This show gets an extra whole star, from 5.5 to 6.5, due to the last four episodes. COVID messed up a whole lotta plotlines, but for me this ain't one of them. I don't know if the plan was always to re-cast one specific role, but there was significant improvement in acting quality because of this. Also, the focus finally shifted almost completely to the main characters who had detrimentally shared waaay too much screentime with the side characters, imo.

Episode one was interesting for the fantasy setup, while episodes 2 - 8 felt like nothing much really happened. The runtime is bloated by unecessarily long shots of... nothing. Frequently the nothing is in slo-mo.

- Everyone awkwardly hanging out together with long periods of silence
- Characters walking around and/or sadly staring for minutes on end... in slo-mo
- Montage after montage... in slo-mo. So much of the romance was presented in montage format that I didn't even realize the characters had fallen in love until an unexpected exchange of kisses.

A new actor is introduced in episode 9, and (excepting the intimate scenes) he just blew me out of the water. I couldn't believe it was the same guy from Love Area AND this show is predates Love Area. He had more chemistry with the main character just with the look on his face after opening the bathroom door than the original did in all of the previous episodes combined.

The intimate scenes though... yikes. Most of them almost, ALMOST hit Don't Say No-levels of awkwardness. ? Also, the last four episodes are similar to the first in that very little happens, but the second part of the show goes nowhere in an adorable fashion. So cute!