'Our Blues': The Latest Noh Hee-kyung’s Series Set the Concept of Omnibus

'Our Blues' series poster (Photo: IMDb)

The most recent Noh Hee-kyung's series, Our Blues, wraps up its story in an omnibus or anthology, covering prevalent and taboo societal themes. Leading screenwriter Noh Hee-kyung previously had a hit with Dear My Friends (2016), The Most Beautiful Goodbye (2017), and Live (2018).

In her written interview with The Korea Times, Noh revealed why she decided on the omnibus as her new series format: “At some point, writing a story with two lead characters no longer interested me. We are the heroes of our own story, aren't we?” Setting out from this reason—that she was tired of centralizing a story on only one male and one female leads, she contemplated finding a breakthrough idea. Thus, she went with the omnibus. “I craved a new genre, new storyline, new perspective, and as a result, chose to go with the omnibus style,” she said.

Writing a set of stories has never been as easy as turning one's hands, and Noh needed to watch a hundred documentaries to draw up the story and characters of Our Blues. As for the story's setting, she picked out Jeju Island because of her fondness for and personal experience on the island. "I lived in Jeju for a couple of years and fell in love with the island—not just with the beautiful landscape but with its unique culture that encourages communal life," she said.

A series in omnibus style means that it consists of many stories, each with a different theme, conflict, and major character. With a total of twenty episodes, each story in Our Blues takes part in one to three episodes. This twenty-episode omnibus drama series follows the sweet and bitter everyday life of a group of people in Jeju that are linked in family, friend, and lover relationships. It brings out lighthearted themes, such as old love and friends, adolescent and adult love, small and warm families, and enjoyable jobs, and bitter ones, including economic difficulties, teen pregnancy, disability, strained parent-child relationships, mental illness, and cancer.

These diverse themes generate significant essential messages, especially to be grateful for life. Our Blues encourages its audience to be honest about their pains and joys, admit shortcomings that one is not necessarily ashamed of, and take care of what they have since long ago. It also provides perspectives on coping with societal taboos, prejudices, and stereotypes, such as schoolgirl pregnancy, single and widowed marriage, and rumors of a new society member.

Our Blues stars renowned actors, including Lee Byung-hun, Lee Jung-eun, Shin Min-a, Han Ji-min, Kim Woo-bin, Kim Hye-ja, Uhm Jung-hwa, Cha Seung-won, and others. Directed by Kim Kyu-tae, director of Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo (2016), and produced by Studio Dragon, this series won the Best Screenplay Award at the 2022 Asian Academy Creative Awards (AACA). Several actors have also won awards, such as Shin Min-a (Top Excellence Award, Actress in a Miniseries at the 2022 APAN Star Awards), Roh Yoon-seo (Rising Star Award at the 2022 Busan International Film Festival), and Choi Young-joon (Excellence Award, Actor at the 2022 Korea Culture and Entertainment Awards).

Apart from being broadcast on the Korean television channel tvN last April 9 to June 12, 2022, Our Blues is also available on the streaming platform Netflix in various countries, including Indonesia.