I just finished Hogu's Love (2015) and wow do I feel conflicted about this drama. It tells the story of the unlikely romance between Ho Gu, a loveable self described squid (someone who just drifts along in life), and Do Do Hui, a beautiful woman who is a medal winning competitive swimmer.

The parts of this drama that worked were wonderful but the parts that didn't work were so bad that they almost ruined the whole thing.

What Worked:

1. The Female Lead: I loved Do Do Hui because she's a FL that you don't often see in Kdramas: at the start she's cold, harsh and aloof but as you get to know her you understand why: people are always treating her as an object of desire or trying to get something from her and she doesn't have anyone in her life who she can trust. I've seen people say they hate her which is kind of a bummer because she's one of the most complex and interesting FL's I've seen in a long time

2. The Second Male Lead: Byeon Kang Cheol was a fantastic character who got saddled with a shitty storyline. I still loved him because he was kind of ridiculous but he grew a lot over the course of the drama, evolving from a vain lawyer living a sterile and lonely life to a person who enjoyed eating raw squid and soju and singing at the noraebang with friends. The actor did a fantastic job playing him.

3. Supporting Cast: Hogu's parents, his friends, Byeon Kang Cheol's parents and his secretary were all terrific and added a lot to their scenes.

4. Creative Storytelling and Humor: There's a lot of slapsticky humor which is normally not my kind of thing but I loved most of it. There's also a lot of creative fantasy sequences and one epic scene where high school boys brawling over a naked drawing of the FL fall into poses from famous paintings. Hogu's squid meltdown (you have to see it to understand what I mean) was another epic moment.

What Was So-So

1. Ho Gu was a frustrating character. Sometimes he was sweet and adorable and other times I wanted to strangle him because he kept being presumptuous and sticking his nose where it didn't belong. It was especially galling when he did things without asking Do Do Hui first. I will say it got better as the character evolved and matured. His final reconciliation with Do Do Hui was lovely.

What Didn't Work At All

1. The drama brings up serious issues like sexual assault, abortion, single motherhood, suicide, slut shaming, etc. The problem is it either deals with them perfunctorily (for example, leaving the assault trial for the very end of the last episode) or really poorly (very negative messages about abortion which I did not need to see when the US has abortion access being destroyed). There's also a major Coffee Prince-esque storyline that played is he or isn't he gay for the entire drama and it's wildly insensitive. I kept shouting at my screen JUST LET HIM BE GAY, GAWD.

2. Ho Gu's sister was manipulative and a raging asshole with a violent streak and I never liked her.

Do I recommend you watch this?

Maybe. You'd have to be willing to overlook a lot, esp. the gay identity storyline, but the characters are mostly wonderful and the relationship between Ho Gu and Do Do Hui is incredibly heartwarming. I tend to drop dramas very easily but this one hooked me from beginning to end and that's saying something.