I honestly don't know how to explain this dramas plot. There were confusing birth secrets. (Illegitimate children everywhere. Everywhere illegitimate children.) There were too many women for Ma Te to learn from and not enough time spent with each of them. There was a password/passcode thing that ended up serving no purpose. There were corporate machinations that ended up just being confusing and silly. (And really, really boring.) And there was no romance, absolutely none, until the very end of the drama. And by That point, the story had fallen completely flat and the only reason I was sticking around was for Bo Tong.

First, I don’t like Ma Te. He started out as your typical 'good-looking' guy who thinks he's the bees knees, God's gift to humanity, the greatest thing since sliced bread, and to be fair, he's clearly never had anyone tell him otherwise so why shouldn't he believe that about himself? But really, he was pretty boring...and annoying...and kind of dumb. (And not the slightest bit attractive but what do I know. [They would give him a nice hairstyle, and I'd start to come around, then they'd screw it all up by turning his hair into a mop. Seriously, who was coming up with those hairstyles?!])

But he wasn't an awful character. In many ways, he was a good character. He was arrogant in a way that was sort of comical. Every time something didn't work out how he wanted, I was pumping my fists in excitement. His character was at his best when he was failing.

But failure came very rarely for Ma Te. Things were way too easy for him. Every woman he encountered fell for him. Every time he faced some kind of challenge at the company, it miraculously worked out in his favor. Granted, it was often because someone else with actual power and influence fixed things, but even then, Ma Te got all the credit.

He did get a 'final hour' emotional growth spurt, but it was completely unearned and I disliked him too much by then to care.

As for the entire conceit of the drama, the women (minus Bo Tong), each felt alternatively dynamic and boring. Sometimes the lesson Ma Te was meant to learn from them was clear, and other times I was scratching my head wondering why this random woman had wandered onto my screen where she clearly did not belong.

Then there's David. David broke my heart with all his heartbreaking wonderfulness. Which made it Oh So Frustrating when he turned into That character. You know the one. You’ll find them in every Asian drama known to man. They’ve been rejected. They’ve been turned down. They’ve been ignored. The lead has made their stance known, and it’s time for them to raise the white flag. But they refuse to let go.

I don’t know if the writer’s were just so in love with David that the only way for them to justify not giving him the girl was to make him look like a baby so they didn't have to feel bad about their choice or if they were just suffering from such an acute case of second lead feels that they got temporarily lost in those feelings, but they spent so much time on Bo Tong and David and David's inability to just move on that they did next to nothing to move Bo Tong and Ma Te's relationship along. And you might say at this point in the review 'That's hypocritical. You like Bo Tong, and she's every bit as much That character as David, so what gives?' What gives is I like stories where the jerky, self-important character gets a dose of their own medicine and finds themselves falling for someone they think is beneath them and through falling for them learns to be a not terrible person anymore, and you can't make me feel bad about that, so there.

Ultimately, the only thing that made the anguish that was watching this drama the slightest bit worth it, was Bo Tong. I frickin’ love Bo Tong.

Frickin’.

Love.

She was the only consistent character in the entire drama, she had GREAT fashion sense (FIGHT ME ON THAT), she was delightfully quirky and optimistic without being ridiculous, she was over the top, and I loved it.

Also, IU is such a good crier. My gosh.

To sum up, I think it's clear the writers bit off more then they could chew with this story. 10 women was too many. 6 would have been more doable. The lessons Ma Te was supposed to learn from each of them weren't always clear or even interesting. The family drama was ridiculous and confusing and added very little to the overall story. The illegitimate children plot was confusing, and the secret code concept was completely wasted. The business machinations made me roll my eyes. And there was no romance until the final hour. Tell us the truth writers. Did you actually have any sort of plan for this drama? Did you really want Bo Tong and Ma Te to end up together? Does any of it even matter? For my part, the answer is no.

(Rewatch is 1 because I can't choose zero.)