This review may contain spoilers
Contest for how many tropes can be used in 12 ep
This series was very mixed for me. If you’re someone who can ignore plot holes and not think too hard about the overarching story, there’s plenty to enjoy. But if sloppy writing bothers you, prepare to be bothered.
Park Eun‑bin is one of my favorite actors, so I’ll watch anything she’s in. Unfortunately, this series didn’t live up to her abilities. It genuinely felt like the writer was competing in a contest to see how many drama tropes could be shoehorned into a single 12‑episode run. I made a list—and I’m sure I still missed a few:
Corrupt politician
Corrupt prosecutor
Corrupt chaebols
Family fight for corporate control
Love triangle
Fake engagement turning into real love
Opposites attract
Crime‑solving romance
“Only you understand me” emotional bond
Trauma‑driven powers
Heart transplant from former love
Miraculous recovery from near‑fatal accidents
Shamans
Prophecy
Break‑up‑to‑save‑them (removing partner’s agency)
Family‑pressured breakup
White Truck of Doom
Wrongly blamed for murder due to own stupidity
Omniscient/omnipotent villain
Lying to partner leading to danger
Using many tropes isn’t inherently a problem, but here most of them were half‑hearted and never fleshed out. They felt included simply for the sake of inclusion.
That said, I did enjoy the series overall. The acting was excellent, and Park Eun‑bin and Yang Se‑jong had great chemistry. Their romance was the strongest part of the show. How they met, became involved, and grew into a couple was plausible (supernatural elements aside) and well paced. Ma Gang‑uk was definitely a green‑flag suitor.
The ghost plotline started strong, supported the romance well, and gave the series a solid foundation—but it fizzled out midway through. Maybe the writers wanted to avoid comparisons to Phantom Lawyer, but they could have kept the ghosts more involved in the second half. Thankfully, the supernatural thread returned for the coma‑dream sequence, which was easily the best part of the finale.
Ong Seong‑wu made an excellent villain. His romantic‑rival storyline was weak and deeply flawed, but his transformation into a full antagonist was performed extremely well.
The fashion was fantastic. Park Eun‑bin’s wardrobe was gorgeous, and she looked beautiful throughout. Her hair color was also perfect for her.
The romance wrap‑up was fine—not great, but not the worst I’ve seen. The final scene was the standard “together with a hint of future family,” but the epilogue blooper reel was a delight.
Now for the negatives. Going through all the issues would turn this review into a novel, so here are just a few examples of the sloppy writing/production that irritated me:
Gang‑uk is a heart‑transplant recipient, yet when being treated after the car collision he is shown with a pristine chest. Open‑heart surgery leaves a very large scar.
Seung‑jae blackmails his politician father to get out of jail, but the next time he’s arrested, the lawyer claims his father has cut ties—even though all the blackmail material still exists and should still matter.
Most of Episode 11.
We start with the “break up to save them” trope due to family pressure, ignoring Gang‑uk’s feelings. My least favorite uses of one of my least favorite tropes.
Then the prosecution office politically targets Yeo‑ri with false accusations—despite her being heiress to the 5th‑largest corporation in Korea (making it a stupid move to antagonize her for no gain). They compound this by transferring her fiancé to a penalty posting for whistleblowing.
Yeo‑ri then goes alone, at night, to meet a murderer (Seung‑jae) in a secluded location. She finds him dead, picks up the obvious murder weapon, and is immediately discovered by police. She’s released that night despite being the prime suspect with solid evidence against her.
The finale of the episode crams in even more nonsense: Gang‑uk revisits the crime scene just as the real killer realizes he lost a cufflink. The killer somehow arranges for a thug to have a White Truck of Doom ready to run over whoever leaves the crime scene—despite not knowing whether the cufflink was actually found.
The massively powerful yet somehow extremely quiet truck accelerates from 0 to 50+ kph in 20 meters that separate them. Obviously, Gang‑uk doesn’t hear it because he’s must be deaf. Fortunately, Yeo‑ri arrives just in time to see the truck coming, hop out of her car, run 20 feet to push him out of the way with just enough time to stand upright with a deer-in-headlight look before getting hit herself. Too bad she didn't think to tackle him out of the way so both of them would have been safe.
The cherry on top: the police accept the driver’s excuse that he “fell asleep”—in late morning, in an industrial alley, after just starting the truck.
But aside from Episode 11, I did enjoy the series. It starred Park Eun‑bin, after all.
Park Eun‑bin is one of my favorite actors, so I’ll watch anything she’s in. Unfortunately, this series didn’t live up to her abilities. It genuinely felt like the writer was competing in a contest to see how many drama tropes could be shoehorned into a single 12‑episode run. I made a list—and I’m sure I still missed a few:
Corrupt politician
Corrupt prosecutor
Corrupt chaebols
Family fight for corporate control
Love triangle
Fake engagement turning into real love
Opposites attract
Crime‑solving romance
“Only you understand me” emotional bond
Trauma‑driven powers
Heart transplant from former love
Miraculous recovery from near‑fatal accidents
Shamans
Prophecy
Break‑up‑to‑save‑them (removing partner’s agency)
Family‑pressured breakup
White Truck of Doom
Wrongly blamed for murder due to own stupidity
Omniscient/omnipotent villain
Lying to partner leading to danger
Using many tropes isn’t inherently a problem, but here most of them were half‑hearted and never fleshed out. They felt included simply for the sake of inclusion.
That said, I did enjoy the series overall. The acting was excellent, and Park Eun‑bin and Yang Se‑jong had great chemistry. Their romance was the strongest part of the show. How they met, became involved, and grew into a couple was plausible (supernatural elements aside) and well paced. Ma Gang‑uk was definitely a green‑flag suitor.
The ghost plotline started strong, supported the romance well, and gave the series a solid foundation—but it fizzled out midway through. Maybe the writers wanted to avoid comparisons to Phantom Lawyer, but they could have kept the ghosts more involved in the second half. Thankfully, the supernatural thread returned for the coma‑dream sequence, which was easily the best part of the finale.
Ong Seong‑wu made an excellent villain. His romantic‑rival storyline was weak and deeply flawed, but his transformation into a full antagonist was performed extremely well.
The fashion was fantastic. Park Eun‑bin’s wardrobe was gorgeous, and she looked beautiful throughout. Her hair color was also perfect for her.
The romance wrap‑up was fine—not great, but not the worst I’ve seen. The final scene was the standard “together with a hint of future family,” but the epilogue blooper reel was a delight.
Now for the negatives. Going through all the issues would turn this review into a novel, so here are just a few examples of the sloppy writing/production that irritated me:
Gang‑uk is a heart‑transplant recipient, yet when being treated after the car collision he is shown with a pristine chest. Open‑heart surgery leaves a very large scar.
Seung‑jae blackmails his politician father to get out of jail, but the next time he’s arrested, the lawyer claims his father has cut ties—even though all the blackmail material still exists and should still matter.
Most of Episode 11.
We start with the “break up to save them” trope due to family pressure, ignoring Gang‑uk’s feelings. My least favorite uses of one of my least favorite tropes.
Then the prosecution office politically targets Yeo‑ri with false accusations—despite her being heiress to the 5th‑largest corporation in Korea (making it a stupid move to antagonize her for no gain). They compound this by transferring her fiancé to a penalty posting for whistleblowing.
Yeo‑ri then goes alone, at night, to meet a murderer (Seung‑jae) in a secluded location. She finds him dead, picks up the obvious murder weapon, and is immediately discovered by police. She’s released that night despite being the prime suspect with solid evidence against her.
The finale of the episode crams in even more nonsense: Gang‑uk revisits the crime scene just as the real killer realizes he lost a cufflink. The killer somehow arranges for a thug to have a White Truck of Doom ready to run over whoever leaves the crime scene—despite not knowing whether the cufflink was actually found.
The massively powerful yet somehow extremely quiet truck accelerates from 0 to 50+ kph in 20 meters that separate them. Obviously, Gang‑uk doesn’t hear it because he’s must be deaf. Fortunately, Yeo‑ri arrives just in time to see the truck coming, hop out of her car, run 20 feet to push him out of the way with just enough time to stand upright with a deer-in-headlight look before getting hit herself. Too bad she didn't think to tackle him out of the way so both of them would have been safe.
The cherry on top: the police accept the driver’s excuse that he “fell asleep”—in late morning, in an industrial alley, after just starting the truck.
But aside from Episode 11, I did enjoy the series. It starred Park Eun‑bin, after all.
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