Our Blues Season 1

What BollyAI Thinks

Our Blues aired on tvN from April to June 2022 and recorded a peak of 14.597% nationwide viewership, placing it among the highest-rated dramas in Korean cable television history. Writer Noh Hee-kyung shaped the series as a true anthology. Rather than one central romance, it unfolds through interlocking character studies, from a grieving fisherman to a pair of high-school students navigating an unplanned pregnancy. The star ensemble, including Lee Byung-hun, Shin Min-a, Cha Seung-won, Han Ji-min, and Kim Woo-bin, commits to unglamorous vulnerability, especially across arcs built around physical labour, aging, and social shame. The Jeju setting, filmed largely on location, adds textural specificity that stands out against studio-bound K-dramas. Rotten Tomatoes placed the series at 85%, with the anthology structure identified as both the show’s boldest formal choice and its most steady strength.

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The Room

Standout Episodes

The hours worth arguing about - premieres, finales, and the turning points. BollyAI reads the room episode by episode.

1. E1Episode 18.5

   The opener introduces several story threads simultaneously, establishing the Jeju marketplace world and its dense web of longstanding relationships. Rather than prioritising a single lead, it places all its ensemble characters on equal footing from the first scene.

   The moment: The Jeju fish market establishing sequence - a burst of physical, working-class life that signals the drama's distance from standard K-drama settings.

   Full review of E1 →
2. E9Episode 99.0

   The episode centring the high-school pregnancy storyline draws strong attention for its unflinching, unsentimental handling of a topic K-drama typically avoids or defangs. The arc shows Noh Hee-kyung following her characters into genuinely uncomfortable territory.

   The moment: The confrontation between the two teenagers and their respective families - the episode's refusal of easy resolution setting it apart from comparable K-drama storylines.

   Full review of E9 →
3. E20Episode 209.0

   The finale closes each story thread with the quiet earned completeness that characterised the series throughout. The resolution of Kim Woo-bin's arc, in particular, carried the weight of his real-life absence from television and the show's consistent interest in second chances and things worth surviving for.

   The moment: The final scene on the Jeju shore - a closing image that earned its emotional register across twenty episodes of careful preparation.

   Full review of E20 →