Nobody else would have considered producing this. It is too slow, too repetitive, people are too sensitive for the story to sell outside Asia, it's overall "too Korean", people spend too much time eating and drinking and many other reasons.
I am a European, old, white male and therefore as far away from the intended target group of this movie as possible (I guess). And yet, the characters and the story got me hooked within 15 minutes and I binge-watched to the end. Character development is beautiful and slow, timing is impeccable, drama is balanced with light comedy in an effortless way, every single actor is well cast and executes perfectly. And most of all, it is incredibly refreshing to see sensible "normal" people compared to all these overly egoistic and egocentric characters in American blockbusters that are only motivated by money, sex, violence, power... I probably should add that I am a hopeless romantic who watches Casablanca every few years and still enjoys it every time. If you fall into this category, no matter what else you like or dislike I highly recommend this series. Also if you are interested in Asian cultures or have never been to Korea you will probably learn a lot. The reason why I started using Netflix was Sense8. And this series also has the tenderness and "love conquers all" message but without the sex scenes obviously :-)
