So I came out of this drama not too enthused, but my issues weren't with the main couple not ending up together. Because this was inspired by the song of the same name, it was pretty evident to anyone who made that connection that this would be the case and we knew from early on that BIJ and NHD wouldn't be endgame. There were a lot of other things about the ending, though, that made my feelings turn sour.

At the start of the drama, I was engrossed. It had a lot of charm and magic to it that motivated me to do things after watching an episode. I looked forward to it as a sort of end-of-week comfort where I could watch these characters strive to connect and grow and find themselves. Usually, I don't like youth dramas. In fact, I almost didn't watch this drama because of the 'youth' descriptors it had when it started airing and only really gave it a shot because I had a spare hour and nothing else to watch. But I surprisingly liked it. I liked the characters and their personalities, and though I really didn't care for any of the scenes where fencing was highlighted, I had fun. The side couple was easily the best part of the series, and what I appreciated about BYJ and NHD's relationship was just how good they were for each other and how, unlike a lot of romances that have been airing in recent years, they felt like they deserved each other. They built each other up and were each other's strength and support, and you could tell how much they genuinely cared about each other. I felt that if the drama decided to derail the ending of the song, it would have been earned.

It was the last 4-5 episodes where the magic died for me. The comedy was still fun but as the characters moved on from high school, everything felt bleak and miserable, like their lives were over. The issue with KYR's family that lasted, what, almost en entire episode? It felt unnecessary like they were wasting time and just trying to use it to form a rift between the main couple right as they were just getting together. We don't really get to see many scenes of NHD and BYJ dating happily before or after that incident. It was as though the drama only wanted to get them together in order to break them up as the song dictated, and that was one of the things that soured the experience the most for me. We spent twice as long agonizing over their breakup and how their relationship wouldn't work out as we did with them actually being together, and we spent even longer than that running around, trying to get them together in the first place. In the end, that disproportionate focus made their development just feel like a big waste of time. On top of that, the way the characters spoke made it feel like they thought their lives were already over the moment that they graduated. We had present-day NHD constantly talking about how carefree and happy she was back then and how it felt like they had forever, as though being an adult and having additional responsibilities meant that she couldn't enjoy her time anymore, which is probably the bleakest message I've seen from a drama in a long time.

By this point, the drama just wasn't fun to watch anymore. I sat on the last episode for a week before finally getting up the will to finish it, and I want my time back. I didn't enjoy it, and they just focused on the breakup itself. Wouldn't it have made more sense to dedicate some time to show how they got their lives on track and moved on? We heard about NHD getting married and retiring, but we never saw her husband and don't even know his name. We didn't see her fall in love again, or how this new guy was a better match for her than BYJ. We just saw that, hey, they had a kid together. He's apparently overseas on a business trip. Convenient. For BYJ, we just know that he took over NHD's mother's job and got his family back together, but we never see him in the present-day, either (I'll presume because they didn't want to recast him). Did he ever move on from NHD and fall in love with someone else? Does he have a new family, kids? Or is he just working and doing absolutely nothing else with his life? We don't really get to see many friends of his other than the ones he shares with NHD and that one guy from work, which is depressing, so it just feels sad to think about where he ended up.

Speaking of the present, was any of it really necessary? I don't think so. the actress who played NHD in the present, while pretty, didn't really feel like NHD. She felt a bit generic and was boring to watch on film, and I don't think it's really her fault. She just didn't have much to do. Her daughter was literally just there to introduce the diaries and barely has a unique personality, and in the present, we don't get to see any of the other characters because, again, they probably didn't want to recast them. Or they didn't put much thought into what they were doing now, so many years later. So if we don't get anything out of it, why is it there? We don't see how things have changed or what's happened over the years, which would be the only reason to add those modern-day scenes. Instead of adding those, I wish they used the time they spend on the modern scenes to instead give us some of that middle-ground of their relationship working before it collapsed, or some closure as to what happened to them after that breakup.

I'd also like to comment a bit on the breakup itself. As someone who was in a long-distance relationship for several years with someone who lived halfway across the world (and is now married to that someone), while I do understand their struggles, the scenes between them while they were apart and the slow-building frustration they had left me a bit... I don't know, exhausted? Separation like that is something that a lot of couples have to deal with, even more so now in today's day and age. I will concede that these days it's significantly easier to spend time with people across the world and long-distance relationships aren't as difficult as they would have been in 2001. But those issues being brought up in such extenuating circumstances as the aftermath of the 9/11 attack felt a bit... off, or cheap, or exploitative. Not being able to be with your SO because their work takes them all around the world is one thing, and I get being bitter about a relationship because of that, but in circumstances like that, knowing what BYJ was dealing with, I wasn't fond of the way NHD handled it the moment that he got back. I feel like relationship troubles should be put on the back burner when a tragedy like that is involved.

Do I disagree with them breaking up? No, not really. If she wasn't able to be supportive in that situation, then it's probably for the best. If he couldn't trust her with what he was going through and open up, then they weren't good for each other. But that's what feels so wrong to me. They WERE that supportive earlier on in their relationship before they ever started dating. They opened up to each other and were each other's strengths, and even when BYJ disappeared without a word to anyone, NHD still waited for him. So of all the ways for them to end their relationship, this way felt wrong. It didn't feel like them. If they realized they wanted different things out of a relationship and out of life and separated on good terms, that would suit this couple. But, I don't know... maybe it's just me. When the problems they encountered were so similar to what they overcame before, it soured the experience.

Overall, the last few episodes aren't really worth watching. They're not enjoyable and I found myself checking the clock multiple times, waiting for each one to end. They were too long and lost the spirit that the show started out with. Would I recommend the first 12 or so episodes? Yeah, definitely. But I wouldn't recommend the rest unless you don't have much else to do.

It had a lot of promise and spark, but I'm just not happy with it, and the issues I highlighted above soured the earlier episodes for me, so I don't think I'll ever pick it up for a re-watch. There are just too many good shows out there to spend time on one that didn't feel satisfying.