This show just didn’t do anything for me, kind of all over the place. Around episode 10ish I felt no tension at all about what was going to happen, bored, but I was already so far in so I trudged until the end. I liked some of the concepts and issues the show tried to look at (school bullying, transgenderism, racism, abuse of power) but the presentation was quite over the top and cartoonish, and undoubtedly a bit too corny to take seriously. Everything was a bit too shallow and skimming the surface, nothing and no-one was explored in enough detail and even if it was, it was presented in such an unexciting way I managed to forget it or it blew past me. It’s also one of those shows where the ‘epic slow-mo moments’ drag way too long and you become aware of them, making them super ineffective and not cool at all.

Annoying tropes which put me off at the very start of the show:
-The villain characters are extremely over the top and in no way redeemable, they EEEVIL
-'Oh look one of the main character did something bad/something the other main wouldn't like ( one ep later ) no worries it was just a misunderstanding they're still perfect (AKA Soo Ah never called the police it was the 'totally how real humans act' evil catty girls who hate Yi Seo, even though it was later established Sae Ro Yi wouldn't even see it as a terrible act nor was it that bad)
-Setting up a parent/parent figure as extremely lovely, wholesome and wonderful angel with no flaws and then killing them off super early
-Whenever in doubt just slap someone it's totally great ... slap slap slap slap slap

‘Romance’: Any romantic parts in this show are incredibly wooden, no chemistry or excitement between anyone involved, I was convinced halfway through that Yi Seo and Sae Ro Yi were going to end up as a brother-sister relationship as it seemed Sae Ro Yi did not and was not going to see her romantically at all, but props to surprising me at the end I guess? At the same time it made Soo Ah into a completely useless character since all that there was to her was her childhood romance with Sae Ro Yi and it ended up not meaning much so… what was the point of building them up at all, it was boring and really dragged. It was just so weird how these characters went 5 year timeskips after 5 year timeskips still pining quietly after each other and expecting the audience to care about their nonexistent romance after the fact… bruh… they should have moved on(Yi Seo from Sae Ro Yi, Geun Soo from Yi Seo) long ago instead of waiting on people that on multiple occasions stated flat out they don’t like the other. It felt unrealistic and just plain dull. I’ve had a huge crush before and if the other person clearly doesn’t care at all it just goes away and you find someone or something else to obsess about, you don’t just sit still and structure your life around someone who doesn’t give a fk about you.

Thoughts on some of the characters:

Sae Ro Yi: Ok since he’s the main lead I’m supposed to be enamored with him and I did like him at the start but overall he wasn’t all that charming?? All he really did is every few episodes suddenly shout and then once everyone was staring at him in awe because ‘wow he raised his voice!’ he delivered his speech. That’s literally the first thing I remember about him besides his not so great haircut. Not very expressive nor interesting, but I appreciated his values and care for people.

Yi Seo: Again a good first impression and interesting with her ‘psycho’ persona, but predictably got annoying later on with being petty and clingy, but overall one of the best characters in terms of having charisma.

Soo Ah: Not a bad back-story and good in the first half of the show but becomes incredibly forgettable and unnecessary later into the show – all she does is keep working at Jangga and there’s absolutely nothing else to her except going to work and occasionally staring at Sae Ro Yi. Written lazily past the first few episodes.

Geun Soo: Was actually the most likeable character to me personally, early on, he was kinda sweet kid and his acting was expressive. It made no sense he would suddenly work at Jangga but I guess since Geun Won was at prison they needed a new ‘villain’ since the old man wasn’t enough apparently. That kid who worked at DanBam and who was treated like nothing by his ‘family’ would never have gone to work there and hurt one of his close friends. He only seemed to because of the convoluted romance plot – again, as if you would structure your whole life around the person you have a ‘crush’ on(which isn’t even explained why besides he still ‘likes’ her even tho she has a terrible psycho personality) and become an asshole like your brother who you hated your whole life and had to live with. As if you’d go and help your shitty fathers company, after having worked in a wholesome place like DanBam with your friends.

Geun Won: It’s funny how in a weird way I liked seeing him on screen more than the main characters purely because his performance wasn’t so wooden and boring, this dirtbag had more charisma and expression in one scene than Sae Ro Yi had in the whole show. Sure, it was just Sae Ro Yi’s character personality but that doesn’t mean he isn’t sleep inducingly boring to watch as the main character. You can have a stoic main character all you want but if there’s nothing interesting besides virtue and justice to him he isn’t all that great of a character. Anyway, Geun Won was quite the cartoonish villain in many ways, could have been much more toned down to get the point across, almost thought he’d get some sort of redemption or twist down the line but sadly not, would have been more compelling.

Big Boss Dae Hee: One of the better written characters since he didn’t flip-flop around, it was clear what he stood for and what kind of person he was, yet still he could surprise. He was given enough back-story and depth so he didn’t feel as one dimensional like many of the other characters. The easily best in the show acting performance helped.

Overall I just feel, well, I don’t really feel much about the show. It just wasn’t great.