I finished Imaginary Cat.
It was entertaining enough but not something I’d recommend or go back to. I’m not sure if I’m glad it was only eight episodes or if there could have been a deeper exploration offered in terms of characters and plot-points if it were a full-length drama. Probably the former, considering the acting skills were just tolerable and the characters didn’t have much depth. I didn’t feel the connection with the lead actress and her obsession with cats was understandable but lacked that little extra something for me to actually care.
The cat was excellent, though, and I’m impressed with the way the production team (especially the editing team!) managed to get the cat to “act” and the actress who did the voice-over was fabulous.
The minor characters were pretty fun, though, but then again, when can Lee El can go wrong in my eyes? It does make me think that my dream job is to be a webtoon editor, considering that once again my favorite characters were a webtoon editor and the sidekick who supports the lead’s webtoon. I guess I have a type.
I haven’t read the source material but I hope it was better than the drama production, because I liked the concept of a man clinging to a cute cat as his only real friend and family after the death of the woman he loved. I’m a firm believer that pets are therapeutic so I think I actually would have enjoyed more back story, watching him project his protective side onto Bokgil as he tries to come to terms with feeling responsible for a loved one’s suicide. There was some interesting potential there, and I feel like it got lost a bit with the bizarre “oh this is actually my cat I lost when I was child!” plot.
Then again, I just didn’t connect with that character, so that’s largely my fault, but I think the actress didn’t fully realize her character, either. She felt like a harsh, shrill one-note representation of what could have been a cute and fun character with a deeper back-story, but all I really got out of her was that she’s obsessed with cats and doesn’t think through her actions. Too childlike for me to approve of her invading Jong Hyun’s space, and I, like Bokgil, had no desire to befriend her. Which meant that whole potential romance was uninteresting and I just wanted to get back to the cat.
As an aside, while I was first annoyed that the vet was someone who became a vet just for Na Woo (yes, I finally cracked and looked up her name – that’s how much of an impression she left on me), I did really appreciate that he seemed like a good vet, and I appreciated his counsel when it came to Bokgil’s final days. I love animals, but I could never be a vet predominately because of having to make those decisions. While the ending wasn’t a surprise, it was, of course, touching, and whatever cat Jong Hyun adopts in the future is one lucky kitty.
tl:dr – The drama was worth it for the cat, but not for much else.
The Obsessive Dilettante 