scenophile

I think the first thing that stood out to me about this one was that all the characters are really well-written and intertwined. It's common to see the SFL and SML be the best friends of the leads, but this wasn't the case — we had the SFL being leads with the FL, the SML being coworkers with the FL, the seconds leads having their own history, etc. It was just really impressive how every character had a backstory and a purpose to service in the plot beyond becoming a couple. It wasn't just throwing two random friends together; the stories felt really cohesive.

While I do enjoy the story of the leads, I think it did get a little repetitive, probably because it moved too fast at the start. I would've preferred if the leads spent more time together before diving into the "I love you's," and maybe they could've done mini-cases where we explored Myul-mang (Doom) and what his day-to-day work is usually like. It would've given us more insight into his psyche and history. Instead, I feel like the characters got together really fast, and then their plots became recycled versions of "Person A leaves, Person B is sad, and then either Person A regrets it and runs back or Person B finds them and there's a touching reunion scene." It's a common trope in kdramas but I feel like we saw some version of this every episode, for half the drama.

On the other hand, I actually think the story of the second leads was extremely well-written, and they ended up as my favorite part of the drama, even if they were a lot more grounded and had no fantasy aspect at all. Despite their limited screentime, I think the development was paced well and was really convincing, and I loved the message behind that romance. It helped, like I said, that both of these characters felt like real people who had depth beyond their romantic subplot.

Overall, I enjoyed this one. I'm not sure how memorable it will be for me, but I understand why it is for lovers.