It’s Okay to Not Be Okay – Episode 3 Recap & Review

The Car Chase

Back for another chapter, It’s Okay To Not Be Okay returns with an intriguing episode as Moon-Young carries on chasing after Kang-Hae while still tackling some serious mental health issues.

Episode 3 of It’s Okay To Not Be Okay starts as Moon-Young arrives in Ok hospital and comes face to face with Kang-Hae, who tells him she missed him. Ju-Ri heads downstairs and is surprised to see the two together. Kang-Hae takes her outside where she admits she wants him because everything about him is pretty and warns that she always gets what she wants.

Moon-Young gets called in the admission office to discuss her father’s condition and the cognitive repercussions it has caused. They then ask her to take part in the hospital therapy program by providing a literature class for the patients. She of course refuses and storms out.

In the staff room, things get a little awkward for Kang-Hae when Moon-Young comes in and tries touching him. He throws her out just as Ju-Ri happens to be walking by. Moon-Young follows Ju-Ri outside and the two talk about Kang-Hae and how their paths keep crossing.

Determined to get what she wants, Moon-Young tries to give Kang-Hae a lift and suggests they do a meet and greet with his brother. Kang-Hae tells her that her rash ways will not work on him. She decides to leave him alone but promises to kidnap him the next time he plays hard to get.

Late at night, Moon-Young drives in the middle of nowhere and stops in front of an abandoned mansion, believed to be haunted after all the bad things that happened in it. She heads inside and walks up the stairs to lie down on a bed. As she falls asleep, she dreams of a story similar to sleeping beauty. In the dream, she is the sleeping princess and explains that the fairy tale tells you that you can never escape your destiny.

Suddenly, we see the floating spirit of a woman above her head who tells her not to get her hopes too high as she will kill the prince. Moon-Young wakes up crying and distressed but remembers Kang-Hae’s words on how to deal with trauma.

Meanwhile, Kang-Hae has dinner with his brother, Jae-Su, Ju-Ri and her mother who seems to have taken a liking to him.

In the morning, Mr Lee calls Moon-Young to discuss the repercussion of her latest outbursts. She suggests using her father and telling the press that she has been busy looking after her father who has dementia and also that she may be retiring. In the hospital, Min-Seok, the son of assembly man of the district, checks himself in as he often suffers from manic episodes. He tells Kang-Hae what happened when he ran into trouble after trying to pay for everyone’s drinks in a club. His credit card was declined so he had to run away from the security.

Jae-Su enlists the help of Sang-Hae in his new restaurant while Moon-Young gives her first literature class where she gives some harsh truths about fairy tales. She mentions that karma will always bite back and fairy tales are stimulants that make us face reality. Once they accept it, then they will be happy. Afterwards, Kang-Hae asks Moon-Young if she really meant what she said about accepting reality.

Moon-Young changes the conversation though and mentions having a passionate dream about him. He remains cold with her and walks away so she asks if he wants to sleep with her. Everyone hears though so he takes her outside the room and confronts her about the games she has been playing, prompting her to walk away. She then comes face to face with her father and as she sees the scar on his wrist,  remembers scratching him when she struggled while he was strangling her.

Kang-Hae takes his brother to see the director who tells him that he is talented at drawing. He asks him to draw the view from his window on a wall and tells Kang-Hae that it is what he is prescribing for him. Sang-Hae agrees but asks how much he would pay for it. Back home, Kang-Hae learns that his brother is saving money to buy a camper van. He reveals that he wants to buy it for them as that way they won’t need to move all the time. Kang-Hae is touched and tells him that all he needs is him as he is his everything.

The next day in hospital, Min-Seok causes a commotion as he has escaped. He runs outside and comes face to face with Moon-Young who flashes her, making her laugh. She takes him in her car and speeds towards Kang-Hae who is standing in the middle of the road to stop her. Unfortunately she ignores him and speeds away again.

Kang-Hae chases after her down the street until she reaches a political rally for Min-Seok’s father, who is trying to get elected. She stops her car and tells Min-Seok that they are going to have fun. Min-Seok heads on stage and tells the crowd that he is the son of the assembly man and that he is mentally ill. He is the only one in his family who has learning difficulties and has been trying to get his father’s attention all his life.

Unfortunately, his father has always looked down on him and used to lock him up. The security rushes to stop him but for now, Min-Seok looks free and happy. Both Moon-Yong and Kang-Hae look at Min-Seok and he asks her if he should have fun with her.

The episode ends with a flashback of Min-Seok in hospital when he explained to Kang-Hae how he got sent back to hospital. This time however, we actually see him interact with the hospital and the staff as he relives the event.

It’s Okay To Not Be Okay’s tone has so far remained quite consistent as we follow Moon-Young’s intense behaviour towards Kang-Hae and others. Her childhood and the trauma she had to go through has clearly affected her and caused antisocial personality disorder. It will be quite interesting to see her character develop over the upcoming episodes and how things will unfold with Kang-Hae.

Min-Seok’s story was quite touching and eye-opening too, as he has been struggling all his life with no one to support or understand him. However, one of the last scenes showed him finally feeling free which was a nice touch. So far the drama has been quite the original one, focusing on different mental illnesses and how people deal with them. This, alongside some interesting character interactions, make this new K-drama well worth checking out.