I just want to talk about you yeah...note
"And one day, when life becomes difficult, I'll think about you and all the other friends in Jeju. That will give me strength. Because it can't be any more difficult than what you guys are going through."
– Choi Han-su
Our Blues ( 우리들의 블루스; Revised Romanization: Urideurui Beulluseu) is a 2022 South Korean Omnibus TV Series directed by Kim Gyu-tae about the ups and downs of people living in Jeju island, focusing mostly on romance and drama between the various protagonists.
The first three episodes center around Choi Han-Su (played by Cha Seung-won), a SS Bank branch manager returning to Jeju, who still has feelings for old classmate and First Love Jung Eun-Hui (played by Lee Jung-eun), a fishing store and coffee shop owner. Scattered in between these episodes are the stories of truck merchant Lee Dong-seok (played by Lee Byung-hun), divorcee Min Seon-a (played by Shin Min-a), captain Park Jeong-jun (played by Kim Woo-bin), first-year haenyonote Lee Yeong-ok (played by Han Ji-min) and various others. Later episodes have multiple-part stories featuring them, with the drama that comes with it.
Also known for being one of the more depressing K-dramas out there, with an abundance of depressing storylines that just get more plentiful and more heart wrenching as the series goes on (it's called "Our Blues" after all).
The series originally ran on tvN from April 9 to June 12, 2022, concluding at 20 episodes. All twenty episodes are available for streaming on Netflix in selected countries. It is also
the eleventh highest rated drama in Korean cable television history.
Our Blues provides examples of:
- Above the Influence: Invoked by Jeong-jun and Yeong-ok, who promise each other that they won't sleep together while drunk as it means their relationship will be "tainted by alcohol". When both of them sober up, they're visibly overjoyed and later consummate the relationship
- Abusive Offspring: Dong-seok is of the verbal kind, constantly berating Ok-dong for even trying to speak to him.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Back when they were best friends, Ing-won and Ho-sik each promised each other that they would become in-laws once their children grew up. By the time their children end up falling in love with each other, they have been bitter enemies for years and any semblance of their old friendship is gone.
- Birth-Death Juxtaposition: The birth of Yeong-ju and Hyeon's baby happens during the last days of Kang Ok-dong's life.
- Blood from the Mouth: Kang Ok-dong has started vomiting blood as a result of her worsening stomach cancer. Ok-dong vomiting blood in front of Eun-hui is what reveals her sickness.
- Broken Ace: Ko Mi-ran, despite being admired throughout Seogswipo and having a successful career is deeply unhappy with her lot in life. She's been divorced three times, her family hates her due to being a divorcee and her daughter loves her stepmother more.Chun-hui: I feel bad for Mi-ran. Be good to her.Eun-hui: Why do you feel bad for her? She meets various men and her daughter is with her ex-husband.Ok-dong: The fact that she can't settle down makes me pity her. There's no one she can truly rely on. And it must break her heart that she can't raise her own daughter.
- Broken Tears:
- Upon seeing Yeong-hui's paintings of her and their parents, Yeong-ok starts crying. It isn't until she sees Yeong-hui's paintings of both of them does she cry broken tears, realizing that for somebody to paint this good they have to be very lonely. Yeong-ok has attempted to get away from her at every chance she gets.
- Everyone in the finale starts crying after hearing the news of Ok-dong's death. This is especially true for Dong-seok, who sobs heavily while hugging her dead body.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Ing-jeon is shown to be constantly paranoid of her husband, Myeong-bo, cheating on her. This puts her at odds with Mi-ran. Deconstructed during Mi-ran and Eun-hui 2, where it's revealed that her jealousy has led to her physically abusing Myeong-bo. The abuse has left Myeong-bo with scars all over his back and a left foot filled with broken toenails. He would later leave her, with their daughter even agreeing with her father's decision.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Ho-sik's initial confrontation with Ing-won ends with the former being beaten to a bloody pulp while the latter comes out unscathed. Justified, since Ing-won is a former criminal who is much more experienced in combat than Ho-sik.
- The Cynic:
- The tragic deaths of Chun-hui's husband and sons has left her with quite a gloomy outlook on life. The successes of her last surviving son, the kindness of her daughter-in-law and the warmth of her granddaughter managed to downplay this though. Unfortunately, upon learning of her son being in a critical state due to a car accident she immediately slips back into this mindset. Her rant to Eun-gui pretty much sums it up.
Chun-hui: I can't believe I thought fate would be kind enough to let me live with my son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter! I forgot I had a misfortunate life. - Dark and Troubled Past: An alarming amount of characters have some pretty tragic and heartbreaking pasts.
- Dong-seok. Growing up a poor boy who saw his father and sister die at sea, he absolutely loathed his mother and made sure not to turn out like her. A month after his sister's death, his mother remarried and he was forced to move into his stepfather's house. He was beaten regularly by his stepbrothers, which was seemingly ignored by his mother. Running away from his stepfather's house, he tried to make something of himself in Seoul while never going back to Jeju. This failed, and he was forced to go back to the island he always hated to make a living.
- Seon-a's mother died when she was very young, and her father spiraled into drinking and later committed suicide right in front of her. And then came the bouts of depression following her father's death, which manifested as the whole world being engulfed in darkness.
- Yeong-ok was born to a pair of former artists, who were forced to sell clothes in Dongdaemun due to falling on hard times. They overworked themselves into a car accident when she was 12 years old, leaving poor Yeong-ok an orphan with a disabled sister to take of.
- This is actually invoked by Dong-seok when Seon-a loses the custody case. He tells her to think about how such a life can impact Yeol. His father left his mom due to her depression and his mother cried and never looked happy until the day she died, so Dong-seok asks Seon-a if he can somehow find joy in life.
- Kang Ok-dong's past prior to Dong-seok's birth is elaborated upon in the finale. Her parents died when she was either six or seven, with her older brother following suit when she was fourteen. The fact that Dong-seok can relate to her past (has a dead parent and sibling) is what makes him pity her.
- Death Glare:
- In-jeong gives these out like candy, with most of them being directed at her husband.
- For a woman who doesn't like to be stared at, the few times Yeong-hui gives one out shows that she can give a menacing glare if she wants to.
- Decoy Protagonist: Han-su and Eun-hui take center stage for the first three episodes, but in Episode 3 Han-su leaves for Seoul to reconnect with his family (leaving the story in the process) while Eun-Hui is relegated to basically being the Team Mom of the cast. She only regains the spotlight in the episodes involving Mi-ran.
- Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: Averted big time in the case of Myeong-bo and In-jeong. When In-jeong is revealed to have constantly beaten Myeong-bo and left him with scars all across his back, it's treated seriously and Mi-ran sympathizes with his plight. Their daughter is said to have urged her father to get a divorce.
- Dude Magnet:
- Yeong-ok has a lot of admirers thanks to her good looks. She dated many of these men in the past, but none of those relationships panned out. Jeong-jun wonders if he can make it work.
- The attractive and slender Ko Mi-ran constantly attracts attention from the opposite gender, to the point that Eun-hui is forced off the stage when singing with her to make way for more men. The only one who isn't smitten with her is Ho-sik, who instead hates her due to her treatment of Eun-hui.
- Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas:
- Both the hot-headed Eun-hui and the self-loathing Han-su have a soft spot for their mothers.
- Averted for Dong-seok, who openly hates his mother and verbally berates her several times throughout the series. This becomes the case by the end though, where he sobs uncontrollably while cradling her corpse.
- The death of Ing-won's mother is one of the catalysts for him quitting organized crime. He is quite pissed off when Dong-seok badmouths her.
- Fat Bitch: Park Hye-ja is rather portly and is pretty much the certified Jerkass among the haenyos, always at odds with rookie Yeong-ok while constantly spreading rumors about her. She also mocks Hyeon and Yeong-ju’s current situation and laughs at his hardships during Ing-won and Ho-sik 3.
- Gentle Giant: At 6'2, Jeong-jun towers over most of Purueng Village's denizens. Despite this, he's a pretty kindhearted and approachable guy who loves Yeong-ok despite the malicious rumors surrounding her. The same goes for his brother, Park Ki-jun who doesn't judge his love interest Byeol-i for being deaf. Probably has something to do with the fact that the two had loving parents, a nice home and a normal childhood, something which most of the cast lack.
- Gossipy Hens: The women in Jeju are known to gossip a lot, to the point that Eun-hui claims that they keep count of their neighbors' underwear and cutlery.
- Granny Classic: Kang Ok-dong and Hyeon Chun-hui are both sweet old ladies who love to cook, don't have a bad bone in their body, love their grandchild (for Chun-hui anyway) and love the company of others. When Yeong-joo and Hyung are booted from their parents' houses, they're the only ones who let the young couple spend the night at their house.
- Hates Their Parent: Dong-seok absolutely hates his mother, Kang Ok-dong, to the point that most interactions with her end with Dong-seok screaming at the old woman.
- Happily Married:
- Yeong-ju and Hyeon get married with the blessing of both their fathers. Both are very much in love.
- Yeong-ok's parents are shown to have genuinely loved each other. Their hardships in life didn't affect their marriage at all, and they had a strong marriage to the end.
- Henpecked Husband: Myeong-bo constantly lives in fear of his wife, In-jeon and she definitely wears the pants in the relationship. Deconstructed when it's revealed that they reason why Myeong-bo is so weak-willed around his wife is because she is abusing him. He's been putting up with it for some time, but finally leaves her during the events of Episode 14.
- Inspirationally Disadvantaged:
- Averted for Byeol-i, who despite being deaf works a normal job at a coffee stand and is not particularly more talented or smarter than anyone in Purueng Village.
- Downplayed with Yeong-hui, who has Down syndrome. While she can draw and paint really well, she's more or less just a regular person with hopes, dreams and aspirations of her own.
- Internal Reveal:
- Choi Han-su's secrets (that he's not separated from his wife and is in Jeju to ask for money) are slowly but surely uncovered by the cast over the course of the first three episodes, and by the third they manage to tell Eun-hui about this.
- Yeong-ju's pregnancy is at first only known to Hyeon and Yeong-ju herself. After their visit to the OB-GYN however, one of their classmates finds out while Eun-hui starts to suspect something. After this, they reveal it to their dads who don't take it well. Purueng High School as a whole is soon informed of her pregnancy, while the whole town finds out when Ho-sik blurts it out during his confrontation with Ing-won at the market.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
- Eun-hui is a kind person deep down, as she still cares for her friends despite them constantly abusing her kindness.
- Dong-seok may have a rough exterior, but he strikes up a friendship with Jeong-jun and is shown to have a soft spot for Seon-a despite her constant rejection of him.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Unlike the other Jerkass characters in the series, In-jeong has no heart of gold hidden beneath the whole "jealous wife" thing. She's just a cruel abuser who constantly hurts her husband out of delusional jealousy.
- Locked Out of the Loop:
- Played for Laughs when Eun-hui exclaims in Episode 16 that she has been unaware of Yeong-ok and Jeong-jun being in a relationship, despite it being incredibly obvious that they're in love.
- Dong-seok is the only one in Episode 17 who does not know of Man-su being in a critical state. He's also nowhere to be seen when the cast try to call in as many favors as possible to get Eun-gi and Chun-hui across the sea and to Mokpo.
- The Napoleon: Eun-hui is noticeably shorter than the rest of the cast, and has a short fuse to boot.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Mi-ran's attempt to comfort the constantly abused and mistreated Myeong-bo by hugging him ends with her friendship with Eun-hui being completely shattered. She's able to repair it later though.
- Not So Stoic:
- When Hyeon hears his child's heartbeat for the first time, he looks horrified and sheds a Single Tear.
- When Hyeon confronts his father and Ing-won starts crying, Hyeon hugs the latter and starts sobbing while telling his father that he's sorry.
- Out of Focus: Inevitable in an Omnibus series with a large cast. Protagonists of a previous arc have brief cameos or don't appear at all in later ones, at least until they get involved again with the story.
- Open-Minded Parent: Despite all of the suspense regarding Jeong-jun and Park Ki-jun's parents accepting their relationships, they turn out to be decent people who accept Yeong-ok despite her having to care for a disabled Eun-hui.
- Sir Swearsalot:
- The tomboyish Eun-Hui is by far the most potty-mouthed woman in the series.
- Dong-seok also swears quite a lot in casual conversations, to the point that Seon-a has to take a "lesson" in cussing from him.
- Pet the Dog:
- Park Hye-ja is one of the haenyos that saves Seon-a from drowning. She's even the one that alerts Captain Park to Seon-a falling into the water.
- Hye-ja also defends Yeong-hui when one of the haenyos discriminates against her and calls the latter "slow". She has an autistic granddaughter, so she knows how hard it can be.
- Put on a Bus:
- Han Su leaves the show in Episode 3 after being exposed by his "friends" for lying and to reconnect with his newly-arrived family. He does tell Eun-Hui that he might return to Jeju sometime.
- Seon-a also disappears from the narrative in Episode 11, albeit on a much better note than she was before thanks to Dong-seok. She does make brief cameos though in Episodes 15 and 17.
- Reformed Criminal: Ing-won and Ho-sik are both reformed criminals, with Ing-won being a former thug while Ho-sik was formerly a gambler. They aren't finding much joy in their current jobs as a sundae and ice seller respectively though.
- The Reveal: The person who has been calling Yeong-ok since Episode 4, and the reason why she wants to make so much money selling Abalones? It's her disabled twin sister, Lee Yeong-hui, who has Down Syndrome.
- Slice of Life: The whole series is about the day-to-day lives of people living on Jeju Island, with most of their jobs involving Seopseop Market where they work and interact during the day.
- Teen Pregnancy: Yeong-ju turns out to be pregnant with Hyeon's child. Initially choosing to abort the baby, hearing its heartbeat convinces her and Hyeon to keep it. Their fathers do not take it well, with Ing-won even trying to drag Yeong-ju to a hospital where the baby can be aborted. In the end, the fathers choose to let their children have the baby.
- There Is Only One Bed: The place where Yeong-ok and Jeong-jun stay during their trip to Mokpo has only one bedroom. It's heavily implied and later outright stated that Jeong-jun and Yeong-ok slept together.
- Tragic Dream: Downplayed since she's more interested in her dream of becoming an artist, but Yeong-hui wants to get plastic surgery to be more "sexy" and pretty like her twin sister.
- Wham Shot:
- The reveal of who has been calling Yeong-ok. The caller initially has her back turned to the camera, before we get a good look at her. She's shown to have Down syndrome and looks a lot like Yeong-ok, explaining Yeong-ok's drive to get money.
- When Dong-seok goes to his mom's house in the finale, we see that she's sleeping and has cooked his favorite stew for him. He tastes it and calls it delicious...but upon panning over to Ok-dong we see that she's absolutely motionless and her body has started to go pale. Her stomach cancer has finally claimed her life.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Ing-won, Ho-sik and Eun-hui all call out Dong-seok for being indifferent to the news of his mother having cancer.
