Had not heard much about this drama before I started watching it, so I was pleasantly surprised to find myself hooked! The storyline and subject matter is something that I have never seen before on television. This is an entertaining story about the nature of the human condition.
The beginning of the drama was a bit confusing and slow, but because I had faith in K-dramas, I stuck with it. What I found was a group of unsavoury characters whom I would never go anywhere them in real life, but found that they all had some redeeming qualities that made them appear very humanistic and sympathetic. It's a marvel that so many actors on the cast were able to portray their characters so realistically without a single one over-acting.
The wait for Son Seok-Gu's character to appear was well worth it. I am so thankful that they did not turn him into some drug addict like any other American TV show would have. That flaw is so over-used that it's a become a horrible trope.
I've read that many viewers did not like the ending, but this is what a good story ending is supposed to be like.
- All loose ends are tied up
- Not everyone deserves their "end" the way it ends
- Very realistic portrayal of the human condition
What else I liked:
- respectful portrayal of non-Korean characters
- NKC's were not portrayed as dimwits to make the Korean characters appear more appealing
- story was focused and maintained a level of complexity that kept me guessing
- no excessive and meaningless sexual content (in fact there was very little at all)
What would have made it better:
- a good soundtrack with more instrumental music
- at least one likeable and strong female character (secretary had potential, but was neglected by the director)
- understand that that line of work and the times would have made this challenging
- good storytelling dictates that there should be a foil for Kim So-Jung & Ko Young-Hee
It deserves all of the awards it's won and more.
