I happened to see Are You Human Too? While in the process of leaving a review for the Third Charm. I watched this series, and I absolutely LOVED it.
This series poses the all too important question, which is, can a robot love? What is it that separates machines who are programmed by coding from humans who are also programmed by (DNA) coding? That is the larger question. What does it mean to be human? Is love what makes us all human? Does hatred make us human?
The actor Seo Kang-Joon did a phenomenal job with this part. He was so convincing, that I actually started to see the two characters he played as two different people. I hated Human Nam Shin because he was unjustly mean and also a bully. I get that he has a villain origin story and all. He was justified in being angry with his mother and jealous of Robot Nam Shin. I get it. But to have this much anger towards everyone and acting like a total jerk was unreasonable. Human Nam Shin did not take his anger out on the person who caused all of the problems in the first place, which was the villainous Seo Jong-Gil (played by Oh Seung-Yu who also did a fantastic job playing the villain). Why would Human Nam Shin not take his anger out on the person who caused this mess? Jong-Gil was allowed to stick around no matter how many times he betrayed the family. That part did not make sense to me, especially when the story has a grandfather as conniving and powerful as Nam Gung Ho. Then there is the long-suffering right hand man Ji Yeong-Hoon who is torn between all sides. The actor, Lee Jun-Hyuk gave an excellent performance and was quite subtle in his acting. He could say so much without words, all with pain and conflict on his face while trying to remain stoic. His heart and eyes managed to reveal his true feelings which was in line with this stoic and loyal man.
Back to the central character...I really liked AI robot Nam Shin 3 to the point where I couldn't stand seeing Human Nam Shin's face while rooting hopelessly for Robot Nam Shin and being excited for his part whenever he was on screen. So to this actor's credit, he convinced me that he was two different people while looking exactly the same in both parts. He embodied everything I imagine a super intelligent AI robot would be, from facial expressions, and how quickly he could change his body language and demeanor, with very subtle things, like the expression in his eyes.
I also enjoyed the heroine, played by Gong Seung-Yoon as Kang So-Bong who was adorable and smart in her role. I did not like the character at first because she was sneaky, and spied a lot on the protagonist, but I really started to like her as she changed her ways and started to care about Robot Nam Shin 3. Her father was really fussy, though! But still fun. This by far, ranks as one of my top three K-Dramas ever.
There are of course, the standard K-Drama tropes. I don't mind them, because I expect them. I think they managed to surprise me with plot twists, which is very hard to do. I love the romance scenes...they were tender and never heavy-handed which lead me to what one very funny character, Reporter Jo was also wondering about as she felt his chest and muscles to see how he managed to look so real... does he have all of his man parts? I know I should not worry about such things, but if Robot Nam Shin and Kang So-Bong are becoming man and woman in their romance, how can the couple live happily ever after as a couple if...? I wondered this throughout. But it did not deter my enjoyment of the story.
My last thought on this terrific show is, is it making a statement about fatherhood? Let's start with robot Nam Shin. His father is David. Robot Nam Shin from episode 2, rejects David out of jealousy and even refuses to accept David as his father even though David, refers to him as his son with each greeting and was his moral supporter and stood up for him throughout the entire series no matter what. David was very loyal but when David made one mistake robot nam-shin became angry with him and disowned him as his father. Was he evolving at that stage to the rebellious teen mindset? It was very easy for him to disown his human dad. Then there is the grandfather who knew that his son was killed by someone, but remained loyal to the person who killed his son, sharing this secret. The grandfather was also quite ruthless to his grandson and son's wife. Then there was the show villain Mr Seo, who became enemies against his own daughter, and daughter against father. Then there is Kang so-bong, whose father was quite harsh with her when she made a mistake although he remains supportive at times he was still very fussy and angsty. The only mother on the show turned against the robot son, even encouraging his destruction. I just thought that the dynamic of Parenthood, especially that of fathers and even bad mothering was a central theme in the show. Not to mention the only mother in the show was the mother of the two Nam Shins. None of the other characters even had a mother, nor did the men have wives. Even Nam Shin's aunt did not have a father for the little boy. I wonder what the underlying message was in this sense.
This series poses the all too important question, which is, can a robot love? What is it that separates machines who are programmed by coding from humans who are also programmed by (DNA) coding? That is the larger question. What does it mean to be human? Is love what makes us all human? Does hatred make us human?
The actor Seo Kang-Joon did a phenomenal job with this part. He was so convincing, that I actually started to see the two characters he played as two different people. I hated Human Nam Shin because he was unjustly mean and also a bully. I get that he has a villain origin story and all. He was justified in being angry with his mother and jealous of Robot Nam Shin. I get it. But to have this much anger towards everyone and acting like a total jerk was unreasonable. Human Nam Shin did not take his anger out on the person who caused all of the problems in the first place, which was the villainous Seo Jong-Gil (played by Oh Seung-Yu who also did a fantastic job playing the villain). Why would Human Nam Shin not take his anger out on the person who caused this mess? Jong-Gil was allowed to stick around no matter how many times he betrayed the family. That part did not make sense to me, especially when the story has a grandfather as conniving and powerful as Nam Gung Ho. Then there is the long-suffering right hand man Ji Yeong-Hoon who is torn between all sides. The actor, Lee Jun-Hyuk gave an excellent performance and was quite subtle in his acting. He could say so much without words, all with pain and conflict on his face while trying to remain stoic. His heart and eyes managed to reveal his true feelings which was in line with this stoic and loyal man.
Back to the central character...I really liked AI robot Nam Shin 3 to the point where I couldn't stand seeing Human Nam Shin's face while rooting hopelessly for Robot Nam Shin and being excited for his part whenever he was on screen. So to this actor's credit, he convinced me that he was two different people while looking exactly the same in both parts. He embodied everything I imagine a super intelligent AI robot would be, from facial expressions, and how quickly he could change his body language and demeanor, with very subtle things, like the expression in his eyes.
I also enjoyed the heroine, played by Gong Seung-Yoon as Kang So-Bong who was adorable and smart in her role. I did not like the character at first because she was sneaky, and spied a lot on the protagonist, but I really started to like her as she changed her ways and started to care about Robot Nam Shin 3. Her father was really fussy, though! But still fun. This by far, ranks as one of my top three K-Dramas ever.
There are of course, the standard K-Drama tropes. I don't mind them, because I expect them. I think they managed to surprise me with plot twists, which is very hard to do. I love the romance scenes...they were tender and never heavy-handed which lead me to what one very funny character, Reporter Jo was also wondering about as she felt his chest and muscles to see how he managed to look so real... does he have all of his man parts? I know I should not worry about such things, but if Robot Nam Shin and Kang So-Bong are becoming man and woman in their romance, how can the couple live happily ever after as a couple if...? I wondered this throughout. But it did not deter my enjoyment of the story.
My last thought on this terrific show is, is it making a statement about fatherhood? Let's start with robot Nam Shin. His father is David. Robot Nam Shin from episode 2, rejects David out of jealousy and even refuses to accept David as his father even though David, refers to him as his son with each greeting and was his moral supporter and stood up for him throughout the entire series no matter what. David was very loyal but when David made one mistake robot nam-shin became angry with him and disowned him as his father. Was he evolving at that stage to the rebellious teen mindset? It was very easy for him to disown his human dad. Then there is the grandfather who knew that his son was killed by someone, but remained loyal to the person who killed his son, sharing this secret. The grandfather was also quite ruthless to his grandson and son's wife. Then there was the show villain Mr Seo, who became enemies against his own daughter, and daughter against father. Then there is Kang so-bong, whose father was quite harsh with her when she made a mistake although he remains supportive at times he was still very fussy and angsty. The only mother on the show turned against the robot son, even encouraging his destruction. I just thought that the dynamic of Parenthood, especially that of fathers and even bad mothering was a central theme in the show. Not to mention the only mother in the show was the mother of the two Nam Shins. None of the other characters even had a mother, nor did the men have wives. Even Nam Shin's aunt did not have a father for the little boy. I wonder what the underlying message was in this sense.