Never Give Up

Found this on Netflix and thought I give it a shot. The plot felt wholesome and tried to provide moments of encouragement. However, the show is peppered with many cliched moments and at times overly exaggerated scenarios. Overall felt like the show couldn't quite decide what it wanted to be and thus fell a bit flat for me. It is a light drama you can throw on in the background.

I watched five eps of this series and the premise was so ridiculous to begin with that it never really recovered from the implausibility of the storyline. An elderly lady loan shark who wanted to give her collaterals back to their owners.

By some silly implausible means a chicken bar owner and his family move into her palatial house - but she doesn't move out - the family are forbidden to go to the basement. A little later a young man also moves in - he is a failed entrepreneur who wants to make his app a start up business.

The elderly lady wants both men to track down the owners of the collateral and give them back. There is the usual threat to his chicken business by different competitors moving into his area - and his wife meets an old admirer. I could not maintain any interest in the boring plot - especially when some singer or other had to get in on the act. This happens a lot in Kdramas - actors who just have to be given a singing spot - usually in "let's go to a karaoke bar" incidents.

When I fell asleep for the third time I recognised defeat.

I gave up.

It had a pretty normal start with introducing the story and the characters, nothing about it peaked my interest. The story itself was too safe and tame, they didn't attempt any challenging situation even in a comedic setting. The comedy was a hit or miss, some parties were genuinely unfunny and cringe while others like Pil Soo and his one-liners were keeping it alive with a decent dynamic and comedy. Speaking of cringe, there were a handful of kids and everything related to them was painfully cringe, even with their poorly attempted satire and parody. These parts were just too bad. It kept this momentum throughout its entire runtime.

One cannot tell by the generic title that this is an entertaining, inspiring, warmhearted series about the hero's love for fellow humans, friends and family. It is also about perseverance, forgiveness and redemption. For me, it is an engrossing series to binge watch. I like Yoon Doo Joon from the "Let's Eat" series and he does a good job here too. He is a fine actor. I am not familiar with the main lead, Kwak Do Won but I am now a fan as he portrays very well a character who while experiencing adversity in life is still filled with exuberance. There is also a teen romance with all its angst. The other casts members were equally wonderful!

Just gave this one a shot. When I started the series there were no IMDB ratings. This is one of those shows that gets better and better each episode. The lead character is beautiful . He's funny and isn't afraid to embarrass himself. He's full of love and generosity. Just a person you want to be friends with. The plot and sub plots are all truly entertaining but it's the theme I love the most. It's about caring for others. This is a special show. Very funny, heartfelt, and inspiring . I gave it a 10 because it deserves to be an 8.5. Right now it's at 7.6 which is fine but the cast of actors are tremendous. Some nice twists , some action, crime, even the son does a couple of cool Korean hip hop tunes. Overall it's great ! I can't see anyone not thoroughly enjoying this series. A great find on Netflix. Just watch it and you'll see.