This show was filled with complex and realistic human characters that didn’t just paint them as good or evil which I think was the strongest point of the drama. Plot wise there were some questionable moves by some of the characters as well as some nonsensical situations which I was able to overlook as the strongest point of this drama was most definitely the cast, their acting and their chemistry. This was my first time with Jo Yeo Jeong and she was such a delightful actress to watch, her emotions felt raw and her pain very tangent. Mix that with Kim Kang Woo’s fierce character that softened around her, the chemistry was just insanely good. I wish there is a chance for them to act together one more time in a melodrama as I just wanted more scenes with them. All in all this was albeit frustrating at times, a fun ride.

I was really liking this drama in the first eps but I wasn't interested after episode 8 because the twists made me bored. I thought it was about characters and it became a game of cat and mouse and bags full of money. The lonely scared woman of the first eps actually had a dark past as some kind of thief? Doesn't fit her story. Her friend knew about the affair and didn't care? She didn't care about her husband anymore either? She didn't care they might have been involved in that woman's accident? Doesn't fit her story from first ep either. Abusive husband became a psycho super villain? And of course the real villain from the past had to come back so cop could get fixed and forgive the heroine.

I thought the Leon trap was too simple to have worked against an evil genius. But the series had to wrap up in two episodes so at least made some sense. Seo-yeon went through a wide range of highs and lows to change her character in the end (which is part of good story telling.) I thought Hee-joo was the best character in overall development. I agree the cast was very good in their roles, more so than some of story twists. I was fine with this type of ambiguous ending to a series because we were told about Seo-yeon's dream to go to Tahiti and Kang's desire to return to the police force could not be easily reconciled at the end.

I enjoyed Seo Yeon as a character and hope to see more characters like her. As for the drama, it got silly at the end, but the drama stayed true to itself and gave us a proper ending.

I watched the first few episodes as they came out week after week but decided it would be better to binge watch the remaining ones to not lose momentum. I finally caught up to the 2nd half yesterday and was surprisingly still pretty entertained and eager to find out how this story ends. Yes, there were a lot of questionable scenarios but overall I was pretty satisfied with the drama as a whole. I liked how none of the characters were painted out to be singularly good or bad. They were all morally gray characters and that was pretty refreshing. I also loved how Seoyeon ended up having a mother-daughter relationship with the old lady. I liked watching their scenes together and somehow enjoyed hearing her cursing, LOL. There was a lot of character development here, too, with Seoyeon, Heeju, the old lady, and others. That said, it was definitely the cast that made this drama work. Curious to see what projects Jo Yeo Jeong and Oh Na Ra pick next.

"You might think Leon would kill her on the spot, but he’s actually turned on by the whole situation — the fact that she both saved his life and stole his money, and the deep-seated greed that he recognizes in her."
Honestly, while I loved the idea of the show and all, I only started watching it when Leon appeared and showed an interest in Seo-yeon, and this line you wrote in the recap says it all for me. I am and have always been weak for villains with an obsession or interest in the female lead, and though usually the female lead is a shiny, innocent girl, this time the lead is very morally gray and has done many questionable things for the sake of greed, or just a form for release like her affair. Thus, when he showed an interest knowing perfectly well who she was, I was hooked. Because I could see Leon being melodramatic about their connection, and her greed which is so much like his. (Although I agree with others saying he went down a bit too easily, I wish his basic greed was foreshadowed a bit more). I honestly thought he would try to sell her being broken/corrupt way more than he did.
The way Leon showed his interest/obsession with Seo-yeon was in some ways subtle but still so loud, like the way he looks at her whenever she acts defiant or talks back (like the recap says, he seems turned on. Every. Single. Time). And how he gave her a choice to join him or "disappoint him", in which the male lead would die either way, but Leon 1) never mentioned her dying and 2) saying "disappointing him" does not mean "leave/betray him", meaning he might have forced her to stay anyway.

Seo-yeon as a character was also fascinating, as a grey character whose actions I rarely see in Korean female leads, and her actor plays her perfectly with small windows of emotion and the physical effort it takes for her to reel those emotions in. And her choosing to reject the money at last was a big deal after all the crap she has done and been through to get that money.

I could care less about In Pyo, he should have died ages ago, not been semi-redeemed in the end just because he helped Seo-yeon at the end.

Sometimes, one can receive stars for being so awful. This drama is one of those times.

I recently read a glossy (the dying breed of print fashion magazines, of which the most intelligent ones have already folded) magazine title about manifesting life wishes through nail polish colors. In a moment of flu-driven angst, I recently re-watched this drama to manifest $10 million into my personal checking account as a prize for being a better human being than every single one of the characters in this show. While my manifestation did not happen, I recovered from my flu quickly from the satisfaction of being a decent human being.

The narrative is interesting enough and despite the crazy plot, it was the characters that steal the show. This is the only Kdrama where I couldn't find a single redeeming character anywhere. Except maybe the daughter because she's just a kid. If there were an award for dregs of humanity, every character would win something.

That being said, money really does make the world go round. It certainly was the only reason why I continued to watch. I wanted to see who the writer would redeem with the final reward, and even that was a muckluck experience with about as much satisfaction as... I can't even come up with a metaphor it was so bad.

Still, the acting of KKW and ONR were good enough to make up for some of the time loss. KKW does well in playing good and bad guys, and he nails the fecklessly vengeful ex-cop wonderfully. I always appreciate the feisty craftiness of ONR, and she's no less disappointing this time, albeit in a more subdued demeanor becoming of her saccharine-sweet but still bitchy character.

That's it, the other characters were so overly flawed that this drama never let's you forget you're in a fake Kdrama thriller world.