I would like to preface this review by saying I was a webtoon reader of this story before it became a drama. Therefore, some of my thoughts may be a bit biased towards my feelings on the webtoon instead of viewing this show as a singular entity outside of the source material.

With that being said, I was a little disappointed with how this drama went.

First, some of the characters and relationships were underdeveloped compared to the webtoon. Yes, I am talking about Doyun as a character and his relationship with Chowon. Doyun was much more layered and given a proper backstory in the webtoon than then brief comments we got about it here. His relationship with Chowon had more depth as well and got a lot more page time than they did screen time.

The friendship between the four of them was also not as strong. They did a great job with some individual bonds but as a whole the writers missed the mark a bit on the found family the four of them had with one another.

With less time spent on the relationships between the characters, there was time spent on pretty meaningless ones. I still don’t know what the point of Ms. Jang and her son was. It literally held no one’s attention or interest. Much of the same can be said for Jiseok who was a much better character in the webtoon. I would’ve preferred they done away with his character entirely than transform him into whatever he was here.

Also, I definitely disliked the change up of Jieum’s first life. The whole point of Seoha & Jieum’s relationship is that they AREN’T fated to be together. That they chose one another in the present, in the now, not whatever the past held. Making them know one another in her first life kind of defeated the purpose of the whole webtoon in my opinion. I was also sad at the writers for doing away with Jieum’s original storyline for her first life. (Spoiler for the Webtoon) Her and Doyun always bickered like siblings so it was almost perfect that they were siblings in her first life. Again, point to the found family potential that didn’t hold as much weight here.

Now, that I have made my grievances clear, I do want to specify that despite all my ranting above there were still some great aspects to this drama.

The cast is the obvious standout. Genuinely do not think they could’ve found better people to play these characters. Maybe that’s part of the reason I’m more upset than I should be at the lacking areas of this show, bc the cast was so perfect. Shin Hye Sun was fantastic as she always is. No one else could’ve truly played Jieum and I stand by that. Ha Yoon Kyung was also a perfect Chowon. She captured her sensitivity but determination wonderfully. She truly became the epitome of a spring sunshine character (iykyk). I, like a lot of the webtoon fan base, was pretty apprehensive to Ahn Bo Hyun being casted as Seoha. Not for his lack of acting ability, but because his image drastically compared to that of Seoha’s. And yet, he was outstanding. I admire him so much for taking such a big shift from what he usually plays and taking on a softer role that he absolutely aced. Now I can picture no one else but him as Seoha. The same can be said of Ahn Dong Goo. I had only seen him in Our Beloved Summer previously and if you know his character there you know how different they are compared to Doyun. Again, he did a great job. This cast was such a great ensemble and I hope we get a few of them in other projects together one day.

The cinematography of this show was also stunning. The director really outdid themselves here. The OST was magical and really fit the vibe of the whole show. I will have ‘Juicy’ stuck in my head for the foreseeable future.

As much as I complained about the changes from the webtoon I didn’t like, there was one that was a very welcome addition. I loved Ae-gyeong and the relationship she had with Jieum. We get a bit of that in the webtoon but it’s not focused on as much so I really loved that they did here. I also did like the little role reversal at the end of this show. Really highlights how much Seoha & Jieum love each other.

Overall, despite my ranting I did enjoy this show. I don’t think there is a version of these characters that I wouldn’t fall in love with at the end of the day. Seoha, Jieum, Chowon, and Doyun have always meant a lot to me and that is something that will never change.