Could've been better and I've definitely seen better. The writing was the biggest problem in this drama. It's not terrible, but it's not what I would consider good writing either. The basic idea of this drama is that it's a story about ordinary people living lives that would be considered "extras" in a traditional drama. And in some parts it is, but in many ways it falls back to the typical tropes of K-dramas. A dark past, a family secret, a hidden extraordinary talent. These don't feel very ordinary to me.

The only ordinary portion of this whole drama is the second lead couple. Both their relationship with each other to their struggles in work is something many people can relate to. It helps that both Ahn Jae-hong and Song Ha-yoon are very good at their jobs, enriching their performances with groundedness and understanding. I wished, episode after episode, that this drama was more about these two. They made this drama satisfying to me.

The main leading couple, on the other hand, is where many of this drama's weaknesses lie. Acting wise they weren't on their A game, Park Seo-joon especially. I'm just bored of him playing the same brash, shouty character over and over again. Their journey also don't feel genuine. Note that I said the journey, not the emotions, which I think the actors tried very hard at. There were too many external conflicts that became more and more ridiculous by the episode, further distancing these two characters from seemingly extras to actually secretly very much leads. In many ways, it felt like the drama was lying to me. Even their budding romantic relationship was off for me, as I found it to be childish with a big dose of unhealthy possessiveness.

This drama is weird to me because it showed one of the best examples of realistic dialogue and acting in the form of Seol-hee and Joo-man, but also made me aware what undeserved happy endings look like in the form of, well, the last two episodes. It wasn't a truly waste of my time but I wish it would've been better.

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