I wrote notes down while watching this drama, but my overall thoughts came out a bit scattered! I guess I'll just preface by saying I really do love this drama, if my 10-star rating didn't make that obvious already.

This is easily my favorite family drama I have ever watched. Every episode gave me a reason to keep on watching, and on top of that, every episode felt like its own movie in a way, in terms of direction. I would say this is a more serious family drama, I watched most of it with my grandmother, who despises most comedic relief humor that is often found in family dramas, and she enjoyed the tone and pacing of this one a lot. I'm not saying that this drama doesn't have any lighthearted moments or parts that you might throw a chuckle at, but the drama leans towards a more melodramatic feeling. I think this is very fitting especially given the rather controversial topics that this drama covers. These topics were never treated as a joke or laughing matter by the writers and I really enjoyed that a lot. This drama was realistic but not in a way that was ever painful or felt like they were exploiting these topics for views, it was just tackling issues that exist in society.

Now, onto the characters. I loved all of the siblings in their own ways, Eunhee as the classic mediator middle child, Eunjoo as the cold yet misunderstood older sister, and Jiwoo as the youngest who tried to match both of his sisters. I thought the family dynamics were super realistic and profound. The parents storyline was interesting too, you could especially see how heavily their respective traumas had impacted how they carried themselves in their older age. You could tell how much they wanted to understand each other yet their past kept preventing them from moving forward. I will say, that the fathers character was probably the one I had the most problems with. I won't spoil too much, or rant, but he is certianly a tough character.

Also, for viewers that are fans of romance (like myself) rest assured, although the romance in here is slow-burn, it is very complex at the same time. Eunhee and Chanhyuk are now one of my favorite couples I've ever seen in a drama. I typically am not a fan of friends to lovers (unless it is done very well like here) And honestly, they are more like estranged friends to lovers if we're being honest but that made the angst even better since they had a somewhat ambiguous past. Their chemistry as friends is wonderful but you can always feel the romantic tension underlying, the soft will-they-won't they lingering in the background.

The twists and turns kept me watching as well, I enjoyed not knowing everything ahead and having to guess what was going to happen next. This was one of the perks of watching it pretty much spoiler free. it made each truth that much more gratifying once it was finally revealed.

I was actually upset to watch the last episode! I felt a sense of emptiness once I realized I would never see more content from these characters again (ahem, tVN if you ever want to make a spin off showing all of Eunhee and Chanhyuk's past, I'd sell my soul for that, I don't care if they look too old to be students!) On a serious note, this is a drama that I could see myself rewatching one day, and picking up on all the little things that I'm sure I missed the first time around. But the ending was satisying too. Overall, I love this drama and if you are considering watching it, give it a try :)