I was trying to figure out why this drama feels different than any other tragedy and why it just rubbed me the wrong way. And I'm going to try and explain my low rating. The thing is when you are rating a piece you rate not only based on your overall experience but also on how it works as the genre it claims to be.

This one started out so well I had such high hopes and all the cast did their job perfectly, so why doesn't it stand out as something that I'd recommend? It is a melodrama after all, it's supposed to be sad, so what went wrong?

Okay, first off I love tragedies and melodrama. If you don't already know. So I'm not rating low because it made me sad. I'm rating low because it made me sad FOR NO REASON.

I'll try to explain.
Yes this drama is sad in the worst way and the it's realistic and reality can be ugly.

There were things that bothered me at first, especially the BLATANT misogyny. The daughter was supposed to cook and do the house work that sort of thing while Minho could sleep all day and drink and no one told him to do the laundry, WHY? But I wanted to give the writers the benefit of the doubt I figured it would be part of the story. So, despite being aggravated I stuck to it and watched the whole thing. And guess what? The misogyny was NEVER CORRECTED. Even the daughter who's supposed to be this progressive chick who's having an affair with a married man didn't ONCE mention it! No! Nor did her brother ever step up like Dad we're millennials we don't do that or never once helped with the housework. He just was this super sweet guy with issues but not a bad person so why couldn't he do the damn laundry once in a while to help his mom or sister when he wasn't studying and didn't have a job?

Look, I get it. I still was on board like maybe even despite the misogyny something about the plot will make sense at some point. Let's overlook the misogyny for a good story and good content.

Now here's the thing.

My favorite stories are the ones where people choose love over everything else meaning they chose to be with family and correct their toxic behaviors if given a second chance. They work on the relationship.

But this was a story where those toxic behaviors were SO EASILY FORGIVEN, it made the entire experience feel like grueling torture. You sit through all that and you're left feeling cheated. Like, you promised me something heartfelt and deep and instead handed me turds. Hyperbole? Um, sit down through the grueling torture and then get back to me.

So the problem with the characters is they don't really understand their toxic behaviors are anything to fix! They're like oh so we all like to be jerks to each other because we had a terrible life but we're living the rest of it together because WE LOVE EACH OTHER SO MUCH. Which is clearly what the writers believe. They don't see these behaviors as toxic and something to work on they act like they just have to deal with it if they love each other.

So yes, it's a realistic account of a family's struggle with their own toxic behaviors but there's no correction of the behavior at all. Which again I realize that it's the reality for a lot of people because fixing toxic behaviors is not for everyone and not everyone can do it. But this family didn't feel like love felt more like codependency when the guy clearly said this one time his wife is dying and he doesn't feel sad but regret, WHAT?

Anyway so while I absolutely admire the actors this didn't work for me. There's no real point to the misery they put you through. And if you're watching it for Minho well he wasn't a major character in the sense he barely had a few scenes but he did such a great job so I feel bad for rating it lower because of the actors but it is what it is.