This review may contain spoilers
Good, but could have been better
I'm not going to lie, the first episode had me instantly hooked and intrigued and at first, the steady build up of intrigue and mystery surrounding the main character, Kang Yeo Joo, was veeery interesting.
By episode 5-6, my interest began to wane but I stuck it out, because to be honest the characters were entertaining enough and I was curious to see what this was building up to and the inevitable fallout that would follow. And to be fair... the final 3-4 episodes of the series delivers, and by the final episode I felt like I was in a jet plane compared to how fast the story was moving previously.
But... I wasn't satisfied. The final episode "attempts" to tie up (some) loose ends and wrap the story into a bow, but at the same time, so many plotlines are just dropped, glossed over and leave you wondering why they were ever introduced in the first place.
I think "pacing" is the biggest issue this story has. Don't get me wrong, the groundwork they lay before slowly peeling away the layers is fantastically done, but 80% of the show shouldn't be set up with the final episode making a mad dash for the ending. I almost felt like they were setting up for a season 2, but I don't know if that's something K-Dramas are generally known for.
I felt like more things could have been fleshed out. I felt like Yeo Joo's backstory left a lot to be desired. They basically just give lip service to the fact that her father cheated. Also, I don't understand why the Special Force Unit or whatever, was in her dad's pocket? Because he helped the president get elected? They kind of explained it away in another throw away line and thought we'd just move on with our lives.
I'm probably about to get a little nitpicky but I feel like I have to. What the fuck were those Special Forces guys doing with their lives ? Like, imagine if Bill Gates or something had the head of FBI using a large chunk of their resources to follow his children around. Like... huh? Why are these highly trained officers literally being treated like common security guards? And speaking of this special unit, I didn't understand the dad's (and by extension the Burn Guy's) motivation at all. He was going to kill his daughter but then decided not to? What the heck? There was just a lot of stuff like this going on. Plotlines that were presented but never really went anywhere.
Onto my next biggest gripe: the husband, Han Woo Sung. What the heck were the writers trying to do here? At first I thought it was going to be a sort of redemption story, like how even though he had cheated (multiple times), he still loved his wife and he would somehow come out on the other side a better person. I also thought they maybe they were gonna 180 twist and have it so, no, he never cheated at all! But.. no. It's established very early that hes a cheater. HWS and KYJ relationship was never put to the test even once. They were never in danger of having an argument, much less being pushed to the verge of breaking up. In fact, the way they string the audience along with the idea of KYJ finding out about the infidelity is criminal. I'm not even kidding but 80% of the cast knows shes being cheated on before she does.
And the thing that KILLS me is that... she can't find out on her own. This could have been explained away by her being blinded by her love for her husband, but she DOES suspect him of cheating and regularly investigates his goings on, so... huh? How did this total idiot out maneuver her for years and she not find out?
While I'm on the subject, what does he see in her? She treats him like an ugly stray cat that she occasionally decides to show interest in. I can count on one hand the amount of times she seemed to genuinely love her husband. I know she's a cold person by nature but, c'mon, no one wants to actually marry a block of ice.
Honestly, the story would have been SOOO much better if the cheating was revealed in the first half of the show. The husband added nothing to the plot to be honestly, and every plotline connected to him fizzled out, went nowhere and had me wondering why it was even in the story at all.
I would have much rather watched a SINGLE Kang Yeo Joo romance the officer who was posing as her assistant, with the rest of the plot happening exactly the same. And NOTHING would change. The husband's involvement in the plot is literally NOTHING.
Phew. This was more of a rant than a review but I feel it needed to be said. I could go on and on but those are my BIGGEST gripes and everything after this would just be my personal nitpicks.
By episode 5-6, my interest began to wane but I stuck it out, because to be honest the characters were entertaining enough and I was curious to see what this was building up to and the inevitable fallout that would follow. And to be fair... the final 3-4 episodes of the series delivers, and by the final episode I felt like I was in a jet plane compared to how fast the story was moving previously.
But... I wasn't satisfied. The final episode "attempts" to tie up (some) loose ends and wrap the story into a bow, but at the same time, so many plotlines are just dropped, glossed over and leave you wondering why they were ever introduced in the first place.
I think "pacing" is the biggest issue this story has. Don't get me wrong, the groundwork they lay before slowly peeling away the layers is fantastically done, but 80% of the show shouldn't be set up with the final episode making a mad dash for the ending. I almost felt like they were setting up for a season 2, but I don't know if that's something K-Dramas are generally known for.
I felt like more things could have been fleshed out. I felt like Yeo Joo's backstory left a lot to be desired. They basically just give lip service to the fact that her father cheated. Also, I don't understand why the Special Force Unit or whatever, was in her dad's pocket? Because he helped the president get elected? They kind of explained it away in another throw away line and thought we'd just move on with our lives.
I'm probably about to get a little nitpicky but I feel like I have to. What the fuck were those Special Forces guys doing with their lives ? Like, imagine if Bill Gates or something had the head of FBI using a large chunk of their resources to follow his children around. Like... huh? Why are these highly trained officers literally being treated like common security guards? And speaking of this special unit, I didn't understand the dad's (and by extension the Burn Guy's) motivation at all. He was going to kill his daughter but then decided not to? What the heck? There was just a lot of stuff like this going on. Plotlines that were presented but never really went anywhere.
Onto my next biggest gripe: the husband, Han Woo Sung. What the heck were the writers trying to do here? At first I thought it was going to be a sort of redemption story, like how even though he had cheated (multiple times), he still loved his wife and he would somehow come out on the other side a better person. I also thought they maybe they were gonna 180 twist and have it so, no, he never cheated at all! But.. no. It's established very early that hes a cheater. HWS and KYJ relationship was never put to the test even once. They were never in danger of having an argument, much less being pushed to the verge of breaking up. In fact, the way they string the audience along with the idea of KYJ finding out about the infidelity is criminal. I'm not even kidding but 80% of the cast knows shes being cheated on before she does.
And the thing that KILLS me is that... she can't find out on her own. This could have been explained away by her being blinded by her love for her husband, but she DOES suspect him of cheating and regularly investigates his goings on, so... huh? How did this total idiot out maneuver her for years and she not find out?
While I'm on the subject, what does he see in her? She treats him like an ugly stray cat that she occasionally decides to show interest in. I can count on one hand the amount of times she seemed to genuinely love her husband. I know she's a cold person by nature but, c'mon, no one wants to actually marry a block of ice.
Honestly, the story would have been SOOO much better if the cheating was revealed in the first half of the show. The husband added nothing to the plot to be honestly, and every plotline connected to him fizzled out, went nowhere and had me wondering why it was even in the story at all.
I would have much rather watched a SINGLE Kang Yeo Joo romance the officer who was posing as her assistant, with the rest of the plot happening exactly the same. And NOTHING would change. The husband's involvement in the plot is literally NOTHING.
Phew. This was more of a rant than a review but I feel it needed to be said. I could go on and on but those are my BIGGEST gripes and everything after this would just be my personal nitpicks.
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