I think I shall call 2023/24 the Year of Do-overs. Quite a few shows have the lead(s) shuffle off the mortal coil only to come back as the much improved Lead(s) 2.0.

To be fair, if anyone deserves a do-over and right some serious wrongs, our beloved PMY should be at the head of the queue. We are left with no doubt that her life has spiralled out of control and death is a blessed relief.

With her demise out of the way, the show completely changed tone. The FL was confused and stressed for the moment but once she accepted her situation and got her little grey cells working overtimes, she was on fire! She re-evaluated her life from high school onwards and noticed all the red flags she never noticed before. It was obvious in hindsight that she was manipulated and gaslighted constantly by someone with a singular purpose.

The middle section is the highlight for me. It was gratifying to see our OTP join hands and outsmart the antagonists at every turn. Everything seems to be going swimmingly. If you think there is a BUT coming then you have obviously watched too many k-dramas. ;)

Within a few scenes around episode 12, our writer-nim turned all the best made plans of our OTP into dumpster fires. It was makjang with a capital M. Every tropey subplots are dusted off and threw into the witches brew.

I know most viewers will feel aggrieved at this point. The show giveth and the show taketh away. It was as if a switch was flipped. The drama was injecting angst just for angst’s sake.

However, I do see some method to this madness. It largely comes down to the plot getting out of control as more and more characters are introduced which stretched the simple idea of diverting your worse fate to others difficult to sustain without creating a small singularity. I'm sure our writer-nim planned it all along but it was not a good look when the proverbial hits the fan.

With this in mind, the writer-nim basically did a hard reset, allowing her to set the stage for the final confrontation. It might feel like a hack job but the show gets away with it because it is a dark fantasy. Paring back the modern trimmings, it could have been a tale told by the OG Brothers Grimm. Gruesome deaths are far more likely than singing woodland creatures.

Thankfully, there is light at the end of the tunnel, and there is much rejoicing when the inevitable all happened on cue. This leads us to one of the most detailed and sweetest fan service episode for many moons. It is not brilliant writing but the little lumps of sugar just kept coming and we stop caring.

In terms of acting, I’m happy to report that PMY has got her mojo back. As a fan, it pains me to say that her last few dramas were (cough) patchy. It certainly was not on par with earlier shows like Secretary Kim or Her Private Life. While this show is still not up there, they definitely share some DNA.

This is further helped by the acting of the ML and their chemistry. He might not be the classic handsome lead but he more than made up for it with other attributes. He complimented her evolving character well. On the other hand, the antagonists are one dimensional and predictable. That's ok because this is not a convoluted mystery drama, their actions are all laid bare from the start. They are there as focus of our ire, this they managed to do with single minded efficiency.

In the end, I had high hopes and the series mostly delivered. However, it did stumble in the last 1/4 of its run. It almost stole defeat from the jaws of victory. I’m glad that the show recovers and ends well. It was a close call. I gave it an extra ½ point because of PMY. Fight me. :)