Kill Me, Heal Me Vs Hyde, Jekyll, Me - Review

Seemingly there is soooooo much common between these two dramas, like they both aired in the January of 2015 or that they both are about Chaebols suffering with the same psychological disorder (Dissociative Identity Disorder), who are trying to hide their demons from the world and will be saved by ladies in shinning lop gloss. Aaaaaaannnnnddd that's just about it! Other then the basic plot which seems very rudimentary at first sight but has its own depths of each drama, both the stories are very different from each other.

Let's save the best for last and talk about Hyde, Jekyll, Me first. The aesthetics are very eye catching, that include the male lead, Hyun Bin with  his two charming personalities (Gu Seo Jin and Robin) that hate each other. For them to live a normal life Gu seo Jin must come to terms with his past and deal with the sorrow and anxiety that comes with it, but turns out he's a coward. Evidently there are a lot of changes to be made before he could even think of living a normal life but he's not aware of that and thats where the charming  Han Ji-min playing the character of of a Ring leader in the circus glides in on a tight rope with her amazing hair swirling behind her. There is the traditional love hate relation between them in the beginning as Gu seo jin tries to eradicate the circus while she tries to save it, during the process we learn she is the trigger to the split personality, falls in love with one of them while slowly and unknowingly heals the disorder. The only thing lacking in this drama is emotional depth. Even though the story is very touching but still it fails to actually play the heart strings of the viewers, after watching half of the episodes every one can guess how it will end but that's okay, the reason why it does not fill up the emotional glass of the viewer is that  it does not deal with a lot of emotions that should have come up with all that was going on, ignores them and proceeds the wrap the story up in a forced happy ending.

Kill me, Heal me is almost based on the same plot but there are not that many loop holes in the story. This one is a bit more complex then the earlier one. For starters there are around seven personalities who don't have an alarm clock in their systems and appear as a result of stress and anxiety which is obviously more realistic. Hyun Bin might have better looks but Ji Sung has far better acting skills, his depth was incredible, the changes in personalities were huge and didn't just depend upon the getup. Even without the getup you could observe the changes from the Gothic Se Gi to the naughty Yo Na, everything was well thought and well represented. It's not just the  personalities of the characters that are deep but its the whole package, the relationships between parents and children, the effects these have on the personality,  heavy suspense that keeps you on your toes almost till the end and Hwang Jung eum playing the happy go lucky  Oh Ri Jin keep the viewer attached till the end. The only negative points I can think of is that the aesthetic sense was not so great and the effects were quite cliche other then that everything made sense. But lead played his character amazingly well, he portrayed the deep feelings of being stuck in mental prison, and people who are suffering from mental diseases might relate and find hope in it.

The thing that I admire about both these dramas is that raise awareness about mental health in their own glamorized manner. Seeing serious topics like that in Korean dramas, that have been infamously dubbed as girly or too tame just proves we only see what we want to see

Its not that one drama is better then the other, I think both of them are quite good with their individual differences, their own positives and negatives which makes them both worth watching.
Have Fun!