A Piece of Your Mind (2020)

I don't know why, but I absolutely loved this. This was definitely a feel good drama.
There's not a lot of tension or misunderstandings going on, no corporate villain or spiteful mother-in-law, no annoyingly over-persistent second lead... Just regular people going through hardships of life, trying to find answers and do the best they can to move on. It felt almost therapeutic, in a way, watching these people finally accept the reality of things and learn to grow from it.

The story really plays on your emotions, and you feel for every single character. No one is black or white, they're all just different shades of faulty human beings. The AI device doesn't really make sense, but it was never intended to and the story doesn't try to make you understand it; there's no scientific lingo to rationalize its existence - it's a fait accompli, we're now living in a world where this exists, and all that's left is to see how it plays out.

My favourite thing, though, was probably the interactions between the main characters. You can tell they really understand and support each other. They follow each other's pace perfectly, and with no unnecessary jealousy or fighting (a few arguments here and there, but reasonable) their relationship simply flows.

Perfectly wrapped up with a bow in 12 episodes, with gorgeous piano tracks throughout.

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If I had to say something straightway after finishing this drama, I would say I regret watching it so quickly. I wish I took my time slowly and digested the show slowly. This might be the first show I’ve watched to where I cried at the end in happiness and also sadness at the same time because I won’t be able to watch this drama anymore. I want to say I wish it had more episodes but that’s just my selfish greed, this show having 12 episode were just perfect in my opinion. From the end of episode 2 when Ji Soo died, from that moment on I knew I had to write a review for this show when I finish it.

First off I want to talk about the overall genre and message the show conveys. It’s basically a show of healing and development by meeting new people and forming new bonds. The relationship between Ha Won and Seo Woo was so therapeutic to watch as they grew closer together gradually and didn’t rush anything, also their chemistry were just perfect. This drama only had a few characters so there were a lot of scenes for Ha Won and Seo Woo and that worked in the shows favour as it doesn’t delve into pointless story arcs and just focuses on its main characters.

With Ha Won Jung Hae In never disappoints, I’ve watched many of his dramas and I honestly love all his roles at this point. Ha Won as a character was very pitiful at first since he was in pain a lot and didn’t in particularly have anyone there for him since Ji Soo didn’t reciprocate his feelings back and also wouldn’t talk to him due to her guilt. When Ha Won meets Seo Woo his whole world changed you could say, his slow developing relationship with her saved him and healed his wounds per say. Ha Won as a character, we didn’t really see him cry that much, I probably cried more than him watching the drama. When Ji Soo died he didn’t even have a massive cry until a lot later down the line in which just shows that as a person he likes to suppress himself and act strong.

Chae Soo Bin did just perfect with Seo Woo, I really like the way they portrayed her throughout the show. She was the opposite of Ha Won in the fact that she is so open about her feelings and tells them straight out. There was honestly not a time to where I didn’t not like a decision she made in the show. Just like Ha Won, she was hurting from her past trauma because of the fire that killed her parents. She was able to confront that trauma because she knew that she had someone besides her which was Ha Won and they both relied on each other a lot through out the show.

The thing I liked the best about this show was honestly the relationship between Ha Won and Seo Woo. The way they slowly began to like each other and became each other’s bandage was amazing to watch. Out of all the melodramas I have watched I liked this couple the best when it comes to the theme of healing and self worth. You could see how much they loved each other just from how affectionate they were, they didn’t need to kiss all the time like in some other dramas. In this one all they needed was to be in each other’s presence and support each other when they needed it.

The device that Ha Won made actually has quite a lot of meaning to it once you realise what the response feature it. The way to get it to have a response feature was to say the thing in which saved that person from their rock bottom. With Ha Won, it was thunder because every time it would be thunder and lightning his mum would play the piano to calm him down and that’s what saved him. For Ji Soo it was the fact of a one sided love, In Wook’s one sided love saved her. With Seo Woo it was Mr.Dawn which was Ha Woo, they first met without knowing that Ha Woo was Ha Woo. She simply knew him as Mr.Dawn and his presence saved him and once Mr.Dawn become Ha Won, they’re relationship started there.

The OST in this drama was pretty standard like nothing stood out but they were good enough to create an atmosphere in scenes enough to make me cry. Honestly when Ji Soo died, it broke my heart because I honestly supported Ji Soo and Ha Won but it was the wrong choice after seeing the whole story and knowing who’s best for who.

If you looking for a drama about healing and character development this show is for you. I’m saying this right now but I will 100% rewatch this show one day because I simply found it a pleasure to watch and I want to see more scenes between Ha Won and Seo Woo so I will deeply miss this drama.

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Tbh, I was not really planning on watching this, however, due to the news of this drama being reduced into twelve episodes instead of the slated sixteen that viewers were left baffled, I got so curious.

Warmth. Yes, that is the best word in the dictionary to describe how I felt seeing the journey of not only Seo Woo’s and Ha Won’s characters but everyone. As what I have shared on my SNS, A Piece of Your Mind is a drama which showcased the humaneness of every character in it. Humans are fragile. We easily get hurt. We stumble, we fall. We experience numerous heartbreaks and loss. Humans feel defeated and feel as if the world has turned its back on you. But at the end of the day, we stand as we fall, we overcome these demons—we move on.

There was no romance on the get-go. There was a process. Seo Woo and Ha Won found comfort on each other’s existence brought by Ji Soo’s passing. Prior to Ji Soo’s passing, both of them have their own baggages; with Seo Woo’s parents death that goes the same with Ha Won’s mom’s death and Ji Soo marrying another man. They became each other’s confidante, and through time, their feelings blossomed. Just like the season when the drama was filmed, they are each other’s spring.

The other side stories also brought warmth: A husband who has not yet moved on from his wife’s passing met another person who was committed to lift everyone whom she thought needed help; a woman in her 50s who has lost her one and only daughter went back to relive the life she had during her early 20s in a homestay where she lived for a brief moment; a friend who has been the pillar of your strength for a long period of time.

The drama did not try to make the relationships of the characters complicated (unlike to what we have been acquainted for several kdramas). I felt the rawness in this. Because for me, I think they portrayed a good depiction of what happens in real life—in a person’s life.

All in all, I enjoyed watching this drama. My personal favorite is the scene where you could feel the comfort best between the two main characters. Yes, I am talking about that scene where Ha Won put his hand on Seo Woo’s nape when he saw her feeling uncomfortable thus kept on scratching. This is a slap to my single lady ass. Lol.

Even more, I was opting not to include this in my review but the cinematography of this drama really needs a commendation. Also, 10/10 for the music.

I am praying for a Soo Bin x Hae In drama reunion because one can’t deny how strong their chemistry is.

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Les bienfaits de la résilience

Ce drama ressemble beaucoup aux dramas axés sur le bien-être que l'on peut atteindre en surmontant ses blessures personnelles, en s'appuyant sur les autres. Il me rappelle beaucoup la série de Taïwan a thousand goodnights ou bien plus récemment if the weather is fine. Toutefois le scénario aurait plutôt pu convenir à un long film de deux heures. C'est donc le réalisateur qui réussit à bonifier chaque épisode par de magnifiques prises de vue. Il traduit finement l'état émotionnel des personnages et il s'appuie beaucoup sur la bande son. Celle-ci est magnifique comme on s'y attend pour un drama où le son et la musique forment l'univers principal des personnages. On reconnaît bien là le talent des producteurs de kdrama et leur maîtrise technique fabuleuse. J'ai été touchée par ces personnages malgré la tonalité triste de l'ensemble. Je recommande pour les images et la musique.

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Should you? Would you? Could you?

You should watch this one (YES! )
You would recommend this to others. (YES!)
You could watch this again. (CAN!)

Ending: Happy

Warning: for those who like fast-paced dramas, this one is not for you. It’s start is v v slow, you want to tear your hair out wondering when the story will start or whether the pace will pick up and then wham! It hooks you in and you get involved in the characters and their pain.
It’s a story about relationships and pain and how the main protagonists overcome their pain and convert it into love for each other. The performances are very good. The lead pair are excellent in their respective roles. The dialogues are so deep. I normally don’t like such slow-paced dramas but this one hooked me and like how. It grows on you as you see it. The best thing they have done is to restrict it to 12 episodes which are appropriate to appreciate it. I would suggest giving it at least 2 episodes before you decide whether you want to watch it or no. It’s a personal choice completely. You may want to chuck it and then come back to it later depending on your mood. Sometimes one just needs to view such dramas to slow down our pace too. Give it a try. You will end up feeling good!

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A Piece of Your Mind had an interesting concept that drug me in because if it wasn't for the AI plotline, I probably would've dropped it pretty early on. The first few episodes are slow and hard to get into.. It felt weird going from basically one love story to another one through the same person. Once the romance starts though, it was easy to watch.

You can never have a romance drama without the murder mystery and this one plays out throughout the whole drama. It's not until the last 3 episodes that everything is answered. The plot twist in this drama was pretty easy to put together early on, but takes the characters the whole series to figure it out and for all the pieces to play out.

I was going to rate this higher than I ended up rating it, but the last episode and the overall start of their relationship or rather the reason, were why I rated it as low as I did. This is one of those dramas that plays out happy the entire time, but then suddenly right at the middle of the episode we have a "breakup" "It's me, not you" "I need time" moment and it really ruined it for me. You then spend the last half of the episode waiting for them to get back together and for it to be happy again. It felt that they had waited for her to realize that their relationship already started on weird foundation too late.. It just really put a damper on the entire thing because I couldn't tell you a reason as to why it needed to happen. Just felt like they needed the extra drama towards the end after the peaceful resolution to the main plot.

Overall, a pretty good watch for the characters, plot, and the short romance you do get to see... the ending just ruins the good that they did have going on.

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အချစ်ဖော်ကျူးထားတာအရမ်ကြိုက်တယ် တိတ်တိလေငေးကြည့်နေရတဲ့အချစ်ရဲ့အရသာ ဇာတ်လမ်းအေးပေမယ့်ဆောင်မှုအရမ်းရှိတယ်ကြပြီးရင်းကြည့်ချင်နေတယ် ဇာတ်လမ်းပြီးသွာတော့ရင်ထဲမှာဟာတာတာနဲ့ ကျန်ခဲ့တယ် အရင်ဇာတ်ညွန်းအတိုင်းအပိုင်း16ထိရိုက်သင့်တာ

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We all love differently. We all cherish things, memories and people differently. We see and feel things differently. Differently, we put great value in things while others don’t or vice versa. That’s what makes us unique from each other, you do things your way and I do things my way. I remember things this way while you grieve that way. This drama is a good contrast of characters, needing someone, loving someone, looking at them from a far and looking at them closely.

Its one of those dramas that you had no plans on watching cause you already had a prejudice about it, that it would be boring. It's those that you never expected are usually gems that really struck you. It's nothing flashy or extravagant but the story and the way the drama made you feel, is what made you love it more.

I don’t watch melodramas for the reasons that I find it a bit dull or slow and requires too much emotional investment. And reading the synopsis for this and watching the trailers, it gave that exact vibe especially with the aesthetic of it all.

STORY
“We all love differently” is a good phrase to summarize the drama. Ha Won and In Wook’s love for Jisoo is different as are Seo Woo’s and Soon Ho’s love.

Ha Won and In Wook’s love for Jisoo and her memories are quite the opposite. Ha Won cherished everything about Jisoo. She was the sunshine on a rainy day, she was the light in a dark room, the fire during winter and the warmth during cold days. She was Ha Won’s rock. He was willing to drop his life for her (he did) and would never regret it.

Ha Won knew his place and never forced her, he waited and waited patiently and even when he realised that she loves someone else, he didn’t argue with it or fought, he respected her decision. Even when their lives moved on Ha Won held on to his love. Even with a tiny memory, he held onto it, he held onto her memories, he held onto her. Having a piece of Ji Soo was enough.

“I only want a small piece of her”

In Wook started loving his wife from afar. He watched her and loved her with all his heart. She was his partner and his other half as he did for her. She was his loving and supporting wife and he cherished and loved her just as much. He didn’t expect though that a past mistake could put a strain to their love and trust. In Wook loved her but his pride got in the way.

He expected her to just accept it and move on and when she didn’t he distanced himself thinking that it was the best way to let her heal. But there was a part of him that hated Ha Won for loving his wife, he was insecure and guilty. Unlike Ha Won, a piece is not enough, he wanted everything from Jisoo.

Seo Woo and Soon Ho both love someone and the way they approach their love was different but still kind of the same. Seo Woo at first just loved Ha Won just like he did for Ji Soo, patiently and quietly but when she saw that he was hurting, she didn’t comfort him with flowering words but rather slapped him with the truth.

While Soon Ho, she stuck on his side despite him pushing her away. She was persistent and that was her charm. She wanted to comfort him by being there she didn’t want him to be swallowed by grief.

His tears give me pain. I want to tell him it’s okay and that he shouldn’t suffer anymore. I want to be able to give strength to my husband. -Ji Soo

Seo Woo had a question that I really liked and Eun Joo’s answer was even better.

Is one percent potential or false hope?If you think, “I have a whole percent” it’s potentialIf you think “I only have one percent” it's a false hope

I love the idea of viewing one thing differently. Depending on how you see it, it can be a good thing or it can be a bad thing. It's how you see it and how you believe it that matters.

There are a lot of lines in the drama that really struck me, especially when dealing with emotions from situations you can’t control.

Seo Woo would say to Eun Joo one out of the 100 reasons as to why it won’t work out with Ha Won but I say for every dozen of reasons for it to be wrong, there are thousands of reasons for it to be right.

“Being sad when you should be angry or annoyed is bad for you. Its okay to be angry”

I forgot who said it but I love that line.

“Its gonna be okay, the world changes on its own”

I love that the romance was slow at times, it was refreshing from other dramas since it was slow and values too much on each character's feelings, there's no villian who vows to ruin everything but it rather focuses on the grief of loss, the desperation of longing and moving on from pain.

There is a really good chemistry between both leads, they are the kind of pairing that you want to watch for a long time, which is why it's a bit sad that it got cut short into 12 episodes.



CHARACTERS
Moon Ha Won is the kind hearted genius who founded M&H and the leading innovator of AI Programming. Despite his success, Hawon is longing for his first love, Ji Soo. His childhood friend and only friend when he was still living in Norway with his mom.

What I really love about Ha Won is his consistent love and loyalty to those he values. He is very patient and calm, so it was quite different when he got mad. I love that he is such a cool boss and understanding uncle to Soon Ho, despite them being the same age or was he older by a few years?

I love Ha Won’s kind of love. He is not forceful, obsessive or constrictive but rather he was patient, understanding and sentimental. He’s not a high maintenance kind of guy (lol) he values simple things. He has this innocent look that you can’t help but fall in love with.

I love that his feelings (for Seo Woo) didn't just magically appear. It wasn’t love at first sight, he fell in love with her by understanding her. His feelings gradually developed the more he understands how Seo Woo thinks. When he first saw her, it wasn’t love but rather curiosity. He was kind of curious about her and the more he spent time with her, his curiosity morphed into something more.

Han Seo Woo is the recording engineer for a classical music studio. At first I kind of thought that she was just a normal person who is just trying to survive day by day but as the drama progresses, the more secrets of Seo Woo’s life unfolds which reminds of the saying “Don’t judge the book by its cover”. Seo Woo kept her pain inwards, like the majority of the characters in the drama Seo Woo is dealing with or have dealt with memories that are just too painful to handle alone.There was a time that it seems like Seo Woo is in love with not the actual person but loves Ha Won's love for Ji Soo, do you get me?

She said she loves looking at him when he is asking about Jisoo, the way he cherishes her, misses her the way he gives his all for Jisoo, not being negative or being pessimist but it seems like she is in love with Won's idea of love . But after watching it all, I know that she genuinely loves Ha Won. I kind of get her dilemma and why she did what she did. She was being thrown in this rollercoaster of emotions and a person can only take so much.

Moon Soon Ho is the biological granddaughter of the diplomat who sponsored Ha Won and his mom while they were staying in Norway. She is like the complete contrast to Ha Won, she is impulsive, impatient and opinionated but that's just Soon Ho’s charm. I was a bit disappointed with her though, putting her crush over Ha Won, oh how much I wanted to rip her off the door but somehow I think it was for the better ‘cause Ha Won had the time to cool off and not do something impulsive.

Kang In Wook is the tormented pianist who records at the recording studio who is also Ji Soo’s husband. I actually didn’t like him at first but I was moved by his pain. He genuinely loves his wife but his pride is his downfall. It hurt my heart watching him in pain.


ACTORS
I love the actors. Of Course I love Jung Hae In, although I haven’t watched a lot of his work since most of them are in genres or themes that I was not interested at all but everytime I do get to watch him, I always love him. Somehow this kind of genre and theme just perfectly fits him.

Then Chae Soo Bin is one of my favorite actresses. She is really pretty and really good at acting, I saw her on I’m not a robot and Sassy Go Go and I just fell in love with her. She is like a walking doll.

Although I was a bit disappointed with Lee Ha Na (Soon Ho), I can’t pin point out what but somehow I was kind of disappointed with her in this, although I loved her in Voice with Jang Hyuk not the following season (lol)

And for Kim Sung Gyu, my amazing and awesome Young Shin from Kingdom. I love him here and in the kingdom, he perfectly played the tormented pianist really well.


FINAL THOUGHTS
I rarely like OSTs or drama BGMs. I often find them subjective, like it fits for that single purpose alone and after the drama has passed, it's just no longer meaningful but somehow all of the music in this drama just gives me shivers (tbh, Idk why) but it just does. I find myself looking for it and constantly having it in repeat which is a big help for me right now since my insomnia keeps on coming back.

Aesthetic for the drama is very soothing, warm and calming which perfectly fits the overall feeling of the drama. The cinematography is really great and the locations are breathtakingly beautiful.

Would I recommend it? Yes, it's a refreshing drama that nourishes your heart and your soul. It's one of those dramas that doesn’t need the over the top climax or horrifying or despicable villains. All the emotions that each character goes through from pain, desperation, grief to happiness is the main gem of the drama.

If you haven’t watch it, instead of being led by stereotypes and prejudices (like me from the start) that melodramas are boring and dull, watch it with open mind and open heart and then you can genuinely judge if its a good drama or not.

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Ne pas oublier, mais avancer en gardant le souvenir au cœur...

C’est un drama tout en silence, et en souvenirs… L’histoire ne progresse pratiquement que par la mémoire des personnages. Entendons-nous, ce ne sont pas les flash-backs habituels qui nous remontrent ce qu’on vient de voir 5 mn plus tôt, non. Là ce sont des ouvertures sur le passé des personnages qui nous éclairent sur leur présent, sur la raison de leur comportement, sur leurs émotions et leurs motivations. Les fils de la toile apparaissent peu à peu, se nouent, les correspondances entre les différents destins se montrent peu à peu, et il semble bien qu’il n’ya ait aucun hasard mais des chemins que chacun doit forcément suivre, au long desquels les personnages se révèlent, à la fois à eux-mêmes et aux autres. Ils apparaissent dans l'histoire de façon inexpliquée et finalement leur place est bien prévue dans la tapisserie finale.
L’ Intelligence Artificielle, conçue par Ha Won permet de garder une passerelle entre ceux restés et celle partie, et tout le travail sera de décider quand il faut fermer définitivement une porte et aller de l’avant, sans pour autant rien renier, rien oublier.
J’ai énormément aimé ce drama, son atmosphère à la fois prenante et paisible, mélancolique mais positive…
Les personnages ont chacun une histoire originale et en même temps si humaine, celle qui a souffert d’une rupture et ne peut maintenant comprendre les autres qu’à travers les plantes qu’elle cultive, celle qui a vécu un drame familial affreux et tente de se reconstruire, celui qui porte au cœur un amour sans retour depuis des années et s’y est enfermé comme dans une tour de cristal, le pianiste dévoré de chagrin et de remords…
Les acteurs sont excellents, et avant tout Jung Hae In, à qui ce genre de personnage en retrait, extrêmement maître de lui et peu communiquant, mais réussissant à tout faire passer par le regard, et le langage corporel, semble particulièrement convenir. Il y met une grande sensibilité, une sincérité, une finesse et une délicatesse de jeu vraiment remarquable. Les autres aussi, Chae Soo Bin, jeune fille pleine de courage à l’âme claire, Lee Ha Na, souvent maladroite, et originale, réfugiée dans son jardin (d’ailleurs, sublime, le jardin !! moi aussi j’y resterais bien )mais prête à se risquer à nouveau dans la vie, Kim Sung Kyu (découvert dans Kingdom) en pianiste torturé par un remord impossible à apaiser… Ils sont tous excellents…
Il faut aimer se laisser porter, accepter de ne pas tout comprendre tout de suite, et se laisser charmer par de beaux personnages, soutenus par une très jolie OST, parfaitement en harmonie avec l’histoire. Si vous ces critères vous correspondent, vous allez adorer « une part de ton esprit ».
par contre j’ai des doutes sur Viki, qui a la manie de mettre les paroles des chansons, et là, déjà que ce n’est pas toujours évident de séparer la parole présente du souvenir et de la voix de l’A.I, si en plus il y a les chansons… Enfin, je l’ai regardé en anglais et je suis en train de me le traduire !

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I almost didn’t watch A Piece of Your Mind because the AI storyline put me off. I’m glad I did though. This is one of the most beautiful drama’s I’ve watched so far. It’s a heartwarming story about (one-sided) love, loss, trauma and working though these with the help of others.

I loved everything in it. I loved the characters, the actors who play them, the story and the music. Han Seo Woo and Moon Ha Won are the sweetest. The chemistry between them is incredible. How they unconditionally support each other and grow through their relationship is beautiful. The other characters are great as well. My other favourite character is probably Jun Eun Joo. She goes through a remarkable transformation and how she cares for Han Seo Woo is precious. Kim Ji Soo also left a lasting impression, though her appearance was brief.

Aesthetically this drama is an absolute dream. The colours, the setting, the framing, the many plants, everything was wonderful and calming to watch. I can savour every little detail in this drama. The soundtrack is gorgeous too. It complements the story and the mood so well. The music flows naturally with the scenes, it’s never invasive or distracting. It just adds to the whole.

The one thing I had an issue with was the pacing. For the most part I enjoyed the slowness, but in the second half the storyline with Kang In Wook was drawn out to the point of frustration. Still, this is only a minor thing. Overall I loved this drama and I’ll definitely watch it again.

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Amazing acting, but not so great story

This drama exceeds my expectations in terms of acting and imagery. Other than that, I kept rolling my eyes because of the twisted story & feelings. I kept telling myself something was off all along the 12 episodes, from how they met, lived together, started dating, etc... I am perplexed about FL feelings who kept butting in his life, stole the device from his apartment, kept coming in his house when he’s not there, etc.... I don’t like how the writer tried to make it look like ok because she is naively kind. And then the death of Ha Wons mother kept annoying me. The niece who took side to the guy who was involved in her death, the FL who hid it from Ha Won but once they kissed, she sided with him .... the fact they made it look like it’s common that people die when it snows in Norway is so exaggerated.
A lot just didn’t feel right about these characters and because of that this drama is a miss for me. I sont like when stories don’t make sense in dramas that are supposed to be realistic. I def preferred Something in the rain or one spring night!

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A Piece of Your Mind is artistic, beautiful, and warm. It's a story about unrequited love, death of love ones, and the journey to healing the mind and heart. For me, this is a drama that is not for your typical viewers. But if you are in need of healing, watch it. If you are in a dark place and need's hope, watch it. If you need some romance and warmth, watch it.

Personally, I love Chae Soo-bin's and was not disappointed once again. I think she's an actress that can portray emotions so well. The same goes to Jung Hae-in. I like how the relationship developed slowly and sweetly. You might be disappointed there aren't more kiss scene but you will be treated to lots of hugging. And it makes sense, to me at least. When you are down, depressed or sad, you don't need a kiss or make out session to feel better. You need someone to give u a long hug, to envelope you with their warmth and make you feel like everything is gonna be alright.

The cinematography and the soundtrack is excellent. It's calm, soft, soothing, and beautiful. The technological aspect of the voice device doesn't and will not make any sense, so treat it as you would treat a fantasy k-drama.

Did I mention how sweet and lovely the main couples are? Its the kind of romance that will bring a smile to your face.

It's a drama that requires you to think, to take notice of the small details that are shown. Like how the dark alleyway are fully lighted at the end of the show, perhaps signifying how dark times don't last forever? Or how the house is positioned at the top of a slope, and they placed a chair a short distance before reaching the house. Perhaps they are showing that whatever you are facing might be an uphill battle, but if you walk hard and long, there will be person there that is waiting to bring you to your happy/safe place.

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