Mute

If you have 80 minutes to spare let me recommend a fun, little, romantic webdrama released this year (2020) entitled Mute.

Kang Han-Na possesses the uncanny ability to hear the thoughts of the person she’s in love with. Only minutes after meeting Je-Won she is amazed when she is able to hear inside his head, which could only mean one thing – Han-Na has fallen for a complete stranger. That night, while drunk, she gives Je-Won a little kiss but the next time they are together she is shocked to discover she can no longer hear his thoughts. Because she sincerely likes Je-Won she decides to spend more time with him in hopes of being able to hear inside his head once again but, unfortunately, all she gets is silence. In trying to figure out what has happened to her amazing gift, Han-Na is able to think of only two reasons for the inconsistency – either she really doesn’t like him or they just weren’t meant to be.

Although Kang Han-Na is an intern at Culture Magazine CM V she has high hopes of becoming a full-time employee soon. In spite of the fact that it seems impossible, she has truly been able to hear the thoughts of the guys she has liked in the past. She is very attracted to Je-Won and is broken-hearted when she discovers her ability to read his thoughts has vanished. Han-Na has confided in her friend so now her roommate is the only other person in on her secret ability.

As a talented musician/singer/songwriter Jung Je-Won was devastated when he developed the panic disorder know as misophonia. The beautiful music he used to write and perform is now just plain noise to him. He has been able to successfully keep his real identity anonymous by going by the stage name June. Je-Won is amazed when he discovers his misophonia disappears whenever he’s with this new girl he likes – Han-Na.

After watching Mute I was very surprised that twenty-six-year-old Won Hyung-Hoon is fairly new on the drama scene (Jung Je-Won is his first leading character) because his acting was excellent. He attended Korea National University of the Arts and his entertainment career began in 2016 when he made his debut in the movie Mobsters Requiem. I thought he was absolutely perfect as Je-Won. His smile is darling and his acting skills are superb. I hope to see him in a lot of things going forward! After just one webdrama, I’m definitely a fan!

I apologize for not being able to find out much about Bae Yun-Gyeong, the darling actress who plays the part of Kang Han-Na. I know she was born in 1993, so she’s 25 (maybe 26) years old. She made her acting debut in 2017 which is also when she appeared in the reality/variety show Heart Signal (so that show may have been her debut vehicle). She appeared in Doctor Prisoner in 2019 and she’s also in My Unfamiliar Family, which just started broadcasting in June of this year.

Either Won Hyung-Hoon and Bae Yun-Gyeong clicked in real life or they both have phenomenal acting skills because Jung Je-Won and Kang Han-Na’s chemistry was absolutely darling. The way Je-Won looked at Han-Na was nothing short of endearing. I’d be shocked if I ever read something that claimed the two didn’t get along while filming Mute.

Just like I Hate You Juliet, Mute sports a main character that has the ability to hear someone’s thoughts. Unfortunately, also like I Hate You Juliet, we don’t see it happen a lot in Mute. Han-Na is able to read Ji-Won’s thoughts only twice before that ability stops working. Darn. It would have been fun to see it happen a little more.

I’ve got to hand it to Kdrama scriptwriters. These folks have an amazing ability to find new, but genuine, illnesses/disorders/phenomenons/conditions to incorporate into their stories. Sensory Couple brought to light synesthesia, analgesia, and prosopagnosia, while Clean With Passion For Now let me know that, like its main character, I suffer from mysophobia. Now, Mute has introduced me to misophonia. Because I had never heard of this condition before, I went online to read a bit about it. Wikipedia says, “Misophonia, meaning ‘hatred of sound’, was proposed in 2000 as a condition in which negative emotions, thoughts, and physical reactions are triggered by specific sounds.” “… there is little research on how common it is or the treatment. As of 2019, there were no evidence-based methods to manage the condition.”

Although Mute is less than an hour and a half long, the writer did an amazing job putting in a decent amount of kisses. They’re nothing extremely yummy but we do get three different scenes where lips meet.

Since part of this story centers around the fact that Je-Won is a musician/singer/songwriter, there are a few key songs. In the first episode Je-Won plays the guitar and sings (probably a song he wrote) and later on he teaches Han-Na to play a short tune on the piano and then joins her. I have no way of knowing if he really sings the song in the first episode but his throat certainly looked like he was singing. It’s a very pretty ballad and he hits some pretty high notes. The piano song is pretty but I had problems with the logistics of it. In teaching her the melody, with one finger, he sits down on the bench beside her and he is on the side where the high note keys are. But when they begin playing together the one-finger melody is being played by her on the high notes and he is playing the low notes while still sitting on the side of the high notes. Oops! Since we don’t actually see their hands touching the keys while this is going on, I guess the director or editor didn’t think we’d notice. However, anyone who plays the piano can tell that what we’re hearing and what we’re seeing doesn’t match. Oh, well. The main thing is the song is pretty.

As for the settings and backgrounds, it’s all nice and fits well with the show. But there’s one scene where Je-Won and Han-Na are eating dinner and the fancy food and table setting, in my opinion, doesn’t match up with the interior of the restaurant. I’m probably being too picky. Sorry.

I sincerely enjoyed watching Mute. It’s not perfect but it definitely earned its way up to very good. Give it a try. I’m pretty sure you’ll like it too.

 

Score: 7.75

The Good:
Unique plot
New disorder – misophonia
Jung Je-Won and Kang Han-Na’s chemistry
Decent amount of kisses for an 80 minute show
Up and coming stars Won Hyung-Hoon and Bae Yun-Gyeong
Music that’s sung and played in the show

The Bad:
Piano sound doesn’t match the look
Restaurant food doesn’t match the building’s interior