Critiques/Opinions
I can see why this show has good ratings;
1. the acting is so on point that you start to believe the situations.
2. The premise of the show (though a complete cliche of a kdrama) keeps you intrigued and doesn't try to sugarcoat the story to keep it a happy-go-lucky "everything's going to work out" feel.
3. The plot never contradicted itself (been seeing that a lot lately) and nothing really felt forced upon you throughout the show that you just had to accept (example: the leads can't be together because of something trivial that doesn't even really matter anyways).
4. They kept the characters true to themselves (example: the antagonist doesn't just suddenly have a complete 180 in their attitude to change the outcome of the story).
5. They didn't ruin cliffhangers by changing the situation at the beginning of the next episode.

With all that being said... I found myself struggling to finish it near the end. The story progresses at a moderate pace, then near the end it slows to a crawl. You can completely predict everything that's going to happen (Now I don't know if this is just a product of watching too many K-Dramas but it felt worse than usual), so it gets to the point where you just want to skip through it. I guess the last few episodes being that way really killed it from being perfect for me.

Raitings
Acting: 10/10
Writing: 6/10
Tear meter: 1/10 (Only one remotely sad part)
Overall: 7/10