This review may contain spoilers
the good bad drama
I went into this drama expecting great things, especially since it was highly praised and had strong reviews. Maybe my expectations were simply too high, but for me, the performances were the show’s saving grace. Ra Mi-ran delivered exactly what I expected from her, and the rest of the cast also did a solid job.
That said, the pacing was an issue. The village scenes were engaging at the beginning, but midway through the show they started to feel mundane and drawn out, only picking up again in the final episodes.
The mother’s arc, in particular, frustrated me. She’s given a second chance to “redeem” herself, yet she continues to abuse her son (forcing her ideologies onto him and once again deciding his career and life for him). I understand that change is difficult, and in that sense, her lack of growth is realistic. I actually appreciated that realism. What I didn’t appreciate was how the writing glossed over her behavior, as if the audience shouldn’t resent her simply because her son doesn’t. The drama frames her as a good mother all along, ignoring the fact that providing and sacrificing for a child doesn’t erase emotional abuse.
The characters are complex, and both the mother and son reacting the way they do is realistic but the narrative’s refusal to fully acknowledge the harm she caused felt uncomfortable.
On a more positive note, the endings for the childhood friends and the ex-fiancée were handled nicely. Still, as a whole, I couldn’t fully get into the show. The ending turned out exactly as I expected, and the supposed plot twists didn’t really feel like twists at all.
Overall, it was an okay one-time watch, but not a drama I’d revisit.
That said, the pacing was an issue. The village scenes were engaging at the beginning, but midway through the show they started to feel mundane and drawn out, only picking up again in the final episodes.
The mother’s arc, in particular, frustrated me. She’s given a second chance to “redeem” herself, yet she continues to abuse her son (forcing her ideologies onto him and once again deciding his career and life for him). I understand that change is difficult, and in that sense, her lack of growth is realistic. I actually appreciated that realism. What I didn’t appreciate was how the writing glossed over her behavior, as if the audience shouldn’t resent her simply because her son doesn’t. The drama frames her as a good mother all along, ignoring the fact that providing and sacrificing for a child doesn’t erase emotional abuse.
The characters are complex, and both the mother and son reacting the way they do is realistic but the narrative’s refusal to fully acknowledge the harm she caused felt uncomfortable.
On a more positive note, the endings for the childhood friends and the ex-fiancée were handled nicely. Still, as a whole, I couldn’t fully get into the show. The ending turned out exactly as I expected, and the supposed plot twists didn’t really feel like twists at all.
Overall, it was an okay one-time watch, but not a drama I’d revisit.
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