“Hello, Me!” (안녕? 나야!)

By Jae-Ha Kim
jaehakim.com
March 9, 2022

☆☆☆☆
Ban Ha-Ni (played by Chae Kang-Hee)
Ban Ha-Ni (teenager) (played by Lee Re)
Han Yoo-Hyun (played by Kim Young-Kwang)
Anthony / Yang Chun-Sik (played by Eum Moon-Suk)
↑Note: Korean names denote the surname followed by the given name.

“Hello, Me!” is about a high school beauty who seemed destined for success. Instead, Ha-Ni grows up to become a mouse-of-a woman who has lost her drive, popularity and — seemingly most importantly — her looks. Through some miraculous force, 16-year-old Ha-Ni appears in modern day Ha-Ni’s life, causing confusion for everyone concerned.

Separated in age by 20 years, but sharing the same memories and habits, the pair soon become inseparable. And just being around confident teenage Ha-Ni reminds 36-year-old Ha-Ni that she deserves more in life than to accept scraps — like working for minimum wage at a supermarket (dressed as a squid!) in order to sell snacks.

Korean viewers will understand the squid reference right away. It’s common to compare ugly people to 오징어 (squid).

Like “She Was Pretty” and “Oh My Venus,” this is another series where a popular teenage girl’s beauty fades in adulthood and is ridiculed and abused because of it. And, as with those series, Ha-Ni will find acceptance after she has a makeover. It’s such a ridiculous trope, because adult Ha-Ni was already attractive despite her freckles that, apparently, automatically puts her in the uggo category. Honestly, I loved her wild curly hair and cute freckles. (But, she looked beautiful after her makeover as well.)

As in many K-dramas, the male and female lead had a childhood connection that neither remembers until much later in the series. Yoo-Hyun is a CEO’s spoiled son. His father cuts off his credit cards in an attempt to toughen him up and make him earn his keep. He and Ha-Ni both end up working at the CEO’s company, but she doesn’t know about his privileged lineage.

Here’s the thing though: Yoo-Hyun is in his early 30’s. He didn’t become spoiled by himself. Instead of forcing him to do something he’s never had to do — like work — how about guiding him? One of the ongoing gags is that though Yoo-Hyun has never had a career, he has a billfold full of certificates that he earned, including one that qualifies him to be a chef. He’s not stupid and the classes he took proves he has a thirst for knowledge. Instead of treating his non-traditional quest for learning as a joke, how about encouraging him to channel his skills into a livelihood?

There’s a subplot about a high school classmate of Ha-Ni’s who was the BBOC (big bully on campus), who transformed himself into Anthony, an A-list actor. His goal was to become famous so that he could reunite with Ha-Ni and rekindle the romance he thinks they had in high school. Some of the funniest moments in the series are watching adult Anthony being cowed by teenage Ha-Ni’s presence. She was the only one who ever put him in his place without fear of getting punched.

I’ve got a few things to add in the Spoiler Alert below. But before that, I do want to mention that I didn’t care for the way Kim Young-Kwang was directed to play Yoo-Hyun. He sticks his tongue out and pouts all too often, which seems out of character. He’s a man-child…not a child-child. (The actor played another wealthy man in “Pinocchio” and was very good in that series. I would’ve liked to have seen some of that subtlety here.)

Airdates: Sixteen 70-minute episodes aired from February 17 to April 8, 2021 on KBS2.

Spoiler Alert: One of the boys Anthony had bullied in high school is now a reporter, and outs Anthony as a bully. As many of you are aware of, there have been a slew of real-life Korean celebrities who came under fire for having been school bullies. When news broke that Kim Ji-Soo (“Strong Woman Do Bong Soon“) had tormented classmates in middle school, he lost work and almost immediately enlisted to serve his mandatory military duty. Anthony vows to quit show business, donates all his money to his childhood victims and opens a small restaurant.

As for Ha-Ni x 2, they learn from a shaman that the younger version can return to her old life. But she is warned that if she tries to change anything in the past — such as her father’s death, which she feels responsible for — adult Ha-Ni’s life will also be altered. So when she returns, she doesn’t try to prevent her father from being hit for a truck. It turns out that her father is the one who had sent her into the future, so that his daughter could reconcile with what had happened and live a good, happy life.

OK…no. Who’s to say that adult Ha-Ni wouldn’t have had a good life if her father had not died all those years ago? Would she be dating the CEO’s son? (Of course they date and share a tiny peck on the lips in the final episode.) Maybe not? But she would’ve met someone else. Or not. But who cares? She would have her beloved father still in her life. And she could’ve fulfilled her childhood dream of becoming an idol or an actress. Even if she failed at that pursuit, her life couldn’t have been any worse than working dressed up as a squid, getting yelled at by customers.

There’s also some very odd dynamics going on in Ha-Ni’s family. Her paternal grandmother has dementia, but in all the flashbacks, she only doted on Ha-Ni and ignored her sister. Why? Because Ha-Ni was pretty and therefore loveable. She showed no affection towards the older girl. Even at the end of the series, the grandmother refers to the elder sister as ugly. This made me feel meh about the grandma and her story arc.

As for the CEO’s sister  — You-Hyun’s aunt — she is trying to overthrow her brother from the company and take his position. While she is presented as evil — and she really is! — one thing that is clear is that she is from a generation where women were considered less than. When their father died, his will was for the company to be run by her older brother. It wasn’t necessarily an age thing, but a gender issue. He was a man and she was a woman. Yes, she had greed issues. But she is also a product of her time when women automatically were passed over by men. Because…sexism. (There’s a kinda sorta similar plotline in “K2” as well.)

Don’t get me wrong — she still was an evil bish. She slaps her pregnant daughter in law (who, by the way, is Ha-Ni’s high school bestie!) and tells the sweet woman that she never thought of her as family. I mean…

As I write this, South Korea just elected its new president. Yoon Suk-Yeol is an anti-feminist conservative, who won the election partially by pandering to young male voters who believe that their lives are worse off because women are more privileged than they are. It’s 2022 … and this is where we’re at.

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