I absolutely love Song Joongki on this show... but then again, I love Song Joongki (SJK) in all his movies and dramas. But since watching episode 1 to the current episode 8, it is very clear that he is carrying most of the weight of this show. The 1st episode, the scene when he was in Italy was great. That was the 1st 10 minutes of EP. 1. The rest of EP 1 went downhill rapidly when he returned to Korea. Only the last 5 minutes was worth watching. In between, the show was filled with the most annoying characters - the noisy, irritating tenants of the building ("the Tenants") who are overacting in very silly slapstick scenes . The worst character is the female lead, who is overacting and extremely annoying. Both the female lead and the Tenants fail miserably at humour with their overacting - which is more suited for a variety show. It is surprising because the rest of the cast were good. Even the gangsters didn't overact and they executed their parts well. The cast from Wusang law firm were good and the Babel cast too (fake Chairman and real Chairman). It is hugely disappointing that the brilliant acting of SJK and enjoyable acting of the Babel cast, Wusang cast and Gangster cast were marred by the silly, overacting of the female lead and Tenants.
There seems to be light at the end of the tunnel - Episode 8 has redeemed the show. This episode focused mainly on SJK (the female lead faded to the background). All you need to do is fast forward and skip the scenes with the Tenants in Episode 8 in order to enjoy it. This episode focuses on SJK and Kim Sung Cheol. What a delight to watch SJK and Kim Sung Cheol (KSC) acting together. KSC's portrayal of his character was absolutely perfect. Because KSC's acting was brilliant, it made SJK's scenes with him such a delight to watch because SJK himself is brilliant throughout this drama. This is absolutely the best episode so far. There is hope yet for this drama, as long as they totally minimise the role of the Tenants and the female lead. At the very least they should drastically tone down the ridiculous overacting and silly slapstick antics of the Tenants and female lead. Yes, the genre is "dark comedy" but there is nothing funny at all in the way the Tenants and the female lead are portraying their characters. In fact, it is jarring on the nerves! Everyone else in the show are doing a good job to make this show enjoyable. And THANK YOU to Kim Sung Cheol for injecting a life-saving performance in this drama together with SJK. I am praying that the upcoming episodes have further delightful surprises like what we saw in Episode 8.