REVIEW: A Piece of Your Mind episode 1

This first episode of A Piece of Your Mind was a lovely milky smooth latte of a drink. I loved the vibrant colors, the slight faded look, the textures of clothing, the patterns, the artwork, the everything. It is a lovely show to watch. On top of that, all of the acting is believable to the point where I sank into this world and enjoyed being there.

If you have ever read a Haruki Murakami book, then you might get my reference of saying that this drama reminds me of that authors style. If not, then I will try and explain it as best as possible.

So, usually in a Murakami book, there is a normal man whose life is affected by a mysterious woman who does not explain herself. This woman could be someone he has known for a long time or someone he has just met. The most important thing is that she is a mystery to him and he is most likely in love with her (and quite possibly obsessed with her).

The first episode of When the Weather is Fine had a similar Murakai feeling to it. So this drama is in good company because I love what is happening over on When the Weather is Fine. (It is so good, watch it!)

But back to this show. In this show our hero, Moon Ha-won, is a successful AI programmer of a small company that he founded. He is trying to make a handheld AI machine that is very similar to a human in how it speaks and interacts with the user. The only thing is that it is not working properly.

However, he has a breakthrough one day when he overhears music coming from our heroine, Han Seo Woo’s, studio rental. He is drawn to the studio from the music and seeing her alone. She tells him that their building is being sold, so their studio won’t be there for long. But upon leaving, Ha-won hears his AI handheld singing along to the music that was just heard.

That night, the AI also starts to talk about the thunderstorm that is happening outside. It is a huge breakthrough, so Ha-won thinks that music and sound is a big key to getting the AI to work. He ends up buying the building that the studio is in and starting a secret project to collect as many sounds for the AI machine as possible. In addition, he rents the studio at night time. Seo-woo keeps renting it in the day. But she does not know that Ha-won is the person that rented it and doesn’t even know his name.

From there we get into the nuts and bolts of the story. A friend of Ha-won, Moon Soon-ho, is pulled in to be the manager, and the main tasks she has is to use Seo-woo to get a voice recording of a woman that Ha-won loves named Kim Ji-su.

Ha-won grew up in Norway with Ji-su from elementary school until high school. They share many memories together of walking through gorgeous woods and hiding out in A-lined sheds during storms. They spent those stormy days learning Korean and saying the Korean alphabet together.

So, Ha-won wants to get her voice and put it into his AI machine so she can speak to him all the time. It is as creepy as it sounds. But Seo-woo can relate because she has a recording of her mother that she listens to all the time. It takes her a moment to agree, but she ends up agreeing and is pulled into this strange world of Ji-su who looks like she lives on another planet.

Honestly, Ji-su is the Murakami woman I was talking about earlier. She is pretty, quiet, internal, stares at beautiful things happily, and is on some kind of mental medication. Seo-woo loves her immediately and wants to help her out, so she kind of becomes fast friends with her and invites her to the studio to record her voice (yes, she still did that).

Somewhere in the episode, Seo-woo also starts to accidentally talk to this AI machine who she thinks is a man who is hiding somewhere in the building. This part kind of has to be watched to understand it. She is talking to this AI, thinking it is a man, because Ha-won set up the AI to respond to people, but it should not respond to everyones voice only his and his assistants. So this is something that is strange. But because she is talking to this AI, she ends up finding out a lot about Ha-won, and that is how we, the viewer, find out about Ha-won and Ji-su’s past in Norway.

Whew, I know that last paragraph was confusing. I mean, I watched it and reading it confused me. But anyway, just know that Seo-woo has this relationship with the AI now and knows a bit about this person named Ha-won, though she does not know who Ha-won is.

At the end of the episode, Seo-woo is supposed to meet Ji-su at a cafe, but Ha-won shows up. Ji-su does not want to see Ha-won (we do not know why, it is the biggest of biggest mysteries in this drama so far) so she sneaks out. Ha-won sees her and follows. But Seo-woo sees him following Ji-su and tells Ji-su (over the phone) to not look back, and run. This stops Ha-won from meeting up with Ji-su even though it seems like he has not seen her in a long time.

And yes, this is all a big mystery and a little confusing – but it is BEAUTIFUL. I was glued to the screen as everything was going on. Part of it is because I love the colors and textures and clarity and acting and the other part is because I am into this mystery woman’s life. I want to know why she is the way she is. It is intriguing.

But this show definitely does not look like it is for everyone. I would say, if you like When the Weather is Fine, then you will probably like this show. But if When the Weather is Fine is way too slow and mysterious for you, then you might not like this drama at all. It is a toss up. What I know is that I like it and I want you to like it so we can like it together. *smiles*

But of course, that all depends on how the second episode is. Hopefully the second episode is as good as the first!

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