My Little Baby

마이 리틀 베이비

Romanization -  Mai Liteul Beibi
Genre -  Drama, Comedy, Family
Writer -  Kim Yoon hee
Network -  MBC
Episodes -  16
Release Date -  March 5 - April 23, 2016

CAST

PLOT

Cha Jung han (Oh Ji ho) is a detective for a special investigation team, busy investigating violent cases including drugs and gangs, but then he is forced to take in his niece, Eun ae, and struggles to raise her.
Han Ye seul (Lee Soo kyung) is a single mother raising her five-year-old son and is also Cha Jung han’s first love.  ~AsiaWiki (w/edits)

REVIEW

What this is really about is a single guy with a tough persona working hardened criminal cases for the police when his older sister and her husband die, leaving behind their infant daughter, Eun ae.

Jung han (Oh Ji ho) is suddenly responsible for the baby and has to rearrange more than just his work schedule in order to fulfill his new duty as a father.

He lives in an apartment tower filled with stay-at-home's and their young broods, so slowly and with reluctance, Jung han is forced to mold himself into someone he isn't in order to better take care of his niece.

He also bumps into an old flame, Ye seul, who just happens to live below him in the apartment tower, so their run-ins are frequent and awkward at times.

Ye seul is a single mother raising an older son with major personality and behavior issues, and her methods prove funny as well as interesting, but they work to discipline her son (for the most part).

The stay-at-home's shun Ye seul and gossip/spread rumors as a way to satisfy their own sense of self and nagging lack of worth, but once Jung han arrives on the scene, these women are forced to have to reexamine a lot of things, including their petty ways.

One of the stay-at-home's (Jung Soo young as Jo Ji young) used to work alongside Jung han on the police force, and at the start, she's overly embarrassed about his being there, so she tries a lot of different things to oust him from their group -- but to no avail.

So, we have ex co-workers fighting one another, a young man in his prime fighting against his fate, and two adults who used to be college sweethearts fighting against their re-blossoming emotions.

And, surprisingly, not nearly as much cat fighting as one would expect from a drama of this caliber.

Baby Eun ae looked suspiciously white to me, but when she gets older, she's very much a Korean.

Yoon min's Kim Min jae is the prerequisite Flower Boy and another ex member of the police force who now runs a coffee shop near the apartment tower and lives with Jung han in order to help with Eun ae.

And Go Soo hee as Kang Yoon sook added the needed levity in just about every scene she appeared in, with her witty come-backs and Eonnie mentality to help keep the peace whenever necessary.

However, if you decide on the Drinking Game with this one, and choose to down a shot each time this sentence appears . . .

. . . you'd be sloshed by the end of just one 35-min episode!

I kept wondering what it really meant.

Did the translator misinterpret ...My Ass Off?

Is it, maybe, the Korean version of ...My Ass Off?

Regardless, it became monotonous early on and irritating thereafter, but not enough to spoil the short, quirky fun of this silly story.

These 35-min per sixteen build up to a startling tear-jerker at the end of episode 15,

Eun ae

and with episode 16 wrapping it all up nicely, though they did volley between the present and 2020 at regular intervals.

With Oh Ji ho's recent marriage and fatherhood, I had secretly hoped to see him appear on The Return of Superman in the near future -- and that dream will soon be a reality.

In addition to the previously reported In Gyo jin and So Yi hyun, it has been confirmed that actors Oh Ji ho and Yang Dong geun are joining . . . TRoS . . . with their families. The first shoot is today (April 22).

But, this drama helped to cement that notion, and I look forward to upcoming TRoS episodes!

My Little Baby is a sweet story with an HEA that stars Oh Ji ho (who still has it going on in my eyes) and is worth the time it takes to sit through each short sixteen.

SCREEN SHOTS