A Surprisingly Sharp Drama Disguised as a Rom-Com
When I started this show I thought it would be a fluffy Rom-com. That’s not an accident, that’s strategy. It lured viewers in with Rom-com framing, idol hi-jinks, quirky lawyer energy… and then quietly slid a scalpel under the surface.
What we are watching now is a drama that:
Uses fluff as an entry point
Uses familiarity as camouflage
And then asks uncomfortable questions about identity, projection, labor, grief, and truth
That dissonance is intentional. It mirrors the idol system itself: sparkle on the surface, structural sadness underneath.
And the reason it’s working on me, even if I am not the primary “K-pop fandom” audience, is that the writing isn’t didactic. It doesn’t lecture. It lets realizations arrive sideways, through character reflection rather than plot twists.
I came in expecting cotton candy.
I'm getting cotton candy wrapped around a manifesto.
Honestly? That’s the best kind of bait-and-switch.
What we are watching now is a drama that:
Uses fluff as an entry point
Uses familiarity as camouflage
And then asks uncomfortable questions about identity, projection, labor, grief, and truth
That dissonance is intentional. It mirrors the idol system itself: sparkle on the surface, structural sadness underneath.
And the reason it’s working on me, even if I am not the primary “K-pop fandom” audience, is that the writing isn’t didactic. It doesn’t lecture. It lets realizations arrive sideways, through character reflection rather than plot twists.
I came in expecting cotton candy.
I'm getting cotton candy wrapped around a manifesto.
Honestly? That’s the best kind of bait-and-switch.
Was this review helpful to you?
