First kdrama I ever watched and it's still my favorite.

The mystery actually kept me on my toes! I was actually surprised at most of the twists, however the real stand out in this series was the relationships between the townspeople.

Lee Dong-sik is still one of my favorite male leads in any drama I've seen since this. The performance was so versatile, complex and very well done. I felt for him, my heart broke for him as he watched what was left of his family seemingly fall apart. The scene where he lost the chief actually made me cry. They built such a wonderful character that was flawed and full of capacity for love and hate. He really wanted to take care of everyone in the town and, when Han joined the force, he was brought into that circle of protection, whether he wanted to be or not.

Han seemed like the typical aloof, cold guy character. He refrained from making connections because he wasn't comfortable with them. The townspeople's closeness obviously was a lot for him, but he came to accept them in his own way. His partnership with Lee Dong Sik was wonderful to watch!

I loved Jae-yi and her story broke my heart. The connection between her and Lee Dong-sik as they both bonded over loosing important women in their lives was very well written. She was also such a strong character.

The villains seemed a bit one note but as the show really dug into their lives and motivations, they get more complex. The overarching cause of pain in this series was largely due to greed and how that motivated people to let an unspeakable evil continue terrorizing their community.

One of the most surprising elements of this show for me was that there was no romance in this. The deepest, most well developed relationship in it was the partnership between Lee Dong-sik and Han Joo-wan and the actors had wonderful chemistry.

A big recommend from me. I still think about this show often.