I usually watch melodramas when I want to watch something more mature and serious or when I feel like I need something that might be more solid and when I heard about this drama coming out on dramabeans I was all for it. The synopsis had all the elements of a good melo and despite people being uncomfortable by the considerable age difference of the leads I just didn't mind (or care) and wanted to see if it was good or not, and BOY it was good past being good.
Story:
Something simple where a mother is dying and needs someone to watch over her daughter and enters into a contractual marriage, but we enter into Hye Soo's life when she really doesn't have that except in her friend Joo Yeon. Cue in Ji Hoon who plays the time adage of a rich chaebol playboy with more enough money in his pockets and enough girls in his bed that he doesn't have time to be serious or particularly nice to anyone around him. Despite the expectancy of knowing that the main lead character will change the main male character as understanding that he isn't all bad, Ji Hoon represented a character i haven't seen in a drama in a really long time. A character knowing he is flawed, knowing and believing he is the worst human being and not seeing himself as being redeemable. He didn't believe he was any good, he didn't get the love nor care and wasn't seen as being redeemable by his family or in his own eyes so for a woman that he barely knew, a stranger such as Hye Soo to point it out that he was a good person and with such firmness .....it just got to me that he wasn't such a simple character and there were layers in this jerkish playboy and they were nice layers and just needed tender loving care and someone to actually stick around but not wanting to take advantage or use it against him.
Acting/Cast
Ever since the first drama I seen Uee in(which was You're Beautiful....she made me truly hate her character as a second lead female that just dripped two-faced and a bitch all at once), I had a feeling this girl could act but it was just the lack of a really great drama to pull it out of the ballpark to show everyone that she could. I knew she could meet the challenge and wasn't surprise that her and Lee Seo Jin had chemistry. But WAS surprise by how HOT that chemistry was!!!!
The two of them complimented one another, whether they spoke or not you got what you needed from their eyes, they portrayed their characters longing, their passion, their fear, worry, confusion and it all with just their eyes....they fitted completely together like pieces in a puzzle
The child actress Shin Rin-Ah or the little Eun Sung who seemed more like a brat in the beginning (in all honesty I wouldn't dare run off when my parents told me to stay put or ignore when my parents told me not to do something) but in all honesty she is just a child and is naturally going to be defiant. But this little girl was just so freaking adorable, sassy, and fiesty. Eun Sung was smart, knew when people were lying, considerate, and importantly her interaction with her mother, Hye Soo was just at times adorable, cute, and heartbreaking. That a mother would go above and beyond her ownself to secure her child's future and at the same time Eun Sung went above and beyond in loving and protecting her mother in the only way she knew how as a child. Also her interactions with Ji Hoon was just freaking adorable of being able to finally have a father of her own and no matter what happened to her mother she would still have someone that she will love and be by her side.
The Supporting Character such as the chef Hyun Geol, the manager, and even Hye Soo's best friend were so wonderful, funny, and were able to add comedic relief during times when shit was getting serious and you wanted to cry (which happens ALOT in this drama so have some Kleenex nearby).
Music:
I love me some music, but I HATE it when dramas use it as a filler in trying to bring out an emotion that actors or actresses cannot effectively convey. This drama didn't use music for that AT ALL. Instead the music was simple when it came to soft humming (don't know the singer's name) to small little instrumentals it only helped amplify the emotions whether it was pain, passion, or the confliction of the characters feelings that they couldn't put into words but we knew as viewers that they felt, the songs just amplified them ten times more. Instead of the music carrying the drama, this drama and music worked hand in hand in making scenes even sadder, or more upbeat, and etc...
Overall:
After successfully waiting weeks for this drama to finish airing this has to be one of my top five best dramas that i have ever watched. Aside from the romance, this drama showed that its never too late to seek forgiveness for our sins towards the people we've wronged. Whether its family or friends, we have a second chance to make things better which was evidenced by Hi Joon's mother and his uncle and Hye Soo mother in law. This drama also displayed that realizing what is truly important in life, realizing that family is everything and chasing after idealistic and materialistic items will only leave you at alone at your dining table at the end of the day; valuing life, taking up for our errors and trying to be a better person, and just simply appreciating everyday and not take it for granted. To love ourselves and one another but importantly don't take life for granted. This drama breached on so many things we sometimes forget in the repeated cycle in our lives and it takes a drama like this to remind us that we shoud appreciate the people that we have around us. If it was possible I would rate this drama more than a 10, but since I can't I give it a 10/10!!!
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