I am at a loss of words. The writer did a phenomenal job to write all the dialogues with perfection. I am used to Chinese,Thai or Korean shows. Many a times the words are fillers and have nothing to do with the story line. Here every spoken word or gesture meant something. There were lots of extra characters but apart from the mom and the side FL, I didn’t dislike anyone. The main theme, metamorphosis of the ML instead of the FL was so refreshing. It was quite realistic to see the insecurities of the male lead and his longing. For the FL, I absolutely adored her positivity and optimism. In many ways she was as dejected as the ML but her belief in humanity gave her the contagious germs of contentment and trust. Everyone around her felt the same after meeting her.
The other amazing theme was no matter the time lapse, the leads were very faithful without realizing what they meant to each other. It’s hard to find dramas with this much sincerity.
For the side couple, I loved how the purity of the girl fought the demons of the SML. Again, it was a pleasure to watch an older man with a younger girl. Normally all age gap themes are Noona shows.
The 20 episodes felt like watching a peaceful stream. 14 and onwards were a stream that went through steep meandering. The focus changed from main theme to all the side characters. It seemed like a season 2 of the first part but the 2nd season was well executed. To me it felt even shorter as a lot of the time was dedicated to the FL’s mom and her so called protégé daughter. I have no sympathy for characters like these who make other people’s lives miserable year after year till eons. One fine day they become angels and the reel life shows them as characters who should be forgiven and even loved more than every other character of the show. The mom reminded me of the Korean tv moms who ditch their kids and come back at adulthood after brutally damaging the childhood of their kid. The kid had been longing for them and now will even feel bad for the MIA mom that it must’ve been a hard choice for her to leave. Good for them but I don’t like selfish characters(just my opinion) so yup anything after episode 14 still connects with the main theme but is a distant off shoot. Oh the trio of cute bad guys… what was that? So so so cute. Looked like a very faithful Humpty Dumpty. Btw His two minions wore these coolest white pants with cheetah face, bro I want that pant- ha ha.
The backdrop was beautiful. The small mountainous beach town looked pretty in every scene. The scallion(green onion) picking, seaweed farming and the ring making scenes were unique and a treat to watch.
All in all I enjoyed the well written closure to every character. The Leads were excellent actors who did justice with their written characters. Their chemistry was amazing and romantic scenes were well performed. Overall this was a heart warming wholesome treat.