As soon as this show starts you know it's going to be special; the cinematography, costumes, and sets are some of the best I've seen on TV and it's quite obvious Apple put a lot of money into this. I do think promotion wise this should have been more clearly billed as a drama series (the award show designation for shows with multiple seasons), because I think a lot of people thought this was a limited series (1 season and done) and it affected their enjoyment of the show because they felt major parts of the book were going to be cut. I know it was only renewed after season 1 finished but up until then I only saw one interview with the show runner where she stated this was intended to have multiple seasons. Hopefully anyone who starts watching it now will understand as they are watching that these 8 episodes are only the first season and not the entirety of the story.

I am of the opinion that this is an adaptation and when adapting a book what works best in on the page isn't necessarily best for TV or film. I liked the changes that were made here, the most controversial being the non-linear time line. While it was a bit clunky on occasion, I felt it did add something to the show. Now that we know for sure this will be multiple seasons, this format makes a lot more sense as you get to keep some actors for season 2 instead of bringing in all new ones and making it feel like a different show.

All the actors here do a great job! I hope Minha Kim gets more work after this whether it be in Korea or the U.S. Youn Yuh Jung is excellent as always and the subtly in her performance is breathtaking. This is Lee Minho's best role yet! His standalone episode was a revelation and I hope people watch this show so we can finally stop hearing about how overrated he is as an actor, he did a fantastic job here! Also kudos to everyone in the cast who had to act in languages that were not their first language, that's not easy to do. And a special shout out to the child actors in this show who were able to handle heavy material very well.

I definitely did enjoy the parts with younger Sunja more than the 1989 storyline but I did like some of the ways they tied things together and how certain things were revealed to the viewer. I'd be interested to hear what people who, unlike myself, had not read the book thought of this.

The directing and visuals of this show were spectacular! The score was beautiful as well. I believe the visuals on their own contribute to high re-watchability.

I'm so glad I watched this show as it was an emotional journey that, while specific to Koreans living in Japan in the 20th century, has the ability to stay with everyone long after the credits roll on the first season.