Oh drama, let us count the ways that we heart you even though we know you’re not right.
We wanted to do recaps for this drama but life is annoying at the moment so it’s difficult, plus we gobbled this drama up like the greedy obsessives that we are and so it’s harder to be precise for specific episodes. So we’ve decided to keep it simple and go on a rambling, gushing spree of obsessive proportions. Watch out- it might be scary.
We want our own Choi brother!!
How utterly sweet are these two brothers? It’s so rare for a drama to present a completely solid and loyal relationship between two groups of people who should hate each other or at least harbour resentment on one level or another. However the Choi brothers have been presented as such lovely characters. In a way we would have loved some conflicting angsty feelings between them and Chae Ryung- especially between the OTP but it’s actually quite nice to see this angle played out.
– Choi Jin Hyuk may say very little in the drama but he has the grief stricken- life has been so hard look down to a perfect T. Also despite being so kind and considerate, the drama has done well in presenting a clearly damaged and broken background for these brothers, which makes you love them even more.
Romance
Here is some advice- if you’re looking for romance- sorry to tell you this but you’re watching the wrong drama. This drama is all about a family and their beloved father and everything else is a very distant second- especially romance…sadly. Which is such a shame because as hopeless romantics we do like a little love in our dramas and this one had such lovely potential- potential being the key word in that sentence. Let us make it crystal clear to you- there isn’t even a kiss! Gasp* we know what type of K-drama is this- no frozen on the spot 360 degree camera twirling kiss?! Gutted. Okay, we were disappointed by this but frankly it didn’t take away from the drama at all, the relationships and family love was so solid and heart warming that you don’t even care by the time you reach the finale.
I missed you so much, almost to the point of going crazy.
Reality within the madness
The drama is strangely steeped in reality. We know what you’re thinking, don’t be silly it’s a K-drama, but it’s true. Chae Ryung really suffers and struggles before she gets her act together. It isn’t like Shining Inheritance where suddenly the leading lady finds herself in an awful situation and wham bang- she’s sorts herself out, gets a job and strives to do the best she can by her brother… well until her fairy godmother steps in and saves her. In this drama, Chae Ryung suddenly finds herself in a situation she’s never been in- she is indeed sheltered, spoilt and naive to the world and so it takes her awhile and multiple reality checks before she diligently works hard and relies on herself rather than asking for handouts. We know that this sounds like it will be really annoying and frustrating to watch but trust us when we say that surprisingly for a stereotypical character (rich, spoilt) Chae Ryung is very likable and one you look forward to seeing improve in each episode. We think it has something to do with the fact that she’s far from selfish, she truly loves her family and wants to do well by them…it just takes her awhile to work out how.
Also the idea of redemption and punishment is realistically handled in this drama. As much as we hoped for a clean cut happily ever after, the way this drama handled its multiple issues was done so well and ultimately it added to the feeling of appreciation for a drama with real heart and substance over style.
Kim Hyun Joong has officially been dethroned
Jun Tae Soo has taken over from Kim Hyun Joong as possibly the worse K-drama actor we’ve seen. Oh dear, it was THAT bad. Granted we should have got an indication of his acting ‘ability’ after watching him in Sungkyanwan Scandal but his performance in this was prize worthy bad. So much over acting, so many glares and well let’s put it this way he provided lots of laughs and this drama was far from a comedy.
The playboy and the filial daughter- a match made in heaven?
A lot has been mentioned about Moon’s character Chae Ryung but surprisingly very little has been said about Lee Hee Jin’s role as Ae Ryung- who played the eldest daughter in the drama. We’ve got to say for a former girlbander and someone making their début into acting- Lee Hee Jin was brilliant- we definitely look forward to her future projects.
Her character is one we instantly fell for. She is rather reserved and sensible but she truly loves her family. In the drama she makes possibly the biggest sacrifice out of everyone. She marries a man she barely knows for money. Being the honest, sincere character she is- you really felt for her and the horribly desperate situation she found herself in. Once again, if this drama was longer or more angsty the development of her relationship with her husband could have been soooooo good but alas we liked it anyway. Her husband Jin Gu is a spoilt, self destructive rich boy living off his father’s wealth with little consideration for anything other than his own personal pleasures. He’s also got a soft spot for saloon girls and has multiple secrets that he would rather keep hidden. We love a good opposites attract or in this case opposites marry by force storyline and this drama provided us with lots of sweet moments with this OTP. We are just really sad that their storyline wasn’t fleshed out properly and where there was an opportunity to maximize on lots of conflicting romance – the drama rushed the storyline and gave us the cut version- again another example of trying to do too much within a short time frame.
With all dramas- there were plenty of things that we didn’t like and were unable to brush over as easily as others:
Jin Gu’s sister/daughter storyline was so unnecessary! What were the writers thinking? Were we really supposed to believe that:
a. Jin Gu was at least 35+ years old and
b. The audience finding out about his secret was because suddenly out of the blue, he accidently refers to her as his daughter? Ummm really?
Jin Gu’s half sister storyline was also totally needless. Also her role with Ho Ryung was pointless.
Coffee Princes comparisons:
We read lots of cynical criticism of Daddy’s girl being unoriginal ect ect but the Coffee Princes reference is lost on us completely. Yes, both women happened to work in a coffee shop and yes they both end up going abroad to further develop their skills within the industry. However we don’t agree with the rip off references simply because of that connection. For us, Chae Ryung working at the coffee shop was symbolic of her fall from grace. She went from being the customer to the server in a really short time. Whereas in Coffee Princes, she actually really loved coffee and wanted to be the best Barrister she could. Chae Ryung went abroad because of money and the possibility of career advancement rather than anything else. So there!
Other quick thoughts:
We wonder if we would have liked it if we watched it weekly. We know for a fact that when we’re watching completed dramas and we have the opportunity to watch multiple episodes at once we are a lot more forgiving and more able to look over issues than if we simply watched two episodes once a week- where we have the chance to thoroughly scrutinise every detail. We have a distinct feeling that maybe it was a good thing that we watched it once it finished- this post may have been very different otherwise!
-We hope that if we were ever in trouble and needed help, we would come across a group of people like the Eun’s did. This drama’s charm lies in the fact that we completely connected and loved all of the misfit characters that all came together to bring down baddies that had wrong them and although it took time and a lot of heartache, it was lovely to see how it all panned out. Man we got mushy too quickly, opps!
Overall we thoroughly enjoyed this drama. As we said before, it’s a shame that it wasn’t longer and that the drama makers failed to appropriately do justice by the storylines explored but if you go in with a open mind and little expectations- we’re sure you’ll be just as pleasantly surprised as we were.
Watch this drama if you’ve got a sentimental heart and a love for family dramas.
Don’t watch if you’re looking for romance and style. This drama is rather traditional in this formation and hardly deviates away from the standard K-drama set up.
How much we liked it: 9/10
How good it is technically: 4/10
musthavesubs 
What do you think?