Let's be honest here, straight quick cut to the core, and admit the elephant in the room.

This is NOT a psychological drama.

This is a schoolgirl romance with a psychological hook. Claiming otherwise is simply trying to elevate it from the squishy mess it is into something greater. It also devalues true psychological dramas that honestly explore the dynamics of the human mind and the foibles, toiling, and clogs that come with it.

Do we ever peer into Yoo Jung's (Our Male lead played stoically by Park Hae Jin) mind and deal with the mess it is? No we do not. Instead we get ruminations on his actions from our female lead Seol (Kim Go Eun being as blank as possible) as she tries to decide if he is good or not. Then once she comes to a decision it changes to deciding if she is okay with who he is and rationalizing everything he does so she can love him....because I guess she just decided too.

The series never explains, explores, and makes plausible Seol's switch of thinking the main lead is a duplicitous jerk, to being her secret boyfriend. It just happens and with neck breaking speed. We then spend the rest of the series discovering all the horrible deeds our main lead has done, watch him do more horrible deeds, and become victimized by his horrible deeds and never hold him accountable for any of it.

Yes, thrilling isn't it?

While we move along this trek our Seol becomes quite tainted. She begins to play into his schemes willingly. She learns to become duplicitous and watch as her boyfriend's designed fates terrorize and destroy those around her. She feigns innocence and even helps console victims of his plans all the while knowing who was behind it all. She always, always forgives him for everything he does no matter how severe it is, who it is against, the reason for doing it, and even when it affects her.

Even when we discover he may or may not be behind unleashing a stalker on her that has terrorized her for over a year, taken photos, posted stories online, physically accosted her, and followed her home, as well as gotten other classmates to attack and degrade her and work against her by manipulation......all is good.

She will stand by him always and forever...............never leave...........always will understand him...........it goes on and on.

Saying this is a college romance is a very hard stretch. It is, AT MOST, on the developmental level of high school. Bella Swan and her Edward could replace our leads and the only difference would be White People for Koreans.

Our almost mid 20 something lead Seol is a puritanical virgin who has never been kissed and is so untouched that even holding hands is effectively an X rated affair. She is controlled by every person she comes into contact. Has no self actualization or agency, and though lives on her own, works multiple jobs, wins scholarships, and is a top student, she can't seem to figure out which way is up in any decision of her life.

How much stronger is its ties to high school over college? Well, when she "runs away from home" (Because she JUST moved back and had been living on her own, but whatever) a character comments "What is she going through puberty?" Which to be fair is a question I asked myself. Later, near the end, she receives a pat on the head as a character proudly proclaims "You've matured." This I was willing to go to the mat and argue against, but we were almost done by this point anyway. And when she goes through a break-up you will find her bed ridden for weeks unable to speak like Bella flipping the pages of an empty diary before bay windows.....the links are very strong my friends.

Our male lead, Yoo Jung, is a handsome rich empty vessel for everyone to swoon over. Literally. He spends most of his screen-time staring blankly at people and then smiling at our female lead, or being angry and plotting his deeds with a scowl on his cellphone. That is his character in a nutshell. "But, he is a sociopath, that is how he is drawn," the fans scream. "Leave him alone!!" And I answer, "No he is a psychopath, there is a difference, and yippee for us that is how he is drawn. So exciting."

One cannot help but think of You (Originally on USA Lifetime Network then continued as a Netflix original). While it is western show, yes, it is also a college romance with a psychological hook. There are deep parallels here and one can easily see a female lead who is real, smart, and flawed that falls for a psychopath. Except no one here is an empty vessel. Our psycho Joe is charismatic, sexy, sweet, and funny. Our female is layered, intoxicating, seductive, and mature. It explores the minds of these characters and those around them in deep drilling dives and amasses a unique tapestry that is riveting to move through.

And unlike this tale, no one kids themselves and roots for Becks to end up happily-ever-after with her psycho Joe. No, no. no, no.

Yet here, there are pages of comments swooning over Yoo Jung as a character and how he is an anti-hero, a non- trope character in a refreshingly different story. That the show reduced his screen time too much by the end...etc....showing a demographic, culture, and maturity difference between those that watch CITT and think it great to those that watch You.

Lets also be clear, Yoo Jung is not an anti-hero. Nothing he is doing is more than his petty revenge over being made angry. He lets off rapists, blackmailers, and the like if they are his friends or ask for his forgiveness. He has no remorse for any action he does and can reason that every negative affect from any of his plans are the fault of the victim. There is no justice he is fighting for. No wrong he is trying to right. He is just a soulless man that likes a girl and anyone that messes with him or her he will destroy. Again, that is a psychopath, not an anti-hero.

As far as not being a trope, its laughable. There is an entire genre of manga dedicated to cold, calculating, assholes, as the main lead who terrorizes the female lead before they fall in love with each other. This is just one of those stories on repeat. It is a single big trope and does nothing to move beyond it.

As for the side characters go, the most important are the twins. A brother In Ho and sister In Ha that are almost "adopted" siblings to our male lead. In the past there was a falling out between the male twin In Ho and Yoo Jin, that still brings their blood to boil upon sight. Now I am not going to talk much about these two because they are better drawn than anything else and deserve their own dissection. (Which this isn't the proper place.)

They are the highlight of the series. It is true, and many a comment admit to it. In Ho ends up as our second male lead and (because yes this is one large trope) a point in a love triangle. Although, honestly it is a pointless point, because our female lead never once even eludes to him being anything more than a friend almost on the same level as her own brother. As so many of these shows, the triangle, is a triangle in name only, and not in actual execution.

In ho proves a more interesting character by far than Yoo Jin, and Seo Kang Joon's heartfelt charismatic delivery quickly and effortlessly eclipses our main lead. It isn't Park Hae Jin's fault, his character is just that badly created. It didn't help that yes his screen time does get much shorter the longer we are in the series. Because, again, his character is extremely one note.

This doesn't become a 2nd lead syndrome diagnosis. Never once do I want In Ho with our female lead. NOT FOR A SINGLE A SECOND. The only thing I want for this character is to find a better story to go be in far away from everything else here. He proves himself the MPV, and I already have Kang Joon's MDL page up to find additional dramas with him, as this was my first taste.

By the end of the series you will come across a serial rapist that is never punished and with our friend group to the very end. You will meet 2 misogynistic stalkers. A "Single White Female" life copier of our female lead. A mooching alcoholic senior whose voice is as annoying as his characters constant victimizing of those around him. And a laundry list of extras that are there just to have additional voices to berate and degrade the leads when need be or be victimized by the designs of our male lead.

Soel will lose what little soul she has and be the wettest of blankets. She will end up in life threatening situations but hold-fast to her true love even through he creates the very situations endangering her. Our second male lead will be blamed for everything and anything that happens, no matter what, well because that is what his character is supposed to do. And any respect you might of had for Soel gets sucked dry when she discovers the truth of the 2nd male leads injury to his prodigal piano playing hands. Its incredibly sad that she accepts this and wraps her arms around the male lead and says" how hard it must have been for to have all those emotions and no outlet." Its even worse when the second male lead apologizes by the end for his own hands being crushed while the psychopath walks away somehow as the morally good guy.

How, I dunno, because everyone wants him to be dreamy and the winner even though there is no excuse for what he has done.

5.0/D+, 2 1/2-Stars. Lacking and filled with flaws. Die Hards will likely still love it, just because.