We have a new robot Kdrama! It’s about an android who is designed to learn and to be self-aware, and looks like a cute teenage girl. Well, why would they bother to design an ugly one? She graces our tv screens in a short web drama called I Am… only six episodes of fifteen minutes each. It’s an easy watch, and it is well done. Come with me and meet our latest robot, Annie!
The Characters
Dr. Cha, is a robotics scientist who has alienated his family by disappearing to concentrate on his work. When he suddenly returns, he visits his children, Joo Yun, a high school teacher, and Eun Woo, a college student, leaves his robot with them, and disappears again. (Their names get spelled several ways in the subtitles.) They are both hugely afraid of “The Dangerous Creature” at first. I’ve got to warn you that there is some real overacting in that one scene, but that’s the only time, so no worries. Eun Woo wants nothing to do with the robot because he is so angry at his dad but Joo Yun quickly takes to it, dubs it Annie, and enrolls it in her school.
The Plot
We watch as Annie develops skills and learns from the people around her. She is pretty blank at first and explores her environment in a childlike way. The baseball fascinates her as it rolls across the floor. It’s lucky nothing fell off the dresser when she lifted it up!
She asks questions about emotions, practices expressions, and learns to interact with the other students. She meets nice girls, mean girls, gets into a love triangle, and is threatened by a nefarious stranger. There are things hinted at which could have become serious problems, but the show is pretty light and doesn’t really go there.
The Issues
Quite a lot goes on for such a short drama. We even confront the issue of the status of a human-like android, and how you treat one. Joo Yun’s boyfriend, who works at Dr. Cha’s lab, thinks of it as a machine without any rights. Joo-Yun thinks of her as a person who should be able to make her own choices.
I Am… is a little hard to find. It’s on Viki but I can’t get it to come up in when I used the search bar. I scrolled down the Featured screen until I came to a box labeled Dramas of the Year 2018 with a Soompi Awards logo, and clicked on it. Then I scrolled down the list of dramas. It’s the third to the last one.
This is a cute show. It’s coherent and holds together well, and I liked the characters and the dry humor. Not everything is explained, but that isn’t surprising for such a short drama. It’s a nice family show to watch together. I hope you enjoy it!
Telzeytalks of Dramas With a Side of Kimchi