Mono

Very tropey. Not bad, but not 'extraordinary', either.

Spoilers beyond this point.

If you have not yet watched this show up to Episode 10, I recommend not reading further.

I hate cliche terminal illness plots, I think they're trite and lazy, even more so when the illness is sudden and has no previous foreshadowing. If hints had been provided at the beginning, then I would not have dropped this show. Unfortunately, because of that reason, this drama will forever remain dropped and will stay in limbo until I figure out a way to get past this roadblock. Rating is from before that episode.

I wish we could get more insight into Minwoo's shift in how he treats Youngwoo. I feel like the show is very dramatically portraying him as a bad person without actually delving into *why* he feels that way. Of course, the actions he took against his perceived injustice regarding Wooyoung's "special treatment" were bad and very much ableist, but I dislike how they did not show his view more or have characters that actually combated his views in a way that was helpful to making him understand, instead of brushing his concerns off. Minwoo was a far more polarising character, and that's what made him interesting.

The main male lead is also a very one-note character. So far, we have barely learnt anything about him other than the fact he used to work with disabled people, and that he is attracted to the female lead. It seems as if his character exists only to be the "protector" or "good guy" towards our main character, and I find that very boring regardless of how cute their scenes may be. Should I ever choose to pick this drama back up, then I hope that this changes. As of this moment, I'm not really interested in seeing how his character progresses; feel free to convince me should you want to, but please remain respectful if you choose to do so.

I feel as if Attorney Jung and Youngwoo (discriminator/discriminated to immediate respected colleagues), or even Minwoo and Youngwoo (rivals to bully) would've been much more interesting dynamics. Age gaps can be an issue for some, as can bully/victim, and I completely understand that being a deal breaker for many people, but even then I feel like they had much more chemistry compared to the actual relationship that was explored in the show. Sorry, Junho, but your personality and relationship with Youngwoo were both too milquetoast for me to actually get any enjoyment out of it. Despite that, I did really enjoy both of their acting, especially Eunbin's.

In general, it seems that there is a lack of nuance and grounded personality when it comes to some of the characters. I don't mind the stereotypical representation of autistic traits, as an autistic character being portrayed positively, especially an autistic woman, is already a big leap for Korea given their popular societal views on autistic people. That being said, the characters can be summarised by maybe one or two personality traits throughout the show, and they don't really amount to anything more than that. This show is very trope-y, though, so it's not too surprising. If this approach is not changed in later episodes, then it's likely my rating will stay at 6.5, or perhaps even drop further than that. Only time will tell.

Overall: likeable and has a lot of good moments, but definitely not a stand out show for me. Has re-watch value, but I may end up skipping certain scenes that I find boring or have writing I dislike. Some of the characters are a bit boring or one-dimensional, and I feel like some of the more interesting dynamics just get shafted by Youngwoo and Junho's cliché moments. Not bad, but not great, either.

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