🌸 Mr. Plankton Drama Review 🌸

(Lee Yoo-mi + Woo Do-hwan bring the emotional chaos)

Rating: 🌸🌸🌸½ (3.5/5 Cherry Blossoms)

🚨 Spoilers Ahead! If you haven’t watched yet, scroll with caution.

The Premise

Mr. Plankton is a 10-episode Korean drama starring Lee Yoo-mi (Strong Girl Nam-soon) as Jo Jae-mi and the very easy-on-the-eyes Woo Do-hwan as Hae-jo.

Jo Jae-mi is a woman on the verge of marriage who suddenly finds out she’s experiencing premature menopause. Hae-jo? He’s her ex-boyfriend of three years—carefree, chaotic, and now running an errand business while quietly battling terminal brain tumors. He doesn’t give a crap about much anymore… except her. So naturally, he crashes her wedding and kidnaps her.

Yes, really.

Episode 1 kicks off with Hae-jo staging a fake kidnapping of a mob boss’s bride in broad daylight. Then he “fake-kidnaps” Jae-mi at her wedding—but it quickly turns real. These two dated, cursed each other during the breakup (she told him he’d die alone; he said she’d never have kids), and years later… both those things hit a little too close to home.

First Impressions

Fast-Paced Chaos
- We jump straight into mob family weddings and spontaneous rescues. It’s messy, over-the-top, and weirdly fun.
- Jae-mi’s menopause diagnosis unfolds and she loses it at a funeral in front of a lot of people.
Tragic Origins
- Hae-jo’s backstory gets dark quick. His dad had testicular cancer, and a sperm donor mix-up led to Hae-jo’s birth. When the truth came out, his mother committed suicide and his “father” withdrew from him—even though father and son had an undeniable bond.
Second Lead = Green Flag
- Jae-mi’s fiancé (the one she leaves at the altar because she is kidnapped) is surprisingly decent. A part of me wanted her to give that safe, sweet love a shot. But Hae-jo’s chaos clearly still owns her heart.

🌸 What Worked for Me

What I Liked	Why It Hit
Hae-jo’s “live like you’re dying” energy	Woo Do-hwan nails that mix of reckless charm + hidden pain
Their trauma bond	Both abandoned, both wounded—there’s something healing in their mess
Jae-mi’s escape attempts	Every time she tried to run, he was already one step ahead
The ending	No cliché proposal—just raw honesty about love, death, and letting go

🌧️ What Didn’t Quite Land

At times it felt more reckless than romantic. You get why they’re drawn to each other, but is it love or shared trauma?

The lawlessness: Hae-jo bulldozing into a sperm clinic demanding info, kidnapping people, and just walking away? Okay, drama logic, but still. 😬

The violence, smoking, blood—it felt a little much at times, and not everyone will vibe with that.

Another K-drama with parent trauma:
Yes, it’s a well-worn theme in K-dramas—but that’s because it reflects something very real. And while it can feel repetitive from a storytelling standpoint, the emotional impact still lands. Watching characters wrestle with the wounds left by absentee, negligent, or emotionally cold parents hits differently when you know how many people carry that kind of pain in real life.
In Mr. Plankton, both Jae-mi and Hae-jo are walking wounds, abandoned and emotionally orphaned long before adulthood. The show reminds us that the trauma parents cause doesn’t just disappear—it echoes into adulthood, affecting how people love, trust, and cope.
So yes, we’ve seen this kind of storyline before… but it’s sad because it’s true. Sometimes it’s not just a trope—it’s someone’s reality.

🌸 Cultural Tidbit 🌸

A fun linguistic moment: the man protecting the green flag fiancée is named John Na sounds like “전하” (Jeon-ha) in Korean, which means “Your Highness”—a formal royal address. A subtle little play on words if you caught it!

Final Thoughts

Mr. Plankton isn’t your typical healing drama—it’s raw, slightly unhinged, and unafraid to show that love doesn’t always arrive wrapped in a happy ending. The message? Sometimes people come back not to stay forever, but to help you face something you couldn’t alone.