Matthew Del Nevo

this is slow burning. but great acting, mature emotions, great script, and real art house directing. The characters were very different but you realized everyone was good in their own way (except that one abusive man being the exception). Everyone was trying their best in life, you gradually realized (it wasn't immediately apparent with any of them). But everyone was on the edge as well. The main character was on the edge of suicide for most of the series, for example. But this showed the intense and absolute preciousness of life and I think that is the message the series left me with. I could have just kept watching another 16 episodes and I just didn't want it to end.

This drama starts off a bit shaky and one can't be sure if it will be good or not, but with every episode it gets better and better and more and more involving for the viewer, so you get pulled into the story and world of the characters. Kim Go-Eun is one of Korea's most talented actresses I think and she carries the early episodes but gradually we get to know and love or hate each of the cast, so there is real development of character and plot that is increasingly engaging and then gripping as episodes follow on. There are serious themes around nepotism, sexism, and the sickness of a highly competitive money-driven society, but these are handled often through comedy, with then a hard one-liner surfacing through the undercurrents, that says it all. Excellent script writing. Great chemistry between all the cast, especially Director Seo and the part played by Go-Eun - you can't imagine anyone else doing her part as well as she does. There is love without mush or melodrama, it is handled very nicely. Ep 16 and I really didn't want it to end and felt i would miss the characters! Four and a half stars from me. I reserve half a star for a couple of dramas I like even more. But this is light, enjoyable, but also serious at the same time.