“Oh My Baby” is a tvN rom-com starring Jang Nara, Go Joon, Jung Gun Joo and Park Byung Eun.

“Oh My Baby” aired its last episode on July 2^nd to lackluster reception from South Korea. The drama went mostly unnoticed and when compared to any recent Jang Nara dramas, it is possibly her least well-performing project in a while.  

Last year was a hot year for Jang Nara with two back to back successes, so when I heard she was starring in “Oh My Baby,” I was skeptic but still, trusted her. She always picks heartfelt projects with sincere messages so even if it was going to be a bit stereotypical; I knew she would’ve only picked it for a good reason.

And in part, I think my initial assumption was true. It was unique in its own way.

Note: this is a subjective review~

The script

“Oh My Baby” is a fuse between the modern rom-com and the old rom-com. As I have previously stated on my blog, the rom-com is a dying genre, it’s a genre that has exhausted every possible idea within its reach. There is no longer any rom-com that matches or exceeds expectations unless it’s because of the cast chemistry.

I am not the biggest rom-com fan and I usually mostly drop them or avoid them depending on the screenwriter or actors but I thought this one was worth checking out.

“Oh My Baby” discussed many interesting ideas such as Maternity, Infertility and Working women just to name some of the subjects they discussed. The drama focused heavily on people in their late 30s attempting to conceive.

Right off the bat, if you’re not into a more mature take on what it means to be a mother and the struggles women in their late 30s face when trying to conceive, this is probably not the drama for you.

I honestly stuck around because of the interesting premise which I thought was sufficient for a good portion of the drama. I wouldn’t say “Oh My Baby” didn’t have its dull moments but still, the idea itself was interesting and I was invested in the characters motivations and struggles. It had some cringy moments but a lot of times featured realistic struggles faced by working women. It tried to be a rom-com that’s also about life, and it didn’t try so hard to be perfect or represent this picture perfect ending.

The drama checks almost everything on the list of ‘kdrama rom-com’ and for the most part, it doesn’t overstay its welcome. If you don’t mind those clichés that come with rom-coms, you’ll love this one.

The most drawn out aspect of this drama was probably the love triangle in my opinion. This is supposed to be a spoiler-free review but it goes without saying that almost all Korean rom-coms have either love triangles or squares. It’s one of the pre-requisites.

The script was also mature and featured some interesting deep dialogue between its characters at times. It really reflects on mothers huge influence in raising a child and how your environment and your parents play a role in every life decision you end up making whether you’d like to admit it or not.

I wouldn’t call “Oh My Baby” very special but I wouldn’t call it average either, it’s somewhere up there but not quite there, at least for me. I think if the writer had pushed it a bit further in terms of plot development; it would’ve turned out even better.

For a debut project, the screenwriter did quite well. It’s still better than many seasoned screenwriters scripts that came out in 2020. I am very impressed.

The characters

“Oh My Baby” features some of the most interesting male characters I’ve seen in a while in a kdrama. At surface level they fit certain rom-com leading men ideals but if you look beyond that, you’ll find them unique and interesting in their own way.

What I loved about the drama was how it portrayed its characters, while it is a rom-com; the men in this drama were never made to be looked at as these perfect sculptured sexy educated unrealistic men. They actually felt real and it was refreshing to see.

Jang Nara’s character this time is pretty average, I said before that she played similar characters to this one and again, she does well as you’d expect but I didn’t find her character that memorable to me, what stuck out was indeed how keen she was on having a baby and her reasoning behind it.

Regardless, it was fun watching her pursue this unrealistic dream in a country that has laws that prohibit women from getting sperm donation if they’re not married. It’s something I had no idea about and was quite shocked to learn of.

The characters played by Go Joon and Jung Gun Joo were pretty interesting and sweetly flawed in my opinion. They did and said things that would make you hate them but somehow, you just couldn’t hate them. You end up falling for them.

The most annoying uninspired character in my opinion had to be the forced second lead played by Park Byung Eun. While I do understand the need for this inevitable love triangle, I just couldn’t get behind it. This character is the most boring of them all and I am very surprised Park Byung Eun played this character; I expect better choices from him. This type of typical second lead usually goes to lesser known actors who are trying to build a fanbase, not to someone as seasoned as him.

The performances

10/10. Everyone was amazing.

The one who stood out most to me had to be Jung Gun Joo and for a couple of reasons. This is his third project and he’s simply terrific. He’s still a rookie and barely started acting like two years ago but he doesn’t fall behind the experienced actors on set.

He seems to have a nice easygoing personality because I could tell he got along well with his cast members despite being the youngest by far. I think he should pick his roles a bit more carefully now and settle for memorable roles. If he plays his cards right, he has the chance to become one of the next faces of the hallyu wave but he needs to think every role carefully, he has a lot of competition and not much time left before he has to enlist.

Go Joon also stands out with his performance, his character was cringy at times but I thought it was appropriately done and within reason. He was good being both cute and sexy. And despite his demeanor, he pulls it off pretty well.

Should I Watch The Drama

“Oh My Baby” is a sweet rom-com, albeit typical, still heartwarming and a fun watch. This is coming from someone who’s not into rom-coms that much but I imagine those who enjoy rom-coms to go crazy over this one.

Despite that, “Oh My Baby” is slightly longer than it needs to be and features some drawn out plot devices that have been used beyond redemption in various other rom-coms.

If you’re average fan of the actors but not that much into rom-coms, I wouldn’t recommend this one. Each one of the leading actors has better projects you could watch instead.

This drama doesn’t stand out when we look at the kdramas that came out in 2020, but in respect to the rom-coms we’ve seen this year, I think it’s one of the better rom-coms, and could possibly end up being one of the best in my opinion depending on how the rest of the year unfolds.

I’ll admit I stuck around because there aren’t many good kdramas airing these days. If there were better stuff coming out now, I wouldn’t have cared much to stick around.

The drama is a fun light watch that suitable for binge watching after a breakup, you’ll feel less sorry about yourself some days… I guess!

So these are my thoughts on “Oh My Baby.” I am curious about what you guys thought, did you like it or not?