu Kyung-soo). The fact that she has no idea how to farm or how to relax makes her new role more challenging than expected. Se-jin wants her to take initiative as an “experienced” farm hand and do things her own way, but corporatized Mi-rae is lost without instructions. She barely lasts a couple of weeks before berating him for setting her up for failure and quitting.

Even with vastly different personalities, Mi-ji and Mi-rae mostly get away with the switch. (I guess it’s more natural to assume someone is having an off day than that they’ve switched lives with their twin.) But there are two people who have always been able to tell Mi-ji and Mi-rae apart: Halmoni and Ho-soo. Halmoni knows Mi-rae immediately when she arrives instead of Mi-ji, something even their mother hasn’t noticed.

In Seoul, Mi-ji runs into Ho-soo and learns that his law firm was involved in the whistleblowing case that Mi-rae dropped. When he mentions something about sexual harassment, Mi-ji worries that there’s more to the story than what Mi-rae told her. Mi-ji manages to (barely) emulate her sister enough to trick Ho-soo the first time, but she can’t hide her natural enthusiasm for long.

When he asks to meet again and apologizes for his unwitting role in getting Mi-rae to drop the case, Mi-ji gets a call from the restaurant owner offering to meet. She’s ecstatic after over a week of getting salt thrown at her every time she showed up, and her giddiness is very un-Mi-rae. We end the week as Ho-soo calls her out, recognizing her as Mi-ji.

I have to say, the twins are pretty bad at this whole swapping thing. You’d think they’d make more of an effort to act like each other, but they’re really just relying on the fact that they look identical to sell it. I don’t think Halmoni or Ho-soo will out their ruse, though. In fact, it might be useful to have someone in on it to help them navigate their roles since the twins haven’t spent much time together in recent years.

Already, the twins are learning more about themselves and each other by swapping places. And living as each other frees them up to say and do things they wouldn’t ordinarily. This plan might be about saving Mi-rae, but Mi-ji is struggling too, even if she doesn’t show it. She’s known as “Yoo Candy” throughout the neighborhood for her unfailing cheer and optimism no matter the hardship, but as Mi-rae notes, no one can actually be happy all the time. Mi-rae has the drive and direction Mi-ji lacks to make a change in her life, and Mi-ji has the boldness and confidence to assert herself rather than endure like Mi-rae. Shaking things up is exactly what they both need, and I’m excited to see what’s in store for them.

I like all the side characters as well, although we don’t yet know much about Se-jin other than that he’s a bit of an oddball. He has a carefree personality, but he’s serious about his work. His more leisurely pace could be good for Mi-rae who is so exhausted and needs to find balance in her life. I’m assuming they’ll get a romance, but it’s too early to get a sense of their dynamic. I am, however, already rooting for Mi-ji and Ho-soo who share a kind-heartedness yet have very different ways of approaching life. He’s more like Mi-rae with his seriousness and drive, but he seems to appreciate Mi-ji for who she is without looking down on her for her choices. He too is struggling to find balance in his life, conflicted between his own sense of justice and his job that requires winning for his clients no matter what. It looks like everyone is in need of some healing, and our twin swap might just be the answer all around.

 
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