Mystic Pop Up Bar

 Mystic Pop Up Bar

7.5/10

Mystic Pop Up Bar

Genre:                                     Episodes: 12                      Year: 2020

Comedy

Melodrama

Synopsis:

Wol Joo is the owner of the mysterious Mystic Pop Up Bar, where customers, both living and dead, come to talk and have their wounds healed.

Cast:

Hwang Jung Em (Wol Joo)

Sungjae (Han Kang Bae)

Choi Won Young (Manager Gwi)

Jung Da Eun (Kang Yeo Rin)

Lee Joon Hyuk (Director Yeom)

Na In Woo (Kim Won Hyung)

Park Shi Eun (Wol Joo)

Song Geon Hee (Yi Heon)

General Thoughts:

I feel kind of weird scoring this drama so highly because when I look at all the parts separately it feels like this show should be a silly little mess. But instead its a hidden gem! I absolutely love stumbling upon great dramas when I least expect them, and this is definitely one of those times.

Hooray for an unexpected win!

All the aspects that make up this show don’t seem to spell success- the writer is a total newbie, the plot sounds cute but seems like it has the potential to just stall for long periods of time, and the cast is the weirdest mash of actors you could think to gather. We have Hwang Jung Eum who is known for her over exaggerated comedy, Choi Won Young who is a brilliant serious and dramatic actor, and Sungjae an idol who is known for his squishy puppy roles.

Supernatural is super fun

I just couldn’t fathom what sort of story would pull these three very different actors together into one place. Well, all I can say is shame on me for my lack of faith. These three made for one of the most delightful combos I have seen in K-Drama for quite some time. They all balanced each other well, and had such easy, relaxed chemistry that it was always so enjoyable to watch them interact on screen. They were given such layered and complex characters to portray, and each one of them did so in a believable and natural way. The storyline has the potential to go completely off the rails, but the writer managed to ground the mystical and supernatural elements with a simple and steady plot line. Nothing in the story was particularly groundbreaking, and it borrowed elements that we’ve seen in other dramas at other times, but it pulled everything together to form a really compelling plot. There was a subtle addictiveness to the show that kept me reaching out to play the next episode as soon as I was done with the last. Every episode had a hearty dose of both fun and emotional, and it was so easy to keep on watching. One of the more unique and unexpected elements of this drama was that it didn’t really centre around romance, as so many K-Dramas do. Even though Wol Joo’s whole story revolved around her romance with the Crown Prince, it wasn’t the main draw of the show. The heroine’s romantic partner wasn’t even the main male lead!

I mean there were love lines, but they certainly weren't the main focus

I went in fairly confident that Sungjae wouldn’t be getting paired up with Hwang Jung Eum (dat age gap), so it wasn’t super surprising that they didn’t have a love-line, but I was a little taken aback (but not in a bad way!) that they were still both the leads. They had engaging and satisfying love-lines with other characters, but these two were certainly the heart and soul of the show. I think this is my favourite role that I’ve ever seen Hwang Jung Eum in- I’ve liked her in other shows but there was something about Wol Joo’s character that just seemed to suit her better than anything she’s done before.

My favourite Hwang Jung Eum role so far

The writer gave Wol Joo a lot of quirks, and she was a delightful mix of sassy and playful- there were so many areas that Hwang Jung Eum could pour her energy into, and it gave us a really lively character that wasn't too loud or over the top. Wol Joo still felt slightly eccentric, but it stemmed more from her character having lived out 500 years listening to other people complain about their lives as opposed to being played by an over enthusiastic actress. Hwang Jung Eum gave Wol Joo a lot of heart, and was a great leading lady. Puppy Sungjae did great job at playing puppy Kang Bae. The role isn’t a huge jump from roles he’s taken on in the past, but hey- might as well take on those cute young-guy characters while you still can! While Kang Bae also had a love line of his own, the most important aspect of his character was the relationship he developed with Wol Joo and Manager Gwi. Sungjae did a great job at giving Kang Bae a sense of loneliness and really expressing Kang Bae’s secret desire to be unconditionally loved. I think this role had a slightly more goofier comedy than perhaps Sungjae is used to, so I could see his acting bit in some of the scenes, but it does feel like he’s taking gradual steps to grow as an actor- I kind of hope his next project will be something completely new and challenging for him though. And that leaves us with Choi Won Young who is just…fabulous in anything.

He's so cool!

I mean seriously, has he ever not been great in a drama? He’s been a psychopathic murderer, a cheating husband, and a supportive father, and here he gives us a wondrously selfless prince who would sacrifice everything for the woman he loves in every life he lives. Swoon. Not that we know this until the end of course. The drama, and Choi Won Young, do a brilliant job at keeping Manager Gwi’s character endearing and relatable, even while hiding his true identity as the Crown Prince. While I was pretty much 95% sure that Manager Gwi was some form of the Crown Prince, the writer did a great job at throwing enough hints over at Kang Bae, that I couldn’t be too certain.

Is one of these buffoons really royalty?

Some dramas really struggle with sacrificing character development in order for mystery, but ‘Mystic Pop Up Bar’ happily avoided doing this. Manager Gwi was developing a relationship with Kang Bae that was all kinds of adorable, and his character was still being developed through his interactions with Wol Joo. While Wol Joo was unaware that he was her Crown Prince, they developed a new sort of relationship that wasn’t based on the simple fact that they used to be in love. Manager Gwi had become a reliable friend to Wol Joo, which felt so much more nuanced and concrete than if the show had simply banked on them being past lovers.

Wol Joo only learns this part when we do

Manager Gwi may have known all the events of the past, but as Wol Joo had died before they took place, he was still having to learn and try to come to terms with Wol Joo’s perception of events. So while it wasn’t always obvious that the man Wol Joo was referring to was Manager Gwi, we still got to see Manager Gwi’s responses and emotional reactions to Wol Joo’s memories and interpretation of events. It was a delicate balance of developing Manager Gwi's character and keeping the mystery, and I think the writer managed to straddle the line absolutely perfectly. Kang Bae and Yeo Rin were surrounded in a similar sort of mystery that was unfolding at the same pace as Manager Gwi’s reveal. This lead to a great momentum in the story, as it gave us three different characters to unravel at the same time, which meant that the plot never felt drawn out or too slow. Because all of the main four characters were involved in the past some way, finding out something about one of them provided hints on the others. The grand reveal, while not completely surprising (I had guessed the Crown Prince and Tree reincarnation before the drama confirmed), they still managed to be completely satisfying. Because the story was so sure of its path and had solidified an end game right from the start, the final reveal made sense, and it was the characters’ reactions to these revelations that was the main focus, not so much the reveal itself.

Everyone gets to be connected!

I really liked the idea that Kang Bae and Yeo Rin cancelled out each others powers as it was a nice way to bring them closer together and tie them back to the past also. The supporting cast were a delightful bunch, and we had a rotating door of cameos that came in the form of the characters whose grudges Wol Joo settled. While none of these characters had a lot of time to be developed, the writer did a great job at picking relatable, modern issues so that the audience could refer to our own experiences and emotions to fill in the blanks that didn’t necessarily play out on screen.

Kinda wish Kang Bae got to use more of his tree magic though

The grudge of the week always had a way of relating back to the main storyline whether this was lovers being separated by death, or a mother’s sacrifice for her child, and often managed to pack a huge punch. The smaller stories managed to balance the feeling of grief, regret, love and hope so perfectly that each of them was a powerful and emotional watch. Because each of these stories was also wrapped up in the same episode it was introduced in, it also meant that the drama was able to keep a rather lighthearted tone despite having so many heavy emotional beats. Because all the issues were wrapped up within the hour, the show was never bogged down by too much angst. As a whole, the show was really pretty to watch. I feel a bit spoiled in a sense, as I have also just wrapped up watching ‘It’s Okay To Not Be Okay’ which is also a gorgeous drama- so many pretty, pretty things! Hwang Jung Eum’s costuming for me was a particular standout. Hanboks are so unique and so stunning, so I loved seeing how the drama kept Wol Joo in this traditional style of dress while also giving the look a sleek and modern feel- Wol Joo never felt like she was cosplaying a historical figure, and it was lovely to see modernised version of the hanboks. I think maybe they did this for Manager Gwi’s character a bit too, but I was honestly so dazzled by Hwang Jung Eum’s outfits that I didn’t really notice anyone else’s- she was absolutely stunning in ever scene she was in. 

I'm so into everything this woman wears

What Was Great:

Family:

The strong theme of family interweaving all the episodes and tying everything together was really something that made this drama special. While the romance between Wol Joo and the Crown Prince, and Kang Bae and Yeo Rin were sweet, it was the scenes that highlighted the growing sense of family between our three main characters that really provided the show with depth. Having Wol Joo, Kang Bae and Manager Gwi grow close together as they worked to finish off Wol Joo’s 500 year punishment was just so enjoyable to watch.

Everybody workin' together

There were elements thrown in the story that just made these three feel like such a realistic and close family- such as Wol Joo and Manager Gwi doing a silly dance down the street after solving a grudge, or Kang Bae getting embarrassed when finding out that Wol Joo and Manager Gwi were past lovers. It was heartwarming to see Wol Joo and Manager Gwi become parental figures for Kang Bae, who had been lonely and constantly abandoned for so long. Wol Joo and Manager Gwi definitely provided a warm and safe space for Kang Bae, and the pop up bar really felt like more of Kang Bae’s home than his actual apartment.

This was unexpectedly sad

It was such a treat to see the small things that proved Kang Bae was becoming as important to Wol Joo and Manager Gwi as they were to him- such as Manager Gwi giving him an example of back scrubbing, or Wol Joo staying out all night to get fancy salt to fend off the spirits harassing Kag Bae. As the main mystery started coming together, there was a delightful tingle of hope that these two parent-like figures might actually be Kang Bae’s actual parents (albeit from a few of his lifetimes ago). The conclusion of the plot with both Wol Joo and Manager Gwi sacrificing themselves for Kang Bae was so bitter sweet, but brought about a lovely sense of completion. In the past it had been the parents who had (unknowingly) left behind their child, and the story was brought full circle with both the parents giving up their lives for their baby’s reincarnation. While I’ll admit that I don’t fully understand the mechanics of how Wol Joo was rescued from the staircase of oblivion that apparently has no bottom, or how Manager Gwi ended up not being in hell (what with the signing of that contract and all), I was too happy to see our three main characters reunited again and able to be the happy, loving family that they are that I was content to gloss over a few of the finer details. 

Steady Build:

I love 12 episode dramas. There should be more of them. Why, you ask? Because they get sh*t done, that’s why. This drama did not have a single slow patch or a single filler episode. And that’s absolutely amazing! It’s so rare for 16 episode dramas to do this, but dramas that limit themselves to 12 episodes (such as this one), seem to not need to stretch things out to bolster the episode count- they can just tell the story how they want and cram as much as they like into each episode.

Enough time for everyone to get their moment without being draggy

Every episode of ‘Mystic Pop Up Bar’ was rich with development and emotion. The smaller grudge of the hour stories padded out a fair chunk of the show’s runtime, but each smaller story brought us closer and closer to the main plotline, and revealed something more on one of our main characters. Every action, reaction and motivation for our characters was slowly building towards the final climax of Wol Joo discovering who Manager Gwi really was, and learning of her baby’s current identity. Every episode laid down some clues that lead us in the direction of the finale, and there was always a sense of building tension. By telling Wol Joo’s story backwards, we took some time to even realise that she and the Crown Prince had been romantically involved. First we are discovering what lead Wol Joo to committing suicide (the death of her mother), then we learn about her relationship with the Prince, and towards the later stages of the show we then learn that there was someone else that may have been involved in the past events- Won Hyung.

What do we say to Won Hyung trying to break up this cute 'lil family? Not today.

The introduction of Won Hyung was the drama’s way of announcing that it was entering its endgame, and the characters that had been circling each other from the start started drifting closer and closer together until they eventually collided. The pacing of the show was just brilliant, and you never had a second to be bored as there was always something going on. Even the smaller storylines were always completely new- we never repeated a story. The side characters all had different sadness and grievances that added a whole lot of interest, and allowed the show to have a bit of an excuse for some world building in the world of the Afterlife.

What Wasn’t:

He Just Wants To Be King I Guess?:

The one thing I will say that this show didn’t do particularly well was the development of its main villain. Won Hyung could have been a really intriguing and heart-wrenching villain (he had been besties with the Crown Prince after all), but I’m sad to say that he just sort of fell flat.

Such a vanilla villain

His motivations for coming after Wol Joo and the Crown Prince both in the past and in the present were so superficial and one-dimensional. He just wants…power? And then revenge? It was hard to understand why Won Hyung thought he was doing what was in the best interests of the Kingdom (if that’s even what he thought anyway or if that was just an excuse for his uprising), and his method of getting revenge against Wol Joo and Manager Gwi just wasn’t that nefarious. I mean, he didn’t even know Kang Bae was their kid until after Wol Joo and Manager Gwi found out themselves. Despite being shown to be an insanely powerful spirit who can destroy and possess workers of the Afterlife, he didn’t really do anything. Sure, he killed some characters that weren’t that important to the plot, but beyond that…nothing really. Though he did get to have a pretty fabulous fight scene with Manager Gwi at the end there. But seriously, you would think this guy would have some really good motivation for betraying his best friend and attempting to murder his mate's girlfriend- actions that resulted in all their deaths, but he just didn’t. I mean, I think he wanted to be King maybe? But then why was he marrying his sister off to the Prince while gathering arms for a coup/revolt? Seems a bit counterproductive. His character felt extremely bland and lifeless when we looked at it compared to the detailed and thoughtful character constructions that Wol Joo, Kang Bae and Manager Gwi got.

He sure didn't do much for how powerful he was meant to be

Na In Woo had about one scene where he got to actually have emotions (the scene right before he possessed his father), and it seems like he’s pretty capable of delivering on the hard hitting emotions, so it’s a shame the role didn’t really get much of a chance to explore that. 

Recommend?

Absolutely- I think the synopsis and the casting would make most people think that this is a whacky comedy (which at some points it is), but there is so much heart and warmth wrapped up in this little show and I wholeheartedly recommend people give it a chance.

Cute and fun and worth a shot

Sky Castle

Sky Castle

8/10

Sky Castle

Genre:                                                 Episodes: 20                             Year: 2019

Melodrama

Synopsis:

Sky Castle is an estate where wealthy doctors and professors live. The husbands are determined to become the most successful, and the wives are determined to get their children into top universities.

Cast:

Yum Jung Ah (Han Seo Jin)

Jung Joon Ho (Kang Joon Sang)

Kim Hye Yoon (Kang Ye Seo)

Lee Ji Won (Kang Ye Bin)

Lee Tae Ran (Lee Soo Im)

Choi Won Young (Hwang Chi Young)

Chani (Hwang Woo Joo)

Yoon Se Ah (No Seung Hee)

Kim Byung Chul (Cha Min Hyuk)

Park Yoo Na (Cha Se Ri)

Kim Dong Hee (Cha Seo Joon)

Jo Byung Gyu (Cha Ki Joon)

Oh Na Ra (Jin Jin Hee)

Jo Jae Yoon (Woo Yang Woo)

Lee Yoo Gene (Woo Soo Han)

Kim Seo Hyung (Kim Joo Young)

Kim Bo Ra (Kim Hye Na)

Song Geon Hee (Park Young Jae)

General Thoughts:

Boy am I getting lucky with my drama watching lately! First ‘Kingdom 2’ was awesome, then ‘Sky Castle’ was awesome, and now it’s looking like the current drama I’m watching (‘Itaewon Class’) is going to be awesome too! What a nice little stint. When I first heard that ‘Sky Castle’ was becoming a raging success, I couldn’t really figure out why that was.

Ah yes, rich people sending their kids to university. Sounds...riveting...

The synopsis of the story just sounds so…dull. And it sounded like it had about an 80% chance that it went full makjang (aka- completely bonkers). While the story did at times have makjang elements (hello hidden identities, hello birth secrets), it weirdly fit in with the show, and the writers were able to present these events as something that seemed very realistic and plausible,

So classy, and yet...so scary

and not at all like some nutty way to get more viewers to tune in. By having the whole setting of the show be this elite estate where everybody was obsessed with being better, richer, happier than everyone else, all these strange actions started to make sense. And of course there’s a reason why so many writers use these over-the-top story elements in their shows. When they are done well and right (as they certainly are in ‘Sky Castle’) it makes the story SO interesting and SO twisty and SO easy to keep coming back for more. I couldn’t even contemplate not continuing the show, because I so badly wanted to know why Teacher Kim was such a creeper, and what crazy scheme Seo Jin would come up with to try and get her daughter into SNU, or how Hye Na was going to torment Ye Seo and her mother next. There was often so much going on in the plot, that these crazy turn of events weren’t the sole focus, which helped them seem like events that were happening naturally and authentically. Unlike most of my dramas that I watch (which I marathon in a few weeks), I watched ‘Sky Castle’ at a slower pace, which stretched the series over a few months- which put me closer to a live-watch experience than a marathon experience.

This is basically how my my Mum looked at me every time I told her I was too busy for an ep of 'Sky Castle'

I must say that I do think that this worked better for the drama and its pacing than a marathon watch would have. A fair few of the major plot points that were stretched out over the whole series could have been a bit repetitive had the episodes been viewed back-to-back, but by having more time padding out the episodes, when these ideas resurfaced,

I mean come on- she looks shady as all hell

it felt like it had been a while since we had visited the issue, rather than it feeling like our characters were mulling the same problems over and over and over again. Such as Soo Im’s decision whether she would write her book or not, or Seo Jin deciding whether or not she would fire Teacher Kim. The other thing that I thought the show did extremely well was managing it’s tone. There were some very heavy moments and heavy topics addressed in this drama (such as depression, suicide, image focus), and that could have very easily tipped the show into being too dark and too depressing (much like ‘Rescue Me’ which had a lot going for it, but was just far to bloody bleak). The writers of ‘Sky Castle’ perfectly laced a good dose of humour throughout each and every one of the episodes- keeping the show very much in the realm of enjoyable entertainment, rather than a dark and saddening look in on the struggles of pressured, over-worked students. The Woo family were predominantly the comedic effect of this show. While all the other families were having their internal strife, complications and issues, the Woo family tended to happily breeze on through- their complaints were rather minor, and their fallouts fairly minimal.

Thank you for your cheesiness and you humour

The snappy, snarky comments from the fiery Jin Hee paired with her husband’s much more complacent, don’t-rock-the-boat attitude made for a funny pair, and their loving attitudes towards each other were a nice break from the strained marriages in the Kang and Cha families. Another way the writers helped balance the tone of the show was to make sure that only one family had a catastrophe going on at a time.

If only this guy knew just how far he was going to fall

When the Kang family was dealing with illegitimate daughters and psychotic teachers, the Cha family were having some wins with Seung Hee finally standing up to her domineering and overpowering husband in order to protect her children (massive yay). When Seung Hee and her kids were being bullied and oppressed (and quite often verbally abused) by Professor Cha, Hye Na and Hye Bin were getting along and Ye Seo was doing well with her studies. There was never too much doom and gloom going around, and there were happy moments sprinkled throughout each of the episodes. Even in the final conflict where Woo Joo was in prison and Ye Seo and her mother had to choose between letting an innocent boy stay in prison or giving up their dream of SNU, we saw all the other families banding together in support of the Hwang family. ‘Sky Castle’ certainly doesn’t sound like he most exciting drama out there, but the simple synopsis masks a complex and compelling story about status and pressure in South Korea, and was an interesting look in on elite life. The writing, acting and directing pulled together to create something quite wonderful.

What Was Great:

Sociological Story:

So, I recently read an article about why ‘Game of Thrones’ fans loved the show initially, but then disliked the later seasons (I promise you this has a point that relates to ‘Sky Castle’). The short version of the article is this: the first seasons of ‘GoT’ (the ones that were following the book) told the story of a society, not of individuals.

Please excuse me while I ramble about this article- as you can tell it excited me a lot

The story had an abundance of characters and shaped them not only by their personality traits, but by the societal norms, events and other people around them. This sociological way of telling the story meant that people were able to identify with the characters even when they did terrible things. When the show outpaced the books, the showrunners went with a psychological way of telling the story- highly individualised character arcs.

Seung Hee was defs the most likeable character in this show

By switching the way the story was told from sociological to psychological, the show started to suggest that characters’ actions and reactions were due to their personality rather than the society around them. By telling the story this way, certain characters (*cough Cersei and Dany cough*) suddenly started to become difficult to identify with. Their actions could seem sporadic and non-sensical, and when they did things the viewer didn’t agree with, it could be hard to understand why. This dramatic shift is not really the showrunners' fault, as Hollywood doesn’t really know how to tell a story from any other view but psychological. They need their hero. They need someone to back. Sociological stories are few and far between, and that it what made the earlier seasons of ‘GoT’ so unique and so addictive. Now how does this relate to ‘Sky Castle’? Look, I’m not expert on the subject (I have ready exactly one article on the topic), but in my opinion, ‘Sky Castle’ had a lot of similar sociological elements in the way it told its story. Characters were not plain black and white- all fell in the murky grey zone.

Hye Na vs Seo Jin- I don't even know which side I'm on!

They were layered and multifaceted, and their actions were not simply a result of whether they were a nice or mean person. Ye Seo didn’t hate Hye Na simply because she was a nasty girl- she had been raised in a highly pressured environment, where she had constantly been told that she was superior and special, and only really felt the love from her parents when she was the top of her class.

She's mean, but I kinda get her

Hye Na was a threat to her success, and thus the love of her parents, so it was natural for Ye Seo to be scared and reactive to her. Of course, there were other aspects of the girls’ relationship also, but my main point is that the story was written in such a way that the viewer could put themselves in Ye Seo’s place and think ‘oh, if I’d been in Ye Seo’s place and grown up that way, maybe that’s how I’d act in that situation too’. This makes the characters so much more sympathetic, and much harder for viewers to write them off as completely dislikable. This wasn’t just the case for Ye Seo, but for every single character in the show (exceeeeept maybe Teacher Kim). In one episode I would be thinking that Seo Jin was a reckless and selfish mother, and in the very next episode I would be identifying with her struggles and feeling pity towards her character. Even Soo Im, who was originally painted as the less-strict, go-with-the-flow mother, was at times not entirely likeable. Her desire to get to the heart of what happened to the Park family could at times be very intrusive and nosey, and in my opinion, kind of rude. However as we learned more about the history of her character and the structure within the Sky Caste estate, we could empathise with her desire to protect the children, even if we didn’t think she was going about it the right way.

Everyone in this show is a little whack

Even a character like Hye Na, who in any other drama would be painted as the sweet, innocent victim had some darker tones to her. Realistically, a girl who had grown up in Hye Na’s environment and then made the discoveries she did was unlikely to be sugar and spice and all things nice. Having to be the sole support for not just herself but her sick mother also forced Hye Na to have a strong backbone and self-assured attitude.

I feel like I should feel bad for her but I just...don't

Sure, there were parts of her character that related more to her personality then environment (her slight vindictiveness), but these were enhanced and shaped by her environment, society and experiences, making her not an innocent victim, but also not an unforgivable aggressor. This way of telling the story meant that redemption arcs were much easier to handle when compared to other shows. Ye Seo and her mother’s eventual decision to testify for Woo Joo at the expense of Ye Seo getting right into SNU didn’t feel forced or unexpected, but rather a logical conclusion after their hard struggle with the situation and the choice they had to make. Doctor Kang’s breakdown and regrets could have felt like a complete character-flip had the story not been told from a sociological perspective, so instead of his choice to quit the hospital and his despair over Hye Na feeling random and from left-field, again it felt like the logical steps for his character. Sure, Doctor Kang had for the most part been presented as cold and calculating and willing to do whatever it took to get ahead in his career- but that was because most of the time we saw him was in the hospital where he worked, where this attitude was encouraged. The few times we saw Doctor Kang at home, he was a man who loved his two daughters and doted on them.

HUGE Cast:

There were so many characters in this show. And they weren’t a bunch of supporting characters either. Each of them had an important role to play in the story, and were most definitely the stars of their own lives. It gave the show a rich setting that was populated with realistic (in their own way) and developed characters.

The Mum Clique

It really felt as if we were dropping into their lives which had been going on long before we got there. The character of Seo Jin was basically the star of the show, with most of the drama focusing on her family, and she was at the centre of it all. Yum Jung Ah did an excellent job as the main mother in the elite estate, and she acted Seo Jin with a perfect balance of elegance and determination,

I sure wouldn't want to be on her bad side

making Seo Jin a mother who gave the appearance of having it all together, but while remaining a person you wouldn’t want to mess with. The other great thing that comes from having so many major characters is that it gives you so many different relationships to delve into. Each of the married couples had a different dynamic- Seo Jin and Doctor Kang were cool and professional, Soo Im and Doctor Hwang were understanding and supportive, Seung Hee and Professor Cha were strained and their relationship was starting to crack, and Jin Hee and Yang Woo had an easy, cute dynamic. Similarly there were so many relationships going on in the mother circle. It was interesting to see how their allegiance and loyalties to each other changed as events unfolded, and how they had to consider their husbands' positions when thinking about their friendships, as any waves caused between the ladies was sure to eventually flow through to the husbands. The kids were a little more sectioned off than the adults, which is fairly understandable. When I was in school, my older sister didn’t want to hang out with me and my friends either. 

She was actually quite cute with how she liked Woo Joo

Kim Hye Yoon was a standout among the younger cast, as she gave Ye Seo so much personality and fire, but was also able to showcase Ye Seo softer side- such as when she was crushing on Woo Joo. She also nailed Ye Seo’s descent into guilt and fear really well, and made it feel like a perfectly natural progression for her character, who had actually been quite self focused all series long. It’s a testament to Kim Hye Yoon’s acting ability (and the writing) that this progression felt smooth and natural, and not at all out of character. Most of the relationship conflict between the kids centred around Hye Na.

Boy, she is playin' you so bad

Hye Na used Ye Bin to get into the Kang household (though I wouldn’t completely rule out that she had some sisterly feelings towards her also), and similarly she used Woo Joo’s feelings for her as a way to antagonise Ye Seo, fully knowing that Ye Seo had a crush on Woo Joo. It didn’t make Hye Na the most likeable of characters, but man did she stir things up and get things happening. 

What Wasn’t:

Teacher Kim’s Reasoning:

One of the biggest mysteries of this show that continued for nearly its entire run was the question around why Teacher Kim got off on ruining the lives of all her students and their families. Even now, I’m still slightly unsure of why she did what she did.

What is your deal, lady?

Jealousy seems pretty lame a motivator for a woman who has indirectly caused suicides in two separate families. I kind of wish that we’d been given a bit more information on Teacher Kim’s situation and her motivations a bit earlier, as by holding all of her story back until the last few episodes, we were given very little time to wrap our heads around what was going on with her. Sure, we’d been given hints throughout the earlier stages of the drama- her husband was dead and she was suspected to be involved, and her daughter was mentally handicapped. But the hows and the whys were held back until the final few episodes. I don’t completely buy that Teacher Kim is doing all this crazy stuff because she can’t stand other parents having smart and gifted kids. While the idea isn’t completely implausible, it just seems a bit light on to be the reason behind why Teacher Kim was such a rift in the lives of her students’ families. Similarly to Teacher Kim’s story, I wish that Teacher Jo’s story had been unveiled a bit earlier also. He was so obviously uncomfortable with what was going on with Hye Na and Ye Seo that it was becoming perplexing as to why he wasn’t leaving this job and Teacher Kim behind.

Also, how is her track record so clean if she's messed up that many families?

He certainly didn’t seem the type to throw two young girls under the bus for a nice apartment. Had we known a bit earlier on that Teacher Kim had used him to cut the breaks on her husband’s car and that she had given him a new life away from the drugs and poverty he had been living in, his choice to stand by Teacher Kim’s side as she lost everything and destroyed herself (and him in the process) would have been a lot more understandable, and even a little heart wrenching. 

Not Divorcing Professor Cha:

I knoooooooow I mentioned above that the redemption arcs of the characters were good and believable. And that’s true. For all but one. Professor. Cha. I did not believe it for a second, and I remained bummed out that his wife and children believed it.

Yeeeeaaahhhh, he ain't gonna change guys

Sure, it all worked out in the end- but maybe it kinda shouldn’t have? Seung Hee’s whole storyline was about her learning to stand up to her husband and fight on her children’s behalf, as they couldn’t rebel against their father on their own. Her small victories with the study room and serving her husband instant ramen when he cut her card felt like monumental victories, and were a great thing to watch. These moments only increased once Se Ri was in the picture with her own rebellious spirit.

Drop him like a hot potato

All series long Professor Cha has stuck to his own principals and has never considered what either his wife nor children had to say. We were never given any hints that there was any love at all between Seung Hee and Professor Cha, so it seemed surprising that Professor Cha had back pedalled so much at the idea of divorce. For 20 episodes we have watched Seung Hee try (and fail) to convince her husband to see things from another perspective, and he refused and fought her at every turn. While I understand that divorce is never easy on the children, I can’t help think that it may have been the best solution here. Honestly speaking, how long can we expect Professor Cha’s new attitude to last? Once the threat of divorce fades, so will his fear, and he would once again return to the dominating, controlling man he was before to both his wife and his children.

So glad Se Ri came home and shook things up in this family

It felt like for the whole show’s run we were building up to Seung Hee realising that her husband’s attitude was severely damaging her sons’ mental health, and finally taking them and walking out. When she started threatening to do just that, it was an exciting moment that felt really empowering. Only the show then decided to undercut that with Professor Cha having a sudden revelation that he loved his family and would completely change his ways for them to stay.

I loved any time Professor Cha was knocked down a peg or two

Only not once in this entire show has he given us any inkling that he loved his family. The closest he got was his doting on Se Ri, but that completely disappeared after he found out she didn’t actually go to Harvard- which only further enforced the idea that Professor Cha didn’t care about anything but success, power and status. Which made the whole turnaround completely out of character and completely unbelievable. Perhaps if they’d spun his change as more of him being afraid of the gossip and stigma around divorce in South Korea I would have believed his change of heart more. While it was super cute to see him happy and singing and dancing with Se Ri, I just did not believe the journey the show took Professor Cha on to get him there. So yeah, it was a cute moment and all, but all I could feel while watching was ‘man, this family is going to feel so sh*tty once he goes back to his old, horrible self’. Because there is no doubt in my mind that he would.

Recommend?

Definitely. There’s a reason this show became such a huge hit. I can’t promise that it will be everyone’s cup of tea (I certainly didn’t think it would be mine), but it is very unique and very addictive.

What an interesting journey