Review of Our Unwritten Seoul / 미지의 서울

If you’re new here, and stumbled upon this blog through the mythical powers of the Internet, welcome! I know a lot of visitors to my website are people who randomly come upon this website through search engines like Google, but I also do have a lot of visitors who come back. Regardless: my name is Ashley, and I started this blog in order to keep track of everything I’m coming across in the world.

I recently fell into a spell of unemployment probably during the worst time to be unemployed, as it was very hard to find a job. I was applying to hundreds of jobs, getting interviews, but no offer was manifesting for me in the near future. So during this time, I had a lot of free time, and spent a good chunk of it chipping away at the blog.

I’ve been really catching up on my television shows during this time, as I feel like I would actually go insane if I wasn’t doing something besides applying to jobs, freelancing, and working on the blog. I came to realize during this time that if I didn’t have something dedicated to do and a purpose, I would actually go insane in a way that isn’t productive. I need to have a purpose, and working has been a way to find that.

One of the many ways I’ve been staying sane is that I’ve been getting through a lot of Asian dramas that I’ve been meaning to watch. I’ve even managed to get through some of the Turkish television series that have also been on my list, but I procrastinate on because I never had the time and would watch a Korean show first.

Today’s blog post is going to be dedicated to Our Unwritten Seoul. This is a show I struggled to get through at first because of the pacing, and I did end up taking a break. Usually when I do that I never end up going back to the show, but then when I realized I wanted to try it again, I did pick this one back up.

So it did take me a while to finish this show because of the breaks I was taking. I will say that the journey of getting to the end was worth it for me personally, so I’m glad I did it in hindsight.

Let’s get into the review! I don’t want to keep rambling in this introduction.

When the pressure mounts, two twin sisters switch places and lives, creating extraordinary situations.

We begin this series learning about Yoo Mi-ji and Mi-rae, who are identical twins who were born and raised outside of the metropolitan areas of Korea. Mi-ji, who was the more athletic of the two, had an entire sprinting career ahead of her, but when she got injured, it ended her career and forced her to confront that she might never be leaving her small town.

Mi-rae, however, was the smarter of the two twins and had an out from their small town. When they grew up and finished their schooling, Mi-ji remained in their hometown and is a wandering spirit on its streets, while Mi-rae gets a good job at a company in Seoul and has a classic corporate career ahead of her.

But when things get rocky for Mi-rae and she’s on the cusp of a mental breakdown, the twins decide it’s time for a change. Mi-ji takes Mi-rae’s place at the company and realizes that not only is she being sexually harassed at one point, but she’s a victim of bullying in the workplace.

Her previous coworker was the old target, but when she left, Mi-rae became the one who had to suffer the brunt of their coworkers’ cruelty. Mi-ji decides to tae matters into her own hands at the corporation, while also being sent out to try and convince an older woman to sell her property.

The relationship between her and the older woman becomes a selling point for a side subplot, while there’s also something else: their old classmate Lee Ho-soo is practicing as a lawyer. He’s been having his own journey in Seoul independent of them, but their paths are about to collide.

When Mi-ji meets him again for the first time since they were in school, sparks fly, but he’s unaware that she’s not Mi-rae. Their romance is going to be one of the show’s focuses as well, but there’s another subplot involving his health later on as well.

Meanwhile, back at home, Mi-rae finds solace in being in her hometown—as well as a certain strawberry farmer. Healing for Mi-rae might not be linear, but she’s certainly on her way of learning to get back on her feet.

Overall Thoughts

As I mentioned before in the introduction, I found it hard to get started with this show, but, honestly, when I restarted it at around episode four I got back into the groove pretty quickly. I think for me this show is a little too slow paced, but I can see why it was done this way. It was difficult for me to get through because of that.

However: I think the roles Park Bo-young has been picking lately are fantastic, especially when it comes to mental health representation and everyday people struggling. Some of the storylines in this show were really well done, and I thought it was powerful to show the workplace bullying and harassment the way it was.

She also did a fantastic job picking out Daily Dose of Sunshine, so I’m going to be keeping an eye out for her future work. Jin-young also did a great job, although his character lacked as much depth as her dual role. His health problem subplot did feel a little thrown in there, as there wasn’t much pretext or foreshadowing leading up to it—unless I simply missed it.

I say watch this one if you’re interested! It’s a solid drama in the end, even though with its slower pacing. I can see a lot of people enjoying this show.

Follow me below on Instagram, Letterboxd, and Goodreads for more.