Omodramaland: [REVIEW] Hyde, Jekyll and I

Hyde, Jekyll and I (2015, South Korea)

Title: 하이드 지킬, 나
Also known as: Hyde, Jekyll and Me
Genre: romance, Comedy, psychological

Episodes: 20

Broadcast network: Jan 21, 2015 to Mar 26
Broadcast period: SBS

Gu Seo Jin is a third-generation chaebol who runs the theme park Wonder Land. He seemingly has everything — looks, brains, and fortune. But a traumatic incident in his childhood resulted in Seo Jin having a split personality — one is a cold, ruthless man,while the other is the polar opposite, someone kind and gentle. Because of this, he vows never to date or marry. Seo Jin wants to get rid of the circus show at Wonder Land due to low ticket sales and high overhead costs, but he butts heads with circus master Jang Ha Na. Ha Na insists on saving the failing circus and dreams of revamping it back to its former glory. She soon finds herself falling for both of Seo Jin's personalities. - MDL

Overall Score: 6.5/10
Character Development: 5/10
Plot Development: 5/10
Acting: 9/10
Soundtrack: 5/10 (pretty forgettable, to be honest)

I think I started this drama three times before I managed to finish it. I don't know if I should call myself dedicated or just plain crazy, but Sung Joon was in this drama, so a fangirls' gotta do what a fangirl's gotta do; and honestly, he kicked some major! I'm very well aware of the Kill me heal me vs Hyde, Jekyll and I debate, it was pretty much all over dramaland last year, but If I wanted to focus on the comparason I'd have forced myself to try to finish it when it first aired. So, since I decided to check it out (mostly for Sung Joon) I decided to write this review, not in the sense to spend this entire Review comparing it to Kill me heal me and rant about it, but rather review this as a drama on it's own. If you still want to ask me which one i'd recommend you to check out first, i'd definitely say Kill me heal me, KMHM slayed. Nuff said. However, Hyde Jekyll and I was very enjoyable, however it didn't reach that KMHM-level for me. That's it for comparasons, now let's get on with the review:

I ended up giving it a 6.5/10, which on my scale is average. the story was kind of cheesy and it tried to be all psychological and deep but failed miserably, in the end it would've been better if it had picked one of the two routes: a romance comedy or a pure melodrama; because the way it went, it tried to mix it up in every other episode, and that didn't go soooo well. I guess you can pretty much already tell which part was my favorite. Melodrama, right? Shouldn't come as a surprise xD The episodes 10-15 were amazeballs! I was glued to my chair and that is also where the 6.5 points come from, they are well earned scores of the melodrama aspect and Sung Joon's character's character development and backstory.

I mean, just look at this facial expression! <3 Villain Sung Joon is smexy

I do like Hyun Bin, I think he is a great actor, but not in this drama. He was bland and kind of boring. Han Ji Min also failed to keep me invested in her character, their chemistry was so-so and overall it just felt cheesy most of the time. Especially her moments with "Robin", they just happened and passed and I didn't care. I don't even remember much of their "romance" just that they kept looking worried at each other, he saved her like 100 times, and there was a gorilla, yeah, I clearly remember a gorilla....safe to say the romance-comedy part of the drama didn't really leave an impression.
I think it's definitely not a good sign of the two main characters fail to keep you invested in the story, what are they even doing there then if not to make you feel things? It may sound harsh, but that's how I felt. As for the second lead girl, played by Girls Day's Hyeri...I can barely remember her, and this is a actress that pretty much blew my mind in Reply 1988. Bad characters are so bad that not even good acting can save them from getting sent off to forgettable-land without a return ticket -.-*. However as I mentioned before, there was an actor and a character that managed to hook me, and that's also the sole reason why I decided to even check out the dram ain the first place. That man is none other than Sung Joon. He freaking slayed as the angsty villain. Hands down, one of his best roles ever! This is what i want Sung Joon to do from now on; he needs to keep doing complex roles, hopefully of villains or anti-heros, something like a mix of this one and his role in White christmas, that would be the perfect birthday present for moi *_* -fangirl scream- So yeah, more complex roles for Sung Joon PD-nim! <3

I hope I'm not the only one who wants to see this face
more often XP <3 Complete fangirl. Sorry not sorry

His voice, and the right facial expression and he can hands down Nail it! Okay enough fangirling!
Where was I? Oh right, Lee Soo Hyun or Dr. Yoon as he is also known in the drama is a very charismatic guy. The entire hynopsis thing just adds more dept and coolness-level to his character and I loved that little detail and it definitely made the plot (which would've been very cliche) different. MARK TO VIEW SPOILER The scene when started to play the song that was used to train the policemen as hynopsis was just badasss! I almost stood up and applaused like a drunk seal, i was that genius! either that, or I'm just very easily amused xD and I loved that he could Control the main girl and make her say things against her will. It was so cool! . END OF SPOILER.
I also liked how he was constantly rejecting reality and forced himself to stay closed up in his own little world. It was his way of cooping with the trauma and he felt Seo Jin like a torn in his side and refused to let him manipulate him (when in fact he had manipulated himself) The angsty bromance with Seo Jin was very interesting and it felt very real. Lee Soo Hyun's revenge-plotting was very intriguing and when the truth finally got revealed I found that it was done in a very satisfying way. The plottwists were clever and in my opinion unpredictable, I just really liked the melodrama part of this drama, however, when the part ended, i felt like that was where the drama also should've ended. But instead it kept going for a few more episodes and that's where the plot really started to drag. I kept getting distracted by other things and the plot completely lost my interest, after a while I just wanted it to end. This drama would've been so much better if it'd had had 16 episodes instead of 20.

The last 5 episodes were totally unecessary in my opinion and didn't really add anything to the plot when the main dilemma was actually already solved in episode 16. Perhaps it was because I couldn't connect to neither Seo Jin and his split personality disorder nor the cheesy romance so I couldn't care less about how that part of the story got resolved, it should've ended in episode 16. that would've earned it a full 7 Points but sadly, it went downhill so yeah, 6.5 Points just for Sung Joon and the backstory/melodrama-part of the drama, nothing else. Which is quite sad, because I actually looked forward to Hyun Bin's return to dramaland, but oww well, let's hope his picks a better drama next time. He was actually offered the role for Kill me heal me, but turned it down for Hyde, Jekyll and Me. Oh the irony xD Anyways, do I recommend this drama? Hm....not really, unless you're a big Sung Joon fan (like me) or happen to be intrigued by some good angsty melodrama-side-plot. Maybe that drama is good for a speed-Watch, unless you consider that a crime in dramaland. I know some people see it as a big no-no. Either way, it was "okay", nothing fantastic but definitely not AS BAD as some people make it out to be.