I'd have to say that the acting from most of the supporting cast are nearly perfect. They made you like the ones you're supposed to like and despise the ones that you're supposed to despise. For an actor to get you to really dislike their character is an artform. The ML is only OK to me because his character here is pretty much the same character that he's portrayed before in other shows. Not bad, but not great either... nothing really stands out. The FL did a much better job. She was able to show her emotions with facial expressions and body language, most of the time, without resorting to screaming and throwing a tantrum.

The only negative for me is the way all the other supporting characters were written. It's pretty much the same formula over and over... making me tired of it. If we were to just go by Cdramas and Kdramas, we can say that all asian families are screwed up, evil, calculating, controlling, and don't really care about their own children's true happiness. Being Asian myself, I can understand the traditional family loyalties and responsibilities, but this isn't from 100 years ago. In present times, most Asian families have already gravitated away from this kind of strict family hierarchy. Again, as an Asian person, I would like to give a little advice to these drama writers... keep portraying Asian families as screwed up as this and eventually, the rest of the world will start to believe that all Asians families are like that.

In reality, although there are families like that, they are few and unique... and come from all races and ethnic groups. Sons are given slightly more value than daughters, but not that extreme extent. Most Asian families these days give equal value to both. Again, I'd like to tell these writers to maybe not go this extreme or else risk having the international community view Asian parents in this way. Just like American movies... Dirty Harry, Rambo, Die Hard, etc which has made most the rest of the world believe that every American is a gun-toting murderous psychopath and that every town and city is filled with crooks, thieves, and muggers.

The FL's father and mother are both worthless human beings... never mind as parents. The dad's actions are pretty much child abuse... abuse doesn't always have to be physical. I'm surprised the daughters aren't traumatized for life being told over and over again... and treated like they are worth less. The mom is just as guilty for letting her husband get away with it and doing nothing to protect her children. The best parent out of the bunch is the ML's father... which is funny because he's the only parent that was written with a "shady" past.

I just wish writers would give these ML's and FL's more backbone. Then again, that wouldn't cause enough tension and stress to build the drama. Imagine the ML and FL being able to just tell people to bug off and live their own lives. The filial responsibilities between parents and children isn't a master/slave relationship. Just giving birth to a child doesn't give the parents unquestioned authority to abuse and control their children to that extent. Parents should be there to guide and support instead.