A detective is suspended and required to attend anger management counseling after a raid turns into a barroom brawl.  He meets a woman in his therapist’s office who happens to be his next door neighbor.  Although at first he finds her quirky behavior to be irritating and weird, as he gets to know about her personal trauma, he finds himself worrying about her and wanting to protect her.  Together they will learn that having someone to lean on can be a valueable step in healing.

Jung Woo as Noh Hwi Oh

Noh Hwi Oh finds himself on the wrong side of a criminal investigation that results in him being framed for excessive force and suspended from his job.  While attending anger managament counseling, he meets his next door neighbor, who sees the same therapist.  While he works to try to clear his name and get reinstated as a detective, he tries to help his new friend find health and healing.  And maybe her over-active imagination can actually lead him to find some of the answers he is looking for.  

Noh Hwi Oh was pushed to the edge by a fiance who left him in his greatest time of need.  But his real crime was trying to hold corrupt officers responsible for their actions.  And it is this extreme sense of justice that make him a great detective and a perfect protecter for Min Kyung.  I love Jung Woo’s slightly dishevelled charm.  I found him very genuine in this role that really plays to his strenths as an actor.  And it was fun to watch the ladies of his building fawn over his boyish good looks.

Ahn Woo Yeon as Sang Yeop/Samantha

Sang Yeop lives in the same apartment building as Min Kyung and Hwi Oh.  He likes to go out at night dressed in women’s clothing as Samantha. Sang Yeop is also a computer genius, who helps Hwi Oh with his investigation, while Samantha helps him disguise himself as a woman to go undercover.  

♥ Balance

This drama did a nice job of balancing humor with more serious topics in a way that felt very even.  It didn’t ever swing too randomly between the two.  Too far on either side would have made the drama either too silly or too heavy, but I felt like the balance struck just the right chord.  

 ♥ Sympathetic

While Min Kyung is definitely a weird and crazy character, she was also presented as a sympathetic one, especially as the drama goes on.  Just like Hwi Oh, we begin to understand the degree of trauma she suffered and how difficult that must be to recover from.  We also learn about how betrayed she must have felt when no one, not even her own mother, believed her side of the story.  

Seon Ho’s Mom

The only thing worse than a guy who abuses people in the name of love is a mother who defends her son for doing it.  There is absolutely nothing likeable about this character.  The fact that even the nosy neighbors, who are easily manipulated, found out how two-faced she was, proves that she has no redeeming qualities.  A little more humility on her part probably would have saved her a heap of humiliation in the end.

Soo Hyun’s Story

I love Lee Soo Hyun as a performer and I was excited to see her in this drama.  But I felt like her character was too random and disjointed.  She worked doing multiple jobs so she could become a police officer and then one youtube video has her throwing all that away to become a singer.  There was some explanation when she said she never got any of the study problems right anyway, but still.  If she had enough motivation to work as hard as she did, it seems like she would have given a little more thought before completely changing direction.  

The end of “Mad For Each Other” offers some exciting action scenes before bringing us in for a happy ending, but there are some bumps along the way.  After being drugged and kidnapped by that psycho Seon Ho, Min Kyung and Hwi Oh both end up in the hospital, where they have a sweet reunion.  But when Hwi Oh is finally released, he finds out that Min Kyung has moved out of the building.  He chases after the moving van and tells her that he loves her.  At first, Min Kyung plans to leave anyway. but she gets worried when it looks like he is beating up some random stranger, who turns out to be one of the guys from Min Kyung’s wanted poster collection.  Min Kyung and Hwi Oh kiss, while still holding the criminal by the collar, and it looks like all is finally well.  But not so fast.  A time jump shows someone else living in Min Kyung’s apartment.  A voice over from Hwi Oh catches us up with everyone else.  Soo Hyun and Samantha are busy building their youtube channel and seem happy spending their time together.  And the Women’s association finally succeeded in renaming the apartment building the Mapo Noblesse Central River.  Hwi Oh is back to work and seems to be doing well.  He and Min Kyung’s dog are sitting around missing her when they suddenly hear her whistle.  Hwi Oh runs out and finds Min Kyung looking rested and happy.  They stand smiling at each other as the “Happy Ending” song plays in the back ground.  I guess that says it all!