Premiering: Come and Hug Me

Y’all, Come and Hug Me (이리와 안아줘) is just so far into melo left field that it is incomparable. It is like MBC heard all the backlash from The Great Seducer and said, “That wasn’t a makjang! We will show you a real makjang!” And they proceeded to create the craziest sounding love story in the history of deadly crazy love stories.

We are quickcapping this show starting tomorrow mostly because I love the two leads and because the serial killer father reminds me of Sylvester Stallone. But I also have to admit, I am so curious to see if this will be as hot a mess as it looks like it will be, or if it will actually come together nicely albeit with an insane storyline. Will I be gushing about this show in a couple days?

THE BASIC PREMISE
A boy and a girl fall in love. Her parents are very nice and welcoming to him. His father is a serial killer and kills her parents because they were nice to his favorite son. The girlfriend moves far away. They are reunited as adults and fall in love again. Will the serial killer father kill her now, too? Also, lots of secret(?) half-siblings and ex-wives are around.

MAIN CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS
Heo Jun-ho 허준호 plays Yoon Hee-jae – The psychopathic serial killer who favors his very good son.

“Stay in the middle of Seoul for an hour, a lot of people pass by. Some of them want to just kill you for nothing; the world is like that, humans are like that, they just do whatever they want to do. You have to release your anger anyway. I am at least different from them because I have class.”

On the surface, he is attractive and has a lot of self-pride (too much?). He controls people with pathological lies. No regret, no feelings of guilt, no sympathy with other people. He is only looking for stimulations without any responsibilities. He has a parasitic lifestyle and is impulsive. He is the perfect psychopath and bad person. He was cruel to his oldest son who idolized him and is similar to him, but he favored his son who is the opposite, nice, kind, and smart. That is why he hated Na Gyan’s family who made a relationship with his son. That is why he killed her parents.

“I was born in a poor environment and I am spontaneous. If they didn’t stimulate me, then I wouldn’t have to kill them.”

Jang Ki-Yong (장기용) plays Chae Do-jin (real name Yoon Na-moo) – The very kind police officer who only loves his long-lost first love.

(Busan saturi) “Don’t worry, being a psychopath is not in your DNA, it is not contagious even if you stand next me.”

Chae Do-jin is a funny and righteous guy. Everyone, including pick pockets, think he should be a model, not a police officer. Everyone also thinks he grew up in a rich family with nice parents and a lot of love. But he is the last son of the worst psychopathic serial killer in Korea.

Gil Nak-won is his teenage love and the first person that made him realize he is different from his father. She is his only savior and only love until now. When he thinks she may suffer more than necessary when protecting him, his calmness breaks and he feels his rage come out (so he might also be a psychopath?).

Jin Ki-joo (진기주) plays Han Jae-yi (real name Gil Nak-won) – A top actress in Korea. She thinks her path is a super dramatic documentary, but now it is all a variety show.

“I get angry maybe more than 10 times a day like a Maui volcano.”

She used to complain about her mother being a super actress, but she likes being an actress. Even though she had a tragic incident as a child, she became an actress anyway. From outside, she looks fun, happy, bold, and lively. No one could imagine that she is the daughter of the famous actress that was killed by Yoon Hi-jae. She is a super romantic actress (think Son Ye-jin). But she says what she has to say and she has a lot of male and female fans.

Yoon Na-moo is her first love when she was a pre-teen. He is the son of her parents killer. Even at a young age, he was so mature. She is scared of herself because she still wants to see him again.

“The scariest thing is, if I see him again, I will fall in love with him again.”

SUMMARY
This show is cra-cra. We have a super star actress who seems like she is modeled after Son Ye-Jin; a very handsome should-be-a-model above-the-board statuesque police officer with a heart of gold who might be hiding a fiery rage inside him; and the serial killer father who loves his son to bits and doesn’t want to see anyone take his son away from him. There are reporters, actors, managers, 4th wives, half-siblings, and step siblings all in the mix.

I mean, wow, just wow. MBC does not have the best track record when it comes to normal sounding dramas and they have one of the worst performing dramas in recent television history on their books (The Great Seducer), so this feels like an uphill battle. I wish them all good luck.

Come and Hug Me will air on Wednesdays and Thursdays. It premiers May 16th (tomorrow) at 22:00 on MBC.

LINKS
Official Website
MBC YouTube
MBC Instagram
MBC Facebook

SHORTHAND CHARACTER LIST

POSTERS
Come and Hug Me’s Devastatingly Gorgeous and Terrifying Posters
Melo to Death Poster for Come and Hug Me

SCRIPT READING & GOOD LUCK CEREMONY
Script Reading, Good Luck Ceremony, and Scene Photos from Come and Hug Me

PRESS CONFERENCE

SCENES

TEASERS

Source MBC, YouTube

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