Mix of Genres With Stellar Cast

I rarely write reviews, but maybe this is the TV series that might get me back to writing them on a regular basis! Hooray, I guess.
 
The premise of the story is very straightforward: we have an established married couple who goes through a crisis, which is very realistic, as nowadays, the percentage of divorced couples is skyrocketing in multiple countries, and with South Korea being one of them, I guessed that they tried to create a series that would give the South Korean audience hope in marriage once again. Did they succeed? We’re going to see that a few years later! Some statistics take some time, folks.
 
Let’s talk about my enjoyment of this series as a big fan of the cast.
 
The acting is marvelous and stunning, and no one can take this opinion away from me—not even the storyline. Going into this series, I knew beforehand that I was in for an acting treat and basically a masterclass, which I was not wrong about. I cannot name all the cast names, but imagine the list being very long. While some are praising mostly male and female leads, I am praising everyone—even the side characters—because even those side characters were played by well-known and talented actors. This is why I just have to give them all 10 out of 10!
 
Now, let’s move onto the music department, which... didn't overwhelm me, but this once again wasn’t shocking to me, as I am very picky with music. I like a lot of genres, but I cherry pick from each, so to have an OST  impress me, it takes a lot! I can literally name the OSTs that truly hypnotized me and are webbed in my memory. Sadly, this TV series simply didn’t have a single OST or BGM that made me shiver, cry, or just directly search for it on music platforms to listen to the full version. This is the reason why I am giving the music department 4.5 points, which isn’t terrible, but quite...below average, let’s say. It’s not that I hated it, but did it make me interested? Far from it.
 
Production value and visual FX—what can I say? Perfect! Yeah, it was an expensive series, and they showed this with various things, not just a stellar cast. I really don’t have a single complaint about the production value, because it was truly breathtaking. The shots were amazing, the locations were wonderful, and they made me feel calm and cozy. The costumes were also amazingly fitted and complimented the figures of all the cast members. A special thanks to the costume designer of our favorite auntie.
 
Now, let’s get to the backbone of the whole series—the plot! Yeah, we have reached the weakest link of this whole series, and it is truly sad because I have been waiting for years for another amazing TV series, not only from Su Hyeon’s side but from Ji Won’s side as well. Both their previous projects didn’t interest me much, so I had high hopes. Me being into more mature romances and overall melodrama vibes kind of made my expectations skyrocket even more. In the end, I was not satisfied.
 
Let me emphasize that the premise served me well and truly fed the melodramatic me, but the execution was the part where the series failed. The long format of the episodes was truly painful, as everything looked like filler, and I swear if you skipped some of the episodes and started in later, you wouldn’t miss a lot. I do think the plot was underdeveloped and lacking in many aspects. Some characters—the main couple—weren't written thoroughly, and for my taste, they were bland, and I honestly found myself not rooting for them at all. I get it; the premise is a marriage crisis and getting back together, but the writer has written mostly about the female lead as a very dislikable person, and I get it—she was born into a rich family, so she didn’t know that her manners were sometimes very... wrong. Still, I felt that the differences between the couple were way too big to overcome in real life, and since the series tried to portray a realistic relationship, I do think they failed. They were way too different, and even though couples can overcome differences and be happy, I felt that what they have isn’t anything too deep, and the love from both came out of nowhere. Other than that, the male lead truly tried to work the marriage out, but the female lead was very rejective of his attempts, and seeing the cycle repeat was very tiring.
 
In terms of the dramatic plot, I have to disagree with others who say that it reminded them of older TV series. I was there, and they were far more dramatic, I would say, and more tropey, while this had only like two prominent tropes: the second male lead being intrusive and loco, and the upgraded version of White Truck of Doom. I do not consider female lead being rich as a trope, sorry. I can vividly say and name the tropes in order with older series, and this series didn’t follow them at all, so I personally didn’t feel as if I was watching an older series.
 
Overall, I think the series would stand out more to me if it had shorter episodes and maybe even fewer episodes, and most importantly, a set genre. As I said, going into this, I expected melodrama, but in the end, it was a mix of melodrama and comedy, which ruined it even more for me. They dealt with serious topics (which I praise them for), but they set them in very bad times, I think? Like, writer, please decide if it’s going to be a comedy or a melodrama. Some say that because of the heavy topics, it was a melodrama, but I have to disagree. For me, it had very little melodrama vibes, even with the serious topics, and I hated that. I think if they strictly kept it as a melodrama and shot it with the same vibes as well, I would have enjoyed it far more.

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