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I loved it, even with its objective flaws in it's plot progression, Would absolutely recommend.

I tried marking spoiler sections in my review, but read with caution. You can jump to the spoiler free conclusion at the end.

I had a really difficult time rating this drama. If I were to rate it on personal enjoyment, a solid 9/10. My biggest issues were the overuse of second-hand embarrassment comedy -- but that simply comes with the genre in my experience, and is a personal preference.

The characters are all absolutely lovable. I'd agree with other people that Dam Ye-Jin in the beginning is quite annoying, and does not come across as a good person - but I'd stick with the show if that is the only issue, because I think they did an amazing job at slowly making her more and more likable throughout the story. It was actually somewhat refreshing to see a FL that isn't instantly portrayed as perfect, timid and gentle. I like seeing her take up space, and be loud, even if sometimes it comes across as obnoxious.
Mechoori is great as well, this is so far my favourite character from Ahn Hyo-seop. My only issue with his character -- minor spoiler in this sentence -- is that in the beginning he acts as if he is somewhat annoyed by helping all the people in the village, but he does this with seemingly no reason, and the show immediately abandons this character trait after the first two episodes. Just a little odd.
The village people and other supporting roles are all very sweet, some more stereotypical and trope-like than others, but altogether a bunch of great characters. I am from a small village, and the scenes taking place in Deokpung Village were very nostalgic for me, and I felt very homesick watching it. It was lovely!

Eric..... was a character. Technically. I liked him as a person, but the show seems to struggle with what his purpose in the show is. This part will contain SPOILERS -- in the beginning it feels like he might be a bit of an antagonist. I was sort of expecting there to be some sort of misunderstanding with Mechoori thinking Ye-jin is dating him, or for Eric to just literally be one of the antagonistic forces in the career plot line. They steer away from both of these, but stay just close enough to them that you always think - maybe now, something will happen with his character. But then, nothing does. The show then starts using him as the ground for Mechoori's jealousy, and for me, that was nothing else but a way to make Mechoori's character even more attractive to viewers. It served as something mildly comical, but the same dynamic exists in multiple other side plot-lines, such as with Mr. Park and Mr. Kang. So it was very unnecessary. Then by the end they try to use his character as a part of the big reveal, by having him reveal the tiniest piece of the puzzle in the plotline with the essence launch going wrong. But again, this felt incredibly minor, and if this is the only reason for his character to be in the show, he should have just been cut. The story would have been the same with or without his character. SPOILER ZONE ENDED

The plot itself is quite simple, and somewhat predictable. While some of the twists surprised me personally, none of them were unpredictable. If anything, I'm more annoyed by the tools this drama uses to move the plot forward. It is almost always ridiculously unlikely coincidences, and barely ever characters. SPOILERS HERE - the whole situation with Ye-jin's mum's phone going unused for what... 5 years? And then the first time Mechoori changes phone numbers SUDDENLY he gets that one? Like 2 days after he meets Ye-jin? For them to ALWAYS happen to run into each other. HIT is a huge company with so many buyers but somehow it's always the village that has something that Ye-jin needs to attend. Time and space seems to warp, and the distance between Seoul and the village is... inconsistent. Sometimes people take hours to make the distance, sometimes seemingly minutes. SPOIELRS OVER-- while I could look past these, because at the end of the day these also kinda come with kdrama rom-coms, I understand if some people can't do that. However the story progression feels very natural for most of the drama, and so does the lead couple's relationship. This drama has a way of making you feel all the emotions, may it be stress, anger, sadness, or rooting for the main couple.

I also absolutely LOVED some of the seemingly filler bits. There were multiple times (the corn-selling, the village competition) that had little plot-moving moments, but they helped with the pacing, showed off more of the side characters and their own lives and personalities, and were just... so fun to watch. This drama is amazing at making me smile left and right, and I need to give credit for it.

Last but not least, the humour. As a briefly mentioned, the humour is largely based in second hand embarrassement type scenes, and I'm going to be honest, I fast forwarded a lot of them because I just can't take that much of it. However, they are only prominent in the first half of the drama -- they happen later too but much less -- and they didn't diminish my enjoyment of the story at all.

SPOILERS IN THIS BIT
The parts of the plot that tried handling serious topics were mixed for me, some well and some not so well executed. To me, the parts about Ye-jin's and Mechoori's struggles with the consequences of the USU cream situation were very well done. Their two ways to cope with basically the same thing were well done. Ye-jin and her mother was a great story line, altough I wish it would have gotten more screentime sometimes - but props to the mother, as she is the few people in the show who move plot forward at the end. My biggest issue was that the actual antagonist is revealed very very late in the series, leaving very little time for the events to unfold. I would have preferred some of the info to be drip-fed to the characters, but they pretty much learn and expose everything in the span of half an episode. I feel like the pacing was nice for most of the drama, but the end was rushed.
While the last episode did its best to wrap up all loose end, I feel as though there were many that were rushed. There were characters we just forgot about halfway through the show, such as the bus driver whose actor did not even get credited at the ending, where everyone has their own little story wrap-up.
SPOILERS ENDED

CONCLUSION (spoiler free)
As I said before, my enjoyment of this drama was a solid 9/10, but critically speaking there were some things that might be hard to ignore for some people -- ridiculous coincidences moving the plot forward, pacing issues in the conflicts, and some characters that could have been cut altogether. Sometimes the show bites off more than it can chew, making characters redundant, and side-plots rushed -- the drama would have benefited from a few more episodes. However, for me the cast, their acting, the chemistry between the main couple, and the heart-warming small-town scenes outweighed these by a lot. This show still managed to make me stressed, giggle and kick my feet, and stare unblinking at the screen at intense plot points. The best aspect of this drama is how entertaining and fun it is. If you are looking for something fresh, and never seen before, this is probably not for you. If you just want something mildly predictable, safe, homey, funny, and cozy, but most importantly loveable, entertaining and FUN, this is perfect. I give this a 7.5 for it's objective flaws, but for me this drama will always be a 9/10, as I personally enjoyed it more than certain community faves (like business proposal), even if critically speaking it was not as good. Please let me know what you thought I'd love to have a convo about this show!!

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Lots of clichés, but a very well executed drama, that is very well constructed.

I was not surprised by anything that happened in this drama, but I don't think it's srtength is in it's mysterious plot-twists. Super predictable, but still very entertaining. The drama had just enough side-story to keep the flow interesting. The pacing is good, the characters are lovable, and there is very few bad things I can bring up about it objectively speaking.
It got an 8 from me instead of a higher score, because I did not enjoy it as much as other, similarly trope-y titles. I think the drama could use more high-stake moments, I feel like every time something big happened, the issue faded away by itself, rather than anyone actively trying to fix it. While the drama was fun, it lacked in "drama" for my taste a little. Often the decisions the characters make also make so sense, and they seem to make it only to drag out the conflicts a little longer. Misunderstanding tropes are my worst enemy.
I have an appreciation for the lack of plot-holes and abandoned plot lines, because I've been having trouble with how often dramas struggle with those. Maybe the bar is just low, but I genuinely felt like this drama is a nice package, with all its edges rounded off, and paced very well.

Altogether, I'm definitely recommending this. Is it up to the hype it gets? MMM debatable. But the characters and actors are great, the story is fun, and the show is entertaining. If you just wish for something light and fun, but well-rounded and well-executed anyway, this is for you!

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