I shall be honest; I watched this because I am working my way through all Nam Da Reum's dramas (almost done them all now). It's been on my list for a while and whilst I like the entire cast, for some reason I thought it would be dull or maybe even depressing.
How wrong can a person be?!
I ended up absolutely loving it.
The 2 lead characters are very naturally played by actors that feel made for their parts. Their chemistry, projection, expressions, are all excellent. I fell in love with Lee Kang-doo (a very endearing performance from Lee Jun-ho ~ such a good actor).
Supporting parts are very good and well acted too. I did feel the brother/sister company heads were a bit kind of obvious (Jung Yoo-taek's constant angry outbursts, shouting and huge inferiority complex, really got me riled up at times). Both were arrogant and haughty, although Jung Yoo-jin was the typical kind of power woman who treats a subordinate male, better than a female counterpart.
Ha Moon-soo's mother, Yoon Ok, angered me the most. Understandably, any parent who has lost their child will grieve, go through depression, anger and never really get over it. However, she wasn't the only parent to suffer at that time; her husband lost his child too and Moon-soo her sister. She appeared to be addicted to the grief though, wallowing in self-pity, living through a bottle and taking it out on any and every one. She needed a good slap, plus copious amounts of therapy.
My favourite supporting character though, was the street pharmacy Grandma. That actress made that character so real, believable and incredibly warm, even though she was cantankerous, quick tempered and tough as old boots. So wordly wise, intelligent and astute ~ I loved her.
The present day architect, Seo Joo-won, I found a little too good to be true. He carried around the baggage of bitterness and guilt, the latter being misplaced.
Everyone is linked by the one tragic event and those links, and how they have affected the various characters, are uncovered as the story unfolds.
It is not fast paced, but is well paced. The story is revealed perfectly for me.
There are some well used drama aspects, but overall it is well written and directed.
Some may feel the subject matter isn't portrayed seriously enough, but to my mind, being a drama and not a documentary, the screenwriter got it right. It's a romance for entertainment, at the end of the day, and I personally stop watching when something is too depressing or melodramatic ~ that's not escapism to me.
The final episodes did introduce a couple of plot twists that I felt were unnecessary and OTT, but it was all brought together in the end.
I mostly enjoyed the soundtrack, but some of the instrumental music I found a bit depressing sounding, which didn't fit with scenes it accompanied.
I would certainly watch this drama again and recommend it.