7.5/10 is my rating. This is a 2020 South Korean romantic drama with 16, 70 minute episodes

First I provide a synopsis then review.

Synopsis
Noh Ae-jung (Song Ji-hyo) dream was to produce films and she passionately studied film at University. Her capable and energetic nature toward all things film related caught the amaros attention of several of her fellow film students two of which went on to become famous. Ae-Jung’s dreams were derailed when she became pregnant and she did not tell the father and instead disappeared from the scene for 14 years while she raised her daughter. She worked a variety of jobs and tried to focus her work in the film industry. She finally gets a break when the CEO of the Production company she is working for promotes her and it looks like she will be able to realize her dream. But the CEO tricked her into signing a shady loan then disappears leaving her with the debt and the sinking company. When Ae-Jung discovers a novel, rights owned by the production company, which is ripe to be convertedd to script she sees a chance to turn the failing company around. The novel, that just happens to be the first work of a now famous author, could not only save the company but launch Ae-Jung’s production career. She just has to get a lot of people onboard and her efforts bring the men from her struggling student days back in her life. Oh Dae-oh (Son Ho-jun) is the famous writer who is seeking revenge on Ae-Jung for breaking his heart. Ryu Jin (Song Jong-ho) made it big as an actor but feels like Ae-Jung is the love who got away. Goo Pa-do (Kim Min-jun) owns the company where Ae-Jung’s CEO took the loan and winds up investing in her current endeavor to recoup his loan. Oh Yeon-woo (Koo Ja-sung) is a younger man who Ae-Jung saved at one point and he wanted to marry Ae-Jung and take on the role of father. Will Ae-Jung be able to make her dream come true with the help of these four very different men? Who is her daughter’s father? Which man will win, or reclaim, her heart?

Review

You may start this and wonder why there are so many negative reviews. The first episodes will pull you in and you may like all the characters and wonder how people could have disliked it so much, But it takes a turn when you find out what is really going on. To its credit this is one of the few with multiple romantic interests where I had no idea who she might end up with until well into the series. She had something special going on with each of the men, they all seemed interested and she treated them all like close friends that could be something more. I also was unsure which one was rhe father of her daughter. It made the first 3/4 of the series interesting as we tried to figure out who it might be. I liked the pre-teen daughter. But the Female Lead (FL) character became so unlivable to me at a point it was hard to continue watching. In the reviews I read some liked it but most that really liked it was more due to the actors than the story. I suppose if you feel the situation justified her actions then you could feel differently.

Spoilers*
I don’t know if it was Netflix influence trying to Americanize the series but I really disliked Ae-Jung’s “I don’t need a man” stance. She was very anti romance to the point of being mean to the men around her. When the misunderstanding that had kept them apart was cleared up she continued to treat him coldly and refused to help him form a relationship with his daughter. The only thing he was guilty of was he did make a bad choice in allowing a young girl that had a thing for him that close, but he apologized for that part, I was also disappointed in other characters I felt sympathy for Ryu having to be the sounding board for his friend when he liked the girl so much himself. But finding out that Ryu Jin deleted her text was a despicable action because it made seem like he would hurt others and cheat to get her. After that him being there for Dae-oh when he was so extremely heart broken took on a different feeling as he largely caused the situation or at least him having no clue why she left. Jo Ah-rin (Kim Da-som) did not care she was coming between a relationship with a child involved and thought it was very selfish and ridiculous to cling to someone who clearly rejected her romantically. Ae-Jung was just mean and the fact that Yoon-woo characterized her as sweet was confusing as I only saw her as very self serving and selfish. She did have her sweet moments with him but she also had other times when it felt like she led him on and other times when she was cold. I thought she was wrong to not tell her daughter the truth. She and the grandmother created an environment where the young girl did not feel she could ask about her dad. Even after Ae-Jung finds out her daughter wanted a father and was looking for him she still refused to let Dae-oh be involved in his daughter’s life. Even if he had cheated on her or ignored her text, he was still the girls father and she was wrong to cut him out of her life. Her daughter wanted to know who her father was but she did not clear up the misunderstanding he abandoned her. It made me not like Ae-Jung in the last few episodes. Keeping the child to herself and not telling her the truth of the situation led to a lot of unnecessary pain for father and daughter.

The ending was disappointing. it felt like he gave up his career, sacrificed it for her. After a completely unnecessary separation there is a short scene where they reunite then the end is her walking her daughter down the aisle at her wedding. That skip forward was awkward as it seemed not a lot changed between the couples or between father and daughter although many years had obviously passed. At least from what we could briefly see, All of the men were together sort of standing up for the young woman as a like a dad unit with Dae-oh leading that as a nod to being the biological father. It was weird. So it seems she never acknowledged her father and Ae-Jung was still playing the dual role of mom and dad. The fact that Dae-oh was there showed he was still in their lives but, given the FL wushu washy treatment of him I had no confidence they were together in a meaningful way. We finally get to see the gangster guy and the “bar” owner flirty and also the two actors but years have passed and they only made it that far which was also disappointing. It seemed to set things up for another season but I wouldn’t watch as it was such a train wreck with the dental relationship I have no trust any further stories would be any better..

Let me fix the ending how it should have went: Dae-oh cloisters himself off at his place but only for a few months. He and the FL hold a press conference addressing the rumors. He tells the public that the book he wrote was his truth at the time, but now that he has reunited with his first love he found out the truth.The production company will instead be working on the amended version of the book, and the movie will be released in tandem with the new novel. He goes into seclusion to finish writing the novel how it should be (and the screenplay) to finish as quickly as possible and they reunite when it’s time to film. When the film is released, they go to the opening night with Ha-nee and she learns the full story of her parents. She finally forgives her father and calls him Dad. The end. Had the ending went more like this it could have ended well. But it did not end well in my opinion.

Not one I would rewatch or recommend.

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