MilicaB

Warm, positive, functional, educational.. until ep 20. Then characters stop growing and gets boring

The drama setup up to about ep 20 was great, really fun. We got to meet the characters and learn about their faults, strengths, and challenges.
THEN .... the plot froze. The characters stopped growing. And the actions shown to fill in the time were just .... without any luster or life. It just went on automatic pilot. There was small character growth in some characters, but the main love stories, taking most screen time, were absolutely BLAND LIFELESS, WITHOUT ANY FEELING OR CHEMISTRY. Esp FL totally ruind it. She was obviously lukewarm cold to ML and honestly they should have not gotten married at the end. The second love story between SR and BS as well. The third love story between CS and MS is soooooo bland and suitable only for feeble seniors, ... "just friends who happened to marry"
and Dancer and Hairdresser love story was .... well... killed by the prejudice of the audience, who was all stuck on serious people in business suits, and also lack of acting ability of the Dancer actor, who can act only scenes of his regular idol life. The Hairdresser actress is great but the script killed her character.

I WATCHED THIS AS A FILLER WHILE I STRETCH, WAITING FOR SOMETHING TO HAPPEN, BUT IT NEVER DID

and the cold FL is the trait of all KBS family dramas i have seen since 2020 except Beauty and Mr Romantic. When I think about it, all KBS family dramas since 2020 when I started watching them have cold and aloof and totally uninterested and selfishly self centered FL actress who could care less for the ML actor. All but Beauty and Mr Romantic, bc FL there has more experience and more expression, she was most complex FL of them all. So, WHY is KBS promoting these frigid egoistical FL actresses? .
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This is what I wrote after ep 24:
A very very nice kdrama. The story is real, the people are real, acting is good, so you get sucked into the story. This is a long drama with many many characters and stories so that is why it is slower and more complex than 16 episodes series.
===> You really get to see the characters struggle and grow

Bc it is a family drama with so many different people, ages, stories, and interactions, it is incredibly interesting. There are 5-7 love stories going on in parallel, plus exes, babies, etc.
You get to see disfunctional relationships versus functional relationships :) Bad communication, no communication, and good communication... different styles...
and self reflection and improvement...

I like the positive vibe of this kdrama

It helps that the main ML and FL are down-to-earth people with common sense and brave enough to speak their mind, take action when necessary, be gentle and respectful about it and communicate well.

It is helpful that FL is not an abused / helpless clutz / loser but a capable and warm, brave woman trying to make her late husband's dreams come true and at the same time save herself from the grief of his death and successfully run her late husband's business. She has goals and she makes it happen. Running that business was healing for her.

This is NOT an "anio!!!!" drama with idiotic (mis)communication, hiding, cheating, and psychotic losers. There are villains and drama queens and questionable women, but this is not a drama with car chases, kidnapping, shootings, hot steam, etc.

This kdrama is about "normal" people with 'normal" range of issues, like .. getting out from under your parent's tight hand, dating your professor, leaving babies behind, trying to destroy competition with bad business moves, selling kids off to marriage, fighting to save a business in debt, falling in love later in life, surviving in the entertainment industry, etc.

How it is solved and resolved is interesting to watch. How different people come together to make a goal happen. How they saved their tiny brewery together.

Some of the best love scenes are between the two people who lost their spouses (ML and FL), you get to see high school love at the age of 50, and it is so cute. If you can watch ep 23 with ML and FL in the hospital, that is one of the most charming things, how an older reserved male opens his heart and turns into a high school boy but even better :) he is calmer and warmer than a young boy, and a lot more considerate and appreciative.
He is THE BEST good boy charmer out there, really. He courts her so well. He is honest, undercover, steady and very clever to always be there and be nice and ENJOY her company but never come onto her, bc she is not ready yet, she recently lost her husband, so he is catching her into his net without she even realizing. He is very very genuine and vulnerable and naive on one hand but on the other hand, a very shrewd adult male who knows where he is going with this. He is careful to protect himself yet advancing very fast to go get her. A great hunter and scout :) He is a very endearing character and that actor portrays him so well.

I and many others wish that it was subbed faster. We have to wait a whole day for eng sub.

The OST music is not really something I would remember :) After I wrote this I was humming the main song "when will I learn life" or whatever that is, and yeah, that is a catchy song and actually can be a very popular song. OK I give 9 on music. THe rest of the music is not really noticeable too much, It gives nice effects with actions and it is rather discrete, whcih I think is APPROPRIATE for this kdrama. So .. absence of flashy music is ok. I do think a little bit more ... well... I dontknow which word to use... zappy? emotional? stronger? passionate? alive? vibrant? music would be good.
Iron Family had such catchy main song but Iron Family kdrama had more comical and drama and thriller elements so that music fit perfectly for it. This drama is more even keel so this mellow music is ok, it FITS.
This kdrama has nice "background" music that matches the acting, but it is nothing special. But yeah that is the feel of this drama, regular life without too much spiking.

There are younger and older people in the drama. There is only one elder and she is a dame LOL There is one baby. There are business people, "idols" :) etc There are cold hearted corporate styles and the immature dancer and everything in between. So I think many people will find someone of their age and their interest in this kdrama and will find it interesting.

I like the filming close up of their faces. There are many comical moments. There are some tough moments, but never disgusting tough, only tough... THere are some sad moments but there is also that feel of overcoming and moving on and being nice about it.

It is like ... put your slippers on, relax, and watch the story

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******* After ep 25, CHARACTERS STAY THE SAME AND DRAMA TURNS INTO BLAH BORING . ******
Chairman is chasing reluctant Gwang Sook, who politely and coldly treats him as a old geezer sugar daddy she cannot piss off, bc he helps her.... She just has that generic frozen smile on her face.... she likes to spend time alone in the brewery and to act as Mother Theresa .... but ... her romantic interest in DS is about ZERO,
so he keeps dragging her around like a reluctant cow on a leash...
all other couples also stay rather distant and in "friend zone"

THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO CHEMISTRY ANYWHERE
except between minor characters FL's mom and her lover (older couple dancing tango, eating together, he feeding her, etc)
except literally a few seconds between Kang Su and Bom maybe 2 times

and it is just BORING!!!!!! the characters do not grow AT ALL. They are just frozen in that one moment. There are some events that happen but nothing really moves forward.

By Ep 50 we see maybe 2 minutes of Kwang Soo and Bom in flirting action, and THAT is the only truly romantic scenes, besides a few futile attempts by the Chairman (sitting on the same bench in the hospital, playing the card game in the hospital and touching her bare arm when he wins. That was cute and flirty but she was AS COLD AS ICE).

GWANG SOOK STAYED 100% COLD.
Once or maybe twice she tried kissing him but then he said to stop bc it is too much. An impotent old man, stiff and stuffy, by script.
So ... dead end relationship but they will get married like that.

When ML and FL got married, the FL actress tried to be politically correct and fake chemistry but it was only in nurse capacity, there was ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ROMANTIC BETWEEN THEM THE ENTIRE TIME, SHE WAS TOTALLY LUKEWARM COLD and it is not just bc of the script, it is felt as a personal barrier that was just unprofessionally not overcome

Seems like the audience is all old and impotent people bc they didnt find anything wrong with the FL never calling ML to ask him how he is doing, to run to greet him, to hug him, to hold his hand, to talk to him, to invite him on dates and doing things together.
I was flabbergasted.

I more or less stopped watching. The drama is RUINED by a script that plays it safe to keep high ratings so characters are just ... bland blah frozen closed characters. NOTHING HAPPENS.

The VERY END SCENE when they all sit around family table and FL and ML hold babies, he leans to kiss her and she just leans back and I think even with her hand tells him to go away. THIS IS FILMED. Look at ep 54 very very very last scene, at the end of their speeches.

For some reason, FL was totally hostile towards the ML, her personal dislike for him was just oozing out and it was just ... UGLY to watch.

Actress who acted Se Ri is awful actress and has not changed her facial expression for 50 episodes, she had 3 facial expressions - cry, look confused and in pain, or rarely smile.

The most masterful actor there was Dog Tak actor, every scene with him was memorable especially the end when he was acting emotional, he is a MASTER ACTOR

Kang Su actor came out as a decent actor. I bet he had no experience when he started and he was just a model. That is my educated guess. But he learned to act and is pretty good at it by now.

ML actor is ok for this one role but he is the same all the time, in this kdrama he was THE SAME acting and character as in Five Enough. THE EXACT same.

Overall, I learned how to ruin a perfectly nice drama.
YOU JUST STOP CHARACTER GROWTH. THAT KILLS ANY DRAMA.

many movies will try to fill the void by action scenes, violence or sex scenes, but that is trashy and without content, western media is famous for this AND THAT IS WHY WE DO NOT WATCH IT. It is contentless. meaningless.

Kdramas are famous because of CREATIVE AND MEANINGFUL CONTENT

And as for KBS family dramas, I started watching them in 2020 and all were extremely trashy boring except Iron Family, which was great until the end when the mama boy stuck to his criminal mommy instead of his love, and now For Eagle Brothers, which was fun in the first 20 episodes out of 54, but then died a premature creative death because NOTHING REALLY HAPPENED, they all just lived without changing too much,

In some ways this drama is about stable and functional people and that is cool but their stable level is just ... mediocre superficial stability, nothing MAJOR changes in them. ML and FL just ... never melted. Well FL never melted and that ruined it.

Chun Soo changed in terms of ditching his old life being a slave to his wife and kid in the US. Mi Soo changed in being less shy and more assertive.
Kang Su changed in terms of being less shy and more outgoing and "normal" civilian. Bom became less shy.
Dancer and Hairdresser changed some too, became more mature.

So yeah there WERE changes and they were subtle and organic changes so it is unfair to say there was no change

but once CS and MS got together, there was NO change, they were like a senior impotent couple or a pair of roommates, we never saw them with any FEELING for each other that was beyond friends

FEMALE LEAD DID NOT CHANGE *** AT ALL ****, SHE STAYED LUKEWARM COLD IN EVERY SINGLE SCENE UNTIL THE VERY VERY END. and ML and FL "romance" took so much time so this was the dominant tone of the series

That actress just botched it. Even if the script made her act coy and reserved, there was NOTHING that indicated that she likes the guy. NOTHING. He was just dragging her around like a reluctant cow on a leash. Her level of enthusiasm for him was ZERO. ZERO. ZERO. that was actually abusive to us the audience. She never even called him to wish him good night.

Also, the second most important love story that took TONS of screen time, Se Ri and Boon Su, DID NOT CHANGE.
THEY ALWAYS LOOKED AWKWARD AND SHE WAS A LITTLE GIRL TALKING TO HER PROFESSOR... THERE WAS NOTHING ROMANTIC. He hugged her a few times when she cried and that's it. There was no facial expressions, or holding hands, or anything like that. HE the actor tried to act with his eyes but she the actress was just hostile. Her acting was pathetically inadequate.

So the major love stories with the most screen time were just BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAND ***** without any feeling of enthusism whatsoever , nothing that conveyed "I like you, I want to spend time with you, I am curious about you" ***** AND THAT RUINED THE DRAMA
ML and Boon Su actor tried to save it but it was impossible because their female partners were UNRESPONSIVELY COLD.

the overall feeling is that characters are stuck in an asleep state, not really vibrant or loving, more like ... zombies in rote living

IT IS JUST BORING

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Funny, warm, scary and educational and almost ruined by the draggy script

I loved this kdrama. So bubbly and fun. Very comical and also rather profound. It is a good thing I lasted towards the end while the script writer almost killed this kdrama by repeating the same "plot". The ending saved it, luckily.

This kdrama is about concepts that are not going to thrill empty-minded audience.
Ep 1 is a heavy hitter, addressing social injustice and social change, as both ML and FL are rebels and change makers. Then the kdrama gets into rom com and Koran history and food and psychological thriller. I find it really interesting and fun. Yeah it is a time travel trope but with twists :)

I find the acting excellent. Especially the villain and the FL and also the ML. Villain was a perfect villain, it is hard to find a villain actor this good. FL was great greasy snide, and ML was a great bubbly positive character, all shiney. He was so clean and shiney and FL was so greasy yet they lived in the same house :) He was ALL SPARKLEY sunshine.

It is so hard to find a FL who can truly act, and be a complex character, like this one. That actress is amazing and really gives a deep complex flavor to this character. FL is insecure, scared, desperate, but also tough, rebel, striving, so she is sarcacstic, angry, greedy, warm, caring, and steadily moving on, IN HONESTY. Until she gets stuck on the villain bc she kisses as# of authority and she trusts the "nice rich guy" blindly. Unfortunately, the script writer never made her grow up, so watching her DUMB and BRAINLESS to the very end was painful.
AFTER WATCHING this actress in Divorce Insurance, I think she cannot act any role but snide sarcasm.

The sarcastic insecure hungry scared urban rat FL is a perfect match for the bubbly, overly confident ML, who is a perfect OBLIVIOUS entitled male character, socially inept, cannot read the room, has ZERO ability or interests for politics and games. He is smart and was lucky to be born rich so he has NO doubt in his mind that the world is a good place and he can just do whatever he wants - and he wants to do nice things and social change, he is a naive VISIONARY and HEALER. He heals people by his warmth and honesty. The good part about him is that he is like SUNSHINE, he is a bubble of sheer light, positive energy and wisdom. Well except for recognizing the villain LOL

I think the ML actor is very good and the role of the bubbly peppy guy matches so well next to the gloomy FL, who is not pretty, dolled up nor energetic at all. no clothes, no flirting, nothing to look at, ... so the two of them just complimented so well and are very comical. ML is all clean and pretty and energetic and happy and grateful and polite and generous and nourishing, so he makes up a positive energy bubble that allows her to stand by him in some drab kitchen clothes, looking very unkept, and spewing funny sarcastic doubtful hopeless comments.

THAT WAS OK UNTIL HALF OF THE SHOW. But then ML and FL kept being dumb and trusting the villain blindly, and that was too much. The script writer almost killed this lovely kdrama. FL should have taken a shower, washed her face and hair, and wore some nicer clothes after work. She should have stopped calling Heo "Mr Homeless" even in public. She was so rude crude ungrateful!!! just bc he wasnt rich and famous ..... FL should have grown up a lot more then just asking the detective to tell her why he is there.

Now the Villain. I dont enjoy watching him bc he is too good of a villain and reminds me of people from real life LOL. That actor was superb as a villain (until the last episodes, when he lost the sliminess and cold cruelty under a polite look). Wow so real.
The villain character is an exemplary SOCIOPATH, read "The Empathy Trap" article online. https://www.recoveryplusjournal.com/2017/10/the-empathy-trap/

The Chef is a master sociopath. He is soooo scary!!!!!!!!! Scarier than any monster out there. He is so smooth, PLEASANT, SEEMINGLY CARING, and obviously SUCCESSFUL and IMPORTANT, handsome, rich, well connected, political, cunning, imposing to people, and lying and cheating and backstabbing and killing and destroying people... since Joseaon. HE IS EVIL AND SLIMEY AND LOOKING NICE. He is truly scary That actor really conveys it well. I love and hate watching him bc he is sooooo good in acting that villain.... One value of this kdrama is to watch the Villain to see what kind of facial gestures, body language, look in the eye, are signs of a camouflaged monster.

Honestly, this actor was so good as the villain that I find this Villain a LOT MORE SCARY than any Godzilla zombies etc out there. He is so scary because he is real. People like that are all around us. They are soooo hard to detect because they are such skilled liars.

The script is good bc it shows moments that are good to see to get the message. Like the Villain beating the horse or talking about no social change. Or the moment when ML looked at her hand and then left to buy groceries :) that moment was short but so sweet and revealing, so critical.

BUT the script writer dragged it too long. We never got to see how ML and FL changed. The villain probably will never change. But we need to see how ML and FL fight him, sooner than the very last episode!!!!

FL and ML are Visionaries and social changers, and their fault is that both are too childish and naive. They were fortunate to be able to stay naive... FL had her mother to protect her, and ML was a rich noble man... BUT NOW... the diner might close unless they grow up and get it together. and finally register that there are bad people out there right in front of their noses and they gotta take care of themselves.

ML AND FL WERE SHELTERED ALL THEIR LIVES AND DO NOT UNDERSTAND THAT BAD PPL ARE OUT THERE DOING BAD STUFF

FL grew up enough to ask tough questions, but one smooth lie from the Villain and she is back under his spell, she is so insecure about her looks and social status that she gets sooo smitten when someone so cool pays any attention to her and then she trusts him blindly. Tsk tsk... FL is a smart chick so this character flow gotta be taken care of!

AND IT WAS NOT. That was suffocating. I am sure many ppl dropped out from watching. I read the comments, by ep 6 ppl were dropping out bc yeah it was too much of watching two dumb fools fall for the same thing over and over and over and over and over and over again.... !!!! and it lasted till episode 9!!!!

At about half of the show, we needed to see how ML and FL grew up a little bit and kept growing up. But it never came. So they are not really worthy of being the main characters n the story if they are not going to change......

FL did not really grow up at all except to recognize the villain.
ML has not grown up except to realize the villain. He ignored his feelings of red flags, his memories, etc. In his world. evil just does not exist. He was NAIVE . At least he recognized the villain but did not change in any other ways, he still spoke up and caused his own death.
THe villain hasnt changed at all either. He is still trying to elbow forward by any means. The smaller villains as well.

So we get to see the entire Josean gang AGAIN doing the same things in the modern day bc they havent cleaned up their karma.

THIS DRAMA HAS KARMA, has magical entities. and time travel. THe lessons about karma are amazing. ML and the villain "practiced" their emotional weaknesses since Joseon and probably before,.... Since they practiced so long and so hard, all their bad habits are so well ingrained. THey are just BLIND.... ML is a naive smart good guy and Villain is a well-camouflaged monster.

So ... recognize yourself in all of them. THe naive good guy, the insecure girl, the smooth talking liar Chef..... the vane and damaged MaChong....

The entire drama is about real life. Real stuff happening to you and me. Yeah including karma and magical entities LOL

10 episodes is waaay too short though :) If you want to drag showing off how the villain controls ML and FL...... and then you need time to finish it off properly..... Ep 6 had so much going on, the plot went sooo much faster, ... bc THE VILLAIN IS TAKING ACTION and the diner might die off. But unfortunately the script writer did not show how ML and FL grew and overcame... until ... episode 9 for ML and Episode 10 for FL. That could be ok in a 16 episode drama, but not in a 10 episode drama....

So the ending was positive but rushed and somewhat fake, everything resolved in a POOF! of magic ... and that is not how the real life works :) We need to see how ML and FL matured a little bit at least.

This kdrama should have been 12 or 16 episodes kdrama, if the script writer needed 9 episodes to start showing growth of the characters. Then the ending could be proper, we would get to see what Heo does when he leaves the diner and we get to meet the guy who walks in at the last scene. Also, the script writer should have given some time to the FL to grow up too. And it would be funny to see what happened with the Chef. Sociopaths do not really change unless it is some major miracle

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Fluffy fun "college / young adult level" :)

This is a fluffy and fun "college / young adult level" romance with EXCELLENT music to accompany the show.
The only complaint is a little bit too much sexual scenes

and yeah a total 1 in 10000000000000000000000000000000 to find a guy like the Prince LOL

The show is basically a fantasy of a loser college girl that she can get drunk and have an one night stand and find Mr Perfect who is a virgin at the age of like ... 25 and who is 10000% committed to her after he meets her the first time, and 1000000% committed to work everything out and to be there for her... omg... Like ... personal bodyguard and lover and sugar daddy, rolled into one handsome young guy who never ever cheats or strays or betrays. Wow. A description of a ... well done robot? LOL Not really This is a description of a properly raised young man who is into spiritual endeavors and good character, and those are SUPER RARE these days. They have always been rare but now face extinction.

Yeah the Hollywood recipe of 1 in 1000000000000000000 case LOL

This Korean version is overall really fun, light and positive although it addresses some really unpleasant things, but it is all fun because the general approach to it is through comedy

THE MUSIC in this kdrama is perfect... there is that ta ta taaaa tatata subtle sound that is soooo comically effective
The music really is a great addition to this show

I am esp saying this bc I saw some episodes of Woman Who Swallowed the Sun and the music there is hysterically over the top and then a whole bunch of hysterical women screams so it is just ... awful

This drama is really fun and pleasant to watch
It is not always a pleasant plot and scenes but overall it has that very vibrant, alive, positive, RADIANTLY ALIVE light comical tragicomical flavor that is really enjoyable to watch

So this was my review BEFORE the drama turned realistic.
Hm. The start was showing many realistic parts of life, many ugly, but from the comical point of view, so it very light and fun.

THEN came the phase of pure realism and what it REALLY is like - politics, murder, etc.

THEN it ended as a total... cheesy fantasy where all that bloody political stuff got resolved with some magic. So, out of a realistic gruesome situation we get a super happy peppy all rosey endings. Hm I am NOT buying this LOL the ending is clearly contrived. But it's ok. Take this story as a fairy tale or a cartoon. It IS like that, overcomes super dangerouns deadly situations by magic :)

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Great kdrama with a potential to be a classic

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.

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Surprise twists. Bearable horror, luckily. Amazing fun Imugi superb acting, amazing character growth

I am impressed with this kdrama. It is really interesting watch, and the Imugi in human form and a competent FL makes it reaaaally funny :) There are some very deep questions addressed in this kdrama... So it is a thriller, black comedy, supernatural rom com, some horror, and a powerful teaching of ways to ascend to Heaven. It is well written, acted well and very engaging. The Imugi in human form is AMAZING to watch. That actor is absolutely amazing in his role as human and then imugi in that human's body. The original imugi is also great for the role.

FL is not a stellar actress, she is too stiff. But what makes her role very watchable is that she is written as a very strong, smart, independent character, and I would say, FL character is the PIONEER in how kdramas portray women. There is no sexism in this kdrama The FL is equal to the ML and they collaborate together they accomplish amazing things. They equally love each other and work for each other and the greater causes.

She saves him too. He saves her. They each encourage and prod each other on. The relationship progresses from miscomunication, he trying to use her, she hating him, then she having a mission and he tagging along for self benefit, but then... THEY CLICK. Once they clear their miscomunications and he outgrows his selfishness - because he hangs out with her and he RESPECTS her, there is absolutely NO drama between them. It is very clear and honest communication and teamwork.

This truely is a story of enlightment in the path of the householder and "marriage yoga". The Imugi sat alone in meditation for 1000 years and made more progress by being in contact and working relationship with a high quality being, who happens to be a HUMAN being, and humans are known for being faulty. Yet humans posses seeds for deep attunement into the Divine and seeing a human who practices that is inspirational. In other words, FL is akin to say Jesus or Buddha type of contact to the ML, she inspires him to open his heart and to CHANGE.

The fun stuff is his learning about other parts of human experience, like ... feeling romantic attraction to this nice lady who genuinely takes care of him. She too realizes that this is a rather sexy imugi :) after she realizes that he has been taking care of her forever and was on her side as a reliable protector. Once he learned her respect, ... she noticed him :) There are some super comical moments related to their being drawn to each other.

Yeah she falls in love with a 1000+ year old "dragon" in human body. He is the best match for her since she is fit to be his partner and no human would be that deep, knowledgeable and helpful to her as he is.

This story is deep. He starts as someone ascending, so his "state of being" is already quite sophisticated and deep. He is basically a spiritual aspirant, well on his way. He is not perfect LOL he starts as a selfish pissed off dude, feeling hopeless and betrayed that his ascension was messed up. SO HE PROVED THAT HE WAS NOT READY TO ASCEND lol you cannot behave like that if you are truely ready lol SO he comes back to Earth and then in contact with the FL, he changes, he transforms himself. His heart finally opens and he CARES and GIVES, and in that, he truly ascends.

This is a totally different ball league than say My Roommate is a Gumiho, because that story is about a monster who is trying to become humane. He has no heart, no real emotion, He is really an addict, grabbing energy from others, not feeling anything for others or himself. So Gumiho story is like the story of an addict finally learning to open his heart and to feel care towards others. It is a story of an addict "becoming clean and sober" . He starts totally "dead" inside, in total smelly shi# of his own, and manages to clean up and get up and live.

Gang Cheol story in this kdrama is like the story of the Budda or Jesus facing the devil for 40 days and nights and overcoming the last barriers to their ascension into the Light. He starts quite high and then goes even higher into the Divine.

Yeah there is some horror, which I dislike, you get to see some monsters and fast forward if you want... Luckily it is bearable and possible to fast forward when you need to LOL . I do it :) I intend to keep my head filled with meaningful stuff. I dont watch horror movies so I did not want to watch this kdrama when I read the short summary referring to horror.... I started watching just a bit bc there was nothing else to watch on Wed/Th, and it was ok, so I kept watching and I am so glad I did!!! What kept me watching is the competent FL and black-robe Imugi interaction, and then Imugi in human form. That is an absolutely AMAZING performance.

I dislike the special effects, I am not into horror movies and I am not into Hollywood special effects. I think that alluding to scary but not showing it entirely is a lot more scary :)

Leave it up to the imagination, is my idea of scary :) Hitchcock is scary without showing special effects :) Music and suspense and ALLUDING to scary is the scariest.....

So... that big monster was not something I wanted to see. Just the feet was plenty enough. LOL Also the water ghost - I didnt want to see that either. Was glad when she got prettier LOL So thats why 9 for acting.

But otherwise, human acting is stellar, everyone makes their characters so alive and convincing. The imugi is human form is absolutely an amazing actor. The king stands out as an excellent actor in that role. The queen is not bad either. The old queen is ... well... not so great in acting, I would say that is the next-to-weakest acting. The worst is the FL. The side characters are all amazing. The scene of Imugi telling what he is LOL that was one of the best comedy scenes ever LOL

Especially the Imugi in human form, that actor is SUPER EXTRA EXCELLENT, 10+ stars for his acting. He made the Imugi character have so many shades of white black and gray, and he made Imugi fun, sexy, scary, flippant, evil deity in transformation to something Greater. We get to see his ascension from the start, from his being a disciplined disciple for 1000 years, unlucky, then revengeful, grumpy evil deity, contriving, all the way to feeling genuine care, and even love crush LOL

And in all that, we saw the role the little insignificant humans play in the Cosmic drama - humans, although bogged down with 5 senses and completely vulnerable and weak and bogged with evil traits and without any special powers, also CAN feel genuine care and love, and those are things everyone, even Imugis, need to ascend... So, human weakness also is a doorway to the greatest strength...

The Imugi, by a chance accident of being stuck in a human body, has begun his Ascension by Learning how to Genuinely Care. Gods have helped him by forcing him into a human body for a while LOL bc Imugi, as originally a flippant arrogant contriving control freak, was far from intending to mature and improve his character LOL

The Imugi actor is totally HILLARIOUS and very convincingly for-real, acting Imugi in a human body. The script helps him, but he makes the script come alive. The complexities of Imugi's character - he is strong but not invincible, he is losing his powers, he is conflicted with his needs and feelings, his background and his "kind" versus what he wants to become and what he is, willy-nilly becoming, he is VULNERABLE although he is this super fancy evil deity with magical powers. The script writer thought a lot about Imugis LOL and the actor just made it come to life so well.

Of course who knows what real Imugis are like, but this rendering of them in this kdrama is really really FUN AND ENDEARING in many ways although yeah an Imugi is an evil deity. This Imugi has done bad stuff too in the past, which luckily we didnt get to see much, so it was easier to like him because we start seeing him when he starts changing and being more positive.

We kinda get to see Imugi's redemption. So we get to LIKE the Imugi and cheer him on. But that all can change fast :) What is a lie and what is the truth... but at least he shows great care.

IT IS TOTALLY UNPREDICTABLE WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT :) which makes the drama very captivating. Imugi is the dude who shoots from the hip and also schemes and has secrets and who knows what plans, although he is TRULY caring, so he is totally unpredictable...

Also, we learn that Imugis are like people, each has his own issues .... so "our"imugi is an ascending one so we can like him. Well keep our fingers crossed LOL We also get to see some others who are still full-blown evil deities...

So kdramas are trying to appease some evil characters from folk tales, showing how gumihos imugis etc change their ways... SOMETIMES :) and then we make a story about it...

Rather than special effects, I liked Imugi costume better! when he was dressed in black he was really an Imugi. That was SO COOL, with that little bit of a costume and black netting and thin curtain ballerina skirt materials and some makeup and dragon skin showing and some serious acting and great script to put him in least likely situations, that black Imugi was PERFECT. His big mouth in a frown does it!!!!! The marks on his skin are AMAZING!!

I like movies like that, where creativity and imagination let you finish imagining the details. I am totally impressed!

What kept me watching was Imugi. That actor - oh shall I say those actorS really really act him well :) I really enjoy it.

The Imugi stuck in a human body is an excellent performance and a great comedy, the script is great. It is so twisty and unpredictable. The Imugi-in-body actor has a range of acting that is really really fun to watch,, anything from mean, coy, scheming, hot, soft, caring, etc . also very shrewd business like when he describes his situation... SO COMICAL and so fun to watch. He is a great comedian and the script is really funny. ANd the situations and his acting of him. Sitting in water and enjoying it, as a real Imugi.
That actor is really capable of acting A WHOLE range. and so fun to watch,
and the script is great, it is really really comical how he tries to figure out humans.

And it is also scary, realizing he is often cute and sexy and caring and all nice and also ... an evil deity. Being around him is like playing with fire. Who knows what will happen.... he kinda fell in love but he doesnt know what it is and who knows what he could do... !!!! Reminds me of kdrama Mr Plankton. Imugi is kinda clueless like Mr. Plankton... and so ... he could recklessly do anything. That is the scary part. It is even scarier bc he has changed somewhat and started to genuinely care.

I think that is the engaging part about the script, the roller coaster of unraveling all nuances of the character.... . Imugi was first a neutral character, some dragon ascending to heaven who had an accident.... oh well why should we care? he didnt relate to us ... .. but then we got to MEET HIM after, as a grumpy evil so of course we did not like him...
THEN it got funny, we got to see cute little animations :) of his learning about humans, that was so fun!!!!
And we got to see his softer caring side and his vulnerable side and even his newly acquired sexy side ;) and his falling in love for the first time, so for a moment he SEEMS like a normal person, very endearing, and we started liking him and then ..... he does something shrewd or reckless which reminds us that he is dangerous and unpredictable, and we retract in suspension, suspicion. and fear. Then he is cute again and we cheer him on.

That is a real roller-coaster drama of discovering all kinds of nuances of this very complex character. The Imugi actor really really really acts is well and brings it all to life.
When the original inhabitant of the body comes back into it, this actor acts it for real too. His absolutely amazing acting makes it very convincing and very clear who is in that one body now. It is amazing!!!! In scenes of the original coming back, we can tell that it is human. Then we can tell when it is imugi.

The FL is a little too flat as a character and thus as an actress. That is so common in kdrama. I bet that actress can do more .... She needs to be a little more deep and complex. As is, she is ... well.... a persistent and strict lead nun LOL
The script needs to help her. Her dedication to the guy Yun Gap is a little ... overblown... ? and her life in the village is a little ... unexplained? ....

I am glad FL is at least competent and has common sense and is not a helpless loser.

I am enjoying watching FL go about her business and figuring things out, what she needs to do, and taking action on it, and helping ppl. She is a positive role model. Also she is brave and doesnt mind jumping into a battle.

So I am curious because it is so twisty that I cannot predict what is going to happen :) The Imugi has many sides... and maybe is not immortal or undefetable after all... and our FL might be too optimistic and blind.... (That was my sense after ep 5 and it proved true). Also, the two are falling for each other LOL That would be a great clearing of karma since she hated him so unconditionally

Also imugi's weak character spots... wants to go to Heaven but was harming ppl out of revenge... Hm HOW does he plan to pull that off... ?

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Written later, after the last episode:
There was so much character growth for the Imugi and so many wonderful relationships took place. I cherish those scenes. One of the most endearing and comical was the king giving romantic advice to the confused imugi in love :) The King was great in instructing about how to handle crying women :) They became great personal friends...

Bc of scenes like that, some ppl said this is draggy etc and maybe they love to watch hard-core horror stories or thrillers but not what this drama is, a more comprehensive look at things, including psychology and character, which is probably boring to an action-loving audience. And just-action would be boring to some other audiences. So this drama with a mix can be watched by a greater variety of people. I myself was willing to fast-forward through the action and horror scenes to watch the "psychology"

This kdrama is a mix of psychological thriller, tragicomedy and comedy, light romance, and horror, imo, in that order. And yeah supernatiral too.
I think this drama is incredibly interesting and twisty, I could not predict the plot. And I cannot predict what will happen next...

I will miss YGimugi, that was the funniest most comical and most endearing character I met recently. His personal growth and increasing maturity was most fun to watch. And his resulting friendship with the King and his solid romance and dedication to YR, they are a very functional exemplary couple imo. Great communication and teamwork. She is a strong, smart, independent person and very caring, giving and "proper" in every way. Also very knowledgeable and "professional" and CAPABLE. With lots of commons sense and "inner" elegance. She is truly his equal partner and that is such a powerful message. Their relationship is exemplary and I would say, a role model for the modern times. There should be more such relationships.

There are so many technical details about the story. so many dropped hints and twists, so observing every second with full attention is a must. Rewatching is probably very helpful

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There is a long post I wrote at the very end in the discussion but there is no time to post it here. That post is beneficial to some who need it.

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Mature love

FL and ML are adults, mature and responsible people and so they know what is important and they make it happen.
They communicate, they do not hold back, hide. deny, pretend or play games.

This kdrama is very educational, you get to see how grownups live.

And I think this is for more mature audience. There is no drama in his kdrama :) The drama is about two people who do not waste time. When they are confused, they sit down and think about it and then take action to clarify it with the other and to move on in a positive way. NO DRAMA HERE.

so you get to see the plot that is not soapy nor boring but is about solving daily life for real. Extremely useful.

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What a cheesy way to show a soft porn film under a disguise of social commentary

I watched ep 1 because I saw the trailer with the glorious actress and her fashion etc and I wanted to see more of that. I only suggest she gets her teeth white. Otherwise, what a beauty.
Then the actress in bra and panties a lot came on screen and they started shooting a soft porn film and it was ... well ... cheap..... and then I was fast forwarding through the series because it was just a cheesy cheep soft porn..... and I was going to write about that and quit.

So my commentary at that point was - ah, koreans are now making american series!!! just sex and violence and decadence and not much content... wow ... yeah it makes $$$$$$ I can see why they are doing that...
Is this also trying to increase the birth rate? So many dramas advertise having kids and getting married... is this porn series a way to make people more inclined to reproduce? But then I was thinking - this inspires cheap sex, not having families and babies... the american audience sees only stuff like this and white people are NOT reproducing enough they will be a minority by year 2035 or something like that. Only BROWN people are reproducing enough....
And I was thinking to myself, I watch kdramas because they have MEANINGFUL content. Why waste time showing the decadence of the entertainment world... ???

As you can see, my attitude was "this is waste of time". As I came here to write a review and drop the drama, I read the reviews and realized that there is a social and political significance to this drama, despite all of its cheesiness. The commentary here said how this was actually a part of real life when the Korean dictator decided to have a few hours of night tv ok for adult movies. So then I made sure to watch a lot of ep 5 and the entire ep 6.

And yeah all that is to be expected. THose things are NORMAL in the entertainment industry unfortunately and also in many other businesses, like ... sales, politics, corporate business, and anything else...

Sexism and female exploitation at home and at work is sooo common...

So there was no need to make a soft porn drama of 5 hours just to show that atempt at rebellion and social change.

It was positive the actresses stood for themselves...
but did they? The movies the new one had at the end were all soft port movies... she stayed in the sex industry

and the older one decided to go for the real art.

Overall - I dislike this drama. as I said, there is NO reason to show 5 hours of soft porn just to give the message that actresses and women in general get exploited at work and how hard it is to stand up for themselves.

THERE ARE A LOT BIGGER ISSUES TO TALK ABOUT.
for example, in the USA, a male actor is paid literally tens of millions of dollars, and I think the highest paid lead actress was like $500,000. Something like that.

I think numbers are also skewed in pay to sportspeople.

In the USA in ANY JOB, a woman still makes 70cents for every 1 dollar that a male makes, i.e. she is paid 30% less than him, for equal qualifications and the same job.

THESE ARE THE THINGS TO TALK ABOUT AND SHOW AND DISCUSS
The thing that matters is the bottom line. Let's talk about that.

Not some bombastic scandalous cheesy porn and pervs

FYI ... for all those who have issues with sexuality - go outdoors, play some sports or do something physical, spend time running or swimming in sunlight, eat some healthy food, laugh, sing, dance, do some yoga, do some tai chi, do some gardening, walk barefoot in the woods, .... just be ALIVE and RADIANTLY VIBRANT and your sex life will automatically be regulated to normal.
Go barefoot and enjoy being alive. Breathe. Smile. Drink water.

Americans are too used to seeing cheesy as normal and that is super unhealthy. It $ell$ for sure but ... if kdramas become like that kind of trash too...... it will be th death of kdramas. Just my opinion.

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Fun fantasy / real story of housewives going Superwomen

I like this drama. The characters and the issues are very real.... and it is portrayed with reality and comedy....
It is a makjamg FANTASY or some housewives turn Superwomen and for my taste there is too much murder blood fighting and violence - all the scenes of bloody dead people - so I fast forward.
But what is really really fun is the "koreanness" of it while being globally unversal "big city condo living" story .... Well on the second thought.... kind of.... There are no drugs that are ah too common in the west.... This is shall I say a NORMAL place, like what we are used to watching in kdramas and that is why I watch only kdramas :) ...

The characters are real and the twists are amazing. The husbands were rats to beging with and the women tolerated them... and then .... the rats became open and discussed.... and so the topic is really the status of women...

I like the FLs who are real women, with strengths and flaws, and who navigate FORWARD

It is empowering and it is fun. The FLs are not some angelic otherwordly beings, they are normal moms and wives .... with husbands who are not perfect either... or without a husband... with kids...

and they keep moving forward!!!!

I m curious what they will do with the husbands...

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AMAZING warm inspirational story with AMAZING music and acting - a true kdrama gem

This is of those Korean art storytelling pices that is so typical for why kdramas and kmovies are so famous -

bc it is fresh, creative, unique, warm, positive, uplifting, and generally an educational story with meaningful content and powerful messages.

The music is just outsanding, from funk for twists to classical for gloomy scenes and some high school ... kinda rappy music for the positive end.

This is an example of a kdrama masterpice and shows exactly why kdramas won all over the world.

It is humorous, deep, tragic, positive, uplifting, etc, shows a progression of character and improvement in one's life

nasty families, nasty guys, social commentary, etc etc

This is gone off Viki but you can still watch it at without spaces
https://www.asian c tv . co /familyhood-episode-1.html

cdramas never make this.... bc they are never social commentary or willing character growth or humor.....

I guess that's the feel - cdramas have the feel of the "cultural revolution" and kdramas have feel of "kicking out occupators and taking down corrupt president" somehow Korea is a lot more .... righteous.... and generous....

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Flawed and strong female lead and her neighbors, no romance

This is a very interesting revenge and feminist kdrama

So FL is a tough cookie detective pursuing revenge for like 20 years.

What struck me is that the FL is very flawed, she keeps being mental and missing the clues, making mistakes and causing danger and trouble to others....

On the other hand, she is smart so she eventually gets it and fixes it
I was impressed with her ability to connect the dots

There is kinda sorta someone who likes her but it never happens in the drama, maybe at the end and later, there are hints...

So this kdrama is really about healing, overcoming the past, overcoming the reason she wanted revenge, and yeah catching the criminal

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Worth watching the leads, story is ... well.... the "amnesia" trope

The story was dragging and involved amnesia .... omg which script writer did KBS kept hiring that kept doing amnesia plot in so many weekend dramas...

The FL actress was clearly excided to act an "ordinary" person bc so many dramas put her into a role of some all-fancy-beauty-chick so I am sure she is tired of that.... So she had her chance to act normal in this kdrama, for a bit, and I think she enjoyed that DIFFERENT type of role.
She is a great actress and only a bad script can box her into some dumb role and acting dumb.

The ML is a competent actor imo and it is fun to watch him.

The rest is .. well... well ... somehow ... just ... didnt totally "click" for me as memorable. There wasnt "action" so to speak in terms of inner growth

The Grandma was a very very interesting character and that acting was great. But I almost forgot her. Unless I try to remember.

The Oldest Brother was an interesting character and that actor really showed what he can do. He was a villain in 3 Bold Siblings and it was really fun to watch him here in a soft positive scaredy cat lazy bum role.... He can act a wide range.

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Creepy, scary, ...

FL has a murderer mother who trains her to be murderer... so she ... does not want to show compassion

The creepy scary moment I remember from this drama is when FL wants to ... stab ML? wth was she doing... ??? But ML stopped her by grabbing for the blade, to convince her that he is her friend and she can trust him.
HE JUDGED THAT IT WAS NECESSARY TO GRAB A BLADE SO THAT SHE WOULD TRUST HIM

I was horrified!!!!!!!!!!!!

I watched this kdrama bc it was "popular" but I did not enjoy it.

The only small fun part was the mentally handicapped brother.

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