My Sweet Mobster

It's rare that I start watching a drama based on an Instagram reel. And even rarer when that reel is sent to me by bestie 😝 But there's always that first time! My Sweet Mobster clips have been making their way across the Internet and I think after watching the 10th clip I couldn't resist watching the drama. It was so crazy and funny that I had to had to had to watch it!

Since when mobsters are sweet?

Go Eun Ha known as "Sister Mini" is a content creator for children. She is not very popular and is used by her employer but she loves what she does and loves working with children. She does everything to make children smile even if they are in the hospital or have busy parents who do not have time for them. Eun Ha started working as a child influencer thanks to her childhood friend Hyeon U, whom she has been trying to find her entire adult life.

In the meantime, Seo Ji Hwan lives as an underground legend, the son of the biggest gangster ... and the one who sent him to prison and disbanded the entire gang. Ji Hwan hates violence and exploitation of others. He created a company producing high-quality meat and meat products and employs ex-convicts in it. Unfortunately, because of this, the company is not popular among ordinary mortals, but often falls into the favor of connoisseurs. One day the colorful Go Eun Ha fall into the gray world of Seo Ji Hwan and mixes it up irreversibly.

It's started fun, fresh and very cute 👌 The idea of ​​observing the daily lives of former convicts and how many of them find it difficult to perform normal tasks without being pointed at. Although the drama is light and funny, it managed to show how important the process of resocialization of convicts is, including their reintegration into society and not allowing them to return to their old gangster habits. Of course, we don't have murderers here, but rather small thugs, but I liked this aspect being combined with judgemental Korean society. Finally, something new and interesting 😍! .... but .....

.... this topic went into the background just after a few episodes and only came back for the last 2 (?). I'm a quite disappointed at that 😔 I was hoping that most of the story would be shown from the point of view of the former mobster and slowly introduce the story of the other roommates and employees. The characters Jung Man Ho and Gwak Jae Su (btw great bromance) are suitable for a spin-off. The dynamic between them and him and the other former gangsters was fantastic. Until the end of the last episode I was hoping for their story to be presented but it didn't happen 😭 The producers decided to focus on boring stereotypes - a useless love triangle, family dramas and the shared story of the children affecting their entire lives.

But let's say these stereotypes can still be experienced. This is quite typical for Korean dramas, so ok... let it be. BUT! inventing certain connections, couples and behaviors drives me crazy. The deliberate creation of side stories, the strange and sudden separation of the main characters, all to create a noble hero is irritating. Uhm Tae Goo as Seo Ji Hwan and the titular Sweet Mobster played a great role, he showed his duality fantastically. I can't say a bad word about him, what I didn't like was his surroundings. In my opinion, this drama should have been more DRAMATIC! It should have been hard for him to leave the world of gangs, to have local habits and fight them. There was more SWEET than MOBSTER here 😒😖

If the drama had been set shortly after his father's arrest (without changing Go Eun Ha's story), when Ji Hwan starts disbanding the gang and hiring more and more ex-cons, the whole thing would have been - for me - a thousand times more interesting 👀 Then they could have easily introduced stories, even truncated, of individual people. Most characters are adorable and are missing a bit of dark and bitter background.

The second problem I had with this drama was the secondary couple. In general, the characters of Ju Il Yeong and Koo Mi Ho were cool but why put them together like that?! 😬 Ok, they had a passionate woohoo and now she's pregnant, it happens. Life. But for the sake of realism, they should have a problem approaching this relationship! 😩 they don't know each other, they are different from each other in every way.... I like them together but the whole thing should be desugarized. Their love story just felt so forced and made in order to fill the minutes before something else will happen. A kind of distraction from main plot.

I fully admit to start watching My Sweet Mobster because of the comical combination of mafia and content for children. I knew it would be a funny drama but still was hoping for the context of the mafia taking more than 30% of airtime. Everything was revolving around love, laughter and children. I didn't really think this though. I think that was my biggest problem - it was too sweet. My Sweet Mobster was too sweet for me. My teeth are hurting now 💀

Will I recommend this drama to someone? I'm not sure, probably yes as it fun to watch. It might not be something I was looking for but it was good. 6,5/10 is also a good result. But simply if someone searches for action, violence .... move on. There is nothing like that here 😬