Drama thoughts part 1

just a pretty solid romcom

it has some very satisfying character development. However, the first half can feel a bit frustrating. I'm still a little iffy about the whole plot surrounding the ML's dad. And the last few episodes get very messy and just brush over several things.

a deadly combo of too long and deeply boring most of the time

The main couple is cute. And despite starting out as boss-employee romance, the shows ends w/ the main characters not being boss and employee anymore, which is nice. I'm mixed on the portrayal of Deok-mi's parents. It's clear they love their kids but I don't like when shows play parents hitting their kids (even if they're adults) as comedy and lean into "married couple who hate each other but are still together for no discernible reason" comedy beats. I did like hyo-Jin’s growth but didn’t love the show forcing a reconciliation between her and her mother. But what I truly disliked were the stupid childhood connection+forgotten dead brother reveals and the weirdly soft stance the show takes on violent fans.

Despite the messiness of the overall storytelling, I still ended up really fond of the main duo and thought the finale was fairly solid. I think its portrayal of the rich is rather in line w/ how rich people actually behave. Ahn Oh-ju ended up this fascinating mix of horrible and pitiable, and I liked that the show managed to do this without leaning on sad childhood flashbacks.

pretty good and fun. The side characters were entertaining for the most part but I was mostly indifferent to their whole love conflict. Also, while I liked the show's ending and think it fit, it maybe leaned a bit too into cheesy territory for my taste.

The show started out cute enough, but then I got rather exhausted of the constant childish conflicts and the show's framing of hyperactive jealousy as the highest form of love.

The main couple is sweet and I love most of the supporting cast. I like that it doesn't have every single couple end up together (yoo-jin & joo-won and moon-soo's parents). I would have liked more acknowledgement from moon-soo's parents about their roles in causing moon-soo's low self-worth, but it was good that they both took responsibility for themselves in the end. I did not like yoo-taek at any point and was annoyed the show ended w/ implying he was going to end up w/ Mari

I appreciate what it's trying to say, and 2 out of the 3 couples are decent. It's really the couple of won-seok and ho-rang (and the show ultimately validating ho-rang's fantasy of being completely financially dependant on someone else) and the messy Bok-nam subplot that drags it down.

While the first season was simply cute enough, the 2nd season is a really impressive expansion on the first season in every way.