It’s been a while since my last review but I felt especially compelled to write one for this show. It took me DAYS to give this show a proper score because of the love hate relationship that I had with it. I’m splitting this review into two parts: story and cast.

STORY: The synopsis does a pretty good job of giving you an idea of the story. There were plenty of common tropes in the show and stereotypical kdrama moments. The story itself isn’t too unique. Poor girl sees opportunity to become rich, takes it, ends up falling in love with the male lead despite a contract driven marriage, etc. One thing I really liked though was the immense character development the male lead went through. He went from being an intense germaphobe who despises forming real connections with people to someone who puts his life on the line for the woman he loves. I also liked that that the relationship between the leads was slow despite the fast pace of the show itself. So many things happen in each episode but the relationship and the falling in love between the leads develops in a realistic manner. The final episode did a good job of tying up loose ends, justice was served, and the last few minutes were especially satisfying.

CAST: Starting with the female lead, this woman annoyed the hell out of me for the first half of the show. She had no backbone, didn’t stand up for herself, allowed herself to be used by anyone and everyone, put everyone around her in constant danger, and made overall stupid decisions. Her attitude and actions during the first half made me almost drop the show twice. Her family also annoyed me, especially her brother in the first few episodes (though this got better as the show went on). It seemed as if no one in her family was smart and the only reason I kept watching was because of the male lead. Honestly speaking, the female lead did NOT deserve someone so patient and trusting as him. However somewhere around episode 11 or 12, her character finally shows some development and she goes from being a weak stupid character to one who wants to truly protect her loved ones (beyond just her family). Although this development took half the show, it was worth it. Now I’m not saying that she completely stops making stupid decisions after episode 12. There were still a fair share of WTF moments however it was way better than the first half of the show.

The villains in this show were terrible awful people. The actors portrayed them well and made it easy for people to hate them. As a typical Kdrama goes, there are moments when you truly pity them but that doesn’t take away from the general hatred. The relationship between Min Seok Hoon and Choi Mi Yun was probably one of the most tragic ones I’ve seen. It’s clear that Mi Yun truly loves her husband but can’t accept the fact that he doesn’t love her so she chooses to simply blind herself to all of his awful actions. This is especially clear in the false pregnancy scene. The actor that plays Seok Hoon does an incredible job in portraying him as a master manipulator and there were even times in the middle when I was thought that maybe there was some part of him that truly loves Mi Yun. The ending makes their relationship even more tragic. Not much has to be said about the loan sharks, I hate them and there wasn’t a single moment when I didn’t.

Despite my initial frustrations and some plot holes where things didn’t really add up, all in all this show was ok. Won’t say it was my absolute favorite and probably will not rewatch it, but it did have its merits. If you have the ability to withstand and tolerate the first half, I can say that you will enjoy the second half.