I’m going to start with the positive. Beautiful OST and amazing casting - because this group of actors, including the younger supporting cast that have heavy chunk of the dialogue were absolutely hands down incredible. This is the saving grace foe this show, the only saving grace.

Of course I’ll give a shout out to the stunning location they set this, and the cute doggy that low key rolls through this drama like a boss.

However, what a gigantic mess this script is. FL starts out a timid doormat of a mess, with everything going wrong for her in her life. I was hoping amidst all of that nonsense this was setting a stage for a great rediscovery of herself and a massive character arc. Half way thru, I’m thinking, nope we are no further forward in that regard. In fact what we got in small town Korea was the most toxic behavior possible. We have enabling of addiction, we have enablers of violence, enabling cover ups of potential murder, we have emotional manipulation of people perceived as weak, and lets why not just for fun pad all of that out with violent bullying (with victim blaming by the resposible adults), drunks up the wahzoo and psychological trauma that has been left untreated. Shoddy police work and lets just say, I hope when people claim Korea os nothing like these dramas, that they are correct. Because that is surely no advertisement for Korea or its people, and I certainly don’t think their cultural issues are going away when that kind of behavior is promoted as acceptable in their media.

This contiues and just when you hope it might have been an annoying one time only deal-you have another and then another toxic scenario. Perhaps the writers delight in all of that stuff. The result was that it overwhelmed the sweet and wholesome slow-burn romance (that will frustrate you if you need more from your romance) and the bonding of the friendships that develop here. It ends satisfactorily-for the most part. But I feel like the ratings are far too high for this considering the content. Hometown Cha Cha Cha did this better, similar feel, but better script. The actors deserved better than that, because they truly pulled out all the stops.