Harrowing and heartwrenching

This was a really really heavy watch, but in the best way; I really felt emotionally invested in the main characters — both the adults who were doing the right thing against all odds, and for the children who we were watching learn to trust people again and actually act (and laugh) like kids should — and in the outcome of the legal process. In the end, it was a really bittersweet and realistic sort of ending, but it was the best I hoped for and I thought it was perfect.

The acting was so good for all the characters, but especially the three kids. I could feel their fear, their pain, and their hope in every single one of their scenes.

There were some parts of the story — more side aspects of complacency — that I wanted to see more of because of the moral greyness, but I understand why it wasn't the focus of the movie and I think the movie did just fine without it.

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Love the main leads

As the title says, my favorite part is undoubtedly the two leads and their interactions with another; this drama was peak enemies-to-lovers and I really liked that there weren't any stupid, clingy characters — each person had their own thing they were good at and their personalities. The families were all different as well and I loved that we actually got to see a lot of examples of healthy relationships, whether it's romance or familial, even when there were tidbits of noble idiocy.

I really enjoyed the first half of this drama as the classes merged and they got to know each other through different events, but honestly ever since the third-lead was introduced I just feel like this drama tried to take on too much. It dedicated a lot of time to just the third-lead, whose plot was really cliche and I didn't care much for, and the character development started to feel a lot more dragged out and slow. Even though he had his moments and jealousy scenes are always fun, I feel like he's a bit unnecessary and I would have rather spent more time in the school setting rather than suddenly decending into the entertainment business universe.

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Thoughtful

It's been a long time since such a drama hit close to home and made me question everything I thought about career, marriage, and life in general. There was so much to love here and it's rare to see two characters that are just so respectful of each other's space and opinions.

If anything, however, I wish the back end of the drama had the same oomph factor. It felt like the story gave up some of those life lessons that hit me so hard in exchange for the romantic plotlines, and as a twenty-one-year-old, questioning the institution of marriage just wasn't something I could relate as much to.

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I went into this drama thinking it was “what Something In the Rain could’ve been,” and even though a lot of plot things are different, I agree and can’t help but compare the two as I watched, considering how similar the vibe and style are.

I was nervous to start the second half, fearful of it going downhill the way SITR did. But that never happened. I felt like the entire drama was paced well, and I loved the mellow atmosphere. There are some moments I felt were a bit repetitive — after all, how many times does a girl have to say "let's break up"? — but ultimately the slice-of-life feeling was calming.

The best of this drama for me was undoubtedly the sismance. It’s honestly rarer than it should be to see sismance in kdrama, and this one did it beautifully, with the way Jeong-in, Seo-in, and Jae-in all supported each other through everything. The mother was also great in this one, as was Ji-ho’s parents.

Because there was a support system around both of our characters, the drama wasn’t nearly as frustrating to watch, even if we knew there were social stigmas and other disapproving family members and annoying exes that would stand in the way of our main couple.

As a huge fan of friends-to-lovers, I bought into SITR utterly and completely because of how natural they were around each other right off the bat. And because of that reason, it took me a while to love Ji-ho and Jeong-in, who were just so awkward for the first half. As the show went on, they definitely started feeling more natural and I grew to love them. I still feel like the chemistry in SITR’s first half was more heart-fluttering, but OSN did an amazing job of portraying head vs. heart and highlighting the insecurities in a relationship that still exist even if you’re a 100% sure you want to be with someone. Jung Hae-in is amazing at acting "taken aback + in love" and it's adorable every single time.

Jeong-in's character development was subtle, but it was there, and I love the type of female lead that's strong, not in the "can do taekwondo" sense, but in the ability to sure in her convictions and decisions.

Despite that, I think my favorite part of this entire drama was the sub-plot with Seo-in trying to divorce her domestic abuser. It gave me all my crying moments, and doubled down on the sismance moments which gave me all the feels.

I do wish Jae-in got a stronger sub-plot too — personality-wise, she was my favorite out of the three. and it felt like she came back to Korea, said she would find something to do, and just never really did, even though as a sister character she did everything the show called for.

I know a lot of people complained about repetitive OST in SITR and OSN, but I honestly did not have any issue with the songs, which I loved. They added to the mellow mood of the entire drama.

Also: Eun-woo is the most adorable bean ever.

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I really thought I would like this more than I did. Enrique is definitely one of the better male leads out there, especially for fans of beta puppy characters and the friends-to-lovers banter, and I think his character was probably the most layered in this drama. Good, because I found the second lead almost unbearably annoying.

Ultimately, though, I felt like the plot could have been more. The drama did a good job being subtle with all of the character's backstories, except for GDM's. I don't have an issue with that; in fact, I liked that we got flashbacks that gradually showed us what things were going on. But I felt very unsatisfied with the way they had everything play out. The conversations to explain things all seemed very vague and abstract, and she never said everything I wanted her to.

I felt like the side characters could be fleshed out more as well. The other flower boys also didn't get as much backstory as I wanted — think Shut Up Flower Boy Band, another drama in the Flower series that actually handled the family issues and friendship subplots really well for other characters.

The end of this drama also dipped a little. I felt like it started out very strongly, with a focus on GDM and her seclusion and about how characters grew individually, together. And then they started hitting us with noble idiocy and hurting each other and all the "romance" tropes and external factors to keep our main ship apart...and I just sort of stopped loving it.

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The plot was honestly a LOT more profound than I expected, and I was so glad that the story didn't just focus on romantically pairing people up. My favorite storylines were that of Jiyoung and Taejin (wanted more of his :( ).

I did feel like the pacing was a little rushed at the end (to be expected for a webdrama) and I definitely liked the second half better than the first. Some of the characters were very hard to get to — as cute as Eun-Sol was sometimes, her perpetual aegyo and general preppiness was something I could not get behind, and her boy-craziness was something I knew I would DESPISE on someone I knew in real life. With that being said, though, she started growing on me when her story got a little darker, and I just wish this was explored more.

I loved Juwon and Yoonsoo as character types, but their background stories were a bit lacking.

Ultimately though, this drama was really not memorable. I can feel like it's kind of drama I'd forget a few weeks later.

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Cliche, but not frustrating

Even though this drama definitely had some cliches, it wasn't frustrating to watch, and some scenes were downright hilarious.

With that being said, I don't know if it's just me, but I've had a hard time getting into any of Jung Il Woo's roles—I've only seen him in this and Cinderella and the Four Knights, but in both dramas I found his tsundere character wishy-washy and annoying. This one was a little better because we got to see the story from his perspective as he flailed around trying to deal with his emotions, but from the girl's perspective, I found it downright annoying.

I'm surprised that so many people said they stayed for his acting, because I actually stayed for the main female lead, who stood up for herself and was strong without having to physically be. I loved that scene where none of the "gentlemanly" things the male lead did worked on her, and despite everyone saying that she was from the 18th century, her personality was strong and progressive. For this reason, I wish that the music video she filmed was more interesting than her literally just sitting in a chair and then walking around it once, but it was focused on Monsta X, so I guess that's understandable...

The HUGE amount of slow-motion falls, gazes, and wrist grabs was kind of annoying. I felt like they gave us so many—too many—even before I felt any chemistry between the main characters, and since the episodes were so short already, it was unnecessary to include one or two EVERY episode.

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The main couple's on-and-off-and-on-again relationship started to get really repetitive, and to be perfectly honest I was rooting for second lead a lot more.

Now, the special episodes I loved, because NOTHING beats the friends-to-lovers trope and even though something about Pu-Reum doesn't quite sit right with me, I love Ha-Neul and I will root for his ship.

I'm also surprised about something else—I'd always thought Jae-In was the main female lead, but it's been three seasons and she doesn't have much plot. I'd definitely want to see more of her in the next season.

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I loved A-Teen Season 1 to death, and was super excited for Season 2. Even though I turned out to quite enjoy it, I don't think I loved it as much as the first season, for multiple reasons.

Firstly, there was barely any Do Ha-Na! Even though romance-wise I didn't care about her plot that much, I loved her as an individual character, and without her, I felt like the series also focused a lot less on friendship and sismance.

Secondly, I felt like there were so many questions still left unanswered from Season 1! That girl that Shi-Woo used to know, for example.

Thirdly, I was honestly annoyed by Bo Ram's mindset and lack of support for Ki-Hyun at times—I don't think any of that was sufficiently addressed.

Fourthly, I liked Joo-Ha as a character, but I don't know if it's just because he's new and I haven't warmed up to him completely yet (especially since we don't know much about him at all, other than his parents being MIA), but I just didn't care much for the relationship between him and Kim Ha-Na.

Overall, though, I enjoyed the parallels to the first season, and that we got progress for some plots, like

I'll also admit that I absolutely HATED Ah-Hyun at first, but now she's become my favorite in the cast, and I'm praying for a Season 3 so we get more of her and Min.

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The only thing I'll give this drama is that there are some scenes that are truly laugh-out-loud funny, and that the main character's straightforwardness was refreshing sometimes. At the same time, however, she did get a little annoying because she overreacted to every little thing.

For the life of me, I can't figure out why everyone loves the male lead. He was boring and his first impression was that he was doing some creepy Edward Cullen stuff. Honestly I'm just tired of the "strong and silent" male trope, in general. It got really frustrating to have to watch him say stupid and hurtful things to TJZ over and over again, and she STILL chased after him. I liked the second male character, the police officer, a lot better.

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I loved this so much more than I expected. From the trailer, it looked a little boring as I couldn't really tell what the plot was. But the actual show itself is a lot more interesting; even though it's more slice-of-life than story-driven, I still enjoyed it a lot. It was a light-hearted watch with some really funny moments, but at the same time I could really feel the female lead's pain in the first few episodes, and yes, I did shed a few tears.

It's honestly so refreshing to have not one, but TWO nice male leads, even though I'm pre-hurting because I know I'll be sad for the other guy no matter who Song Yi ends up with. I loved how mature the three main characters were, honestly—even though there were some scenes where I wished the characters would just be more honest, their actions were understandable and I loved how there weren't really those huge and unnecessary miscommunications.

Ga Rin and Choi Hoon were fun characters as well, but I didn't feel too invested in their plots or as a ship. They were more there for comedy, and even so I found Ga Rin a little annoying at times.

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Gets repetitive and annoying

At some point you expect some character development, and by episode 10, OHN's stupidity and stalking tendencies got extremely annoying and unbearable, especially when everything felt like an exact repeat of the earlier episodes. I liked the moments where OHN got tired of BSJ and finally said she was giving up—I just wish that these moments lasted for more than ten minutes before she ran back to him. That was a big reason I liked episode 13 (post-marriage meeting) because that lasted longer.

Another thing that makes this super problematic appeared during the college years, when OHN planned her entire career and future around BSJ's. For someone like OHN who seemed to know who she was, this lack of identity and independence was just one step too far.

A lot of scenes started annoying me as they went on, too. OHN's clumsiness and stupidity and apparent lack of ability in ANYTHING got very tiresome. OHN's tennis scenes pissed me off, especially. I wish there was more character development and growth on her part as an individual. I wish there was more growth for BSJ too, and he addressed his mother directly about what she did when he was younger—I'm not sure why that part was talked about as "trauma" and made out to be such a huge deal when it was never going to be resolved.

Honestly, a lot of characters were annoying in this, and it seemed like many of them were exaggerated in some way. BSJ and OHN were okay, obviously, but Bong Joon Gu was also horribly desperate and irritating. Of course, I liked Eun Jo and BSJ's mother, but mostly as comic relief. I liked OHN's two friends as well, but I just wish they had more screentime and personality than just being the people who OHN always ran to to talk about her boy problems.

Plot-wise a lot of things are questionable, like the random and rushed marriage (that nobody even questioned) and the sub-plot of the guy who suddenly liked OHN who never showed up again after two or three appearances.

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This was the very first k-drama that I ever watched, and it began my obsession with k-drama in general. That's the best testimony I could give.

For a drama that has such a dark sub-plot, this drama was surprisingly funny. The romance was hilarious, especially the jealous scenes, and I loved the chemistry between the two leads. The side characters were really interesting as well, and I enjoyed seeing how other relationships developed.

I was SUPER intrigued by the mystery aspect of this, and it definitely delivered. The backstory was nothing that I'd expected, and the cinematography creeped me out successfully, which was a great balance.

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