This drama has me howling within the first 5 minutes, we had Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston within the space of minutes so I was already giving it soundtrack points but my god the opening scene with he male lead. I swiftly went from what the f*** is happening to laughing so hard it hurt.

CHARACTERS
Bok Soo: I loved him. He’s adorable, he’s pretty chill. He works hard. He’s a braver person than I am cause I wouldn’t have gone back if I was him. I loved watching him bond with his fellow students and help them out with his own brand of advice and boosting them up. He has some nice character growth too, subtle as it is.

Soo Jung: She seems to not really care about integrity or anything at the beginning, she can’t be bothered with the counselling etc. In the first couple episodes I was on the fence about her, but I was warming up to her and then you got the flashback to him being expelled and her siding with Se Ho and I was like wow I hope he blackmailed you or we’re not going to be friends. I was kind of disappointed in her character cause she knows she did wrong not even asking his side but she acts like she’s the victim and she was all “you aren’t the only one who’s suffered” sorry your suffering isn’t on the level of someone accused and charged with pushing someone off a building when he didn’t do it. BUT….she has a hell of a lot of character development throughout the series, she stops sitting quietly by as bad things happen, she starts to stand up for the students and really take care of them and show them the right way to do things, she gets more courageous and I loved how much her character changed.

Se Ho: I’ve never seen the actor play a bad guy before and hot damn I wanted to punch him in his smug face even before I started to figure out what he did. His character is obviously messed up, you find that out from the flashbacks thanks to his mother and I actually ended up being so damn sad that he could have been friends with Bok Soo and have the best friend he’s ever had in him…but he got jealous and he was not in a good place and he destroyed it and to be fair…while he didn’t come clean at the time, his mother did pressure him a lot. He also changes a lot, he’s pretty dislikeable in the beginning but by the end he tries to make amends and his growth is slow but you can see it.

There are also some great supporting characters in Bok Soo’s two BFFS who are with him through thick and thin, I loved the three of them together, they where hilarious and they always had Bok Soo’s back. Then there’s the kids, and I found it heart warming how Bok Soo looked out for them and helped them and how they accepted him as their hyung.

The acting from the main three leads was on point. Wow. I love Seung Ho, and he plays his part to perfection with the smiles and the darker moments when he’s out for revenge when his face completely changes. He made me laugh and choked me up but I feel like Se Ho’s actor was just…wow. Like I said, I’ve seen him play characters who are completely opposite and he portrays his character excellently and the emotion had me choking me up more than once an he makes you feel for a character that you could otherwise just hate. He’s convincing, and the contrast between his present and past self was just excellent, he goes from being lowkey deranged to being quite cute and vulnerable and you just wanna hug him. His performance was impressive.

Plot: It has light hearted moments, it has some ridiculous moments, and some completely hilarious moments, but it also tackles issues such as bullying, the school system in Korea and the pressures of it and overbearing parents, suicide and so on, and you’ll have an episode start out all pretty and funny…but then get more serious or sinister. I just liked how the plot unfolded, the flashbacks, the mix of the more serious and the funny and the heartwarming and how well the two vastly different kind of moments could go in one episode. It’s not all serious all the time, and the humour doesn’t take any levity away from the more serious moments. I have to say some moments with the parents and what they where doing to their kids or what the school was doing had me getting so mad that they where getting away with pulling this shit, but everything came to a satisfying and realistic conclusion. I know some people are disappointed Se Ho didn’t end up being BFFs with Bok Soo again but that…is just not realistic after everything that happened.

I also liked how it was shot, the happy flashbacks are all bright and overly saturated, and have a kind of pink tint to them. Whereas the more serious and upsetting ones are much colder and darker. It was a nice trick.

Negatives:
The level of misunderstanding between the two leads….bit of a reach. definitely made me frustrated more than once too. The plot isn’t the strongest at all times, let’s be real.

While I liked the romance and the way we saw it in the past and in the present and how it bloomed both times, and they had plenty of cute moments…it was also a source of disappointment. Because Bok Soo is supposed to be out for revenge but once the misunderstanding with he and the female lead are out of the way, and the romance kicks off….the drama is focused more on that and the revenge kinda falls by the wayside and I was disappointed by that because I was living for Bok Soo having his revenge moments.

Final Thoughts:
While some things are a bit OTT and a bit cheesy, and there was a source of disappointment when it came to how the revenge petered out at one point…this was a series that had me hooked wanting to see what went down and then wanting to see Bok Soo get his revenge. Each episode had a mix of heartwarming moments, serious and emotional and romance and it mixed everything together smoothly! I’m not sure if I would re-watch it but I did enjoy watching it.

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I wasn't really sure what to expect from this other than a hopefully cute and fluffy romance, and while it's a bit cliched at points, there's a bit more depth to the plot than I was expecting!

The opening caught my attention with the beautiful city shots and the upbeat song, swiftly followed by the scandal. I got hooked in pretty fast and kind of regretted watching it as it aired because it KILLED me to wait for each new episode! I was surprised a little by how much I loved this drama, and the romance, and the additional stuff alongside the cute romance.

Oh Yeon So
-adorable little Martian.
-I love her she’s hilarious. I kinda got Elle Woods vibes from her, with her outfits, and how people lowkey assume she’s dumb but then she cracks out some law knowledge cause it turns out she has an excellent memory.
-I felt for her, especially when it’s finally revealed what the deal is with the scandal that happened, she’s supposed to not be very good at acting and she’s just trying to get back on her feet okay!
-I also admired her dedication and determination that she showed throughout the drama, as well as her emotional empathy, understanding and kindness towards the various different people we encountered.

Jung Rok
-he’s a bit of an ass in the beginning and doesn’t really give her a chance but honestly that’s just his personality like he’s not here to piss about.
-He’s so straightforward and brusque and matter of fact, and isn’t that great with human interaction for the most part.
- He doesn’t come to company events, he doesn’t always get social cues like cornering her at a company dinner to ask her in front of everyone why she got upset at him. BUT he is quite sweet and adorable.

The supporting cast…I loved them. Her manager….man I loved him, I wasn’t too sure of him at first but he really looks out for her and the two of them where funny. The divorce lawyer….he’s such a mummys boy I was cackling jesus, but he was kind of sweet in his own way, helping her get experience at the court by taking her with him etc. I think we should admire his self confidence to be honest. The female lawyer who kept falling in love all over the place, and my GOD did I ship she and the divorce lawyer after a few of their interactions! They where my favourite side couple and they had me chuckling a couple of times.

But the biggest shout out goes to Jung Rok’s roommate Se Won. THANK GOD FOR HIM. Seriously, he fixed everything one time when they had a fight and Jfc, whenever something would happen with our main couple after that I was like Se Won please go and sort it out. I loved Se Won and I was rooting for he and his ex to get back together.

Romance: They where so cute from close to the start, like episode 3, but episode 4...hot damn they where just too cute and it was killing me and then it threw in that sinister clip in the middle of it and then back to the cute I was like woah...if I wasn’t hooked already this would have done it.
-I was anticipating more of them being adorable and the drama that was to come! I just loved how kinda sweet and innocent it all was because neither of them have ever dated before, and you saw her obviously get feelings first and try to keep it from him so badly, and him realise her feelings and know her excuses and reasoning for things are bullshit but still rolling with it.
-They’re so freaking sweet okay. Jesus.
-I also enjoyed the level of trust they had so we avoided any misunderstandings about certain things in the show, and didn’t have arguments about it!

Plot: I was drawn in by the characters and the romance, but there was plenty in the plot to keep me interested.
-We have Yeon So assimilating to her new job and the hilarity with that, and her bonding and getting closer with Jung Rok as well as the other lawyers etc.
-We have the romance growing and developing.
-We have the mystery of her scandal and what happened, we have the shady chaebol when he appears, but we also have the various different cases we see in each episode that Jung rok handles and Yeon So becomes involved in which I wasn’t expecting and added a nice amount of intrigue and something to keep you interested alongside the romance and added more depth to the drama.
-I loved seeing her get involved and help in her own special way which I also think went a ways to the developing romance as it paints her in a new light to him, but we had a variety of different cases, and while I initially didn’t get the focus on two characters who weren’t the mains even if one was his roommate, they did slowly connect in with the main characters.
-It’s nicely paced, I was a bit sad that the whole thing with the Chaebol Air was sorted so quickly and I was worried it was going to be a final few episodes of nothing much really happening which was my issue with what’s wrong with Secretary kim, but it turned out that there was more to cover, her making her comeback and so on!
-There was unexpected action at points too and it kept us busy up until the end with cute and funny moments as well as a few more obstacles and issues to work out.

Final Thoughts:
A nicely paced drama, a sweet romance, the leads have great chemistry. Lots of funny moments, a surprising hint of action here or there and it keeps you entertained until the end when it wraps things up neatly! Definitely a rewatchable one and I never stopped looking forward to the episodes each week!

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