I found this show very difficult to watch initially but persevered because of the upcoming Snowdrop show featuring the same male lead.

The premise of this show is beautiful, and socially relevant by flipping the single parent stereotype. But it's a slow-burning show and the crawling pace of developments in the first few episodes really made it difficult for me to get into it. I gave up on the show before coming back and I'm glad I did because after episode 6 it gathered momentum. The pace of the show didn't change much but it had finally entered its meaningful stages of conflict where the storytelling and dialogue were rich in quality.

This show flourished from having excellent stories all round that didn't detract from the show's underlying message, but rather added it to it. This was a story of finding yourself, freeing yourself and doing right by escaping tormenting, abusive and painful relationships. Broken hearts and broken relationships lead to broken people. This show took on conservative norms and ideals and challenged them powerfully whilst being nuanced, empathetic and grittily realistic. There was a lot of beauty found in the small, meaningful dialogues where characters reassured and confided each other, and a lot of power in how they faced up to the reality of the truth regarding the state of their lives and their relationships. This show underlined that relationships do not exist solely on love but respect and reciprocity, and that abuse can be emotional and physical.

For that, I applaud it. It began slowly but it only got better and better with each episode and by the end was a fantastic watch.