Disclaimer: this is a review, and as such it contains spoilers of the whole series. Please proceed to read at your own risk if you still plan on watching this show or if you haven’t finished it yet. You have been warned.

Oh! Master
(오! 주인님 / Oh! Jooinnim)
MyDramaList rating: 6.5/10

Hello hello! Welcome to another review! I’m glad I was able to finish this a lot sooner than the previous one. It was nice to watch another good ol’ romantic comedy whilst my translation work is nearing its final phase. I honestly didn’t remember putting this one on my list, but it probably had to do with the fact that Lee Min Gi played the male lead, since he’s one of my favorite Korean actors. I saw from the get-go that it didn’t have a lot of positive reviews on MDL, but I still wanted to see for myself. In hindsight, my fourteenth watch of this year had a lot of enjoyable parts as well as parts that I absolutely hated. I’m excited to share my thoughts, so let’s get to it!

Oh! Master is an iQiyi/MBC K-Drama with 16 episodes of about 1 hour and 20 minutes. It tells the love story of renowned script writer Han Bi Soo (played by Lee Min Gi) and famous actress Oh Joo In (played by Nana/Im Jin Ah).
Han Bi Soo is introduced as a cold and selfish guy who doesn’t care about other people as long as he is free to do what he wants. Although he is a successful script writer that keeps producing one hit crime drama after another, he causes his agency and the people around him a lot of anxiety because of his personality. Although he has plenty of people around him that actually care about him and not just the work he delivers, he doesn’t let anyone in emotionally and tends to get very crabby even in a professional environment. The only person he ever treats warmly is his mother, Kang Hae Jin (played by Lee Hwi Hyang); she can do nothing wrong. He even treats his own father coldly, although it is soon established that this has to do with something Bi Soo found out about his father when he was still in high school. He apparently saw his dad do something bad and got estranged from him ever since. Besides that, he’s also become very fussy about keeping his house clean and he absolutely can’t stand it when doors or drawers are ajar. He claims it’s because he gets distracted by “what could be behind it”.
At work, Bi Soo’s team consists of Director Yoo Dae Young (played by Kim Kwang Shik) and assistant writer Jung Jae Hwan (played by Song Yoo Taek).
Apart from work, Bi Soo can often be found at a vintage record shop called Just Record, where he occasionally helps out the owner Kim Chang Gyu (played by Kim Chang Wan) by looking after the shop.
On the other hand we have Oh Joo In, a very popular actress who’s mostly famous for her appearances in romantic comedies and being the spokesmodel for KT Cosmetics. Despite the fact that her agency wants her to maintain her current image, Joo In is drawn to Bi Soo’s newest drama script about a female killer. Even after she’s already been rejected by him three times and gets rejected again when she personally comes to ask him for this particular role, Joo In remains adamant on joining his drama.
Behind her glamorous celebrity life, Joo In is quite an easygoing person who likes to relax and have a beer when she gets home. In contrast to Bi Soo, she is very close with her team, consisting of director Kim Yi Na (played by Woo Hee Jin) and her road manager Bae Gwang Ja (played by Lee Hyun Jung).
Joo In’s best friend is Jung Yoo Jin (played by Kang Min Hyuk), who is actually a shareholder of KT Cosmetics – it’s his older sister’s company. Yoo Jin went to study in Paris to become a visual designer after graduating high school. While he has always secretly been in love with Joo In, she’s only ever considered him as a friend. In order to make his move on Joo In as more than friends, Yoo Jin comes back to Korea halfway through the story and becomes the second male lead.
The only thing Joo In seems to have in common with Bi Soo is that she has a really close relationship with her mother, Yoon Jung Hwa (played by Kim Ho Jung). After losing her father when she was still a teen, it’s been her and her mom against the world. After her mother got admitted to a nursing home because of advancing Alzheimer’s, Joo In has been trying to buy back their old family home so she can live there with her mother again.
Fate has it, Joo In’s old family home is the same house that Bi Soo is currently living in. She eventually manages to buy it back from Bi Soo’s mother, the current owner, who in turn wants Bi Soo to come back home. Even after Bi Soo is faced with the truth that the house no longer belongs to him, he’s such a creature of habit that he finds himself unable to work on his scripts in any other room than his study at the house. As such, the two opposites eventually strike up a deal: Joo In will become his new drama’s female lead, and in return Bi Soo can keep using his study room at the house for the scriptwriting 24/7.
While the story progresses as a typical “enemies to lovers that end up sharing a house” romantic comedy in which two polar opposites gradually grow fond of each other, there is a second major plotline where Bi Soo is brought back to life by a mysterious angel figure (played by Kang Seung Ho) after getting into a serious car accident. This figure tells Bi Soo that he gave him a life extension, but that he will still die/disappear within a short period of time.

I have to admit the “life extension” plotline immediately threw me off a little. I wasn’t expecting a supernatural element in the story, so that immediately had me shifting my expectations. Also, even though they introduced this bizarre event quite early on, within the first episode even, it took them quite a while to get back to it. I even occasionally forgot about it until suddenly the angel figure appeared again to remind Bi Soo that he didn’t have much time left. In hindsight I still don’t really understand the meaning or relevance of adding this plotline to the story when it could’ve been just an enjoyable romcom without it. Maybe I’m just biased because this plotline contributed largely to my most hated part of the story.

I’d first like to analyze the lead characters a bit and talk about the build-up in their relationship, including the love triangle with Yoo Jin.
As I mentioned before, Han Bi Soo is introduced to us as a rude and selfish guy. From his very first appearance, we see how he openly disrespects and dismisses people in order to get what he wants. He only ever trusts himself and isn’t even open to the suggestion of leaning on others for help or advice. He creates a lot of fuss for his employers as well since he keeps rejecting potential actors for his dramas. I think it was very characteristic of him to not even care about the actors as people at all – they just existed to fill in his roles. This was also reflected in how he didn’t even remember Joo In’s name after he rejected her for a role three times before. He didn’t even care to remember people he didn’t find worthy, not even when they were successful and well-known from other shows. He only ever cared about his own work.
On the other hand, Joo In is a genuinely open and warm person. Despite the fact that she got rejected by Bi Soo several times before, she follows her instinct as an actor and keeps respecting him despite his personality. I really liked her entrance at their one-on-one meeting and how her face fell as soon as she realized he was anything but impressed. In fact I liked it so much I made a gif out of it.

You could see she was really just trying her best to make a good impression because she respected his writing, and how offended she was when he treated her so disrespectfully in return. Joo In always tried to remain civilized and mature, even when others didn’t treat her the same way. I thought she was well-written as an actress because she seemed to handle things very professionally, even after what happened with that obsessive and spiteful stylist. I also liked that she wasn’t the typical “full-of-herself” kind of actress. Sure, she was confident in her looks and skills, but she remained genuinely friendly and laid-back to everyone she worked with, and that made her a very sympathetic character in my opinion.
In most of the synopses on drama source websites and even on the above poster, there’s a slogan that describes the couple as “a man who won’t date and a woman who can’t date”. However, as the story started, I was relieved to find that they weren’t actually defined by the fact that they chose not to date. I guess the slogan just refers to the fact that Bi Soo was too self-righteous for a relationship and Joo In had never dated despite her image as a romcom actress, but they both seemed perfectly happy with themselves the way they were, even without a romantic partner.
I really loved how close they both were to their moms. In hindsight I’d say their respective bonds with their mothers touched me more than their romantic relationship. I thought it was really sweet how Bi Soo started warming up to Joo In after witnessing the state her mother was in. At some point, Jung Hwa has an Alzheimer episode in which she mistakes Bi Soo for her late husband and he is thoughtful enough to play along for an entire day until she becomes lucid again. I really loved the part where he ended up dancing with Joo In’s mom and how he kept playing his part even after Jung Hwa realized she’d been having an episode. It was really nice that Bi Soo initially softened towards Joo In out of empathy with regards to what she was going through with her mother.
While it started with a respectful gesture towards her mother, I really liked the gradual build-up and development of the romance between Bi Soo and Joo In, despite the occasional cheesiness. I also liked that Bi Soo caught feelings first, since that was such a rare thing to happen. Although I did find the way he suddenly accepted his feelings for her a bit abrupt (he went from slapping himself for dreaming about her to confessing his undying love to her within the same episode), I did like the way things progressed and how the romantic tension slowly built between them. Yes, he could get slightly childish and petty, especially after Yoo Jin turned up as a love rival, but I honestly found it quite endearing how he started showing affection to her. Joo In’s feelings also developed very naturally, and I liked that she genuinely considered his love confession even when it surprised her and she couldn’t reciprocate it on the spot. All in all it was a solid example of a typical “enemies to lovers” trope drama.

I really enjoyed their relationship leading up to Bi Soo’s love confession, since it brought out the subtle chemistry between the main actors and it felt like they were drawn to each other very naturally. It seemed so self-evident that they were both mutually attracted to each other that it actually threw me off when Yoo Jin suddenly came into the picture.
Yoo Jin had been able to intercept a snooping journalist who was about to release an article on how Bi Soo and Joo In were living together, and he’d come up with the (for him) very convenient solution to distract the attention from those “rumors” by announcing that he and Joo In were dating instead – they were close friends and she was the spokesperson for his family’s cosmetic brand after all.
Yoo Jin prompts this suggestion RIGHT AFTER Joo In tells Bi Soo that she will consider his confession, and for some reason, she IMMEDIATELY agrees to go along with Yoo Jin’s plan to “fake date” him, RIGHT IN FRONT of Bi Soo. Honestly, that was kind of a dick move on Joo In’s part. I just couldn’t understand how she wasn’t able to deduct that that was a super insensitive thing to do in front of the person who just confessed his true feelings for her. When Bi Soo silently walked off after that she literally went, “huh, did I upset him in some way?🤔”. I honestly didn’t understand why she did that. The only possible reason I could think of was that she genuinely didn’t consider Yoo Jin as more than a friend and she just went along with it as an, “oh yeah, that’s a good plan, thanks for helping me out, bestie” without even linking it to what she felt for Bi Soo. Still, the fact that she didn’t even consider how that would make Bi Soo feel was kind of unrealistic to me, because she’d seemed so clearly attracted to him and offered to genuinely consider his confession just before that. Also, if she really didn’t feel anything for Yoo Jin at that point, it was also inconsistent with what happened next.
Shortly after she starts “fake dating” Yoo Jin, she SOMEHOW SUDDENLY develops feelings for him anyway, even after reassuring Bi Soo that wouldn’t happen. I actually hated that. It was super weird because in my opinion the tension she already had with Bi Soo at that point was NOWHERE to be found in her interactions with Yoo Jin. I honestly still don’t understand why they wrote this in. Why was it necessary to give Yoo Jin false hope, when it would just end with Joo In rejecting him because she only felt comfortable with him as a friend? I didn’t think it was necessary to create this extra drama by suddenly including Yoo Jin as an actual potential love rival when Joo In had never considered him as such up to that point. Why now, suddenly? They could’ve just let Yoo Jin exist as the second male lead who never actually stood a chance but kept making a move until Joo In officially drew the line, without giving him temporary false hope.
When she actually sat the two of them down and admitted she had feelings for both of them, I was like “nah man”. It felt so out of character for her, the way she dropped that on them and then just walked off, leaving them to fight it out amongst themselves while SHE was the one who had to sort out her feelings. It suddenly turned into some kind of Single’s Inferno competition between two guys trying to win over the same girl. Honestly, that would’ve given me the ick. I’d be like, girl, if you can’t be sure about me, then I deserve better, bye. But the fact that the guys actually starting competing over her, trying to trump each other by getting her to choose whose self-made food she liked better? Seriously? Why did it suddenly have to become so shallow? It took ALL the romance away for me. She was going to pick Bi Soo anyway, and when they officially got together they just reverted back to their initial cute dynamic, so I honestly didn’t think it was necessary to include this weird intermission.
As a matter of fact, the competition didn’t even end after Bi Soo and Joo In started dating. Yoo Jin kept trying to worm his way in and grasp any opportunity he could to get Joo In to spend time with him. On the other hand, whenever Yoo Jin came over to the house, Bi Soo would consistently rub it in his face that “he won”. It got pretty petty and childish at some point. Even after Joo In had already made up her mind about who she was romantically attracted to, it still felt as if they continued the competition behind her back.
In addition to that, and this will link to my most hated part of the story which I’ll elaborate on later, I didn’t see the point of Bi Soo gloating so much about his and Joo In’s relationship to Yoo Jin if he was just going to ask him to “take care of her” after he had to leave anyway. Like, why rub it in his face and be so petty in showing him how happy you are with Joo In when you’re going to appoint him as your back-up man all the same? I generally don’t like it when the male leads start talking about the female lead behind her back to discuss “who will make her the happiest” or “who will take care of her best”. As if that’s up to them to decide! Why did neither of them even ask Joo In what she wanted? In that aspect they were both pretty selfish in their feelings for her, because they just followed their own intentions. Yoo Jin still planned on proposing to her even after she already rejected him I mean, come on!
I really didn’t like how opportunistic Yoo Jin became when it came to sliding back into Joo In’s life whenever she had a falling out with Bi Soo. It was like he was waiting for a chance to get Joo In back at his side. In fact, he actually said this to his secretary when Joo In came to him after taking distance from Bi Soo, that “at least I’ve got her at my side again”.
It’s not that I truly disliked the male leads and it was clear that they were both genuine about their feelings for Joo In, but some things about the way they talked about her and tried to win her over were pretty toxic. Having said that, again I did really like the way the relationship between Bi Soo and Joo In started and built up in the first half of the show. It brought me back to old school romcom K-Dramas and I enjoyed those scenes a lot.

Now that I’ve discussed the main love triangle, I’d like to talk a bit more about the leads’ family members. Starting with Bi Soo’s family, as I mentioned in the beginning he got estranged from his father when he was eighteen and he busted him doing something unforgiveable. It’s eventually revealed that he witnessed his father having an affair through an ajar door, and this led him to become so neurotic about always closing doors. He’s never forgiven his father and it has only strengthened his love for his mother.
I found the detail of him calling his mother by her first name a nice little quirk, by the way. The subtitles I watched missed the relevance of this – I remember a scene where they were literally talking about how he always called her “Hae Jin-ssi” instead of “Mom” while in the subtitles it was consistently translated as “Mom”😅.
Kang Hae Jin is the director of Sein Hospital where she works with her husband. She’s been a doctor for a very long time but suddenly finds herself on the receiving end of healthcare when she is diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. While she keeps this a secret from her husband and son, Hae Jin sets out to reconnect with some old friends: her first love Kim Chang Gyu (the record shop owner) and her old friend Yoon Jung Hwa (Joo In’s mother). These reconnections are all successful and the three of them start meeting up again, often at the record shop. As her illness progresses, Hae Jin ultimately retires from the hospital and gets herself admitted to the same nursing home as Jung Hwa so they can spend their remaining time together like roommates.
Honestly, I lived for this friendship. It was so full of genuine love and care for one another that it actually warmed my heart. I know I often say that I prefer it when supporting storylines don’t distract too much from the main storyline, but this was such a wholesome and beautiful addition to the main story that I actually ended up liking it more than the main leads’ romance.
I really loved Kang Hae Jin. She was such a beautiful and strong woman, and so genuinely kind to everyone. In the beginning I kind of feared that she might become an evil mother-in-law, but I’m really glad she got on so well with Joo In from the start and immediately knew she’d be a great match for her son. She remained so solid and strong throughout the story, even when she started succumbing to her illness. I don’t remember the last time I got so attached to a lead character’s mother, haha.
The same went for Jung Hwa, by the way. She was such a lovely mother to Joo In and I loved her warm smile. The flashbacks and information about how she and her late husband would spend time and dance together was so sweet. They managed to establish the mother-daughter relationship between her and Joo In so well that it actually hurt when she suddenly couldn’t recognize Joo In anymore. From how she reacted, both when she became lucid after mistaking Bi Soo for her husband and after she found out she forgot about her daughter for a moment, it was clear to see what kind of person she was. That’s why I found it so sweet of Bi Soo to play along with it in order to cover for Jung Hwa’s embarassment. The shock and terror on Jung Hwa’s face when Hae Jin told her she forgot about Joo In for a moment was physically painful. They really did such a good job in establishing the true love and care between the mothers and their children, I think this might be the most touching depiction of a mother-child bond I’ve seen in a K-Drama so far.
The friendship between Hae Jin and Jung Hwa was also delightful, it was so heartwarming to see them welcome each other back into their lives, and how they started thinking of each other and shipping their children together, lol.
I also really liked Kim Chang Gyu, he was such a goofball. It was really nice to have a slightly eccentric and fun energy in-between all the serious and dramatic topics. It was established that Chang Gyu and Hae Jin had a crush on each other back in the day, but that neither of them acted on it. Honestly, I would’ve found it cute if they still got together after reuniting, even if they didn’t put an official label on it. Their platonic friendship was really endearing to watch.
I also liked the friendship between Bi Soo and Chang Gyu. They’d met when Bi Soo came into the record shop and cried to a record after just witnessing his father’s affair, and after that he found himself coming to visit the shop more often. It became a safe and familiar place for him. It was nice that they kept coming back to the shop and listen to records in the listening room, that was a nice recurring element. It was also funny when Chang Gyu and Hae Jin established that Bi Soo might’ve even been Chang Gyu’s son and he called him up like, “Hey son, you know I could’ve been your dad!” The playfulness with which Chang Gyu interacted with both Hae Jin and Bi Soo was really endearing.
Another relation to Hae Jin that I liked was the nurse lady, Jung Sang Eun (played by Bae Hae Seon). There was a part where I actually feared she might’ve been the person her husband cheated on back in the day because of how awkwardly they acted when Hae Jin told them she was going to recommend both of them to become the next hospital director, but I’m really glad that turned out not to be the case. It was cool that Sang Eun ended up successing Hae Jin, the husband was a douche anyway. He actually blamed Hae Jin for not choosing him while the choice wasn’t even up to her, she recommended them both and the board decided. I’m glad she divorced him. The part where she confronted him and got mad at him, not only for cheating on her in the past but also for threatening Bi Soo into keeping silent about it was really satisfying. That guy needed to GO. She was much better off with her new old friends.
Even in her friendship with Sang Eun it was clear that Hae Jin was a genuinely kind person. Apparently she’d helped Sang Eun out when the latter started out as a nurse, and I also really liked the story of how she was the first person to properly comfort Sang Eun after her husband suddenly passed away. She was the first person who didn’t swamp her with worried questions about how she was doing, but who took her out for dinner and a drink. When Sang Eun told her that and Hae Jin admitted that she actually didn’t really know how to comfort her at the time, this honestly struck a chord with me. I’ve been hearing some stories from my friends lately about how they worry about and struggle with some things. I always try to be supportive and provide my own experiences with similar situations in order to relate to them and make them feel understood. Whenever I admit that I’m not sure if my words are helpful, they always tell me that they don’t need me to give advice; having someone listen to their story and relate to it is enough. I honestly felt like Hae Jin was that kind of friend as well, she just tried to comfort her friends by spending some time with them and distracting them with something fun rather than keep confronting them with what happened. Every aspect that was revealed about Hae Jin made me love her more. She was such a wholesome character, and the same went for Jung Hwa and Chang Gyu. I also thought it was nice that Sang Eun became kind of a supporting character in Hae Jin’s and Bi Soo’s story, how she comforted both of them and related to their experiences by reflecting on how it had been for her after she lost her husband. She was a really a caring person and it was heartwarming to watch her friendship with Hae Jin.

Hae Jin’s deteriorating illness also influences Bi Soo’s life, not only because he wants his drama to premiere while she is still alive, but also because he himself still gets visits from the mysterious angel figure that keeps telling him that he is also going to die soon. Hae Jin eventually passes away before the drama airs, and when Bi Soo goes through her things, he finds something very interesting: a little picture of a man – the mysterious angel figure. It had already been established before that his father – the one who cheated – wasn’t his biological father, and that his real father passed away in a car accident before Bi Soo was born. While Hae Jin was already pregnant at the time, his dad got into the accident as he was on his way to propose to her (a heartbreaking detail, OF COURSE he was on his way to propose 😭💔). In any case, the mysterious angel figure turns out to be Bi Soo’s biological father, Lee Gwang Chul (if I remember correctly – MDL only lists him as “man in white” but I know for sure that Hae Jin told Bi Soo his name in the show). Since Bi Soo got into a car accident, just like his dad, Gwang Chul managed to get him a life extention so he could at least be with his mom before she died. He also wanted Bi Soo to experience love, as he himself died with the regret that he never got to propose to Hae Jin and live out a happy and loving life with her.
I know I probably could’ve seen it coming from miles away as they kept talking about Bi Soo’s biological father and it would’ve been random if he was just a completely unrelated mystery angel. Still, when they found his picture in Hae Jin’s things I was like, “WAIT IT’S HIS DAD?!?! 🤯🤯🤯”. I actually really liked that plot twist. It was also a nice revelation that the angel had good intentions with Bi Soo from the start and that he’d done everything he could to help him even though he couldn’t completely save him from death. It would’ve been really nice to see some flashbacks of Gwang Chul and Hae Jin, or to see Hae Jin reunite with him in Heaven or something. Still, I thought it was really nice that they added him as a caring figure that watched over the son that he never got to raise.

Just to make an in-between comment: something I really appreciated about this show was that, as I already mentioned in the above sections, it did a really good job at establishing and explaining a lot of aspects to the characters’ personalities that made them very credible and realistic. For example, the fact that Bi Soo’s neurotic habit of closing all the doors resulted from his trauma of witnessing his father having an affair through an open door. They revealed that explanation quite early into the story, before it became clear what he’d seen his father do, but it immediately made me go, “Oh, so that’s why he does that, I get it.” I’m glad they put in the effort to address details like that, even with a simple and logical explanation. I was also happy that they ultimately established who the angel figure was and what the life extension deal was about. I was kind of worried that they would never explain it and leave the figure as a random unnamed angel, but the revelation of his identity and the reason why he made sure Bi Soo’s life was extended for at least that long put me at ease, so I welcomed that.
I also liked little details like that they actually referred back to elements from Joo In and Yoo Jin’s shared past, like the unicorn and that they had pictures together from when they were still in high school and stuff like that. They might seem like little things, but I’ve seen enough dramas where they don’t even bother being consistent with small details like that, so I do see it as a sign that it was well-written and thought out. They added a lot of small elements that kept coming back throughout the story in unexpected ways, and I liked that attention to detail.

Before moving on to my most hated part of the story, I want to talk about two more love story plotlines that were included in this drama. The first one is the romance between Bi Soo’s assistant writer Jung Jae Hwan and Joo In’s road manager Bae Gwang Ja. Gwang Ja falls for Jae Hwan at first sight when he accompanies Bi Soo as he settles into the study room for the first time after moving out of the house. Funnily enough it immediately seems to be mutual, and the two make a very light and lovey-dovey couple throughout the show.
While I will admit that it was sometimes nice to have a little breather from the drama that occasionally occurred between Bi Soo and Joo In, I think this was probably the most shallow romance storyline in the whole show. It was all exterior, the cheesiness, the openly affectionate gestures, the way they talked to each other. It was all laid on so thick, but it didn’t actually make me feel anything on the inside. Their scenes also became repetitive when they took different sides in the conflict between Bi Soo and Joo In. There was actually one scene that they pretty much replicated, I distinctly remember seeing the second scene and going, “this was literally the same conversation they had in their previous scene together”. Gwang Ja complained about Bi Soo to Jae Hwan, Jae Hwan took Bi Soo’s side, Gwang Ja got mad at Jae Hwan and left the room pouting, “I’m disappointed in you”. This repetitive element in turn caused their scenes to become almost filler-like, like they stopped contributing anything to the main story. I mean, they could’ve at least had some in-between scenes where they put their heads together to think of a way to help Bi Soo and Joo In make up or something. Instead their scenes just became empty farces of Gwang Ja calling Jae Hwan “My Jae Hwan” and telling him how sexy he was. Whenever they discussed Bi Soo and Joo In they always ended up parting ways because they both took the side of their own employer. I think as a couple they definitely had their cute moments, but the writers could’ve definitely fleshed them out way more and have them contribute to the main story much better. They did get Bi Soo to ask Gwang Ja for help in order to soften Joo In when she was mad at him one time, so why didn’t they do more with that? I honestly think Gwang Ja and Jae Hwan could’ve contributed way more to the story if they’d been written as a slightly more mature couple that acknowledged their employers’ respective flaws.

The other supporting romance storyline that I actually did like was the one between Bi Soo’s director Yoo Dae Young and Joo In’s director Kim Yi Na. They actually paired up both teams as couples, which was kind of funny. In contrast to Gwang Ja and Jae Hyun, this couple was maybe a bit too mature, haha. I thought it was really cute how Yi Na started warming up to Dae Young while he was constantly telling himself that she was way out of his league. I loved how he went out of his comfort zone to make a move on her, and how he simultaneously remained respectful when she asked for distance. I thought it brought a very mature layer to their relationship when Yi Na told him that she was hesitant because she’d experienced living together with a lover before which went wrong. His face when she told him he could get find a better woman than her 😭. You could see hear him think, “No I won’t”, because he was so insecure about his looks 😭. It was really cute how she gradually started allowing herself to adore him and how happy he was when she finally agreed to let him in. Their relationship just existed on its own, it didn’t affect the main story or anything, but it was still a nice addition and a nice example of two grown adults with their respective insecurities and restraints who could still properly communicate their feelings to each other.

Which brings me to the part I’ve been waiting to vent about – my main criticism of this show and the part that partially ruined the story for me. It actually almost ruined Lee Min Gi for me, and I will never forgive them for that.
As we know from the start, Bi Soo has been getting visits from a mysterious angel figure that tells him he will soon disappear from the face of the earth. As a matter of fact, Bi Soo actually starts disappearing for short periods of time. This started about halfway through the show, after he and Joo In finally got together. I remember that at that point I was JUST thinking, “now that the romance has been established, I wonder what they’ll fill the second half of the show with”, and that’s when he disappeared for the first time. The angel tells him that in 49 days, he will disappear forever, and Bi Soo is made to believe this when he later disappears again at the exact moment the angel told him. Shortly after finding out about this, Bi Soo finds out about his mom’s illness. He doesn’t tell anyone about his own issue. Admittedly, it would be kind of hard to explain that he was brought back to life by an angel and it was understandable that he didn’t want to bother his mother with that news. In any case, it happens somewhere around the time that Hae Jin moves into the nursing home and Joo In is being a super supportive girlfriend that regularly visits her. I don’t remember what exactly caused the switch, but somehow the realization that he will soon disappear and leave his loved ones behind leads Bi Soo to the sudden decision that he doesn’t want to put Joo In through that.
People who have read more reviews from me will know that one of my most hated tropes is the one where one main lead pushes the other away in order to “protect” them. Apparently for some people it’s easier to break someone’s heart than tell them a painful truth which they can then face together. Much to my disdain, this drama was no exception to that trope, but that wasn’t all. Not only did Bi Soo suddenly start pushing Joo In away without a single explanation, he actually took it to the next level and became the most horrible, hurtful and gaslighting person ever. Besides the fact that he didn’t even acknowledge that his sudden change in behavior came completely out of the blue and would of course be very hard for Joo In to understand, he actively started gaslighting her that SHE wasn’t able to let go of HIM, while HE was the one who couldn’t bring himself to tell her the truth. He literally started treating her like trash one day after he told her he loved her. What made it even worse was that, besides the fact that he suddenly told her that it wasn’t any of her business to get involved with his mom anymore, he actually took their conflict to the work floor. During a meeting with her he literally says that he’s been stressed out lately because “someone can’t take no for an answer”. That was so passive agressive, not to mention it was a business meeting and there were actually people in the room with them. When Joo In gets carried away during the first script reading – because he literally used their romantic endeavors as inspiration!! – he openly criticizes her for being unprofessional with the ENTIRE CAST present.
It just went from bad to worse. As if it wasn’t bad enough that he told her he only used her as inspiration for his female character and that he didn’t have any feelings for her. Every single time he pulled something like that or walked away from the problem I just went, “how is it actually getting WORSE AND WORSE?!” It just made it all the more frustrating because HE was the problem. HE suddenly selfishly decided their relationship was over and started telling other people that while Joo In was still unable to process what the hell he was even doing. I couldn’t believe he actually went as far as to invite her and Yoo Jin to a bar and just went, “There you go, you two can get together now” and that he even invited his childhood crush to a dinner with Joo In just to make her jealous. Like, he even started involving other people’s feelings as well. Luckily Joo In (as well as everyone else he got involved) saw exactly what he was trying to do, but it just sucked that he was so persistent on not telling anyone what his true reason was. To be fair, it didn’t even matter if he felt bad about it – if he was going to agonize by himself in his room after leaving Joo In hurt like that time and time again, why inflict that pain on her in the first place? When he finds her crying in her room one night after she’s finally agreed to break up with him, he actually goes over to her to tell her to take her crying outside because she’s being too loud. Honestly, it didn’t even look like he was faking it, he looked way too unconcerned throughout the whole thing. After all the effort he went through to make Joo In fall for him, it was incomprehensible to me that he was able to return to his room and go, “well, at least now she won’t get hurt”. It was plain unrealistic how he apparently couldn’t get it through his thick skull that he was hurting her way more than he would’ve if he’d just told her the truth. Even after she literally ended up hospitalized because of the stress he caused her, he STILL wouldn’t open up about it. It really took the trope I already hated the most to a legit UNBEARABLE level. Within three episodes, I lost ALL my respect and sympathy for Bi Soo. Even after they eventually made up again, their romance just wasn’t the same for me. I couldn’t even watch their passionate kisses after that because his character was ruined for me completely and “kissing it better” didn’t help to redeem him at all. I honestly cannot put into words how frustrated and angry this part made me. I just found it unfathomable how he didn’t realize that he was unnecessarily making everything worse. He wasted so much time that he could’ve spent happily with Joo In as they anticipated his final moments together. Honestly, this part actually ruined their romance for me.

I saw a lot of comments from people about how they also hated Joo In for putting up with the whole ordeal, but I honestly stood by her. The way she responded to his change in behavior was very realistic to me. It made sense how she initially thought he was pulling a weird joke and then got increasingly confused and frustrated as he kept going. While I personally would’ve made use of my landlady rights and kicked him out on at least five occasions, I do think it was characteristic of her to hold on to him. She loved him so much and it was clear that he was trying to push her away for a reason. I thought it was really mature of her that she just KNEW he had to be hiding something and she didn’t just accept that he apparently stopped loving her overnight.
I do have to admit that it bothered me when she found his notes about dying in 49 days and all she did was tilt her head and go, “huh, I wonder if he’s depressed or something” and just left it at that 🥲. Like, that was a fairly concerning factor that she could’ve asked him about, as it was something he wrote and wouldn’t be able to dismiss as easily.
Anyways, despite the fact that I admired how she tried to hold on to her love for him as long as she could, it did come as quite a relief when she finally took some distance and started letting go of him. At that point I was like, no matter how much you love someone, if this is how they deal with their shit you know that’s not okay. He just became a major red flag. I was lowkey reminded of the couple from Douse Mou Nigerarenai, although I felt much more empathy for the female lead in this case. I can’t believe Bi Soo kept it up even after Joo In witnessed him disappear right in front of her, he literally kept gaslighting her that she was imagining things. He only admitted that he “didn’t want her to get hurt” after she had to pull it out of him with everything she had, it was unbelievable.
As I said, that whole ordeal just ruined their relationship for me. I wasn’t even able to enjoy it when they reverted back to their initial dynamic after they finally made up and Bi Soo told her the truth. At least they were finally able to do what they could’ve done all this time, anticipate his final moments and enjoy the time they had left together to the fullest. But by that point it had lost all meaning to me.
What bothered me the most wasn’t just the exaggerated “pushing her away” trope, but the fact that it completely ruined the main couple for me. Honestly at some point I didn’t even want them to get back together, I even started thinking that Yoo Jin might be a better boyfriend for Joo In after all, because at least he would never do anything to hurt her.
Similar to what happened with the love triangle intermission, I just ended up feeling that it was unnecessary to create this immense exaggerated drama only to have them end up right where they started and just dismiss all the hurt that had been done. I didn’t agree with Joo In for forgiving him so easily, he literally only said sorry ONCE and she was like “you don’t need to be sorry”. EXCUSE ME? He absolutely needed to be sorry! Sorry was the very least he needed to be!

One thing I appreciated about the ending was that it actually did end with Bi Soo disappearing. I have to admit I got confused for a second when they showed that story he told her about how he didn’t disappear and ended up living happily ever after, but that was on me for missing the transition, lol. It would’ve honestly ruined it for me even more if they ended up finding some sort of loophole to bring him back, like they did in My Demon. I thought it was better that he did end up disappearing, because through that they at least stayed true to the inevitability of his death and the deal his father was able to strike for him. I found it much more powerful that it ended with Joo In moving on with her life whilst holding on to her fond memories of him. It was touching that she could keep holding on to little things that reminded her of him. I have to admit that at first I found his suggestion to use her mother’s forgetful episodes as an opportunity to practice different roles a bit problematic, but I did like that they brought that back in the end when her mother started forgetting her more often, as it did help Joo In to deal with it better. This also traced back to my earlier point that I liked the attention to detail in this show, they kept bringing certain elements and things they’d shared back in a touching way.

I think I’ve covered most of what I wanted to share about the content of this series. Before I move on to my cast comments I’d like to make a final note on the series’ title. The Korean title of the show is “Oh! Jooinnnim”, which refers directly to Joo In’s full name and the main leads’ house sharing deal. As part of the agreement, Joo In has to call Bi Soo “jakganim” (“writer”) while Bi Soo has to call Joo In “jooinnim”, which is a formal address (like “Ms. Joo In”) and also refers to the fact that she is the “master” of the house.
I know that the more well-known English title for this series is “Oh My Ladylord”, but since it’s established in the series that “jooinnim” means “master” and Bi Soo also addresses her as “master” rather than “my ladylord” (“master” is formal enough), I decided to use the title “Oh! Master” here to retain that reference.

Like last time, I wrote this review in parts in-between my translation work and course assignments, and I have to admit it actually feels nice to divide my time to finish it. I’ve gotten so used to writing reviews in a single day that I started pushing myself a bit to keep doing that. However, it’s happening more often that I just can’t get in the mood or find the right concentration to go at it, so I’ve allowed myself to spend some more time establishing my arguments and making sure I include everything I want to share. I might take this approach more often in the future, as it helps take away the pressure of finishing a review within a single day (a pressure which I’m putting on myself, of course).

Let’s get on with the cast comments shall we? 🤗

I’ve only seen Nana/Im Jin Ah before in Mask Girl, where she was the final evolution of Kim Mo Mi. Back then I already thought she was gorgeous, and seeing her as a glamorous actress/model in this only confirmed that for me. Her smile is so dazzling 🌟 I have to say I really enjoyed her acting. Her expressions were amazing and made me laugh from the get-go. Throughout the show I think she did a really good job balancing out the different layers of her character, from the celebrity to the worried daughter. Both her expressions and her bubbly acting reminded me of two of my favorite Japanese actresses, Ayase Haruka and Ishihara Satomi. The way she exuded a natural sense of confidence without coming across as arrogant really helped build sympathy for her, she didn’t seem like someone who’d be caught off guard or swept off her feet that easily. I also really liked her chemistry with Lee Min Gi in the first half of the show when the romance between the main leads was building up. I really hope I’ll get to see more of her acting, because now I’ve already seen her in two completely different roles and I really enjoyed both.

As much as I love Lee Min Gi, part of me still can’t believe he accepted this role 😅. I usually love seeing him in romantic comedies because he always manages to steal my heart with his cute awkwardness. I do feel like he tends to be cast as the same kind of guy in romcoms though, he’s usually the awkward, robotic, apathetic guy who finds himself suddenly lightened up by the female lead. My favorite romcom with him is still Because This is My First Life. Besides that I’ve also seen him in Shut Up Flower Boy Band (I got major flashbacks when Bi Soo got hit by that car in the first episode 😭), What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim? (everyone loved that BTiMFL reunion), The Beauty Inside (admittedly not a favorite), My Liberation Notes (🫶🏻), and an old movie called Quick. I know there are still some shows with him on my watchlist, so I’m excited for that.
All in all, although his character was ultimately ruined for me because of the stupid avoidance trope, Lee Min Gi did do a very good job. He really went the extra mile to make his character as unsympathetic as possible. One thing I like about him is how he can portray such rude and unapologetic characters because I can imagine how hard it must be to portray a character that you yourself find insufferable. I remember I also didn’t find his character in MLN sympathetic but I was still able to enjoy the fervor with which he played him. Oh! Master will probably be categorized alongside my lesser favorites like TBI, but I’m glad to say the show didn’t ruin him for me completely – I’m still really excited to see him appear in more shows.

I know Kang Min Hyuk from CNBLUE (he used to be my friend’s bias), and I’ve seen him before in a couple of shows, like Heartstrings and The Heirs, in which I liked him a lot. This was the first time I’ve seen him portray a second male lead in a love triangle. While Yoo Jin seemed like a friendly enough person, one thing that did bother me was that they tied him to Joo In so much that he didn’t really seem to have a personality outside of that. Like, his feelings for Joo In were what defined him, literally, and all his appearances in the show were linked to his love for her. In hindsight there wasn’t really anything remarkable that I can say about his personality, and that’s a pity because Kang Min Hyuk is a fine actor and he could’ve brought way more to the character if it had been fleshed out a bit better. He did a good job nonetheless, this was just a comment on the writing. I’m curious to see him in more different roles, because I’ve definitely seen enough variation from him to know he is able of much more than just a persistent second lead character.

While Lee Hwi Hyang has been appearing in dramas since the 70s, I honestly believe this is the first time I’ve seen her in anything. I really loved her performance as Kang Hae Jin, she brought such a wholesome and lovely energy to her character. She had great chemistry with all the other actors and she exuded an unyielding spark of joy that warmed my heart. I loved that the parts about her past that were revealed all contributed equally to her character, how she’d lost the love of her life and still was able to give so much warmth and care to the people around her. I think she was a very well-written and established character. As I mentioned in my analysis I can’t remember the last time I felt so taken with a lead character’s mother, she did such a great job. I just couldn’t help but feel drawn to the warmth she exuded through her portrayal of Kang Hae Jin.

I thought Kim Ho Jung looked familiar and I have indeed seen her in some shows before, but this role of hers will probably stick with me the most. She also appeared in Age of Youth Season 2 and That Man Oh Soo and I remember her character from Arthdal Chronicles as well. Kim Ho Jung has such a beautifully loving smile, it warmed me every single time. I really loved her chemistry with Nana, and as I said they did a really good job establishing the strong bond between them. If it weren’t for that, the scenes where she would suddenly not recognize her daughter anymore probably wouldn’t have made as much of an impact, so that was great. I loved that, while her Alzheimer’s was gradually getting worse, she was still able to contribute so much to the story while being lucid, and it was bittersweet to see her forgetfulness increase in the ending. I think the relationship between Joo In and Jung Hwa was also very relevant to Joo In’s individual character building, so it was nice to see how she contributed to that as well. I really hope to see her portray more varying characters in the future!

Kim Chang Wan is one of those actors that I’m always happy to see even if he plays a bad guy, lol. He just has such a quirky energy about him. I’ve seen him before in Coffee Prince, My Love From Another Star, Hwarang, 20th Century Boy and Girl, Jugglers, Something in the Rain and It’s Okay Not to Be Okay. He always brings an unexpected energy to his characters, there is always this joyous glint in his eye that makes his performances become so endearing to watch. In this show as well, Chang Gyu was such a goofball, how he would just slump over the cashier and stare at Hae Jin or triumphantly get his guitar to play her a song. I really liked the energy that he brought, and also that he was a bit of a rock to Bi Soo. I didn’t know he would be in this show so it was a nice surprise to suddenly see him appear like that. Here’s to spotting him many more times in many more dramas to come!

Another familiar face that I always like to see is Bae Hae Seon. I’ve seen her in a bunch of things, also often as a guest appearance, like Jealousy Incarnate, While You Were Sleeping, Wok of Love, Come and Hug Me, The Secret Life of My Secretary, Hotel del Luna, It’s Okay to Not Be Okay, SF8: Baby It’s Over Outside, Start-Up, Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha and Crash Course in Romance. I like how she also always manages to bring something new to her characters and she never shies away from being a little quirky. I honestly feel like she’s a very intelligent actress that is able to tap into a lot of different perspectives and emotions, and I would like to see her in more main or recurring roles rather than just guest appearances because she’s really good. I liked that she appeared in this, she was great (as always).

I guess it’s not strange that I haven’t seen Lee Hyun Jung in anything because she’s only done two dramas so far. I feel like she may be a bit of a comical TV personality or something, because she was definitely cast as the comedy sidekick. As I mentioned in my analysis of Gwang Ja, I would’ve personally liked it if she’d acted a bit more from the heart and less from the face and voice. There were more than enough opportunities to be funny, and also more than enough opportunities to show a slightly more mature side, both towards the situation between Bi Soo and Joo In and towards Jae Hwan. I won’t deny that she brought a nice energy and it was nice that besides a road manager she was also a close friend to Joo In. I’m curious if she’ll appear in more shows in the future, I hope I can see a bit more serious acting from her!

Song Yoo Taek also only has three dramas to his name. He didn’t immediately look familiar to me, but apparently he was also in Arthdal Chronicles. I actually thought he was way younger than Lee Hyun Jung as they made a deal about her being his “noona” (and I think she also looks much older than him 🫢) but he’s actually just one year younger than her. I really liked Jae Hwan, he had a really endearing energy about him. I actually think he was better able to channel a more serious side, but he was often snowed under by Gwang Ja’s exuberance. A part of me found it a pity that he went along with her energy rather than remain a bit more serious to balance her out. Anyways, he delivered a nice performance and it was nice to see how he actually became the writer for the second season of Bi Soo’s drama. I hope to see more of him as well, he had a really nice screen presence.

It was such a nice change to see Kim Kwang Shik in a role that wasn’t a mean or grumpy ahjussi! I’ve seen him in a couple of shows before, like Andante, 20th Century Boy and Girl and The Light in Your Eyes, and I think he often appears in cameos or guest appearances as well. I really loved that they gave Director Yoon a romance storyline of his own, because characters like him usually just exist on the business side of things. He brought a really nice element to the story and I enjoyed his performance a lot. I’m not much of an aegyo person but it was funny to see a buff man like him channel a cute side of himself. In terms of acting variety his performance in this show definitely made him rise in my esteem.

Woo Hee Jin was another familiar face. I’ve seen her in Healer, Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo, Dali and the Cocky Prince and My Demon. There’s a couple more of her dramas on my list, so I’m definitely going to see her again. It was nice to see her in a more comical role than usual, I really liked how Yi Na found herself drawn to Dae Young, almost in spite of herself. I always like to see familiar faces portray a kind of role that I haven’t seen them in before, but it seemed to come quite natural to her. As I mentioned before, I liked how she gradually decided to let Dae Young in and eventually told him why she was hesitating – if only the male lead could have communicated as clearly as that 🙄. In hindsight, I think the dynamic and relationship between Yi Na and Dae Young was probably the most interesting and engaging one in the show for me, and that was all because of the chemistry between Woo Hee Jin and Kim Kwang Shik, so well done!

Finally, I just want to give a final shoutout to Kang Seung Ho, who played the mysterious angel/Bi Soo’s biological father. Funny how you suddenly discover a new actor and then you go on to see them in other stuff even though you’d never seen them in anything before. Kang Seung Ho played Noh Do Kyung in My Demon, which I watched very recently. He made such a big impression on me there, also because I’d never seen him before, and now he suddenly appeared as such a mild and gentle angel father! That was really unexpected but it was a nice surprise to see him appear. As I said, I would’ve liked to see some more flashbacks of him and when he and Hae Jin were happy together. The flashback scene of him running across the street with that bouquet of flowers before he died was heartbreaking, and I wished I could remember him by more than that. But all in all I think he did a nice job and I liked the final revelation that he turned out to be Bi Soo’s father watching him from Heaven, that was a really nice twist.

All in all, I think this could have been a perfectly enjoyable romcom without the addition of the life extension plot and the male lead turning into the biggest jerk ever. I honestly liked the simple preset of Joo In buying the house and Bi Soo using it for his writing – that was the only element necessary to instigate their feelings for each other. The added drama of the out-of-the-blue second male lead competition was unnecessary and the trope of Bi Soo pushing Joo In away completely killed the vibe for me. Of course there will always be annoying tropes in dramas, but this one really took it to the next level and resulted in me completely losing my connection to the main leads. Which is a pity, because their kissing scenes after that were really passionate and I would’ve liked to enjoy those without constantly being reminded of what Bi Soo did and how he was forgiven and redeemed way too easily.
On the other hand I really loved the side stories about the main leads’ mothers and as I said I also really liked the attention to detail and the acting, especially Nana’s. There were many factors that still enabled me to enjoy it, so it’s still going to get a pass. I typically really like romcoms like this, so I hope I’ll be able to watch more that don’t have too many unnecessarily frustrating tropes. Sometimes less is more, writers!

I will be finishing my translation by the end of this month, which is very exciting. In the meantime I hope I can still finish a review or two, but no pressure from myself this time. I’m very excited to see what I’ll be watching next.

Until next time! x