I FF throught the last episode. I didn't like his mom and the episode was too long. I hated that persistence is what got Sun Ah to like him though, his crush on her was unhealthy. However it ended nicely enough, so cool.

For 10 weeks we have been smothered by sadness, cruelty, anger, darkness, abuse, neglect, hardship, pain and suffering with only a few gasps of hope and kindness. The last focus on Dong-seok and his mother laid heavily on their estrangement. Only one thing was clear: stubbornness is an inherited trait. Their reconciliation was foreshadowed but it did not hit home like other recent story arc resolutions.

I really thought the tenor of the show would have ended on a much more serious and depressing note. For example, I thought Eun-Hui, the glue that holds the community together, would have a sudden heart attack or accident which would throw everyone for a loop. Instead of the theme of individual heartache, it would transcend to cover everyone.

The community field day was an attempt to put some fun in their bleak lives. It was an attempt to balance out the sadness left after most episodes with some normalcy. The corny ending message about happiness seems to be a “duh” refrain.

Overall, it was a good show. It slathered on anger, misunderstanding and cruelty to the breaking point in most of the stories. There will be many award nominations for the cast and crew. Jung Eun-Hye as best new actress, being a disabled adult. If they would bring back best child actor category Ki So-Yu played a wonderful grandchild. The writer, No Hee-Kyung, will get recognition for tackling several sensitive subjects. The ensemble cast worked so well together there was no individual stand-out performance.

Overall, it was a well-done series, but not necessarily for a mainstream audience looking for a conventional slice of life series.

The final episode was sad but beautiful. Dong-seok and Ok-dong’s story ended the best as it possibly could. Perhaps Dong-seok didn’t get everything he needed from his mom, but he got enough.

Ok-dong had such a sad life, losing her parents and sibling and then her husband and daughter. I knew Ok-dong became a mistress and nurse to the wife, but I didn’t realize the situation lasted for 15 years. She was the product of poverty and thought she was doing the right thing by becoming a mistress and giving Dong-seok three meals a day and a nice home to live in, but man, what a screwed up situation. No wonder they were all so angry and messed up.

I love Kim Hye-ja. I thought Lee Byung-hyun did a good job with a tough character, one that was unlike his usual.

The scene where Dong-seok was writing words on the window was my favorite. Really lovely.

I’m glad we got to see the whole cast together at the end.

I really loved this drama and each of the stories. I don’t even know which was my favorite, it kept changing. I’d love to see more dramas with the omnibus format.

As I've said before, "Our Blues" was undoubtedly a well done show. It's likely to win a lot of awards, and I can absolutely see why so many actors signed on. A lot of them had juicy roles and did great work.

But for me as a viewer, I struggled to get through many episodes because there was so much pain and unease. I felt uncomfortable a LOT and I don't like to feel uncomfortable. I couldn't help but wish that there had been more lightness, humor, and outright sweet and mutual love stories (the Captain's arc came the closest to this but the others often felt unbalanced or largely defined by hardship and not joy). I know the show wanted to show various types of love and relationships from different angles, and not sugarcoat the reality of people's struggles, but the overall effect was just too exhausting for me.

Our Blues has ended and I'm kind of regretting I left the show mid way. I was sure I'd complete one NHK drama and that would be this one because it has an omnibus format. But she wins! Her shows are hard to watch because she does slice of life differently. In dramas of other writers, no matter how realistic, I see characters. In NHK's shows, I see humans. Maybe one day I'll get back to it. It's nice to see the positive reviews.

The last four episodes were beautiful, with stellar performances of the little girl, Lee Byung-hun and particularly Kim Hye-ja as his mother. I never tired of her childlike gazes, rarely at people's faces, but mostly to the side, the into the distance and to the floor, as well as her stubbornness.

Unlike many other dramas, this one became better and better with every episode. Not all storylines were done equally well, but I admired the disabled sister story and the performance of the disabled actress. A very rewarding watch.

I didn't specially like this drama. I think my favourite part was Eun-Hui and Han-Su as teenagers.

For the rest, I couldn't care for the characters. A lot of them were unsympathetic to me. Even if they changed, they were so tiring before and the change sudden, that it didn't make me care more for them.

I spent the last episode to think the mother was dead in each scene... She was more tenacious I thought.

The actors were good (even if I didn't see any chemistry between Han Ji-Min and Kim Woo-Bin), the scenery was beautiful and I liked the OST.

Every time OK Dong closed her eyes I thought she was about to die.

I already loved the Park Brothers and it was nice to see how accepting their parents were. Nice parents are always a breathe of fresh air for me in kdramas.

Overall this drama had a lot of hard to watch episodes which were uneasy/heartbreaking but the stories had to be told. I think that the story I liked the least was Eun-Hui and Han-su so once that was over I could keep watching.

I just want to applaud the actors for an excellent portrayal of their characters. From the child actors to the elders 👏🏾👏🏾

Our Blues has finally come to an end. The laughs and the tears, the what have you's that makes Our Blues has finally come to an end.
Our Blues had various aspects that I immensely respect, and I’d like to highlight a few in the concluding episodes.

Ok-dung: As usual, expect Our Blues to throw you off balance with Ok-dung's POV which I must say was very valid. But I loved the fact that unlike previous arcs, they did something different with her - No euphoria moment to make Dong-seok beat himself up with regret for how he handled his relationship with his mom. Dong-seok's final regret as he hugged lifeless Ok-dung stemmed from something else, a longing for his mother's touch, and not the closure that comes from hashing things out.
As they hashed things out scene by scene I knew forgiveness wouldn’t work for this two, it’ll only ruin them more. She didn’t need forgiveness, neither did Dong-seok need to forgive her. That forgiveness withheld was her penance. If he forgave her, it would be punishment for Ok-dung rather than closure and she knew it. Forgiving her wouldn’t do her any good, so it was extremely thoughtful of her not to apologize for her actions, and stick to her guns till the end. While I was looking with a side eye at those screaming ‘I understand and all', Ok-dung won my respect by not apologizing. She understood her son. Even in death, we know that she longed for her son to accept her, and her son longed for her too.

Dong-seok: His story has been one that had me wanting to know more. His character is introduced and written as one very annoying piece of a fellow who has a disdain for his mom, with a very unhealthy mindset with dating womenfolk so it was quite easy to dislike him at first. Still, he was the one who had me captured in the most, the one I wanted to have the best closure possible. Behind that unlikeable exterior we saw is a man who has a kind, innocent heart. Behind his tough approach of life, there is this call for help that no one sees or acknowledges, except his mom(who ignored it till the end) and Seon-a(who embraced it). His mother’s actions really broke him, robbed him off his being, made him turn into what he knew he wasn’t just so he could spite his mom. Alas! She had developed a thick skin to that already. This moment of his life really shaped his future, shaped his thinking about women. He drew lessons from it. That’s why he was able to draw Seon-a out of her destruction cycle, he could see things exactly from her perspective. So when Seon-a gave her perspective on he and Ok-dung, he knew he had found the woman who would not turn out to be like his mother. That was the confirmation he needed. And it wasn’t till he confirmed that he asked about her ex-husband. He is still that 15year old boy at heart who doesn’t want to repeat the cycle he had with his mother.
Dong-seok could be frontal with his affection which can become unpleasant by the way, asking Seon-a what she missed him as, but he had to...

@lovepark: Thank you for this poignant and thoughtful recap.
I found Lee Byunghun’s acting really hard going (to the consternation of a fellow Binnie!) for much of the series but he did better in these final episodes. His and his mother’s characters were victimised by poverty and hierarchical and gender norms, and it is not easy to heal from sich wounds. Humans are - to our detriment - at times unable to reach out, to forgive and perhaps even to forget. I read something recently that resonated with me even if I am conflicted about it. It said that forgiveness even if unmerited is important so that the victims and survivors are able to move on and leave the injustice, brutality and sorrow behind. For me, eg in instances of gross human rights violations such as genocide and sexually trafficked survivors, justice must be pursued for those victims as the impunity of those brutalizing others is difficult to swallow. But in personal contexts such as the one depicted here, if only these two had been able to reach out to each other a long time ago. But then this dimension of the drama would not have existed so….
I found absolutely zero chemistry between Shin Minna and Lee Byunghun. Furthermore, given her depression, his persistence and tantrums were concerning and remained so.

I wish we had seen much more of Baek Seung-do as Park Ki-joon, Jung-jun's younger brother and his affection for and attraction to
Byul played by Lee So-byul[b]. In those brief scenes, there was much more palpable chemistry between these 2 actors than many of the main ones as far as I was concerned. I would have loved to have seen more of Byul’s life and engagement with her fear of losing loved ones to the sea as well as living as a deaf person within her depicted hearing world.

This was a really good drama even though it was never an easy watch. Good dramas are more than just entertainment- they explore our humanity and that was certainly true for OUR BLUES.

It delivered some really poignant moments. Even though it was only a small part of the last two episodes for me one of those moments was when Captain Park has taken Young-ok to meet his extremely reserved parents, convinced that they will reject her- and then she suddenly starts to cry in the knowledge that they have in fact accepted her into their family.

Moments of such grace are not that common in dramas, and it takes an exceptional writer and great actors to deliver them.

what a stellar cast!! i loved this drama, Uhm Jung Hwa's character was the one i least liked... it was sweet, sad, and i loved Lee Byung Heon's grouchiness (he does it well, like in Mr. Sunshine).

my eyes are still puffy, cried thru the whole last 2 episodes practically...

Thank you, @lovepark, for the weecap! Miran telling Eun-hee (when Han-sol arrived) to just think that: He isn't mine - he's taken! makes me believe that she's really a good friend to Eun-hee. Ok-dong's passing shows just how close-knit the town of Pureung is - everybody taking care of everybody! Loved the show.

this is my favorite drama of the year so far..the last few episodes starting from youngok,younghee,jeongjun until dongseok and okdong are all so well made, well written, well acted..kudos to everyone who worked hard for this drama hopefully they'll bring back some awards next year

I kept wondering how multiple trips through randomness with Deong-Seok is going to redeem the horrible Mom. It wasn't until the last scene of their arc, that I realized their story wasn't about redeeming the Mum & forgiving her, but rather giving Dong-Seok a chance at healing. Which he does.

It couldn't be more evident from the scene where he gets to eat the freshly prepared Deonjang-stew cooked by his Mom, for one last time, but SHE doesn't get to see him eat it.

Noh Hee-Kyung isn't a master storyteller for nothing. I'm glad Young-Joo had a baby girl who I imagine will have a childhood many of us will be jealous of! :')

I loved this show! While I loved some story lines more than others, the show as a whole was excellent in portraying life. Everyone has a story to tell. No one is perfect (except maybe the captain?! Lol.) And yet everyone deserved to be loved, just as they are. I also love that despite their short comings, the truth was everybody was just trying their best to take care of their kids/family/friends. In the end, that is what mattered most.
While the message in the end may be cheesy, it’s the truth though, right? We often forget and focus on the negative. Especially when it comes to other people.
I wish everyone happiness and a ray of sunshine 💕

Jan 6, 2023 just finished watching this series. Slice-of-life dramas are one of my favorite genres, but I held on watching this show off due to the comparisons of to My Liberation Notes. I believe that it stands well on its own, and timing of release was just coincidental. It is well-done, giving me the feeling of heartwarming stories of Hospital Playlist and the upbeat vibe of Hometown Cha Cha Cha.

There were characters and relationships that I really liked and others not so much. The plot lines seemed realistic and heartfelt, addressing lots of social issues: mental health, disabilities, teenage pregnancy, small-town folks vs city living, haenyeo life, family estrangements, etc. without over-the-top drama. The stars in this program were brightly shining as was the beautiful Jeju Island--a character in its own right in this Kdrama and the supporting cast. Congratulations to the hardworking production team who had to film this during the global Covid-19 pandemic.

If you're on the fence and like slice-of-life genre, be like a haenyeo and dive in!