Khaotoph

I started watching this at the recommendation of a friend and it was fantastic. I was blown away at the storyline, and how the writers tackled and incorporated themes of mental health and illness throughout the drama. The leads are both amazing actors and deliver their roles well (character of one of them outside of acting excluded from analysis) and each episode delivers a more nuanced and complicated layer and development to each character. The series is long but never feels slow and every episode feels important in the overall plot and story development.

I love how Ko Mun Yeong is misunderstood and portrayed, as well as overcomes obstacles and inclinations about the way she was raised and the sociological and environmental influences she faced from her mother. Despite the seriousness of the series overall, the humor and dark fairytale like story are captivating. Visually, the drama is wonderfully done and even the support case in the drama is outstanding.

As one of my first non BL dramas, this set a high bar for other dramas to live up to! Definitely watch this if you want character depth, a different style love story, and characters that sometimes break the traditional K-Drama molds of leads.