I'm going to try and keep this review short and with only minor spoilers (so beware). Also, I suppose I should mention this is my first review ever.....O.O...Now I'm suddenly a tiny bit nervous. Anyway!....

Story:
From the very first episode, this drama had a special "air" about it. Usually, I don't find drama storylines to be unpredictable, but this one was a whirlwind of unpredictability! It was great! - However, I agree with the people who say the story went a little flat in the second half of the show; some parts felt like they fell off the good writing cliff, unfortunately. Also, there were some elements of the story that just didn't "click" for me, they didn't really make any sense and the progress of the storyline came to a halt. That was disappointing but not unforgivable.

Characters:
I liked all the characters and really felt for them. But I do have one bone to pick. I think the villains should have been given better, stronger motives than what was written. Ru Na, in particular, could have been an excellent villain if she had been given a better motive than just "I love my sister". I thought they were going to give her a different route than what she ended up taking. It made her appear one dimensional which was a shame.

Acting:
No complaints! I'm one of those viewers that doesn't understand the hate L got for his acting; I think he portrayed Dan really well!

Music:
BEAUTIFUL! This is one of the best soundtracks I've heard since Goblin.

Overall:
This drama turned out to be a lot more gorgeous than what I originally expected. It has a tragically beautiful feeling to it that will lure you in and keep you guessing. I highly recommend this drama if you haven't seen it yet!

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There were several things I liked about this drama and some things I didn't.

I don't know why, but it seems like infertility isn't discussed enough in media, so I was eager to give this story a chance. However, I put off watching it for a while because I thought it was going to be one of those useless "love square" stories, but surprisingly it wasn't what I expected.

So, starting with the things I liked about this show:

1) During modern times, I feel like people (particularly women) are somewhat shamed if they even think about wanting children. There's nothing wrong with not wanting kids but there's nothing wrong with wanting them, either. I think both sides of that coin should be respected. I liked how the main story presented this in a non-controversial way.

2) I liked how the drama showed that infertility affects men as well (and just as strongly). Honestly, this is probably my favorite part of the show.

3) There are characters at all stages of the themes explored (family, parenting, and in/fertility). Let me explain what I mean: the subfertile couple's journey, the main couple's struggles, a single mom AND a single dad, post-partum depression, abandonment. It touched on all of these without being unfair - it acknowledged that wrongdoing/desertion can be done by either parent, which is something I think society often forgets.

4) This is an extension of #3 that I wanted to talk about a little more: single parenthood. I find the relationship between Ha Ri and her mother (and the situation with Ha Ri's father) SUPER relatable and I thought it added extra depth to the story overall. At the same time, it's great to see some love and awareness shared for the struggles of a single father, too (I just really loved this, okay!).
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Now for the things I didn't like very much about this show:

1) The story maintained a nice balance for a while - but around the midway mark, unnecessary conflict seeped through. It felt like it was there just for the sake of cliche. I'm talking about the change in Jae Young. At first I could understand why he was acting like that, and it would have been fine, but I think the writer dragged that conflict out too long and it became too annoyingly cliche. However, I didn't dock points off for this because I liked how his character arc ended.

2) The story between Kang Eu Tteum and Hyo Joo wasn't needed. It's like the writer didn't know what to do with Kang Eu Tteum's character after a while and made something up. It didn't add anything to the story and served as filler. Blah.

3) Yi Sang's decision close to the end (I don't want to put a major spoiler here). I don't think I need to explain why I hate this. This cliche is getting old...just like all the others, I suppose.

4) NOT ENOUGH SCENES WITH DO AH!! SHE'S SO ADORABLE!!

Wrap-up:
It's a great drama! I highly recommend watching it if you haven't already!

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Best. Drama. Ever.

It would be an understatement to say that I loved this drama. It's just...WOW.

Story:
I enjoy stories that explore the hardships of life, but it usually comes with the price of something being portrayed inaccurately or unrealistically. This is usually fine, but let's face it - sometimes you want a story that truly embraces the themes of reality: love, loyalty/disloyalty, honesty/dishonesty, true friendship, depression, loss, betrayal, poverty, overall humanity (or lack thereof) in someone, and so on, without the coat of sugar. This drama explored all of these so perfectly that I can't describe it. I was expecting at least one cliche or a predictable ending - but I didn't get any of those. And just as an aside here: the Psych. major part of me LOVED this, too.

Also, this is probably the first drama I've watched where I was heavily invested in the side stories. I was eager to know how they all ended - and I wasn't disappointed in the end.

I don't think I've ever cried so much over a drama.

Characters:
I'm not one to get super attached to characters, but my gosh I got attached to these so quickly! I even felt bad for characters I wouldn't usually care for, which is a difficult thing to achieve in a story for me. The backstories are unique and I felt like there was a twist to some of them that made them feel a bit original. Also the relationships/connections between characters are some of the best I've watched in a while and they really tug at the heart strings.

I always like to find that one extra favorite thing in dramas, and in this one it would have to be the relationship between the two leads. It's hard to find people who truly care about you in the way that is portrayed here. I like the beauty of it.

Acting:
No complaints!

Music:
Outstanding and emotional - one of the best drama OSTs

Wrap-up:
This turned out to be more of a thought piece than a thorough review, but hey some things are too extraordinary to explain. If you're putting off watching this, WATCH IT NOW.

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Beautiful Drama!

Words can't express how much I love this drama. I went without sleep because I just couldn't stop pressing "next episode."

Pros:
+ EXTREMELY HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS! Everyone has pointed this out by now, but yeah, I want to add my support for this. The relationships are probably the best written ones ever in a drama and it was certainly one of my favorite things about it. The interactions/emotions were realistic. Some screenwriters/people need to take notes... -_-

+ Realistic characters. The characters have realistic personalities, they didn't act like they were trying to fit into a certain stereotype - LOVE IT.

+ Moments of sweetness, sadness, and hilariousness. This drama has a nice balance. I was hit in the feels A LOT and I enjoyed every minute of it.

+ No misunderstandings that drag on and on and on and on and on and on and on.

+ It wasn't as much like DOTS as I thought it was going to be. To me, that's a good thing.


Cons:
- I really really really did not like the story arc with the sisters.....just NO. It was the only thing in the show that irked me so bad and it added nothing to the story.

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Might not be your cup of tea if:

* you don't like stories that focus on the careers of the characters. This show contains a lot of scenes that are dedicated to the careers of the characters. For some people this is a drawback, but I personally enjoyed it.

* you don't like stories that follow multiple couples. I usually hate this because it's never really written well, but the couples in this drama are sweet and adorable, it was a plus for me. :P

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HIGHLY underrated!

I honestly don't know why this show gets such a bad rap. I almost didn't watch it because there were so many mixed feelings about it from people. I'm glad I just jumped right into the story to see how good it was for myself.

Things I really liked about this show:

Comedy:
Some parts were really friggin' hilarious.

Social Commentary:
Nothing better than pointing out how difficult it can be to come from a lower-class upbringing. I dig seeing this in storytelling a lot, never gets old. Most of all, I relate.

Mental Illness:
As a psych. student, I enjoy psych. stuff incorporated into the things I watch. It's not always accurate, but I like it nonetheless (there are conditions, of course). But the obsessive-compulsive disorder/phobia in this drama was well portrayed, I would say. It showed how extreme and how mild symptoms can get. I also liked the fact that it didn't just disappear because of plot reasons (it still had a plot element to it but not overdone, imo). Even at the end of the drama, Sun Gyeol was still trying to recover from it. To me, this was just really refreshing to see in the storytelling.

Morality:
The whole conflict wasn't anything original, honestly, but it just fit into the story and I liked how it was depicted with this theme in mind.

Relationships:
I'm not going to lie, this part will frustrate the hell out of you before the show ends, but at the same time I found it realistic. People don't always know what they want and go back and forth on how they re/act toward something or may have internal struggles about a person/place/thing: it's a normal part of life. This is what I loved most because each character had their own story and you really feel for them. Sometimes that empathy simply comes from how they interact with other characters. Good writing.

Sure, there are hundreds of dramas that cover these topics/themes, but I just really enjoyed how this particular drama handled them. Was the story perfect? No. Were the characters perfect? No. Could some things have been done in the story differently? Of course. But at the end of the day, I loved the show for what it was.

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The first thing you should know about this drama is that it is very emotionally heavy. So, if you don't enjoy sad/somewhat depressing stories, you might want to pass on this one. On the flip side, if you don't mind tragic stuff, then ABSOLUTELY give this show a watch!

Story:
The premise isn't something original, but I didn't feel like I was watching something super cliche. I was invested from the very first episode (which is unusual for me). The way the series was put together (writing, cinematography, editing) from the very first scene is just breathtaking to me; I can't say that I've seen a drama story unfold in such a beautiful way. The story never fell flat at any point and it was unpredictable for the most part. The side stories fit naturally into the main narrative, I never had the urge to skip anything. Endings can make or break a drama for me and I gotta say that I was satisfied with this one. I appreciated the realistic feel and subtle ambiguity that was left at the end; not many writers can pull this off in a way that is natural; I was impressed.

Something else I noticed was how the first part of the show is mostly from the POV of Cha Young and slowly transitions into Kang's POV as the story progresses - that's one of my favorite things about this show.

Characters:
Loved them all! As the show progressed, I found myself caring about characters I didn't like at first. The side characters add to the story better than I anticipated - that's a plus. I liked the character development of the main characters the most (particularly Joon's character arc) because it was hard to tell just how they were going to react to the challenges presented - I was surprised at times, actually. I don't want to get into spoilers here, so this is where I'll leave it.

Acting:
10/10 - No complaints! Everyone was great, especially in the emotional scenes (and there are a lot of them).

Music:
I added the OST tracks to several of my Spotify playlists. That should tell you how I feel about the music. :P

Overall, if you like emotional melodrama stories (with medical and cooking aspects, as well) and touching side stories with excellently written characters, then yeah, WATCH IT.

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Side note: this was my first time watching this writer's work - I'm officially a fan now.

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Wasted potential but not unwatchable...

This wasn't a bad drama, just not overly great. What really sucks is that it had obvious potential. The beginning provided a nice setup for the story and characters and it left you wondering what was going to happen next, but after a while, I felt like nothing that happened really mattered at all.

Pros:

+ I liked all the characters. Everyone was given their own unique(ish) story and interactions with each other. It was cute and at times hilarious. The innocent sweetness/awkwardness between all the couples was adorable to watch.

+ The setting is original.

Cons:

- The vagueness of just about everything in this story KILLED ME. The story felt odd at times simply because of how vague it was.

- The story focused too much on what really did not matter in the end. It leads you to believe that some things that happen/happened or people that appear at some point are a lot more important than they really turn out to be. It's somewhat irritating and makes a great deal of the show pointless.

- At the end, some loose ends weren't tied, leaving me to ask "wtf" to myself.

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I don't want to get into spoilers, so I'll leave my main highlights with just what is listed above. Despite its many flaws, I'm really glad I gave this drama a chance. It's one of those I might binge watch again on a rainy day.

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