This article will take a slightly different approach to my review format, I’m more or less just going to write what I think of the show after the last few episodes with less no set structure. I’m doing this for two reasons, the first is that it’s just the mood I’m in for this week’s review, the second is that I think mixing up the format keeps the content fresh, otherwise I might recycle thoughts, which is also why I do these reviews every other week instead of every week.
The Review
So, a decent amount has happened in the last few weeks, and we’ve had a fair amount of character movement, mostly for the better in almost every case. Our leads still are very much in love, even with Jae-hee going a little rogue. Chae-woon’s relationship with Park Pil-hong is still very interesting, and he is one of the better written characters to me, showing this interesting internal conflict between his natural inclination to be a manipulative con-man and the clear fatherly protectiveness that he has for her. Pil-hong is probably the character who has the most room for a good redemption arc of our 4 or 5 antagonists, and I’d be happy to see him follow it, or to remain evil, he’s well acted and would do well in either scenario, but I feel this is one of the shows where everybody will turn out happy.
Speaking of antagonists, Seo-a continues to just be the least satisfyingly written character, swingy and inconsistent, maliciously dumb, despite being clearly clever, this character is just ruined for me no matter how the redemption goes, she’s done way too much damage to be forgiven. Na-ro is fairly interesting, that same internal conflict as Pil-hong, a desire to belong with a group of people against his duplicitous tendencies, he’s analytical and clever to the point where even when he seemingly does something nice, it’s hard to believe it isn’t just a tool to make himself look better. The fourth clear antagonist is the chairwoman, she’s the true villain in my opinion, and deserves nothing but to be ousted from her position of power and removed from the family, exiled forevermore. If the writers try to redeem the chairwoman, they better know it’ll never work in a million years.
The 5th antagonist that can be argued is Jung-won, she’s done a lot of bad, but it’s all based on reason and logic. That said, if she had just been honest and upfront from the start, I honestly don’t think much trouble would have come, her selfish indecision has led her to the hard decisions she has to make now. That said, despite arguably being antagonistic, she’s clearly going to figure it out and learn how to be a good mom. Our other mom, the ever loyal Soon-jung, has really found more strength and character consistency as of late, and it’s been nice to get it from her. Soon-jung was supposed to be the emotional core, but was so caught up in her mess that I think that really fell to Jung-hoo, and now we have both as wise, caring and reasonable older generation characters to help stabilise and guide the younger folks.
Man-jung and Hwak-se’s storyline got real messy, but the scene with everybody gathering to listen to and vote for Hwak-se in the radio singing contest was a really heart-warming scene, one of the best in the last few episodes. Jung-hoo and Min-jae’s relationship is slowly starting to stabilise and have more charm and vulnerability, and has been fun to watch get repaired, but also, Jung-hoo was horribly abusive and I’m still against it, he had more than enough chances. Jung-hoo and Soon-jung would have been more satisfying as a pair, and having that firmly removed as an option was a misstep, and now we just see a woman go back to her abusive husband, even if he has changed, not a great example to set in my opinion. Jung-hoo has also started to figure out when he’s being a jerk to his family, the only people who still get his bad side, and he seems to be working on it, his character has really grown into the fuel for a lot of other character’s actions. I also think that his money and/or personal influence over the other cast members will come in to help smooth out some major probably in the last 10 episodes, giving him his true saves-the-day moment.
Lastly, and most importantly, the siblings, the best plotlines in the show, let’s start with Ra-hoon and Ba-reun. These two have my favorite relationship in the show, it’s so cute and earned, with both characters growing and being made better by each other at every turn. The thing I most look forward to is the eventual payoff of them getting to buy their food truck together, I will likely cheer out loud at that point. They also seem to be getting a little bit more involved, and Ba-reun being trusted to model by Hae-deun shows a nice level of trust has built between the two where there once had been malice. Hae-deun and Jun-a’s relationship continues to be hilariously awkward in a way that is a ton of fun to watch, and I have enjoyed seeing them grow as characters recently. Hae-deun seems more caring, and actively intelligent and clever, while Jun-a is slowly feeling more confident in himself, finding moments where he speaks firmly where I think he would have curled away before. They make a really fun and dynamic team, and their banter is some of the most enjoyable writing in the entire show, it seems like the actors even enjoy most of the silly battles on their journey.
Overall, things are better now than 2 weeks ago, most of the plotlines feel like they’re moving along, and the less used characters feel more involved right now in general, which is good, because the side characters are the best part of the show in general. I honestly can’t believe this show is going to be coming to an end in 5 weeks, and I’ll be pretty sad when it is finally gone, I’ll have a hole in my weekend schedule that will be pretty difficult to fill. That said, I’ll see you in two weeks for our third to last review, let me know what moments have been you favorite so far on twitter, love to see what stands out to all of you.