Peridot83
Below average melodrama with a great production team
The story/plot here is daytime soap level bad. Love triangles, coincidences, misunderstandings and missed connections, plus unnecessary violence and self-sabotaging behavior (very non sexy though for otherwise having such bad b-movie plotting!)
I wouldn't, however, IMHO say it was particularly red flag worthy or triggering anymore than any other drama. You have your classical deception followed by regret plot (see cyrano de bergerac or taming of the shrew). Violence breaks out in two fights where the less powerful character explodes at what he sees as bullying by powerful people.
Plus, Nam Do -San genuinely finds Seo Dal-mi inspiring and respects that she has many of the qualities he lacks. He doesn't put his fantasy of who she is on a pedestal only to debase her when she turns out to be a real woman. When he finally apologises for the deception, he doesn't try to minimize what he did or make light of it.
The actors here are good, and while there is a lot of crying, I am all for normalizing men crying! I also liked that both romantic male leads genuinely were cheering on the female lead professionally. Also, that the women bond over career and interests and family more than they do about men. I liked the at ease puppy love of the younger couple and the suspense of whether that could mature into something lasting.
The music kept with the modern, pops of color of the show. There is nothing here to rewatch.
I grade on other criteria as well:
Complex Themes: 6.5
Family is who shows up not just who provides blood or money. The show had an excellent theme going about pure hearted enthusiasm of youth v a jaded cynicism of older age, but transitioned it to a lack lustre theme instead of sell-out for a few years, and you too can be a commercial success! All the weird insistence that they were doing something inspiring and changing the world with a self-driving car start-up was a bit bizarre.
Character Growth: 7.5
The older sister ends up having the most interesting career trajectory. I truly enjoyed her slow transition and switch from living her adopted father's values to her own. The others don't have so much growth as time brings experience, money and power behind them.
Complex women/relationships between women: 8.5
This was truly one of the genuinely great aspects of the show. The older sister has no love interest! There's an older female investor mentor. Multiple women are genuinely interested and passionate about career growth. There is a great subplot between the grandmother and her daughter in law, and the older women have a lot of scenes and character development that you usually don't see.
Production values/cinematography: 8
I really feel like this team got let down by the script and director. Every single time the show could have had a sublime moment, it would instead go with the worst possible literal take ever. As a result, it's very prettily filmed, wealthy characters feel decently wealthy etc., but you rarely got that eerie, transported feeling.
The story/plot here is daytime soap level bad. Love triangles, coincidences, misunderstandings and missed connections, plus unnecessary violence and self-sabotaging behavior (very non sexy though for otherwise having such bad b-movie plotting!)
I wouldn't, however, IMHO say it was particularly red flag worthy or triggering anymore than any other drama. You have your classical deception followed by regret plot (see cyrano de bergerac or taming of the shrew). Violence breaks out in two fights where the less powerful character explodes at what he sees as bullying by powerful people.
Plus, Nam Do -San genuinely finds Seo Dal-mi inspiring and respects that she has many of the qualities he lacks. He doesn't put his fantasy of who she is on a pedestal only to debase her when she turns out to be a real woman. When he finally apologises for the deception, he doesn't try to minimize what he did or make light of it.
The actors here are good, and while there is a lot of crying, I am all for normalizing men crying! I also liked that both romantic male leads genuinely were cheering on the female lead professionally. Also, that the women bond over career and interests and family more than they do about men. I liked the at ease puppy love of the younger couple and the suspense of whether that could mature into something lasting.
The music kept with the modern, pops of color of the show. There is nothing here to rewatch.
I grade on other criteria as well:
Complex Themes: 6.5
Family is who shows up not just who provides blood or money. The show had an excellent theme going about pure hearted enthusiasm of youth v a jaded cynicism of older age, but transitioned it to a lack lustre theme instead of sell-out for a few years, and you too can be a commercial success! All the weird insistence that they were doing something inspiring and changing the world with a self-driving car start-up was a bit bizarre.
Character Growth: 7.5
The older sister ends up having the most interesting career trajectory. I truly enjoyed her slow transition and switch from living her adopted father's values to her own. The others don't have so much growth as time brings experience, money and power behind them.
Complex women/relationships between women: 8.5
This was truly one of the genuinely great aspects of the show. The older sister has no love interest! There's an older female investor mentor. Multiple women are genuinely interested and passionate about career growth. There is a great subplot between the grandmother and her daughter in law, and the older women have a lot of scenes and character development that you usually don't see.
Production values/cinematography: 8
I really feel like this team got let down by the script and director. Every single time the show could have had a sublime moment, it would instead go with the worst possible literal take ever. As a result, it's very prettily filmed, wealthy characters feel decently wealthy etc., but you rarely got that eerie, transported feeling.
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