Not good...

Well, it's obvious for everyone that Do Jin Woo is the worst part about this drama, every second Jin Woo appeared on screen it felt revolting. In fact, you may include Jin Woo and Seol Ah plot line as a whole in general. I highly doubt anyway would like Seol Ah ending. Looking at what the writer did to Jin Woo and Seol Ah plot line and looking at her previous works, I'm starting to see a pattern. Is it safe to assume it's a reflection of her own life?

It's not like the drama didn't have other problems. The drama was interesting for the first few episodes prior to the 9-years time skip, it gave off promising vibes with good build up then became utterly soulless, monotone and even got hit with a massive downgrade in overall quality. Maybe about 90% of the drama was uneventful, things kept going in circles with little to zero progression.
The writing was straight up bad and inconsistent. Some parts you can notice the writer is trying to create some logic but most of the time the writer end up doing the exact opposite. Most of the side stories were weak due to the lack of investment in liking any character, since none of them stands out anyway. This also made the size of the cast feel smaller than it is.

The ending as well was flat, lukewarm and lacked a meaningful conclusion to any character.
Chung Ah and Joon Hwi ending was too quick, while the other characters got a "whatever bs" kind of ending. It's really a shame what this drama ended up being since the beginning was too good, a massive bait and switch tactic.

If you can't stand single digit IQ characters then you should avoid this drama.
2.5/10

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Great first half, abhorrent second half!

First half (1-28): Great Glorious Golden Gloria! Lively characters that flow and bounce off each others very nicely. Doesn't look or feel like other generic long running format dramas. Jazzy with a style and a spoken personality. The first half was destined for greatness. No triangle/square? I was jazzing! Amazing performance by Bae Doo Na, I've seen most of her movies but this is the first time seeing her in a drama. I couldn't get the song out my head!

Second half (29-50): sucked ass royally!! The biggest flippity flop out there. They sucked the life out of the drama and killed any potentials. No more music, characters got dull and one dimensional, turned to a tasteless washed up melodrama. Bae Doo Na became a one-facial expression actress whispering into the mic barely audible, any personality she had before is now gone. The events such as the retaliation and both couples' relationships issues kept going in a repeating cycle until the last episode. There was some serious insane stretch for the last 10 episodes, almost zero content. I refuse to believe it's the same writer.

Lee Jong Won, a despicable looking actor playing a despicable character in a despicable role. It's even the same case with his other roles, playing as the despicable man. Hard to stomach his presence and this drama is no exception.

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Nakayama Miho

Update: I watched and wrote my comment a few days before the news broke out. I'm in utter disbelief upon hearing the news of Nakayama Miho passing away at the young age of 54. During the past couple of weeks I went into a binge-watch of all her projects from the 80s and 90s, she was a truly striking, talented and fun actress that gave a unique signature to all the projects she's been in. It's unfortunate what has happened and she will be missed dearly. Rest in peace, mama idol!

The drama mirrored the reality of its time with idols culture, ironically, nothing changed since the 80s. Given the setup, the formula was pretty clear with how things were going to be laid out. Each episode gave a focus to one of the characters while cycling through some jokes. Most of these episodes were alright in general but some of the running jokes lasted a bit too long. Take for example the constant interruption of the married leads' 'first night alone' which lasted for several episodes. In fact, they never showed that the leads were actually just sleeping together even after marriage, aside from being together in a bedroom. The female lead's age probably had something to do with that. Instead of wasting time on that and other similar things, they could've gave a reasonable showcase to how they met, fell in love and decided to marry. Anyway, the drama had good dynamics between the characters, nostalgia inducing OST and 80s vibes so it was decent enough.

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Mama wa Idol Reboot

Update: I watched and wrote my comment a few days before the news broke out. I'm in utter disbelief upon hearing the news of Nakayama Miho passing away at the young age of 54. During the past couple of weeks I went into a binge-watch of all her projects from the 80s and 90s, she was a truly striking, talented and fun actress that gave a unique signature to all the projects she's been in. It's unfortunate what has happened and she will be missed dearly. Rest in peace, mama idol!

Following the success or appeal (?) of Mama wa Idol (1987) the leads returned for another run, they even brought some of the side cast like the neighbor who still have her eyes on the male lead. In fact, the entire thing felt like a carbon copy of its predecessor, from the cast to the setup, story, dynamics, characters, jaded jokes, setting and production. They were seriously trying too hard to make it as similar as possible without offering anything new. Nakayama Miho is still trying to be a mother of children not of her own while suffering from the same interrupted intimacy trope in every episode. I couldn't find a single thing that might nudge this over Mama wa Idol, they should've aimed to improve over or at least not repeat the same mistakes.

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SUIKA!

This slice-of-life drama was a quirky concoction of midlife crises, emotional constipation, and nostalgia. It’s not going to set your pulse racing or redefine the genre, but it got enough charm to keep you interested, for the most parts. The story follows Motoko, a 34-year-old woman whose life got a kick in the pants when her friend absconded with 300 million yen. Then, there was a sexually frustrated manga artist, a melancholic professor, and an emotionally stunted young landlord. It was basically the setup for a comedic entanglement, but instead, you get slow-burning introspection with the occasional dash of the familiar Japanese absurdity. There’s something hypnotic about watching these women fumble their way to self-discovery, finding happiness in their mundane fractured lives. It had this warm nostalgic glow all over it but that couldn't save it from some inconsistencies and shortcomings. Particularly with its 2nd half where the drama already exhausted most of the personal stories around the housemates and what left was a lot of emptiness. There was an opportunity to dedicate an episode for the young landlord since she was the fourth wheel in the dynamic. Suika was the kind of drama that doesn’t try too hard to impress, and somehow that was its biggest charm. It wasn't revolutionary, but if you’re in the mood for a contemplative drama with a few laughs and a lot of heart, this one might be worth it.

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Surprisingly Good

At the surface, the drama explored the abuse cases as expected from reading the synopsis, however, the rabbit hole was much deeper than initially thought. Each episode peeled one layer after another with more haunting revelations up until the last episode. I was worried we would be presented with a superficial showcase of some traumas but the drama actually took its time with each of leads' struggles and constructed a solid story. Although it went off the rails a little bit at the end but nothing too outrageous. I would've hoped if the ending was more grounded but one can look at it serving a theatrical over-exaggeration for the final act. Moreover, the constant jumping back and forth between different periods could've been done better. The side abuse cases didn't hold up compared to what the leads were going through nor did they blend well with the story. Aside from the intense cruelty, that one menacing soundtrack caught my attention. It's the same soundtrack that was used in Silent Hill 2 (White Noiz) which is strange because it's not the same composer. It definitely gave the drama a unique signature that was absolutely chilling whenever it played, though they almost didn't use it in the last couple of episodes.

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Inconsistencies Hell

Amazing first episode that was masterfully crafted to kick start the story and prepare it to venture in all kinds of directions. There was a slight decline in the writing moving forward but it kept holding its own weight for awhile. That prison warden was quite the character. The OST was pretty decent. There was also some glaring inconsistencies like the alcoholic father suddenly becoming sober just to get to the next point in the story. However, the drama hit a major unsalvageable road block. Specifically at the beginning of the last 1/3 of the drama. It turned the drama into cheap vapid melodrama diminishing any merits it previously established for the past 8 episodes. The ending was questionable at best, it didn't really allow for real conversations to be had. It's really unfortunate after it had a very solid run before flipping the switch.

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Fake Messiness

The drama started with enough intrigue to keep me curious for where it was heading. However, it quickly became apparent what type of drama this was going to be. Things were messy and over bloated with way too many plotlines that were forcefully connected to the mother's pregnancy to give the illusion of a grand story. Most of these plotlines didn't get the treatment they deserve and were brushed off hastily, take for example the younger daughter at school. On the other hand, the older brother story with the gang business and whatnot was just seriously stupid writing that didn't mix well with the overall story at all. The drama was also painfully filled with extreme cliches at every turn, scene and dialogue, which the Japanese consider mandatory for every 'family' drama. If we were to focus on the mother (and maybe eldest daughter?) then the drama is decent enough.

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Delusional Love

Surprisingly atrocious! To start, reading the synopsis would give you all the spoilers you need as it will play out exactly as suggested. Given the supposed 'moral' dilemma, the drama resulted to shifting genres at around episode 9 to diverge the attention from the characters' relationships when it reached a pivotal moment, which is why we ended up with a corporate corruption plot. This was the main reason why the plot crumbled under its own weight, because the writers couldn't follow through with what they created. Well, it was problematic from the beginning, there was simply little to no room to navigate such a set up for a story where the FL fell in love with her brother-in-law immediately after her sister's death. The plot wasn't particularly unique but other ones at least had a reasonable justification by utilizing a time-skip or concealed identity. All of that doesn't come close to the tone deaf ending where the entire cast were casually hanging out at the bar as the credit rolled.

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Love? Never

The drama’s main plot revolves around a woman whose one defining characteristic is being perpetually sad. Why is she sad? Who knows! The writers certainly didn’t seem to. Maybe because the men in her life are about as reliable as a dial-up internet connection, or maybe it’s because the script was clearly written by someone going through a mid-life crisis and decided, “You know what’s relatable? Pain. Just… constant, nonsensical pain.” Nothing really makes sense, it was unbelievably dull as everything kept going in empty circles through the same events. Every man and woman were interested in the leads for some reason. Breakup was an expected element in such a plot but it was seriously poorly executed. It's the type of breakup you might see in an anime at the first slight misunderstanding, justified by a cheap trope rather than proper character writing. Why would their love be so great? The leads romantic chemistry has all the fire and passion of a wet sponge, it just couldn't sell the viewers on the long distance relationship and love. The drama was just a bloated, meandering, self-indulgent slog that mistakes misery for profundity.

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Generic Lustful Men

Imagine a love triangle that’s less about romance and more about how spectacularly uncomfortable and contrived things can get. A plot that goes absolutely nowhere for a full fat 11 episodes. A blind man could recognize and see the outcome of this empty mess at first glance. It was unbelievably obvious from the beginning that Tsubasa will refuse to choose between the two. Well, it was also obvious this wasn't meant to be serious drama comedic, light and playful play on the given situation, however, the execution was the farthest thing from displaying such needed attributes. The storyline teetered between laughably implausible and downright tedious. It's a joyful love story, yet it lacked love, logic, joy or likable characters. The male characters were too damn one-dimensional, they make cardboard cutouts look like complex psychological studies. I've seen more emotional depth in a traffic report. All things considered, the dram was still not as bad as Nakayama Miho's other project "Suteki na Kataomoi (1990)".

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Dead End

This drama proved to be much worse than expected and ended up being my least favorite Nakayama Miho project thus far. It’s a 90s slog that moves at the pace of a drunken snail trying to cross a busy freeway. It got some charm buried under all the emptiness and shortcomings, but you’ll need an archaeological dig to find it. The plot was full of second-hand cringe distilled into indigestible form and the lack of chemistry was shocking and deadly with all of her male co-stars! The supporting cast fares slightly better but they were clearly there just to pad out the runtime. To be fair, it’s not all bad. The drama did occasionally capture the bittersweet pain of unrequited love but those moments were few and far between, and they were buried under so much fluff and filler that you’ll wonder if they were worth the effort.

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Fairies, innit?

For 100 episodes sitcom, it needed a bit larger cast with a few more plotlines. This is why there was some irrelevant guests episodes in the middle parts. After these parts, there was also a weird shift happening. They removed the canned laughter and promptly replaced the mother fairy with a grandmother with no valid explanation. The character replacement wasn't good and messed up the dynamic with the fairies since the grandmother had the opposite personality. Some other characters also promptly disappeared but with no replacement. Most of the material involving the younger cast members was mostly bad, however, the rest managed to make up for that. On the bright side, the twin brothers, fairies and Tae Hee had a good dynamic going on. Some running jokes were pretty decent. Cha In Pyo and Hwang Woo Seul Hye were a great choice to play their respective characters. The wrap up could've been better but it was decent as is.

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Too Sexy to Stop

Sexy, unique, provocative and silly. It's quite rare to have a drama with adult rating let alone a long running sitcom. What makes matter ever rarer than it already is, the consistency of the adult theming in a long running format. Usually, these type of shows drop the rating to +15 or something after a few episodes. Basically, the typical bait and switch tactic. The current video quality is super scuffed, unfortunately, I don't see this show getting a proper quality release as it was even neglected by its broadcasting network. Although it had a decent variety in stories and characters but it needed more consistent plotlines running from start to finish. It also needed a better introduction because it threw us right in with barely any introduction of the characters and setting. Anyway, while it had a handful of shortcomings but it offered something new and entertaining.

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Too Sexy to Stop

Sexy, unique, provocative and silly. It's quite rare to have a drama with adult rating let alone a long running sitcom. What makes matter ever rarer than it already is, the consistency of the adult theming in a long running format. Usually, these type of shows drop the rating to +15 or something after a few episodes. Basically, the typical bait and switch tactic. The current video quality is super scuffed, unfortunately, I don't see this show getting a proper quality release as it was even neglected by its broadcasting network. Although it had a decent variety in stories and characters but it needed more consistent plotlines running from start to finish. It also needed a better introduction because it threw us right in with barely any introduction of the characters and setting. Anyway, while it had a handful of shortcomings but it offered something new and entertaining.

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