This gets a 7.5 from me overall for one reason and one reason only: Kim Woo effing Bin. The story has been told so many times, we could recite it in our sleep: rich son of chaebol falls for poor girl, other rich son of hotelier falls for same girl, struggles, misunderstandings, fights, and wrist yanking ensues.

I'm not a huge fan of Lee Min Ho's acting or looks, just not my type. I decided to watch this one because of all of the jokes and trope trashing I'd seen about it on other sites. It felt like a rite of passage. Going into this, I'd never seen Woo Bin in anything and only knew his name from the joke in Goblin, so I had no idea what to expect. As soon as he appeared on screen, I was smitten. I know his character is just another walking cliche, but he somehow made it engaging, and I just cared about his character. He has chemistry with the walls, people-- he doesn't even need anyone else in the scene to light it up and make it matter in a story that was full of things I didn't care about.

There are so many problems with the writing-- the girl is an object to be acted upon, not a free agent of choice. She waits for everyone else in her life to tell her how to feel and what to do, and she dutifully does it. She is not there to be a heroine or role model for young girls, she's there to sell the trope and further the stories of the men in the series. Period. So don't expect any feminist undertones in this one.

The side pairing of her best friend and the girl (bilingual, amazing valley girl English accent) were a nice surprise and fairly healthy couple, solid throughout and fun to watch. But for me, this was the Kim Woo Bin show, and I wouldn't have finished it if he hadn't been cast, honestly.