Tell Me That You Love Me

I just want a Cha Jin Woo in my life. It is refreshing to see a character so vulnerable and strong at the same time, who despite his adversities remains a being of light. Beautiful settings, emotions that transcend words and a superb performance by Jung Woo Sung (who is more beautiful than ever in his 50's) It's wonderful the way he can convey feelings with his eyes.. Love everything about that drama, it's just perfect. There is so much lack of empathy in the world for people with disabilities, it truly breaks your heart to think of so many talented and kind people who are not even considered by others. It's so good that I can't let it go, I've been watching it since its premiere. Thank you for such beautiful work.

There's no wild action scenes, no fancy special effects, no insane psychopaths running amok. There is a great cast with a wonderful script, wicked good chemistry between the female and male leads-both are people trying to live good lives on their own paths. Am impressed by the depiction of communication between deaf/hearing impaired and hearing humans. Very informative and educational about how, what, why, when we all work at communicating via writing, phone texts and voice to text apps, eye contact, body language, facial expressions and awareness/mindfulness. This is an impressively produced drama on many levels starting with the love story of two unique individuals--a visual artist/painter and an aspiring actress. Also interesting is how songwriting and music plays a role throughout the story. Truly impressed with. Jung Woo Sung and Shin Hyun-bin for their excellent performances.

Minuses:

• Repetition. Overplayed theme song. It is actually a very good song. Oddly with English lyrics, the melody is moving and soothing. Unfortunately, when played at least three to four times each episode (opening with credits, closing with next episode preview scenes, and at least a couple key scenes during the one hour episode), it gets rather tedious. Not only with the next episode preview scenes at the end of each episode, but also throughout the runtime in flashbacks, scenes are often replayed. The replayed scenes are actually very nice when they are replayed from a different character perspective or with significant additional information, but not when it is the same exact scene. Understand that it might be in order to name it watchable as a stand alone episode, but given the frequency, I find that not to be a good enough reason. Viewers who want to watch this as an anthology should have to be forced to deal with some slight confusion, rather than sacrifice precious time for the more devoted audience members.

• Some slow scenes and lulls. There are a few subplots that feel superfluous. Leads to more unresolved side stories.

Pluses:

• Art & Music. Plays a huge role in this series, with the male protagonist being a painter, working as a teacher for hard of hearing students at an art center & gallery as well as painting on the side in his studio at home; and the female protagonist working in a cafe across the street from the art center, to supplement her where her main focus, becoming a stage actress. Her best friend and roommate works as a director. Her childhood male friend is a composer and works in the pop music industry, some supporting characters likewise work within the arts field. Several pivotal moments taking place around trips to the sea, a secret nighttime graffiti artist slash mural painter, a missed concert, her first starring role in a play which he is her support sitting in the audience despite his inability to hear.

• Addressing mental and physical disabilities accurately, compassionately, and eloquently. Besides the most prominent "disability"of deafness and the stigma associated with it, there is the percipacious examination of guilt, trauma, living up to parental and societal expectations, morality in various situations. Male protagonist grew up in an orphanage, and his best friend, a recurring character, was his closest friend there, and is now married to a hard of hearing woman. Somehow, this Korean series successfully manages a meaningful yet sensitive portrayal of all this without becoming contrived and therefore ineffective like so many of its "woke" American counterparts.

• This might be the highest compliment that can be given. Watching this made me almost wish to have a significant other that is hard of hearing. Why? It would force us both to slow down and really listen to each other. To fight to communicate effectively. Because as a man unwilling to hear at all, the male protagonist in this series puts more effort in than anyone to hear and successfully listens better than most fully hearing people, and the female protagonist, although a hearing individual, is compelled to allow down and take her time communicating. She, therefore, also listens better than she probably would with more rushed conversations with a fully hearing person.

Grab bags: ?- This is the epitome of a slow burn. There are many moments where viewers will find themselves impatient and wanting to go so something else or fast forward. Most of these moments will be while the two protagonists are having to slowly type out their words, writing them long hand, use their hands to communicate with sign language, or to repeat things that were not understood, usually very slowly due to the language barrier. But is this not exactly what a hard of hearing individual would have to go through constantly, far more often than expressed in the scenes presented during these one hour long episodes? This very impatience is what makes this series so persuasive in conveying the difficulties faced by those different in society; those deemed abnormal.

The loudest applause for the actors, director, and writers for this powerfully beautiful narrative that plays not only to our eyes and ears that we take for granted, but our hearts.

This movie taught me that, similar to how "Attorney Woo" made me more understanding of people who are on the autism spectrum.

The love story was quite amazing because of the acting, especially by Shin Hyun Been. The love spilling out of her eyes whenever she was looking at Jung Woo Sung was gloriously sweet. The humanistic love came across loud and clear. The fact that Jung is 13 years older than Shin didn't bother me at all, unlike other dramas that also feature a big age gap between the lovers (e.g. Goblin, Mr. Sunshine.)

The attention paid to creating the artwork for the story was very impressive as well. If those paintings really exist in some art gallery in Seoul, I'd love to go see them.

I have one complaint - the soundtrack. For 2/3 theme songs, why are so many verses in English? Either write an English song with someone who can sing with virtually no accent, or just sing a Korean song. Don't keep switching between the two from one stanza or verse to another. The heavy Korean accent made it hard to tell if the singer was singing in English or Korean at times, which just makes it worse. Other than that, the instrumental soundtrack is excellent.

Overall, this movie was very entertaining to watch and definitely worth re-watching.

Amazing drama .just now i watched 2 episodes. So beautiful and wonderful drama it is..and how beautifully it played by the actors .i am highly impressed by these main actors especially by jung woo sung. How beautiful his expressions are. His eyes are so expressive that his eyes tells everything. No need of words are required. First time i am highly attached seeing this drama. And the actress .shin huyn been is doing amazing acting. Very much excited for further episodes .i will definitely recommend to watch this drama. I am watching it on Hitv..dont miss it. So soul touching drama .just love it.