Dear X (2025)

THANK YOU to the creators of this drama for getting me out of my drama slump

It’s not often that a drama sucks me in and has me this invested within the first 4 episodes. I’ll admit - I’m a sucker for media that artfully plays with the morally grey. All too often, characters that are intended to be morally grey are either too hateable or too likeable in a way that feels inauthentic and uninspiring. This drama balances that line so well. The storyline so far is cleverly written and thought-provoking, and the actors are all holding their own in some pretty difficult scenes. I’m particularly impressed with Kim Young-dae - I saw a few of his dramas about five years ago and swore to never watch another because I thought he was such a flat actor - but he has improved massively and a clip of him in this drama is actually what drew me to watch it in the first place. He’s been added to my list of actors whom I think can actually pull off an obsessed, yearning to the point of losing their mind character like the male lead in this. Fingers crossed that the plot doesn’t fall off from here on out.

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"It must be exhausting always rooting for the anti-hero..."

—What did she do for them?
*Nothing.
—What did they do for her?
*Everything.
—Why?
... 

What. A. Brilliant Drama!

She was flying up so high, that when she fell, she kept falling until she crossed the path of the bottomless pit of hell. Then she rose from the ashes of misery! This was an unusual story of an anti-heroine who fought and crawled her way out of hell to make you believe that when darkness persists, daylight will not come until you let it in. So it remained dark, without any hope of light.

It's been a while since I enjoyed a thriller/ suspense drama after Strangers From Hell. Witnessing the rise of Baek Ah Jin from one traumatic past to another, they kept me on the edge of the seat in every single episode. I couldn't fathom how far she would go for her success, even if it endangered people's lives.

Ajin, single-handedly, carried the show on her shoulders. She made me despise her every action because she never wanted to play safe. Her creepy smile made my skin crawl! If she doesn't get the best actress award for this, I don't know who will.
Other characters, Jun Seo and Jae Oh, were her constant partners through thick and thin as her life proceeded, even though they knew how little they meant to her. Kim Ji Hoon as Jeong Ho was outstanding.

Honestly, I kept this review as vague as possible because I want people to enjoy what I enjoyed. It's better if you know very little about it. I loved it but it wasn't without flaws. There were several plot holes which weren't solved, even addressed. But I cannot let go of that eerie, restless feeling that I got from this drama. Often I found myself deeply moved by this storyline, definitely not in a positive way. Regardless of all the negative points, I liked it more than I expected because it's a drama I didn't expect anything to be "good" because I shamelessly expected it to get worse for a character who's beyond the fixing. Let's say when she hit the rock bottom, you can't expect fighting, surviving and crawling the way up can't be anything fairytale like. She must trample to achieve the throne, that was all she knew.

Overall, it's a must-watch if you want to be entertained throughout the series. I ensure that your sudden dopamine rush will keep you thinking about it for a long time.

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Deliciously torturous and angsty : Baek A Jin is a predator you don't want to cross the line with !

This drama, full of angst and passion, is centred around Baek A Jin, cruel heroine, femme fatale using men as pieces of chess, beaten by life and that decided very early that people are tools to be used to elevate herself from her misery. As her journey unfold, full of unhealthy relationships and oozing toxicity, I couldn't help myself to be captivated and root for her until a breaking point. It was like watching a dangerous predator on top of the food chain, fighting all nails out but with a layer of charm and some cracks in the armor that even more entrapped me into her craziness. The main appeal to me was to see how she navigated her relationships as well as her place in the world : sometimes ascending and sometimes failing.

The story took my breath away at several point in time, there were real peak and valleys and it was impossible to look away from the magnetic female lead.There were some madness and brutality to the story that made it utterly fascinating. When the show ended, I felt exhausted having lived through a rollercoaster of emotions. Do I wish there had been a bit more time for the ending as well as even more room for some of my faves relationships? Certainly but I found this super satisfying and audacious.

The casting of this drama was really good. Acting was on point. Watching the performances, I cried, I was upset, I was happy, I even got the butterflies...and I also crashed hard. The three main roles (Kim You Jung, Kim Young Dae, Kim Do Hoon) did an incredible job at portraying their broken characters. From the get go, their triangular relationship felt twisted, full of thorns and manipulation...and therefore extremely interesting. In addition to the main characters, the support cast was excellent with some shining guest stars : Hwang In Youp (for whom I started the series), Kim Ji Hoon, Hong Jong Hyun and Jung Woo to name a few that really impressed me. Honestly, not sure how fair it is to consider them as guest roles given their importance depending on the arc.

The production value was really good, with some masterfull directing and striking visuals for some of the most brutal scenes. The dramatic scenes were properly filmed, and even if I think some of them could have been even more worked on, the intensity of the story felt properly translated for sure. I loved the OST, daunting (especially for the end generic) and very fitting for the series.

I would strongly recommend this to people that enjoy twisted tales featuring very dark character. If you are looking for fluffy and heart warming romance, this is not the drama for you. Neither if you are looking for a regular "heroic" revenge arc. This is not the point of the series. It is about manipulation, survival and I could not help myself to feel fascinated by the charming predator that is the heroine. As the male leads, I felt under her trap and until the end was properly enthralled by the drama. If you enjoy thriller, psychological titles, revenge series, this is an excellent pick !

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disappointed

Throughout the series, I kept expecting they were going to take the show in some unexpected place. In the end, I think they took it to the almost obvious.

In the end, I felt like it was a 16 episode k-drama that ran out of budget at 12. There were so many loose ends. The ends that were closed, I felt that was dumb way to close them.

IMO, THE main reason to watch this show is to be treated with the stunning beauty of Kim Yoo Jung. She is perhaps the most stunning ever in this show. While watching the show, the thought of how other worldly beautiful she is keeps crossing my mind. I always thought it odd how she almost never is included in top ten lists of most beautiful Korean actresses. In my book, she has been #1 for a long time, and #1 by a comfortable margin. Maybe my tastes are unusual, but it doesn't seem so to me.

I do think it was pretty courageous for Kim Yoo Jung to take this role, considering how the Korean public often confuses the actor with the role. I hope this doesn't kill her career. I think she did quite a credible job.

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Only aesthetics

Dear X — a drama obsessed with looking meaningful instead of being meaningful

Dear X has incredible set design, moody lighting, and a premise that could’ve been brutal and smart. Then it becomes a show where characters do things simply because the writer wanted an aesthetic moment.

The story falls apart the moment Baek Ah-jin becomes famous. Her sudden “I want this guy to fall for me” arc isn’t mysterious or twisted, it’s random. There’s no reason behind it, no consequences, no emotional payoff. It doesn’t reveal anything new about her. It’s a time-killer disguised as a plot.

The step-sibling obsession to THAT extent is the same problem. it’s just thrown in, and the show hopes you’ll accept it because the idea of it is dramatic. He was a blind dog on a leash, way too dramatic

Older Ah-jin’s emotional life never lands. The actress delivers anger and pain like she’s checking off expressions, but you never see those feelings change what she does. That’s why her rage feels empty: it doesn’t drive the story forward, it just appears and disappears between pretty shots.

The only relationship with real logic is the protector character. His backstory gives his loyalty weight. He clings to her because he knows what being abandoned is. He’s the lone emotional anchor in a show full of cardboard performances.

The pacing isn’t slow, it’s directionless. Scenes repeat ideas they never develop. Whole episodes exist for mood, dramatic hallways, long stares, expensive wardrobe, but nothing underneath evolves.

Dear X thinks darkness is enough. It isn’t. Darkness needs intention. Otherwise it’s just wallpaper.

The ending tries to go for tragic, but it never earns tragedy. Shock without setup is confusion. The finale doesn’t answer questions, it exposes the fact that the show never knew what it wanted to say in the first place.

In the end, Dear X is a beautiful optical illusion:
aesthetics pretending to be depth.

You keep waiting for the story to reveal something real about trauma, ambition, survival, or cruelty but the reveal never comes, because the writers never built anything beneath the surface.

It’s not a bad idea. It’s a wasted one!!!!!

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Trying gain for the meaning overall the story of this drama

there is one thing I realized after finishing this drama dear x,
as an audience we also play a role as people who will guide Baek ahjin to goodness or who will always help bring her down & end her,
Junseo's death suggests that Baek Ahjin's destiny will never die and never change until someone really can change her into a better person,
if only Ingang didn't suffer from depression I'm sure Baek Ahjin would really change into a normal human being.
Baek ahjin will never stop she is a tough sociopath from childhood to adulthood she can survive well, like a wild animal that masters its wild nature.

I hope producer see this&there will be a season 2, but if it hasn't been produced yet, I won't expect it. I don't want Yoojung to be stressed for a long time because of this role.

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The perfect tragic villain

First off: this series isn’t your “normal” villain story. Baek A Jin is portrayed in a way that makes you, at times, want to pity her.
Careful though, they are not trying to make her the hero of this story. It is simply presented in a way that makes you occasionally find yourself rooting for her, because she is almost put into the role of a victim. That is very fitting, because in her world, she is the victim. She sees herself as the loser. At the same time, it is clearly shown that she is the villain , that she is evil and incapable of feeling compassion for anyone but herself. The series never excuses her actions, but it forces the viewer to sit with an uncomfortable question: how much empathy is too much when it comes to someone who causes real harm?

This is what I personally found most fascinating. The story is truly well written and executed. At times, you see her true self and can’t help but pity her: at other times, you are confronted with her completely psychopathic side, which sends shivers down your spine and makes you hate her. The series does an excellent job of playing with your emotions and actively evoking them. These conflicting feelings accompany you throughout the entire series. The pacing supports this emotional tension perfectly, allowing the story to breathe when it needs to and tightening when her true nature comes to the surface.

I can see how, for some people, this might feel too contradictory and therefore off-putting or even repellent. Personally, I really liked this aspect — it’s actually what made me like the series so much. What makes this series so compelling is not the question of whether Baek A Jin is evil, but how the story makes you emotionally engage with that evil.

These two clashing emotions, induced by the same character, are truly captivating. They show how complex human emotions are and that one feeling does not exclude the other. I also enjoyed this because it gave Baek A Jin real depth. Through this, she isn’t just a one-dimensional villain (though those can be fun as well), she is portrayed as a genuinely human character.
All the other aspects of the series were amazing too.

The acting was remarkable, all the actors did an outstanding job. The OST?! The sound design, loved it . The camerawork was superb as well.

Finally, I can only recommend this series to anyone who might be interested. Even after finishing the series, Baek A Jin stayed with me. Not because I sympathized with her, but because the story refuses to let you simplify her into something easy to forget. This is not a comfortable series, but it is a powerful one... it truly is one of the best series I have watched so far.

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A twisted fantasy - One we rarely get

Before starting any review, I do like to thank the writers, producers, actors and the rest of the cast as well as people involved with this drama in any capacity, for their hard work. Thank you.

As I have finished this drama mere minutes ago, my thoughts might seem jumbled and out of place in some parts, but please bear with me as I do have a lot to say.

Let us start off with the good. I have been one of the most fervent advocates for more morally grey/villanous FEMALE leads in dramas for years now. Some of my favorite dramas and movies("Hyena", "Sympathy for Lady Vengeance") sport this exact type of lead and I am always glad to see a representation of this type of character, when done well. And in "Dear X", it was done exceptionally well. I do genuinely find the character of Baek Ahjin intriguing, beguiling, eerie and frustrating at times. And I want MORE. Kim Yoo Jung, an actress I, admittedly, dismissed for most of my KDrama watcher timeline, proved me wrong and came back swinging. Whether that was a pun or not, you decide. Her abilities shine here in ways most other of her projects don`t warrant. She should really consider building a core audience in this genre, for it does test her limitations and plays around with her talent. And what we get as a result is a brilliant depiction of a broken person, a survivor and a sociopath. Almost everyone`s acting across the board is great, they do really bring their A game to this project and the direction, especially in the first four episodes, is tight, fast paced and exceptional.

Kim Young Dae has been getting flack for his lackluster acting for years now and, in a general sense, I would agree with the sentiment. He is also often typecast. In some ways, his character of Jun Seo follows his well practiced lines of stoic behavior, often dry delivery and all that. And yet...his interpretation of a deeply flawed person with a savior complex, twisted enough to follow Ahjin, no matter the level of toxicity their relationship entails...is absolutely awesome to watch. With very small tweaks to his formula, the male lead of this drama becomes someone emotionally stunted with good intentions and a flawed way of implementing them.

As for Kim Do, he has his usual shtick of charisma and it is always a joy to see him on my screen. His character, Jae Oh, a good guy coming from a broken family, yearning to protect his younger brother, and thus ending up a convict, is a tragic one. But a lovely addition all the same.

Technically, this whole drama feels like a character study of its lead character Baek Ahjin, a commentary on the state of the entertainment industry as a whole, and a SOMEWHAT soapy intepretation of a problematic lead. Baek Ahjin is the Sun. And depending on who you are in this story, you either breathe for her or get burned beyond recognition. Honestly, I could write a dissertation about damn near every relationship Ahjin has with one character or the other, and how at times, it reminded me of Junji Ito`s Tomio in the way people revered or hated her. Ahjin can become an obsession, your own personal monster or a goddess you serve. And that`s the tumultuous beauty of this project. The directing, as I`ve mentioned before, is on point for about 80% of this drama and this is something I don`t often comment on. But here it should be commended. As for the OST, it is aptly dark, dripping with a sense of unease and ferocity, thus setting itself apart from the other contenders in its genre. I will be listening to several songs long after I forget about this drama. Some of the visuals present are absolutely haunting in the best way. First few minutes of Episode 1 prove that beyond doubt. This is one of those dramas I`m confident about being one of my favorites of 2025. This doesn`t free it from some of my criticism, so let`s get into it:

For one, I do absolutely dislike the presence, and the lackluster exploration of Baek Ahjin`s husband, CEO Moon Doo Hyuk. I find his addition waning and flat and the arc surrounding him beyond forgettable. Which is strange, once you take into account how much time we actually spend on him and his relationship with Ahjin. He needed backstory, as he lacked charisma to rely on mystery and enigma alone. I understand what they were going for with him. It just didn`t pan out.
Secondly, the last few episodes do lose the magic first...eight hold? Some plotlines feel rushed, some feel unnecessary and drawn out(Jun Seo`s mom) and some are downright left hanging. That is to say, this drama should have had 16 episodes. And this is my first time saying this. There are some moments of overacting I didn`t find believable, mostly coming from Kim Ji Kyung, who plays Seong Hee, one of Ahjin`s high school frenemies?bullies? Who`s to know. There are also some instances of overly convenient timing and convenience, but all that falls into shadow if you buy into the premise of the Baek Ahjin`s world. And I did.

For my closing thoughts, I find this drama utterly entertaining throughout. Carnal and fastidious, yet electric. Despite its flaws, it`s one of the few that kept my attention and repaid the time I invested. I would recommend it to everyone looking for something different, especially if you like your leads just a tad...twisted.

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A beautiful devastation

Dear X is a story that slithers under your skin. It follows Baek Ah Jin — a girl born into violence, sculpted by cruelty, and sharpened into something terrifying. Her childhood is a collection of bruises: a father who hits, a mother drowning in liquor, a house where hope never dared show its face. Even when wealth entered her life, it came with chains — not gifts. She grew up as something to be sold, not someone to be loved. From this broken soil, she blooms into a woman who survives through ambition, manipulation, and an iron will to never lose. She doesn’t kill with her hands. She kills with guilt, with psychological traps, with carefully planted despair that makes people destroy themselves. Heo In-gang’s fate is the clearest example. Even monsters are born from broken mirrors. The high school arc is intoxicating — sharp, fresh, magnetic. But once adulthood comes, the story grows heavier, darker. There’s a discomfort in the air, the sense that every character is walking toward something irreversible.

Yoon Jun-seo becomes the first page of her tragedy. He watched Ah Jin being beaten by his mother and never forgave himself. His entire life becomes an offering to her — sacrifice disguised as devotion. Yet in the end he becomes the biggest hypocrite, carrying a false righteousness while standing on rotting ground.
And then there is Kim Jae-oh. If tragedy had a human shape, it would look like him. A boy who killed his father by accident, a man unloved by his family, drifting through life with only one unwavering truth: his quiet, loyal love for Ah Jin. But the cruelest truth is this — Jae-oh was never Ah Jin’s X. He was her O. The constant. The circle she always returned to. The one place where she didn’t need to lie. The moment she called him and heard no answer, something inside her cracked. She slid into the shower and cried — not because she lost a tool, but because she lost the only presence who always came when she called. Yet cruelty is stitched into her silence. When she has lunch with Moon Do-hyeok and he casually orders his subordinate to crush Jae-oh, she says nothing. Not a word, not even a breath of protest. That silence is sharper than any knife. And Jae-oh, foolish in love, accepts it. He is happy to be used by her, happy to be a stepping stone. A moth who believes the flame is warm.

Even the café owner is swallowed by her shadow. A gentle man who wanted to protect her, to be the one warm adult in her life. Instead, he ends up imprisoned for sins he didn’t commit, losing his future along with his dreams. When he returns and still speaks kindly to her, the tragedy stings even deeper. Heo In-gang’s arc is a softer heartbreak — a boy made of light, used for her ascent. Yet through him, we glimpse the rare tenderness buried inside her. Her love for his grandmother, her guilt, the way she takes the blame for the grandmother’s death — it’s one of the only moments where she feels like a wounded human instead of a carefully crafted monster. Then Moon Do-hyeok arrives — manipulation in human form, a predator in a tailored suit. He is the true final boss, the darkness that mirrors hers. Their marriage is a war disguised as a household. Jae-oh gives his life trying to protect her from Do-hyeok, but his sacrifice dissolves like smoke. Do-hyeok walks away untouched, while Jae-oh dies quietly, unfairly — as if the universe itself forgot him.

Some endings feel like justice crawling back to finish its work. Jun-seo’s mother receives a downfall so poetic it almost feels mythical. Being forced to erase her only child — watching him tear down his own childhood photos with cold finality — shatters her. Her fatal fall down the stairs is the last echo of all the cruelty she inflicted. As for Ah Jin, her collapse is inevitable. You cannot build a kingdom out of manipulation and expect it to stand. Watching her world crumble feels right, yet hollow — because the one who deserved peace the most, Jae-oh, never gets it.

But even when the writing stumbles, the acting never does. Kim Yoo-jung is breathtaking — she plays Ah Jin with a terrifying grace, turning every glance into a blade and every tear into a confession. Kim Young-dae and Kim Do-hoon match her intensity, anchoring the story with emotional weight. In the end, Dear X is not simply a drama. It’s a psychological labyrinth, a slow descent into a darkness that whispers, not screams. If you want a story that twists your thoughts, tests your morals, and leaves a shadow behind even after it ends, Dear X will haunt you long after the final scene fades.

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Ah Jin was truly a Sociopath (and I LOVED it)

Throughout majority of this drama I felt that Ah Jin could have redeemed herself (I know that's not how it works with a true sociopath but I thought that was where the writing was going (I didn't read the source material)). There were several points were I thought she genuinely cared about some of the people around her especially after the appearance of the grandmother of her boyfriend. She seemed to genuinely care for her and I still think that had the grandmother lived Ah Jin could have grown some humanity. I also realised very early on that romantic relationships mean nothing to Ah Jin and only familial relationships could have any emotional impact on her since her parents were the reasons she became like this.

As much as I wanted Ah Jin to grow emotional attachments to people, I LOVE that by the end she was truly a sociopath with no empathy or emotional attachment to others. Her ending surprised me because I thought that we would see her breakdown from losing everyone I thought she cared about, but at the very end, seeing her not care at all gave me the chills (despite knowing what a sociopath is). I really thought they would tone down her sociopathic tendancies as the drama went on because I feel like majority of the time when there is a female lead like Ah Jin, a female lead who has no empathy, writers decide to make the female character more emotional vulnerable out of nowhere. But that was not the case here, if anything she gets worse but you don't see just how horrible of a person Ah Jin is until the very end.

The only thing I didn't like about the end was Jae O's death being pointless. He sacrificed himself so that Ah Jin could live the life she wanted, the least Jun Seo could have done was expose Do Hyeok for killing Jae O if he wasn't going to help Ah Jin. Jae O was honestly the best character in this entire drama, and way better than Jun Seo with his annoying saviour complex. When Do Hyeok was introduced I thought he was too psychotic for Ah Jin (despite one of my reasons for starting this drama being the fact that I wanted to see them as a sociopath + psychopath couple). But after episode 12, I thought they were perfect together, a match made in hell. He also seemed surprised by Ah Jin being a sociopath (I don't think he could break her as he did his ex) and I'm really curious what would have happened to them had Jun Seo not exposed Ah Jin. I really wanted to see more of Ah Jin and Do Hyeok's relationship, they would have worked so well together if he wasn't trying to drive her insane. I wonder what he would do if he ever sees her again, he still seemed really interested in her at the very end and I feel like their dynamic would change in a more positive way (in favour if Ah Jin) because he knows she's as crazy, if not worse than him.

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Dear X - Find a target, do everything to destroy it, repeat

This "review" contains spoilers, so be warned

Story (6-6,5): A Psychopath (yes, these traits she has shown us in this show are more that of a Psychopath rather than that of a high functioning Sociopath [long term planning and manipulation, no regret/remorse, doesn't feel "emotions" at all and many more examples I could name]), has a harsh childhood and learns from a young age how to manipulate things to get things done "her way".

She manipulated our ML into being the "anchor" to his existence (repaying him because his mother nearly killed him, telling him that "only" she loves/cares for him, nobody else, not even his mother. As the story unfold, I could still ride with it overall.

But, even in a conceptual logic, many things were just designed that way from a narrative-viewpoint. Let's take the Ep.1 -2 into perspective, "her school-life", the teacher gets caught with the lawyer, who is the father of her "real first target", in "public". In public?

Nobody questions this? He is a lawyer, she is a schoolteacher, but they get caught in the "open"? Both parties knew that this was an affair/fling, and their educational standard should tell that they should think things over more logical, they would most likely not be caught so easily, either getting into a location via different times (1 hour earlier, 1 hour later), pick spaces that cannot be easily caught via camera etc.

Then the whole thing with her killing her father, by manipulating her Boss into doing it (Stalker, help me, I am being attacked). Her co-worker already was already suspicious of it all and when he wanted to talk with the boss about this whole thing, she just happens to be near the location of conversation.
I mean, cellphones were already a thing in the timeline of this drama in the schooldays, as it was shown already. So, he couldn't tell his Boss to be more careful around her?

I dunno mate, her manipulation of things was not "genius"-level, but more narrative focused, with many flaws, which ofc made her more "humane", but it was mostly there to create tension for these said situations.

But the lowest point for me was the episode 6, like ehm, Heo In Gang, who was always suspicious of others because of his own trauma/mindset in the early days in his life (band-life, knew about the nuts in the food, but didn't mention it, because he wanted the "win" in the aspect of attention etc.), we have seen that he saw thru' her facade easily. But what happens? He needed to be nerfed for this narrative, telling her about his "trauma" just because she gave him a bottle of water when he was taking his meds? Then she does things like meeting his grandma, not telling him why she is in this kind of club, and he always tells her to "get out (of his sight)", because these are not coincidental things that happen.

I ofc see that his grandpa had an impact on him with saying things like "You need to let your guard down sometimes, form connections etc.", but then, after this conversation, he meets his old band-member, who even tells him that this whole plot/conversation was because of our FL.
"AFTER" this he tells his "Boss", Seo Mi Ri [Longstar Entertainment CEO], that he doesn't want any contact with her anymore, be it commercial, movie-related etc. But then, because he "re-collects" his "moments" with her on TV (based on their in-drama-drama-show), he calls her and wants to apologize?
And then, just because he was late, based on the design of FL's who wanted him to be late, he was "running" to her and just then thereafter kiss her?
Sorry, but even in a conceptual logic of things, this didn't really make much sense to me. I get how it is important for the narrative of it all, but nah, it could be done way better.

And I don't even talk about Yun Jun Seo, how his trauma bond breakage-stages were like this:
Stage 1 — Idealization (past)
She was everything; he viewed her as savior.

Stage 2 — Disillusionment (episode 3–4)
He begins noticing patterns; sees moral violations.

Stage 3 — Cognitive Breakthrough (after episode 4)
He understands who she is.

Stage 4 — Emotional Dependence Still Holding (currently)
He is not yet free emotionally, even though cognitively he’s halfway out.

Stage 5 — Collapse of the Bond (future arc)
This is what the show is clearly building toward:
his realization → confrontation → separation or sacrifice → personal identity reconstruction.

He isn't really blind to what is happening, he is just split, two system interact with one another:
System1: Conditioned Attachment / Trauma Bond (stay with her, protect her, leaving is betrayal, she is "just" traumatized)
System2: Emerging Rational Awareness (This is wrong, she is dangerous, she doesn't care about anyone, just manipulates everybody, it is not "just" a trauma)

The process of it all is kinda too slow, but it is still in the framework of the conceptual logic, so I can't really find much fault in it, if I look at it in a more objective way.

Acting/Cast (8,5-9): FL's acting is really good, support/guest cast is also solid, and they are mostly known for their acting-skills for these kinds of roles.
I don't really want to pin-point it all, because the determination/rating of acting in this kind of forum is more subjectively than objectively.
In a nutshell, she knows when to act emotional (outburst of emotions, even if fabricated [for the story]), when to act shy, mistreated, evil/dangerous etc.
Most of the time she fits almost all boxes, the ML tho' shows less acting (fewer facial expressions [small eye, lip movements etc.]), not comparable to the Manhwa-Version of his character.
But we can't really say if it is the fault of the actor himself or if it was the decision of the directors etc. So yeah, can't really fault him for this, because we have seen that he can act differently in other Dramas he is in. In general, nothing "out of this world", but more than just "above average".

Music (9): Music where the lyrics were perfectly fit for the overall theme of this show/scenes, but the placement of the songs was not always "perfect", sometimes another song was fitting better for the overall situation of the scene.
I don't judge it my personal preference, because I would not listen to this songs in my own free time, but I "judge" them if they are fitting for the show (lyrics, scene-placements to affect/improve the scenes/emotions overall etc.).

Rewatch Value (1): I find the pacing of processing thru' the trauma-bond-breaking stages of Yun Jun Seo too slow, because from both perspectives, the observer/viewer and from his perspective, there are many signs/signals shown for him to "breaking out of it", but it still makes sense overall in the conceptual logic because of what they together went thru' as child's, how they bonded, how she manipulated him to the extreme, how he thinks he is guilty because of his mother etc.
Also, the "breaking the (conceptual) logic" just to increase the "tension" (to build/hype it up) was too much for me, especially episode 6 with Heo In Gang, other scenarios still made at least a bit of sense, but his whole character flip in just 1 episode was just "wait, what just happened?".
So yes, it is a solid show, and I will watch it till the end, but will I ever rewatch this K-Drama? Absolutely not xD.
But this is, as rewatch value is in general, ofc just a subjective opinion, don't let it affect your fun on this show, I do me, you do you x3.

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