Drama Review: Come and Hug Me

• Drama: Come and Hug Me
• Revised romanization: Yiriwa Anajwoe
• Hangul: 이리와 안아줘
• Director: Choi Joon-Bae
• Writer: Lee A-Ram
• Network: MBC
• Episodes: 32
• Release Date: May 16 - July 19, 2018
• Country: South Korea
• Plot Synopsis by AsianWiki: A man and a woman suffers from wounded hearts due to a murder case that took place in their past. The man is a detective and the woman is a popular actress. 
  
  
  When Do-Jin (Chang Ki-Yong) and Jae-Yi (Jin Ki-Joo) were high school students, they were each other's first love. Do-Jin's father Hee-Jae (Heo Jun-Ho) was a psychopath and killed Jae-Yi's parents. Do-Jin and Jae-Yi were separated afterwards. 
  
  
  Now, Do-Jin works as a detective. He treats the victim's family with care. This is his way of atoning for his father's horrific act. Meanwhile, Jae-Yi works as an actress. She followed in the footsteps of her late mother who was a famous actress. Since her parents' deaths, Jae-Yi has suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. 
  
  
  Do-Jin and Jae-Yi meet again.

My rating: 2/5 stars (★) 

I started watching Come and Hug Me when I noticed the multiple good reviews and feedback on it. I had a high expectation on it and this drama did live up to it, though only during the first half of it. I grew obsessed with it, loving every thrilling part of it at first, but halfway through it's full showtime, my interest on it simply stopped.

Do-Jin (Chang Ki-Yong) and Jae-Yi (Jin Ki-Joo) met each other for the first time in high school, when she moved to his town. It was not hard to become fond of Jae-Yi's character, she's always bubbly and mischievous. The same goes for Do-Jin, he's quiet most of the time, but very kind-hearted. I rooted for their relationship as I feel that they compliment each other very well. 

And then all hell breaks lose when Do-Jin's father murdered Jae-Yi's parents, hence destroying both teenager's lives. It broke me apart, and I felt immensely sad about it as both of them didn't deserve any of what they had to go through. 

I love the whole idea of a murderous father and the tragic love between the two main character, but I feel that they were executed rather poorly in the drama. It felt like the scriptwriter and director did not do enough research on how to make the events unfold realistically. A policeman that is involved personally to a case should not be handling the case, but Do-Jin ends up leading the case of his father's murders. It was truly absurd! Jae-Yi's brother, a prosecuter, also handled the same case when in reality, it was his own parents that were murdered. Realistically, wouldn't both of their sense of judgement be clouded with vengeance and hatred?

Though I admit that I am fond of Jae-Yi's character when she is young, I started to dislike her character as an adult. She claims that she is terrified and traumatised with what happened to her, but she never did hire at least a bodyguard to protect her. As a famous actress with lots of money, shouldn't it be a given to hire someone for your safety? But all she did was expect Do-Jin to constantly come and save her. They tried to make her character seem brave and strong, but all I get is a weak and stubborn woman instead. 

Moreover, it did not make any sense that young Jae-Yi is not angry at all at young Do-Jin. I mean, your parents were killed because your befriended the murderer's son, shouldn't you feel angry even the tiniest bit towards the boy? It would be okay if she learned to forgive him as she grew up, because it is true that he is not at fault, but to accept it immediately after watching your parents being murdered, I don't think even an adult is capable of forgiving in that situation. Jae-Yi's character is definitely the most absurd, and at one point I just grew tired of her. 

From the reviews and feedback that I read, it seemed that most audience enjoyed the romance developed between Do-Jin and Jae-Yi. I beg to differ because not only that it is very slow (when I say slow, it is really slow. It drags the story in a very horrible way), I also think that most "romantic" scenes are unnecessary. A criminal is on the lose yet you still have time to profess your love for each other, to the point that you both are ignoring the people in danger around you?

What makes me actually scream in agony is the murderer himself, Do-Jin's father. As a criminal waiting for his execution, he seems to live his life rather lavishly in the prison. I don't even know if Koreans are very kind even to their criminals, but it just did not make any sense. He is bound to be executed, but even after 12 years, nothing happened to him. He even managed to escape, because apparently the policemen in this drama are all useless. It portrayed that these policemen are unprofessional and possibly cowards, making me more irritated. For goodness sake, the man murders people only using a hammer, yet he managed to kill so much. Is it that hard for a policeman to actually do his job by shooting the man down? Haven't you people actually watch a criminal show/movie before?

I have lost count on how many times I screamed and groaned through all the episodes. I don't even know how I managed to go through the torment until the last episode, but I did, and the ending was as horrible as I imagined it would be. In all honesty, this drama had a great potential, but the facts are executed poorly that it failed to be a strong criminal drama. This is possibly the worst crime drama that I have watched, and it is a real shame because I did enjoy the first several episodes.

Till next time ♡ Love, Aishah Humaira'