By Pierce Conran
This article contains spoilers.
3.5/5 stars
Lead cast: Park Bo-young, Park Jin-young, Ryu Kyung-soo
Latest Nielsen rating: 8.4 per cent
Our Unwritten Seoul began with twin sisters 鈥 both played by Park Bo-young (Daily Dose of Sunshine) 鈥 switching places. They traded names, jobs and homes in the countryside and the big city.
It was only ever going to be a temporary plan and in the end they went back to who they were, but not how they were.
After briefly returning to her job at the Korea Finance Management Corporation in Seoul, burnt-out city slicker Yoo Mi-rae has decided to stay in the countryside, living near her mother and managing a strawberry farm.
Meanwhile, the directionless Yoo Mi-ji has taken the bold step to relocate to the city permanently. She goes back to school to study for her university entrance exam and moves in with her old childhood acquaintance and new boyfriend Lee Ho-su (Park Jin-young, The Devil Judge).
Rather than a story about living as someone else, this was a drama about understanding other people鈥檚 circumstances and learning how to embrace what you already have.
Mi-ji and Mi-rae weren鈥檛 the only characters who experienced life from someone else鈥檚 perspective.
When Mi-ji, while on an assignment for Mi-rae鈥檚 workplace, first encounters the crotchety restaurant owner Kim Ro-sa (Won Mi-kyung, Wonderful World), she is forced off the premises.
Stubborn as a mule, Mi-ji continues to show up, trying to get Ro-sa to sell her land, but the humble restaurateur keeps pelting her with rice for her troubles.
Mi-ji starts to take a personal interest in Ro-sa鈥檚 circumstances and steadily begins to win her over. She also discovers that Ro-sa is secretly a celebrated poet.
Much later, the real secret is revealed. Ro-sa, who is unable to read or write, is actually called Sang-wol, and the real Ro-sa was her childhood friend.
When the real Ro-sa got married, the women went their separate ways, but fate brought them back together when they accidentally killed Ro-sa鈥檚 abusive husband during one of his drunken attacks. Sang-wol took the blame for the death, and the stigma of it haunted her.
Tragedy struck again when the real Ro-sa became terminally ill. On her deathbed, she urged Sang-wol to take her name and live her life. For her part, Sang-wol promised to look after Ro-sa鈥檚 soon-to-be-orphaned son.
Sang-wol confesses all of this to Mi-ji and Ho-su, a lawyer, when Ho-su鈥檚 former boss tries using it against her in a bid to force her to sell her land.
With Mi-ji and Ho-su鈥檚 help, she overcomes the legal attacks. Later, she decides to learn to read and write so she can finally read her friend鈥檚 notebook of poetry. When she finally does so, she discovers that Ro-sa saw her as the anchor of her life.
Sang-wol鈥檚 final triumph comes when she reads her friend鈥檚 poetry at a recital.
Even characters who do not switch places learn to embrace who they are. There鈥檚 Yeom Bun-hong (Kim Sung-ryung, A Virtuous Business), who raised Ho-su by herself following his father鈥檚 death. She lied to everyone that she was his mother when in fact she was his stepmother.
It takes her years to accept that her motherly love for him is real, whether they are kin by blood or not.
Ho-su has long dealt with disability, including some hearing problems. When those issues suddenly become worse, he is faced with the prospect of losing his hearing entirely.
He briefly falls into a depressive episode, mirroring the teenage years of his partner Mi-ji, who became a recluse for years when an injury cut her athletic career short.
He learns to accept that the people who love him will love him no matter what, and he pre-emptively learns sign language. He does this not only for himself, but also to help deaf and mute clients who cannot easily communicate with their legal representation.
Mi-ji鈥檚 former colleague Kim Su-yeon (Park Ye-young, Captivating the King) is another shut-in who has locked herself in her bedroom as a result of the bullying she endured at work.
Mi-rae found herself on a similar path, but was able to escape a similar fate thanks to the help of her sister. She pays that back by standing up for herself at work and inspiring Su-yeon to finally come out of her room.
In a story that otherwise felt real and relatable, the only part that stuck out was Mi-rae鈥檚 goofy love interest Han Se-jin (Ryu Kyung-soo, The Bequeathed), a well-meaning but out-of-place family heir whose presence never aligned with the story鈥檚 themes.
As Our Unwritten Seoul ends, Mi-ji begins a new notebook, with the 鈥渦nwritten first page of my story鈥. After all, every ending is really a new beginning.
Our Unwritten Seoul is streaming on Netflix.