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[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Valid Love" Episode 16

Upon closer consideration, I have to admit that the dementia plotline isn't a particularly encouraging one. Yeo-sa was not, as far as I noticed, displaying any particularly obvious symptoms until the doctor's visit. Now she's almost instantaneously transitioned to being unable to recognize her own husband. And yet Yeo-sa appears incapable of noticing the inherent contradiction of thinking her lover is a young man while her children are all adults. The same contradiction also showed up in "Pinocchio"- at the beginning, so there was no abrupt transition. "Pinocchio" also had more obvious comedic elements compared to the very serious story of "Valid Love".

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In many ways "Valid Love" has had it fairly easy with storytelling. This has always been a fairly straightforward drama that depicts the lead-up and aftermath to an extramarital affair, with no particularly goofy plot hooks. This is the main problem with Yeo-sa's dementia- it comes so obviously out of nowhere that it pretty much has to take control of the drama involving characters who are mostly stuck in a rut.

While everyone's frustration is understandable, there's also plenty of moments where the transition comes off as particularly jarring. Take one scene- a rather blatant sexual assault that's played for laughs. The way "Valid Love" focuses on mood and ambience is extremely important. Because of this, the switch to the more comedic chords really just messes with the drama's greater sensibilities. But more relevantly, it calls attention to the way the story movement has been static.

I've been watching "Valid Love" mostly just as a kind of emotional palate cleanser. Whatever crazy stuff happens throughout the day, this drama helps keep me grounded in reality by giving a reminder of what real, serious emotional issues are like, and how it's unreasonable to expect any kind of magical solution. The realism inherent in the drama, combined with the excellent set direction, is quite calming in that regard.

The dementia interferes with this, often explicitly such as how it forces Il-ri to act in a way she'd just as soon prefer not to. "Valid Love" has been enjoyable enough to date that I'm not feeling too pessimistic about how the drama is supposed to proceed from here. The lack of a preview may be meant to emphasize this- the situation has genuinely gotten unpredictable. Whether this will actually be good for the greater story is, as of yet, unclear.

Review by William Schwartz

"Valid Love" is directed by Han Ji-seung, written by Kim Do-woo and features Uhm Tae-woong, Lee Si-young, Lee Soo-hyuk, Choi Yeo-jin, Im Ha-ryong, Lee Young-ran and more.

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