“I had to be flawless not to be looked down on.”

One’s in love and one is clueless - probably my second favorite trope right after enemies to lovers. Both create many opportunities for funny scenes and interesting interactions with the proper amount of angst to spice things up without breaking my heart.

The plot is rather simple, giving a nice slice of life sentiment, tackling various issues young people might face, while also telling a compelling love story of two interesting characters with wildly different backgrounds, pasts, personalities and behaviors.

Cha Si Won was a deeply insecure boy who needed a lot of external validation. From the start we get a good glimpse into who he is - craving the attention, enjoying people praising his looks. He takes appropriate steps to make people look in his direction. He feels anxious when there is someone equally attractive as he is - feeling the need to work even harder to stay at the top of that social ladder.

On the other hand Hyeong Da Un seems to be born with good looks and does not need to work hard to get the attention Si Won wants so much. That said, from the start I could clearly sense loneliness and sadness about him. That emo vibes creeping in. We did not get to understand who he is from the start, but the writer dropped hints that his life might not be as sweet and perfect as Si Won assumed, for example when his smile dropped after hearing the door from his house opening. To quote Shrek - Da Un is like an onion and the writer was slowly peeling off the layers of his personality and struggles as the drama progressed, showing who he is as a character and making me cry the tears of pain in the process.

So how did their relationship start? Cha Si Won just had no idea how to act around Da Un. He wanted to make sure Da Un knows he is this confident guy, but it turned rather awkward, and the small lie he told to create that persona was exposed rather quickly and concluded with one simple “맛있게 먹고”.

At the same time Da Un tried to get close to Si Won, joking around and showing real interest in him - which was at first taken as teasing and a sign of him acting superior. Poor boy, to be this misunderstood by your crush, when he just wanted to spend time with him and get to know him better.

Si Won’s whole drunk monologue in episode 2 was a new level of 2nd hand embarrassment, and yet Da Un thought it was endearing and funny. Si Won was literally trashing him saying there was something fishy about him, and Da un was just smiling about it - he was already gone into the love land by that time.

Si Won’s insecurities led to misunderstandings, but thanks to the god of kdramas, these two boys were forced to work on different assignments together, which created many opportunities for Si Won to see how his initial judgment might have been just a misconception. And the sweet love story slowly developed.

The plot line that got me extremely interested was the contest and the aftermath of it. From the start Si Won was not confident in his writing and the script, not to mention the work was autobiographical which would mean being vulnerable about your past in front of many people.

He feared it’s not strong enough to be picked, so even though he was tempted by the opportunity, he alone wouldn't take it. After his sister did it for him, resulting in him winning the first place he felt conflicted. From the start he believed the rumors that he only won thanks to Da Un’s involvement, but at the end he decided to believe in Da Un’s denying it. His words of assurance that the scenario was good and worth the award gave Si Won the confidence to share it with the class…

…and then he found out it was all a lie - the fear of not being good enough became a reality. At that point though, his priority and what he cared about changed. He loved Da Un, he was more angry about him not being honest than the actual contest.

It’s also interesting from Da Un’s perfective. From the start he had an instinct of taking care of, helping and protecting Si Won. From serving him food on the night out with other students, taking him home when he was drunk, going after him after he ran away from the book cafe. His priority was making sure Si Won is fine. Hence when he found out Si Won submitted his work for the contest, he feared not winning would hurt his confidence even more - he wanted to protect him from that disappointment. His good intentions led to misguided actions and awful aftermath. He feared Si Won would be disappointed in himself after losing, but at the end he led to Si Won being disappointed in him.

Except for the personal internal issues the male leads have and their relationship, the drama does quite a good job at showing how bad parenting can hurt the child - be it putting too many expectations on them, or neglecting them assuming they will do well on their own. Both can create trauma and scars that are hard to heal and can carry to adulthood. Both leads struggled because of their family relations and it influenced how they behave now - one feeling the constant need to prove himself, and the other struggling with truly opening to others.

Presentation wise, I loved how Si Won’s family issues were often present in the background - we could hear his mother badmouth their father to Si Yeong, questioning if she likes her father, guilt tripping her into admitting she does not.

Another interesting side plot was Yun Jeong and how she had to deal with the sexist senior - from inconsiderate remarks about her looks to situations where she truly felt uncomfortable and even threatened.

It would be a crime not to mention Si Won’s sister Si Yeong and her adorable crush on Yun Jeong. The cuteness that the character radiated was just amazing.

The acting? Really good. Jo Hyuk Joon just broke my heart with his sad puppy emo eyes, and Kang Eun Bin made me want to die from embarrassment quite a few time with his perfectly delivered lines based on his misconceptions and misunderstandings of people and situations - he was so confident about all the things he was wrong about. At the same time he managed to deliver the more emotional scenes. The scene that impressed me the most was his argument with the mother and them crying in each other's arms - the pain was real.

Production quality for such a small show was great. I also liked the directing that emphasized the characters current situation. For example, how they showed Da Un sitting with his back to the camera when his family was mentioned. It gave an even stronger impression how lonely he is, how he is unable to show his pain to others and he deals with it alone. And then, to add by the end of the show a shot of his and Si Won’s back, sitting next to each other telling us, he is not alone anymore.

Another great example would be how in episode 5 during one of the classes the lecturer talks about the magic/golden hour in photography “This magic hour is called the time between dog and wolf. When seeing a man walking toward you at that time of a day, you’re not sure if it’s a dog by your side or the wolf of your enemy”. Then in episode 6, after Si Won asks Do Un if his parents had anything to do with him winning, we can see a shot of Do Un filmed in that “magic hour” which could be seen as foreshadowing his involvement in the contest behind Si Won’s back. And then later, the whole episode 10 was titled “The time between dog and wolf” when the truth came to light. I appreciated how some references were coming back in different forms and times to tell the story.

Was the production perfect? No. Some scenes were dubbed (if the characters were sitting or walking far away), but it was still clearly visible the sound did not match what the actors were saying. Sometimes some shots seemed blurred and the colors were not sharp enough compared to the previous scene, but honestly, all of these things I only noticed while rewatching the drama.

Surprisingly, this show gets better on the second viewing. Some lines just hit differently when you know the whole story and context. For example Si Won telling Da Un “you were born with everything at the tip of your hands and loved by your parents so much” in episode 2, which could not be further from the truth with how he grew up emotionally neglected, receiving close to no love and attention from his parents who were always busy with work.

Overall, not sure why this show feels so special to me, but it does. The second viewing made me love and appreciate it even more. I would recommend it to everyone, as it delivers nicely written characters that are easy to sympathize with and relate to, soft commentary on some personal issues we might face in our lives and a truly sweet romance with great chemistry that will make you feel lonely like never before.

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