MilicaB

I wrote the initial review after watching half of the episodes.
AMAZING kdrama. AMAZING OST. I predict this to become a classic. It is done "old school way" it is extremely creative and well filmed, like those iconic kdramas that we love to rewatch and remember, The plot is great, the script is great, the acting is great, the characters are great, the costuming and music are great. It is a memorable piece of art. It is a DETAILED piece of art.

Because the drama shows life in a great way - there is love warmth and grace and fun and also grief sadness danger all at the same time and somehow the characters navigate it to the best of their ability. It is an AMAZING kdrama. it is very RICH IN CHARACTER, you can really see the characters.

This drama is about a super poor family that runs their own small business and has a blind daughter, and the struggles they have. There are some dire issues and they need money.
I saw reviews on Viki where ppl did not appreciate that. They said there was not a single character to like, etc etc. Wow so the audience wants what... ? stories about pretty corporate offices? about pretty people in pretty clothes?
There are no "superheroes" in this kdrama, there are very few people in suits and only one in fancy clothes, most characters are not well kept, the FL mom has a really red face and is dressed in shabby clothes although it is a super beautiful woman, there are not too many scenes from a rich house, most scenes are in a poor hood and small business, all characters are real, normal, everyday people who are not perfect, who are actually very flawed and most of them are "losers" by the society standards since they are poor or unsuccessful, yet the point is, THEY ALL SOMEHOW OVERCOME THEIR INNER DEMONS, COOPERATE AND FORGIVE AND KEEP MOVING FORWARD IN HARMONY. The family ties and the love overcomes.

So why not like them??? They all sacrificed to do something meaningful for each other, they all helped each other, so what is it that ppl wouldnt like? I concluded that shallow people just dont like watching poverty. Something along those lines. I will research more and figure it out.

The audience cannot be stupid and expect at least one character who is so shiny excellent perfect and "likeable". In fact, I wonder why ppl on Viki wrote that there was not one likeable character here. What is their problem... ? Why they wouldn't like grandma and grandpa? or the blind FL?

I suspect those ppl dislike the characters because they are POOR and the whole drama is about POVERTY, really.

I cannot give the spoilers because it is impossible. The value of this drama is not necessarily in the plot but in the
I just say that the music matches the action in a very very comical way. This is one of rare kdramas that has ABSOLUTELY AMAZING CATCHY AND "FUN" MUSIC, all the time. One of the main songs comes in 2 flavors, peppy and sad, and music is always played with the acting in the most hilarious and appropriate ways. The music for this kdrama is beyond fun, it is classic, masterpiece.

How this kdrama is filmed is a masterpiece. The acting goes from very subtle fine artistic acting, the level of detail you would use in melodrama, to over-the-top cartoonish brawny, and all scenes done from real life are REAL yet the music and the "vibe" of it is showing extreme (tragi)comedy and black comedy of it, and HOPE, somehow it is ALIVE. It is .. wow. A satire, a comedy, a testimony to how life works, a testimony of what it is "on the other side" of poverty and how it is dealt with and overcome.

The lead male character is a master comedian, a very comical guy (he was the king in Mr. Queen and has a talent for comedy, he is HILARIOUS!!!!) and the main female character was yeah blind to start but also extremely powerful and graceful. And beautiful. I love her black hair and eyes. My 90 yr old caucasian mother always wanted to watch her bc she looks and exudes extremely pretty, GRACEFUL, AND LOVELY. A little skinny though :) which was ok when she was blind but later she should have become a little stronger. As a character, FL was written as a strong person and that was refreshing, although she was also written as someone naive and not socially powerful so many times too.

One side note: I was astonished that FL looks good in dark coffee brown colors. Each kdrama has unique fashion and in this drama. the ML was a "black and white" simple clothes guy, sometimes dark coffee brown, and she too, she wore LOTS of dark coffee brown and it looked good on them.

The FL Mother character is done by an amazing actress.
The orphan brother actor unfortunately did not get to act his full range that he showed in ALl About My Mother... in this kdrama they made him hold a poker face and his natural charm just never showed up, that is highly unfortunate...... He is sooo good in acting warm and fuzzy and fun.

Some of the most memorable scenes I have EVER seen are in his kdrama...

THE most memorable scene from this drama and one of the most memorable scenes ever in my entire life is when Mother finds the Orphan and takes him in. WOW. That was a scene!!!!! it was so perfectly done and in such detail, giving him food, for example her tongue sticking out as she was taking the cash out of the cash register to give him, counting that super little money she had there... she was so poor... He being shy and reclusive and their talk... WOW THAT SCENE!!!! It was as if we watched real life. I thought it was beyond-excellent acting. It was REAL.

Then there are "real" scenes that are made into super comedy and tragicomedy... The scene of ML flying in the air when they met the 2nd time and we get to hear his thinking... It was scary, sad, and ... HILARIOUS sorry to say, I am not trying to say I enjoy scenes of car accidents, but how this drama portrayed it, it was true black tragicomedy... It was "overdone" in a cartoon-like way and it was absolutely hilarious.
The scene of them going home with the IV tower... hilarious. Done as a "real life" scene, not exaggerated at all....
The scenes of the blind her walking around were so moving and so realistically acted and really brought the message home...
The scene of two of them walking across the sidewalk the first time LOL and the motel - it was PERFECT real-life acting....
I still wonder why he told her that he never thought of her after... ? He may have changed his mind....
The scene of her coming in with a suitcase to his mother ... Omg LOL LOL LOL

I think the opening of that drama is memorable, voices of two policemen describing the hood...

The OST songs are sooo fun... !!! omg!!!!

THere are so many unexpected and comical twists ... the twists are amazing and really fun to watch.

I do improv comedy and this drama reminds me of that. It is totally unexpected even when it is expected. The scene of 2 of them walking with that IV tower is sooo comical... there are lots and lots of comical moments.

i love that this kdrama has amazing DIALOGUES and "self thinking" so we really get to see what characters are like... that really makes it for a rich experience.
BC MOST OF THOSE DIALOGUES AND THOUGHTS ARE HONEST so we get to see the process

The only thing I will say is that most if not all kdramas use the same plot - there is some woman who cannot help herself and then some dude bails her out. Most if not all kdramas are about women who are irrational and get in trouble and need saving by some guy, who melts his cold heart because of her. I DO hope this kdrama will NOT do that.

AND IT DID NOT. All the way to the end, it did not. Bravo!!!!!

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Written after the end of the show:
I did not like the very last part of the show. Somehow the writers ran out of steam.... The comedy and lightness were gone :) The mama boy ditched his lady bc his SUPER NASTY SELFISH GREEDY SELF-CENTERED mama wanted that. I thought it was disgusting. And then the happy ending happened out of blue, bc he got hospitalized.
The nasty mama is EXACTLY dressed and EXACTLY behaves like she was in the kdrama Family of Choice. I was shocked.