It’s Okay to Not Be Okay, Author "A time when everyone is not good"

"From the planning stage, there was a question: 'Who makes the distinction between normal and abnormal?'

Writer Cho Yongjoo of the tvN drama 'Psycho, but it's okay', which was praised for his sincere approach to mental illness, said in a written interview on the 17th.

PD Park Shinwoo, who swept up the feel of the play by directing the concept of 'Cruel Fairy Tale', said, "We approached it as our problem, not someone else's problem."

 

Below is a Q&A with the two people.


- There have been quite a few works depicting mental pain before, but mostly from the point of view of the therapist. In that respect, what sets this work apart.

 (Writer Cho Yong, Cho) This drama finds a growth engine while receiving comfort from those who wear patient uniforms. Consolation is not between wearing a patient's uniform or not, but between those who know they are sick and those who do not. From the very beginning, there was a question of 'who makes the distinction between normal and abnormal'. Now, when the 'majority' becomes 'normal', it is an era of violence. Everyone has to depend on each other to live 'because it's not okay'.

(PD Park Shinwoo, Park) This is a story that allows us to think about how we approached our problems, not others, and that we are receiving attention rather than looking at them. He talks about pain and hurt, but he doesn't lose his humor.

 

- Covered various episodes such as child abuse, domestic violence, and war trauma. What did you focus on when expressing?

(Jo) Parents abandoned their children and beat them, and while watching the victims protecting their parents, I thought, 'This is an unavoidable reality.' Moon-young (Seo Yeji) was the same. I wanted to show how much the 'adults' who were abused and who grew up less yearned for their parents' love and how they grew up. The episodes were fattened by imagining them based on data rather than coverage.

Moonyoung was evaluated as a female character that she had never seen before. Viewers were also divided into those who supported and those who were uncomfortable.

(Jo) Moonyoung is a character whose growth has stopped because she did not receive her love and protection. So she doesn't know what caring for others is or how to express her feelings for her. She is very clumsy and one-dimensional, so she can be uncomfortable enough for others to see. However, her faithfulness to that instinct made Kang Tae (Kim Soo-hyun) take off the mask, and she grew into a real adult.

- How did Kim Soo-hyun, Seo Ye-ji, and Oh Jeong-se fit into the character?

(Park) Kim Soohyun tended to think about the beginning and the end in advance before coming. The most memorable thing is that he was very strict with his own mistakes, without much concern for the mistakes of others. Seo Ye-ji felt that her sense of presence was very important, but she also listened to the thoughts of the director as well as her opponents and staff. Oh Jeong-se tends to be immersed in the role even when the camera is not running. She always surprised me that she had the most energy until the end.

 

 

- Did you plan the composition in which the head nurse Haeng-ja Park (Jang Young-nam) turns out to be Do Hee-jae from the beginning?

(Jo) Yes. He seemed to care and empathize with everyone's pain. As it turns out, I needed a dual character that ridiculed and ridiculed them as 'weak'. Although he was a clever villain enough to deceive even the sharp eyes of the director and CCTV installed in decent mental hospitals, he was infinitely helpless in the face of the power of love. The emphasis was placed on the fact that if the weak were united, even the shadow of darkness, which seemed huge, could be defeated with one shot.

- The process of the three main characters becoming a family is also captured from a modern perspective.

(Jo) Kang-tae took off his mask, found his true self, and confessed with tears to his older brother that 'Moon Kang-tae is Moon Kang-tae', there was his brother's embrace and the stimulation of Moon-young. In addition, Kang-tae's strong love and the innocence of his state (Oh Jeong-se) were holding out until Moon-young regained her lost emotions. The three characters became one giant character intertwined within the fence of a family.

(Park) There is no need for the fence of family to be a group that considers sacrifice and duty as responsibility because of blood ties. If the differences between parent and child are acknowledged and understood as another complete individual, it is not Do Heejae who says 'You are me'. Maybe you can empathize with the state of saying, 'You are yours and I am mine'.

 

- The genre and material characteristics showed more authenticity and depth as the work progressed. It seems that the influx of viewers was less than expected due to the unique setting and development in the beginning.

(Jo) It was expected that various reactions would inevitably occur because the material was far from the popular box office code. However, I also hoped that the story of a gathering of unfamiliar characters would be able to sympathize with the viewers. The second half ended well as the response to 'I get comfort through drama' increased.

(Park) If there is no beginning, there is no middle or second half. If we maintain the same middle and second half as in this story, what kind of fundamentally different early stage is possible? It's unfortunate, but it's unavoidable.

- Among the reactions from domestic and foreign viewers, what is the most memorable?

(Jo) I heard that the number of views of Moonyoung's confession scene of elk abroad was huge. I saw the comments and said, 'I love you, I love you, I love you? You say you love me, so why run away!' I thought that Moonyoung's proposal was a fresh shock to foreign viewers.

 (Park) I remember the reactions to the brake performance of the PPL (indirect advertisement) vehicle. That was the unintentional part. (laugh)