7.9/10 – Let me just say that I did enjoy this drama quite a lot, and the first half was definitely fun and refreshing and heart-felt. The second half exposed some weaknesses and flaws that had been waiting in the wings, and I think it was mainly just a writing issue overall. All the actors gave great performances, and the story, while fairly predictable and nothing extraordinary, was able to create the feels and get a heartfelt, optimistic message across.
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The plot blends the world of start-up businesses and the messy and difficult journey of career-building, with a pretty hilarious (but also tragic, in my opinion) romance. Suzy is back with another drama since Vagabond, and her character, Set Dal-mi, is a very earnest, resilient, pure-hearted girl looking to move up in the world of business and start her own company. Her childhood was pretty rough (mom and sister abandoning her and her dad for money, dad dying of a PREVENTABLE CONCUSSION, etc), and one thing that got her through those dark times were special letters from her penpal, Nam Do-san…Except these letters were actually written by a boy named Han Ji-pyeong, who also was going through a terrible childhood – orphaned, no home, no money, ends up being pesudo-raised by Dal-mi’s ANGEL GRANDMOTHER. Dal-mi’s grandma asked him to write letters to Dal-mi to help her feel better, and he obliges. Seems like such a harmless small act of mercy…alas LOL. This is why lying is sin lmaooo. But it’s a drama, so it is what it is haha. When circumstances arise 15 years later that cause Dal-mi to want to find the boy from her letters, Granny and Ji-pyeong have find the real Nam Do-san first so that they can bring him up to speed and keep up the ruse, and honestly it was super entertaining to see these two men slowly falling for Dal-mi for real, but also develop a hilarious bromance/frenemy relationship. One of the strongest aspects of this drama is that the love triangle is not epically skewed towards the “main male lead”. One is the boy from Dal-mi’s past who was originally only invested because he cares for her grandmother; and one is a stranger who realizes he actually does want to be the boy from the letters to see her smile.
One thing I really enjoyed about this drama was that it exuded so much hope. All the characters at one point or another, are faced with daunting odds, whether in their personal lives, or in the highly competitive world of tech start-ups. But you see the resiliency humans, how they are able to keep pushing on and are able to see positivity and opportunity in everything. It really warmed my heart to watch the characters celebrate hard-won victories, and build one another up and work together towards common goals. The Samsan Tech boys, Do-san, Chul-san, and Yong-san, were such a cute trio, three nerdy friends coding away in their dingy apartment, so full of hope and optimism. Dal-mi, a bright energetic girl with enough motivation and passion to keep a smile on her face. There was so much innocence and sincerity in their excitement and work ethic, and I really admired that. And I’ll just say, all the actors did fantastic jobs portraying their characters. Not just line delivery, but the more subtle aspects like facial expressions, body language, etc, I was fully captivated because the characters all came alive through their work!! Kim Seon-ho and Nam Joo-hyuk as Ji-pyeong and Do-san respectively, gave truly flawless performances. which is why I grew to love and appreciate both of them so much more. Suzy has always been a solid actress in my eyes (I don’t understand the haters who have been bashing her since Dream High…), but in this drama she definitely shone as Dal-mi, it was a perfect casting choice in my opinion!
Another strong point of the drama is the love triangle…but what I mean by that is that it was truly excruciating. As in, for the first half, YOU LITERALLY ARE ROOTING FOR BOTH GUYS because they are both so sweet!! Who does one pick?? Soft boy cutie Nam Do-san, or the second male lead, aka good boy Han Ji-pyeong? He’s called a “good boy” by the grandmother throughout the drama because LITERALLY HE IS. Even though he tries so hard to be cold and look out only for himself, he actually has the most integrity of them all, and his character is so consistently GOOD, that it actually becomes problematic for the show. The reason is this: by the end of episode one, the audience has been given 15 years worth of context for Dal-mi and Ji-pyeong, and we see how the back and forth exchange of letters between these two young people brought comfort and solace. And then BAM, the real Nam Do-san, who was just a name Ji-pyeong and Angel grandma borrowed from a newspaper article, comes into the story as the main male lead.
I think the term “double-edged sword” is extremely applicable here. The best parts of the drama were created by a great love triangle and sympathy for THE GOODEST BOY HAN JI-PYEONG, but this also created somewhat of a downfall for the whole show because HIS CHARACTER WAS JUST TOO STRONG. By the conclusion, the story left me crying out that he deserved way better, which isn’t a good thing for a show that wants the audience to be primarily invested in rooting for Dal-mi and Do-san’s relationship. And it’s actually a pity, because on his own, Do-san really is a pretty good character. He is a literal math and computer coding genius, cute and dorky, with very poor social skills and some self-esteem issues. He’s shy and unsure of his dreams, and Dal-mi is the one that introduces him to what it means to be passionate and to have ambition. Throughout the drama, he grows a lot, and if you observe him in isolation, he really does come far in terms of character development. Throughout the first half of the drama, I was super torn about who I liked more. Do-san was just so soft, and it was crushing whenever he was reminded that he wasn’t the man Dal-mi thought he was, and his feelings of being inadequate were so relatable and sad.
THE PROBLEM IS, the story is still relationship driven, and on that front, Ji-pyeong is the clear winner in my eyes. Although Do-san had some very sweet moments with Dal-mi, his character was driven by either recklessness or emotions a lot of the time. He operates with a very idealistic mindset, which made him very soft and sweet for sure, but sometimes it led him to do regrettable and/or downright idiotic things. On the other hand, Ji-pyeong was much more mature, level-headed, and selfless to the point where it was just unfair. If love is sacrifice, then he truly sacrificed the most for those he loved. In the end, he even sacrifices his feelings for Dal-mi and desire for a relationship and concedes to Do-san. Every time he denied that he was a good person, or tried to convince himself and others that he was just a cold businessman who uses harsh words to hurt people, I cried. It was really heart-breaking because I guess as an orphan he had grown to accept that he had be alone, and so in order to make it easier, he felt like he needed to be prickly and push people away before they left voluntarily. He also had so much integrity that he couldn’t bring himself to fight or play dirty, so he put others before himself at his own expense. Definitely one of his biggest charms is that he takes care of the people he loves, BUT IN SECRET. Every funny moment in the show where Ji-pyeong helps Do-san pretend to be the boy from his letters, teaching him how to talk to Dal-mi, letting him use his apartment and borrow his suits so that Do-san can look the part…it was always accompanied by some sadness because Ji-pyeong was hindering his own chances with Dal-mi…and honestly those scenes are all so hilarious, but also hard to watch. The way Ji-pyeong fell in love with Dal-mi is very well-done. You see his motivations slowly change from just wanting to help the grandmother, to wanting to keep Dal-mi’s dream of Do-san alive, to wanting Dal-mi to be successful and happy, to wanting to be the one who is there to protect her. Even when he accepts his feelings and confesses to Dal-mi, he doesn’t make a move or resent her for continuing to choose Do-san…because he is JUST TOO GOOD. He hides his emotions so that Dal-mi won’t feel uncomfortable or pressured, and then just goes into a corner by himself to weep. LIKE WTF THAT’S SO SAD. The show made the audience too sympathetic towards Ji-pyeong, and ultimately that undermined Dal-mi and Do-san’s bond as well. The only thing that made it somewhat better was the relationship between Dal-mi’s grandmother and Ji-pyeong. Those two had such a beautiful family dynamic, and every time they had heartfelt interactions or conversations, I cried about as hard as they were, which was always quite hard. When the grandmother urges Ji-pyeong to visit her a lot and stop accepting loneliness, I was like MY HEARTU…
THERE WERE SO MANY HEART-BREAKING HAN JI-PYEONG MOMENTS, I COULD WRITE A WHOLE OTHER POST ABOUT THEM. But in case you don’t care, I’ll spare you, haha.
That being said, I do think the progression of the love triangle, and how the truth behind the letters was revealed, was done really well! It was realistic, not overly drawn out, and just suspenseful enough to keep the audience stressed for a good amount of time haha. The weakest point of this drama was probably the completely unnecessary 3 year time skip. I say unnecessary because literally NOTHING CHANGED, not even people’s hairstyles lol. I think another reason why I didn’t wholly buy Do-san and Dal-mi was because AFTER THREE YEARS OF SEPARATION, they never discussed their true feelings or verbalize clearly how they felt about each other. They said cryptic, poetic metaphors that reflected their feelings, but never once did either of them say, “I love you”, or “forgive me”, or “please take me back”. lol. Even the reason they “got back together” was actually initiated by Dal-mi being forced to hire Do-san to her company. Which is like…what. lol.
ANyWays, lol. Overall this drama was very enjoyable and entertaining. Some of the plot points were a bit contrived, and some of the side character stories had little impact or relevance, but the story was fun, heart-warming, and the ending was about as satisfying as it could be, considering I am on team HJP. I think the last episode wrapped everything up nicely, and it DID allow me to accept Do-san and Dal-mi and shed a single tear for Ji-pyeong, haha. I liked that even to the end, it was Ji-pyeong that verbalized to Dal-mi (and the audience) why Do-san should be accepted. He said something along the lines of “I wrote letters to you for 15 years but didn’t try to find you. Do-san read the letters once and immediately went to you”. That is true for sure, and I loved that Ji-pyeong was mature and honest enough to acknowledge it. Since Ji-pyeong so graciously accepted his place in the drama, I guess so will I LOL. Give this drama a try if you like romantic comedies that also sometimes make you ugly cry xD.
Thanks for reading, and happy watching!
Thought Bubbles 