This review may contain spoilers
A family oriented drama that lost its focus midway
The Good parts:
The drama starts pretty strong with a focus on the family dynamics of the characters. Beloved characters are introduced and a strong foundation for a story seems to be building. The struggles shown in the beginning episodes were pretty well done. Hyunjin feeling lost and disheveled after the loss of her only other family member (her sister) was conveyed quite good in my opinion. The mixed feelings of Taehyung after the loss of his estranged brother was also shown nicely. The trope of forced/unwilling cohabitation was introduced very smoothly as well. The bonding of the in-laws and their orphaned nephew was really cute to watch. Honestly the uncle-nephew duo really kept me going though I would also like to say that even though the aunt was seldom available for the child specially in first few episodes she had her cute bonding moments with Wooju as well.
Taehyung's character arc was amazing. A child who grew up in an orphanage with resentment towards his brother who he thought had abandoned him was portrayed beautifully. His initial disdain towards Wooju did feel horrible but was justified according to his character. Him slowly warming up to the baby was adorable to watch. The episode 9 was the hardest to watch as the reality of the circumstances was revealed to Taehyung and he had to relive all his past traumas, cry and face everything alone. Bae In-Hyuk portrayed the emotions of Taehyung pretty well. It is a shame to watch his talent be wasted on such a show.
-The Bad parts:
The writing. I don't think there is anything else to say here. I sincerely beg the writer to distribute the story to the episodes appropriately and stay focused on the initial plotline. This drama could have been such a cute and breath of fresh air but was destroyed for an unnecessary love triangle. The drama could have been a guide to raise babies/children as the two adults in Wooju's life confronted the hardships of childrearing but the writer had some very different plans. It honestly felt like someone else walked into the writer's room, held the writer hostage and wrote the mid section of the drama and the writer was only successful to regain control to write up the last 5-10 mins of 10th episode and the last two episodes. Or the writer developed some alternate personality during the middle of the drama. The difference is that jarring.
Introducing a love triangle where it made no sense as this drama was not really a rom-com. The character of Sunbae was borderline creepy. He was constantly overstepping the line and though the FL should have strictly put up a boundary, I could understand why she failed to do so. As, she not only had a past connection with the guy (her first love/crush), he was also her superior who was also the reason she got a permanent position at the company. The power trip that guy was on was disgusting to watch. This series do not have a villain but I would like to present my contender THE SUNBAE. Dude could be classified as a creepy stalker even. The other thing was his rudeness towards the ML for things ML couldn't even do anything about. The weird ownership he flaunted over the FL in front of ML made me want to punch his face. I have to give credit where its due no series have yet made me this riled up over a character as this one has.
I am not completely forgiving the lack of spine of the FL as she should have at least put up some boundaries as I have said before. The character seemed to relish in the constant attention from the two men, work husband and house husband. The shift in her focus from the child rearing to her love life was something to witness. A woman who was hellbent on raising her nephew no matter what was turned into brainless lovesick schoolgirl for no apparent reason. The lack of care she had for nephew during this time was insane to watch, I am not even going to bring up Taehyung here as both the writer and her character seemed to have their memories wiped that not only was he the part of the show but was suppose to be the MALE LEAD. Also the actress needs to learn acting a bit more she seems stone faced even in emotionally driving scenes. She only showed any kind of emotions in the final episode.
In conclusion, this drama would really test your patience and would really make you curse out multiple times which is insane as it was suppose to be a lighthearted family show. You would feel as if you are watching a completely different show in the middle of it. The saving grace was the last sequence in the show. It really tied up everything nicely. I feel like the writer wanted to compare the showy/kdramaesque romance scenes with SML and the calm day-to-day moments with the ML to show that true love isn't showy but rather quiet and calm, but I feel like I could be completely wrong and my first hypothesis might be more accurate.
My final advice skip the 6-8 episodes and watch parts of 9 and 10 episodes to save yourself from unnecessary wastage of time. Focus on the baby and the interactions of the baby that is it. The final words "It takes a village to raise a baby" really encapsulated the spirit of the last episode.
The drama starts pretty strong with a focus on the family dynamics of the characters. Beloved characters are introduced and a strong foundation for a story seems to be building. The struggles shown in the beginning episodes were pretty well done. Hyunjin feeling lost and disheveled after the loss of her only other family member (her sister) was conveyed quite good in my opinion. The mixed feelings of Taehyung after the loss of his estranged brother was also shown nicely. The trope of forced/unwilling cohabitation was introduced very smoothly as well. The bonding of the in-laws and their orphaned nephew was really cute to watch. Honestly the uncle-nephew duo really kept me going though I would also like to say that even though the aunt was seldom available for the child specially in first few episodes she had her cute bonding moments with Wooju as well.
Taehyung's character arc was amazing. A child who grew up in an orphanage with resentment towards his brother who he thought had abandoned him was portrayed beautifully. His initial disdain towards Wooju did feel horrible but was justified according to his character. Him slowly warming up to the baby was adorable to watch. The episode 9 was the hardest to watch as the reality of the circumstances was revealed to Taehyung and he had to relive all his past traumas, cry and face everything alone. Bae In-Hyuk portrayed the emotions of Taehyung pretty well. It is a shame to watch his talent be wasted on such a show.
-The Bad parts:
The writing. I don't think there is anything else to say here. I sincerely beg the writer to distribute the story to the episodes appropriately and stay focused on the initial plotline. This drama could have been such a cute and breath of fresh air but was destroyed for an unnecessary love triangle. The drama could have been a guide to raise babies/children as the two adults in Wooju's life confronted the hardships of childrearing but the writer had some very different plans. It honestly felt like someone else walked into the writer's room, held the writer hostage and wrote the mid section of the drama and the writer was only successful to regain control to write up the last 5-10 mins of 10th episode and the last two episodes. Or the writer developed some alternate personality during the middle of the drama. The difference is that jarring.
Introducing a love triangle where it made no sense as this drama was not really a rom-com. The character of Sunbae was borderline creepy. He was constantly overstepping the line and though the FL should have strictly put up a boundary, I could understand why she failed to do so. As, she not only had a past connection with the guy (her first love/crush), he was also her superior who was also the reason she got a permanent position at the company. The power trip that guy was on was disgusting to watch. This series do not have a villain but I would like to present my contender THE SUNBAE. Dude could be classified as a creepy stalker even. The other thing was his rudeness towards the ML for things ML couldn't even do anything about. The weird ownership he flaunted over the FL in front of ML made me want to punch his face. I have to give credit where its due no series have yet made me this riled up over a character as this one has.
I am not completely forgiving the lack of spine of the FL as she should have at least put up some boundaries as I have said before. The character seemed to relish in the constant attention from the two men, work husband and house husband. The shift in her focus from the child rearing to her love life was something to witness. A woman who was hellbent on raising her nephew no matter what was turned into brainless lovesick schoolgirl for no apparent reason. The lack of care she had for nephew during this time was insane to watch, I am not even going to bring up Taehyung here as both the writer and her character seemed to have their memories wiped that not only was he the part of the show but was suppose to be the MALE LEAD. Also the actress needs to learn acting a bit more she seems stone faced even in emotionally driving scenes. She only showed any kind of emotions in the final episode.
In conclusion, this drama would really test your patience and would really make you curse out multiple times which is insane as it was suppose to be a lighthearted family show. You would feel as if you are watching a completely different show in the middle of it. The saving grace was the last sequence in the show. It really tied up everything nicely. I feel like the writer wanted to compare the showy/kdramaesque romance scenes with SML and the calm day-to-day moments with the ML to show that true love isn't showy but rather quiet and calm, but I feel like I could be completely wrong and my first hypothesis might be more accurate.
My final advice skip the 6-8 episodes and watch parts of 9 and 10 episodes to save yourself from unnecessary wastage of time. Focus on the baby and the interactions of the baby that is it. The final words "It takes a village to raise a baby" really encapsulated the spirit of the last episode.
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