mari

Heartwarming little drama! Some quick things about it. I felt as though Chung felt a little bit too childish, in a way? To me, they made her seem too child-like at times, which was a bit off-putting. There was a strange disconnect from her going from being absolutely serene/badass, to suddenly child-like from one scene to the next. This is entirely on the writing though, because Jihyun totally killed her role! Minho was awesome as well, which was to be expected. Lovely little mundane romance, even if the weird child-like nature the writers gave Chung threw me off from them here and there. In particular, I looooved Chung’s chemistry/dynamic with her odd friends! The child actress (her name escapes me) was genuinely one of the best younger actors i’ve seen. Hyesun, as literally ALWAYS, was soso perfect, even if Siah was something of a limited character! I loved her dynamic with Wonho’s Taeoh. Honorable mentions to Chung’s hilarious “beggar” friend, as well as JinJoo, I really enjoyed their short comedic skits. SeoHee was amazing as well!
Not much else to say, other than that the whole cast was incredible! The plot itself was a bit inconsistent. Some things didn’t make too much sense/wrapped up too quickly/were done solely for story purposes. Still enjoyed it!! Would totally recommend!
~8.5/10, for me :)

Okay! So this drama is the very definition of "Everything comes full circle". It's really satisfying in that aspect, and how it plays with the ideas of "can/will this be changed?" and so on.

I absolutely loved the acting on every cast member's part. I disagree with anyone saying the romance was unnecessary, but i will say i wasn't the biggest fan of the couple - but this is entirely my fault since i went into this being a Haein simp. Suzy and Jongsuk still really worked so well together! Personally, my two favorite characters were Heemin and Wootak... (obvious reasons aside, loved their characterizations) i almost feel like these two could've had some potential together... ! LMAO no but really Heemin deserved more screentime! she was the baddest. Them aside, Hongjoo's mother, Seungwon, Hyangmi... every side character was a joy to watch! (vital side note) I think I'm walking out of this a Sangyeob simp too... yeah he was kinda psychotic butttt anyway -
All in all, this drama is really heartwarming. Even if the couple wasn't my favorite, I can really understand and respect why people love them. The last episode was also a lovely way to wrap up the whole story. Haven't decided on scoring yet but;
8.5ish/10 for me! :)

so very well said! really really like how objective this analysis is!

his cute little smile! i'm deadd

to give you a straightforward answer, by normal standards, i wouldn't say it's ~satisfying~. doesn't mean the show isn't worth the watch!

LMFAOO they're fighting for their lives over a 1 min scene

just noticed that the director for this was the same as for Extracurricular. if i ever catch this man on the street i swear to god it's on SIGHT

this show is so good for what it is. i'm a sucker for strong FLs, so honestly the one-woman-army trope was riiight up my alley. i'll save you some time from reading comments and tell you that yes, it's pretty predictable, but twists aren't exactly what you'll be watching for in this drama! Han Sohee genuinely kills it in this role! (no pun inten- yes. it was intended.) I think it could've benefitted from some more run time (say, 1 more episode tops) but i also think it's short episodes are part of it's charm/strength. you definitely won't be bored -
ANYWAY. I'm mad at this drama. it's good for what it is but i don't know that i'll recover..
Definitely deserving of a 8.5 - 9/10 !

some gripes: (SPOILERS!!! youve been warned!)
i really would've liked it if they developed HanSeok/ChaYoung's friendship/betrayal a bit better during the drama. i feel like it was too one and done; ChaYoung finds out and instantly begins to hate him (which is valid, it just wasn't really hashed out?)... and don't even get me started on how they totally glossed over his (TWISTED) confession for her!! I feel like there just weren't enough interactions between them. After the first few episodes (pre-betrayal) there are absolutely no signs of HanSeok caring at all for her to the extent they try to say he does.
Other than that, I wish ChaYoung got more badass/"yeah she did that!" moments. i get that the drama is called Vincenzo, but it felt like they really had him do everything. For example, i really would've liked if ChaYoung was the one to finish HanSeok - or at least be there at all!! Like she never brought him or MyungHee's deaths up at all... when they killed her father!! LMAO

If i had to sum up this drama in one word, i think it would be... "Satisfying"
The score does it justice! i can 100% understand why it would be someone's favorite, and why it may not be another's cup of tea.
9/10 for me ~

haven't seen Hometown but it'd make me kinda sad if this news affected Shin Minah in any way! read that she cancelled/postponed an interview (possibly) due to the news.. :/

why does it keep happening that i start dramas thinking they're 16 episodes and then get shocked when i get to ep 10 and it suddenly ends.. i'm cursed
anyway i'm conflicted about this drama. lowkey traumatized... but i think i liked it? my brain is gonna need time to process. definitely an experience! 8/10, totally recommend!

OH one thing I kinda want to get off my chest.. not sure how to feel about the casting for Jo WanTae! Jo JaeYoon did a good job - but it's kind of hard to take him seriously? Or be intimidated by him at all/find him intimidating. He really wasn't giving me big scary tough man vibes...
Anyway, maybe that's because I saw him in DOTS first hahaaaa

This drama is sooo sososo frustrating. And confusing. But it's so good. It's such a conflicting watch!
The acting is genuinely just perfect. This was my first Woo DoHwan watch, and I genuinely have to say he's one of the standouts - don't get me wrong, Taecyeon was great, but omg... (anyway) Ye Ji was as sensational as ever. They had me binging this in 2 days.. like...
ANYWAY would absolutely not recommend this drama for someone that's looking for romance. This drama is definitely not going for that, and it's not for everyone!
It's anxiety-inducing. Painful. I hate it. I'm traumatized. But it's a really really good dark drama.
I DONT KNOW HOW TO FEELLL but definitely recommend it overall! Give it a try!
8.5/10 for me!

soso true. I genuinely think the people assuming he's constantly manipulating her and disingenuous at every turn are just taking what the show gave us about him at face value. It's so important to consider the small peeks behind the mask we got, and what they signified - like that part (before that one woman's brother fights him) that he hears some girls saying he's not good enough for NaBi, and how it affects him. It doesn't excuse any of his trashy actions or anything, but people just have to stop learning the words "gaslighting"/"manipulating" and running with them!! Anywayy let me cut myself off before I rant again LMAO

Hi! Seriously! I couldn't agree more that it's underrated, which is interesting, since it didn't necessarily have low viewership, it's just literally rated way worse than it deserves!
The way I see it, the show had only 2 truly ~glaring~ flaws; Jae-eon's depth was never explored to it's fullest extent, and it's 10 episode run-time just wasn't enough to really cover all of it's bases.
For Jae-eon, I feel like we never really got a look into what his motives/reasonings really are. We DID get glimpses; SeolAh's whole history with him, and ONE scene with his mother that briefly touches upon his childhood - these just weren't enough. For example, the whole custom-lighter he had with SeolAh was never really explained, yet I feel like it was such a key point of him/SeolAh's history?
In general, I feel like this would've helped more people understand that Jae-eon is really pure hearted at his core; his views on love are just painfully skewed, causing all these deplorable (relationship-wise) actions at certain points. I think that the point they were trying to make was that he wasn't trying to be a bad guy towards NaBi - while to the average viewer his actions are clearly wrong, he doesn't see it that way; possibly stemming from trauma/a loveless childhood they should've delved into! Not to mention, I think they literally never got into his father. Like at all? (might be wrong, ignore my dementia)
As for the 10 episodes thing, it so painfully showed through in the last episode. We literally go from a beautiful display of emotional release on both sides (during the Big Fight), to NaBi getting her entire project destroyed, somehow rebuilding it in it's entirety, to Jae-eon leaving, coming back, and that's basically it. In 1 episode! We could've gotten so much moreeee if it was 16 episodessssss
HOWEVER (big however), these are the ONLY issues I would say that are 100% valid when rating the drama. This is because while they ARE flaws, they just don't take away from the enjoyment of it - it's just such a beautiful rollercoaster of emotions, sprinkled with a bit (LOT) of AMAZING chemistry between these two. Not even gonna address the people saying it was toxic... I feel like they just missed the entire point of it, or took it too literally. The fact that it not having enough episodes is basically it's main flaw... says a LOT... and I can easily look past that anyway!!
Anyway not me writing an essay again... you opened pandora's box by commenting i'm so sorryyyy!! I'm kinda convincing myself to rate it a 10/10 as I write this.... aahhhh i just can't get over ITTTTT

LMFAO WHY IS THE SCORE SO BAD I ACTUALLY REALLY LIKED ITTI thought it was gonna be a 16 ep drama!? i was so confused on ep 10 & wondering why they were resolving every plot-line..my mind😭😭

Mini Review! ~ (No Spoilers! Other than naming couples I guess!)

Looking at the comments I'm not sure what (action?) they were expecting this drama to have other than relationship-y mundane-y issues! BUT while the premise is certainly realistic.. there's definitely a lot of drama magic going on at times (nothing insane! and that's what we're all here for anyway... plus fate is one of the themes after all)!The side relationships were all so enjoyable. I genuinely squealed all throughout JiWan/Sol's scenes... BitNa & GyuHyun were super adorable too, but they definitely suffered from GyuHyun getting semi-edited out due to that scandal the actor had, which really sucks (that it messed with their potential. I particularly loved BitNa/HyeJi's performance)! Minyoung/KyungJun were also the perfect (albeit short, screentime wise? Just enough?) palate cleanser from all the little miscommunication-related issues the other couples had. Given that, some other things that come to mind. The acting was good. In the first episode, I also had a few moments where I was like - "Well. That was on the nose!" (I think its when BitNa gets NaBi to go up to the roof for a smoke the first time!) But it not only leveled out, it didn't affect the drama at all. I could see if someone said Song Kang delivered a bit robotically/monotone(?), but I honestly don't think it wasn't bad at all - i REALLY liked him/his character (I was a Song Kang virgin too!). Han SoHee did all she could with what she got! The writing for her character felt a bit weak - I feel like she was so quiet at the wrong times, yet outspoken in others? Which was great! (her being outspoken) I just wanted more of her being like that rather than just.. thinking to herself (again, CHARACTER issue, she was perfectly fine). Regardless, her character was very.. Frustratingly Human! Who wouldn't risk it all for Song Kang let's be real.

Yes, it can be sappy. Yes, it can (IS) be oh so painfully frustrating. Yes, there are some moments and lines that may make you cringe. But that's what you sign up for when you're watching an 18+ drama about a friends-w-benefits relationship c'mon now! Besides, every drama has those moments, and that's totally okay. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the main couple. It left me wanting a bit more from them? It's hard to describe! Probs still bitter that I thought it was 16 episodes hellpppppp😭

Anyways. Sorry for the long comment, I was seriously just gonna leave it at 2ish sentences buttt. Give it a shot! Like the drama suggests;
You may regret it, you may not. Sometimes you just have to take a leap of faith... & everything is down to your own interpretation!

~9.5/10 for me :)
(Edit: was reading some reviews and definitely agreed with a lot of the issues they outlined. I won't add those to this, just bc it's already long and there's enough reviews talking about them! Always encourage people to try out a drama for themselves - specially such a polarizing one. Doesn't have to be a masterpiece to be enjoyable!)

there is! from what i remember, there's a lot of (character) liking (other character) who likes (other other character)! & i think you should be totally fine without the first season.. i don't remember the stories being connected that much if at all!! haha

thank you!! sadly, looking at the most recent comments, i can see people are still using the same wrong(?) criticisms. it def has some faults, but all these negative reviews are totally missing the mark! i enjoyed it immensely too!

(i'm so sorry for the long comment omg :') )
I feel like all the reviews really missed the point with this rom-com/thriller fusion... the contrast between the overly fluffy scenes and eerily dark scenes is what is supposed to balance this drama out. To say it just tried to be too much is sort of misguided, when it clearly succeeded if the dark scenes really creeped you out, while the cute scenes almost gave you cavities. Another thing I noticed is criticism over the "overly corny" humor (not to mention this is like watching a melo and going "well I didn't like it because it was depressing!"..). Something that is present in literally every drama, and catered entirely to Korean audiences - obviously here, in the West, many of us simply won't get some of their very culturally influenced humor. Other than that, really expecting ~too much~ realism from a drama based on super-strength (with comic book themes!) is again, a misguided notion. I hate to see a drama get unfairly graded + shot down by these clearly unreasonable criticisms. Some of the actually valid criticism could include
(*mini spoiler alert!*): plot-lines being solved suddenly, plot-lines being completely forgotten once resolved, and unsatisfying pay-outs at the end of a plotline.
I saw that some of the reviews included this, but noticed that most of them focused too much on my previous points!! Anyway - this is such a nice, comforting, sickeningly cute light watch when it comes to romance. The plot, however, got really creepy at some points! I think this is a very interesting experiment/result of testing the waters in mixing such polar-opposite genres. Please give it a shot and judge it yourself! I personally seriously enjoyed it!!