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[HanCinema's Drama Review] "The Sound of Your Heart" Episodes 15-20

Seok is convinced that his webtoon, "The Sound of Your Heart", is an obscure failure that no one has heard of. Even ignoring the inherently strong sense of humor in the writing, the idea that no one has heard of "The Sound of Your Heart" is an obvious relic of these early stories. All the same, I love the self-deprecating vanity, especially when it inevitably results in Seok and his family inevitably acting like lunatics.

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The first two episodes of this set, about the documentary, typify this. But even aside from the generally bizarre behavior, the subtlety is quite strong too. Consider the implication that other webtoon artists are cool dudes who do actual interesting stuff in the course of their work. Well now that's just silly. They're just smart enough not to let other people leave cameras in their houses.

The next set is just a twist on the classic sitcom gag of having a character try to do two dates at the same time because scheduling is hard. And I am...hesitant to explain it in any more detail than that because the sheer convoluted nature of the staging is at its best when it hits you in the blindside. Of course, the greater mystery is how Seok could have ever thought that anything other than the final outcome was even a remote possibility. Watching him muddle through the aftermath of that disaster, too, is good fun.

The final sequence deals with Seok and Ae-bong. The dual interpretation is what really sells this one. Yes, Seok is time and again a complete idiot who is completely incapable of grasping social situations. But just when he seems like the most patently awful guy in the world he goes and...well, demonstrates his stupidity further mostly. Still, the heart is what really counts there. This is why it's very easy to root for Seok no matter his grotesque failings.

Although maybe, again, it's just really hard to hate a guy who's so honest about his personal shortcomings. My main regret about "The Sound of Your Heart" is that there just never seems to be enough of it. Out of three stories, Joon, Ae-bong, Cheol-wang, and Jeong-kwon only appear in one apiece, bringing out their special blend of psychosis in hilarious yet limited fashion. Ah well. I can only hope that the move from Naver tvcast to KBS will improve the chances of this drama making an official appearance internationally.

Review by William Schwartz

"The Sound of Your Heart" is directed by Ha Byeong-hoo, written by Kim Yeon-ji, Kwon Hye-jo, Lee Byeong-hoon-II and features Lee Kwang-soo, Kim Dae-myung, Jung So-min, Kim Byung-ok and Kim Mi-kyung.

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