After the sudden death of her estranged father, a young woman and her siblings are forced out of the only home they have ever known.  And when she learns that the woman her father left their family for has sold the house to help her son’s business, she vows revenge.  So, she gets a job at the son’s company, without him having any idea who she really is, and looks for ways to sabotage him and the business.  But as she gets to know her handsome, young boss, she discovers that they are both living with the scars of their parent’s mistakes.  And the more he kindly accepts her, flaws and all, the more difficult it is for her to carry on with her plan.  

Lee Sung Kyung as Shim Woo Joo

As the middle child, Shim Woo Joo has always felt the need to hold her family together.  Through her father’s messy betrayal, her mother’s fight with cancer, and her siblings struggle to find a career path and build their own lives, Woo Joo has been the glue.  But when her father suddenly dies and her stepmom kicks Woo Joo and her siblings out of their house, she is finally stretched to the breaking point.  Bent on revenge, Woo Joo takes a job at her “step-brother’s” company.  And a plan quickly forms when she finds out one of his most trusted employees is in the process of betraying the company.  When circumstances continue to throw her and Dong Jin together, she finds herself falling for him.  But even without her revenge plans, her family will never be able to accept him when they find out who Dong Jin really is.  

The abandonment by her father really forms the basis for Woo Joo’s whole outlook on life.  She is distrustful of everyone, but most especially men.  Her view of love has been shattered.  And she has devoted her life to her siblings because it’s easier than dealing with her own pain.  Lee Sung Kyung is such a versatile actress and it’s fun to see her step outside of rom-com to play a more challenging role.  She has the confidence to play this kind of blunt and outspoken character well and I enjoyed her in this part.  

Ahn Hee Yeon as Kang Min Young

Kang Min Young is Dong Jin’s ex-girlfriend.  The couple dated for 7 years, but thanks to Dong Jin’s mother constantly begging her for money, Min Young breaks it off to marry a guy in the US that her family approves of. But the engagement falls apart and Min Young comes back to Korea, hoping to get back together with Dong Jin.  Unfortunately for her, Dong Jin has no interest in rekindling their relationship.

 ♥ Best Friends

I loved that each of the leads in this one had their own sidekick, best friend.  Joon and Sun Woo were both fun characters and I enjoyed watching their interactions with the leads.  I find it very satisfying to know that while both of the main characters suffered from terrible emotional wounds, they each had someone who stayed by their side and accepted them for who they were.  It is also proof that while both of them acted closed off from emotion and human interaction, they still longed for love and friendship.  

♥ Family

I really liked watching Woo Joo and her family.  This is not the picture perfect family that many dramas try to depict, but it is also not the totally dysfunctional mess of melodramas.  This family, like many other elements of this drama, just felt real.  They aren’t overly loving or close by many standards, but they knew how to comfort each other simply by just being there.  And they also aren’t afraid to call each other out when they disagree.  Family is often imperfect and messy, and this one felt authentic.  

Min Young Romance

It’s funny, but for me, I never really saw much romance between Dong Jin and Min Young.  If they hadn’t told us all about it, I never would have imagined them as a couple.  But they gave us plenty of opportunity to see Min Young with Sun Woo.  Really, from the beginning, it felt like all the romantic connection was between them.  And I completely expected them to end up at least kind of together by the end.  But the lack of chemistry between her and Dong Jin made it hard for me to understand or sympathize much with Min Young’s character.  

Cha Young Min

The whole office espionage plot kind of fell flat compared to the rest of this drama.  There is never any explanation about why a trusted employee who has been with the company long enough to be in the inner circle, would suddenly side with their competitor and risk his own career.  And then he kind of just disappears without any conclusion to the whole story.  Even the trouble he causes by telling Sun Woo about Woo Joo never really amounts to anything.  

“Call it Love” gives us a hard-fought happy ending that would have been nice 30 minutes earlier, but they’re together now and that’s what counts.  After Hee Ja’s scheme is finally exposed by Dong Jin, the siblings are finally able to move back home.  Joon and Hye Seong have started to date seriously, and the lonliness of an empty house prompts him to spontaneously propose to her.  Of course, she complains that it doesn’t live up to her romantic fantasies, but she accepts nonetheless.  Dong Jin and Woo Joo have broken up for the sake of Woo Joo’s family.  Dong Jin quit the company and is travelling around in his camping car, living the life he has always wanted, but he misses Woo Joo terribly!  Woo Joo has taken her work experience at Best Fair to work as a fair coordinator for another company.  But her lonliness has returned and even Hye Song can’t hold on to her anger anymore in the face of her sister’s unhappiness.  So she tells Woo Joo that their mother had already come to a truce with Dong Jin, and if their mom was fine with it, then who was stopping them from being together.  Ji Gu has continued to pursue music and he finally has his first show.  He invites Dong Jin and tells Woo Joo that Dong Jin might be there.  The couple spot each other in the crowd, Dong Jin carrying a bouquet of flowers, and as they approach each other their eyes meet.  The rest is left to our imaginations, but it’s obvious that they are back together and probably happily touring the country in their camping van for a honeymoon.