The idea is good - the execution isn't

Having watched the source material, I was exciting for this series. I had watched F4 and was excited to see Tu in another main role, as I found her fascinating in the first show.

I have to be honest, I nearly dropped this series many times. While it is moving and beautiful, it is also severally lacking common sense. The plot starts out so gut-wrenching, but takes many inexplicable jumps and leaps of logic. Some characters are well fleshed out. Others don't have any motivation or thought-out personality. It's very distracting unfortunately.

Personally I was deeply disappointed by the ending and after the first six/seven episodes, it felt like the music (I agree it was way too loud in most scenes) was trying to force emotions that I personally wasn't feeling in that moment. I don't like when tv shows do that. I didn't like the constant crying, the zero-respite atmosphere, the fact that nobody took bigger, broader steps to remedy or get out of the situation. It felt suffocating to watch and simply not enjoyable. Personally I don't like watching 16 episodes of suffering and while I understand the ending was meant to be cathartic, after the revelations of the last few episodes, it felt cheap.

The performances were very mixed too. Some of the parents delivered spectacular performances. Others didn't. I know the comments about Tu's performance are harsh, but as someone who watched this specifically for her, I can't help but agree with the dismay. She was not good in this. There were moments where in scenes with her where it looked like a High School play honestly. The fact that Kongkwang as a character has such strong moments at first and is then delegated to a shy, crying wallflower is excrutiating and didn't do Tu's acting skills any justice. Especially next to other actresses and their powerful performances, it felt like Tu was either handed the short and of the stick or she genuinely didn't know what to do with the role. I've seen Ohm in a few things and he genuinely has quite a natural, easy chemistry with his co-starts, however I genuinely felt he had more chemistry with View's character here than he did with his supposed love interest. That speaks to the love story itself as well, which was the heart of the series and a little hard to swallow.

I could add more but I'm just very disappointed that they didn't stick to the plot of the original series more.

Read More