“Are You Human Too?” Episode 1 And 2 Review And Recap

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The new KBS drama “Are You Human Too?” aired its first episode the past Monday and Tuesday. International fans were anticipating the heavily advertised drama because of its plot and the cast.

“Are You Human Too?” is one of the most expensive Kdrama productions of 2018. It cost around 8 million dollars to make. The cast started working on the pre-produced drama last summer, and it went to post-production phase in late November 2017.





KBS started teasing the drama since December 2017. Since then, many posters, teasers and stills have been released, more than BTS or EXO would ever release ahead of a comeback.

But the drama premiered with okay ratings; in the 5% range, which was in a way a bit disappointing.

Naturally expectations were high, the leading role was offered to Seo Kang Joon, who is popular and good but still a relatively new face and in the beginning of his career, he’s yet to see great success, this can potentially become his big break.

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Let’s discuss how I felt about the premiere of “Are You Human Too?”

For starters, I never knew I missed Seo Kang Joon until I saw him on the small screen again; it’s been a while since we’ve seen his beautiful face, and aside from what everyone always says about him I think he’s a very good actor.

The plot is nothing that is atypically or out of the ordinary where you replace someone when something bad happens to them. This isn’t the first robot themed drama in 2018, and I am sad to tell you that it’s not going to be the last.

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I love the cinematography; Koreans always have visually pleasing kdramas. With the high production cost, it’s only natural that everything looks so beautiful.

I have heard VIXX’s voices in the OST. KBS hasn’t released any OST yet so I am not 100% sure, but from what I heard so far, I have high expectations of them. Every OST I heard so far sounds so good.

Everyone is doing their best. Seo Kang Joon is also doing very very well. I liked how he played out both characters, and how you could tell he was a robot pretending to be a human, not all actors can easily pull this off.

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I am also in love with Ji Young Hoon, Nam Shin’s closest friend who works under him. I love this character and I can’t wait to see what happens next with him.

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The plot itself is okay. I have seen many kdramas about actors taking on double roles. Recently, Jang Geun Suk took on two polar opposite roles. Cold and calculative vs. Hot and feisty.

So the concept itself isn’t anything new to me. This is why the execution of this drama will make all the difference. The director has previously worked on “Bridal Mask” which is in my humble opinion one of THE best kdramas of all time, so I have hope.





I am fearful that they might keep the son in a coma until the drama draws to a close, that’d be too stereotypical. But its too early to guess anything.

There are a couple of logical errors I’d like to complain about.

If you watch many missing people documentaries like me then you know well that its very difficult to know how a child’s face grows up to be. You can only speculate but you won’t be able to fully nail how she/he looks like exactly when they’re older. Same thing goes with the voice.

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So unless the mom saw photos and videos of her son, then it makes no sense that she could tell how he grows up to be or how he sounds. I know I might be nitpicking, but considering the drama’s budget, I would’ve appreciated better research on AI robots and all related subjects.

I still don’t get Koreans obsession with robots lately, and I find the love line between a robot and a human very weird, you can call me old-fashioned I guess.

A very powerful man snatched a baby of his mother probably because he’s a huge deal in South Korea and the son is the heir to a huge conglomerate.





The mother, in attempt to cope with his departure, creates a robot that resembles him and lives with him relatively happy.

The mother ‘somehow’ knows how his face will grow so she continues to upgrade him as time goes by.

The idea itself is pretty weird. How would you feel if your mom lost you and decided to create a robot version of you and lived happily ever after with it in Prague?

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Very strange if you ask me, I don’t know whether I’d find it cool or really weird and worrisome if my mom ever did that.

The plot will only get stranger from here, taking previous spoilers and trailers into account, the teasers shows the Bodyguard falling in love with the robot version of him.





I mean if that isn’t weird then I don’t know what is to be honest with you.

Seo Kang Joon has good potential, it’s going to either be a great drama that will be spoken about four years to come similar to “Descendants of The Sun” or “Goblin,” or become a laughingstock and proof that expensive Productions don’t always yield good results no matter how much you advertise them.

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I was taken back with the ratings of the first couple of episodes mainly because the drama has been promoted very heavily by KBS, the promotions and the teasers started in December 2017 and lasted more than six months, it also took over the time slot of a popular drama, I expected that it wouldn’t rate 5%  for starters.

In my opinion, this drama is standing on a very thin line and if it tips in the wrong direction, it’ll ruin everything. This drama is about AI robots, love and fighting for the money.

In its core it will tackle the love line between the AI robot Nam Shin II and bodyguard So Bong. I am afraid that it might become weird that it drives people; including me; away.

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I am slightly freaked out by the concept itself because I think it’s not natural. In contrast to “I am not a Robot,” this isn’t a woman/man pretending to be one, but an actual robot who resembles human emotions.

We already know that So Bong might be falling for the AI Robot; we’ve seen her heart racing through the roof when she was saved by him. She tries to discard how loud her heart’s beating by mentioning his, but the robot has no heart!

Previous trailers also showed a kiss scene between the AI robot and So Bong…

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I shouldn’t completely judge a book by its cover, but I am merely sharing my concerns with the script and the way it might play out. There is also a chance that So Bong might end up figuring out that he’s not a human and the love line won’t play the same way I am speculating it will.

I just hope that director and the actors are well aware of that when they first started filming; I hope that they know this can lead to some very very awkward scenes.





That been said, I have enjoyed the first couple of episodes, and for the first time in a while I don’t know what to make of this review, I don’t hate the drama but I am not very very Blown Away with it.

I think the next couple of episodes will determine if this drama will become a huge success or a failure.

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I wish all the actors the best, it seems like a lot of work went into the making of this drama, which I appreciate. At the same time, it won’t mean that I’ll go easy on it simply because I love the actors and appreciate the visuals, the story also needs to be good and logical, and if it was also different, I am even more thankful.

So what did you guys think for the first couple of episodes, do you like them? Did they live up to your expectations?

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