This is not a K-drama--it is a K-TRAUMA!

Seriously, this slice-of-life type drama is always top tier, but this one wins the top spot for me this year.  Gwan Sik is husband goals. I do think Ae Sun was a bit spoiled for how she was raised, but she knew how good she had it with him. Park Bo Gum never misses and IU is my GIRL. I am really bad at expressing things when I feel them super close to my heart of hearts, and this show touched every part of it in the best, most painful ways, so I apologize I can't leave a proper review. It is a 10 out of 10.  I recomend it only if you feel like FEELING and crying all night. 

I have A. LOT. OF. THOUGHTS. 

First of all, at the surface level, this is a cute, fluffy little K-drama with just enough zing and mystery to keep me coming back. Exactly what I need a new drama to be--I hate waiting until next week to see if the characters survive! 

It seems that I am forever destined to suffer from second lead syndrome. Chung Jae was adorable, funny, caring, the perfect guy for Se Na! But she followed her delulu dreams and hooked up with her bias.  My biggest concern lies therein--we are encoouraging saesang behavior from delusional fans. Yes, the show did a good job portraying saesangs negatively, but the fact that Se Na and La Ik end up together, I feel, gives the wrong people hope. "If I'm in the right place at the right time, I will marry my bias!" Se Na just happened to be backstage, chasing the scalper, when she first runs into La Ik. The guy ends up living in her house! Girl thankfully had the good instinct to hide the fact that she is absolutly obsessed with this guy, as any good kpop fan should be with her bias. I am so glad the show portrayed Se Na as sane, logical, professional, and compassionate. Not a psychopath. Thank God. 

The murder mystery aspect was fantastic! It put me right in the feels of "what if that happened to my group?" Nope. Instant tears. Woo Seong being played by the same actor who played Bong Gi in Strong Girl Do Bong Soon hit me too! However, the crazy ex angle was very unexpected. I'm usually really good at solving mysteries before the characters do, but I had Mr. Gold all along--never did I suspect Hye Joo until episode 9 or 10. Well played. Not sure how I felt about it being her, but they did a phenomenal job showing her to be a totally messed up girl who made a horrible mistake. 

My only other complaints were how quickly the prosecutor went from mean to nice, the fact that we don't know if Se Na cleared her father's name, and whether La Ik and his mother ever made up. Other than these thoughts, I'd give this a 7 of 10. Not gonna rewatch it anytime soon, but it was fun to watch. I'll admit it did make me go into my delulu a little myself, so I understand the concept the creators were going for. But given the current environment of Kpop artist and fan relations (crazy Stays, I'm looking at you), now was not the time to be releasing this particular piece of media. I'm curious to see if this will influence anyone out there.

(Also, can we get past the secret childhood connection thing now? The only time I liked it was in Queen of Tears. It actually worked.  Now it's being overused. Granted, it makes sense in Idol I, but I'm just tired of seeing it, which makes it cringe. Se Na had it with both La Ik AND Chung Jae! Let it go people!)