May I Help You

If this show, with this title, were American it would probably "ironically" be about some rude self obsessed bartenders and waitstaff, and it's even different from the similarly named British classic comedy Are You Being Served? Which was more of class-war statement about the stiff upper lip of the British middle and upper classes and the trod upon, eccentric working class people who sold them clothes in the 1970s.

No, this charming Korean supernatural fantasy drama isn't even horror - it's legitimately about helping other people. Specifically helping the dead and their families ... though the twenty-something funeral director is stressed and resistant about her fate for obvious reasons.

I guess this could be compared to Highway to Heaven or Touched by an Angel except it has a decidedly Buddhist angle as well as Christian rather than being rigidly Christofascist. The servants of the dead are entirely human and flawed, not angelic or perfect.

I came back after watching more episodes to raise the rating of this excellent K-Drama. I mean if you look at a K-Drama for what it is (a soap opera) this is a really great show, I actually found it highly addictive and couldn't stop watching it. I loved the main characters.

She sheds lots of tears. She's probably 😭 right now. Baek Dong "Joo" is going to give /her/ some relief. Just b/c she's dead doesn't mean she doesn't have feelings!

Joo is weird. We've all heard of deathbed confessions, but she can hear embalming room last requests. She can speak to the dead. Only in the funeral parlor. Only when it's only Joo w/ the deceased. Only for a few minutes, and that's only long enough to hear last pleas. In ep1 we see a newly deceased Uber driver beg her to find his son whom he abandoned yrs (decades) ago.

Joo works w/ Im Il Seop (In Ho Tae from Misaeng-9.1) as a funeral director. Lee Jun Young (Melo Movie), w/ the pinch-able round cheeks, portrays Kim "Tae" Hui. He works at an errand service. One day it's his errand to break up w/ Joo in place of her actual BF, who hired him to do so. "I no longer want to hold your 🤚 b/c of what you do w/ your 👐," he must say to her on behalf of his client. So, /these/ are the things this guy does for 💰? Joo has a few choice words about what Tae does for a living. After the breakup, she hands some cash to him, tells him to report back to the client that /she's/ breaking up with /that jerk/, NOT the other way around. Then she /kicks/ him. No fair! Tae just works here!

Life hasn't been fair. His little brother died yrs ago, & his family, career, & life "died" then, too. As it turns out, the little brother ties together several characters in the show. Tae's running an errand to the funeral parlor mere hours later. As he enters (limps) in, there's the woman who kicked him, & it still hurts. Ep2 is a string of fateful encounters. They run into e/o any handful of times. He even meets her dad unawares (Park Soo Young from My Mister-9.5). After several random encounters Dad & Tae become friends - Dad makes friends w/ everybody. He gets along well w/ dad, but Tae does not like Joo. Joo isn't impressed w/ Tae, either.

'Stop following me!' 'No, you're the one who's following me!' The fateful encounters don't stop. He's in an errand business. She's a mortician who is getting last requests from departed souls. They're sending her on errands, & he's hired by many families to help clean up after deaths. Consequently, she's been getting in the way of his work so badly that it looks like the complaints she's generated will put his company under, once & for all. But then he finds the check that she told him to look for. He hands it to the disgruntled bereaved, & exits the job, triumphant. As they say in Forrest Gump, now "shrimping is easy". Once the general public hears about how Tae recovered & handed over a cashier's check for a whopping sum, *everyone* wants to hire him. Now, the jobs are stacked up, & running errands is a breeze.

In spite of it all, the more he sees her, the more he dislikes her.

Lee Hye Ri from Reply 1988-8.6 is our FL. Ms Lee looks better w/ black hair, not the brown she's sporting here. Long ago dubbed the nation's "little sister" she's that everyday girl... if the everyday girl manages to be cute, spunky, pretty, funny, winsome, independent, & appealing, all at once. She has a way of appearing capable, but also in need of assistance. She also has a way of looking a tad bored & unhappy, yet she still makes the viewer smile. She's a charmer.

Song Deok Ho from Link: Eat, Love, Kill-6.7 is a local beat cop who falls for Joo instantly. Lee Kyu Han (She Would Never Know-7.3) plays "Vincent-seeing-other-people-have-fun-makes-me-jealous," who is Tae's cousin & boss, Lee Hyang Bok. He's in a perpetual state of distress, especially when the company isn't doing well. Even when the company is doing well, he has to deal w/ his always-yelling, never-satisfied mother. Director Shim So Yeon brought us Welcome 2 Life, & screenwriter Lee Seon Hye also penned 20th Century Boy & Girl.

Many people react negatively to what Joo does for a living. She hasn't told her father about it. He thinks she's studying for the Civil Service exam. The lies mount up b/c of that 1 lie. Dad begins to get suspicious. "If you don't do what you want & keep what you want to say inside, it'll end up causing stress... That's the source of all disease... be honest w/ (loved ones) about everything; there's supposed to be no secrets between two people that love each other. Once you start hiding tiny things from each other, you have a hard time seeing that person b/c of guilt." He says that in hopes that she'll open up. Speaking of guilt, we see 1 character smile slightly when he erases evidence. He won't smile again. Not during the course of the show. Not for yrs. The weight of guilt... well, it /weighs/ on him.

Joo must endure the dead pleading w/ her to live again, or for other favors, but she's rarely able to fulfill more than 1 simple request. There's no time to handle anything more. The 1st person she attends to whom she knew in life is her friend's grandmother. Joo considered her a grandma as well. In that scene, Joo is the one crying & pleading w/ Granny to stay. Kim Young Ok (Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha-8.2) plays grandma. This actress is so cute. Her earliest credited work is from 1957!

In one scene, a woman who was murdered when she was about to give birth pleads w/ Joo to save her baby. But she & the baby in her womb already perished. All Joo can do is endure it. Consequently, when that pregnant woman was begging, Joo is holding her, trying her best to console her, & Tae is delivering something. He walks in on them. When he enters the room, the beautiful surroundings that appear for the awakened deceased dissipate, & we're back in the cold, industrial embalming room w/ the departed no longer talking, but back to being a body. All Tae sees is Joo doing something very weird w/ the body. He really can't stand her. She tries to explain to him that she can talk to the dead, but he's only more scandalized by her odd behavior.

When Joo relays information that helps Tae prevent a suicide, he starts to soften his stance on her. Then he really softens on her. That begins to harden into positive feelings for her. He asks her out for a drink one night &... they are still together the next morning. Nothing happened, except the connection deepened.

"I don't want to die." Joo has to speak to a little girl who died when her mother committed a murder suicide. It's an act borne of misplaced views on parental love & protection. Parents who kill children b/c they intend to commit suicide see the children as property, not an individual human being, says the newscaster when reporting on the incident. "I want to live. Please let me live." "I want to try dyeing my hair, fly on an airplane, have a boyfriend... drink boba tea one more time. I have so many things I want to do. I don't care if I'm poor. I don't care if I'm hungry. Please save me," begs the child. Some of the conversations Joo has are agonizing. She wonders if what she's doing means anything. Is she helping?

When Joo needs to talk, she hits up father. Father Michael, that is - he's her uncle. Oh Dae Hwan (Live Up to Your Name-7.6) is the priest. He has a very nice presence about him. He turns out to be old friends w/ Vincent - yet another connection.

MIHY is sweet, often cute, & totally forgettable. It's a hope injection. Accepting death, managing regrets & living on is the theme. Are we supposed to derive comfort from what the deceased say & request? I think so, & it's not too hard to guess how most deceased would see things. MIHY is more a commentary on death & loss than a romance, but romance is the vehicle that drives the commentary. It surfaces that Tae's past was not a smooth road. He was in medical school, he had a girlfriend, & now it's obvious that she's not over him. Just as these two start to get interested in e/o, Tae's ex tries to make moves. The local beat cop makes moves on Joo, too. Joo wants to back off when she sees Tae's ex come back into his life. Yet, she /doesn't/ want to back off, so she just looks very uncomfortable whenever his ex is around. Same w/ Tae & the cop. At the same time, Joo's friend is falling for her immediate supervisor, In Ho, too, so love is in the air. (The 2ndary romance had the potential to boost the show up, but they treated it like a throwaway thing). Regardless of outside interference, Tae & Joo go together like ping & pong. They are sweet & cozy.

For most of its run, MIHY feels like a quiet space. This duo is comfortable. This is my 3rd look at Lee Hye Ri, & I must bow to her capabilities. For a tiny little thing, she's like a big comfy sofa. She's got that you're-home-now-everything-is-okay vibe mastered. Unfortunately, in the end it didn't build up to anything & then it fizzled away. There is much to like about this show, but when the time came for the big reveal & wrap up, they lost me: It's cobbled together badly, it's half-hearted, & it's wholly depressing. The bad guy's actions & motivations don't make sense, & he's supposedly smart. It's written weakly. This is probably the furthest into the episode count that a show lost me. They don't have enough content for 16 episodes, though they don't run into serious trouble until the last couple. The intangibles can be hard to define, but just like the dead can't cross the threshold of the exit from the embalming room, MIHY can't cross the threshold from avg to good. It's sad.

On the + side, MIHY does the opposite of cheapening life. It reinforces that every life is precious & we have obligations to e/o. It wraps up nicely w/ a moving explanation of why & how this happened to Joo & why she & Tae are so very perfect for e/o. It isn't the worst, nor is it the best. It will kill some time.

QUOTES🗣

Success is the mother of failure.

Everything's an excuse.

IMHO〰🖍

📣6.5 📝6 🎭7.6 💓6 🦋4 🎨6.5 🎵/🔊7 🔚7 🤗2.5 ▪ 🌞6⚡4.5 😅2 😭5 😱3 😯2 🤢3 🤔3.5 💤1.5

Shazams: Goodbye My Friend, by JAMIE

Age 14+ Language: b!+ch, F💣s - all in the first 20 min; Scary elements.

I enjoyed this drama a lot. I thought this was going to be tge typical tearjerker series which target easy sensitive audience but It actually surprised me.

At the end of this drama you will feel an uncontrollable eagerness to appreciate those around you and will want to live your own life as it wasn't a tomorrow, you never know what is going to happen so do everything you want and be happy.

EVERYTHING and I mean literally everything in this drama is connected, and the best thing is you don't even realize and it's not predictable whatsoever.

Very dark moments that will make you emotional but each story is beautiful written and it won't let you unsatisfied.

The first half of the series is a bit more upbeat and comedy and romance took more of the center stage. I enjoyed the chemistry between the leads and I laughed with the situations amidst the dramatic events.

The second half of the series is a bit slower and focused more on the main backstories of the two leads. A bit more heavy in drama and quite emotional, but the magnificent ending and closure of the story will leave a sweet aftertaste and you will end up smiling and feeling hopeful for this life.

I absolutely adore Hye Ri is just brilliant at acting, her range is just crazy wide, she masters comedy and drama perfectly and if you know her you know her capability of actually crying at command, so I know her scenes are pure art.

Its my 5th drama enjoying this super young actor ( he is only 25 here) Jun-Young and I think he will get far as well, his career so far is impressive and I love seeing him on more prominent roles, although he has almost always had main roles, which is fantastic. His aura is a bit more mature and he looks older so he is perfect playing older characters.

Overall a great watch.

So I have the privilege of seeing this series on Amazon prime in the western hemisphere. I generally enjoy it this far, some good visuals, sense of magic common to kdramas more so than any other industry in my view, and good acting. Sweet moments which is generally appreciated. I have a few complaints. There are some cliche ideas to begin with. For example I find that some characters were befallen my major misfortunes that are incredibly unlikely in real life, so while the case led to very entertaining couple of episodes, I couldn't help but wonder why kdramas feature unnecessary cruel and unlikely occurrences. Second, the piggy back ride- it can be very endearing but I feel like men shouldn't have to piggyback women as an expectation. Women need to show a whole lot of appreciation and frankly avoid getting so drunk. It's a vehicle that makes female audiences swoon over handsome Korean stars but it's somewhat misleading and not fair. Third, why not give someone a hug more freely when they're feeling down? For sure there may be cultural differences but if you're hugging this same person for piggy backs, you should be able to offer some emotional support even simply as a friend. Finally the mechanism of scoffing is overused. Still entertaining and well put together. I'll probably see it to the end.

I must say, before watching this drama I saw a lot of negative reviews and was a bit skeptical but I'm glad I went ahead and watched, this drama had all my emotions going. From cute romance to heartfelt reality of life and death to an unexpected thriller twist that isn't what you would want see, but it goes to show that fate isn't always going to turn out the way we would want it to be. It's a drama with all my expectations. The actors did a phenomenal job. In my opinion it's a must watch but prepare yourself for a roller coaster of emotions. It's not a drama for the weak hearted so get your Kleenex ready.