cliché and tropey but so sweet!

This is actually my second time watching the drama within one month, I just never wrote a review when I finished it last month whoops.

This drama is very cliché and tropey and sometimes a little cringe but it does all these things in such a charming way that I couldn't be mad. I just love love love it so much, I actually changed my initial rating of 6 to 7.5/10. The characters and their interactions as well as the pacing of the show are just so fun that it's easy to watch it all in one go. I really loved the dynamic between the male lead and female lead and I absolutely adored how he obviously has a weak spot just for her while being distant and cold with the rest of the world basically hehe. Ji Yan Xin was a lil petty sometimes and a bit of a tease (and sometimes slightly a red flag, but he'll be excused and forgiven), I just loved Ji Xiao Bing's acting for this character! This rewatch was extra fun because I started it after not feeling so well, and this drama lifted me up so much just minutes into the first episode!! So that's very slay!

I surprisingly also really enjoyed the second couple a lot, their push and pull dynamic was fun to watch and I really liked how well they mastered the enemies to lovers trope to be honest. Even the third couple was cute, I'll just ignore the fact that they've known each other for a long time lmao (since she was a kid and he was already a teen).

I also really liked the OST, it was really cute and fit very well into the drama. Overall, a sweet and entertaining watch with charming leads and secondary characters :))

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Well, this was great. I haven't finished a show this quickly in a while, I think. "Taxi Driver" was fun and entertaining and I really loved the different revenge plots and characters a lot, I am very excited for Season 2, especially because it looks even better than this one. I wonder how exactly they're going to top it but I am open to be surprised and flashed. I am already sad that Prosecutor Kang won't be in the next season because I really liked her. I don't know why some people disliked her so much, I thought she was cool, especially as the show progressed. Also, now that I am done with Season one, I agree with everyone that it is a crime how overlooked Lee Je Hoon was at bigger award shows (Baeksang Arts Awards for example) for his performance in the show, he deserved at least a nom, but definitely also a win. I feel like Pyo Ye Jin was overlooked as well. I have only seen her in "What's Wrong with Secretary Kim?" before, but here she was completely different and delivered a touching performance, she deserved more nominations. The cast in general is very talented and capable, which made the show even more enjoyable.

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What a show. I really loved the different characters and their stories, this felt like an extended "Hometown Cha Cha Cha" with less romance and more focus on life and relationships. Sometimes, the characters were annoying and frustrating, overcomplicating things because they wouldn't mind their own business and always put their noses where they shouldn't be, especially the grandmas.... I wish we would have gotten more of Hyeon's and Yeongju's life as parents with the baby, also the dynamic with Hosik and Ingwon would have been interesting. The show offers a diverse set of storylines with great actors to portray those stories and feelings in a way that always touched my heart. Studio Dragon knows how to make a show, so naturally the cinematography was stunning, Jeju island is truly such a beautiful place. The OST was just fitting and very, very nice. Overall, a beautiful, heartbreaking, and sometimes funny show about life, its people and their relationships.

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Kim Nam Gil, the new love of my life??? This was such a funny and entertaining show omg, Kim Hae Il might be the only priest in existence I can tolerate, he was so fucking fun!! I can relate to his anger issues because, honestly, sometimes you just wanna do some damage, you know lmao? I gotta say that I thought the investigation was taking a little too long at first, but the second half of the show was really great and especially the last couple of episodes had some fun and shocking surprises and twists that I really liked. Loved seeing the teamwork and idiocy of the characters and I love this chaotic bunch so much, like they're family to me. I'm quite excited for that second season, hopefully we'll get some news on that soon since 2019 is a lttle while ago already. Also, the OST was perfect for this show, really caught the vibes of it 100%. Overall, really fun and stole some tears of mine too ... Anyway, Kim Nam Gil can get it 🧍🏻

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I knew the ending already thanks to Tik Tok, and I still started bawling my eyes out 45 minutes before the movie ended. This was such a sweet and pure depiction of first love, I wish I could have seen even more of the characters because they were so fun and likable the second the movie started. Oh to have such friends like this, to be in the broadcasting club, to eat plums straight from the tree, to have a school field trip at the ocean, to get drunk with your friends, to drunkenly confess your feelings, to have payphone conversations with your first love, to send emails back and forth with your best friend/crush... the list goes on. This broke my heart in a million pieces. To think Bo Ra never got to read Woon Ho's letter because he dropped it in the rain, or that it took so long for her to find out what happened after years of feeling disappointed. It'll take a while to recover from this one 💔

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... The female lead had NO backbone whatsoever and just let ANYone use her as a doormat, it was extremely frustrating. Dori looked great in this but it wasn't enough to save this drama because... what was that. It was only 24 min/10 episodes and yet this was an excruciating watch. Everything went so fast: them meeting, him saying "I love you" and them having sex all in the FIRST episode??? HELLO?? I was flabbergasted to say the least. The fmc's best friend was kind of weird tbh and the fact that she got together with the guy who sexually assaulted her friend is a red flag in itself, not gonna lie. I would never recommend no rewatch this. Not even for funsies.

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I don't care what anyone says about the ending or whatever, I really really enjoyed this show and all the characters (and the OST too, it was sooooooo good). I really liked our female main character: Ok Chanmi. She was quite naive at times, going to dark places with no back up, yet she was not one to give up or back down. She defended herself and those she cared about, so that was refreshing and nice to see. The male lead was great! I haven't seen "All Of Us Are Dead" yet, so that was my first Lomon-Drama but I liked him a lo. The fighting scenes were really cool and I quite liked the revelations - no matter how obvious they were. One last thing: Jaebum is innocent, Oh Gisung is the root of all evil and literally the spawn of Satan.

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This was even better than Season 1. I loved the games, I was on the edge of my seat at all times, and episode 7 and 8 made me cry (naturally). The games were even crazier and scarier lowkey than in the first season. But I gotta say ... it was interesting to see the Face Cards, I don't even know who was my favorite because they were all so different yet so intriguing. I am quite satisfied with the ending and even though a third season would be cool in terms of returning to the world and seeing more games and nice cinematography, the ending of this season in particular made sense and gave me closure :)

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I really liked how the episodes weren't very long, made me watch the drama super quickly. While the story wasn't anything out of the ordinary, I quite enjoyed it and giggled a couple times - the male lead is really handsome (even with his wig haha). The female lead is absolutely drop-dead gorgeous, I'm really jealous. She just radiates femininity, class and elegance wow. I wasn't too impressed with the overall acting to be honest and I skipped a lot of the second lead's romance because I tend to dislike that sort of side-plot anyway (the only second lead romance I have enjoyed so far was in "Moonlight"). I also skipped a couple episodes except for the last one because I had a feeling they would drag out the ending to add some drama and I didn't need that. While I love super-duper cheesy lovestories and endings, that last episode was doing a liiiiittle too much. Overall, a fine drama but nothing too memorable.

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This was HORRIBLE. Some of the acting was atrocious and simply so freaking bad that I wanted to pull my hair out. The male lead was so immature at his big age (34) and just simply not that attractive as a love interest – his personality just wasn’t it. The second lead should have been it because his style and personality were SO MUCH better. Besides, he didn’t mistreat the female lead. The last episodes had such weird plots that I had to skip through it because I DIDN’T CARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyway, I hated this drama, even the OST was bad and honestly really annoying.

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anything for my love esther

If it wasn’t for the second lead story, this would be a 5/5 stars. They just took up too much space to be honest, and it was very annoying. The main couple were chef’s kiss though! I loved them: they were fun, cute and entertaining to watch and especially in the last episode… sigh… I nearly shed a tear, too cute (yes, despite Esther Yu’s baby voice, you get used to it… why her character had to act like a child sometimes… that’s something else). Anyway, now I lowkey want a botany professor who likes no one but me. Meh. *cries* (edit a couple of days later: the opening title is such a bop, I can’t stop listening to it, it makes me so fucking happy<3)

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Fun little enemies-to-lovers

This is how you do enemies-to-lovers properly and in an entertaining way. I enjoyed this drama a lot, it was fun and entertaining, swoonworthy and I really liked our main couple. They were so chaotic and fun to watch and their chemistry was GREAT. The second couple was a bit confusing and to be honest.... I truly think they broke up after the last episode, no way they lasted because the way they acted in the show?? no. I wouldn't want to put up with all that. Anyway, the music and story were really cool and fun, and I do see myself rewatching this for the main couple; their love felt passionate and sincere! <3

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Eerie and yet I feel indifferent

I finally caught up with the show and have to say it's a weird one. I don't watch psychological shows usually, but I was nonetheless intrigued since Lim Ji Yeon is playing a main role here, and I thought she was great in "The Glory". We have two more episodes left and I am more than curious to find out the truth about Kim Yoon Beom's death as well as Lee Soo Min's. for the latter, things have been revealed, only to be slightly different after all, I don't think we have the full picture yet.

What I found questionable is that the police gave Sang Eun her husband's belongings back, including his phone, concluding his death was suicide, but... did they even check the phone?? Because if they actually checked, they would find the weird pictures he took of Joo Ran as well as all the interior pictures he took of Park Jae Ho's and his family's home. Which would be weird as hell. If they checked his phone, they would have seen the text message sent by Yoon Beom, blackmailing Jae Ho. Which, again, is weird. The phone alone would be reason and evidence (a motive) enough for killing Yoon Beom but the police concluded a suicide, this doesn't make sense to me.

While I understand this is a psychological thriller/mystery, I find all the empty scenes of the characters just looking at me super weird and long. They make the show draggy to me. And I understand Joo Ran's trauma but at the same time, I enjoy the scenes with Sang Eun much more, they flow better in my opinion. The music is a nice addition to the series as it complements the eerie, creepy atmosphere quite perfectly. I was watching the show and was so entranced that when my cat was making some noise outside my room, I got scared lmao. But on a serious note, the music is nice. Another thing I like a lot, unsurprisingly, is the cinematography. Studio Dragon participated in this drama as well, therefore the beautiful camera shots come to no surprise. Visually, the show is very appealing.

But there is something about the show that just leaves me feeling... rather neutral. I am invested enough to watch every new episode but I don't really feel anything watching this show. Now that I am done watching the show, I still don't feel like it had any real impact on me. Episode 7 was a weird, boring one yet I finished it rather quickly. We got some additional information about Joo Ran's sister's death and her troubled relationship with her mother as well as JR and SE plotting Jae Ho's murder (which I thought "huh, that's TOO easy, but okay", which it was because SE was betrayed by JR and nearly killed). The last episode was probably the most dynamic and eventful one since we got some actual physical action. While I thought that JR pulling a Bella by cutting her wrist was dumb (because why would he care, she betrayed him?), I also kind of hated how she did not help SE as the latter was nearly beaten to death. Park Jae Ho was revealed to be a massive narcissistic psycho, and he showed no remorse beating a pregnant woman and literally throwing her across his house (this actually genuinely shocked me) BUT I have to say to action scenes/stunts looked incredible, real, and impactful. I will give the director and choreographers this much! One thing I was thinking throughout the whole show was that none of the characters really had any development (in my opinion), everyone seemingly stayed the same except for SE in the last minute who seemed to live a happier life after all, but you cannot really call that development, we didn't get to see that progression. Also, what exactly was SE reason to follow her husband's footsteps in blackmailing Park Jae Ho? Where did that scammer characteristic come from? Was is general greed for a better life,...?

Overall, the show was... good? The ending was okay, left me thinking. I'm not quite sure what to think. I feel like the longing stares (into nothingness) could have been cut short to tie certain story/plot lines together more neatly; I also think the neighbor lady was underused to be honest. The show is missing something, but all in all it was a visually interesting experience at least and quite intriguing, too.

I'll give this 6/10 MDL stars or 2.5-3 out of 5 regular stars, I think.

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Mostly good!

I quite like the different cases as well as the characters, buuuut there are just a handful of things that annoy me...

1) I did not like the episode about the leaked exams, I know it was probably the whole point, but I did not feel bad anyone lmao. These kids and parents are already rich and privileged and then just decide to be even greedier, and then complain about having to face the consequences of their entitled actions. And I am supposed to feel bad, or have some empathy? No. Same with Eun Seok being the "whistleblower" for ratting out the previous head judge. Like, if SHE doesn't do it, the coward wouldn't have done it either since his own life mattered more. For years he was known as an impartial judge, but NOW that it concerns HIM, suddenly he wants to bury the case since he wouldn't benefit from it because he wanted to go into politics. Sir, you should have been more decent to your son!

2) The fact that Cha Tae Joo just always stands there while Eun Seok is getting CHEWED the fuck out? Sir? Either, she tells him to leave, or he really just stands there, while someone yells at her? His submissive nature is kind of annoying seven episodes into the show like say something man!

3) Eun Seok victim blaming the girl in that one episode. Listen, yes, the girl(s) should not have run away, but blaming the 14yo girl that was forced into prostitution that this is the consequence of her not following the law after she got assaulted and nearly raped was kind of very much unnecessary and heartless in that scene , i don't know. On one hand, the girl was a culprit because she did previously beat up another girl, but on the other hand she was a victim as well. It's just two different situations. But being forced into selling her body as a minor (by girls that are hardly older than her) to grown ass men and then blaming her lowkey while she's still shocked and bloody, is just wrong.

4) Lack of character development. In my opinion, the characters more or less stayed the same. I also thought that Eun Seok's speech at the end was contradictory. She says she will not be biased in court yet admits that she still despises juvenile offenders. That's.... biased lmao, but whatever.

Other than that, the quality of the show is great as well as the acting and the cases are interesting and quite diverse.

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