I watched this based on a recommendation from an Instagrammer, but it wasn't showing on any of my regular streaming services. I finally found it on a sketchy site (that will remain unnamed) that forces popups at you with nearly every click anywhere on the screen. (The popups ranged from benign looking Walmart ads to a variety of porn sites.) The production of this drama is extremely dated, featuring very artsy harsh lighting, deep shadows, odd tracking shots, heavy use of fish-eye lens, and all sorts of wacky (straight out of film school) camera angles. The brooding ML has a terrible reverse mullet haircut (party in front, business in back), which I think must have been a 90s/early 00s asian thing. And in a weird twist, the FL actress, Choi Jin Shil, plays two different characters: the love interests of both MLs. (There is a minor plot point that spins on the physical similarities of the two characters.) All sorts of OG tropes in this Halyu 1.0 drama. Rich boy/poor girl, orphans, plucky girl makes good, mean parents, comically mean bullying step mom & step sister, piggy back rides, wrist grabs, and opened-eyed kisses. Taken in context, you can get an inkling of where kdramas are headed, but lovers of modern fare will be left underwhelmed.

One of the things I like about watching these old dramas is the "where are they now" factor. And while Choi Jin Shill sadly passed away too young, two other actors in the drama have appeared in mainstream dramas in 2023. ML Ahn Jae Wook, plays the father of Choi Soo Young and the "new" boyfriend of her mom in Not Others, and the FL's best friend Jeon Do Yeon plays the love interest Jung Kyung Ho (Choi Soo Young's boyfriend of 10 years IRL) in Crash Course in Romance.