50 hours long but worth it

This is the first time I've written a review here. I am so appreciative of the reviews on MDL and the time people take to write them, so I wanted to do my part and encourage people to watch this excellent drama! Fifty hours for a single drama (100 half-hour episodes) seemed intimidating, but this show is very binge-worthy! The story flows so well, with so many moving parts all fitting neatly together, I just kept clicking on the next episode.

The drama centers on the Song family and their neighbors at Yongju market, where the family has a fried chicken shop. While the series abounds in staples of a kdrama rom-com (a contract relationship, fake girlfriend, lost sibling, and an imposter relative, etc, etc), the characters were incredibly well-written and relatable, with realistic problems.

The family members include:
Patriarch Song Young Dal: generous and good-hearted (though a skinflint with the family budget), he carries a burden of guilt from childhood for leaving his sister when they were orphaned and he was unable to care for her.

Mother Jang Ok Boon: hot tempered yet fiercely protective of her children, three of whom are still living at home.

Oldest child and only son Song Joon Sun, a stuntman who has inherited his father's good heart. His generous impulses have ruined him financially and wrecked his marriage.

Oldest daughter Song Ga Hee, who left her cheating husband and is struggling to support her son.

Middle daughter Song Na Hee, a pediatrician with her husband Yoon Gyu Jin in the same profession. Her parents are very proud of her career and stable marriage, and consider her the most successful of their children. However, not all is as it seems.

Youngest daughter Song Da Hee, who is engaged to a fiancé with social and financial advantages. Here as well things don't turn out quite as expected.

Everyone has obstacles to overcome and issues to resolve., and manages to grow working through these personal challenges as the story goes on.

I would say Song Na Hee and her husband Yoon Gyu Jin are the primary characters. Their marriage is strained by life events and affected by their poor communication. Song Na Hee is whip smart, logical and emotionally distant. Yoon Gyu Jin is popular and friendly but not very mature. Their love story is touching and painful. You really feel for both of them.

My favorite romance by far is that of Da Hee, the youngest daughter, and Yoon Jae Suk, who is actually Yoon Gyu Jin's brother. They are both lovable goofballs. Their love story is so cute and quite a counterpoint to Na Hee and Gyu Jin, as they seem so attuned to each other's feelings and so kind and supportive of each other. I just loved it and admit I went back and re-watched all their scenes. They were just so hilarious together.

There are many other minor characters with their own story lines, all entertaining and nicely integrated into the overall plot. The humor was fantastic, and the actors were so well cast.

OST: I really liked the music, and I normally don't even pay attention to the sound track at all. I actually downloaded two of the songs: Love is Danger by Raina & Song Yu Vin, and Spring Breeze by Lee Moon See.

I rated the show 9.5 - some of the storylines were a little predictable, or too neatly tied up in the end, so not a perfect 10.

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Worth watching? YES!

Worth watching? YES! This drama was far from perfect, but the good far outweighs the bad, in my opinion.

Themes -
Making mistakes is part of life, you must learn to forgive others and (harder still) you must learn to forgive yourself.
Coincidence vs. fate “Fate is not all that, as you would like to believe. It’s a question of will power. If you dodge it, it’s a coincidence. If you accept it, it’s fate.”
Meaning of Love: In a lot of instances, characters are acting out of “love” - but oftentimes that love is really serving their own interests.

Social Issues: suicide, bullying, infidelity - I think some of the low ratings for this drama are due to the tough issues it tackles. No one in this drama is perfect. If you are looking for a clear cut story of good vs evil, this is not for you. A lot of characters in this drama are somewhere in between.

General Comments:
* There are two time hops in this drama. Episode 9 jumps 9 years ahead, and another year passes between episodes 32 and 33.
* There are so many hidden identities and secret relationships that it is difficult to keep track of who knows what when.
* There are 5 main characters: Kim Cheung Ah (Seol In Ah ), Goo Joon Hwi (Kim Jae Young ), Kim Seol Ah (Jo Yoon Hee ), Do Jin Woo (Oh Min Suk ) and Moon Tae Rang (Yoon Park)
* Music and Cinematography:: The OST cinematography and were nothing special, but that is true of almost any long form drama.
* Acting / Cast: Stellar. I loved Seol In Ah in Business Proposal and Mr Queen. One of my favorite actresses. Both she and Kim Jae Young did so well with their characters. You really feel their pain. You could see the emotional side of Kim Jae Young’s character, even when he was being rude and antisocial.

The storyline between Cheung Ah and Joon Hwi grabbed my heart. You will spend a lot of time crying over them. Both are gravely affected by major events in the plot. Their responses to trauma are very different. Cheung Ah is overcompensating; she's on a mission to set things right with the world. She is selfless to a fault, desperate to help others, but unable to help herself. Joon Hwi is frozen - taciturn and withdrawn, but is looking for resolution.

The development of their relationship is beautifully written and is the highlight of this show. She advances; he retreats. Slowly, she coaxes him out of his shell and he provides a safe haven for her. The bond they develop deepens into love.

A scene in episode 19 establishes this advance/retreat dynamic:
Cheung Ae: "Let's eat together. It's not just food. It's my heart "
Joon Hwi: "First of all. I don't want to eat. Also, I don't eat with other people. Especially food that has heart in it"

But Joon Hwi finds himself drawn in, and slowly connects with her. In an early scene, Joon Hwi visits her in her student dorm room, where he sees hints of her mental state. The room, her inner sanctum, is a total wreck, except for a row of plaques displayed neatly on a shelf - awards for heroic acts. It's a jarring comparison of her private struggles versus her public behavior.

Some bits of dialogue between them show that he sees through her cheery exterior.

In episode 21, he accidentally spills ramen on her clothes, and is sincerely apologetic. Her response is predictably self-denying:
CA: "It's okay. It's nothing. I can wash it. I haven't done laundry in awhile, I was going to do it today. It works out....... I'm really fine. Really. Really, really fine. Even so, nothing spilled on the floor - nice!"
And he calls her out for it.
JH: "Are you always like this? "It's okay. I'm fine, I'm really fine." Usually people say Nice when they are okay, not when the other person is okay, or the floor is okay. It's not a good thing."

It's the second time in this episode that she is shaken by his words. Earlier on, she expresses gratitude towards him, and his response provides her with an epiphany:

CA: "Thank you for listening to me and for being on my side."
JH: "I wish you wouldn't fool yourself. Why am I on your side? I've never been on anyone's side. If I must take a side, let's say I'm on the side of truth. When the truth is warped, life becomes warped as well. I don't like that."
Cheung Ae reflects: "Why didn't I realize that sooner? If only I had known before."

He makes her recognize that her defense mechanisms won't allow her to move on. Meanwhile, she continues to chip away at his boundaries, and she slowly makes some cracks in his surly exterior. In episode 26, they meet up, and as she takes her leave, they have this conversation:
CA: Then, see you next time.
JH: Oh. Yeah, sure.
CA: huh?
JH: what?
CA: You responded when I said "see you next time". I can't put my finger on it, but you've changed a little, Koo Joon Hwi.

The other three main characters are in a love triangle, and their storyline was a bit drawn out, without much progress until the last few episodes. Jin Woo is wealthy, spoiled and oblivious, but has a good heart. Seol Ah is out for herself, and seeks fame and fortune, sees love as pointless. Tae Rang is a solid stand-up guy, but a bit boring. Honestly, I skimmed over a lot of his scenes. I have six episodes left to watch, and am 99% sure which way the triangle ends; so it has left me guessing. There is some personal growth for both Seol Ah and Jin Woo, but it is a long time coming,


Does it include any of the things I hate?
Wrist grabbing yes, but minimal
shared childhood memories: no
Manic pixie girl histrionic girl: no
Excessive gore / violence? None

Humor: some laughs, but some comedic bits that were just awkward

Favorite character: Jin Woo’s mother. She is a complete narcissist and totally irredeemable. But she had some of the best lines, here are a couple:
“what a waste of employees identification cards” (dissing the sports marketing team).
“anything money can't solve is because it's not enough money”


Literary references

episode 25-26
Poem Wildflower
"She is pretty only when you look carefully...."
I found this analysis of the poem and it is really on the nose for this show:
https://smileyelim.wordpress.com/2014/10/17/my-favorite-korean-poem-wildflower-by-na-tae-joo/

A translation:
You have to look closely
to see that it is pretty
You have to look for a long time
to see that it is lovely
You are the same.


Books
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
Quotes from this book are sprinkled throughout the drama, about forgiving mistakes, and finding joy in the small things. Both Cheung Ah and Joon Hwi have a copy of this book.

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Other shows with similar plots were better than this one

Did not finish this drama. The FL was just way too good to be true and it is hard to get invested in someone without flaws. She is considered socially unacceptable because she is a single mother. Apart from the fact that the social stigma of single parenting doesn't resonate easily with a non-Korean, she is actually raising her nephew as her own child, so it's really just selfless virtue. I enjoy shows where people deal with moral gray areas, and experience emotional growth. I thought the character development was very inconsistent here. People were evil, then not evil, then evil again, with no clear reason why.

In many instances the situations reminded me of other dramas where the plot and character development was so much better. Some examples:

1) A divorced couple with irresponsible husband seemed more like filler material than a separate story here - as opposed to the kdrama Once Again. In that drama, you could see why the ex-wife wants nothing to do with the ex-husband, and their relationship goes through a lot of ups and downs until you are really rooting for them to get back together.

2) The main couple here are both affected by the same tragic incident in their past. This was also a major plot device in Beautiful Love, Wonderful Life. In that drama, their lives are turned upside down by a tragedy and neither of them can get past it. Here, the consequences of the tragedy will tie things together eventually but the characters don't seem too burdened with emotional scars.

3) The love triangle of the older characters in Once Again is much more entertaining than the one in this show. But I will say the trio in this one was one of the bright spots for me.

4) In My Father is Strange, the father commits a crime in his youth that eventually comes back to haunt him, and it is the main arc of the story. In Bravo, My Life, there are a lot of criminal acts, but very few consequences.

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So much potential

Premise was great, execution was meh. I really liked the three main actors; Park Sung Wong as the pampered action star Woong Gwang was excellent, and the bromance between him and agent K (played by the very suave Park Hai Jin) was pretty funny. Kim Min Jung as Cha Do Ha was endearing as a fan turned confidante with the older action star, who came off as kind of a father figure. But Agent K was a terrible spy, with pretty much everyone on to his spy status, but tromping in and out of his spy hideout, the whole secret agent idea did not seem very secret.
The romance between Agent K and Do Ha fell flat as well. As many reviews have stated, there was very little chemistry between K and Do Ha, and the rationale for the romance was kind of flimsy. I think it would have been good to lean further into her conman upbringing and her suspicions of Agent K. He apparently used romantic entanglements with gullible women to achieve previous missions; Do Ha's street smarts and quick wit should set her apart and explain his attraction to her.
I dropped it because the plot was getting very repetitive. The spy missions were not that intriguing and I lost interest by the third mission.
Individually, I did enjoy the three main actors and hope to see them in other roles.

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