This review may contain spoilers
This is a final review with major spoilers. For 14 eps, this drama was excellent. It draws you in fully from the first moments and becomes more compelling as the story progresses. The cast is perfect for each role and the acting is just as perfect. The physical and voice acting is nothing short of phenomenal. The drama is very intelligent with sharp, clever and often inspired dialogue. It's a very deep drama with lighter scenes and touches of humor and charm. Unlike many shows that come across as scripted and acted, this drama has much more substance and reality beneath the story. The drama is particularly adept at showing true adult human relationships. Although some scenes are not easy to watch, the acting is so wonderful in capturing the emotion of the moment that the scenes are often truly beautiful. The characters are multifaceted. So they have different sides and traits depending upon the moment and the context. Interestingly enough, we can hate a character for what they do in one scene and then feel for that same person in other scenes. It all comes across as very natural and real. The story is just as multifaceted. The writing is masterful in presenting this story at the right pace and with the right tone. Deliberate and not rushed but never boring. And at times very surprising as new information is revealed - often in incredibly smart and creative ways. With an ever changing focus that moves from history to present, work to personal life, lighter tone to deeper and changing which characters are center at any given moment. Very well done on every level. The background music is the best of any drama I've seen. The cinematography is just as good as every other part of this production with many stunning visuals. Up through ep 14, I watched every episode a second time and they were as good every time.
But I now need to mention some very major negatives about the last two eps. The last two eps were not a natural and necessary continuation of the wonderful 1st 14. In fact, the drama totally stopped doing everything that worked well. It was no longer a stunningly good mood piece. There were some really nice scenes. But the tone of the drama changed and it lost all emotional resonance and intensity. I actually grew weary of every character or story arc except the lovely romance between Ms. Lee and Mr. Cha and nice scenes with Mi Na's family. Overall, the story just fell apart. Some plot lines like the end of the company back fighting and the VP and his family were a waste of time. The work event was only there to give an excuse to have Jung Sun fall down the stairs. And it all felt contrived and pointless. And just about every bad guy character began to grate on my last nerve. The story had no more suspense since all secrets were disclosed. And the story stopped having any real drama. This story inexplicably lost the very intense emotional bond built with the audience during the prior 14 eps. All of the main characters related to the most dramatic story arcs just stopped moving forward. Jung Sun for some reason became contemplative and oddly accepting of things. I'm glad the story let her find peace. But this transition never felt real and it surely wasn't the ending the story and her character deserved. It was too uneventful and felt like her story just fizzled out. The writing also seemed to give up on any plot progression for the husband and his mistress. Their stories became boring and pointless as they both became super annoying pathetic losers. Having them give up or lose their relationship added no sense of justice or satisfaction. It just punctuated their descent into boring irrelevance. Maybe the drama became too intense and emotions wound too tight. And then when it all unwound in the last few eps, the show lost the tight punch that had us constantly on the edge of our seats. But whatever the reason, I felt that the show just sank instead of ending on a high note. His closing explanation to his wife was pathetic and his reasoning absurd. He was always a lying cheat. But now he was also an incredibly annoying loser who offered nothing to the story. He never had any affect but that was OK since the others around him had affect and emotion to spare. But now with no one showing much emotion, his lack of affect became a noticeable negative. Yu ri was always a conniving cheat. And she was pathetic for quite a while. But she turned into such a supreme loser that I continually wanted to yell at the screen for her to just shut up already. Aside from the good scenes involving Mi Na and Ms. Lee, this drama totally lost all momentum in the last 2 eps and just limped along to the end. Given how brilliant it was, this show should have ended as an all time favorite. The writing in the last 2 eps was a major disappointment and ruined this show for me.
But I now need to mention some very major negatives about the last two eps. The last two eps were not a natural and necessary continuation of the wonderful 1st 14. In fact, the drama totally stopped doing everything that worked well. It was no longer a stunningly good mood piece. There were some really nice scenes. But the tone of the drama changed and it lost all emotional resonance and intensity. I actually grew weary of every character or story arc except the lovely romance between Ms. Lee and Mr. Cha and nice scenes with Mi Na's family. Overall, the story just fell apart. Some plot lines like the end of the company back fighting and the VP and his family were a waste of time. The work event was only there to give an excuse to have Jung Sun fall down the stairs. And it all felt contrived and pointless. And just about every bad guy character began to grate on my last nerve. The story had no more suspense since all secrets were disclosed. And the story stopped having any real drama. This story inexplicably lost the very intense emotional bond built with the audience during the prior 14 eps. All of the main characters related to the most dramatic story arcs just stopped moving forward. Jung Sun for some reason became contemplative and oddly accepting of things. I'm glad the story let her find peace. But this transition never felt real and it surely wasn't the ending the story and her character deserved. It was too uneventful and felt like her story just fizzled out. The writing also seemed to give up on any plot progression for the husband and his mistress. Their stories became boring and pointless as they both became super annoying pathetic losers. Having them give up or lose their relationship added no sense of justice or satisfaction. It just punctuated their descent into boring irrelevance. Maybe the drama became too intense and emotions wound too tight. And then when it all unwound in the last few eps, the show lost the tight punch that had us constantly on the edge of our seats. But whatever the reason, I felt that the show just sank instead of ending on a high note. His closing explanation to his wife was pathetic and his reasoning absurd. He was always a lying cheat. But now he was also an incredibly annoying loser who offered nothing to the story. He never had any affect but that was OK since the others around him had affect and emotion to spare. But now with no one showing much emotion, his lack of affect became a noticeable negative. Yu ri was always a conniving cheat. And she was pathetic for quite a while. But she turned into such a supreme loser that I continually wanted to yell at the screen for her to just shut up already. Aside from the good scenes involving Mi Na and Ms. Lee, this drama totally lost all momentum in the last 2 eps and just limped along to the end. Given how brilliant it was, this show should have ended as an all time favorite. The writing in the last 2 eps was a major disappointment and ruined this show for me.
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