Postnatal Care Center (2020)

Survival Camp: New Mom Edition °8.2° °every new mom needs this°

“The day I got promoted as the youngest director at work, I became the oldest pregnant woman at the hospital.” Jin desperately wanted both of those things, but she didn't want them to happen at the same time.

Pregnancy? “People blabber that it's a beautiful and joyful process. But it's not always like that for women who actually go through it. Pregnancy is exhausting, delivery is cruel, and recovery is miserable.” In saying that, the BCC director shows she truly understands. Jin finally starts to feel a smidge at ease.

BCC is a 2020 release that is rated 81 on AWiki. It is 1 season consisting of 8 65ish-minute episodes. When Do Yoon and Jin arrive at the BCC, I wondered if Jin had actually passed to the afterlife. It looks like heaven (except for the creepy handmaids-tale-gowns). Massages, room service, baby care, classes, other new moms… What is especially poignant and metaphoric is that, to have a child, is the death of one's previous life. Once a woman becomes pregnant, life will never be the same again. Children break us down to nothing, and we have to build ourselves back up again.

The OM's (the /other/ moms) are in another world, though. It doesn't seem much different than Jr high with their persnickety cliquishness. Jin is sneered at because she intends to return to work. ASAP. Now, I really hate it when people sneer at stay-at-home moms. There's nothing easy or cushy about raising kids, feeding your family quality food, and properly keeping a house up. These days, not many families can afford to do it. (In fairness, if kids could vote, it's possible that every mom would be required to stay-at-home). I also find it very distasteful, however, when stay-at-home moms allow their worlds to become so small that they don't have a clue about what it's like out there. If you're a stay-at-home mom, you have no business commenting on somebody who works full-time and tries to juggle family life as well. Most people don't have a choice, and if you've never done it, you can't imagine how difficult it is. Nobody is living a perfect life. Not one of us. I doubt there's such a thing as parenting, or marriage, for that matter, without regrets. Not only is judging others useless, but it's harmful to us as it distracts us from the honest introspection and personal improvement that might alleviate some of those later regrets.

It's obvious that the screenwriters have been through this. I love the treatment of the birth, along with every other subject. They nail the emotions. The baby has an adorably crumpled frown. That frown is upside-down for everyone else. This couple had given up on ever having a baby. Now, the whole family's ecstatic. “You came through the birth so easily!” Her mother-in-law is all smiles. She's got it wrong, though. Jin actually died on the birthing table and was resuscitated. Everyone is over the moon, except for Jin. She's.just.exhausted.

Jin is an achiever. She immediately gets caught up in the subtle competitions going on between the OMs. First, she starts to feel competitive about breast milk. She calls her friend for advice. Said friend comments that it's been a long time since her baby was a /baby/. The camera pans over to a gangly, pimpled middle school boy. As he leaves, Jin's friend yells at him that he should /shave/ before going to school. The door slams. Then she finds his cigarettes. ‘I really can't help you right now,’ she says, and ends the call.

That sets the table. Through Jin's journey, the writers show the stress, the frustration, confusion, the bombardment of choices and pressures, all the nosy outsiders - each with an opinion, the fear, and the absolute irony involved in childbirth ~ and they show it well.


〰Mixed Emotions〰

Jin feels so out of place. She worked up until the last moment. All the OMs seem to know more. She's far behind. They liken it to the last car on the Snowpiercer train (that ain't good). She sees that work at her job is going on fine without her. She's losing herself. Her identity. Jin doesn't feel the overwhelming love that the OMs have for their babies. It's not like she can force herself to feel a certain way! She feels so very out of place.

〰Marital Strife and Physical Changes〰

Then it's relational stress. Poor Do Yoon. While his wife is being bullied, condescended to, and failing at breastfeeding, she's taking it all out on him. He can't even breathe right. He ends up bonding with another father who teaches him to wear earth tones so that he can blend into the background;) They go shopping together. The whole thing is pretty cute with them gushing over cribs and bottle warmers. But his new friend's time at the center ends first. Do Yoon actually runs after his bro's car in the driveway, then trips and falls as his buddy is leaving. Next, they get into how a woman's body changes. One of the OMs has gained so much weight she's doubled her size - and her career is dependent on her looks. Jin hasn't felt like a woman in a long time. Her body hasn't been hers for a long time. She has to hear how /this/ is a time when men tend to cheat. Then she has to watch her husband head off to his awards show with his beautiful coworker. In a convertible.

〰Choosing a Name〰

The pressure of picking a name doesn't elude this couple. Koreans have 39 days to register their babies’ births, so they don't deal with naming the kids until ep7. Until then they have silly nicknames like Glue Stick or Sprout. A baby's name contains the wishes of its mother,“ and “A name is a vessel that holds a person's fate,” is the verbiage being bandied around. I remember when I picked up the baby name book, the first thing that stuck out was the statement that boys with exotic names have a higher incidence of mental illness. (Yikes!) I've heard psychologists talk about trying to find a mock-proof name for their kids - they ultimately failed. We gave our son the first name of his father and grandfather, but ended up calling him by his middle name to “avoid confusion”. The confusion came when we had to update his records when he turned 18 and was issued an ID. The insurance company didn't want to pay his bills. When he graduated from HS, no one recognized the name they called out, lol. We have survived this, and worse. It's not humanly possible to do everything perfectly. One does need to lighten up and have some humility. The perfect parent has yet to be discovered on this flawed earth.

〰Finding the Perfect Nanny - before any of the other b!+ches do!〰

As their discharge date approaches, the babysitter competitions begin.

Jin's mom was set to babysit, but she needs an emergency surgery. Jin's first thought is about herself and her career. This is really inconvenient for Jin. When Mom points out her selfish attitude, Jin blows up, in rich irony, and blames her mom for not raising her better. Jin realizes she reverts to being a toddler around her loving, caring, giving, self-sacrificing mother. These new moms haven't worked out their relationships with their /own/ parents ~ And around it goes. Jin ends up in a competitive 3-way interview with a top-rated nanny and another mother. They cut in a Joseon era sword fight between the questions.

〰And the bang-jammy of them all: Breast V Bottle〰

She isn't producing milk. Jin has trouble making breast milk and breastfeeding. That's no trifle - Her life becomes ALL about that. They put her on a strict diet and a physical routine of massages and exercises to make her a better producer. She feels like a cow. They flesh out the breastfeeding versus formula wars beautifully. People get very emotional about it. Of course, the science is settled. It's better to breastfeed (cheaper, too). It's better to eat organic and prepare all your meals at home. It's even better to just grow your own food. It's better to monitor your caffeine intake. It's better to exercise regularly. It's better to go to bed early. It's better to not sit all day at the office but to stand once in awhile. It's better to squeeze the toothpaste from the bottom. It's better to brake slowly so you don't wear out the brake pads on your car too quickly. Obviously, these things aren't all of the same importance, but the point is that it's impossible to live a perfect life and to do /all/ the better things. We really have no idea what other people are going through and what struggles they have. This is an issue where the information is out there. They don't need to hear it again from outsiders. It's better to keep our opinions to ourselves. It really is. There are mothers who try their best to breastfeed and cannot keep it up, emotionally and physically. It isn't something that one should comment on to a stranger - someone whose struggles are entirely unknown to the speaker. If it would work, I'd be all-in on it, but It won't work, and it won't make the world a better place. These actions morph into self-aggrandizing superiority rituals, and that's just wrong. Regardless of our past choices, it's better than better to always be improving. Never stop working on yourself; when you're done, fix e'erbody else. In ep3, with around 10 1/2 minutes to go, there's a sequence on the breast v bottle wars that is not only the highlight of the show, it's production gold. They show arguments, fights, car accidents, bar fights, videos of the fights, videos that go viral and cause fights on other continents… all over breastfeeding... It's bloody brilliant.

The acting is excellent. Uhm Ji Won (The Odd Family: Zombie on Sale) is FL, Oh Hyun Jin. I've seen her in The Cursed-8.3, which is fabulous. As a fun fact, the actor who plays her husband in The Cursed, Jung Moon Sung from Hospital Playlist-9, plays the ob/gyn who delivers her baby here. Yoon Park (You Are My Spring, Doctor Slump), nine years Ms Uhm's junior, is her husband, Kim Do Yoon. I've seen him in Forecasting Love and Weather-6.8 and Introverted (My Shy) Boss-6.5. He plays a duplicitous character in both of those shows. He's such a sweetheart in the opening of BCC I couldn't place him at first. { bunny trail - I'm just over 4 years into my Asian programming addiction and I'm still not used to how many Korean actors don't look very Asian. I'm from the northeast. If I saw Mr. Yoon on the street wearing a suit I would think -Jewish Attorney- before I would think that he's Asian. Korea, being a peninsula situated in the center of the coast, was likely a stopping point for many a varied traveler. In addition, the USA has had personnel placed there for the better part of a century. Kcountry seems to have more variety mixed into the population than Japan or the southeast Asian countries (China, a country that also seems to love their Euro looking actors, varies widely by territory). Mixing the gene pool up makes the most beautiful offspring. It doesn't mean anything, it's just interesting.}

Park Ha Sun (Two Weeks, The Veil) portrays Jo Eun Jung. Married to a pro golfer, she's the queen of the BCC. All the OMs suck up to her. The darling Choi Ri (My First First Love-8) is the rebel mom, Lee Roo Da. She has pink in her hair, multicolor nail polish, bare feet, and No, “I won't be breastfeeding,“ thank you very much. Jang Hye Jin (The Red Sleeve, A Time Called You) plays Choi Hye Sook, the BCC manager. She's so perfectly casted it's spooky. She can't hide how much Roo Da distresses her. Director Park Soo Won also brought us Work Later, Drink Now S2.

The all female screenwriting team is Kim Ji Soo (Missing Crown Prince), Yoon Soo Min (Stock Struck), and Im Yeon Soo (Go Back Couple). They are the stars. If you are pregnant or a new mom or if you ever were, they will make you feel less alone. “I never understood why mothers resigned after maternity leave, before.” (Jin is having a mini-epiphany). ”Now, I do.” “Giving birth really takes a toll on you,” we hear in the next scene. Yep, they've been through this.

“The moment we accepted our unhappiness, we could finally be happy,” Jin observes. Midshow, the women start to drop the facade. They open up to eachother more - whether wittingly or not. They compete less and support eachother more. Now that'll make the world a better place.


〰QUOTES〰

…humiliation is a luxury of an emotion that one can only feel when he or she is still a human.

Attachment maketh man. 77% of motiveless crimes are committed by neglected children.


〰IMHO〰

RATINGS
Directing 7,5
Writing 8,5
Acting 8
Romance 5
Flutters 4
Art 7.9
Sound & music 7
Ending 8

LEVELS
Warmth 5
Action/ Excitement 1
Laughs 3.7
Tears 2.5
Fright 2.5
Tension/Anxiety 3.5
Gore 1
Thought provocation 8
Snores 0

Re-watch? possible - I recommend it for every pregnant woman


Age 13+

Rated TV-15

In order of ~lite&trite~ to ~heavy&serious~ you may also like:

A Witch's Love 7.8,
Love to Hate You 8.9,
Her Private Life 8,
A Love So Beautiful-7,
Live Up To Your Name-7.6;
Touch your heart 8.2,
Crash Landing On You 9.1,
Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha-8.4,
Oh My Ghost 10,
It's Okay Not To Be Okay 9,
Love Struck in the City 7.3,
Be Melodramatic-8.7
Familiar Wife-8.5,
Hospital Playlist 9,
Saimdang-8.5,
My Unfamiliar Family-7.9,
Misaeng-9.1,
My Mister 9.5,
I'll See You When the Weather is Fine 9
Something in the Rain-8.6,
The Cursed 8.3,
Mother-8.8,

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