I feel really conflicted after finishing this drama. On the one hand, it is unique and underrated -- you won't find your stereotypical Oppas, your comically evil villains, your Makjang conspirators, or other typical Kdrama stables. Instead, you'll see three women and their friends and family try to overcome adversity that life throws at them and feel good about it when they do. The show will give you that slice of life feeling while delivering warm, fuzzy, feelings as everything wraps up nicely in a bow. On the other hand, I found the ending to be rushed and slightly flawed, and that negated some of the warmness that I felt while watching the series.

In particular, I found the worse to be the way that Jae Hoon's plot ended: he was in a relationship with Ha Yoon that started off as a lovey-dovey honeymoon phase and escalated into a cold, incompatible relationship where Ha Yoon would literally go out and have sex with other guys, yet come back home to Jae Hoon for...reasons. The big climax of this storyline is that Jae Hoon has a heart to heart with his BFF/crush/boss, Han Joo, and realizes that the problem with the way he acted was that he idealized Ha Yoon and therefore didn't see his girlfriend for who she was and got angry when she didn't fit his ideal mold of a woman. And after that, he happens to run into Ha Yoon at a musical (which was originally one of Ha Yoon's interests that Jae Hoon learned to love over time) and there are hints that they begin with relationship anew. Excuse me, what? How can the main takeaway be "don't idealize women. You need to love them for who they are" yet one of the main issues with their relationship is that Ha Yoon would go out and have sex with other guys? I just...don't understand how these characters ended up in the ending position that they did. This alone reduces my rating of this show.

On the other hand, all the positives are stellar. There is a lot of meta-drama commentary with self-referential gags about PPL and drama cliches that are really funny -- I think the best example of how meta this is, is the hit "Shampoo Song" which is part of the OST, which stayed on the Melon charts for a really long time, and is ironically a song that Ahn Jae Hong's character hates because his ex wrote it and because it's so cliche. The acting is top notch: Jeon Yeo Bin in particular really killed it in my opinion, because she plays such an emotionally divided character: on the outside, Eun Jung is stoic and outspoken, freely sharing her thoughts to the point that it is offensive. Yet, when you get down to it, she is deeply caring, especially about her close friends and family, and the way that she heals is that she needs to learn to embrace the thoughts and feelings she's been holding in.

The way that the stories are interwoven are masterful. Eun Jung and So Min start off with an antagonistic relationship that is based off their outwardly ludicrous personalities and misunderstandings from the past. Yet, once Eun Jung starts doing a documentary on So Min, they are able to learn from each others' experiences - So Min is able to realize a love with her manager that she's been taking for granted while Eun Jung is able to do an introspective and come to terms with her dead fiance. Han Joo and Jae Hoon start as a sunbae-hoobae relationship that seems to have hints of a romance (it never comes to fruition). At the end, Han Joo is able to pass on her work and life experience for Jae Hoon to move up in the company ranks, while also dealing with his own relationship. In turn, Jae Hoon is able to show Han Joo the value of romance, which she had sort of cast to the side after her ex had left her pregnant and cynical about love. Jin Joo and Beom Soo are able to help each other get over their exes while learning how to still love each other, even if they have a strongly, yet productive antagonist work relationship.

At the end, I feel as deeply conflicted about this drama as some of the characters did about their problems. The atypical format, plot, and characters apparently drew low viewership to this show, which I think is a shame. The quality of it definitely makes it an underrated gem. Yet, at the same time, I think some of the conclusions do a disservice to the overall story -- in particular, the Jae Hoon-Ha Yoon relationship.