VERY light spoilers, mostly near the end where i talk about characters. skip that if u haven't watched (the rest is safe). it's also lengthy, but i promise you'll want to consider what i talk about before jumping in

during this drama's airing, the discussion was either filled with two types of viewers: people who were growing annoyed with it (or hated it) and people who enjoyed it. this drama is very much a love-or-hate drama. personally, i loved it.

does it have its flaws? yes, because every drama does! however, i don't think it deserves the reputation some viewers have given it. before i talk about what i viewed as the drama's flaws, i'll focus on the things i really enjoyed.

people have called it bad, or messy, or manipulative... i don't think that's fair to say. the thing is, it's a mystery drama. suspense is its biggest weapon. what some viewers have labelled as "manipulation" or "messy storytelling" has been.... suspense. this drama plays HEAVY on intentionally misleading the audience - don't go into this drama thinking you'll have answers halfway. you won't know even a smidge of what's going on until past the halfway point... i personally enjoyed that. iit requires patience to watch this drama, which is why i encourage potential watches to consider if they enjoy waiting for answers or rather something fast-paced. the suspense builds up slowly at times, but it kept me on the edge of my seat.

had we gotten answers halfway in, the story could have potentially grew boring. yes, there were some questions left unanswered and things i wish the writers would have elaborated on - but i don't think the solution to that would have been solving the mystery sooner. solving the big mysteries right away would have taken away from the drama. i enjoyed the fact that we only got answers in the finale. every episode left you wanting more. the intentional misleading was VERY well-done, and it was fun to try and figure out if you had actually gotten answers or if the writers were trying to trick you into thinking you had figured something out. it made you think... so if you don't like to think about what you're watching and solve the mystery based on little clues left behind, you probably won't enjoy this.

i didn't mind the pacing, either or the focus on support characters. as i said above - i think the pacing was necessary to keep it interesting and the support characters had their purpose. some had more screentime than the second leads, which i found weird and bothersome. but they had a purpose, and overall were entertaining.

the ACTING... i'm going to give it a 10. all things considered, the acting by the cast (including supporting and guest stars) was REALLY strong. no one could have played kang yeo joo as could as cho ye jeong! she is a seamless actress.

i was not familiar with ko jun before this drama, but he did an amazing job as woo sung... how can someone be so disgusting yet still make you laugh? ko jun had all the right charms to effectively play woo sung. he was funny and had moments that ALMOST made you like him... until you remembered he was disgusting.

the second leads: yeonwoo and youngdae! i was very familiar with both of them prior to this drama and was super excited to see them both. they are both "new"/rising actors that i really love. yeonwoo really impressed me with her role as ko mi rae. i'm going to speak on her character later but - yeonwoo blew me away. if you're not familiar with her, she's mostly been cast as energetic characters. some have been whiney and some have been combative, but in the end - they all were loud and had a lot of energy. this was the first time she played someone quiet and mysterious - and the first time she was given a role where she could TRULY shine. her emotional scenes were truly impressive. she is one to watch.

as for youngdae - again, input on his character will come later. but youngdae's acting was strong. he wasn't given a lot to work with, if i'm being honest. but, as one of the few who didn't *particularly* root or ship soo ho and yeo joo, he managed to give me butterflies with how he interacted with yeo joo. the action scenes were impressive, too. another solid role from youngdae.

soundtrack was amazing. OVER by suran might be one of the best OSTs i've heard in a while! i loved the opening credits and the score that went along with it. the scores in the drama reminded me of a grimms brothers fairytale.

let's talk the flaws.

the BIGGEST flaw to me was the characterization. the best character, when speaking about development and backstory, was kang yeo joo. she was fleshed out and it was easy to understand who she was and why she thought/did certain things - even if it took a while to get there.

however, every other character fell short. we understood woo sung was a cheater, a player - but we didn't know anything else about him. his backstory wasn't fleshed out and we barely knew why or when he started cheating. not that that would EXCUSE his cheating (because there's no excuse for it!), but i just didn't understand who he was? maybe that was intentional, so you didn't like him. if so, that was a smart choice.

for the secondary leads... the writers really didn't give them enough justice. the detectives seemed to have more screentime than the second leads. i understood the detectives better than the second leads, at some points.

ko mi rae: a lot of viewers seemed to hate her character, but i didn't feel that way. i didn't particularly love ko mi rae, but i didn't hate her. she was clearly a very damaged character and, in the end, she didn't act on her temptation. one could argue her calling at the end was to act on her temptation, but she was in the middle of a lawsuit that woo sung was helping her with. her biggest desire seemed to be divorcing her abusive husband, taking his money, and locking him up.
she was a damaged character desperate for love - which i think explains why she attached herself to woo sung so quickly, and was unable to let him go. do i think this excuses her going after a married man? no, of course not. but i don't think she was an innately BAD person. she was damaged... which i think the writers could have expanded more on. they clearly tried to make the audience understand why she was so attached, but they didn't do a good job with it. her husband and the abuse she suffered was introduced too late. if there had been more expansion on her story, i think it would be easier to understand her and less people would consider her to be "bad". yes, she was wrong to go after him but in the end, she just wanted justice for herself. not woo sung.

cha soo ho: we knew NOTHING about him other than the fact he was an agent. i love youngdae and he did a great job with what he was given in this drama, but his character fell short. yes, he was funny and charming. but we didn't KNOW him as a person. i found it difficult to like him and yeo joo together because... his feelings came out of nowhere? when did he start liking her? episodes prior to him liking her, he was annoyed with her and wanted to spray her with beer and he also suspected her of murder. his development was poor. he wasn't a bad character, but he had no development and no backstory. i understood the male detective and the dead baek soo jung more than i understood soo ho. it's a shame.

and finally... the ending. i won't say anything as i don't want to put any major spoilers here, but it didn't disappoint me as it did for some others. remember what yeo joo says in the beginning. it makes sense once you think about it.

overall... it had its flaws. but it was not nearly as bad as some people think it was. rewatch value, i've ranked it 6.5 because it could potentially be fun to rewatch to catch clues you might've missed.