This is a drama that promises a lot and has the ingredients to be awesome - but its problematic narrative, haphazard execution and difficulties with its plot line lets it down brutally. I’m a Kdrama enthusiast with an unholy amount of patience but this show defeated my better angels.

This slice-of-life drama tells the story of three female protagonists – Mi-jo, Chan-young & Joo Hee – on the cusp of turning forty and navigating their way through the realities of life and love. Two of those realities are their common rejection of social and cultural expectations combined with their offers of unconditional support to each other as their special friendship is cruelly truncated by the terminal illness of one of the women.

On closer inspection, it’s a story with one protagonist, not three. A flaw which would have proved less lethal to a better written script. There are some important ideas here about love, friendship, family and loss but most of them are too thinly sketched and as a result lack emotional resonance.

The main character Mi-jo is played by Son Ye-jin, an actress whose performance I enjoyed immensely on CLOY, but even I spent a large part of my time while watching this drama wondering why she cried more often than Chan-Young, the character with a terminal illness. She is the biggest star in the series - but I felt that the huge spotlight on her character did a great disservice to this drama. It stunted it; whereas exploring the lives of the other female characters equally would have given this drama the much-needed boost it required.

Watching Mi-Jo make Chan-Young’s terminal illness about herself, with large parts of the drama dedicated to her feelings and how Chan-Young’s death is going to affect her felt paternalistic and annoying. I get that she’s a doctor - but I longed to see her decentre herself, restrain her easily wounded eyes and show her best friend empathy without paternalism.

My conclusion is that the plot of this show misses an opportunity. A deeply emotive story about a woman dealing with the distress of a terminal illness was sidelined in favour of an insipid romance (between Mi-jo & Seon-woo) that doesn’t draw you in any way. Not even the sight of Mi-jo’s boyfriend running to her rescue every time she needed a shoulder to cry on, like superman emerging from a phone booth, could make me stan their relationship. If I’m being entirely honest, I was glad they had fewer scenes alone by the time the story concluded.

Side note: the sight of their awkward amorous scene in the first episode of the drama was a sign to me not to expect much more in later episodes. 

I have to say however that for the most part, the acting in this drama was of very high calibre – one of its saving graces. But it suffered from a weak desultory script; too many subplots were given less time than they deserved. 

The final episode of this drama is its greatest achievement by far, although it was somewhat ruined by a) the decision to fast forward past the funeral ( why show a shot of a funeral in ep 1 that’s awaiting the characters as they reach the end of the season then gloss over it?) and jump straight to a happy scene afterwards and b) an accident which had been foreshadowed in earlier scenes but never materialised. The point of foreshadowing in a plot is to warn the viewer of something that will happen later.


The scene where Mi-jo watched Chan-Young’s last message to her was a poignant and moving depiction of grief. It was one of the few scenes where I felt an emotional connection to her character.

It would have been nice to see more of Joo Hee’s budding relationship with Hyun Joon and how her decision to forge ahead with her own business panned out. She is very much the third wheel in the friendship (and story) and of all the characters in the show, her storyline feels the most perfunctory. 


Overall this isn’t a terrible show but I’d be lying if I said I’d watch it again or recommend it to someone else for that matter. The concept of the show reeled me in hook, line, and sinker but its execution left a lot to be desired.


This best thing about this show is its depiction of a friendship dynamic between three women which demonstrates that intimacy and closeness isn’t reserved just for romantic partners.

I say three women, but it’s Chan-young and Mi-jo’s closeness that REALLY shows just how much true friendship can be medicine for the soul; it’s about love, support and solidarity.

Close female friendships involve a deeper connection than male friendships because women share a deeper level of intimacy.

For many women, friendships are the greatest loves of their lives and the only reason this isn’t more celebrated is because women are socialised to prioritise romantic love.

But it is our friends who know us best and understand what truly brings us joy. 

Our friendships are life sustaining partnership; they are about building a caring community with people who love you unconditionally.

Many of us will have romantic love come and go in our lives but we more often find that we have long lasting non-romantic love with our closest friends.