Reviews

The Beauty of Found Family

I initially watched this because I’m a big fan of Jung Kyung Ho, but I fell in love with the whole story and cast. It touches on important themes of what it means to care and love someone, whether that’s your parent, child, friends, or other family. It highlights what seems to be a very important issue with academic culture in Korea and how that can affect students. While many may not approve of some of the methods parents were using to help their children succeed, I found sympathy for every character. Everyone is trying their best, in their own way.

I was super appreciative of how the relationships in the show were handled, both familial and romantic. The dynamics felt very realistic, and most issues were resolved in mature ways. Most of the characters had considerable growth over the series. Many parts, especially the plot points centered around family, made me cry. I wish the last few episodes dedicated more time to Chi Yeol & Haeng Seon’s relationship, and the family dynamic, more than the murder plot. Those are what made this show strong.

Only a couple things felt wrapped up too quickly. The murder plot was very suspenseful, and I felt genuine surprise at some of the reveals, but it was just over. The main characters having a past connection felt a bit cliche, but I did find the reasoning touching. It’s not absolutely perfect, but I did find comfort in this show and its characters. Jung Kyung Ho and Jeon Do Yeon are both fantastic actors and had surprisingly good chemistry. The young actors, especially Roh Yoon Seo and Lee Chae Min, were also fantastic. I would definitely put this show on again to feel good.

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Two Unappealing Characters in One

I suppose I went into this expecting more. The FL was a modern professional woman who knew about C-dramas and wuxias; she should have handled palace intrigues with more intelligence, but she turned out to be an idiotic, petulant child (which really isn't fair to children, some of whom are much more mature). She was supposedly the Queen of Real Estate, a job that requires savvy, tact, and diplomacy. She had none of that. She did have outbursts, inappropriate behavior, and contemptuous faces that would have ruined her real estate career and should have caused her to lose her head in the palace. Actually the FL was two people. Her other personality was boring and morose. Ah, it's hard for me to enjoy a drama when I don't like the main character, and this one had two unappealing characters rolled into one.

Good:
• Nice chemistry between the leads.
• Wang Rui Chang looked magnificent in white hair. He has cheekbones that could cut diamonds.

Bad:
• The OST was obtrusive, awkward, and incohesive. Often, it was so loud, it drowned out the dialogue. I begrudgingly allow there was a good song.
• The FL was inconsistent in portrayal. She stated she was a modern woman, but then she said she wasn't accustomed to taking care of things without a servant. She said she was a successful professional, but she acted like a spoiled kindergartener.
• Those atrocious wigs! Horses butts have better hair.
• The editing and camera work needed help. And the sound effects were hilariously bad. The actress walked: clomp, clomp, clomp... She stopped, but the sound of her steps continued, clomp, clomp, clomp!

I added an extra star because the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. It maintained my interest even while irritating me.

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Wayu and the host club made this show shine ✨

What really made this show shine for me was our MC, Wayu. Boy is such an earnest, motivated person who is both way too naive for this sh*t and also genuinely good at being a host at Moonlit club. The host club premise made for incredibly sexy and also deeply touching moments. I couldn't help but care about the club hosts' odd little family and for sure cried! The story petered out a little for me towards the end and i felt like it wrapped things up a little too neatly, but omg was the host club stuff good.

If you're looking for a very sex positive show tho, this is definitely it! There are some dark themes surrounding human trafficking and the violence sex workers face, which i felt were handled with nuance and appropriate gravity. Here's a breakdown of my own specific ratings:
Angst: 8/10
Whump: 8/10
Sweetness: 7/10
Spiciness: 10/10
Realism: 7/10
Ending: 7/10

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What is the message of this drama?

I was watching out of curiosity since it has many good actors and bc the topic is real - things that happen in this drama are REAL, e.g. everything that Lizard said about financial and other frauds, everything we have seen - is real!!! -
but the content and message of this drama is Kwood, not kdrama

The villain is made funny to soften the harsh reality of apartment building frauds
and the ML is a convinced gangster. The drama kinda promotes bad guys

So the drama is about a convinced gangster who keeps on gangstering with his crew
runs into a "good woman" who falls in love with him, and is against gangsters and does not know he is a gangster, and he keeps gangstering

AT THE END OF THE DRAMA, MOST OF THE AUDIENCE THOUGHT THEY NEVER GOT TOGETHER

the gansgster somehow starts doing good deeds bc of her

It is too rosey and vague

I was watching out of curiosity and then dropped bc the drama became about the "fun" villain ...

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A Brilliant Story Built on Terrible Decisions

The finale remains remarkably consistent with the drama’s central premise: a tragedy of errors fueled by paranoia.

The protagonists spend the entire story building an increasingly complex web of lies to avoid prison. The ultimate irony is that the law clears them of the murder, while the real punishment for both families is realizing that they destroyed their lives, their families, and their peace of mind trying to cover up a crime they didn’t commit.

A completely happy ending would have felt false, but sending them to prison would have betrayed the logic of the script itself. Leaving them legally free but trapped in the ruins of their own decisions was the perfect place to end the story.

And this is my only real complaint.

The writer seems to need someone to pay, so the leaked affair video is used to publicly destroy the characters.

To me, it’s narratively ridiculous.

First, because the story had already given them consequences without needing to punish them.

And second, they could have simply sued the police for leaking the video.

Boom. You screwed yourself.

They might have ended up even better off.

If you resolved the murder plot with intelligence and logic, the characters’ final arcs deserved the same level of sophistication—not a last-minute dose of public humiliation.

For a moment, that decision turns an elegant psychological drama into a manipulative piece of cheap melodrama.

But it is one misstep in a script that accomplished something extremely difficult for eight episodes:

It turned a chain of stupid decisions into an extraordinarily intelligent story.

5/5 for the entire season.

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Tsundere female, Docile male, frenemy ,heartbreak then happy ending

When I find myself really liking a drama & then it takes a nose dive, the frustration at the lost potential brings out the side of me that rants. This is one of those dramas- the ranting is in the spoilers, but first the non spoilers:
High school dramas are not my fav genre but I needed a break from another serious long drama so, this mini drama seemed a nice choice . I have to admit it made me smile. I was surprised that it turned out to be sweet-
UNTIL it went from 9 stars to 7.5 because:
they gave us a lame reason for a full stop to a relationship.
They did give us a happy ending ,But it was hard to forgive the oldest trope (& one of the dumbest), the mis named "noble sacrifice" conflict.
The kind where you want to slap a main character for thier idiotic choice ,(which you know they will recant!).
This drama give us a modern main male character- placid & biddable, like a calm loyal dog. We sort of give him a free pass for awhile as he is also younger than the female lead, BUT this trend of a passive male lead that the seemingly cold female lead can & will push around (& he will just takes it) is more feminist fantasy than truly romantic.
That got a small demerit point but the real problem I had with this drama is:

*****Spoilers*****

That the lead female chooses to let her jealous friend to dictate he love life is absurd. Yes the two friends had known each other a good many years, but the one friend was not a true friend & pretty much everything she said & did made it obvious that she wanted everything her friend had regardless of how it would leave that "friend".
Giving in to such demands instantly made the female lead even more undeserving of the male lead. & our sympathy for her plummets. That she turns the male lead down was ridiculous, yet We are supposed to forgive her because the male lead will forgive her ....but the warm feeling towards the leads as a couple is kinda ruined & you can't help but dislike the main female.
It's ludicrous that the female lead will let her "old" Ex boyfriend hang around even when she won't consider being friends with her newest Ex.
For the female lead to agree to not date the guy her friend likes...knowing full well that the "friend" will try to date him & not spare her feelings is so obviously not what a friend would do or ask- it just takes WAY too long for the female lead to actually figure this out!
The going on a date with a person, having a great day only to break up with them at the end of the day...WHO actually does this ?! it's SO mean !

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AMAZING SHOW AND AMAZING CAST ❤️✨

I completely fell in love with the group, the synergy they have between the four of them, their charisma, humor, and personality. The show feels very human and natural, the music is fantastic, and the scenery is breathtaking. I can't complain about anything, it's well directed, it's entertaining, they are amazing! From Car the Garden, I can say that he's the one who made me laugh the most; his personality is unique and very real. As for Chae-min, I can only say that everything he does is perfect. As an actor, he's very good, but here he showed a super kind and friendly side without losing his charm. As for Dowoon, I found him super funny and entertaining whenever he spoke. Everything he said seemed so real, and he took good care of everyone with snacks and driving them around. And lastly, Tarzzan, I'm a DayOne and I watched this show because of him, he's my bias and I love him, his personality is charming, I love everything he does, but in the end I fell in love with the whole group!!! I'll end by saying WOW, the producers who were there recording are admirable, climbing those mountains with all the recording and sound equipment?! Amazing!

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Red Flag

Watching through the series. Little Jame I have some issues with the flip flopping. So indecisive asks then when givem what is asked for no longer wants it.
The story keeps changing and there are many twists and turns. Put.was the biggest twist.in more ways than one.

Ok this will be the spoiner. P Dan is more dangerous than Big Jane. Manipulative and causing trouble with his lies. My prediction is PbDan will be the shicker.in the final episode. But a waste of an episode with the amnesia so predictable and cliche.


P Dan was the real red flag. The two actord playing thr Janes had chemistry and made the story really good. Big Jane was really misunderstood.

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