A drama that started off strong with a clear purpose and a fresh premise, but alarmingly spirals out of control, lost in its own plot. It's initially exciting, until it veers off on a tangent and falls victim to the usual clichés, half-baked subplots, too many flashbacks, and the most offending — a main character who doesn't quite belong in the plot. Besides that, great cast and pretty cinematography. All actors portrayed their roles well, but this is what I can't let go: the narrative progression was so horrendous, I'm actually dumbfounded at how bad it was.

The resolution presented at the end of the drama is unrecognizable from what I was lured to expect in Episode 1, which is rightfully bizarre. The writers fool us into thinking this is Dal-mi's story, when it really ends up being Do-san's. The latter 10 episodes of the drama focus too much on Do-san's internal conflicts. And for what? Winning Dal-mi's heart? Is this really what the incredibly in-depth, emotional first episode was setting up for? How odd.

Because of this drama's obsession with Do-san, the determined Dal-mi ended up being somewhat of a ragdoll, Ji-pyeong's potential complexity was completely watered down, and it feels like In-jae wasn't even given more than 10 minutes of total screen time.

I love Samsan Tech's story by itself, the boys are endearing and fun, but when I look at this drama as a whole, I fail to see any point to Do-san's character past the first few episodes. Making Do-san such an "important" character made the writers lose their initial focus. The choice to split "Nam Do-san" into two characters (Ji-pyeong, the original "Do-san," and Do-san of the present) was huge narrative mistake, done for the sake of pointless drama.

The story really should've anchored on Dal-mi and her circle (In-jae, Ji-pyeong, and Halmeoni), aka the characters we get to know in the first episode. But instead, past the midway point, it starts running like a super emotional soap opera, aimless and confusing. The last three episodes had such random, irrelevant plot elements. I was shell-shocked.

This is not a critique on the actors themselves; they did well with what they were given. But the story writing... underwhelming would be an understatement. Dal-mi's ambitions and her unusual, complicated relationships with Ji-pyeong and In-jae would've been a great story by itself. "Nam Do-san" could've remained just a name. That's my firm opinion.

I don't recommend this drama. But I will give kudos to Nam Joo-hyuk and Kim Seon-ho, as their emotional scenes were out of this world. Suzy, Kang Han-na and all supporting characters were also lovely to watch, all impressive actors. But the writers needed to rein it in and be more decisive about their focus. It had so much potential, but failed to deliver. Truly disappointed.