I've watched up to a total of 70+ dramas and I have to say that this must be my number 1. I kept watching ever since the drama premiered up until the last episode. And now that the drama ended, honestly, I feel slightly empty and I am not ready to move on. First of all, the best part of this drama is the character development. If you watch the interviews and press conferences they kept emphasizing that this drama should be a "human healing" drama. And truth be told, the healing journey of the characters were portrayed beautifully and was also wrapped up perfectly. And we could see the development not only in their personalities but in their relationship with each other as well. This goes to the second point of the interesting depths of the characters, particularly the main 3, Gangtae, Sangtae, and Moonyoung. Most Kdramas have 2D characters and they do not go in-depth towards the layers of the characters. However, this drama gave such fresh new characters, particularly for Munyeong and Sangtae. Munyeong is not the typical "weak, feminine" female character that a lot of kdrama characters have and she has so much more layers other than her "antisocial" personality. She also dresses very well. Sangtae is an autistic character and we also don't see this a lot in other dramas. This drama successfully brought onto the kdrama scene new characters and topics such as mental health that are rarely highlighted.
The second point is the emotional delivery. Throughout the drama, I felt like my heart was ripped apart and then mended and then ripped apart again. I honestly do not know how many times I have cried when watching it. I could feel the emotions of the characters and their pain and that is why it was very easy for me to cry along with them. Moreover, I found myself relating to their pains which makes it more emotionally engaging. I feel like the traumas and the pain these characters have would somewhat be relatable to most people.
The third point is the casting and the acting. I gave it a 10/10 because I sincerely could not imagine other actors taking the role of Gangtae, Sangtae, and Moonyoung. I don't think I have to say a lot about Kim Soo Hyun. He is a talented actor and very very handsome. Although in the beginning, his acting could be seen as rather flat, but as the drama goes on, we get to see why he didn't show many expressions and we also get to see more emotional delivery and dynamics in his acting. Seo Ye Ji is the perfect Ko Mun Yeong. I am honestly speechless with her portrayal of Ko Mun Yeong because she played her perfectly. Her expressions and how she delivers her lines successfully demonstrates Munyeong's bulldozer personality. She was also able to portray Munyeong's personal pains which made my heart break real bad. I feel like she really understands Ko Mun Yeong inside out and therefore she was able to play Munyeong flawlessly. Lastly, but definitely not the least, Oh Jung Se as Moon Sang Tae is just phenomenal. You just 100% believe that he is autistic and sometimes when I watch their behind the scenes or interviews I kind of get shocked that he is not really autistic. Even his small gestures with his fingers and his eyes really brought Sangtae to life.
When talking about casting, we have to take into consideration the chemistry between the actors. Kim Soo Hyun and Seo Ye Ji's chemistry is out of this world. I don't know if it is because they are great actors or if it's because they look alike that made their chemistry so phenomenal. They both were able to portray that they were really in love and makes you want to really root them that they actually are in real life. Honestly, they are also the ultimate visual couple. I really couldn't stop being in awe of their beauty when watching. Moreover, the chemistry between the three main actors was also amazing. You really could see that they are a genuine family.
Overall, every episode was perfect and beautiful. The director also was able to deliver aesthetic scenes which makes it enjoyable to watch. The OSTs are also beautiful, it gets stuck in my head but it's not on Spotify yet so I'm sad. The only one lacking point of this drama (SPOILER) is the lack of explanation of Munyeong's mom which I thought could be written better. But after analyzing it and after watching the best drama ending ever, I've settled with that it was not important. The explanation was not important for Munyeong because she just wants to forget her completely and thus maybe that is why we shouldn't be bothered either. Oh and honestly I think Jaesu kind of deserved better. He was so loyal but I feel like he was always taken for granted. I also gave the rewatch value 10/10 because even after 3 days since the finale, I am still rewatching clips and is already planning to rewatch it. OH and one of the best things should be the witty references to the previous episodes in ep 15 and 16 such as the deer and the saranghae part.