User reviews

This is a long series of 52 episodes and has more then it's fair share of crazy plots and coincidences that are common in most K dramas. Having said that the acting from all the cast, storyline and direction hold your attention and the excellent pacing means you look forward to where the story is going. The main drama is about a hard done by contract worker from a poor family becoming embroiled with the son of a chaebol, but there are plenty of other sub plots with the other characters that will have cheering, booing or being sad.

This drama is about two families, one poor, the other rich and how they become entangled in each others lives. At 52, one hour episodes, its a long haul but you get to know each character better which is always a good thing.

The two lead actors Hye-Sun Shin (who plays the sister Seo Ji-an) and Shi-hoo Park (who plays the brother Choi Do-kyeong) really do play their parts to perfection. But for me its the support cast who really knock it out of the park, especially Eun-Su Seo (who plays the other sister Seo Ji-soo) and Ho-jin Chun (who plays the father Seo Tae-soo), they are so good, they will no doubt get more dramas to work on as leads.

At 52 episodes you can expect a few slight appearance changes to the cast but Lee Tae-Hwan (who plays Ji-soo's boyfriend Seon Woo-hyeok) has ginger hair for 43 episodes then suddenly goes black and nobody wonders why.

The story lines are twisty but always interesting and every episode has a juicy cliff-hanger, so you can't wait for the next episode to start.

For me its the two mothers and the final episode that stop this being a 9. The mothers are just not good actors, they occasionally look at the camera, which is a no-no. And the last episode is rushed, to tie all the loose ends together. They should have split it into two seasons and gave all the characters a proper ending.

Even with those two little flaws, its still a must watch, but keep the hankies close, you will definitely get through a box or two.

Deeply profound portrayal of family dynamics, particularly between Parents and children. The story spell bindingly appeals to my heart. My golden life is like SIX FEET UNDER Drama where you get to see amazing character building and in depth insights of family life. You need a mature taste to enjoy this. I am someone who has seen wonderful STILL 17, so I like rom coms. But my beautiful life absorbs you in a whole different feeling. This drama is not as sweet as an ice cream , but as healthy as an apple for your heart, yes it has a nice tangy taste to it as well.

You need to appreciate the unbelievable AMAZING acting by Shin Hye-Sun who plays Jian. In fact she is the main reason I started to watch this, after watching incredibly funny and emotional STILL 17. what an actress.. Wow. She deserves the highest recognition among Korean actresses. The actor who plays Jian's dad is another magical actress who speaks thousands words just by using his eyes.

Watch it. This is a gem.

Finished this drama just last year and it is a very great drama for me. It's about social status, poverty, dreams, social pressure and depression. Overall, it's about life.

"A woman has a chance for success, but falls into a bottomless pit of her life. She looks for ways to find happiness through her circumstance." -- asianwiki

"A mother's misguided love has caused her daughters to get swapped in status, and so the heroine Seo Ji-an enters the chaebol household to have a better life without knowing she is actually not their long-lost daughter, but her "former twin" sister instead. What will happen to her once the secret get revealed, and what will happen to her relationship with the son of chaebol family Choi Do-kyung, whom she has gotten closer to as siblings?" -- wikipedia

What I mostly compliment this drama about is, you just see every character evolving as the drama goes on, you see them move forward in life not conforming to what their society dictates about what success truly is. You also see how from being selfish, characters become selfless. From running responsibility, they became responsible and they accept things and be happy with how those things turned out (although you may hate those people in the drama but if you only tried to still go on, you will be touched by their change of hearts). This is also the show when you can just pinpoint family love from the characters and to be honest, everytime I see those things -- I was very emotional last year and this drama has helped me -- you will just smile and be amazed on how we as humans are able to have the gift to love others and love our families. This drama is not cliche in anyway, one thing I can assure you, so there are things you'll not be expecting that can also be the reason why you might be disappointed in some parts, but don't worry those things does not overshadowed how heartfelt this drama is.

After watching this, I can confirmed to you that it wasn't overrated. It was truly good and every acting especially from the father of the poor family will tug your hearts, I cheered his character all the way until the end. :)

Binge watched 52 episodes. Lots of insights into Korean way of life and charming characters No one in the world does soap better than korea

I've watched many Korean series and I just loved the storyline of this one!! My favourite series so far.

💞 from Australia.

This show has everything... laugh out loud moments, cringe moments, spit out your coffee moments and moments where you'll demolish a box of tissues. I have given it a 9/10, the only reason it misses a point is for the fact it's 52+ hours long, and some of the sets are very cheap and nasty (like the supposedly rich peoples' house where the wallpaper pattern is so mismatched you can't unsee it, and they strangely all drive Nissans).

The story really does show the divide between the mega rich and the struggling and just how awful and judgemental people can be without even realising it. It also shows unimaginable hardship and successes and truly is a joy to watch, even for the absurd bits.

If you have almost 2.5 days of your life to spare (when you put it altogether), watch this.

First 20 episodes are fire, the next 30 you say, when will it finish. The poster is false, this is not a couple's story, this is a parents story, rich and poor.

I'm surprised to see the relatively weak ratings of this series. The emotional intensity, the acting, the subtleties, the twists in the script etc. are absolutely brilliant. Yes it's not a 'quick fix' pleaser of the receptive senses, but that's exactly what makes it special. The casting is perfect, a stunning production in so many aspects.

This is a good watch. At first, I didn't get what the writer was trying to say in the story, but later, I found it so worthwhile and I.learned so much it.made me think better because the arguments that was presented here were pretty much challenging. The actors were great, they are all deserving of praise for a well-justified presentation of their characters. Park Si Hoo became a favorite of mine after this because I liked how he expresses the emotions of the character here. I am looking forward to his future projects.

Shin Hye-sun is already a favorite since Wok with Love and Thirty at Seventeen. Now I have started Angel's Last Mission.

Please rate fairly. Look first into the whole plot before judging.

This series is a very sensible one.

This drama is so relatable in so many ways. It's cute and funny until you hit episode 19 and then I just couldn't stop crying. Please give this series a try it's not your stereotypical romantic Korean drama. It's so so so much more.

Surprised by the low ratings !! Good story and plot. They have given space for all actors not just the main ones . Female lead acting is endearing. It is a melodrama, there is something that you learn / take away from each character. My only problem with the series is all bad people become good at the end of it and Male lead should have had better acting skills , he gets better as the series progresses but I felt someone else would have done better. Watch it you won't regret it !!

This show had a hook at the end of each and every episode, to ensure you watched the next episode. Pure soap, but an absolute joy to watch. The 2 senior cast members, Chun Ho Jin and Na Young Hee were again exceptional, with Na Young Hee having a much bigger role than in the" the Good Doctor" and "Crash landing", but Chun Ho Jin showing his versatility with this being a different character than the characters of "the Good Doctor" and "Doctor Strange". But like a lot of K-Dramas I've watched recently, the endings can be very underwhelmimg, this one is no different, Would love to see someone binge watch all 52 episodes of this show.

The more I tried to watch this drama, the more I felt, why am I watching this? At some point I didn't even want to know the end any more and drop the show. It wasn't anything new, the story doesn't even make sense nor makes you want to ship the main couple. Not even a good family drama with a warm message! It was a waste. But it still rated high, and the thought cross my mind, there always some new fashion trend that neither make you pretty nor attractive and that not even comfortable but still can make some craze for a while. That's must be it, it rated high in a hype! like if you really really have nothing better to do...

This is a remarkable series. It kept me glued for the whole of it's amazing 52 hour running time.

As so often, Shin Hye-sun is the most compelling reason to watch this. She invests all of her many emotional scenes with so much sincerity and truth that not once does she ring a false note. The same high praise cannot be extended to every one of her co-actors. However, some of those that appear to start weakly do become more compelling as the series progresses, perhaps because their character's challenges demand more of them as the plot thickens.

I am now faced with filling a "My Golden Life" sized hole in my viewing schedule! Only my faith in the strengths of K drama make me optimistic!

I first saw this Kdrama some years ago not long after it came out. It was not my first Kdrama as I have been following this genre for many years and have seen several hundred or more. Prior to this drama my all-time favorite was BE STRONG GEUM SOON and my wife's favorite was SAVE THE LAST DANCE. I don't mind the longer format for Kdamas and if you have seen Be Strong Geum Soon you will have spent some considerable time in front of the TV as that is very long indeed. I consider My Golden Life to be the equal of B. S. G. Soon. I have since watched M. G. L again a while back. I have just recently started it again and I am enjoying it just as much as the first time. I do not understand why anyone would call it boring or poor quality. Rarely these days Kdramas as good as this come along. I am sure there are many thousands of thrilled viewers out there who would agree with me but just don't make the effort to register their enjoyment of this wonderful piece of entertainment. A Masterpiece in my view.

To stay around for 52 episodes of convoluted plot lines, repeated ideas, wooden characters that it's difficult to have sympathy with, coupled with a jarring weird soundtrack and plastic feel to everything. Got to episode 19 and felt like gnawing my elbow off.

Half way through the 52 programs we have 2 misguided, egoistic, arrogance filled food stuffing sisters acting 😧. What? Educated talented girls doing what they are doing? It's me me me I I I all the way. Good upbringing? Really??? Jisu yuh . The other one ? Less sa.id the better. Money money money all the time and good souls trampled on.

Stereotypes , a confused, convulated script and bad acting is bad cocktail. Some good actors wasted. The worst characters were the younger sister-deadly stupid and the greedy mother. The hero though started wooden and then grew into his role.

For those wondering why low scores IMDB guys have superb movies and programs in mind as comparison.

Time pass it was good.

I have watched 9 episodes so far and yet to find any thing comical in this series. Every character in Jian's family including Jian is so pathetic, miserable, wretched falling upon one misfortune after another. There are some attempts to include "Comic" feel but it too ends up as a tragedy. Characters are too superficial and monotonous, with not much depth. Must give credit to whoever is the story writer for introducing twists and turns in the plot to keep it engrossing but unfortunately that is not enough. I wish some light hearted scenes were added into the mix to balance it up but it is too gloomy through out. I will try and watch few more episodes in the hope that it might get better (as I am an optimist :-) )

Watched all 52 episodes. But in the end, why the drama did not end properly I don't Know. All the Characters acting was good. Especially Jian and her Father and Mother, Jain's father acting solely relied on his eyes was fantastic. Jian's acting was excellent. Choi Do-kyung's expression is sometimes too much. Seo Ji-soo's acting was good. I liked the Baker and his Lover track very much. Manager Min's climax scenes were fantastic especially when she felt betrayed by the Haeseong Group Family and the Last dialogue with the Chairman. A lot of unnecessary scenes were there in the entire drama. Again the End is pitiful and not as expected as Happy Ending.