This drama is messy. "You Are My Spring" is a drama that tries to do too much. It's part thriller and part romance and although they try to link the two it never feels like one cohesive drama. The first few episodes got me hooked. I loved the suspense, the chemistry between the leads, and the cliffhanger episode endings. I didn't love the overload of internal monologues and "deep" dialogue, but I expected the story to pick up the pace and become more and more exciting as it progressed. I was wrong. I ended up becoming more bored and confused, and eventually annoyed. Maybe the dialogue feels different when you actually know Korean but instead of being moved and inspired by it, it felt forced and heavy-handed. I forced myself to finish hoping it would all make sense in the end.

It didn't.

Yoon Park gave the most interesting performance in this whole drama. I won't say much more than that but I will mention that this part of the story needed way more screentime. His part of the story falls under thriller and it honestly felt like they abandoned that part of the plot almost completely about halfway through in order to focus more on romance. The romance is pretty cute for the most part, at least in the beginning. I'm a fan of Seo Hyun Jin and her quirkiness, and Kang Da Jung is the kind of role I like to see her play. She is matched with Kim Dong Wook as awkward Joo Young Do a psychiatrist who analyzes everything at first glance. Their chemistry is ok, but their cute innocent banter got old quickly. Eventually, their romance becomes the main focus of the drama but don't confuse that with anything actually happening. It's still a lot of inner thoughts and metaphors. It was the equivalent of watching two people read their diaries aloud and hoping they will at least hug, or listening to two awkward teenagers recite repetitive poems, even though they are both grown.

The other characters had a cute friendship thing happening but most of them were not that interesting or fully developed. I loved Young Do's BFFs and thought they were great, and I loved Da Jung's mom, but the other characters were just a step above filler. I wish the other romances were either given more time or cut out completely. I wish Ji Seung Hyun wasn't gypped out of a potentially hilarious relationship just to make him pine away for someone far less interesting. Also, the celebrity scandal trope is so tired I cringed whenever that was the focus, although Nam Gyu Ri as self-centered Ahn Ga Young definitely grew on me. She reminded me a lot of a friend I have. lol.

So... would I watch this again? Maybe. I know that's surprising since I disliked it so much but It's driving me crazy that after 16 episodes I have no idea what this drama was supposed to be about. I keep wondering if I missed some major clues in the beginning. Maybe I dozed off during dialogue that actually had something to do with the plot. Maybe it will be less torturous during a second viewing because I wouldn't be waiting in vain for the story to become exciting again.

Overall, this drama was disappointing. Instead of an interesting psychological thriller or an against all odds love story, I feel like I was left with the start of a potentially good drama-filled in with "deep" conversations, metaphorical snow, too many flashbacks, and product placement overload, and characters talking for way too long to themselves. Any themes about forgiving the past, or finding the will to live and love were overshadowed by the sound of me yawning. Yes, curiosity about these character's stories kept me watching, but I had to get all the way to the end to finally admit to myself that I didn't even care about them anymore. I associate spring with growth but my feelings about "You Are My Spring" withered and died.