DramaAjumma

It wasn't exactly great television but I enjoyed the leads' dynamic for the most part. It was a pleasant way to while away time. Not the worst rom com I've seen, nor the best. Could have done without the nutty sister who can't act.

The FL's best friend Zhenzhen and one of the prosecutors Pan Xiaoli. The two older prosecutors -- the single dad and his daughter's godmother.
I'm less sure about Yan Lu and Zhi Ji. They were formerly lovers but I don't know if they'll get back together.

Namgoong Min is doing some of his best work here.
Another heartstopping episode.

Yeah, but Awaken was mediocre even from the first episodes. This is actually good.

It's really not a bad show once you get past the first 3 or 4 episodes. It's always a pity when they have to resort to tropes with the leads but honestly it does get better.

Yes. From the little that I've seen.

The male lead is definitely much more interesting than the female lead. I always enjoy these sorts of Count of Monte Cristo type of characters.

I can tell just from the first four episodes that the female lead is trouble. I thought she was smart but she's too reckless for her own good. Her mother should be her priority and she should be playing the long game.
It's a good show largely because of the male lead's storyline and it's quite an unusual angle. It's better than I expected. Wonder who his father is.

I agree with that comment but I still see comments frequently pushing back on the ratings or comments that don't reflect the commenter's view.
Whatever you and I might think, people do care about the ratings -- enough to drive it up or drive it down to give a particular impression one way or another. How many times have we read comments about the ratings being too high or too low? Why have the mechanism in place if it isn't going to be a meaningful indicator of something?

I acknowledge this show is popular and that the rating reflects its popularity more than anything else. Personally I'm pushing back on the hyperbole. I just don't think the show is that amazing. In fact, if anything I find this drama rather dated. This is coming from someone who has watched K dramas for over a decade now.

Just because we're anonymous and don't know each other from Adam we shouldn't assume that the person on the other side doesn't understand what good writing or a good drama looks like. You don't know anything about me so let's not make this personal.
And as I'v conceded in my earlier post, the ratings here are very subjective. It also doesn't mean no one can enjoy a mediocre drama. It's just that when people look at the ratings later on when they're trying to decide if it's for them they might have overly high expectations as to what this is about. That's what the OP's original pushback is about. There are many shows that deal with life in the regions like Camellia, like Racket Boys, like Chocolate to give a few recent examples which are very good, all a good mix of character and plot driving the writing and perhaps the OP has those in mind.

If we're going to have any kind of civil discourse, let's not make assumptions about each other.

I agree that Vincenzo is overrated but at least I can understand the buzz around it. It was at least doing something different even if it went on longer than it should have. It played by its own rules and wasn't beholden to tropes. Same with Mouse. Both were flawed but at least they tried to play around with the genre.

Doom and Nevertheless were controversial. Audiences were divided about those. Doom was an empty nothing and Nevertheless I didn't bother.

I think I understand what you're staying here because for me as well a drama that's rated 8.9 should have something "extra" to it in terms of the ideas being put forward. Yeah, I think Homcha is watchable and occasionally it's even fun but the writing is really nothing special. The actors are practically doing all the heavy lifting. But yeah, it's all been done before, it's a trope fest and very predictable.
We just have to accept that the ratings on this site are very subjective.

Excellent start showing plenty of promise. If there's a show that deserves the accolades that's coming its way, it's this. And of course it's always a joy to have Namgoong Min on our screens. It's been a while since I've watched the British series Spooks... but this really reminds me of that.

I love me a mole hunt. :D

I personally have no issues with the nutty women. They can do their worst and bring the leads closer for all I care. As long as it doesn't out stay its welcome. The show needs some kind of villainy to keep things going. I'd rather have external conflict rather than needless push and pull between the leads. That to me would be far more annoying.

I recommend Circle -- a sci-fi dystopia that covers 2 different timelines. It's one of my favourite K dramas.
Hope you can find it somewhere.

Finally finished this and for me this was undoubtedly one of the more interesting K dramas of the year in terms of stretching the envelope. The Dark Knight allusions are unmistakable but the political parallels depicting the slide into tyranny and totalitarianism is stunning in its relevance. That was possibly my favourite part of the show.
The other aspect of the drama that was also well done was the manipulation of perspective by the so-called well-meaning people around Ga-on which effectively clouded his judgment as well as kept him from completely going over to the "dark side". Once they were "removed" from his line of sight and the truth is finally revealed, the blinkers finally came off. It's the perniciousness of evil that everything it touches, turns to ash. Even Soo-hyun's good intentions are weaponized by the truly evil people.
I thought Jin-young held his own against the veterans. That look of abject devastation on his face when he realised that he'd been had is quite unforgettable.

She really needs to be in a psychiatric facility. I don't know why Zhijun, a qualified psychiatrist thought it was a good idea to pander to her whims. That was his mistake.

It's a non-issue that continues to get dragged up unnecessarily.

I guess the good times were never going to last as long as the spectre of the obsessive sister was hovering around in close proximity. A cautionary tale all round.

I share your frustration with this drama and I agree that it doesn't really live up to the hype. If it weren't Kim Seon-ho and/or Shin Min-ah at the helm, I doubt I'd be watching it either.
For me the writing is the biggest issue particularly the writing of the leads. They are half-hearted caricatures going around in circles misunderstanding and bickering because the plot needs them to. I thought with Episodes 4, the show had improved but it goes backwards not long afterwards. I don't really dislike the leads but I don't really like them either. For me it's the set-up of the push and pull. It's half-hearted and unconvincing. The friendzoning by Du-sik feels clumsy and riddled with mixed messages. Even Hye-jin's snobbery lacks conviction and is about driving the conflict so that there's something for them to bicker about and to provide partial rationale for Du-sik to hold back. His attempts to "fix" her or lecture her often feels disrespectful of her agency. Regardless of who you think is right or agree with most, the delivery of the message is just as important as the message itself. In some instances I would argue that the medium of the message is more important than the message.

I'm not saying that people don't have flaws or characters shouldn't have them but I just don't think the writing is nuanced enough to flesh out the characters without swinging between extremes. It's hard to believe that I'm watching adults communicating here.

The script, the characters are nothing special although there's a lot of pretty that's feast for the eyes.