‘Your House Helper’…A Marie Kondo-esque show about de-cluttering, that’s really about gender roles & therapy.
Spoilers Ahead…
Your House Helper opens with a feather gliding through homes busy cleaning and preparing for the day ahead, before landing on Kim Ji Woon’s (Ha Seok Jin) shoulders. While the plot bears no resemblance to Forrest Gump, is this scene then an homage to the iconic opening scene of the movie or just a stylistic device employed? Or is it a way of comparing that while Forrest takes the feather and places it inside his favourite book, Ji Woon crumples and places it inside his pocket because…he doesn’t like dirt and litter?
The plot of Your House Helper is plain simple — Ji Woon helps people declutter their space. He lends a helping hand to those too busy to clear or organise their living spaces, and to those too scared to let go of their attachments to their loved one’s possessions and move on. As Yoon Sang A (a wonderful Go Won Hee) puts it, with the house decluttered, her mind too feels decluttered. The process is akin to therapy, as Ji Woon states that he only goes to places that welcome him and ask for his assistance than knocking on doors, unwilling to open. It’s the same way how acceptance of your situation is the first step towards seeking therapy, and only by asking for help can the house helper (or any friend, family member, professional) come and help you.
These types of dramas generally constitute a genre called ‘healing dramas’, which aren’t so much about stories or characters, as they are about a therapeutic experience, where watching characters do simple activities like cooking, cleaning, eating, drinking, or narrating a poem can help you relax. Although this show does have all the trappings of a healing drama — every character is super nice, problems get solved as easily as they crop up, everything and everyone is beautiful to look at, and plotlines are all neatly tied up with a cute ribbon bow — saying that it doesn’t have any complexity also isn’t right. (Watch how Kang Hye Joo (Jeon Soo Jin) dresses more like a tomboy with short hair and baggy T-shirts after an important confession).
The drama addresses a few serious issues and pushes the discussion of gender equality to the forefront, but this ends up being both a boon and bane for the show. While it is commendable that the writers incorporated these issues into a show with four main female characters, but the means by which they are resolved, are far too simplistic and childish. Ga Ram (Yeon Jun Suk) putting on nail polish or Ji Woon being a house helper or Chul Soo (Lee Do Gyeom) being a jewellery designer or An Jin Hong (Lee Min Young) being a single mother is not on the same plane as Da Young (WJSN’s Bona) and So Mi (Seo Eun A) seeking justice and closure after being sexually harassed. Seeking help from your potential love interest, or placing books, posters to guilt-trip your abuser into confessing his crime, are juvenile ways of handling these grave, sensitive issues, and worse, they make the crime and criminal seem not so bad. (I couldn’t help but scream, Please, go see a real therapist, please!, at all of So Mi’s so-called therapy sessions with Ga Ram).
The drama works best when it's about the small things, like completing your work on time, making up with your friends, the nervousness before going on a date, breaking off a toxic relationship, and of course, the various montages of Ji Woon cooking, tidying, dusting, mending, arranging, just transforming homes, within minutes.
I just wished the drama had more of this. After all, Ji Woon is the titular character (and I adore makeovers of all sorts), but in the second half, he gets chained to Da Young’s house, so we don’t see him helping other households.
Except for the aforementioned snags, I am not going to lie that I enjoyed the drama very much. It did help me relax, and it did put a smile on my face, and bonus, I walked away with lots of cleaning tips!
