I guess I'm sort of spoiled right now. I just finished watching some pretty great series featuring mature characters/relationsips and realistic situations: New Life Begins Again, Hi Venus, and Chef Hua. and I have no patience for OTT caricatures: Elise, the shrew who can't get over the ML and insists on being mean to the FL, Victor, the ridiculously arrogant genius who has no self awareness and doesn't seem to value anyone else or their dignity. Then there's the FL's friend: the playboy Peter Pan, and the laughable villain, Boris. If there was just one of these characters, I'd guess I wouldn't be such a picky poo, but all of them are present and it makes it hard for me to enjoy any scene without them! I'm basically only here for the FL. I've enjoyed everything I've watched of hers so far: Legally Romance, and To Fly With You. I had high hopes for this one, but unfortunately, the plot and lack of justice for some of these characters made me give a low rating.

I don't want to spoil anything, but suffice it to say that if you're a viewer who likes to feel a sense of justice throughout the series, especially at the end, just skip this series. I'm all for forgiveness, but forgiveness doesn't mean that you just roll over and take it. It also doesn't mean that you reconcile with the the person who wronged you either, no matter if they're related to you by blood.

The fabulous acting by the leads wasn't enough to save this one. If the verbal abuse and physical intimidation the ML heaped on the FL for more than half of the series aren't enough to turn you off, the preponderance of evil characters might do it. At one point I thought to myself that there were hardly any scenes that didn't make me mad because the evil people were everywhere. And the terrible subbing for Elise and all the bar singers (lol) might be the last straw.

With all of that, however, there were some pretty great aspects of this show. The acting by the leads was fantstic, specially by the ML. You wanted to hate him, but at the same time you felt his anguish, despair, and pain given the physical trial he was enduring. I was also touched by the end when many of the characters had become better versions of themselves. Overall, however, if I had known the plot of this series, I would have stayed far, far away.