TWO things have happened: an affair and a murder. The entire story is about answering TWO questions: did he caught? who is the culprit? The narration style is typical of crime novels, often reminding me of Agathe Christie's novel style. All the clues were shown to us and drama tempts us to pick pretences as clues misdirecting us, then showing the truth with right clues making us think "I saw these, why didn't I think in this perspective?" "Ah, Brillant, you outwitted me". And this aspect can come off as hit or miss for many. Taking a look at comments would prove that.

The pacing was in an exponential fashion with initial episodes setting the "mood" very slowly and deliberately with even minor characters given screen space. (It has a mix of all the genres: romance, comedy, drama, mystery, investigation, political, action, thriller. It might have well been a makjang.) The ending was rapid with putting closure to several substories halfheartedly or even open (It reminds me of "Absent in the Spring" novel of Agathe Christie which too has vague ending). I am still wondering if what I had watched was just a big drama adaptation of Kang Yeo Joo's novel (As she says "that's what the audience want" to her assistant) or actual story of Kang Yeo Joo. Yes, even with incomprehensible last 5 minutes the final episode was brilliant. The brilliant narration style and suspense building ( note, it is not the story I'm praising because when all the layers of mystery are removed, it just felt yet another ***-*** character story) has quashed the ambiguous ending. (Now that I look back, the ending was so finely crafted putting all puzzle pieces together that you can't even skip the last episode.)

I can't imagine anyone else other than Cho Yeo Jung playing the Kang Yeo Joo. The aura, the eyeliner, the elegant dresses everything made the character all the more legendary (You would feel she isn't worthy of that legendariness but wait for it patiently.). First things first, I too was initially annoyed by shenanigans of Kang Yeo Joo, and I almost felt like dropping it. But I really stuck around and found she was the most complex character. If the Parasite's Choe Yeon Gyo was "simple" then Kang Yeo Joo is super ultra-complex. There is this scene in episode 6 when Han Woo Sung says he will take her gift to his grave the reaction KYJ gives is golden. That was one of the few moments in early episodes when the poker face of KYJ falters. There are only a few people who can truly understand her and one has to wait till later episodes to know the reason.

Other characters were equally interesting. Go Joon (why late-blooming) did a great job in portraying HWS, I can truly understand why every woman falls for HWS. HWS is truly worthy of his reputation of Nation's Husband. (Even when he is cheating he is thinking about his wife and I didn't bother myself with judging him. We never get to know more about his motives.) Mirae is yet another flawed character in this drama. She can come off as homewrecker but truly her transformation and her past are awe-worthy. I am one of the few people who wasn't shipping Cha Soo Ho with KYJ but the way he looks at her wow! The Umbrella scene reminded me of K2 and how he protects her. I want to see more of Kim Young Dae in future projects. As for all other characters, they added funny elements and depth to stories. But a few didn't have proper closure/development but I'm not complaining. (It would be humanly impossible to deliver both mystery narration and character development perfectly)

Music was good and suited for scenes. Sometimes there was opera style music for hyped/dramatic scenes which I liked. As for OST, OVER by Suran shines out. Rewatch, to make sense of certain things it might require to rewatch. I too wanna rewatch it but it is kinda sad it ended so I can't bring myself to watch it again.

A crime novel: keeps hooked and makes you say "ahh!" and keeps you thinking about it even after it ended.