You Raise Me Up First Impressions and Review
You Raise Me Up is about 31-year-old Do Yong-shik (played by Yoon Shi-yoon) who, on top of studying and failing the civil servant exam for the 6th year, is also suffering from erectile dysfunction. He finally mustered up the courage to go to a urologist only to find out the specialist who’s in charge of him is his first love, Lee Roo-da (played by Ahn Hee-yeon aka EXID's Hani). Roo-da, unlike Yong-shik, is now a successful doctor who has all she could ask for. Of course, she is not perfect because her boyfriend is a jerk who thinks he’s above everyone else. She thinks back to her first love wondering what he’s doing now. To her surprise, she meets him again as her patient. Nothing like realizing you have your finger up your first love’s butthole!
This drama came up to me all of a sudden (I saw it on my twitter feed). I saw Yoon Shi-yoon and thought this will be good. The premise seems like it would be a laugh out loud drama. Oh boy was I wrong! It was funny and I did laugh out loud but it hurt too. Yong-shik is down in the dumps and I could completely relate to that feeling. It's the wondering whether you'll ever get out of this rut you've been in for years. It's hope slipping away from your grasp. It's an awful feeling and our boy's situation just gets even worse.
I personally don't like class reunion scenes in dramas. They're like a smack in the face when you're already down in the ground. It's crazy because these people are supposed to be his high school friends but all they do is remind him of what he used to be and what he's become. I know it's where people usually catch up with each other but did they really have to be so mean? Yoon Shi-yoon also acted those scenes so well that it felt like I was there with him, wanting to melt into a puddle and just disappear forever. Like how as time passes, his slouch gets worse and his voice gets so soft you can barely hear it. We can literally see his self-esteem going down every minute.
[A part timer is also someone's precious child]
His humiliation then gets taken up a notch when he drops his bag in front of everyone, spilling his cutesy pink stuff in it. He then revealed in his inner monologue that the color pink calms him down. When I saw his place covered with pink items, I felt real bad. It was not because of his preference for pink, everybody should be able to like what they like without judgement. He mentioned buying something pink whenever he's having a hard time. With the amount of pink items he has, I can just imagine how many panic attacks he's had in the past years. I'm so mad that he gets made fun of for this. Colors don't have genders! A lot of the preschoolers like pink and purple regardless of their gender but then boys tell me they like blue when they reach Grade 2 because pink is lame. It breaks my heart to think that along the way, they got told pink and purple are "girl colors" and that they shouldn't like them.
To top it all of, he has erectile dysfunction. This man really has it rough. Oh! I talked too soon. Just when he thought it can't get worse, the doctor who comes in is his first love.
Roo-da, from what I've seen so far, is competent and doesn't take crap from other people. She's kind and romantic but her boyfriend just can't keep up. I really appreciate how she felt bad for misjudging Yong-shik (Though really, she was right. He was just lying.) and she apologized for it. She was also really cool about his erectile dysfunction and was scientifically reassuring him that it will be okay. My only worry is that she felt relieved after hearing he's a CEO just because she doesn't want her fantasy of him to be broken. Right now, she's using him as a leverage against her boyfriend to prove that she has better taste than staying in the relationship with him.
I'm really hoping that her care for him is genuine and not out of pride like he's a fighting cock in her battle against her boyfriend. Her reaction after finding out the truth seems sincere though. Instead of getting mad, she defended Yong-shik against jerk boyfriend and looked for him after he ran away.
Speaking of jerk boyfriend, Do Ji-hyuk (played by Park Ki-woong), that dude is annoying! I can't believe he's a psychiatrist and I don't know how he treats patients. Ugh. He totally played Yong-shik and ME! Dude, we both trusted you! When he started treating Yong-shik (after he realized his erectile dysfunction is probably psychological), I thought he was being professional and was actually helping him out. He sounded so kind and thoughtful only to set Yong-shik up for failure. Note to self: Don't trust pretty boys! Don't be deceived by Park Ki-woong's looks!
Our boy couldn't catch a break and he cries out in the street after running away. Yoon Shi-yoon delivered a top notch performance just two episodes in. I was so into it that I felt like I was having the panic attack. I actually had to pause the show to breathe because it was getting too hard for me to watch. It felt so real. I was yelling at my screen for him to turn back and not think of bad thoughts but I completely understood where he's coming from. In these two episodes, we didn't see him have a good time at all. It was just bad things after bad things. Even talking to his family causes him more pressure. Meeting up with friends made him feel even more insecure and that run in with Roo-da made him feel so worthless and pathetic.
We did end on a high note with Roo-da promising to help him with his erectile problem, hopefully saving him from wanting to jump off the roof.
I loved the first two episodes and thought it was a good setup for what's to come. The episodes were nicely paced and I'm so grateful for the shorter airtime. It's running at about 48 minutes each episode, not too short (like The Great Shaman Ga Doo-shim) and not too long (like Hospital Playlist Season 2). I believe we're only getting eight episodes as well. Perfect length, I must say!
Yoon Shi-yoon is amazing as always. I never imagined that I will see him jacking off on screen but I'm so happy he took this role. He has mentioned being scared to act after his shows got so successful (never forget Baker King Kim Takgu went up to about 50% ratings 10 years ago) when he was just pretty much a new actor. After his military service, he vowed to challenge himself so as not to miss the wonderful view you can see when taking rough roads. It's nice to see him taking roles that challenge him to be better at his craft.
Ahn Hee-yeon is a new face for me in dramas and it's even harder because she's more prominent as an idol in my mind. Her acting was okay and not very distracting but I can see that she's obviously new to this. She's not bad though so I look forward to her syncing with the role more in future episodes. I wish Roo-da would help Yong-shik and become the friend that he needs instead of just using him to boost her ego. I don't doubt her kindness but I just hope she can get past Ji-hyuk's goading and genuinely help Yong-shik to feel better about himself.
Park Ki-woong in yet another second lead role is doing great. He's annoying as heck and that's a testament to his acting skills. I'm sure they gave him awful hair so we can hate him even more instead of swooning all over him. I hope he gets pawned later on or even lose his license for tricking his patient and causing him more trauma.
I look forward to next week for episodes 3 and 4! Until the day we see Yong-shik rise up! *wink*
Bonus: Here's a cut of Yoon Shi-yoon's talk from 1 Night 2 Days titled "The Road Navigation Doesn't Know". I couldn't find the full one anymore but this cut is pretty good too.
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