Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol (2020)

Earlier episodes 8.5/10, finale 0/10

The story had so much promise. Great cast, great chemistry, interesting plot points:
1) Who is DoDoSolSolLaLaSol?
2) fated romance of Rara and Jun
3) growing friendships in Eunpo
4) relationship lines of the secondary couples

But then suddenly at episode 14, the writers decided that things were looking too prematurely good for the leads that they had to go through one of those stupid draggy kdrama tropes: a lead character gets an incurable disease and the characters don't communicate, a lead character suddenly gets into a car crash and loses their memory, an ex-girlfriend appears and makes the female lead jealous and the leads don't communicate... you know, ONE OF THOSE.
And the way the writers attempted to resolve this conflict was even worse. Details in episode 16, I've marked this review spoilerless so ask in the comments if you are really desperate.

Long story short, it was such a wasted potential because that big fate reveal was so touching and the main romance line was totally shippable
until the writers decided to just play with our feelings and execute the most unrealistic finale just so they could tell the audience they gave us a "happy end."

I'm screaming. I had so much hope for Lee Jae-wook's big first male lead role, and for the amazing cast of support characters like the doctor and Rara's landlady. Never watched Go Ara's works before but she played this clueless happy-go-lucky girl pretty well. And the mysteries surrounding the leads' past and the identity of the titular character were nicely done. But then... sigh.

Verdict? If you're okay with leaving things open-ended, watch until the airport scene in episode 15.
If you're the viewer that needs closure, forget this drama existed and watch something else (Search:WWW is an amazing rom com where Lee Jae-wook gets a hilarious and cute love line). Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol's Episode 16 will have you screaming in anger.

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No No No No La La No

WTF!!!!!!!!!
If someone I loved pretended to be dead for 5 yrs and suddenly appeared in front of me, I wouldn't even want to look at their face.

The grief from death isn't the same as the grief from a breakup.

The writer had been playing with this since the beginning by giving the doctor a case of pills to carry everywhere. Writers should stop trying to make the audience cry. At this point they just seem like the bad teacher that hits you so you become better. This is not a healthy way of creating emotions in people.
The last few 4 or so episodes seemed like fillers with lots of throwbacks and nonsensical plot lines.
It's ok to make dramas shorter. If a story can be told better in fewer episodes, do it! It's better than spoiling a story that was good to begin with.

This idea of going through hard times alone even if you have loved ones is an Asian ideal that I can't really understand and I believe it's so damaging considering the mental health and suicide issues that are so prevalent there. Especially in South Korea. We've seen so many idols die to suicide. Pushing this idea that you have to endure hardships alone and come back to your loved ones when you're "not broken anymore" and not cause them "trouble" is something that might make this issue worse.

I can't stand by this drama anymore. The ending message is very damaging to those suffering from any sort of illness.

I'm not even going to speculate about the ending. It doesn't matter. It is what it is. And it doesn't do it for me.

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Don't do it. Just don't - no matter how cute you think it is.

No. Just no.
Please do yourself a favor. Do not watch this. You will be sucked in by the cute and the fluffy and the sweet! It will go on for about 13 and a half episodes and you will love it.

Then apparently the writer started smoking crack.

I've never been so angry about the ending of a drama in my life! The 5 stars is completely for the acting and the music and the 13.5 lovely episodes. (Although the writer still may have been a bit high writing all of it to be perfectly honest because at the end you realize how much nonsense is in this show. It was just hidden by the sweetness!)

And I couldn't even rage quit this show because by the time they have enraged you with what they've done --- boom! It's over. The last 3 minutes gave me a total rage fit. I was prepared for a sad ending - I sobbed for the SAD ending and then came to terms with it even though I hated the way it appeared they were going to end it. But this....this was just....wrong. So much wrong. They did those characters dirty. They did the audience dirty. They did those actors dirty.

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The good story with weird ending

It was a very refreshing drama, kind of sweet, I love the way of execution of the story and the character development. Even though there is 8 years difference between the main lead but their screen chemistry was very good. but it was very good until the 14 episodes they messed up the ending...I mean they really messed up, It was the weirdest and worst ending ever. It didn't explain anything. So it was 8.5 for me until 14 ep but it's all messed up now ...like all people got a happy ending except the main lead (or they got writer knows it's like an open ending) I am very confused.

I will surely recommend this drama but the last 2 episodes are a huge disappointment!

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Huge failure in the writing

WHAT I LIKED:
-Ra Ra : little princess lost in the world. She is naïve but optimistic and she would tell you bluntly what is ok and what is not. She has an adorable cheerful personality and she slowly shows a mature side of herself.
-Jun: a mysterious but kind guy who does his best to survive by himself but also to help everyone around him.
- The great chemistry between Ra Ra and Jun
- Ha Young and Seung Gi : usual friends who become lovers. They are cute and friendly people
- The women at the hair saloon: crazy women but warm and funny people
- Grandpa: a kind person who helps them all openly and also secretly. I liked his background story
- The head of detective agency : the most fun of them all.
- Dr Cha : I really had a problem with him at first as he was weird with Ra Ra and tried to woo her. He became more likeable though.

WHAT I DID NOT LIKE:
The writer managed to portray very endearing characters with their interactions describing a lot of love and care from one to the others. It made the general athmosphere nice, fun and heartwarming. But the problem is that the writer never knew where to head to. There is no clear plotline and it navigates from a situation to another situation which are either cute (grandpa story, Jae min's story) or confusing (Ra Ra's father's death, stalker story), or irritating (fake cancer, fake wedding) until the final episodes with silly useless revelations and a ridiculous ending.

The writer basically never managed to tell a story and was mostly leading on the audience to manipulate it and extort emotions from it. Lame.

MUSIC: It was ok

REWATCH: Why rewatch? Don't even watch.

OVERALL : 10 for the main characters. 2 for the story. Overall: 6. I clearly don't recommend this drama. It is a waste of time.

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Wonderful drama until it all fell apart in the latest episodes

Story: It was all rainbows and unicorns (as a rom-com SHOULD be) until writer decided to go into MAKJANG territory and destroy all the hard work she put into creating this story (last minutes of ep.16 was just an ordeal to watch) The story has so much heart in the beginning, with endearing characters who despite not being blood-related helped/supported each other in difficult times, they were like the perfect family that everyone dreams of.
Chemistry between the leads was on point. They made a beautiful couple and even when Jun was revealed to be a high-schooler, I didn't mind at all (I know many people were bothered by this detail, I wasn't one of them), I stood by them and hoped for a beautiful resolution to their love story. I'm still angry at the writer for giving everyone the happy-ending they deserved except our main couple. Jun faking his own death for 5 years, him coming back into Rara's life and acting as nothing has happened was just appalling. I just can't with this one...who in their right mind thought it was a nice way to wrap up things?

Rara could have move on and been married, you know it's been 5 fuck*ng years and you expect her to welcome him open arms and to forgive him just like that *oh wait, it's exactly what happened* (she thought he was dead for God's sake!!!)
I would be furious as hell and dump him on the spot (even if the guy was the real Lee Jae Wook!)
Before leaving, he should have told her the truth. Period. Rara would have probably been devastated at first but she could have given him the emotional support he needed and they could have faced it together like real couples would do. In concealing the truth, he's showing he didn't trust her, he's treating her like a little girl.

DoDoSolSolLaLaSol's revelation was about the only good thing in the latest episodes. It was beautiful, I admit, it made my heart flutter. Knowing he fell in love at first sight and all the things he did to keep in touch with her was just so precious and romantic (he was indeed her star/guardian angel) but writer had to ruin that lovely concept with the nonsensical and outdated illness plot ughh

The best ending imho: Show started with a wedding that fell through and should have ended with our main leads wedding. Coming in full circle. Writer may have thought it was too cliché?!? Still I'd take this 'cliché' ending over the infuriating one she has given us.

Edit: Writer could have include the wedding in a last epilogue for example. Just a thought.
Finale Rating: 6.5/10 and I'm being generous (8.5 from first episode to 13)

Acting:
Top-notch acting from everyone. I was most wary of Go Ara but she pleasantly surprised me with her bubbly, fun and optimistic character.
They are the reason why I stuck with this drama till the end. They deserved better. Writer failed them big time! And she ruined LJW first leading role *angry* (writer is blacklisted from now on!!)
To think it's from the same team behind 'Shopping King Louie' which is one of my fav dramas ever *I just can't believe it*
Rating: 9.5/10

Music:
OST was nice and I quite liked it.
Rating: 8.5//10

Rewatch Value: No, I won't go through this one a second time. Drama ended when Jun crashed the fake wedding and they went to the beach.
Rating: 3.5/10

Overall: For those wondering why I'm so harsh with the writer and the drama in general...It's because it could have been a great drama, it had so much potential in the beginning and I trust the writer because I watched all her projects (there's only 2) and enjoyed them a lot. I just feel cheated in the end.
Finale Rating:7.5/10 (mainly for the actors fabulous performances)

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confused enjoyment

As a fan of Go Ara and Shopping King Louis I had really high expectations for this drama, and it took me for a ride. If you’re looking for a sweet romantic comedy about found family and learning to love again, then watch this!

Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol (the notes to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star) is about a naïve rich pianist (Goo Rara) who reaches rock bottom after the death of her father, and a mysterious man (Sunwoo Jun) who lends her money and helps her get back on her feet with a piano academy. As fragile souls out in the world alone for the first time, they find comfort and love in each other as well as the cast of characters around them.

Strengths:
-The characters!
Rara is delightful. Despite falling so far from a sheltered life of comfort, she stays positive and hopeful, and her warmth heals the characters around her (and us in the audience). She sees and brings out the good in the people, and they reciprocate with the same energy. Multiple characters which start out antagonistic become part of the extended family and my heart is so filled with love.

-Acting/cast
Go Ara does a wonderful job of playing Rara, the role suits her perfectly since her personality is very similar in real life. Though Sunwoo Jun is initially a more restrained character compared to Rara, Lee Jaewook is great at communicating Jun’s inner thoughts through his eyes and body language, and he especially excels during the more emotional scenes that come later on. Go Ara and Lee Jaewook have great chemistry (people always say that it is despite the 8 year age gap but I don’t know why such an age gap (same as Shopping King Louis btw) only seems to be a potential obstacle when the woman is older but I digress). Other members of the cast do a great job at portraying supporting characters that we come to adore just as much as the main leads. Considering that this is a romantic comedy, the comedic timing does not disappoint either.

-Music
Music is an integral part of Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol. It takes classical pieces and weaves their meanings throughout the plot and characters, and their melodies throughout the backdrop. The piano scenes are so beautifully emotional that they make me regret quitting piano. In addition to the classical OST, there is also the conventional pop OST. Extraordinary You and Shopping King Louis fans will find familiar voices in the track list (Sondia, Epitone Project, April; Monsta X, GFriend).

-Dog!
Rara has a pomeranian named Mimi.

Weaknesses:
-Plot (in the last quarter of the drama) and ending
This drama really likes to subvert our expectations of tropes, which is a strength for most of its run (a spoiled and rich girl who’s not entitled and mean?? Great!). But in its last quarter, it falls victim to the typical show-is-ending-soon-so-let’s-stir-shit-up view bait that afflicts so many Kdramas. As an initially warm and positive show which became a source of healing for so many people, the last part of the drama is exhausting with the way it constantly tries to trick us by attempting to be smart with its manipulation of tropes. While in the beginning, tropes are subverted to avoid melodrama, the last quarter would subvert one melodramatic trope with a completely incomprehensible and melodramatic trope (it feels like the writers forgot they were supposed to be writing a romantic comedy). Its signature cute and heartwarming moments are still present in this last quarter but be prepared to get whiplash from the main couple, and don’t watch the episode previews because they become maliciously misleading (also, the ending is pure trash, 0/10).

Nonetheless, Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol is still enjoyable. If you wanted a drama with a tightly woven plot, then you probably need to look somewhere else. But, if you enjoy cuteness, laughter, character growth, supportive relationships, and cathartic music, then you should watch this drama.

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WORST ENDING EVER!!

Let me start with the reasons I loved this show, I'll save the spoilers until the end.
Go Ah Ra as Ra Ra. I saw her Miss Hammurabi and loved her. She has a fresh appeal about her. Though Ra Ra's life went south pretty suddenly, she was always optimistic. Though I often felt she was taking advantage of Joon, I couldn't be mad at her - she was always open and up-front about what she was doing. Ra Ra changed everyone that she came into contact with for the better. Her effervescent personality in the face of adversity was a joy to watch.
Lee Jae Wook as Sun Woo Joon - this is really his first leading-man role, and I must say he was made for it. His personality was the opposite of Ra Ra's, but there was a magnetic pull between them. His acting is understated and believable, and when he cried, oh my!
Ye Ji Won as Jin Sook Kyung - as the owner of the beauty salon, she was quirky and a little strange, but so fun to watch.
I felt that the entire cast was excellent.
OST - Oh wow!! How they wove "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" through the entire series was brilliant. Playful one minute, soulful the next, heartbreaking in the next minute.
STORY - here's where things get difficult. Up through about episode 11, I would have rated this as a strong 10. The writing was excellent for each of the characters. Their actions and their conversations were so fun and heart-felt. The salon ladies were a hoot. Though Dr. Cha was a little creepy to me, his character made sense the more you got to see him. The friendships/crushes of the teenagers were fun and not too terribly irritating. I loved watching everyone change through Ra Ra's influence, and the fact that she was acting in a completely natural manner without any artifice was lovely. The budding relationship between Joon and Ra Ra was so special - she'd ask him to do something for her, he'd say "no" but then do it. All the things he did for her - I really felt that he loved her. The beginning scenes of each episode and the epilogues provide some additional clues as to what was going on. I love a storyline where the main characters have met in different scenarios over the years.
After about episode 11, I was wondering if a different writer took over. This went from being a light, fluffy love story (with quite a few laugh out loud moments) to melodrama pretty quickly. Here is one of my issues, if I know it's going to be a melodrama going in, I can prepare myself for angst and stress. I was going along, really enjoying this show when BAM! His nightmare mom, his even more nightmarish dad, breakups for no reason, lots of time spent apart, everyone is miserable, clingy ex-girlfriend shows up, and toss in an illness that he doesn't tell anyone about and it's a big old mess. I do have to give the writer credit for the scenes making fun of the "water in the face, paying off the girlfriend to leave her son alone" trope. This couple was apart more than they were together.
SPOILERS - SPOILERS - SPOILERS - SPOILERS - SPOILERS - SPOILERS - SPOILERS - SPOILERS - SPOILERS!!!!
This is what is unforgivable for me - Joon goes to the US to "study", though he's really being treated for leukemia. Joon and Ra Ra still talk to one another on the phone. A few months go by and his mother shows up at Ra Ra's piano studio and tells her that Joon has died, and he left her a letter. So, we hear Joon's words to Ra Ra and go through her grief with her. FIVE YEAR TIME JUMP (I hate the time jumps in the best of times, but this was the worst!) Ra Ra is playing the song that she used to play to welcome him home and looks up, and there stands JOON. He says he didn't want to come back until he was well. She's a little bit mad but then forgives him pretty quickly. I had problems with this on many levels. First, what kind of mother would lie about her son being dead?!? And the fact that he left Ra Ra completely out of the loop, that's not love. All I could think of was, if I was Ra Ra, I'd be wishing that I'd been able to spend whatever time she had with him. When I got to the end of this show, I really felt like I'd been cheated, and I am NOT amused! So, strictly for this reason I had to lower my rating to a 7. I really wanted to go lower, I'm so mad, but the show was so good up to when it wasn't anymore.

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Twinkle, Twinkle But Not A Gem..

The Story; Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol ( roughly translated to ‘ Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star’ from Romanised Korean), tells the story of an affluent girl who is a dreadful pianist, Goo Ra- ra ( Go Ara). When her life hits rock bottom, she ends up running again into the mysteriously hardworking Lee Jae- wook (Sunwoo Joon). Together with Jae- wook and her new friends, Ra- ra might just find the answer to getting her life back on her feet through the kindness of strangers and new love.

The Characters; The show offered an odd mix of characters both endearing and lacking characterisation. As our main protagonists go, Ra- Ra was mostly driven as a weeping heroine with little emotional depth. Considering Ra- Ra lost her mother, father and has gone through Hell and Back, there was so much potential for the scriptwriters to induce a level of pity or teaching her character about the realities of life. Instead, any hope for Ra- Ra to be a realistic female lead is thrown out the window in pace of her romance with Jun. Even small actions regarding Ra- Ra by the scriptwriters such as her mysterious multitude of outfits ( and not considering even in the beginning of the show to perhaps sell them to help pay for Jun), the expenses of her hospital fees and her seemingly remaining oblivious to the Doctor and Jun’s secrets, added little to her character. Moving on to our main lead, it’s fair to say that he was perhaps slightly more tolerable for audiences as he seemed to realistically carry emotional burdens upon his back as well as mysterious secrets. Sadly, rather than trying to allow Jun to face his own demons by spending time with Ra- Ra , the scriptwriters tried too hard to add obstacles within their relationship through the strange plot twist near the ending of the show. Whilst this did help for Ra- Ra and Jun to explore their relationship, it seemed just to point out that none of the characters in the show were truly grounded in reality.

Relationships between characters; Perhaps my one appraisal for the show is the Mother- Daughter bond between Jin Sook-kyeong ( Ye Ji- Won) and Jin Ha-yeong ( Shin Eun Woo) . For a show grounded in romance, there was a surprisingly familial turn upon learning that the seemingly daft and flirtatious hair stylist , Jin Sook- kyeong, got a surprising moment of characterisation through learning of her hardships and her actual affection as a single mother for her daughter. Similarly, it was equally sweet that Sook-kyeong, Ha- Yeong and Ra-Ra developed a strong bond between one another as the show progressed. I have a couple of complaints, however, about the need for Sook-kyeong and Ha- yeong to have romantic interests in the show. Whilst there’s obviously nothing wrong with either character having their own love interest, it seemed out of character at times when there could have been more focus upon the characters as individuals. For me, this was seen especially with Ha- yeong. Whilst the scriptwriters dropped the hints, the ending seemed to deny a lot of Ha- yeong’s potential to continue with a successful career.

On other notes, there were other signs of familial love within the show such as Jun and his mother ( Seo Yi Sook) and , the child prodigy, Jae- Min who develops a familial bond with our characters. On a romance level, the show was a bit of a mixed bag. Once Jun’s secrets were exposed it did put a bit of edge for viewers between their relationship, but, perhaps one of the things which didn’t entirely add up for us as viewers, was the revelation towards Ra- Ra not recognising Jun from the past. Whilst it’s natural her memory might’ve been a bit hazy, it seemed a little strange that she didn’t even mildly recognise Jun at the concert hall or at the wedding either. Naturally, there is of course the ‘ second Male lead syndrome’ of the tired Doctor Eun- Seon ( Kim Joo- Hun) . Whilst there were a couple of factors which made Eun- Seon a little more appropriate for Ra- Ra, Eun- Seon came across as a little too forceful of Ra- Ra’s privacy at times, something which struck a nerve with me. The other evident factor was that once Jun swooped in, his “ fanatic feelings” seemed to mysteriously disappear. Whilst the scriptwriters evidently didn’t want to spend hours upon Eun- Seon falling out of love, it was another case and point of bad characterisation that we didn’t get to see Eun- Seon’s reactions as a human being.

Acting; Go Ara struck me as an unusual choice to play a romantic female lead. Typically taking on more gritty or melodramatic styles such as Black and Haechi, it wasn’t that Ara was necessarily bad within playing Ra-Ra, and in fact, exposed herself as an actress by not being typecasted as the action heroine. ( An ironic reversal for most female actresses). On the other hand, to put it simply, , she just didn’t add anything new or illuminating to her role. (Admittedly, this was also the fault of the scriptwriters as well) Moving onto our Male lead, Lee Jae- Wook has really been rising to providence as a romance actor after his appraised role in Extraordinary You. Whilst I wasn’t a great fan of the show, Jae- Wook’s acting did peak my interests as a potentially good actor. It was clear to see that Jae- Wook put his heart and soul into the drama within his role as Jun, however, in a similar manner to Ara, Wook didn’t bring anything new or exciting to his take on the Male lead. (Perhaps a personal thought upon Jae- Wook is that whilst he took the role on within the popular genre of romance, he should explore outwards into different genres in order to explore his boundaries of acting).

OST/ Cinematography ; Whilst the show plays upon classical music and standard panel shots, there was a lot which could’ve been explored with the usage of music and cinematography hand in hand.

Plot thoughts; In all honesty, the actual plot of the drama isn’t terrible. What it certainly isn’t is overwhelmingly impactful, original or intriguing for audiences. The cliches have simply been seen and done before; the sanguine and dippy rich girl who learns life lessons, the hardworking Male lead , illnesses and hidden pasts as well. The biggest fault within playing upon these cliches is that the audiences rarely get to see the characters as human beings, rather than merely plot devices. As a consequence, whilst sugary sweet with a bittersweet ending, the drama was overly unrealistic and easily forgettable for the next Korean Romance Drama succeeding this one. .

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Let's just remember the good moments!

Ok, so... at the moment it is really hard for me to review this drama. I've just finished it a minute ago and ... what happened?

Alright, let's start from the beginning. Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol was just breathtaking in its early episodes, and even though the following episodes may have had some weird plots, I couldn't care less as the show was just so beautiful and as many people have said, it was "a breath of fresh air" (which clearly is more than welcomed during this special year that is 2020).
From the characters to the importance of music, every episodes felt so short and I was really attached to our two main leads, Jun's character (our male lead) being so touching and beautifully naive, Ra Ra's character (our female lead) being this lovable and strong-minded woman.

However, something changed during episode 14. I don't want to write any spoilers so I'll just say that Jun did something so out of character that it felt wrong. From then on, I kept feeling that this character was not the one I knew and I still can't understand why the writer did this (I have watched Shopping King Louie and loved it, but I do remember her fancying "pranks" - she clearly should have changed that).

So I decided to only think of episodes 1 to 13 as Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol and I would definitely recommend these episodes to anyone looking for something warm and touching to watch. Btw I'll probably rewatch these episodes very soon just to forget the last episode...

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a heart warming story that the last two episodes completely messed up

The story started off amazing, the male lead's character was to die for, the female lead has a charming and bubbly mentality that makes people hearts smile. The story was well written in a way which would heal the views hearts and make our hearts flutter
but the last two episodes messed up the whole story, the writing and ending felt forced as if the writer changed it for the viewers to get a happy ending with no back story (spoilers ahead)

jun (our male lead) is suddenly diganosed with blood cancer in episode 14 and he doesnt tell the female lead or his friends. In episode 16 his own mother comes dressed in black and tells that he's not longer with us to the female lead

everyone starts crying when they hear this news, his friends and duh us the viewers but the last 5 minutes of the drama jun is somehow alive and comes to visit the female lead, he says he wanted to get full treatment, and rara (female lead) somehow accepts that

question 1 )If jun didn't want rara to suffer did he think that making her think that he's dead would make her happy?

question 2) the blood cancer plot felt like it was written last minutes with no clues at all in the beginning

question 3 )how could his own mother support the claim that he was dead

at least make another 2 episodes to somehow make since and give us a backstory.
The story had so much potential, towards the end it became a children's drama play.
the writer should have stuck to the initial idea of healing and light heartedness.

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MUST-WATCH IF YOU WANT A QUALITY ROMCOM SERIES

RaRa (Go ARa) and Jun (Lee Jae Wook) have undeniable chemistry in Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol and they portrayed their respective roles amazingly! The first episode made me cry with all the touching moments of RaRa with her father and made me laugh by RaRa's innocent beauty and positive aura while my heart fluttered with how Jun looked at her. I watched it thrice and I know I will keep doing so in each episode because I could not get enough of them. In the second episode tonight, I laughed really hard at RaRa's quirkiness and innocence. I appreciate Jun and Dr. Cha (Kim Joo Hun) concern towards RaRa and I could not wait for the next episode because of the last scene. Wondering what? Watch it! I assure you, this series will make you happy.

God bless everyone and stay safe always!

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