Come and Hug Me (2018)

Merry Christmas!

I got the idea to review something for today a couple of days ago, and set out to find one that was not only horror or thriller, but also worked for this time of year. While I was trying to figure it out I realized there was only one true pick, and that is my personal favorite drama, Come and Hug Me. Instead of doing a traditional review on the drama, I wanted to share some of the reasons and plots that attribute to why this drama is my top drama.

Come and Hug Me is a crime thriller intertwined with a melodrama and gives a look at how the world perceives crimes and the family members of the people who perpetrate those crimes, as well as the effects they and the family members had. But at its core, it focuses on families. What it takes to be a true family and how that looks different to different people, and that blood family isn’t the only family that matters. The drama stems from one significant event that happened in the childhood of the two main leads, Namu (Jang Ki Yong) and Nak Won (Jon Ki Joo). Namu’s father murders Nak Won’s parents in front of her, and almost kills her but is stopped by Namu.

While the drama is about that and their relationship, it weaves through the aftermath of that incident as well as the reintroduction of that trauma when Namu’s father (played hauntingly by Heo Joon Ho) writes a book about the murders of all his victims bringing the case back into light after almost ten years. The drama focuses on the discussion of whether evil is made or created. Hui Jae spends his time focusing on his son, thinking he could create the evil that he is, the public shame and belittle Namu and his family labeling them because of their association with Hui Jae. Journalists spin stories to support that narrative, confirming to the public that those prejudices must be true, while the main characters are constantly fighting that stigma.

It’s an interesting study on how psychopaths can see no wrong and lack compassion, empathy, and understanding - all traits the father has - and how it applies in various ways with others in the drama: the reporters, the public, the victims’ families. The drama connects the actions of the father with the public’s response to show the real damage that can be caused to people, and how close everyone truly is to evil even when they aren’t related to that evil. When the perception is changed, the understanding will follow, and the drama tries to show the characters as they start to understand their biases. There is this great scene when the police officer Go Yi Seok, who was assigned to the case right after the murders and is looking after Namu, sees Chae Ok Hee (Namu’s stepmother) comes to take him in. He mentions something along the lines of the job making him hate and give up on people, but seeing the compassion of Ok Hee to him gave him hope. We see it happen again with the reporter Han Ji Ho seeing the relationship between Namu and Nak Won and how they hold each other up even in great sadness and burden and that even in her position as a journalist on the case, she doesn’t know all the details.

“Evil shall not wait to be proven. Evil shall prove itself.” - Hui Jae

Watching the drama a second time I didn’t realize the way they framed Namu was intentional in ways that were not what I initially thought. The drama leads one to believe it is focused on Namu as if he is a ticking bomb and at any point can stray from being good. He will somehow mess up and follow the footsteps of the father. When in fact the drama tells us clearly that it won’t happen. He’s proven numerous times with his actions and interactions with others throughout his entire life that he is not like his father, and that there should never be any doubt. The drama forces the viewer in a position of doubt even when clear information is given, showing that not only are characters in the drama susceptible to this negative thinking, the viewer is as well. It’s a neat use of that element, as it works to further the intent of the drama, but also plays up some of the thrilling aspects of the drama. It also furthers how the act of just believing in people and helping them at their lowest can turn them to the right path. Nak Won’s constant reassurance to Namu, Ok Hee (wounded) forcing herself inbetween Hyun Mo (Kim Kyung Nam) and the father’s wrath to save him. Even when Namu is about to hurt his father, it’s nothing comparable despite what the father tries to make him believe.

The stigma against non-blood-related families is prevalent everywhere, and the drama handles it beautifully. Nak Won and Moo Won (Yoon Jong Hoon) share true feelings for each other as siblings, being raised to just accept that they are family realistically and comfortably without burden. Seo Jung Yeon’s Ok Hee is my favorite kdrama mother having compassion and strength to take in not only two boys who were not hers, but the product of her failed and horrible marriage, and does so with loving arms. And while she falters a tiny bit at the beginning, she immediately sees the error of her ways. The little sister So Jin (Choi Ri) always views the two as her brothers, never questioning it or changing that stance no matter how distant they treated her. While the drama is on the surface about the murders and the two’s love story, the drama focuses on these other relationships as much as they do with the love story between the two and doesn’t try to take away from those essential storylines with those relationships. Even at the end, we see them confront their past selves to begin their journey in full healing and love in their relationship with themselves.

I can’t get enough of this drama, and this rewatch solidified my love for it as well as its position as my top drama. It’s everything I could want in a drama and more and I felt the same after seeing it again as I did the very first time I watched it. I don’t go over even half of the elements that make this drama great in this post, not mentioning other technical elements or favorite characters, this is just a glance at my love for it. I may return to at another point to give a tigher review. If you haven’t given the drama a try, maybe now is the time.

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