It’s such a weird mix of genres and tropes, but somehow it works perfectly. You get yourself a crime murder mystery, slice of life with some deep and meaningful moments and conversations, comedy that at times is rather dark, and in other scenes slapstick and over the top. It might seem like a silly comedy at first, but it gets dark closer to the end.

The whole story is led by a genius idiot Ahn Dae Seong. He is what I would call a smart person who is unable to make smart life decisions. How can anyone have such a strong brain power, but still be so street dumb is beyond me, but it works in this scenario extremely well. That said, he is actually a truly nice and genuine person. He apologizes when he does something wrong, works hard if he thinks the cause is worth it, and he cares for people in his life. Even though he might make everyone frustrated, it’s hard not to like him and not to root for him.

The supporting cast is also to die for. Well written and built personal stories and backgrounds with well placed hints made each one of them a perfect suspect, until we found out the truth. It’s hard to predict who the killer is (at least for the first half of the show) and why they do it. As I watched, I might have felt frustrated with how Dae Seong is suspicious and calls everyone a suspect, but when you look at it from his perspective, everyone was in fact acting suspicious, just for vastly different reasons than he assumed.

From all the supporting characters, Fish was my favorite. Truly adorable little potato, knew it from the start. They also have one of the more powerful and interesting back stories of them all, that is presented in a sensible manner.

Of all the characters, the one that annoyed me was the detective and 5dollar, but I still understood where they were coming from. Dae Seong truly did everything he could to seem like a potential killer, and literally no one in that neighborhood was helping with the real investigation. And from 5dollar view, he might have seen himself as a victim, no matter how twisted it might seem from our perspective.

That said, even though I truly enjoyed the premise and many side stories, I feel like at times they tried to do too much in too little time. Since everyone was presented as a potential suspect, they all had to have their own individual stories told to explain the circumstantial evidence. Since the number of supporting characters was high, some stories were bound to get less screen time and felt more like fillers. Since some were not explored enough, they got a little bit boring for me, as I was not that engaged in them. Yet somehow, they were able to give a perfect closure for all presented plot lines.

There were also some situations that I questioned why the characters had barely any reaction to, and took barely any actions to solve them.

The last thing that was a bit unsatisfying was the reveal who the killer was. While for the most part it was not easy to predict who it might be (since everyone seemed equally suspicious), when all suspects started to be proven innocent, all hints pointed in one direction so the suspense died.

I was truly positively surprised by the acting too. Lee Kwang Soo brings a comedic aspect to everything he does, it’s hard to deny it. I was quite scared it would be impossible to create any suspense and a more serious mood when he is on screen and I was completely wrong. He aced the emotional scenes. I actually liked his more serious takes more than the silly comedy ones.

Kim Seol Hyun shined the most closer to the end. In the first half of the show, her character seemed a bit like a plot device, but it all led to quite a prominent role in the later episodes.

All the cast members did their best to present realistic and relatable characters, and for me, they all delivered. Ahn Se Bin as Yul? Amazing performance for a child actress, especially with such a demanding role!

Production value was extremely high for a mini series like that. Aesthetic wise, it had a bit of a retro vibe. Not making it look like a big production was a good choice, since it fits the world building - all happening in a small neighborhood with just a few characters - it should feel familiar.

I have to say, one song from the OST gave me chills when it was first played - Nokdu’s Orange Dream. From the arrangement, instrumentation, vocals, to the lyrics, it truly is a perfection. It serves as a good introduction to Dae Seong as a character - someone stuck in the past glory, dreams and hopes, who is unable to move on. The whole OST was lit and extremely fitting every scene specific songs were played for.

Overall, such a surprisingly good watch. I expected nothing, and got more than I could receive even if I had rather high hopes.