Ter22331

Everything about this series gives off a sense of overwhelming despair: the silence, moody lighting, tense music, and of course the brilliant performance from the two actors.

It's a tangible desperation that you feel immediately from the first episode. And while many viewers, like myself, hoped we'd get the trope-y miraculous happy ending, it's also completely understandable why we didn't. Instead, the ending is just as crushing as everything that came before it, and we're left to stew in it on our own long after the screen has gone black.

Whatever conclusion you come to as a viewer—whether you were rooting for their relationship or not—it's hard not to be affected by Hyeonjae's story, and I feel very sad that we leave him mired in the same misery we found him in.