Initially I dropped this show but came back to it later, and I’m glad I did. There’s a lot that could be better about it, but the heart of it is very good. What interested me was that a film writer (Yoo Young Ah), wrote a drama that filled 16 hours with a plot that could have serviced a two hour movie, and managed to pull it off.

Movies, like short stories, revolve around one basic idea. To try and do more is actually to do less because you don’t have the space to properly explore them. So, here she takes the basic noona/chaebol romance, stripped of any excess emphasis on politics, secondary romances, plot twists (the normal complexities written into long dramas) and plumbs the depth of it. Although I don’t think the characters had enough shade written into them to give them the full three dimensions, Park Bo Gum acted his heart out and gave a a really convincing performance, particularly towards the end.

I doubt there’s anything more than that comment, insightful enough to add anything to the already abundant comments in other reviews.

What my rating means: 8+ A great drama with interesting content and good writing, direction, acting, OST, cinematography. But didn’t quite have the requisite sparkle to bump it into my all-time fave list. Worth watching.