Sometimes shorter is better

This actually began nicely - I was intrigued by the story and looking forward to seeing what came next. Sometime around episode 20 everything began getting ridiculous, and then for the next 20 episodes or so there was nothing happening at all, just week after week of the same ridiculous things padded by multiple flashbacks of things that had happened minutes before. Then all of a sudden the writers realized they had to actually wrap up all these dangling plots from 20 episodes ago, and the last 6 or so episodes have things happening at breakneck speed. Unfortunately the resolutions to most plotlines were generally absurd. I've watched disaster movies that had more believable storylines.

There are genuinely funny and sweet moments throughout, even in the worst episodes there were always scenes that made me laugh. In the end, though, the main reason I wanted to keep watching was to see exactly how unbelievably ludicrous the plot would finally end up.

The highlight of the soap is absolutely the grandmother, both in acting and writing. She was fantastic both being cantankerous and when her attitude changed. The best part was that this happened naturally over the course of many episodes rather than a sudden mood-swing as happened with every other character in the show.

Production-wise, the costuming was generally dreadful, and the sets often seemed like it was just some furniture placed in front of a green screen because they had no depth.

All the same, I watched all 50 episodes. I just think this would have been better served a 16 episode drama than has a 50 episode soap.

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Terrible is too high of praise

Watching this, my overwhelming thought was how could a collection of people so absolutely stupid be enrolled in a university. Too many shallow characters, and it seemed like none of them actually took school seriously or studied. The entire show would have been more believable as a story about students in their first year in high school. The best characters by far are Yoo Eun and Oh Hyun Jung - they seemed completely out of place with the rest of this cast, and both actresses deserve high praise for their performances.

The description of the show claims that Mi Rae is insecure and begins to regain her lost confidence and discovers true beauty is on the inside. Funny, since while finally in episode 16 one could generously say she began to gain some self-confidence, she absolutely remained self-absorbed and shallow to the very end.. The character who actually grew as a person is, surprisingly, Soo Ah.

Extremely disappointing, True Beauty did this plot so much better

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Swag

This is a drama about love: romantic love, love between friends, familial love, love between classmates , love of sport, love of self, love from authority figures... almost any sort of love you can think of, there's an example in this drama. And it's a beautiful thing - as a viewer you can't help but feel embraced by all this love also, and it is a good feeling. The only sport where this sense of love and camaraderie was missing was with the rhythmic gymnasts - and they seemed quite miserable compared to every other student; miserable, jealous, and enjoying the problems of others instead of the more nurturing and friendly environment enjoyed by the swimmers and weightlifters. In some ways this also feels like a treatise on coaching methods.

I'm not going into details about particular characters - each of the mains had a different trajectory, different obstacles to overcome, and different ways in which they finally learned and grew., whether it was finding their ways to the beginnings of their times as national athletes, or coming to realize and accept the end of their competitive career. I will say that Bok Joo and Joon Hyeong's love story moved me a lot - they were both such sweet characters, and romantic love based in a strong friendship is quite endearing to me. Most of the supporting cast ere also well-developed and had their own journeys and opportunities to grow.

Two small things I disliked:

1. Nan Hee was obnoxious, irritating, loud, consistently in the way, and essentially acted like she was still in middle school throughout.
2. The rhythmic gymnastic athletes other than Si Ho essentially disappeared from the show somewhere in the middle, and the contrast between how unhappy they were in the beginning compared to the others was striking - they took their misery out on the weightlifters at first, but then just kind of vanished midway through.

All in all, this is a refreshingly funny drama, and definitely worth enjoying.

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I liked it as a drama, but...

Yoo Jung was an abusive, manipulative, toxic character. I found it quite uncomfortable that whatever he did Hong Seol accepted it and rationalized it. There were also bullying classmates, and she continually found herself in extremely dangerous situations that she treated as perfectly normal. For example: why would she not block the phone number of an extremely creepy stalker? Even Baek In Ho often had a tendency to immediately resort to violence in any situation.

Even so, this was an unusual gem of a drama. The acting was quite impressive all around, but Kim Go Eun and Lee Sung Kyung were both phenomenal. Park Hae Jin managed to portray a sociopath with skill, and his moment of realization was masterful. Seo Kang Joon absolutely shined as Baek In Ho - both his performance and the character were stellar.

The story was well written, even while being disturbing, but I felt the ending was rushed, and it made me sad Seol was still pining for Jung three years later - he realized how harmful he was to her, but she seemingly never did.

I find it a bit odd that Viki tagged this show as a romantic comedy - the genre is more akin to a slow-paced psychological thriller or straight drama.

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why?

Why would a writer, with a fascinating story to tell, proceed to write it in such a ridiculous way that nothing about it makes any sense. It was frustrating, infuriating, even nonsensical at times. The makings for an excellent drama that would make even the most hard-hearted person turn emotional, and yet instead it was nothing but a mess.

Annoyingly every time there was a scene that should be suspenseful I instead was stuck thinking that the writer wished us to believe that every victim was just an idiot, all the police were bumbling fools, and that no one was even trying to solve the crimes at all.

The acting was superb, the cast did their best to make lemonade out of this lemon of a script.

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Beautiful

This drama was fantastic from beginning to end. It's a beautiful story, directed impeccably, and all of the acting is superb. It made me laugh, it made me cry, and sometimes it made md do both at once. Truly a love story, not just between the main couple, but also the love between friends. I'm writing this review immediately after finishing, and I'm still feeling emotional about it.

One funny thing worth mentioning - Hyun Bin and Son Ye Jin are mentioned in the show - and this was the most chemistry on screen I have seen between romantic leads since watching Crash Landing on You.

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