I just finished watching this drama today and so my thoughts are still fresh. I think I haven't seen a makjang before this one. Since it was my first time watching such a genre I'd like to say I do not want to watch one of these yet again. Makjang may or may not be good but it sure kills you. Both in good and bad ways. Let's start with the good first. I think this drama has one of the best cast ever. All actors were brilliant at what they did. I couldn't think of any flaw in that department. Lee Seung Gi pulled off his character amazingly well. He completely made me fall in love with him more than ever before. For me he was a big factor in saving this drama from being unbearable. Never have I been so well hooked by an actor's performance in the past (okay, I have but it's been quite long). I consider Han Hyo Joo as one of the best Korean actresses and I loved her once again here too. Her character cried way too much but she did all those scenes wonderfully. There were other actors in the drama too who I've never seen in anything before and they all managed to capture my attention. This is more of a family drama than anything else. That was both a good and bad thing. Good- because it makes you think a lot and helps you understand human emotions better, bad- because it took too much of time which could have been devoted to romance. I really wish there had been more of romance because the characters were so madly engrossing. Ah, well. Apart from that the antagonists in this drama are my utter favorites. Never have I ever enjoyed hating bad guys in a drama so much before. It was off the wall crazy and idiotic. The soundtrack isn't the most impressive I've ever heard but it was oddly addicting. I think the last half of the drama fit the songs better. The angst was amazing and matched well with the background music. Now let's get to the bad part- too much crying, too much of repetitiveness, too mellow and moments which make you pull out your hair. This drama was unnecessarily long. I would say it had a pretty heavy plot but it could have easily been 8 episodes less. Not saying that the last few episodes were bad but the middle ones were too dragging. It started out amazing but after episode 10, things started going downhill. It picked up after a good amount of episodes. I wish Han Hyo Joo had to cry less. I've never seen a female character cry so much before nor have I see a more miserable life of one either. LOL. A special mention goes to the kid who played the autistic brother. His scenes were done so nicely! BTW the jealousy scenes of this drama are so memorable!!!! I think Lee Seung Gi is at his best in this drama when it came to romantic moments or scenes. His character was an A-grade arrogant jerk in the first half and developed very well in the later half. He was so good by the end that I could hardly remember him being bad at all. The second male lead in this drama was boring according to me. I didn't feel like I could root for him. The female lead was very strong and admirable in spite of her crying. The second female lead played by Moon Chae Won was super annoying. I don't know if it's just the actress or her roles itself- she somehow ends up annoying me all the time. Anyway, I really enjoyed watching this drama because it was a full blown experience. It had its great and awful moments but it was worth my time. However, I will never rewatch it again except maybe the few romantic scenes.