Kdrama Review: I Am Not a Robot (AKA when your ex makes a robot with your face)


Do I have time to watch a Korean drama? No. Do I have slightly more time recently than usual? Yes. Was this one worth it? YES.

I had a few reservations about “I Am Not a Robot” (2017) at the beginning. First, I wasn’t a fan of the shorter episodes (30 minutes each) and didn’t recognize the channel, and thus thought it might be a cable show – which didn’t seem promising. Second, it was clearly a rich-guy-falls-for-poor-girl story, which is a bland trope in dramaland. However, it was recommended as “cute” by a friend and ranked highly online, so I decided to give it a shot.

I quickly discovered that though the episodes are shorter, there are 32 of them, which allows for 16 hours of drama, which is a normal season. Also, the acting was excellent and overall quality of the drama certainly wasn’t lacking. As for the trope, I’ll dive in to that later. The story is something like this…


Kim Min Kyu is a wealthy, successful chairman of a financial company with a strange illness – he is allergic to human touch and could die if not treated immediately. He is approached by Hong Baek Gyun, a researcher, and his team who want continued funding for their AI project, a lifelike robot called AG-3. Kim Min Kyu demands an immediate test of the robot before his board members sell the research, but something goes terribly wrong with the robot at the last minute.

Desperate, Dr. Hong contacts his ex-girlfriend, whom he modeled the robot after, to step in and pretend to be AG-3 until they can get the real robot up and running again. The ex, female lead Jo Ji Ah, just happens to be in serious need of cash and agrees to do the job. None of them know of Kim Min Kyu’s health concerns, and surprisingly, he doesn’t react to the “robot.” Of course, it takes longer than planned to fix AG-3 and Jo Ji Ah must keep up the charade for quite a while. Of course, Kim Min Kyu and Jo Ji Ah start to have feelings for each other.

The first part of the season is hilarious. Jo Ji Ah makes several mistakes in her attempts to be a robot, from swearing to farting. Kim Min Kyu is rather clueless about human interaction, being isolated from people for so many years because of his illness, and their dynamic is golden. The comedy returns in several exceptionally awkward scenes near the end of the season as well, the central episodes being heavier, straight drama.

Though there is rich-guy-falling-for-poor-girl, it’s done a bit more interestingly. Kim Min Kyu believes he’s falling in love with a robot, not a poor girl in need of saving. Jo Ji Ah isn’t impoverished, but rather a struggling entrepreneur under pressure from her family to stop fooling around and “get a real job.” While Kim Min Kyu does have a crazy-huge house, their socio-economic difference isn’t as big of a plot point as in other dramas. While Jo Ji Ah isn’t the strongest female lead I’ve ever seen in a kdrama, she’s strong enough, and I enjoyed watching her journey as she struggles to pursue what she loves to do and finds someone who supports her work.

The backstory of Kim Min Kyu’s past and company drama is done well, adding to the main plot without derailing it. All the characters were fun and interesting to watch; there wasn’t anyone I wanted to get off screen. The group dynamics of the research team, the leads, and Jo Ji Ah’s best friend were always a good time. While the plot is incredibly farfetched, it’s just realistic enough to enjoy.

While the whole concept of the show is based on the premise of a lie – Jo Ji Ah pretending to be a robot – the deception does go on for a painfully long time. This wasn't my first time watching a drama where one person holds a potentially-relationship-destroying secret (think "Coffee Prince"), and there are clear reasons presented for why the characters need to continue to do so, but it got to the point that I began to wonder if the show was actually going to support white lies in rare situations. Thankfully the truth does eventually come out, and the agony of it is worth it in the end. “I Am Not a Robot” was indeed cute and I recommend!

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