I don't know that I have ever been more frustrated by the trajectory of a show in my life. I want to be clear, I am a Nam Joo Hyuk fan. I've watched mediocre dramas for that man, and I think he's a great actor. That being said, this writer absolutely failed him and the plot in every way imaginable.

Story - 4/10 - the first 8 episodes of this show deserve a 9/10, but the back half a 2/10.

This is a tale of two halves. The writer does beautiful work in the early episodes setting up plot points and themes and then refuses to pay them off or actually pays them off in reverse. It's BIZARRE. To avoid being too spoilery, I'll address some of my story concerns via the characters:

Nam Do San is supposed to be our male lead. In the beginning, I found him interesting and pitiable. He was quiet and awkward and leapt at the opportunity to feel important/successful - and then as that fed into his imposter syndrome, he decided to seek out that success on his own. This could have been a really interesting journey. However, as the show goes along, these goals just fade away as he becomes singularly focused on winning Seo Dal Mi. His decisions are about her almost entirely, and he acts petulant toward HJP. My issue is that he's not compelling as the male lead at all. Everything happens for him like magic without him necessarily working for it. He barely struggles, and when he does, those 'struggles' are short lived. Additionally, the writer gives him a series of negative character traits. He is violent and shown to have a temper that flares to actual violence multiple times, but he never is punished for it. Seo Dal Mi doesn't chastise him, and he is saved from legal ramifications. He also stalks Seo Dal Mi and ignores her requests. It's borderline abusive boyfriend behavior, and the story never comments on it. Are we supposed to take this as romantic? It's not.

Han Ji Pyeong is the "second male lead", but the writer wrote herself into a corner by opening the show with him. He's absolutely the most fleshed out, interesting, and empathetic character in the show. He's an orphan who worked relentlessly to achieve success. And even though his negative character trait is supposed to be that he's a little short/direct/rude with people, his actual actions bely a really kind soul. He'll tell the Sam Sam guys that their company sucks while quietly keeping it afloat in the background. How is he treated by the story for this? He is punished over and over and over again for his selfless actions, and the other characters (who are almost uniformly selfish) treat him like garbage. It's... unbelievable that I'm supposed to care for anyone other than him.

Seo Dal Mi started the show so charming and as it went became such a non-entity to me. She was so forward and driven and then as the romance with NDS kicks into high gear, she spends the whole show basically just reacting to him and forgiving him. The show completely loses who she's supposed to be. I will never understand how she went from turning down ANY man for 15 years because of the "Nam Do San" who wrote her beautiful letters to having absolutely zero interest in the actual man who wrote them. She has no curiosity about him. This COULD make sense if the writer made an effort to explain it, but she just doesn't. SDM just stops really caring about the letters and never really looks at HJP or goes into detail about the connection they had. The only way they sever it is by having HJP himself just give her an excuse like "I should have come calling for you". Maybe, but that doesn't explain why she just stopped caring about the boy who wrote her years ago when it defined her life for so long. It's so inconsistent.

I started out absolutely in love with this drama, and I just cannot understand what the writer was thinking. It could have been so much better if they actually focused on the business aspect of the show and made the characters grow in that way - NDS learning how to grow up (and not like.. punch people bc he's ~angwy~) and have his OWN dreams; SDM becoming a great businesswoman not just because she wants to beat her sister; the Sam Sam guys also maturing - and HJP slowly opening his heart to discover a found family. Instead almost none of the characters had any discernible growth (other than HJP kinda with the sweet ending scene with Halmeoni), and they drew out the love triangle in absolutely bonkers ways. In reality, the true romance and interesting story of this show is Han Ji Pyeong, the orphan, finding a family with the kindly grandmother in the neighborhood and how they find their way back to each other - to home. The leads just feel like a distraction to THAT story which - it shouldn't feel that way!

Acting - I will say I found all the actors did perfectly serviceable to outstanding (Kim Seon Ho was outstanding. I look forward to seeing him get lead work after how much he popped off from this). That coupled with the high production values and good music are why I've rated it as high as I have because if it was based on the story alone, this wouldn't pass the 5 barrier for me.

I'm just at a loss. This show could have been great. I COULD have been invested in the lead couple, but I wasn't. The vast majority of the characters were just selfish, and the plot never punished them for it. And then the one character who is written to be selfless is punished over and over. It just made me mad. What did the writer want us to take away from this drama? There is no growth. No message. It's enraging.