"The Sound of Your Heart" (TV Version) Episode 2

This repackaging of the web drama contains episodes nine, ten, eleven and twelve along with two new stories (four equivalent episodes). The first is a parody of"The New World"wherein Seok and his father engage in an elaborate gang scheme revolving around the high stakes world of...fried chicken restaurants. The second concerns Jeong-kwon's obsession with a man who is coincidentally wearing her husband's olde time outfit, while apparently cheating on her.

What makes the characters in"The Sound of Your Heart"so consistently lovable is, odd though this may seem, their constant sense of psychosis. Jeong-kwon's excessively paranoid behavior does at least indicate that she cares about Cheol-wang, and is vastly overestimating his attractiveness. Joon is frequently the odd character out because he's always at least trying to be pleasant and nice. So it's fun watching him be completely oblivious as running events spiral out of control around him.

Beyond just psychosis, though, these characters tend to take things way too seriously. With Seok and Ae-bong's first date, note how they're trapped mainly as a result of their own obliviousness. Then we move on the low-stakes fried chicken competition being given epic undertones, then further on to the English-only rule enforcement (still exceptionally funny) and then, finally, Jeong-kwon getting wrapped up in stalking. The tone is always quite consistent.

But more than tone, the comedic timing and the sense of humor is what really makes"The Sound of Your Heart"work. Look at those incredibly sincere overreactions. Not just the main cast but everyone in the supporting cast really nails the absurdity of these moments. Like the big tough gangster guy who solemnly reacts to interference in the fried chicken business by...well I don't really want to ruin it, because that's where a lot of the fun comes in is simply from the unexpectedness.

The only real complaint I can come up with for"The Sound of Your Heart", in any form, is how there's relatively little of Ae-bong-. I figured we'd get more of her with the TV version of this drama because, well, mostly because she's spotlighted the same as the other four characters in the promotional material but has yet to feature in any of the new TV only episodes. Of course balance for the sake of balance is rather pointless. I never knewKim Byeong-okandKim Mi-kyeongwere such brilliant comedians and really, when's the last time you saw older actors so obviously get modern comedy?

Review by William Schwartz

"The Sound of Your Heart"is directed by Ha Byeong-hoo, written byKim Yeon-ji, Kwon Hye-jo,Lee Byeong-hoon-IIand featuresLee Gwang-soo,Kim Dae-myeong,Jeong So-min,Kim Byeong-okandKim Mi-kyeong.