May I Help You: Spoiler-Free Mini Review
- Jul 28
- 3 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
Title: | May I Help You (2022) |
Platform: | Apple TV, Prime Video |
MDL & IMBD Rating: | |
Genre: | Contemporary Fantasy/ Romance/ Mystery |
Episode Count: | 16 |
Parental Guidance Rating: | TV-14/16: The First episode is TV-16 for F words; the show doesn't have any more F words after the first 10 mns of the first ep. The rest of the show is rated TV-13 for violence, blood, tame kissing scenes, domestic violence. For more info: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt22872644/parentalguide/ |
Starring: | Lee Hye Ri (Reply 1988) Lee Jun Young (Reborn Rookie) Song Deok Ho (Link: Eat, Kill, Love) Tae In Ho (The East Palace) Lee Kyu Han (To My Beloved Thief) |
RBTS Rating: | 3.3/5 Stars (This tragically not about ping pong, but instead is a fantasy drama intermingled with a mystery that brings our somewhat lifeless funeral directer female lead and a Jack of All trades together. A fine watch if you have time.)  |
Cast From Left to Right: #LeeHyeRi, #LeeJunYoung, #SongDeokHo, #TaeinHo, #LeeKyuHan
Synopsis:
Baek Dong Ju, a former ping pong player now working as a funeral director, discovers she can temporarily bring the dead back to life by touching them. To avoid a streak of bad luck, she has to help fulfill their last wishes. After running away from her job in fear, she comes back a year later to try and complete 21 wishes to break free from her curse. Meanwhile, Kim Tae Huiworks odd jobs for his uncle's errand service and ends up being hired to break up with Baek Dong Ju for her boyfriend. As their paths keep crossing, their fates get tangled in life-and-death situations tied to the wishes of the dead and painful pasts they need to face. @MDL
Spoiler-Free Mini Review:
May I Help You follows a former ping pong player who discovers she has the power to wake the dead after she becomes a funeral director and is tasked with fulfilling the dying wish of the deceased-- or be haunted. May the universe grant me the creativity of these K-Drama writers. The drama splits its time between rom-com/mystery/crying. It's tonally a bit whacky; it started off fun, but then just got real sad. Also, the drama foreshadowed ping pong trauma, and I didn't get ping pong trauma. I wanted to know what that would look like, and I was deprived.
The romance of the main couple was cute, or honestly maybe just the Male Lead was cute, who knows? This is my first time seeing Lee Jun Young in the No. 1 Male Lead Role, and he's definitely suited for it. He gives a very Kim Seon Ho vibe. The female lead was a determined and fun character, but Lee Hye Ri still isn't a strong actress. She really hasn't found her footing in the transition from playing youth roles to adult characters. It did help that her character was mostly serious, so we didn't have her classic yelling/whining schtick. I do really like Lee Hye Ri (lol), it sounds like I don't, but I do! I'm rooting for you, girl!
Another level of difficulty with the female lead is that she felt low energy, which could be because she was dubbed or had too much ADR in the editing process. Her voice sounded really strange. I know the actress has had bouts of illness, so I don't know if that's related. But I also noticed it in her other drama, Dream to You (2026).
The romance and fantasy elements were the dramas strong point, but the show put both on the back burner towards the end episodes, which was a bummer. There was a great plot twist that I kind of predicted, but it panned out differently, which was kind of fun.
Ultimately, May I Help You is a middle of the road drama that went off roading at the end, but I still enjoyed and would recommend.
Story=3.5 (props for originality), Acting=3 (The FL felt low energy. The actress hasn't found her footing w/ the transition from playing younger roles to adult roles), Production Quality=3.5 (Either her audio was wonky or she had a cold ), Ending=3.5 (No foreshadowing to the revelation at the very (very) end. Wish they focused more on the couple), Enjoyability= 3.5 (Some good twists, cute couple), Would I rewatch= Meh.
Trailer:
Director: #ShimSoYeon (Welcome 2 Life)
Screenwriter: #LeeSeonHye (20th Centuary Boy and Girl)
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