I can't believe I managed to complete a 56-episode drama. Unlike many C-dramas these years, the plot is logical and intelligent, characters' behaviour fit their personalities, story flows smoothly and does not have any glaring loopholes. I can see that effort and thought have been put into the sets, props, and background. Filming at actual locations really adds to the entertainment value.
I appreciate that the main characters are flawed and were able to learn and grow as the series went on. I also like that instead of focusing on purely romance and using everyone to push the romance agenda of the first male and female leads, the story talks about what it being a couple means, pushing societal norms, the challenges of familial relationships, and personal development. Comedy was interjected every now and again to avoid this series being too sombre and help to make supposed stern characters more down to earth. I especially like that time was given to delineate the thoughts and motive behind the characters, helping audiences understand and connect better, instead of editing chunks out just to speed up the plot and squeeze to fit into a typical 24-episode idol drama.
The acting of most of the main characters are on par but the same can't be said of the side characters, especially those that only appear for less than a few episodes, which makes it hard for the audience to connect with the storyline. I feel that as a whole, most of the cast (especially younger ones whose characters are supposed to be more flamboyant) were able to enact exaggerated emotions but fail to grasp the subtler ones and that detracts the full immersion of this show, so, I didn't award this show full marks. Regardless, I enjoyed the story a lot and I hope there would be more quality dramas like this.
I do like the message the show was going for!
some random thoughts (SPOILERS ahead):
-so did rieul actually push the convenience store owner off the cliff? it’s not clear because the owner claims he did meanwhile ahyi perceived him to vanish into thin air,, but it seems like the store owner was right in that rieul attempted to murder him but it was never clarified
-rieul got pulled into the police station 3 years ago.. what for? did he do any of those heinous things 3 years ago?
-did the store owner actually kill the missing girl? because even in his last scene in the police station he claims he didn’t do it and didn’t set rieul up. is it possible rieul set him up or someone else did? the store owner never confessed and was adamant that he didn't do it
-when I first started watching the show I absolutely hated rieul bc he seemed like a creep (30 year old who says he “likes” high schooler ahyi and that scene in particular seemed like a romantic confession). however as the show progressed I realized that their friendship was platonic and maybe I misunderstood rieul. maybe we as a society misunderstand grown adults with childish thinking and their friendships with children isn’t actually romantic or sexual… it makes me think about all of those real “creepy” adults we barely know and how it’s the rumors about them that create their image and we don’t know their actual intentions. That’s not to say pedophilic adults don’t exist but just bc an adult doesn’t fit into the image of what an adult is expected to be and likes to do childish things and make children happy, doesn’t make them I’ll-intentioned… and maybe we should stop judging them and let them live how they want to despite them not living according to capitalist standards of “productive”. Also I think autistic adults and people who misunderstand social cues shouldn’t be judged for acting how they are. I liked that societal commentary but I also think rieul following ahyi home from the amusement park was inappropriate and could reasonably come off to her as a romantic interaction. Idk I’m still in between how he acted with her although it’s obvious by the end their friendship is platonic
-I also didn’t like Il-deung in the beginning (claims he likes ahyi but then finds out she may have a romantic relationship with rieul so he stops liking her and makes a deal for her to get lower grades and he’ll pay her). however as the show progressed, there was a lot of depth to his character. He genuinely felt bad for what happened, he has a beautiful friendship with her and rieul, he stands up for rieul, to his parents, and even drops out of high school because he wants to focus on his own dreams.
-I liked the academic environment in this show. It felt very realistic- rigorous schools and their testing is pretty depressing and a huge pressure. it’s not the whole class fangirling over ur relationships like true beauty lol. and il-deung isn’t exactly a second lead here, this show isn’t about romance so I do rec this for inyoup fans he has a decent amount of screen time. However I do wish we got a glimpse of il-deung in the future timeline.
-the actress who plays ahyi really pulls off the short chopped slightly dishevelled hair look. and looked so different when she was older without the bangs. a complete chameleon lmao
-as with most kdramas, the ending is a bit open-ended. it’s a heartwarming one with ahyi having hope for her future and performing magic tricks for kids, however we don’t get much answers with rieul’s character. did he actually commit any of the crimes or was it all on the convenience storer? did he actually disappear into thin air on the stage or was it a clever trick? did ahyi’s mother ever get any of the letters or was the mailbox not actually magical? was any of the magic real or just tricks of the mind? I’d personally like to think that the magic was real and although rieul could have used his magic for more productive means (taking over the world or getting famous lol) he purely enjoyed doing it for aesthetic terms by making poor strangers he barely knows happy and living in an abandoned amusement park writing spells.
I would’ve preferred a closed ending with all my questions answered but ambiguous ones are also pretty cool bc there is always that possibility that reiul actually was a serial killer who set the store owner up and used ahyi’s help to escape and that’s an enjoyably creepy scenario.
