I think I might have over-hyped this drama for myself. Don't get me wrong, it was still good, but I think I expected more. I think I expected this huge climax and resolution, and it kind of fell flat. It was still good, but it felt like I was watching a documentary about the almost overthrow of a king, where the traitor's plan was kind of terrible and he kind of assumed that if he could get the king, one-on-one, he would win 100%. And honestly, yeah, Prince Lee Jae Hwa was kicking major ass. He was basically his whole army, but when it came the King Lee Kyung, who we had zero idea if he could actually fight or not, the prince was a mess. It was underwhelming.

I felt like everyone in this drama was a villain in their own way. The Kim family was wild-ing out because they thought they were better than everyone else, and raised their niece Kim Song Yi into this entitled woman who thought we deserved everything because of her family name. Home girl was about to "poison" all the other consorts so they wouldn't be able to have children, therefore, cannot produce an heir. Plus, she was getting help from King Lee Kyung's mother, a member of the Kim family. The Queen Mother (King's mother) was a different kind of evil. She would manipulate her son, the King, as well as the Great Queen Mother (King's grandmother) to get what she wanted. Out of all the women in this drama, even though both the Jo and Kim families were insane, I thought the Queen Mother was the WORST. The ending was satisfying, but also unsatisfying. I know it is insane to say or think this, but the King's family was executing people left and right with beheading, poison, and hanging. Why did most of the villains at the end get exiled? We were made to believe that Jo Young Ji, the daughter of the Jo family, was supposed to be the main villainess int his drama, and was, but it was super interesting seeing how all her plans failed because the King's men always kept an eye on Eun Bo, and would intervene. Jo Young Ji was a special character, where we thought that she was a friend to the main character at first, but because of her jealousy, she thought everything was justified. If she were to get rid of Eun Bo, the King would fall in love with her. She definitely had a screw missing. She was ok using her father's men (and their feelings for her) to carry out her petty, and terribly planned out executions and had the audacity to cry for her punishment rather than the punishment inflicted on her whole family. So badly wished for a different punishment. Another leader villain would obviously be Prince Lee Jae Hwa. Unfortunately, we were not given a long backstory on him and why he was seeking revenge in order to feel sympathy for him, only that he wanted to get revenge for his father being labeled a traitor. Then he went ahead and used the whole Enlightenment cause as a cover, thinking he was fighting for the people to govern themselves. I honestly really liked him in the beginning when he came off as this fun loving guy who kept saving Eun Bo at random moments. I knew something was up though; they couldn't introduce this guy as a love interest when he is competing with the King - you knew right away that something had to be terribly wrong or bad about him.

But that is what this drama was - it was compiled of different drama troupes. It was obvious what was going to come next.

That being said, I was intrigued to see how Eun Bo was going to enter the place during the selection, pretending to be her twin sister and at the same time pretending to be someone else entirely. The relationship between The King and Eun Bo was very sweet and their chemistry was really good, but I am not sure if that makes up for the first 10/11 episodes of the 16 ep drama of her lying to him about her identity twice. Especially since they both did not know about the twin prophecy. I think it makes it worse in a way. Like...you want to find your sister's murderer. You acting like that is a terrible reason to come to the palace. I think it is more plausible than coming in and telling certain people you are Eun Ki, but you will be entering the palace as consort Hong and hope nobody notices.

There seemed to be a lot of plot holes, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I am a sucker for Selection type plots. Plus, out of all the terrible people, and Eun Bo going back and forth between begin a strong character and then a weak one, I did enjoy the comedic relief of Wal's character (not only was he funny, but he solved hella cases and got stuff done) as well as the King's right hand Han Mo who was just plain a badass as well as an older brother type figure. You could ALWAYS count on him to kick ass and help protect everyone.

Eun Bo started off as a strong character for me, but later into the season, she was still strong, but it became more of a mental thing, and less of a physical thing. Then, the very last few episodes, she stopped being strong altogether and instead of finding a solution, she just ran away and hoped for the best. The King on the other hand, came up kind of weak in the beginning (given he thought that the love of his life was murdered, and then came back to life, but didn't want to tell him), but gradually became this cheesy romantic guy who would also fight the crown, counsel, and other consorts for his woman.

Overall, I just feel like this drama wasn't strong. It was good, but fell a little flat. It was like watching a historical drama about a possible overthrow that never really happened due to lack of planning and the two leaders fawning over the same woman, which made it become sloppy and personal. Like watching a documentary about an almost overthrown that just became a quarrel between two men. But I did enjoy the actors in this drama, as they all did a great job.

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I felt like something was missing with this cut version, and I didn't like it enough to want to go and watch the full version. But it is cute that the main actress and her best friend in this show are married in real life. I thought they had more chemistry than the two mains, and I think the best friend and Dilraba's character were actually supposed to be a couple in this? It made it hard to watch. I wanted to like it so much because I love Dilraba, but I couldn't do it.

I felt like the main actress was following around the main actor like a puppy dog and she came off like she was more OBSESSED with him than in love with him. There were so many random flashbacks about their first meeting before she got into her accident, that never happened in the cut version...so I was confused feeling like I missed something. When the main actor finally confessed to the main actress saying that he had liked her for a while, I was uncomfortable as nothing he did gave any indication that he did. Hence why I think the cut version is missing so much.

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I've always known about this drama because of my love for Nam Joo Hyuk, but I finally decided to finally give it a go because Netflix decided it wanted to add it and recommend it to me. I've always been curious to see him in another drama and I don't think my heart could take watching him in "The Light in Your Eyes" yet.

What did I think? That's hard to answer. I knew what I was getting myself into when little clips popped up on my instagram of Habaek saving Yoon So Ah from being pushed off a building. I knew that the CGI would be very rough, but sometimes you just need to accept this is what you are going to get if you want to watch a drama about nature Gods using their powers. I also read the comments and other reviews before writing this, and saw many negative reviews. But honestly, it was very meh to me. I didn't hate it, but I also wasn't in love with it.

One thing I loved about it was the costumes whenever we got to see "flashbacks" of Habaek's world. It did seem a little "low budget" but taking it for what it was, I loved the make up. Plus Habaek had some hair goals with this perfect blue ash ombre that I only wish my hairdresser could give me that wouldn't last only the first couple of days of getting it done. I loved the relationships that Yoon So Ah built with other people such as her relationship with CEO Shin Hoo Ye. Even though there was this weird plot with them, I felt like they had the most emotional relationship out of anyone in this drama. Given, I wasn't a fan of Yoon So Ah and it made it hard for me to root for her in any kind of way, she was always there for Hoo Ye and never believed in other people's prejudices of him . That being said, I think Hoo Ye was my favorite character in this drama. I liked how his fate was that he had good and evil in him and how based on his actions, he could choose which direction he wanted to go. He had to go through a lot of hardships because of who he was and was never accepted anywhere. He was always trying to make himself the perfect person, thinking that people would love him based on his actions and not what he wasn't able to control from his past. From the moment we met him, I knew that he would be the "antagonist" because we were told that all Gods were good and their enemies were our enemies, but I liked how the more Hahaek was with So Ah, the more he stopped acting on impulse like the other Gods, and actually took a step back to think about what he truly thought. I liked how he only really didn't like Hoo Ye because he was trying to win So Ah's love, and not because of the prejudices that other people had labeled him as.

Now going off all of that, I mainly did not like his drama because of the characters. Yes, we get the whole drama troupe with the main characters being these unlikable characters, but when they meet and start to realize how their actions effect other people, they start to change. But in this case, I feel like not a lot of characters went through that change. We have So Ah who's job it is the help people with their struggles, but we find out that because of So Ah's past that she hides her compassion for other people with anger because she basically has daddy issues. She believes in hard work will pay the bills, but she also thinks her misfortune isn't her fault. She is a good psychiatrist, which we see in her scenes with Hoo Ye, but for some reason she decides on performing just ok with her patients because she doesn't want to come off compassionate. It's weird. I don't understand it. She was a VERY wish washy person and had no idea why everyone was so in love with her. Yes, she was sassy which made her funny, but homegirl could not make up her mind to save her life. Or when she finally was able to make up her mind, she would do the opposite and then we would go through another, "what should I do?" moment. It was very repetitive and got boring real quick.
Habaek was alright - he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and didn't know anything outside his world and powers so it was a given he would be entitled and sassy and bossy. And he was a little irritating in the beginning, but he always wore his heart on his sleeve, even though he always had a bored look on his face, just staring into your soul. I felt bad for him, and he is probs my second favorite character in this whole drama. I didn't agree with most of his actions and his jealousy was NOT NEEDED because he took it to another level, but he was always honest and always fought for what he wanted. Plus, I liked how he didn't have prejudices against anyone and based his feelings toward someone based on their actions.
I think the REAL antagonists in this drama were the God of Sky and the Goddess of Water; Ahn Bin and Mura. Given that Ahn Bin was the god of mischief, we knew he was going to create some chaos, but it was still weird seeing how these two and Habaek grew up together, yet, they all turned out to be completely different people how they handled situations. Ahn Bin loved to create chaos and had zero limit to what he would do to get revenge. Mura is the same way, but she is very by the book and would take her revenge by finding loopholes. Both would act solely on emotions and created unneeded chaos for other people. Given, when we find out why Ahn Bin is terrorizing Hoo Ye, it starts to make sense, but he refuses to tell no one why he was doing what he was doing, and it honestly made himself look like the villain. I liked Ahn Bin in the beginning because he was fun and playful and added a element of excitement in the boring lifes of So Ah and Habaek, but he honestly was kind of this terrible person (both him and Mura) who got away with everything and I cared zero about their love story. He would have been the sole reason why Hoo Ye would have chosen the path of evil. Then there were a lot of oddly unnecessary side characters such as Shin Ja Ya who should have just gotten a few scenes in the beginning of the drama to introduce the audience to So Ah's past and insecurities, and then should have been cut.

This drama seemed to never really be building up to the huge climax - there were many mini climaxes in which we thought were going to be the big turning points, but weren't. For example, Hoo Yee's fate of becoming good or evil and coming off as the drama's antagonist, seemed like it was going to be this huge thing, with possibly this huge final battle where So Ahn would swoop in and tell him to take the path of good and not evil and then it would be the end of the drama and everyone lives happily ever after. That was not the case. That whole thing got resolved somewhere in the middle. The big climax, that wasn't really big at all, seemed to happen all at once in the final episode, which I will give props for being extremely emotional. Way more emotional that the rest of the drama. The ending was good though, very generic happily ever after that made me happy for So Ahn and Habaek, but also a little sad for Habaek as well. I just don't understand why they couldn't just give everyone immortality, but I guess it is a lot to ask for.

Final thoughts, I think this drama is worth the watch if you have some time to kill and want to watch something different and you love Nam Joo Hyuk. If you can get past the CGI, the drama is totally fine. The ONE thing I will say though is the writing or maybe it was the Netflix translation, was so odd. Whenever the main characters had heart to heart arguments, which was often, I never really understood what they were talking about or trying to say. They would jump to 50 different points and talk about 50 reasons why something wasn't possible with situations that never applied...but you just assume they were breaking up because she had daddy issues? There were so many times I had to backtrack and rewatch scenes to figure out if I am just a slow reader and missed something, or if the translation just didn't make sense.

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When this drama first started releasing episodes, I was excited, but also a little scared. Excited because I loved
Park Min Young in What's Wrong with Secretary Kim. One of my favorite all time drams. Also, I loved the idea of her being an aspiring art museum director by day, but super kpop fan at night - it was something completely new to me and was excited what she did with the role. PLUS; I did see a few clips on instagram and they looked super romantic and cozy. Which plays into why I was scared. I loved her role as Kim Mi So in Sec Kim so much that I had a hard time seeing her play the love interest of someone who wasn't Park Seo Joon.

My final thoughts? I thought that this drama was VERY cookie-cutter. Even though the idea of Sung Duk Mi being this mature curator by day, but super fan by night, was a completely new idea for me, the plot was very obvious and followed a typical korean drama outline. It was safe. It's the same how I felt about Touch My Heart. It was boring. It was cute and good, but boring. I think the only thing that did catch me off guard was that their relationship started off fake as a way for Ryan Gold to protect Duk Mi from the cruel world that keeps punching her in the face...literally. That most of those cute romantic scenes I watched on instagram weren't even "real."

I think this drama had a lot of different drama tropes that made it extremely obvious. It had the random "small world" trope where they had met each other before as kids, but don't remember (and the audience doesn't truly realize until the last few eps of the drama, unless you watch the flashbacks closely). This drama also reminded me of Weightlifting Fairy (Ryan as Kim Bok Joo and Duk Mi as Jung Joon Hyeong). We have Joon Hyeong's character helping Bok Joo's character throughout the drama helping them learn to love themselves as well as find their true self, and then in the last few eps, we get a whole new plot (My Mr Mermaid was also like this - random) with no background information from the previous eps to lead into it, where Joon Hyeong finds out something that literally tears their world apart. I think that is why I liked Duk Mi. Her character was very positive, that it came out a little ditsy, but it was almost like her superpower. She didn't need to do extravagant things to help Ryan with his identity crisis, just being around one another seemed to brighten up their days.

I think my favorite part of this whole drama was the romance between Ryan and Duk Mi. Even though it was a little tiresome in the beginning, and I was totally team Nam Eun Gi, once they got together it was super sweet. It reminded me of my all time favorite cdrama, Love O2O. - once they were together, they refused to get one another go. Given they didn't really have major issues that affected their relationship, but it reminded me of Nai and Wei Wei's relationship where they had complete faith in one another and tag teamed each other's problems. My favorite thing was the little journey they both had when they were falling in love with one another. I think my absolute favorite part (besides Ryan going to a fan event to see Duk Mi's alter ego and falling in love with this side of her) was when they went on a overnight business trip and Ryan got to know Duk Mi, the photographer. He realizes that she isn't this helpless curator who takes the bullet for everything, but a strong artist who knows who she is as a person and no one can take that away from her. Ryan's character was irritating at first - just because you have an identity crisis 3 year prior doesn't give you the right to treat people poorly. Typical trope. But I guess he isn't as bad as some other characters. What confused me was when him and Duk Mi started officially dating, his character COMPLETELY changed where I thought I was watching a different drama. Like even when him and Duk Mi were fake dating, but falling for one another, they didn't act like when they started to officially date. I guess once you have a confession, you start to act differently? You cold and serious demeanor turns to one of a high school boy experiencing first love for the first time?

BUT! I will say, I actually loved Ryan Gold's character more than I liked Duk Mi. I think it might have come from watching her in Sec Kim, but I didn't believe her feelings for Ryan one but. I think Ryan loved her more than she liked him. Maybe it is because I have nothing to compare him with, with his other works, but I don't think it would have mattered. I think this drama was so PG cookie cutter that it shouldn't be compared to the passion in Sec Kim.

Overall, I am happy I finally got to see this drama, but I think I over-hyped it for myself. I loved Ryan Gold, loved Nam Eun Gi as well as felt extremely bad for him for realizing his feelings late, and was shook by Cha Shi An. Which was another decent surprise from this drama. I thought Cha Shi An was super cute (like a kid brother) and wanted to see if he was an idol in real life....to find out that Shi An is played by ONE...one of my favorite artists back in November.

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This drama came to me at a little bit of a surprise - I need to stop going into shows with only seeing one clip and without reading the biography, but honestly, I don't think I would have put it high on my list if I did that. The single clip I watched, that made me really want to watch this, was when Tami and Scarlet went to town destroying a car with some bats. I thought that this drama was going to be about two (or 3) bad ass women who go around kicking ass and taking names. And don't get me wrong, this drama was that, but not in the way I thought.

This drama was very mature yet had all the elements of what I look for in a drama. I think it was one of the more mature dramas I have ever watched on Viki, that I would 100% recommend to anyone who doesn't like the typical cookie cutter kdrama feel and story. Yes it did have the swoooooooony-est romances I have ever watched, but this drama wasn't about the romance. For the first time, I went into a romance drama...not wanting to skip the plot to get to all the kissing scenes. I loved how Tami picked herself up and knew that she was a boss ass woman, even after being unfairly fired from Unicon, to help build her new empire at Barro with Scarlet (her previous competitor) and their team mixed with Barro and ex Unicon employees. I loved the loyalty and the friendships and how much faith Ellie and Joseph had in her, willing to start a whole new career at their competitor's company. I also loved the hate to love friendship Tami and Scarlet built throughout the drama . This drama hit all the feels and the ending honestly gave me goosebumps how they tied in the title of this drama. The one thing I disliked about the main plot, though, was Song Ga Kyung. Yes, we come to understand that she became a cruel person due of her mother-in-law and what she had to do in order to get to her dream of being director as well as being able to be her own person, but as the story goes on, we start to realize that her mother-in-law actually just brought to light Song's true personality (as we saw in flashbacks in the drama). And yes, we can go back and forth debating if it was really her true colors or something she developed from her mother-in-law, but she had an evil inside her that ate at her so much that she took out on others. We did see a little evil in Tami in the beginning, but it was an evil that she didn't take out on people - she always followed her moral compass and if she needed to take someone out, she would expose someone who committed evil acts rather than Song who would take anyone out that was in her way regardless if they were innocent. I am happy that everyone got their happy ending, including Song, but I only seemed to care about Tami and Scarlet and thought that they were more bad ass than Song was.

Now going into the romance in this drama -
As I said previously, I loved the romance between Park Morgan and Tami. It was one of the most mature relationships as well as passionate ones I have ever seen in a drama. It broke my heart every time they would break up (because there were a lot), but at the same time, it was hard to be mad because all the reasons why they broke up were logical. Plus, I enjoyed how they didn't just break up and run away, they sat down and talked about how they were feeling every bump in the road, even if it resulted in a break up. They would both take a day or two and think about if that reason was enough to keep them apart. At the end, they both just decided, even though they both have conflicting ideas about their futures and how they want to spend it, they decided to stop thinking about the future and live in the now. Which, is very scary if I am being completely honest, but in a sense...it is very romantic. I know so many people who break off relationships because they always think about the future before they think of the present and their current happiness. I loved how Park Morgan and Tami chose to live in the present and not the future because they were happy in this moment and wanted to live in that happiness, not caring if there wasn't a future. Not how a cookie cutter kdrama would normally end, but I liked that it more more "realistic" in that sense.
Then we have Scarlet. To be completely honest, when we first met her, I thought her romance was going to go in a completely different direction. I thought that her and Song had been high school lovers, the way the flashbacks were going, but then we realize it was more of a friendship that came to be because Song always felt some kind of guilt towards Scarlet as she believes she took away Scarlet's first dream. Instead, half way into the drama, Scarlet meets and falls for her "soap opera"/drama idol, Seol Ji Hwan. She helps him as a step-in-manager to help build his fame. There relationship was a very cookie-cutter kdrama romance and it almost acted as a comedic relief to the drama as it was the only scenes that didn't really follow the same mood and style. They acted as giddy teenagers who were experiencing first love and it was super romantic. I've been wanting to see actor Lee Jae Wook in more dramas after seeing his minor role in Memories of Alhambra as well as watching clips of him in Extraordinary You as one of the love interests, and I fell in love with his cutesy character in this. One of my favorite couples of this drama.
And I guess I have to talk about Song too. Not that I really "cared" about her character, but I did feel bad for her husband Oh Jin Woo who felt responsible for Song's unhappiness. He is the same as Song in terms of having this evil and willing to throw anyone under the bus if he does not like them, but he did it to always protect her. He didn't care if he had to ruin Tami's reputation and career if Song would not be miserable for a day. We also learn that he had always loved her, but didn't show it knowing that his family was hurting her and her family the longer she stayed married to him. Unlike the other characters, Song and Oh Jin Woo didn't have a traditional happy ending, but the ending was open that there could be a possibility to one.

Overall, this drama took me by surprise, and I wanted to give it a 10/10 so badly, but I couldn't. Even though I loved Park Morgan and Tami's relationship, I hated how they broke up every other episode. They literally waited until the last scene for them to decide that they didn't care about the future and wanted to be together now. Given, this drama was not about the romance, it was still...painful. Yes, I would watch this drama again 100 times over, but damn...every break up hurt...all 50 of them. So no 10/10.

Ps: This drama had one of the BEST soundtracks - Elaine's Follow as well as Mamamoo's OST song, instant favorites and added to my playlist.

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I don't know what made me think this was going to be a spooky season drama about cops that hunt down ghosts that cause chaos on the subway, but I think it rooted from confusing this drama with the one I watch before - Bring It On, Ghost. Both great dramas, but both completely different. I think I found this one solely because The Rose's Woosung sang on this drama's OST, so I had to watch it in order to jam out at the end of every ep.

The drama started off with a simple mission; the subway team needed to find the Grasshoppers (who were a team of pickpockets that have never been seen) and the metro team was in charge of finding the Subway Killer (serial killer to lured individuals by stealing their wallets, contacting them to get their wallets, strangle them to death, and then hide their bodies under the seat cushions in the subway). We have the chief of the subway team - Go Ji Suk, a promising young metro officer who quit the force to solve petty crimes to help pay and take care of his mother who was diagnosed with alzheimers; and Yoo Ryung, a fiery officer trying to find a way into one of the crime unit teams to use their resources to help further the search of her twin sister who disappeared 2 years ago (and a possible victim of the Subway Killer.) Yoo Ryung finds herself joining the Subway Team as Go Ji Suk's partner, but are always at each other's throats due to their conflicting ideals.

I did love the relationship between the two mains, but I felt like Ji Suk trusted too easily and Yoo Ryung was extremely selfish and secretive. Once we find out why it is, it makes sense why she did what she did, but it was painful to watch the process of it all. I must say though, once everything comes together and Ji Suk connected all the dots, there is a touching scene of him sticking up for her. It was my favorite scene in the whole drama.

Overall, I really enjoyed watching this drama. It surprised me how light and comedic is was in the beginning, and how dark it got whenever they got a clue about the Subway Killer. The drama only got better and better as it went on. The only thing that I wasn't a fan of, was that even though the drama took a dark turn, the relationship between Ji Suk and Yoo Ryung was very...PG...or really G rated throughout the drama. They did have some moments, but if you are wanting to watch a romance drama, it wasn't very satisfying. Yes, we get the happily ever after between the mains, but instead of a huge love gesture at the end...it was more like, the mains finally agreed to go out. It makes sense why it ended the way it did (given Yoo Ryung and all the stuff she needed to figure out before thinking about a romance), but I am very content with how Ji Suk came through, once he figured out Yoo Ryung and why she did what she did in the past. I wasn't in love with the characters in this drama (they were both extreme people on opposite sides,) but I did enjoy how the writer made them come together with both unexpected and tragic backstories, that were completely different, but somehow, the experiences they both went through made them into similar people.

Also, I was in love with how dark the drama was as well as it kept you guessing on who the killer was. Once you think you know, they throw in another curve ball. It was a little messy at times and there seemed to be a few plot holes, but overall, I was very entertained and I loved how everything made sense at the end. I almost want to rewatch this whole drama again, to see if I could figure out from the get go, just by the obvious clues they do give you, that I missed the first time, who the killer was. PS, I thought it was a little worth mentioning, but even though he messed up one time and I apologize for thinking you were the killer (in the beginning), Kim Woo Hyuk was kind of bae. After no one wanted to help Yoo Ryung find her missing sister, he decided to break the rules in order to help her. Unfortunately, Yoo Ryung had already made up her mind on him 2 years prior when his partner, Ha Ma Ri, wouldn't help her with her sister's disappearance. And speaking of Ha Ma Ri (as well as looking at all the comments and reviews, who all seem to have a similar view point), I am not sure if it is all the roles that she plays, but I am not a fan of any of Jung Yoo Jin's characters. She always plays this second lead (from the dramas I have seen) who somehow believes she always has the upper ground and does not let anyone forget it. In this drama, she was a great detective, but had had zero empathy towards people and she followed EVERYTHING by the book in order to impress her mother, the director. Unfortunately, her mother always seemed to admire great cops who showed empathy towards people - Ji Suk when he decided to take a demotion in the beginning of his prime in order to be there for his mother and Yoo Ryung, who decided in the middle of the Grasshopper investigation (if they followed, they could have caught them) to save a baker's son who had been kidnapped. Plus, Ha Ma Ri, after 2 years, still was hung up on Ji Suk and made missions personal when she saw his relationship with Yoo Ryung. I think that was one of the better scenes, when Yoo Ryung and Ji Suk switched partners during an investigation and we saw how Yoo Ryung effected Ji Suk in terms of what truly mattered during an investigation. He noticed it and so did Ha Ma Ri, and it was a turning point fo everyone.

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If you want to watch a cute drama about a college student who was born with infinite strength, who wants to live a normal life, and who falls in love with a motorcycle riding hockey player, then this is NOT the drama for you. I honestly went into the drama thinking this was the plot after watching a few clips on AsianCrush on youtube. I thought it was going to be about a girl who who was destined to lead and fight in a huge battle, but decides instead that she wants to chase after the man of her dreams, and somewhere along the way, she figures that he can have both, have love and glory...as cheesy as it sounds.

Instead, we got a drama about a young prodigy who losses her memories (as well as motivation for fighting) after an accident she had and doesn't remember in the 10th grade. After the accident, she decides she wants to live a normal life as her partner in crime disappears and she literally has zero memories of what motivated her previously to fight. Instead, she is in a world that looked down on her strength, so she just wants to fit in. It isn't until she is in college that So Hwi falls in love at first sight with Jun Mo, the mysterious hockey star. Around the time she decides to join the hockey team as the equipment manager, her childhood best friend Il Yung randomly shows up back in her life, trying to convince her to team up again. Around the same time, this evil entity that So Hwi's parents have been fighting before she was born, shows up with the sacred blade that he had stolen in the past, slaying the master four material artists, one by one. It is up to Il Yung and So Hwi to accept their fates and fight this evil force head on.

I believe that I was excited to watch this drama because (1) I really enjoy Shin Min Ah's roles and (2) I love hockey and was excited to see that the love interest in this drama was a collegiate hockey player. I was basically head over heels for Jun Mo, even before I had met him. I was excited to see how So Hwi was going to win him over, as he was in love with an older woman (a cop that had saved him from an accident when he was younger.) But after watching this drama, I don't understand why Jun Mo was a main character and why he was sought after. In my eyes, he represented every mysterious bad boy type (even though he came off nice once we got to know him) that once you get to know him, you realize...he isn't as special as you once thought. Honestly, he was a kid who had mommy issues who had attached onto a strong older woman figure, thinking it was love, but realizing it was just him almost replacing his mom's role. Might be an unpopular opinion. Also, once So Hwi started spending time with him...that whole "romantic" montage that we got...if you took it completely out of context, homie was just teaching her the basics of hockey so she could be a better player and their team could win. I had already fallen out of likes with him when I saw that weak-ass romance montage (as well as that POWERFUL flashback of So Hwi's accident), but what completely pushed me off the Jun Mo bandwagon, was the whole hockey game scene. I think the one thing I LOVED about this drama was So Hwi and Il Yung's relationship/friendship. You could tell from the get go that even though So Hwi doesn't remember her past after the accident, she remembers her bond with Il Yung, even if she pretends to be annoyed with him. In the first half of the drama, it was light and silly, but as the drama went on, it got a little darker, yet Il Yung became a sort of comic relief. When he was sad, you felt sad, even if So Hwi was happy. When Il Yung got hurt, you felt hurt, even when So Hwi was kicking ass and taking names. I think his mood became the mood of the whole drama. He had almost become the main character after he was introduced.

Which leads me to the ending as well as the revelations and the truths that all came out in the final battle. I had honestly thought the drama was going one way, and it went the completely opposite. I had almost cried because of the backstory we got of So Hwi's accident as well as why Il Yung had disappeared after it. I had almost cried because honestly, the way everything was going, it looked like there wasn't going to be a happy ending, but somehow the writer came through with, I think, a very creative twist. I loved how the main characters refused to take the easy way out. They had fought for one another, not wanting to live, if the other wasn't there. And I do appreciate that even though it was obvious that Il Yung was in love with So Hwi, they fought not for romantic love, but for the love they had for one another. They had fought for their friendship. Yes that sounds cheesy, but I was happy that I didn't sit through yet another drama that left me sad or empty at the end. There have been so many of those lately, that this was a breath of fresh air. And for a film from 2008, watching in 2019....I thoroughly enjoyed it and I will probably watch it again. I think the only thing that I did not understand was So Hwi's fascination with Jun Mo and when those feelings ended for her. One moment, she was down to make out with him, but then the next, as he left her standing there...she didn't look phased as though she really didn't give a damn. It was hard to read So Hwi's expressions and know what she was feeling, except for when she was wilding out, trying to get Jun Mo's attention and affection. Don't get me wrong, I really loved her in this - she was strong af mentally and physically, but I wanted more raw emotion from her character. The ending scene and fight was great, but I wish the whole drama showed a little more emotion. It almost seemed like a silly distant dream to So Hwi after she decided to fight against the evil spirit. A distant dream where she had joined the hockey team thinking it would win the affection of a boy, thinking that she could like a normal life by hiding who she was.

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I don't think I have ever watched a drama that went from something light to full on Game of Thrones, but still kept a very sweet and silly romance between the two main characters.
When I saw previews for this drama, I was extremely excited for the whole thing to come out so I could binge it, and I was honestly not disappointed whatsoever. I loved how to was sweet and silly, but also very dark. This also goes for the characters.
If I could describe this drama in a few words, I would say that it was about two young people, Nok Du and Dong Joo, who come from completely different backgrounds, but are brought together with some kind of relationship with the King. I was told before watching this drama that the two mains had such amazing chemistry, and I am happy that this wasn't over-hyped. They both did an amazing job, and it was cute seeing how they were with one another vs the person they were trying to hide from people in order to get their "revenge." Without giving anything away though, I think it was also one of the things I didn't enjoy about this drama - how the audience knew that we were getting that classic kdrama troupe where even though the mains looked completely in love and happy, the fact that they never truly opened up about their "alter-egos" that were seeking revenge, that this wasn't their "final stop." That there would be a conflict and breakup coming soon because they didn't want to let the other person know who they really were. But I can say that I did love how when they both found out (same time or different times, I'm not telling), they were shocked, but ultimately decided that their love for one another was greater than their revenge, and the only real reason why they thought about breaking up, was because they didn't wan't to hurt the other in their revenge plot (where they could potentially loose their lives.)
Also, this might be a very unpopular opinion, but I was in love with Cha Yool Mu . His smile, demeanor, and his desire to ultimately carry out Dong Joo's revenge (as well as his own) and take care of her for the rest of his life. Yes, I completely ship Nok Du and Dong Joo, but if Cha Yool Mu didn't go for a "non-traditional" approach with his plans, then he would have been a great contender.
I loved how everything played out and absolutely loved the twists and turns in this drama as well as the villain. I was never bored while watching this, and only skipped some days because I got busy this past week that took me away. But I ultimately gave this drama a 9/10 because it annoyed me so much that it took until episode 20 for them to finally fully commit, or really for Dong Joo to, but even after "fully" committing, she still kept things from him. Keeping her revenge plot is whatever, you can wait a little down the road for that one, but she never told him her family history, even if she had to keep a little detail away. I love how they were in love with the person they were in that moment, but Dong Joo never opened up about her past or upbringing to Nok Du, which came off extremely suspicious. At least Nok Du opened up a little about his island life and at some point they were both living with his master and daughter, but Nok Du was completely in love with this girl who never wanted to share a single detail about her past with him. I also was so confused of what we were supposed to think of the King. I get we are supposed to hate him, but there are some intimate moments between him and Nok Du and Dong Joo, where I almost thought that he might have a change of heart and become a good king. And we kind of got that, but it was so hard when he obviously had an anger management issue where he would kill whoever got him mad, like he was straight out of Game of Thrones. His ultimate downfall was not realizing who to trust, but also (hand in hand) identifying when people he was close to started to go against him. He knew that he fell of course as being the King he wanted to be 20 years ago, but he was blinded thinking that they would always be by his side, even when he was become a terrible dictator. I thought his ending was very predictable, and I think he also thought so as well where he accepted his fate long ago. Plus, homie was so wrapped up in the prophecy's fate that he did ZERO researched and pinned his downfall to one person. He was extremely narrow-minded and stubborn that even though he knew that he was in the wrong, he was too stubborn to change his ways, and was like, "well...we are already at this point...let's just continue." I thought it was rather annoying. Also, even though I am happy with the ending we got, it was a little anti-climatic. I don't think that the characters knew what would happen after they got their revenge because if the King's son didn't want to rule when the King died, who would have stepped up?

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This drama caught me off guard; I didn't think that I would love this drama as much as I did. As weird as it is to say out loud (or write it in a review on a well known public website), I was so invested in this drama, that I would dream about it at night (continuing where I left off) so when I woke up in the morning, I forgot where I really left off and what I made up. It's never happened before, so it was a weird experience. I thought this was going to be a cute drama to fill the time - I was on vacation in Indonesia during October, so I spent my Spooky Season in 90 degree weather, and I desperately wanted to watch all my Spooky Season dramas when I came back. Regardless if Spooky Season was over. I wanted my ghost dramas! And yes, this drama was extremely cute, but it was so much more. Actually, I thought this drama was so well done that 50% of it was a cute and silly story about a "ghost" and human learning to to trust one another as well as let other in (and fall in love of course) and the other 50% was them fighting "bad ghosts" together, and let me tell you, whoever did their make up deserves all the awards. I liked how light this drama was when it was about the two mains and their friends, but when they would start ghost hunting, the drama got extremely dark and a little terrifying. I honestly think I teared up a couple of times because the writer really went into the story of each of the ghosts they hunted and overall helped move on to the other side. It was a story about understanding other people and letting others in as well as finding out who you were vs who you wanted to be. Also, the villain in this story was wilding out the whole drama, but you couldn't help (I couldn't help) feeling bad for him. Especially at the end of the drama, it made me sad how everything happened to him to get him to the place he was.

But as much as I loved this drama (and the HUGE, but obvious, twist in episode 10/11), there were little things here and there that annoyed me. I said before that 50% was silly and the other 50% was terrifying ghost hunting, but around a good 80% of the first 50, was a lot of filler. The drama was about Bong Pal, the human who could see and hunt ghosts for cash, and Hyun Ji, a ghost who teams up with Bong Pal to pay off a small debt, BUT it was also about Cheon Sang and In Rang's desire to have a successful exorcist business, Seo Yeon's crush on her professor Hye Sung while rejecting Bong Pal's advances, Joo Hye Sung being hella sketchy; and finally Monk Myung Chul trying to solve the mystery of Bong Pal's father's disappearance. Honestly, there was too much going on and so many people to follow, when all I wanted was to see Bong Pal and Hyun Ji's story progress and maybe some minor scenes from everyone else. I eventually got used to Cheon Sang and In Rang's airheadedness, but they really didn't need all those random scenes. Also, there was too much of Hye Sung. I didn't care for her or her little story. She was not a strong character and did not understand why Bong Pal was super obsessed with her. I didn't the vibe that Bong Pal was attracted to only looks, so it confused me that he was into her. She had zero personality. I did, however, love all the scenes with Professor Hye Sung. He was the perfect combination of good and evil. Along with all the filler, I felt like it also had a lot to do with how the main characters were smart people, but THEY NEVER CONNECTED ANY DOTS. I guess it added to the plot that these were normal people who never jumped to conclusions...except for the few times when Bong Pal did with Hyun Ji cause of his trust issues and a secret hatred for ghosts. But there were some scenes where I was like, come on...so and so is literally telling you what to do. Do it. The WHOLE drama was literally about finding this object that will literally kill the evil, so why aren't you using it and just staring while hella people are dying!!? The final battle scene was obviously not up to my standards. But I think the one thing that bothered me the most was the off and on of Bong Pal and Hyun Ji's romance. Once it started, it was amazing, but of course there were going to be people who would tell them that it was impossible which ultimately planted a seed of doubt. First it was Hyun Ji, but whenever she had any doubt, Bong Pal stepped up and was absolutely perfect, but eventually Hyun Ji needed to figure herself out before she could fully let Bong Pal in. Then once she solved her internal struggle, Bong Pal started to battle his. At least with his it was short, but I was annoyed. Like that was the one thing I loved about Bong Pal - how much he loved Hyun Ji and how he would never let her go, even when she left. Homie looked for her day and night until he got sick and still looked for her, and then all of a sudden, he just gives up because someone told him the same thing someone else told her in the beginning. He already knew this information, but all of sudden when he is finally able to break through a little, he stops. Plus, with Bong Pal, it doesn't happen once...it's happens twice. After, when it seems like they are unbreakable, there is an unfortunate incident, and he shuts everyone out, but especially Hyun Ji, for really no logical reason. And he SHUTS HER OUT. It is heartbreaking and I disliked how it literally took something terrible to happen to her for him to snap out of it and act like he wasn't a huge butt. Those are the things I dislike in dramas, this back and forth, hurting the other person instead of talking it out. If ya'll decide to break things off after that, then do that. Relationships are between two people, so one person shouldn't make a decision and implement it without the other's knowledge of the situation. Maybe this drama was too young for me, or maybe I am just a grandma. But I guess a good thing about this drama is that when these scenes happened, the recovery time was appropriately quick instead of lasting a few episodes.

Overall, I think this drama is def my favorite Spooky Time drama and will 100% be on my list next Halloween. Even though there were little things here and there that I didn't like, overall, the drama was unexpectedly really good and the ending is super sweet (even if we have no idea if she recovered her memories or not).

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I've been dying to see this drama ever since I watched the trailer, and thought that maybe Viki would release the drama maybe a few months after it's release for standard members as the drama was only for premium...and I refused to upgrade my plan. But more and more dramas started to pile up that I wanted to watch, but I didn't have the right sub and they weren't releasing it for everyone. So I finally caved in for the holidays as there will be a second anniversary major 2 week binge session coming up for me.

Unfortunately, I follow a few korean drama instagram handles that will give major spoilers for each episode of dramas. I've been getting better at avoiding them, but unfortunately for this drama, I knew the major plot points. I knew how Do Min Ik would react when he found out that his secretary had been lying to him and secretly dating him as Veronica Park. It was almost like watching Nice to Meet You - how they played the wedding/leaving at the alter scene in the first few minutes, and then started the drama 6 months before as the wedding. It made it painful to watch as you knew the first 30 something episodes were of how they met and fell in love, but in the back of your mind, you knew that something huge happened for the main guy to break off the wedding, during the wedding. So during those those 30 something episodes...it was hard for me to believe the main guy when he said he loved her and nothing she could do would make him want to leave her. Luckily, in this drama...it wasn't as painful as the other drama. But unfortunately, I didn't understand Jung Gal Hee reasoning for doing what she did unlike the main girl in Nice to Meet You. I think since the start of the drama, Jung Gal Hee was playing an innocent trick on Do Min Ik, her boss, because he couldn't recognize faces and expected to have the worst possible date and he would never call her again. And yes, as she kept meeting him because he had fallen for her version of Veronica Park, she felt worse and worse about leading him on and eventually wanted to tell him the truth, but that was after like 4 dates. All I could think about is...how the hell is she going to get herself out of this one. I felt like Do Min Ik's reaction was fair as his prosopagnosia was fresh and emotionally he hadn't come to accept it completely and Jung Gal Hee knew that. He felt as if it was a crutch in his life as well as his work, so it doesn't help that the one person who he trusted the most basically made him fall in love with her saying she was someone else. Given he is a man in his mid 30's and has no reason to be a child, but yes...Jung Gal Hee did not have a justified reason for what she did and she is lucky that he forgave her and decided he wanted to be with her only an episode (2 half eps) later. I also personally think it also hurt cause all Do Min Ik wanted was a normal family life, and he wanted to love of his step mother who had raised him after his father's death. He knew that their relationship was manipulative, but he still became the perfect son so one day she would say that he was her son and not step son. In this timeline, his mother wanted him to became head chairman of his father's company (take it away from his uncle) as well as marry into a family with high status, and decided to set up an arranged marriage with Veronica Park (CEO of biggest film company in Korea). Even though he knew about Veronica Park's demeanor, he still gave her a shot because he so badly wanted to please his mother. I think that is maybe why he fell for her so hard and so quick, he so badly wanted it to work out, so when Jung Gal Hee decided to act in the place of Veronica Park (while the real one was on a date with Ki Dae Joo) and he sensed a speck niceness (something that he lacks in his family life, but craves for), he was like, "this is my wifey."

I believe this was Do Min Ik's only flaw though...for me at least. I loved every character in this drama, Do Min Ik's especially. But there were a few flaws or character development holes that I didn't understand. For Do Mink Ik, I loved his loving and bubbly attitude, and went through his little character development - after a secretary he trusted for many years betrayed him, he had a hard time trusting secretaries, and only signed a one year contract with each. Normal stuff. I loved his goofy smile and cute personality that he always had towards his best friend Ki Dae Joo and once he got prosopagnosia, he started to lean and trust more on Jung Gal Hee and showed her this side as well. He was basically a puppy who wanted to be loved. He did throw little tantrums here and there, which wasn't my favorite, but he got better at them. I also think another thing I wasn't very fond of was his stance on the whole secretary unfairness issue towards the end. He only really helped out because he saw his girl suffering in the protest. Yes, that is very sweet, but nowhere did he mention that he did what he did to help her as well as all the other secretaries because it was wrong. Yes, what he did created a domino effect that helped all the other secretaries...but it was a domino effect, not the sole reason why he did it. Maybe he did do it for both reasons and I am reading the signs wrong, but Min Ik wore his feelings on his sleeve so the fact that he didn't come out and say it was also for the secretaries, makes me think it was a side note.

I liked Gal Hee's can-do and quirky attitude. She always wanted to help and she was great at it. She saved Min Ik's ass on many occasions. I just didn't like how her "reason" for pretending to be Veronica Park was so she could experience just once , what it was like to be on the receiving end of her boss's good side. Instead of her pulling out his chair, he pulled out hers. Instead of her making reservations and picking out the fanciest wines for him and a quest, she would drink a fancy wine. Not...really...the best reason so I wasn't super into their fake romance plot. Min Ik was being hella cute...but I couldn't get past it. It's wild if you think about it - if Gal Hee went that day and said that Veronica Park couldn't make it, I know that Gal Hee and Min Ik's romance would have still happened and it would have been cleaner and sweeter as he started to fall for her when she told him she would help him becoming head chairman. Plus Gal Hee's heart would have broken less because she wouldn't see her boss falling in love with someone else. But...I guess...if we want to think about it in a positive way, her pretending to be Veronica Park made her gain confidence in herself that she was lacking? But a counterpoint would be that she gained a lot of that confidence when she was helping him strategize how to maneuver the chairman meetings.

Veronica Park was annoying the beginning, she she went through a lot of development as she started to get a clue when she met Ki Dae Joo. I didn't really believe their romance in the beginning. For Veronica, it seemed like the very basic troupe, I can get any man I want, but you keep rejecting me so I want you. So she kept pestering him while he only wanted to talk business with her. Eventually, we find out that Dae Joo actually likes her because he thinks she is the "coolest woman he has ever met," he he wanted something serious with her and not to be her "play thing." After they decided to be "serious" they became actually really cute, but also their conversations turned suggestive and they became rabbits. Ki Dae Joo was just a homie to Min Ik and I loved everything about their bromance and how they called each other wifey. It was unfortunate that Min Ik started to distrust Dae Joo, as we all did, but to be fair, Dae Joo was being extremely suspect when he didn't need to be. Yes, that added drama to the drama...but we could have saved a lot more time if he just said exactly what happened from the get go. Plus, it would have helped if Lee Eul Wang would have told most of the truth form the get go because she seemed hella suspect from the get go, making us think that she was out here murdering people left and right.

This drama was very interesting in that; it made you think that there was this huge plot in which a lot of people from the company were a part of, with the main goal of getting rid of Min Ik. But in reality, there was only one bad guy who was an asshole, but that was his only crime, while everything else ended up being a huge misunderstanding, but no one wanted to come out and say anything because they wanted to protect one another. That's what this whole drama was about...a HUGE misunderstanding that created this chain reaction because no one wanted to say anything and Min Ik ended up getting the worst of it. For that 8.5/10. Still a great drama; it got me in the feels whenever Gal Hee needed advice and the ghost of her mother would come back and comfort her. I nearly teared up every time, especially towards the end when it seemed like Min Ik imagined Gal Hee's mother giving him advice (when it was really Gal Hee's older brother) about how you shouldn't concentrate on the things you have lost, but be thankful for the things you still have. I believe that was a huge revelation to Min Ik. He was always trying to chase love from people who didn't give it to him, that he didn't see the people who already did love him. The love of his best friend and the love from Gal Hee as well as the newfound love and acceptance he found in her family. Definitely will watch this drama again in the future as I need more Kim Young Kwang and his goofy smiles in my life <3

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I am officially 0 / 2 after potentially making the move to expand my drama list by adding J-Dramas to my list. Maybe I made the mistake of picking two dramas that were based off manga, but I thought it would have helped since I grew up loving manga. But I have learned to realize that manga and dramas have two different vibes. Yes, they can translate well into anime or dramas, but this one seemed very incomplete. I am not sure if that is what the manga was like, as I did not read it, but it was basically a premise I have seen before (nothing new), but I felt like in those other stories, they seemed to feel a little more complete. Such as, in this drama, I felt like the characters jumped through a single hurdle which almost made them finally confess their feelings for one another, but that was it. When the grandfather was like, "you passed the first test," I was like...uhm...wait...there are no more episodes? The ending was fine, don't get me wrong. What they were both willing to do to take all the blame off of one another and all on themselves, was cute, but I wanted to see more of that cute aspect.

Nonomura Hana is a very strong character who stands up for what she believes in, no matter how hard the task, and also leaves room to tease Takane whenever she can. Saibara Takane was a complicated character. I definitely have seen his type of person in many other stories. One example that is coming to mind is Uehara Hisashi from Good Morning Call. Literally, the whole vacation to the springs episode was literally identical. Given, I would rather watch this drama than Good Morning Call any day, as Hisashi was way more stubborn that Takane, and Takane was hella stubborn. But, he was easily swayed by Hana and was actually pretty solid guy behind the scenes. I think the reason why I wasn't in love with his character as I could have been was because towards the middle when he has to learn how to live without his "trust fund," and even though Hana told him she basically liked him not because of his money, he still distanced himself from her because he thought that all that was likable about him was money. Which blew my mind. He was so confident in himself throughout the drama, as well as confident in his feelings for Hana, but the moment he became a lower middle class worker, he blew her off, with zero intention of ever seeing her again. Like damn dude. It hurt me because it was a double blow for Hana. The fact that he ghosted her after their cute af vacation and the fact that he thought that she was only attracted to him if he had money. But ultimately, I did give this drama a little higher or a score because I realized half way through that Takasugi Mahiro (Takane) played one of my favorite characters in my still #1 Jdrama, Kakegurui. I watch episode after episode until Takane opened up and we saw how extra and funny he was...and I realized that I had seen his extraness before.

Overall, I won't watch this again, but it was cute. Just predictable and nothing really new.

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I needed a few days to recover from this drama - I didn't know what to expect as I do not watch J-Dramas often, and I did not read the comic or watch the anime version on this drama beforehand. Plus, I do know that J-Dramas tend to have looser boundaries than other dramas as well as speed up the action since they are usually shorter. And I am not going to lie, I still don't know how to even go about this review, BUT what I can say about it is that for what it was, it was very well done and extremely unique. For that, 10/10. But I won't be rewatching this drama anytime soon or ever.

I first came along with drama on viki as well as because one of my favorite actors, Sakurada Dori, was the male lead in this, so I instantly wanted to watch it. Plus, my roommate had told me she watched the anime and it was instantly one of her favorites. I was also hooked after episode one and decided to binge watch it in a single night. Was that a good idea? probably not.

After watching this drama, I realized that there is a genre of romance dramas that I do not like. Even though the story was very unique and kept me intrigued as the characters represented different types of "scum"-y people, I did not like a single person in this drama. Of course because this is a "romance" drama, I want the leads to get together, and I was a little heartbroken about the ending, but at the same time, they were both terrible people.

Hana had many layers to her which is why I did not like her most of the drama. She was lonely, so her and Mugi formed a relationship with one another, pretending the other was the person they loved. After learning about Akane's secret, she realized that maybe she was similar to her and how she had been using Mugi because she also loved other people showing her affection. After, she decided to start another relationship with her best friend Ebato who was deeply obsessed with Hana and was ok with her using her to fulfill her needs. From my understanding, she thought that she needed to "evolve" into someone else in order for Narumi to love her. Hana then decided that to beat Akane, she would make all the people who are in love with Akane, fall in love with her, without actually having intercourse. It wasn't until the moment where Hana confessed her feelings to Narumi, that she became a little more grounded and realized the type of person she wanted to be.

Mugi...I am still trying to figure him out. He also had so many layer that I am still trying to peel back. In the beginning, we believe that, like Hana, he is in love with his tutor/teacher and uses Hana to fill in his emptiness. Which he does. But later we find out that she actually has this love hate relationship with her. Yes, he hates her because he knows that Akane manipulates men to fall in love with her, but he loves her at the same time. Later, after the audience is convinced that he started to fall for Hana and was getting jealous that she was having relations with other people, he pulls a 180 and he starts to have relations with other women (clearly not enjoying it) as well as reveals to have a complex where he hates Akane, but wants to be the man who changes her into his faithful woman.

Akane and Narumi's story was extremely odd to me. Akane is revealed to be a love and sex addict, never falling in love, but needed affection to fuel her. Narumi seems like a very familial guy who is sweet and caring and "perfect" yet his "flaw" is that because he is so in love with Akane, he is willing to let her do whatever she wants to make her happy including having out of marriage affairs. I disliked how this is the thing that makes Akane full inside and accept his marriage proposal. Like all she wanted was someone to love her and her adultress ways in order to be completely happy. PLUS, my roommate had told me in the anime that (her words) he is only obsessed with her because she reminds him of his dead mother.

I was not a fan of any of the characters, especially Ebato, who made me uncomfortable because of how strong she came on Hana. Yes, Hana was "scum" but I felt like she also felt like she was pressured into a lot of stuff because she wanted to maintain a good friendship with Ebato and because she loved affection. But every time Ebato would come on screen, I would tense up on my couch and tell Hana to run away. Fast.

Then we have the ending. For what it was, it made complete sense. Actually, it was probably the best outcome for all of the characters learning about who they were and who they wanted to be. But the drama decided that it wanted to have a touching final moment for Hana and Mugi where they were finally in a place where they could be fair to one another and were in a place where they could be with one another fully because they had complete love and respect for one another. They were both finally on the same page and free from their own personal scumminess (yes I created a new word), and ready to find true love in others, as they found it in themselves. But they decided it wasn't in each other. I was devastated. I ranted to my roommate who tried to comfort me by telling me that her interpretation from the anime was that, yes, they decided that they couldn't find that "true love" in one another, but only in that moment in time. That they needed to figure out how to love themselves fully before they let anyone else in, and hopefully they would cross paths in the future. So...yeah...that is what I'm holding onto even though these aren't real characters and this isn't a real story and we will never know if they do meet in the future. But I do hope that they cross paths in the future once they are healthier people.

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I originally started this drama almost a year ago as this was one of the first dramas I had ever watched that made me fall in love with Chinese dramas. And almost a year later, I decided to finally finish it. Don't get me wrong, there was nothing wrong with this drama that made me stop watching a year ago. I was actually mad at myself when I found out that I stopped watching this drama at ep 33 out of 36, but a few weeks ago I decided that I wanted to finish this drama, and the only way to do it was to start from the beginning (hence the 10/10 rewatch score.)

When I first started getting into dramas, I somehow found myself only watching high school / college romance ones, but as I started exploring more into korean and chinese dramas, I strayed away from this narrative. So when I decided to rewatch this drama, it added a lot of nostalgia which ignited the love I had for these kind of dramas.

And I could go on and on about the things that I loved about this drama, but that would take super long and I doubt anyone would want to read my research paper. But I can say this: I loved the story of comeback and love in this drama. From the moment Yibai and Yun Duo met, it was an instant connection, even though it took them until ep 26 to finally confess. Their relationship was natural, and very innocent, yet passionate. I loved how they encouraged one another to reach their dreams, yet it took them a little bit to find the perfect mix between encouraging, yet finding their place in one another lives. Yun Duo, from day 1, knew that Yibai was special and no matter what, she would help him reach his dream of being the world's fastest swimmer, but because of that, she was willing to sacrifice her relationship with him, thinking she was a distraction. Yibai, on the other hand, was supportive of her dream, mentally, but didn't know how to express that to her in a way that she would feel supported. It honestly took until Lin Zi to call him out on it for him to realize. But once they finally confessed to one another, it seemed like nothing could tear them apart. Unfortunately, once that happened around ep 30, the drama seemed to take a turn and it seemed that QQ and Yangyang as well as Little One and Ouyang became the main characters in this drama. I think that is one of the things I didn't enjoy about this drama, not enough for me to not recommend it to anyone, but enough for me to be like, what happened to our main characters. Not only did the drama turn a little more intense because of Yibai's past catching up to him, but both Yibai and Yun Duo seemed to mature and change. Don't get me wrong, I am always happy for character development especially when in the beginning, both mains seemed to be kind of ditzy, but this is one of the only cases that I was ok with it. Even though they were both a tad air-headed, they were both very motivated people. Yun Duo, even though has lived through hardships, seemed to live in her own little bubble where everyone was always nice and would never do anything bad. Yibai had gone through hardships, worst than most, but his lax personality rubbed me a little in the wrong way that kind of left me with more questions. Don't get me wrong, Yibai has become a household name (in my house) for being "YaBoi" throughout the drama and especially the end, but he seemed to be so chill about things in his past that should have been important to ask questions. Such as Little One's disappearance. 4 years ago she was the main suspect in your suspension, and she "goes to study abroad" after this whole incident happened as well as after you rejected her feelings, saying that she was a little sister to you, yet in those 4 years, you didn't think it was weird that you both had 0 contact. Seems like ya'll were fake friends to me. It all seemed fishy to me. The 4 of them (Yibai, QQ, Ouyang, and Little One ) were best of friends in high school, yet after this incident, only Yibai and QQ remained friends. Then throughout the drama, QQ never seemed to care about Little One even after he found out what happened to her. Also, QQ and Ouyang never reconciled at the end. Makes me think QQ was just that guy in the group that everyone hungout with because he was Yibai's friend. Confused me.


I do believe, though, that QQ was my favorite character in this drama. He was quirky and straight to the point, except when it came for his romance with Yangyang. Plus, I admired the bromance he had with Yibai, but LOVED even more the friendship he had with Yun Duo. It seemed to me like he was acting the role of her big brother throughout the drama. Even though Yibai and him are "brothers," he was always protective of Yun Duo when Yibai did something stupid. Plus, after watching this drama, yes I am happy that Yibai made his comback, but I honestly thought that QQ was one of the strongest swimmers and I think that he would easily be on the national team along with Yibai and Ouyang. But one of the things I didn't like about him was how he treated Yangyang. Yes, they did get their "happily-ever-after" at the end, but to be honest, I didn't...care...per se. They definitely had more of a friendship relationship, which is cool, you want your best friend and partner to be the same person, but it did seem a little bland to me. The second time around when I started from the beginning, I skipped through all their parts. Happy they got together, but also, it's meh to me.

I also liked Lin Zi, but homie was a weirdo from the get go, always making moves on Yun Duo and catching her off guard, but to be honest, what didn't catch her off guard. It became a thing where she would react to everything with a surprised look. Especially all her open eyed shook kissing scenes. Weirded me out. But Lin Zi was cool, but just went about everything in a wild way. I see his good intentions...sometimes...but terrible execution. His ending was a little weird to me, but I also really disliked Cheng Mei so that doesn't help. Like the last time they had a conversation, he had told her if she didn't turn herself in for what she did to Yun Duo, he would make her life hell. Then we get this ending and I'm like, Lin Zi, please find someone better. But the drama also left "their" story open ended so I guess I can't be too mad? But also speaking of open ended endings, I thought Ouyang, even though a jerk, deserved better than Little One. It almost seemed that she finally gave up on her feelings for Yibai and decided that after all these years that she would give Ouyang a try. Given there was a 3 month time jump, she had some time, but she literally did some wild stuff to Yibai and for him that I think she needs to get some help before starting to get into a relationship with anyone.

I am sad that this drama came to an end, but I know that I will definitely want to rewatch this in the future. I recommend this drama to everyone even though the ending for the side characters were not my favorite, but I think Yibai and Yun Duo's story 100 times over makes up for it. I will also 100% go back and rewatch my favorite Yibai and Yun Duo moments in eps 26, 27, (30sih), 34, and 35. Also, of course, the ending scene in ep 36.

Also*** If you are going to watch this drama, do not watch the ending credits until the last ep. Literally, the ending credits are all important scenes from the last episode as well as major plot points throughout the drama. If you want to be spoiled then go ahead, but I always only watch the beginning credits in the first ep only, and the ending credits in the last. Almost like the opening credits give me a first glance at the drama, but only once, and the ending credits will always give everything away so I watch it at the end of the series.

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This drama caught me so off guard by how intense it was to watch, that I needed to give myself breaks in-between episodes even though I just wanted to binge the whole thing in a single night. I knew it was going to be about the only daughter/heiress of the MC Family working together with a lawyer to try and find out the real culprit in her mother's murder, but this drama had so many different layers, as cheesy as it sounds. If you want to watch a drama where the "weak" and likable characters get messed with the most, while the inhuman characters literally can get away with murder, this is the drama for you. I swear, there were two characters that I actually truly enjoyed in this drama that I was rooting for, but one left in the middle of the series, while the other acted out and did stupid stuff because they were constantly reminded by the people they loved the most that they were unwanted.

I did love the two mains in this drama. I originally wanted to watch this when I saw that Im Soo Hyang was the female lead and I was curious to see her in something else. I first encountered her in "My Name is Gangnam Beauty," which I really enjoyed, but thought her character to be a little weak. Yes, her character finally stood up for herself at the end, but the journey to get there was painful. I was curious to see if she could pull off a character that was the complete opposite, and let me tell you, SHE SLAYED in this role as Mo Seok Hee. Probably one of my favorite female leads in any drama. It was enjoyable to watch her in the beginning and thinking she was this wild heiress would always take the dramatic way out of everything, but then learning that she had a huge heart and would do these outlandish things so the victim would get as much compensation from her actions, knowing that because of her family, she would always get bailed out. Then we have Heo Yoon Do. The cutest teddy bear ever. I am not going to lie, when I choose a drama, I always looks for the stereotypical pretty boy with great hair and plenty of shirtless scenes to show off his abs, so this drama was a little different for me. But I am not mad whatsoever. Heo Yoon Do had a very mature and "normal" look to him that made this drama way more believable and realistic. Don't get me wrong, you can have a model with great hair and abs who is also a smart lawyer, but this drama wasn't about all that. Heo Yoon Do is a simple lawyer who's mom was accused of murder 15 year prior, who became a lawyer to one day try to prove her innocence. He is very outspoken when it comes to his job and his mother, but other than that, he is this sweet and shy teddy bear who wants to help the world be a better place. A teddy bear that felt bad every time he had to do something for TOP that didn't match his morals. Plus, I know that one of the things that I LOVED about his drama, even though it wasn't at all important and didn't overshadow the plot at all, was the love that Heo Yoon Do and Mo Seok Hee had for one another. It was very light, but is almost acted as some relief to the story - even though Mo Seok Hee's family is terrible and doing everything to make Mo Wan Joo (second son of MC family) the heir of the company as well as Director Han being the wicked witch of TOP, their relationship almost seemed too innocent and sweet and normal to be real in this crazy world. But I think it was perfect in that way too. They both still had some kind of normal in their lives between trying to prove Yoon Do's mothers innocence and trying to fight off Director Han. As you can probably tell, Bae Jong Ok did an amazing job at making me HATE Director Han with a passion. She is the reason why I simply hate people. She was the perfect example of people who are very good at manipulating others to get what they want, and because they don't get caught, they continue to do it. It's almost like she was playing God in a game of Sims, making anyone and everyone do what she wants because she knew that no one is perfect and she would always have the upper-hand if she could dig up that information. Even though I hated her with a passion, she didn't act out of human nature and just showed what it would look like if someone harnessed the action and made a career off of it. Not sure if that is me being a pessimist, but home-girl had many loyal followers who were by her side til the very end and even after that because she was also extremely loyal them. That shows me as a viewer that all the characters in this drama were realistic and believable because there are people in the world that think like this.

Given, there were also a few things in this drama that strayed me away from giving this a perfect review. Even though this drama was short, I feel like it could have been shorter as there were many conversations that I would get completely lost in because of all the law jargon as well as the endless conversation that seemed to go nowhere. Don't get me wrong, all conversations were important to the plot, but after a few minutes, I think the audience got the point. Also, even though I still teared up at the end (probs for different reasons than other would have), the ending was very "predictable." I feel like I always knew who the real murderer was from the first few episodes, but I was hoping it was someone else. So I was a little disappointed because even though it was a happy ending, it was also a very sad ending. I appreciate it though that they didn't go for the obvious feel good ending where everyone won. Overall, this drama was really good and had a lot of twists and turns. You think you know what will happen, and the drama pulls a 180. Painful twists, but still good ones. I loved how they didn't hold back and went all in with this drama.

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This review will be short and sweet - I loved this drama so much. It was a perfect Spook-tober watch as it made supernatural elements with Shi Woo's mysterious power. But it is also the reason why I couldn't give this drama a 10/10. Nowhere in this drama did anyone discuss why he has these powers and no one seemed to care as if this is completely normal. Especially when the headmaster was trying to make make a connection between him and a childhood friend, but never did as if he has met plenty of kids with this kind of power. Besides that, this drama was a very simple and cute story about the bond of friends and coming together to fight for what they believed in.

Shi Woo and Soon Duk has the cutest relationship build up - from miscommunication to understanding to respect to finally love. Their love for one another and the way they complimented one another was simple and cute and kind of perfect for the both of them. They were both level headed and calm and simple. Not going to lie, I thought that SOon Duk and Chi Ang were very cute in the beginning as I thought that them being opposites would bring a different element into their relationship, but as Chi Ang said at the end, the parts he found attractive about her, were the things he knew he was lacking as a person. That he was attracted to those qualities because he wish he had them. Chi Ang was very hot tempered which didn't watch Soon Duk whatsoever, and in this whole drama he was in this almost limbo trying to figure out who was good and who was evil and what side would give him what he wanted. Don't get me wrong, he was one of the good guys in this drama, but he was def one of the most evil good guys. He seemed to go back and forth between sides which confused me as a viewer. Plus, I get it, we want everyone to have a happily ever after, but he was so infatuated with Soon Duk the whole series, and then we get a 7 year time jump, the last 10 minutes of the series and we see Chi Ang and Sun Ah in a serious relationship. It seemed almost forced to me. Yes, they both deserve to be happy and I do think they were similar in a way that it would make sense, but really? Throughout the series, the only relationship besides a friendship that we saw was a mentor relationship. Their training montage did not seem as romantic as the one Shi Woo and Soon Duk had.

Other than that, this drama did seem a little predictable where I figured out who everyone was and what happened within the first few eps. There also seemed to be a lot of filler even though the drama was already short as it is. I feel like they could have added more story, but less filler.

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