SKY Castle isn’t really my kind of television. Wealthy people trying to get their kids into college, ehhh, there’s nothing telling me I need to watch it just from the plot description. And honestly, the show isn’t much more than the synopsis. But what sets it apart is great directly, a tight script, and an amazing ensemble cast.

There’s not a lot I can talk about that hasn’t been said already, but I just like expressing my opinion so I will.

What I will say is that I wasn’t sure if I liked this show at the outset. The characters are all a little frustrating and the reveals take time. I don’t think I was able to appreciate the humor. If it hadn’t been for the great reviews and my compulsion to finish everything I start, I don’t know if I would have watched all of it. But it’s way easier for me to forgive shows that start out alright and have a really strong second half than the other way around. It took awhile for me to fall in love with SKY Castle, but boy did I when shit hit the fan.

I found out later that this writer, Yoo Hyun-mi, had written Gaksital (my newest old favorite show). SKY Castle is so so different, but what hasn’t changed in the 7 years between these shows, is her love of setup. Ultimately for me, Gaksital was the one I liked watching more, but SKY Castle is definitely the better show.

One wonderful thing about SKY Castle is that it’s a confident show. This show knew what it was and what it wanted to be at the outset. Nothing felt shoved in to fill airtime. Everything seemed like there was higher purpose and a plan, and it was nice to sit back and watch it unfold. It’s sometimes hard to watch a show when it feels like every word holds weight. Every scene felt like it was leading somewhere else, but it doesn’t feel like one cohesive story until the second half.

There are some scenes that in retrospect don’t seem important anymore, like the ones that took place with the dads in the hospital. It felt like a completely different show, and those scenes were often the boring ones. Eventually things connect, but I don’t think we needed to spend quite so much time there.

Ultimately I’m really glad I kept watching. The characters sometimes seemed so alien that I couldn’t relate at all to their motivations, but as we got to know them more, I started to love all of them, even if I didn’t love the storylines initially. I loved the cast for their literal quirks. And I felt their pain in the hard moments. Situations that I will probably never be in seemed so real, and I realized that everything that goes on in SKY Castle, though exaggerated, happens in the real world, which makes the emotional moments even more charged.

SKY Castle isn’t an emotional show (or at least it wasn’t for me), but there were surprising tear-inducing moments. It’s not in-your-face super sad or anything, but the cast and directing is so great that you can’t help but feel what the characters are feeling in the moment.

I didn’t realize until later on what an impression this cast made on me. Characters I hated or found boring originally had me cracking up later on (mostly Professor Cha). I was so happy to see such a strong female cast backing this drama. Even the child actors made an impression, and I’ll probably be following their careers (Kim Dong-hee was actually great in Extracurricular, I highly recommend).

Final thoughts: There’s no doubting that SKY Castle is good television, even though it wasn’t always my thing. I’m a new fan of everyone involved in this production, and I’m excited to see what’s next for them.