Welcome to Kdrama and Ramen!

A university art student, who had her heart broken by the art teacher she was dating, is no longer interested in dating or falling in love.  But one day she meets a handsome fellow student known as the campus flirt.  He is a player who is kind and friendly to everyone, but keeps a safe emotional distance.  Despite herself, Yoo Na Bi finds she is drawn to him, but how will she ever know if his feelings towards her are sincere or all just part of a game?

Song Kang as Park Jae Eon

Park Jae Eon is an art student who specializes in metal sculpture.  He also has a strange obsession with butterflies.  So when he meets a beautiful fellow art student whose name literally means butterfly, he is intrigued by her.  What starts out for him as just another casual fling brings up new feelings that he isn’t used to. Emotional commitment is something he has never been good at so he is suprised when he finds himself suddenly  wanting to give it a try.  But old habits die hard and he has a long way to go if he is going to convince Na Bi that his feelings for her are sincere.  

Park Jae Eon grew up as the son of an absentee mother who is a weatlthy and famous actress.  While he likely inherited his love and talent for art from her, he never got the love and support that would make him emotionally stable and mature.  As a result, Jae Eon is cold and closed off  He is popular and surrounded by friends, as long as they don’t try to get too close.  I think it is Na Bi’s vulnerability that is most attractive to him.  This was an unusal role for Song Kang and it was good to see him try something new.  But I missed his more heartfelt acting.  This character, while tragic, lacked the emotional dimension to feel relatable or generate sympathy.

Lee Yeol Eum as Yoon Seol Ah

Yoon Seol Ah has just returned from studying abroad.  She and Jae Eon dated at one time and she has never really gotten over him.  She isn’t all pleased when she notices Jae Eon’s interest in Na Bi and she does everything she can to keep them apart.  

♥ Art

Using a university art school as a setting provides a great opportunity to show some beautiful and interesting art pieces.  All of the sculptures were great to look at, and even the bracelet Jae Eon made for Na Bi was unique and noteworthy.  I love when dramas use the setting to promote certain scenery and this was a perfect example of that.  I want to cry right along with Na Bi when her amazing sculpture is crushed into pieces.  

♥  Mom Backstories

I really enjoyed the way both Jae Eon and Na Bi had mothers with backstories that gave some understanding into their own emotional development.  To show glimpses of their personalities and fears through the stories of their moms made it more interesting than if they had just told us about them with no context.     

Yoon Seol Ah

Yoon Seol Ah was a mysterious character.  It is easy to see that she and Jae Eon had dated at one time and that she still has feelings for him.  But I couldn’t understand Jae Eon’s lingering attachment to her.  Why was he the one to take her to her doctor’s appointments?  And why does he rush to her side and put up with her obsessive personality even though there is no romantic interest in her at all?  I wanted a little more back story about how they got to where they are and what were Jae Eon’s real feelings about her.  

Butterflies

Maybe this one is just me but I swear, I heard so much about those dumb butterflies that I was expecting something really spectacular.  Don’t get me wrong.  Having a whole room in your house full of trees and free-roaming butterflies is definitely eccentric, but I was expected at least a couple shots of stunning butterflies or something.  The reality was much more mundane than I had anticipated.  

So…this ending.  There are a lot of disagreements about whether or not this is a happy ending, so I will skip any classification.  Let’s just break it down.  After some panic about having to recreate Na Bi’s project we come to the end of the semester.  Sol and Ji Wan are an official campus couple and seem happier than ever.   Bit Na and Kyun Hyun are also still together and all smiles.  Later at dinner, Kyun Hyun confesses that he has liked Bit Na for years.  At the art show, everyone admires Sol and Na Bi’s art, and even the professor praises Na Bi.  Do Hyuk shows up with flowers to show his support but Na Bi keeps waiting for Jae Eon to show up.  It seems like Na Bi’s classmates are the only ones excited to see poor Do Hyuk.  When Jae Eon finally comes, he sees Do Hyuk there and tries to leave.  Na Bi pushes the flowers back into Do Hyuk’s arms to chase after him, basically making her choice obvious.  But Jae Eon is already gone.  Everyone goes out to dinner but the overwhelming couple vibe depresses Na Bi, so she ducks out and heads back to see her piece one more time.  Jae Eon is there and asks her for one more chance and after telling him how much she hates him, she agrees, even though she says she knows she will regret it.  They kiss while Jae Eon sheds tears of relief.  The final scene shows them together and smiling.  Some girls try to give Jae Eon their number but he politely refuses.  Na Bi joins him and as they walk, Na Bi spots Do Hyuk through a window.  She hesitates for just a second before walking away with Jae Eon.  And that’s the end, folks.

A mysterious virus is spreading through Seoul that turns normal people into flesh-eating monsters.  In an effort to isolate the fast-spreading disease, government officials quarantine a new, high-rise apartment building that has had multiple cases.  As stress and distrust rise, residents inside the building enter into a class war between those who live on the upper floors and have purchased their apartments and those leasing the bottom floors.  While most of those inside fight for peace and unity, a few will instigate divisiveness to protect their own, personal agendas.

Park Hyung Sik as Jung Yi Hyun

Jung Yi Hyun meets Sae Bom when they are high school students and they have been close ever since.  He has always wanted them to start dating, so when she asks him to pose as her husband and live with her in a new apartment, he jumps at the chance.  But just after moving in, the government has to close the apartment down because of the spread of a deadly disease.  Unfortunately, his mentor, who was helping him make an arrest when the shut down started, is also stuck inside.  Together, the two try to maintain peace and order among all the residents as fear and distrust rise.  

Jung Yi Hyun’s dreams of becoming a professional baseball player are shattered when he suffers a serious knees injury.  But as his world is falling apart, he meets a prickly detective who becomes his mentor.  Yi Hyun is loyal and quietly assured.  He wears his heart on his sleeve, especially when it comes to Sae Bom, but quickly plays it off as a joke the minute anyone confronts him about it.  I love Park Hyun Sik’s ability to play these quiet, sensitive roles.  He can melt us all with those sweet eyes and quiet reassurances.  This is his first role since coming back from military service, and I was happy to see him again.

Lee Joon Hyuk as Kim Jeong Gook

Kim Jeong Gook is a detective that met Sae Bom and Yi Hyun when they were in high school.  He became Yi Hyun’s mentor, and now the two of them work together.  He is a husband and father who works hard for his family.  He is trapped inside the building because he happened to be there with Yi Hyun when it was blocked off.  But he is desperate to get back home to his wife who has just received news that she has cancer.

♥ Balance

Strangely, for a “zombie” show, “Happiness” has a great balance of elements.  The action is blended with a slow burn romance and interesting social commentary on human nature in a way that made the drama more than just a monster thriller.  For someone like me who appreciates a wide range of genre, I found this approach very appealing and I thought they handled it well.  

♥ Seo Yoon

Kudos to this young actress and the well-written character she played.  Seo Yoon managed to bring out the parental instinct in everyone she met, and the actress held her own with the otherwise all adult cast.  Even though she was very ill, she didn’t wallow or look for pity from others.  She jumped in to help whenever she could, but also accepted instructions to stay safely behind closed doors when it was necessary.  I  found her presence a special ray of sunshine and I looked forward to her scenes each episode.    

Fewer Group Meetings

While it was interesting to see all the residents gathered in a single place for their meetings, most meetings seemed to be a replay of those that came before.  I kind of wish some of that meeting time would have been spent on back stories for various residents.  There were so many interesting characters and I would have loved to know more about all of them.  The concept of the meetings was a good one, but it just didn’t seem to end up contributing much to the plot.  

Sae Bom’s Blood

So if Sae Bom’s blood contains antibodies and she knows that, wouldn’t she have tried using it to the cure the sick people they knew about?  Sae Bom has proven herself to be impulsive and self-sacrificing.  It seems hard to believe that she would have just sat quietly without trying to find a way to use her blood to help others.  I guess there would be a risk that if it didn’t work, the blood would only heighten the illness, but it seems worth a try at least once, with someone they already have contained.  

“Happiness” comes to a satisfying ending all around.  Sae Bom gets Seo Yoon out of the complex and reunited with her mom before going back to make sure Yi Hyun is okay. Her last task at the research center is to give Seo Yoon’s mom her final dose of the treatement. Han Tae Seok gives his wife the other treatment and turns himself in.  But thanks to Seo Yoon, he has a valuable piece of information that allows him to keep his job.  In case we have all forgotten, Soo Min was bitten quite a while ago at this point and still shows no symptoms.  In fact, he told Seo Yoon he has less “thirst”.  So although Sae Bom’s antibodies seem to be decreasing, there is someone else who has them as well.  Back at the apartments, Sae Bom finds Yi Hyun and the two get into a showdown with Andrew.  Together they manage to kill Andrew before Yi Hyun collapses as Tae Seok and the soldiers appear to move everyone out of the building.  The cleaning couple try to claim the penthouse belonged to them all along but no one believes them.  Sang Hee and Hae Sung finally get into Joo Hyung’s bit coin account, only to find out he is actually in the negative.  In the end, both Joo Hyung and Yeon Ok stand trial for their crimes.  And we find a healthy Seo Yoon playing outside and running to give Sae Bom a hug.  Yi Hyun joins them, hugging Sae Bom from behind.  The couple reminisce about last year’s lockdown.  They are still sweet and teasing as they hold hands and walk off together.

Lee Boo Jeong is a 40 year old ghost writer in a failing marriage who has recently lost her job.  Her life feels overwhelming and frustrating.  When she has a random encounter with a handsome young male “stand-in” who lives down the hall from her father, she is curiously drawn to him even though they seem to have nothing at all in common.  As fate continues to bring them together, they become closer and through conversation and sharing their hopes and fears, they find out that they are really not so different after all.  They also learn that it’s never too late to rediscover hope and learn to live again.

Park In Hwan as Lee Chang Sook

Lee Chang Sook is Boo Jeong’s aging father.  He lives alone and is beginning to show signs of dementia.  He makes money gathering cardboard off the streets to sell to recyclers.  Even though Boo Jeong helps support him financially, he enjoys working because it makes him feel useful and productive.  

♥ Cinematography

This drama felt like a 16 episode indie film, and I loved it for it.  The hushed narration, emotional music, and dark lighting created a moody vibe that fit the story perfectly.  This series was all about setting the proper tone and letting the audience become immersed in it.  

♥ Characters and Cast

A drama that relies so heavily on dialogue and narration depends on well-written characters and talented actors to pull it off.  Luckily, this series has that in spades.  It was a breath of fresh air to have characters who seemed so real and the actors made you understand and empathize with them in a wonderful way.  I can’t say enough about how much I enjoyed getting to know and be inspired by them.  

Woo Nam’s Ex

Woo Nam’s whole story is a little strange.  He just lives with Lee Soon Kyu and expects her to wait on him with no real commitment.  But the scene of his ex-wife coming over to hang out, watch tv, break a dish, and then just leave was really weird.  It seems like she is having some difficulty accepting the divorce and I get that.  But still.  Most ex-wife’s don’t come to their ex-husbands’ girlfriend’s house unannounced, just to visit.  

Lee Kyung Eun’s husband

Lee Kyung Eun’s husband was a beautifully written character.  I loved the empathy he showed when he cried for a fellow patient, even though he was obviously suffering so much himself.  But I would have expected a sympathetic character like that to want his wife to live the rest of her life to it’s fullest.  So leaving Kyung Eun with no answer, to feel guilt for trying to find love again seemed out of character to me.  

A drama as raw and real as “Lost” would seem insincere if they gave us a neat, tidy ending with lots of perfectly tied bows.  Instead, what we get are glimmers of hope that our characters are finally on the road to happiness.  But first we have the sad death of Chang Sook.  I hate painful goodbyes, but in this case it really fit the context of the drama.  His death leads Boo Jeong and Jung Soo to finally have a real conversation about their relationship, and they realize that while they still love each other very much, they are no longer in love.  After their talk, Boo Jeong deletes all the photos and contact information for Kang Jae.  Woo Nam moves out of Soon Kyu’s house, not so they can break up, but so he can actually start dating her properly.  Min Jung makes a vague confession about wanting to make her relationship with Sun Joo official, which is enough to put a silly grin on his face.  Then a small time jump shows Min Jung working at a coffee shop where Kang Jae and Sun Joo come to visit.  She and Kang Jae have a funny exchange that shows a lighter, more playful side to Kang Jae.  Min Jung flirts with Sun Joo while exchanging payment, showing that they are indeed dating and doing well together.  As Kang Jae leaves the store, he gets a text about a star gazing event coming up in Seoul.  Next we see a confident and professional Boo Jeong meeting her old co-worker to get some free-lance work.  Noticeably missing is her wedding ring.  Her co-worker tells her that Jung Ah Ran has finally divorced that jerk and has come clean about her son in Canada.  As she catches a bus home, Boo Jeong sees a poster about the star-gazing event.  In the final scene, we see Kang Jae take a seat in the auditorium to watch the stars.  As he glances across the aisle, his eyes meet Boo Jeong’s.  They both smile and neither can look away, although neither of them seem at all surprised.  The rest is up to you, but I believe that they have a bright future together.

A brilliant neuro-scientist has spent years researching the human brain and how to transfer memories between two brains using electric stimuli.  Impatient for progress, he decides to experiment on himself, using a dead person as the second participant.  But the process reveals unexpected results when the dead person’s memories involve his own family and uncover a surprising piece of information.  Now the doctor is motivated not only by the scientific breakthroughs he has strived for, but also to solve a family mystery that could have a profound impact on his life.

Park Hee Soon as Lee Kang Moo

Lee Kang Moo is a former detective.  He is the first dead person that Se Won syncs with.  When he shows up at Se Won’s door later, Se Won has no idea who he is or that he is really just a figment inside his own mind.  Kang Moo continues to guide and goad Se Won along the path to finding out the truth.  

♥ Cinematography

Apple put a lot into the production quality of this drama.  There is no denying that it looked great.  The colors, camera work and effects were all first class.  All of it came together to create a smooth and enjoyable watching experience.  

♥ Opening Scene

The way this opening scene sets up the rest of the drama is really well done.  It was interesting getting to see how, even as a child, Se Won understood and processed things from a very scientific and factual way.  His need to know how something worked was fascinating.  It also shows how reckless he tends to be when he is in search of answers.  This will play out again when he uses himself instead of mice to further test his experiment.  And of course, the trauma of seeing his mother’s death will further isolate him emotionally and make him easy prey for Dr. Myung.  It was much more interesting to show this scene than trying to explain it all in the process of the story.

Lack of Secondary Stories

I understand that 6 episodes don’t leave a lot of room for anything outside of the main story, but it left me feeling a bit disappointed.  They introduced some interesting secondary characters, but we never find out anything about them that doesn’t somehow tie into the main story.  These side characters and their own individual stories are one of the things that make kdramas so interesting, so I missed having them.  

Lim Jun Ki

Again, I know there wasn’t much time for secondary character development but Lim Jun Ki’s character was a total mystery to me.  At first, it seemed like he and Jae Yi were having an affair, but later that seemed to be a bit overstated.  He seemed interested in her, to be sure, but it didn’t seem like anything romantic had actually happened between them.  I thought he, like Nam Il, might be a plant used to lure her in.  But that also didn’t prove to be true.  So I just don’t really see the importance of his relationship with Jae Yi, outside of the clue his daughter helps provide.  

“Dr. Brain” ends in a final showdown between Dr. Myung and Se Won.  Dr. Myung’s evil plan to implant himself into the brain of Do Yoon is finally exposed and Se Won rushes to stop it.  Se Won gets there after the process is started and has to put himself into the middle of their sync and persuade Do Yoon to come home with him.  It’s all very dramatic but Se Won succeeds.  The police, led by Lieutenant Cho, show up to clean everything up.  Dr. Myung is still alive but obviously very sick and probably near death.  A brief time jump shows Se Won and Do Yoon at Jae Yi’s gravesite but as they sit together on a nearby bench we see that Se Won can see her much like he saw Kang Moo during the other episodes.  So she is still present in his mind and he seems happy to have her there.  The final scene has Se Won putting Do Yoon to bed in their house.  When he comes out of the bedroom, he comes face to face with Dr. Myung who looks just like he did when Se Won last saw him in their sync, complete with some serious superpowers. It seems to be getting very crowded inside Se Won’s mind!  An open door for season 2 perhaps, but probably just a fun cliffhanger! And there you have it.  The end.  

When her father suddenly dies, Da Li inherits a struggling art museum and a mountain of debt.  One of her creditors is the uncultured and arrogant CEO of the food service conglomerate Dondon F&B.  While the CEO doesn’t know anything about art, he does know how to make money.  In order to guard his investment, he offers to step in and help turn the gallery into a lucrative “business”.

Hwang Hee as Joo Won Tak

Joo Won Tak is a rough-around-the-edges detective.  After a troubled adolescence, Da Li’s father, Kim Nak Cheon, takes him under his wing and accepts him as part of their family.  Won Tak regrets that while Nak Cheon was alive, he never told him how grateful he was.  Won Tak has always had a crush on Da Li but he has never told her how he feels, and she has always treated him more like a brother than a potential love interest.  

♥ Music 

The OST for this drama is as quirky as the characters and story itself.  Its fun when the music is such a natural extension of the general mood and theme of the series and this one did it perfectly.  While the music never took your attention away from the scenes, it definitely did it’s part to promote the feelings being conveyed.  A more subtle soundtrack would have been overshadowed by the big personality of this show, but instead these songs provided the perfect compliment to it.  

♥ Costumes

I loved the charming touch that the clothing brought to this drama.  The stylists definitely deserve a shout out for creating such a fun and unique look and flavor.  Both Moo Hak and Da Li have a bold sense of style that reflects their characters well.  I always looked forward to seeing what crazy outfits would come next.

Tae Jin is Delusional

Seriously!  What is the matter with Tae Jin?  After breaking up with Da Li because he found out she was adopted, does he really believe she will ever come back to him like nothing ever happened?  And really, he isn’t trying that hard.  He just believes she won’t be able to help but fall at his feet because he has become a successful business man.  Did he ever really know her?  It doesn’t seem like the kind of thing Da Li has ever considered very important.  I just can’t believe his nerve!

Uncle Hong Chun

And Tae Jin isn’t the only guy who totally patronizes poor Da Li.  Her Uncle, Hong Chum is quite the piece of work.  After abandoning his own son, he shows up to shame Da Li just because she was adopted.  And then, when he finds a way to cling to Tae Jin’s bootstraps, he begs her to do the right thing for their family reputation.  Once you try to kick someone out of the family, you kind of lose your leverage to say “do it for the sake of us;  your family”.  

For the ending, “Dali and the Cocky Prince” really just focused on the lead couple.  Moo Hak is in the hospital recovering from being stabbed with Da Li at his side.  We do find out that the truth about Nak Cheon’s death comes out, and after a year’s time jump we get an update on our villains.  While An Sang Tae does serve time for his crime, Tae Jin is only asked to step down from his position as CEO.  Chak Hee has taken over Won Tak’s apartment on the roof and she and Won Tak seem to have some romantic sparks.  Now that the gallery had been cleared of illegal activities, the artists are coming back to participate in shows and it seems like the business, with Da Li at the helm, is gaining it’s footing.  This is the second drama I have seen recently where the writers lead us to believe the leads have spent or will spend a significant amount of time apart, only to later reveal it’s been more like weeks or days.  This new troupe making fun of a time honored old troupe is clever and kind of cute.  In this case, we see that when Moo Hak’s father tells Da Li to break up with Moo Hak, she tells him she can’t.  They have been together the whole time, except for a short business trip she took to the Netherlands.  In the end, they meet at the gallery where Moo Hak proposes and she accepts.  And they lived, we can presume, happily ever after.  

A talented painter and a blind astronomer, born the same day, share a common fate that involves imprisoning an evil spirit to save the country from destruction.  Together the couple must discover the key that will enable them to bind the spirit before he unleashes his evil chaos.  But little do they know, the spirit is lurking even closer than they imagine and he will stop at nothing to keep them from fulfilling their destiny.

Kwak Shi Yang as Prince Yi Hoo

Prince Yi Hoo is the middle son of the King.  His older brother, the Crown Prince, has been ill for years and Yi Hoo hopes to inherit the crown from his father.  Yi Hoo is responsible for helping release Ma Wang and he bears a scar from the fire that is the evil spirits mark.  Yi Hoo plans to use his connection with Ma Wang to take power and feed his greed.

♥ Guardian Spirits

I loved the character of Sam Shin and Ho Ryung.  The costumes and graphics surrounding these two characters were the strongest in the drama and their magical presence gave a good break from the main storyline.  It was also fun to watch Ho Ryung and Chun Ki form an awkward and slightly tenuous friendship.  And while Sam Shin was involved in the story from the very beginning, it was sweet to watch Ho Ryung get swept up in the human love story and try to protect the two of them.  

♥ Baekgyu Institute “Family”

Another friendship I enjoyed was the interaction between Chun Ki and her art academy “family”, especially Young Wook and Painter Jung.  Their familiar camaraderie was touching, and seeing how protective all of them were of Chun Ki seemed very natural.  I looked forward to the scenes where the group of them interacted together.  And the lengths that Chun Ki went to to save them from Prince Yi Hoo made perfect sense.  

Woman Artist

I don’t know a lot about artists during this time period, but it doesn’t take much to imagine that women artists were incredibly rare, if not unheard of.  And that would be proven by the fact that Chun Ki is the only woman in the academy or the art competition.  And yet I only heard one passing comment that anyone found it noteworthy.  That seems strange to me.  It seems like more should have been made about how rare it was for a woman to be a painter at all, let alone a “divine” painter.  

Blindness

The blindness element of this drama is not handled well at all.  First of all, for someone who spent some of the formative years of her life blind, Chun Ki seems strangely clumsy at dealing with Ha Ram’s lack of sight.  In both speech and actions, she seems to forget that sight isn’t something to be taken for granted.  But maybe that is partly because Ha Ram didn’t really act like someone who couldn’t see.  Wandering the town alone and moonlight horseback riding were treated as normal occurences.  While he would have learned to live without sight, there should have still been times when certain tasks would have required some extra effort.

“Lovers of the Red Sky” ends with a hard-fought happily ever after.  Ha Ram shows up at the sealing ceremony but Ma Wang has managed to take full power over him.  As Chun Ki rushes to put the finishing touches on the painting, the demon confronts her and takes back his eyes, leaving her blind once again.  With the help of Hwacha and her father, she finishes the painting, but Ma Wang seems impossible to beat, now that he has his eyes again.  In the end, the spirit is defeated, but it cost the lives of both Mi Soo the shaman and Sam Shin.  Flash forward five years, to Ha Ram and Chun Ki’s birthday.  They are living in the country with their young son.  The Baekgyu artists and the now Crown Prince, Lee Yul, make the trip to visit.  Everyone is pretty much the same with the exception of Lee Yul and Painter Jung’s promotions.  Ha Ram and Chun Ki make a trip back to the peach orchard for a romantic birthday date, which ends once again with them running away from the angry owner.  In a strange last scene, we see Prince Yi Hoo, who is still alive and in prison, leading a coup against Lee Yul and his supporters.  The final credits roll as we see a bloody fight breaking out in the palace.

Kang Da Jung is a capable, hard-working manager for a luxury hotel whose traumatic childhood makes her shy away from serious relationships.  When a handsome stranger takes an interest in her, she considers giving him a chance.  But a tragic event leaves her with more questions and trauma.  In search of healing and friendship, she meets a psychiatrist who has an office in the building where she lives, but he carries wounds of his own.  As the two of them search for answers to a mysterious crime, they find an emotional connection that may help them both make peace with their pasts.

Nam Gyu Ri as Ahn Ga Young

Ahn Ga Young is a beautiful, young actress who was once married to Young Do.  She pushes her way into Da Jung’s house and declares them best friends.  Secretly, she is dating a famous idol, but she doesn’t want it to interfere with either of their careers, although he would like to go public with their relationship.  

♥ Ahn Ga Young 

I loved the character of Ahn Ga Young.  She manages to be totally self absorbed and yet innocent enough to still be likeable.   Her desire to be loved and understood showed a sweet vulnerablility and I loved how she just decided Da Jung and Eun Ha were her new besties.  I also thought her romance with Patrick was very cute.  They made a perfect couple and it made sense that he is younger since she is still finding herself.  

♥ Heo Yu Kyung

Heo Yu Kyung provides some wonderful moments of humor in this drama.  From cussing out the guests on the telephone to her silly English mistakes, I found her character endearing and fun.  It’s true that her character has no real impact on the story at all, but her character brought me plenty of giggles and I appreciate her for that.  

Twin Story

Initially I was intrigued with the idea of combining a slow burn romance with a mystery thriller, but in the end it didn’t really work for me.  The mystery elements were sporadic at best, and the lack of context made it really hard to keep track of which twin did what.  I actually think the foundation of a really cool mystery drama where there, but it should have had it’s own show where they could have more story development.  There was so little crossover between the two plots that it made it feel very disjointed, and truthfully I would have rather used the time spent on the crime plot to develop some of the supporting character stories more.  

Vice Chairwoman

Building on my complaint about the mystery crime story development, they built up the story about the Vice Chairwoman threatening Dr. Chase like it was going to have some significant consequences.  But despite her ominous threat, we don’t see anything happen.  She seems to have had something on Dr. Chase to make him do what she wants but we never really find out anything about their connection, their history, or if she takes revenge.  Her whole story seems patchy and irrelevant.

“You Are My Spring” bows out quietly with an understated ending that manages to wrap up most of the main stories but leaves plenty of loose ends along the way.  Ian finally confesses all his crimes to the police, but since none of them can actually be tried, he is set free.  Unfortunately for him, his own guilt doesn’t let him off quite so easily.  In one final scene of him, we see that he is receiving therapy because he is tormented by nightmares and unable to work.  Da Jung finds out that Eun Ha and Tae Jung are dating and is slowly coming to terms with it.  Da Jung and Young Do have committed to staying together, regardless of what the future might hold.  And after a bit of hazing, Da Jung’s mother also gave them her blessing.  The last scene of the drama shows Da Jung waiting for Young Do to finish work.  She walks to the place directly above his desk and begins jumping to get his attention, which works well.  He closes the office and walks up to the roof where the two of them talk about their day.  A voice over talks about the importance of love and healing as the couple giggle suggestively and run inside.

Twenty-five years ago, a government funded experiment sought to isolate the genetic marker for psychopathic tendencies by testing unborn children.  Now, a chain of serial killings is striking fear in the hearts of the nation and the cases seem to link back to the original experiments.  A young, caring police officer and a veteran detective are determined to solve the cases and arrest the killer, but the murders may have more of  a personal effect on them than they ever imagined.

Park Joo Hyun as Oh Bong Yi

Oh Bong Yi is a young girl from Ba Reum’s neighborhood.  She has a crush on him and he has identified her as someone who would be easy to control, even if she found out the truth about him.  But after his surgery, Ba Reum ends up really falling in love with her.  Unfortunately, once he realizes that he was the one to kill her beloved grandmother, he knows that she will end up hurt no matter what he does.

♥ Child Actors

The child actors in this drama were required to do some seriously heavy lifting and they all did an amazing job.  These roles required a maturity of emotion that must have been challenging and difficult for children so young.  I have so much respect for their acting ability and hope we will get to watch them in many more roles to come.   

♥ Flawed Lead

“Mouse” took a unique approach by giving us a flawed lead who gave us his unreliable account of events for the first half of the drama.  And it is an amazing testament to Lee Seung Gi’s acting skills that even after finding out what a monster he was in the beginning, I was still broken hearted to see him die in the end.  This is not a handsome hero story but it is a story of the kind of redemption and grace that can come to even the most flawed of humans.  

Oz

I just didn’t really think the whole OZ storyline was necessary.  The story was full enough and they could have easily left it with Doctor Daniel and Han Seo Jun’s experiments.  The members of OZ didn’t contribute that much to the overall plot and I didn’t find their portion of the story that interesting.  In a drama already packed with characters and themes, I feel like this one could have been left out and no one would have missed much.  

Psychopaths

I know this is just a drama, not a documentary, and fiction can either simplify or stretch the truth as it sees fit, but I didn’t like the way this drama represented psychopaths.  First, not all murderers are psychopaths, so ridding the world of babies with that gene does not magically create a safe existence free from crime and killing.  And second, not all psychopaths kill people.  There are enough misconceptions about these kinds of mental illnesses and I feel like we should be careful about over-generalizing.  

As expected for a drama so dark, there isn’t much happily ever after in this one, although they do a fairly good job of trying to tie up all those crazy loose ends.  This is a long one, so hold onto your seats.  In the end, all the members of OZ, plus their fearless leader, Choi Young Shin are arrested for their crimes.  So are Ba Reum and Hong Joo.  With those arrests, Yo Han’s name is finally officially cleared of any wrong-doing.  6 months later, Ba Reum is suffering terrible physical pain because of his brain surgery and emotional pain, now that he remembers all the crimes he has committed.  In a final act of revenge, he kills Han Seo Jun for Moo Chi.  His final scene is a vision of him and his younger self in a church.  He tells the child that his prayers have been answered and he is no longer a monster.  Then Ba Reum bows his head and dies.  Three years later, Choi Young Shin receives a pardon from the Blue House and is set free, but she is killed on the drive back into the city.  Hong Joo’s parents have been raising her son while she served her time, but now she is finally free.  Moo Chi has left the department to sell eggs and support Bong Yi while she goes to college.  He goes to put a marker on Ba Reum’s grave behind the prison, so he seems to have finally made his peace.  The series ends with a dinner party at Bong Yi’s house that tries to add some levity to the final moments, but seems surprisingly superficial and heavy.  We do get a short scene where Moo Chi and Hong Joo talk and he apologizes for his part in wrongly accusing Yo Han.  After the credits we get two bonus scenes.  One shows the mouse from Han Seo Jun’s original experiment miraculously coming back alive.  And the other shows a new doctor performing a brain transplant, so apparently this research didn’t die with Han Seo Jun after all.  While these scenes could open the door for a season two, I suspect they are just a reminder that corruption and evil still live on.

A rich CEO of a monthly magazine hires a struggling writer to be his personal PR representative.  Yoo Ja Sung is rude, arrogant and impossible to work for.  As a real estate mogul who has made his fortune buying and selling houses, he knows everything about the practical aspects of the market, but he knows nothing about how to make a house into a home.  Na Young Won dreams of owning her own home some day, where she can find comfort and security.  But she has a hard time seeing a house as simply a way to make a profit.  Now the two of them must learn to work together and hopefully,  teach each other something in the process

Kim Won Hae as Choi Go

Choi Go is the editor-in-chief at Monthly House.  He has worked for the company for years and helps the business run smoothly.  He is married and spends his life catering to the needs of his kids and his demanding wife.  He lives in an apartment that is supposed to be redeveloped, but the project keeps getting put on hold while the residents are stuck waiting for better living conditions.

♥ Voiceovers

Though a bit out of place for the tone of the rest of the drama, I enjoyed the voiceovers that reflected on the idea of the value of a home from Young Won’s perspective.  These gave a warm, personal touch to the episodes and gave a heart-warming message.  The contrast between a house and a home is an interesting over-arching theme for this drama, and the voiceovers did a nice job of highlighting this.  

♥ Ja Sung and Gyeom

I enjoyed the sweet, brother-like affection between Gyeom and Ja Sung.  Their quiet support for each other is touching with just enough awkwardness to make it realistic.  Maybe the fact that this is the only understated relationship in the whole drama made it stand out even more, but I looked forward to their heart to heart moments.  

Over the Top

Pretty much everthing about this drama was over the top and a bit tiresome at times.  From the acting, to the humor, and even the more serious emotional scenes; all of them were taken to the extreme.  As someone who embraces subtlety in my dramas, this definitely got irritating.  Maybe comedy fans liked these moments more than me, but I think it could have been toned way down.  

Kye Joo Hee

Has there even been a more invisible character than Kye Joo Hee?  The masked intern drifts through this drama with no real character development.  The only thing we find out about her personally is that she lives in a basement apartment.  While she wanders around delivering gifts and messages for her shy co-worker, we see no trace of a personality or storyline.  It just seems a shame to introduce a character that has no real purpose or role.  At least she finally becomes an editor in the end.  I guess that is something.

“Monthly Magazine Home” comes in for a messy and unsatifying ending that left many viewers frustrated.  Young Won finally finds her father, which is great, until she realizes he is the one who scammed Ja Sung out of all his money years before.  So she plans a final date for them, and when the date is finished she confesses everything to Ja Sung and breaks up with him.  Then she disappears for 3 years.   Though most of the supporting characters did get their happy ever afters.  After a 3 month time jump, Sang Soon and Eui Joo got their dream wedding. And Eui Joo even got to invite her father, so their relationship seems to be on the mend.  Gyeom is finally moving on to pursue his dream of studying Fine Arts, although he has given up studying abroad to stay close to home.  Chan will be taking his place as head photographer, and he and Mi Ra seem to be heading toward a romantic relationship.  A final 3 year jump shows us that Editor Choi’s son has graduated and their home is finally going to be re-developed.  And now back to our leads.  Ja Sung sees a Youtuber who he suspects is Young Won.  He goes to find her and is disappointed when it turns out to be someone else.  But after forgetting his keys, he goes back to discover Young Won there after all.  The two take a walk, talking casually as she shows him the home she had built.  The drama ends on a voice-over asking viewers how they like their home.  There is no clear indication of what the future holds for our leads.  Whether friends or lovers, I guess the ending is up to your imagination.