Disclaimer: this is a review, and as such it contains spoilers of the whole series. Please proceed to read at your own risk if you still plan on watching this show or if you haven’t finished it yet. You have been warned.
Search: WWW
(검색어를 입력하세요: WWW / Geomsaekeoreul Ibryeokhaseyo: WWW / Enter Search Query: WWW)
MyDramaList rating: 8.0/10
Hello hello hello! Thought it’d be nice to drop another drama review before the end of the month. Just like my last watch, I only added this show to my list quite recently after seeing a clip from it on TikTok, and it didn’t take me too long to finish despite the lengthy episodes. Honestly, I couldn’t get enough of it. It pulled me in from the start and was just the right balance of good story, mature, fun and quirky characters, effortless humor, tenderness and heartache. It was more than I expected it to be, and I’m really glad I decided to put it on my list, and for my TikTok algorythm to show me a sneak peak of this gem of a show. I’m really excited to share my views on it in more detail, so let’s go!
Search: WWW is a tvN K-Drama with 16 episodes of each about 1 hour and 15 minutes. I watched it on Viki (I got a Viki Pass now since it’s become my go-to site to watch K-Dramas) for good quality video and subtitling. The story centers on three career-oriented women in their late thirties/early forties – Bae Ta Mi (played by Lim Soo Jung), Cha Hyun (played by Lee Da Hee) and Song Ga Gyung (played by Jeon Hye Jin) – who work for two rivaling web portal engine companies: Unicon and Barro.
These three women have known each other since high school, where Ga Gyung, the eldest, was a respected and admired sunbae to both Ta Mi and Hyun. At the beginning of the series, Ga Gyung and Ta Mi both work at Unicon, which they’ve helped build together, but they’ve been having conflicting views more and more often. Finally, Ta Mi can’t take it anymore and exposes to the whole country during a live broadcasted hearing that Unicon has fabricated real-time search words on the portal website in favor of a certain presidential candidate. Inevitably, she gets fired for this, and after some deliberation she decides to join the competitor, Barro, where Hyun works. While there’s initially some disdain between the two of them – Hyun also has her own personal attachment to Ga Gyung – Ta Mi ends up helping Barro to become what Unicon couldn’t because of its ties to KU Group, led by Ga Gyung’s mother-in-law, that keeps demanding her to approve unethical regulations through Unicon. Whilst the competition between Unicon and Barro plays out, we explore the love lives of the three women as well, and how they do or don’t manage to balance these with their professional ambitions. Will the initial bond between the three women hold in the end, or will their business ambitions take the upper hand even if that means never seeing eye to eye again?
The first thing that pulled me into this show was the opening theme, Search by Elaine. As soon as it started, with the cool animation and the catchy beat, I knew this show was going to be good. I love how, through some really simple shapes and images, they still managed to incorporate so many recurring themes of the story, like the piano keys, the elevators going up and down, the cars riding through city streets, the word searches… It’s so cool. I never skipped it, I’m even sad the sequence got shortened halfway through because I was always bopping to it, lol.
All in all, the whole soundtrack was amazing. I enjoyed every single song, from the MAMAMOO one to the tracks by Sam Kim and Kim Na Young, and the one sung by Lee Da Hee herself which fitted Hyun’s relationship with Ji Hwan so perfectly. I also loved Millennial Love, the game music that Mo Geon composed, and which basically became the theme for his and Ta Mi’s relationship (the fact that it played both during their breakup and their reunion😭). They did so well with the music, it literally sounded like everything was created to fit the theme of the series to a T and I loved the attention to detail in the sound effects they used. I know I usually always mention the soundtrack as an afterthought at the end of my analysis, but in this case I wanted to point it out at the beginning because it was actually the first thing that drew me into this show.
One of the major things I liked about this series was that, besides the fact that it had a solid story and interesting things kept happening, it mainly focused on the (emotional) development of the characters, and this makes it ideal for me to review as well. I’d like to go over the main characters one by one and tie them together in terms of how they were all connected to each other and how they all contributed to each other’s development in one way or another.
First of all, Bae Ta Mi, the undisputed protagonist. Ta Mi is established as always having been a very independent woman. She has definitely dated before (Lee Dong Wook no less), but she insists on never getting married or having children. She’s very passionate about her job, and is consistently one of the few people that will actually take risks in order to do things the right way, even if that means exposing her own company for fabricating search words, or going against the government to secure the privacy of the portal website’s users. Her career is undeniably her main focus, and even though she doesn’t completely shut herself off from the possibility of dating, she is someone who has learned to be comfortable and confident by herself. I think this characteristic came across very well when she met Mo Geon, since he really caught her off guard and she actually pushed him away several times. I honestly think that if it hadn’t been for the fact that their businesses ended up collaborating, he would’ve just remained as a one-night-stand to her that she never planned on pursuing anything further with. So yeah, while she still acts on feelings of attraction and lust – possibly helped by a drink or two – Ta Mi is not actively searching for a life partner. I feel like she kind of made her peace with the fact that the average man wouldn’t accept a woman who didn’t want to get married. She had enough other things in her life that were more important to her. Besides her job, it’s clear to see that she enjoys her private time as well: she goes for dinner by herself without any shame and she has no trouble making friends. I really liked the way she reached out to Da In when they met at that restaurant, and how she kept reaching out to Ah Ra when she was still working at the Unicon cafeteria.
Despite the fact that we don’t actually get much background information on Ta Mi, her family, or how she grew up, I really liked how well-established she was as a character nonetheless. From the start, it’s clear as day what kind of person she is and what her values and morals are. She’s not afraid to go head to head with her boss to confront her with the approval of unethical regulations from higher-up and uses a live broadcasted hearing to expose both her own company for fabrication and some official for illegal intimacy with minors. She keeps coming to work and holding her head up high when she walks down the street, so yeah, she was definitely a badass.
What I particularly liked about Ta Mi was that, despite the lack of prior backstory as I mentioned earlier, we really get to know her throughout the story because she has great character development. Especially in the emotional sense, she goes through so much and we join her on that rollercoaster to become just as invested in her life as when there’d been a whole explanation of how she grew up and became the way she was. It encompassed one of my favorite sayings: “it doesn’t matter where you come from, it’s about where you go from here”. I feel like this is exactly what happened with Ta Mi, because we are just thrown into her life as a full-fledged adult and join her on her journey as a 38-year-old career woman, going through a romance and feelings she never thought she’d experience. I thought that was a really cool and original way of introducing and following a character. We see a strong and independent woman who learns to open herself up and be more vulnerable through developing friendships, depending on others, and experiencing a serious romantic relationship. In hindsight, it didn’t even matter that we didn’t get to see how she was as a child (apart from that one flashback) or that we didn’t get introduced to her parents or something, because that wouldn’t have been relevant to her story: this was about Ta Mi as an independent adult who didn’t have (or need) anyone, from her past or present, to rely on. She was a self-made woman, through and through, and this was a major part of her personality.
I personally thought Ta Mi was an incredibly refreshing and original protagonist. I’ve gotten so used to female lead characters having some sort of sad backstory or defining reason for being the way they are at the beginning of the story, but I kind of liked how they didn’t make a big deal of how Ta Mi became the way she was – she just was, and it didn’t matter how she got there. The only thing that mattered was how she would act after finding out the company she’d been working at for years was pulling unethical strings. I also thought her way of making decisions was very mature: whilst initially against the idea of joining Barro as they had been competitors for so long, she actually ended up switching sides and learned for herself that Barro had way better rules and work ethics than Unicon. She always remained professional on the workfloor, even if she had issues with a specific person, and it was also cool how she remained open to criticisms from other people, how she actually appreciated that. I actually think it’s mostly thanks to criticisms she got from Hyun that she became better at treating her co-workers with equal respect and gratitude, and she also improved articulating certain feelings that she’d otherwise kept to herself for being too sentimental. I really liked seeing her open up to her team members at Barro and how they became such a well-functioning machine throughout.
I’d say that, despite some of her actions in her relationship with Mo Geon (which I’ll discuss later on) Ta Mi was a really relatable and admirable female lead character. I always appreciate female empowerment and this show had an abundance of that, first and foremost through Ta Mi. The writers did an amazing job establishing her character and the actress portrayed both her independence and vulnerability very well. I loved how she both kicked ass and had her determination shaken every so often, because this only contributed to how human and realistic she was. All in all, she was a really cool character and I liked her a lot.
Moving on to our second power woman, Cha Hyun. Hyun is initially introduced as a rival character to Ta Mi. They work for rivaling companies, which basically causes them to dislike each other out of principle. When Ta Mi comes to Barro after she’s fired from Unicon, it takes Hyun a long time to accept her as part of the company, especially when the two of them are set up to work together in Barro’s new Service Care Task Force team. Despite her impeccable sense of fashion and the way she presents herself professionally, Hyun has a surprisingly aggressive side to her as well. She’s tall, athletic, does martial arts, hits the baseball centre when she needs to let off steam, and even has been criminally convited for beaten up a guy that groped her in an elevator at work. In other words: don’t get on her bad side. Contrarily, once on her good side, she proves nothing but an incredibly loyal ally who’d go the extra mile to stand up for and even chase bad guys for you.
Underneath that confidence and strength, Hyun also has a very vulnerable side, which comes out when she watches dramas, suffers from heartache, and in particular, with Ga Gyung. Through flashbacks, we learn that Hyun has been enamored with Ga Gyung ever since she first saw her in high school. Hyun was kind of a tomboy while Ga Gyung was the most popular girl at school who came from a wealthy family, and a special friendship grew between them. Through the years, Hyun never stopped believing in Ga Gyung’s good side, convinced that she was still the same girl she admired in school. I’m not going to lie, at first I actually thought there was some romantic tension between them. The way Hyun got enthralled with her, the bond they shared, the way she got shy when Ga Gyung called her “cute” and stuff… it just screamed “first love” to me. While the story ultimately doesn’t explore these feelings between the two, I did like that they kept the possibility of these feelings open. Honestly, it wouldn’t have surprised me if Hyun turned out to be bisexual or something. It really seemed to fit her personality to be open-minded about the people she felt attracted to, especially since she didn’t seem to have the greatest experiences with dating men so far. As soon as she opened up to someone – as she ultimately does with both Ta Mi and Ji Hwan – she became super affectionate and girly in her behavior, so it really wouldn’t have been a stretch if you ask me.
Cha Hyun was without a doubt my favorite character of the show. I loved her so, so much. I loved the layers to her personality, her different sides, her quirks, how she literally showed up with two baseball bats when Ta Mi called her for help, lol. She was so multi-faceted and I enjoyed every single scene with her because she kept showing new sides to her personality. I also really loved her budding romance with Ji Hwan, how she went from a supportive noona to a love-struck girl when she was with him. She cracked me up to no end, from her first introduction when Ta Mi accidentally got into her car whilst fleeing from reporters to the time she suddenly showed up and rushed past Ta Mi as she was chasing the guy that fabricated Ta Mi’s as a search word. I also loved how she was able to set her initial disdain for Ta Mi aside as soon as the latter got wronged and she just couldn’t help but feel and stand up for her. Honestly, Hyun was the best wingman ever and I loved how the friendship between her and Ta Mi developed. They went from competitors to a power duo, quite literally. Enemies-to-besties. It was so touching to see how she ultimately came to understand Ta Mi so well that she could just pinpoint exactly what Ta Mi was struggling with when she got distracted or started isolating herself, and how she’d just order food to her place with a note that even in isolation she had to keep eating. I loved their friendship dynamic so much. In terms of what I appreciate in a character, Hyun really left nothing to be desired. She was both tough and vulnerable, loyal to the right causes, and just unapologetically herself in every way. I absolutely adored her.
Looking at how both Ta Mi and Hyun develop themselves throughout the story, Ga Gyung definitely stands in stark contrast with them. From beginning to end, she remains quite stoic and keeps her feelings hidden, although this of course has to do with the fact that she’s been held down by KU Group for so long. I honestly really felt for Ga Gyung, once the truth behind her marriage to Jin Woo was revealed. In the beginning, I found it kind of hard to like her because she didn’t stand up for Ta Mi when she got fired for revealing the truth about Unicon’s faults, and she kept choosing KU Group’s side over what would actually be the right thing to do.
It’s hard to get inside Ga Gyung’s head because she prefers to keep to herself rather than talk about her feelings. In hindsight, it’s actually incredibly sad to realize that it was her dream to “disappear”. She was forced into an arranged marriage with no love in it as her parents groveled at the Chairwoman’s feet and she was just expected to follow orders without exception. There was never any room for her to speak her mind or talk back to anyone, she just had to do what she was told and initially, that’s what she did, even if it caused her to lose friends and allies. When we see her in the flashbacks with Hyun in high school she seemed to be a much more lively and bright person, so I can only imagine how much her adult life must have broken her. When you think about it like that, she’s actually a very tragic character, but instead of becoming pathetic, she takes matters into her own hands to find her own kind of peace.
What I liked the most about Ga Gyung’s character development was that she chose to break free from her chains all by herself. No one talked her into it, no one advised her or helped her to stand up for herself. She actually made the decision to break free from KU Group’s grasp all by herself, and that was really gratifying to watch. How she could be so strong when even her own parents weren’t on her side was very impressive, and it only made me realize how truly lonely she must have felt this whole time. Of course it was nice that Jin Woo started showing care towards her at the end, but I liked that Ga Gyung still stuck with her plan to become independent rather than that there was an unexpected blossoming of romance between them after all. I liked the silent affection that existed between them, but it really felt like it was too little too late for them to still work something out, especially after Ga Gyung decided to divorce him and sever all ties with his family. The moments where she managed to secure the CEO position at Unicon and appeared on the news to expose KU Group while they were expecting her to show up elsewhere were really satisfying to watch because she actually did all that by herself without getting caught by her mother-in-law. I just loved when she exposed Jang Hee Eun and just went “Should’ve given me the alimony🤷🏻♀️”, that was absolute peak.
All in all, whilst Ga Gyung is initially established as an undeniably less likeable and relatable character than Ta Mi and Hyun, the development she goes through by herself does make her really cool and admirable in my eyes. She actually fought her own battles without any help of a romantic partner, which is unusual in a K-Drama, and I thought that made her a very original and strong character. I feel like we viewers are so used to empathizing with characters through experiencing their emotions with them and watching them go through hardships and getting through life with the support of friends and lovers that we sometimes forget about the people fighting their battles on their own, without such help and support. We meet Ga Gyung when she’s already neck-deep into the hardships and has to find a way out by herself while maintaining her distant demeanor towards the people around her. In a way, it was like Ga Gyung didn’t even allow the viewers to become too emotionally attached to her, and this was quite a genius feature since it fitted her character so well. The only person she allowed herself to soften with was Hyun, and I guess her hubae did prove to be a kind of weakness to Ga Gyung, seeing as how hurt she was when Hyun chose Ta Mi’s side instead of hers. Still, it was cool that her decision to oppose the government alongside Barro was part of her own plan and the result of her own deliberations rather than purely because of her attachment to Hyun or any other kind of weakness. I loved how they revealed that she’d conspired together with Unicon’s former CEO and created that link with all the exposing info on KU Group, that was so satisfying. I’d have to say that all in all, I also really liked Ga Gyung in terms of character originality and how she built up the strength to go against the higher oppressing power all by herself. She managed to make a sad and oppressed character powerful and I really respected that about her.
To say something about the three women in general, I just want to emphasize that I thought it was amazing how they were able to create such strong and well-established female lead characters without even giving them that much backstory, except for their prior connection in high school. I loved how they incorporated the flashbacks into current-time situations, like how Hyun had taken Ga Gyung’s side against Ta Mi when they were kids, and she ended up basically reenacting that situation as adults with the exception of taking Ta Mi’s side instead. The subtle revelation that that girl from the past with the drawing was Ta Mi was so powerful. Honestly, it wouldn’t even have mattered that much who it was, but the simple detail that it had been Ta Mi made it even more powerful because that made it hit Ga Gyung differently than if it had just been a random girl back then. By using these short but succinct flashbacks instead of elaborate backstories, they still provided more than enough context for the relationships between the three women, and I thought that was really awesome.
Other than that, there were a couple of moments where I just really applauded their combined badass-ness. I actually debated on making GIFs of these moments because they were just so amazing. The moment when Ga Gyung became Unicon’s CEO simultaneously with Brian’s reinstallment at Barro was one of my favorite moments. I loved the part where the camera rotated around the three women; the way it highlighted them in that triumphant moment just made me applaud. Honestly, I can’t remember the last show that I watched where I constantly found myself clapping and mumbling “Oh my god, I love this, this is awesome, I love this show”.
I loved how the focus of the story remained on the three women throughout, and how it ended with them driving off into the sunset together. Although all of them (except Ga Gyung) were reunited with their respective boyfriends, the focus wasn’t on that, it was on the three of them succeeding at showing the world what female empowerment looked like, and that was so, so satisfying. It was giving Barbie – the men were actual accessories, lol.
Speaking of these men, let’s get into these fine male accessories, shall we?
Park Mo Geon (played by Jang Ki Yong) is a 28-year-old musical composer who has his own little studio, Millim Sound, where he and his small team work on creating music for video games. I’m not entirely sure if they purely limited themselves to game music, but that’s what’s featured the most in the story, anyways. Mo Geon (whose name is purposely similar to the English name “Morgan”) grew up in Australia with his adoptive parents. He hasn’t been back to Korea for that long when he and Ta Mi first meet, at a local arcade game cafe. He beats her at Tekken, and their immediate connection causes them to keep talking for hours before ending up in a one-night-stand. As it turns out, the music that Mo Geon shares with Ta Mi that night is for a game that her company’s Games department is supporting, and they end up meeting at the office not much later. Despite the fact that Ta Mi keeps pushing him away, mostly because of their 10-year age gap, Mo Geon has clearly fallen for her at first sight and keeps trying to get back in touch with her. For him it wasn’t just a one-night-stand or a mistake, he’s actually immediately smitten with this headstrong independent woman, regardless of her age.
When it comes to Ta Mi, I would definitely say that Mo Geon was a puppy, but also a puppy that knew to play hard to get, lol. I really liked how their dynamic was basically Ta Mi acting standoffish, only to get disappointed when he started doing the same. He was really good at teasing her, lol. In all honesty, the TikTok clip that brought me to this show was the one where Ta Mi was silently checking him out and he went, “Please stop undressing me in your mind” (I do love me some spicy flirting in a K-Drama😏) .
What I appreciated the most about Mo Geon was that he basically vocalized everything that I was thinking about his relationship with Ta Mi. I will talk about this more later, but I have to admit that there were times where I understood his side of things better than Ta Mi’s. He saw everything exactly for what it was, he was very articulate about his feelings, and he never wavered in his love for Ta Mi. He was such a steady green flag, I really liked him. I think we got more backstory from him than from any of the other characters, regarding his adoptive history and the relationship with his biological Korean mom.
Despite the fact that the passing of his biological mother was very awful and sad, I did think it was a good twist to use that incident as something that made Ta Mi realize her true attachment to him by herself, rather than that it made him so pitiable that she felt like she had to go back to him. It was good that they took some distance, because it only made their hearts grow fonder in the end.
Seriously, the chemistry between these two was insane. Even before Ta Mi finally allowed herself to feel her feelings and let Mo Geon in, every single scene they had together just sizzled and I loved it. The scene where they stayed over in a hotel room and sat talking opposite each other was enough to give me goosebumps. They didn’t even do anything physical, but when he suddenly grabbed her wrist at the end, I was like 🫣🫣, lol. I do have to admit that I found their first official kiss a bit mild – I honestly expected them to jump each other😂 – but their romantic scenes were consistently satisfying (and don’t even get me started on that pantry kiss😭👌🏻).
I really liked how mature Mo Geon was despite his age difference with Ta Mi. I believe he did mention something about that he had to grow up fast as a foreign kid in Australia, but it still kept surprising me how emotionally intelligent and articulate he was about his feelings (regular men could learn a thing or two). He was so reflective in the breakup with Ta Mi, as well; I appreciated how he could both stand his ground on his perspective while being respectful enough to back off after hearing her side of things. He really ended up giving her the space she needed to ultimately come back to him out of her own accord. Green flags all around. He was definitely a keeper, and I’m glad Ta Mi did end up keeping him. In their happy moments together they were really sweet and I loved how their respective personalities somehow worked so well together. The actors really made it work too, their chemistry was very enjoyable to watch.
Cha Hyun’s male accessory is introduced a bit later into the show. The first link to him is established when Hyun is watching her favorite show “What’s Wrong With Mother-in-Law”, and realizing that the actor who plays the male lead doesn’t even have a profile page on Barro – he seems to be pretty unknown for someone who plays the lead in such a popular drama. It isn’t until a while later that Hyun accidentally trips a guy on the street after mistaking him for a thief, before realizing that they’re filming a drama and the guy she tripped (and injured) is actually the male lead from the before-mentioned show. His name is Seol Ji Hwan (played by Lee Jae Wook) and he turns out to be a rookie actor who isn’t even signed to an agency yet. Taking full responsibility for his injury, Hyun starts visiting him at the hospital and becomes kind of a benefitor to him using her power as a general manager at Barro. She manages to get him recast in the show after his initial character is written out, she sends coffee trucks to his sets, gets him a personal billboard at a train station… Even though she keeps claiming that she only does it because she’s a fan, there is definitely something growing between them that surpasses a simple celebrity-and-fan relationship – I mean, celebrities don’t usually take their friends to dinner to thank them for their support, or walk their fans home, right?
Seol Ji Hwan was an actual puppy, without the hard-to-get games. He was so innocent and kind and truly grateful for every little step he could take in becoming a better actor. I loved how he was initially introduced through his drama character who was an absolute jerk, and then when Hyun met him in real life he was all smiles and politeness, lol. I thought their romance was really sweet. Hyun was initially the one keeping him at bay, because Ji Hwan wasn’t so dense not to realize what their relationship was starting to look like – he wouldn’t keep asking her “Are you really just a fan?” if he didn’t see what was going on. The scene where Hyun basically lured him to the place where his billboard was at the station was so touching, and I loved their kiss in the lost-and-found room. It was so sweet to see how Hyun was gradually showing him all the different sides to her, and Ji Hwan fell for both the impressive influential badass, the giddy drama fan and the sobby lovestruck girl.
Honestly, at some point I kind of expected Ji Hwan to be a jerk, and that he was just using her influence to make it big, but I’m really glad he was an actual green flag. He could’ve easily taken advantage of what she did for him, but that would’ve made for a whole different story, lol. I liked that Hyun kind of got her fairytale ending at the end, establishing a relationship with her favorite actor. But yeah, I really liked Ji Hwan, he was the sweetest. I’m glad they gave him layers as well, because I don’t know how I would’ve felt if he’d just remained a soft puppy until the end – he definitely knew how to make the move when push came to shove, so that was nice. He and Hyun made a really cute couple together. I shipped them so much, and everytime Hyun let him go without a word I was like “Hyuuuuun!! Don’t let him gooooo 😭😭😭”. He was the purest and sweetest boyfriend for Hyun, and I really liked how they built up their relationship. They were the cutest.
I actually found the relationship between Ga Gyung and her husband Oh Jin Woo (played by Ji Seung Hyun) very intriguing. At first it seemed like Jin Woo was kind of a jerk who completely neglected Ga Gyung as his wife, but I was really surprised when he suddenly started taking note of her and doing things to help her out, even hiding her from his own mother. I do remember him saying that he always felt sorry for how she got trapped by his family, and if I’m correct he did insinuate at the end that he did develop (new) feelings for her, but Ga Gyung still went her own way. I’m not saying that I don’t respect that they remained separate, but I do admit I was kind of curious what would’ve happened if they did actually fall in love towards the end, if Ga Gyung ended up letting him in even though she would still disappear in the end. When his ridiculous car pulled up in the finale, I actually thought it would be him coming to get her one last time (although the revelation that it was the girls was also badass, of course).
In any case, in hindsight I do like to think Jin Woo went through a change, and it was really sweet what he did to help Ga Gyung and how he went along with the divorce, etcetera. I have to say I found him a bit hard to grasp because of the sudden change in his behavior, and I think it would’ve personally helped me to get a bit of insight into both his and Ga Gyung’s psyches to figure out what they were truly thinking about each other, because the fact that they both didn’t talk about their feelings didn’t make it very easy. Despite this, it was nice to see that Ga Gyung at least had Jin Woo on her side, and that he ultimately was willing to help her out in any way that he could, even if that meant going against the wishes of his own mother and the entire KU Group. It was cool of him to take a stand against his own family because he also saw that what they were trying to do was unethical.
I thought that all in all, this show did a really good job at making its characters think outside of the box and reflect on things that they’d gotten used to throughout their lives. It was very satisfying to see even a character like Jin Woo come to terms with what he believed was the right thing to do and to figure out where his real loyalties lay. In the end he was actually a pretty stand-up guy, he just acted on his sympathy for Ga Gyung a bit too late.
Now that I’ve covered all the main characters I’d like to briefly go over several important side characters, starting with the task force team at Barro which Ta Mi and Hyun are put in charge of. When Ta Mi leaves Unicon, she takes two people with her: fellow employee Choi Bong Gi (played by Woo Ji Hyun) and Jo Ah Ra (played by Oh Ah Yeon), who worked at the company cafeteria.
Ta Mi first meets Bong Gi in an elevator at Unicon, and quickly takes note of his personality and positive attitude. I liked their little interaction about how she asked about his “lover” because she couldn’t deduct whether he might be straight, bi or gay, after which he continued to use the word “lover” to indicate his partner, although their gender is never actually revealed. Again, just like with Hyun, I appreciated that they kept that open.
Bong Gi was a literal ball of sunshine, he was always in a good mood and knew how to appreciate everyone and everything. Although he doesn’t really get an arc or any solid backstory, he was a very pleasant supporting character who was on Ta Mi’s side from the start. I thought it was nice that Ta Mi, after the whole ordeal with the hearing and her exposing Unicon’s fabrication antics, at least had a support in Bong Gi. It was so sweet how before the hearing she was like “What lipstick should I wear, I wanna look f*cking badass” (loved that in itself) and afterwards, when everyone else judged her for what she did, Bong Gi came to see her to give her a thumbs up and tell her that she’d looked “f*cking amazing in that lipstick”. Those kind of interactions just proved that they were on the same wavelength and I loved how, when she got the job offer from Barro, Ta Mi immediately knew she wanted to bring Bong Gi along.
I also thought Ta Mi’s affection for Ah Ra was really sweet. Ah Ra used to work at Unicon’s cafeteria and was constantly looked down upon for being “just a coffee girl”. Ta Mi, on the other hand, took note of the fact that Ah Ra always had interesting things to say about business and politics, and she always went to see her to run things by her, because she always got inspired by her. I loved how she just invited her to come work with her at Barro and Ah Ra started screaming with joy, haha. It was nice to see their bond deepen as well. At some point, Ta Mi admitted that she often thought about Ah Ra and felt like coming to see her whenever she was struggling with something, and she does eventually call upon her in the middle of the night one time. Not only did Ah Ra come up with good ideas, working at Barro actually awakened her aptitude and passion for marketing, which she chose to focus on.
Both Bong Gi and Ah Ra were such loyal and sympathetic characters, I really liked their dynamic with Ta Mi and how they just followed her to Barro and fit right in with the rest of the team. I liked that Ah Ra got some more screentime as well, for example when getting patronized by that jerk of a webtoon artist and receiving that bag from Ta Mi (which was super sweet of her) helped her to ultimately find the confidence to come up with new marketing ideas during team meetings. It felt so gratifying when she came up with that public advertisement idea based off bus ads with Bong Gi, it was really nice to see her grow in the background even though the main focus of the story was on Ta Mi. The way the side characters were given attention without it distracting from the main story was really great.
Moving on to the Barro employees, I have to start with Brian. I loved Brian. Min Hong Joo aka Brian (played by Kwon Hae Hyo) was Barro’s CEO and also the one who brought Ta Mi on after seeing her on the hearing for Unicon’s fabricated search words. Although aware of Hyun’s disdain towards Ta Mi, he immediately feels like she’d be a good person to have on the team.
The great thing about Brian was that he had his heart in the right place and he didn’t get as easily persuaded by money and politics as others. He was super chill – sometimes almost too much so – and was mostly focused on creating a happy work environment whilst maintaining good quality of work. Although he agreed with Ta Mi most of the time, there were things he couldn’t approve of because it would affect the company negatively, and that was his biggest concern. I feel like he was a really good judge, both of character and of what would be the right thing to do in practice. Of course, no one liked to see him step down as CEO, but because he did it as a way of taking responsibility, that act in itself was very well-received and attributed to his good character. I loved his reaction to going through the 2500 signatures of people that petitioned him to come back. He had to come back of course, because KU Group was more than eager to take advantage of his absence and sign a deal with his temporary substitute. As I mentioned earlier, the scene in which he came back was one of my favorites. How Ta Mi and Hyun stopped the interim CEO by the entrance to obstruct him from signing the agreement with KU Group and Brian just appeared like, “Hey Kevin, thanks for keeping my seat warm but you don’t have to come to work anymore” and everyone was like “BRIAAAAN 😀😀😀”. That was so satisfying, I was actually sitting at my PC going “YESSSS BRIAN’S BACK LET’S GOOO 👊🏻👊🏻👊🏻”. They did such a great job at highlighting Brian’s absence as a sad one and hyping up his return, I was pulled right in, lol.
As for the other Barro members of the Service Care Task Force team, there’s Choi Jung Hoon aka Alex (played by Song Ji Ho) and Hong Yoo Jin aka Jenny (played by Ha Seung Ri).
I failed to mention this before, but Barro used an English name system where people addressed their colleagues by first names instead of job titles to create a more equal and friendly work environment. The CEO is called Brian, Hyun is called Scarlett, and after coming to Barro, Bong Gi becomes Joseph, Ah Ra becomes Ellie and Ta Mi stays true to her own name and becomes Tami, supposedly a variation on Tammy.
For Alex and Jenny, I feel more comfortable using their English names since that’s how their mostly referred to as throughout the show. I was actually really glad that we at least got a bit of story on both Alex and Jenny. I really liked that little arc in which Alex started doubting his position at the team after Ellie became more involved in marketing, which used to be his expertise. I thought it was a really nice addition to the story because it also became a lesson for Ta Mi to honestly tell him that she didn’t want him to leave and that she really appreciated his contribution and presence in the team. Once he opened up about his insecurities he really became a much more animated person, and he and Ellie started working together on marketing without any further issues.
Jenny was kind of an enigma, haha. I loved how she was introduced through the story of how she used her genius hacking skills to stop traffic so she could spend more time with her crush while waiting for the bus, lol. I initially thought she would be kind of a rigid character, but it was nice to see how quickly she warmed up to Ta Mi, so much so that she even went so far as to collect all the information on the person who fabricated her name as a search word, that was really cool of her.
I really appreciated the whole Service Care Task Force team, they worked so well together and created a really fun and safe space for Ta Mi to turn to. I liked how each of the employees contributed to Ta Mi’s character development as well, even through the tiniest of gestures.
Now that we’ve talked about the Barro team, I also want to briefly discuss the main people at Unicon. At the start of the story, the CEO at Unicon and Ga Gyung’s direct boss is Na In Gyung (played by Yoo Seo Jin). While she and Ga Gyung seem to be on well enough terms at first, In Gyung is under the direct orders of Chairwoman Jang and when Ga Gyung gradually starts rebelling against her mother-in-law, this also puts In Gyung in a difficult position. She becomes more and more greedy to keep her CEO position, but at some point even she can’t control Ga Gyung anymore, and ultimately she becomes the brunt of Ga Gyung’s disobedience. In the end, Ga Gyung is able to provide evidence of that In Gyung hired people with a debatable work history, and takes the CEO position from her. Although In Gyung initially holds a grudge, it seems that she comes to see clearly at some point, as it’s revealed that she provided Ga Gyung with all the necessary information to bring KU Group down.
I honestly didn’t really like In Gyung, but that had everything to do with how she just couldn’t bring up the courage to go against KU Group. She would’ve actually enabled really bad regulations for Unicon, which she was probably aware of, but she kept telling Ga Gyung to just grin and bear it. Although it was a cool revelation that she was the one who ended up helping her expose KU Group, it also came a bit out of nowhere for me since there hadn’t really been any prior hints of her loyalty leaning more towards Ga Gyung than to KU Group in the end. Still, it was nice that she eventually recognized the wrongs that KU Group was planning to pull, and maybe taking distance from Unicon helped her realize that, so I’m not complaining.
The final thing I will say about In Gyung is that her hair looked way better after she quit working. During her time at Unicon she always wore her hair in a super tight hairgel ponytail which wasn’t too flattering for her facial features in my brutally honest opion. But in the few short scenes of her and Ga Gyung during the exchange and the exposure of the KU Group information, the hairgel was gone and her hair looked much prettier and healthier. Sorry for the shallow comment, but that was my honest personal opinion, lol.
If I had to point out a main villain, I’d definitely say it was Ga Gyung’s mother-in-law and Chairwoman of KU Group, Jang Hee Eun (played by Ye Soo Jung). What I thought was really interesting was that, besides her work as the Chairwoman and going on trips with politicians and such to secure their loyalty and support, she was attributed some really curious hobbies. I actually thought it was cool that she was always doing something with her hands when Ga Gyung came to visit her, like painting or sculpting or even tattooing. If anything, it gave her even more of a gangster vibe seeing her sitting there doing her thing while discussing business, lol.
I don’t know what it was about her, but her calm only made her even more intimidating. I was definitely glad that Ga Gyung was able to get away from her unscathed in the end, as in, she didn’t actually get too threatening or anything, but I still thought they did a great job and creating that aura of power around her. I know I said that I didn’t mind that the main characters didn’t get as much backstory, and maybe it wouldn’t have been relevant, but I was definitely curious to learn a bit more about Jang Hee Eun’s psyche and how she became as crooked as she was. Seeing her views on how Ga Gyung should’ve kept behaving as a daughter-in-law it seemed like she still was quite old-school, especially since she got both Ga Gyung’s parents on her side with regards to her beliefs as well. While she initially seemed to see Ga Gyung as an easy-to-manipulate daughter-in-law (when she arranged their marriage she literally told Ga Gyung she’d become “the dog of KU Group”), but I did find it interesting when, as soon as Ga Gyung started rebelling, she suddenly started saying that she liked her and was willing to actually give her the CEO position and all that. In the end I couldn’t really pinpoint what her true feelings towards Ga Gyung were, although it did seem like she felt a lot of annoyance towards her, especially once she started acting up and talking back.
I definitely wouldn’t say Mrs. Jang was a “nice” character, but I still liked the vibe she gave off, especially since she looked like such a frail old woman. I think she was an intimidating enough opponent, and seeing what she put her daughter-in-law through I’m just all the more proud of Ga Gyung for breaking free from her grasp.
Moving on to side characters outside of the corporal rivalry, I’d like to talk a bit about Jung Da In (played by Han Ji Wan). I’ve already briefly mentioned her before, but she and Ta Mi meet when the latter offers to share her meal with her at a BBQ restaurant. Da In has just recently returned to Korea from studying piano in Germany, so she’s happy to make new friends. Besides agreeing to meet up to go out for meat every now and then, Da In also starts teaching Ta Mi how to play the piano – this is something Ta Mi suddenly wants to learn after hearing Mo Geon’s game music. While I initially thought it was nice that there were two separate characters in the show who happened to play the piano well, as soon as Da In said she was going to meet her first love on the same day that Mo Geon had his school reunion, I immediately made the connection. I thought it was pretty cool how they introduced Da In as a separate character first, before involving her in the main story like that.
Honestly, I liked Da In. She was a nice person and she didn’t do anything wrong by liking Mo Geon. I actually appreciated how upfront she was to Ta Mi when she found out Ta Mi had known that Mo Geon was the first love she’d been telling her about and never said anything. I also thought it was cool of her to still confess her feelings to Mo Geon and just gauged if there really was no chance for her, like, she was just true to her own feelings and I couldn’t hate her for that. Even after getting a bit upset with Ta Mi for keeping her in the dark about her relationship with Mo Geon, she still reflected and came back and apologized for everything she could apologize for. I agreed wholeheartedly when she said she couldn’t apologize for still having feelings for Mo Geon, because that is something you can’t help. It was just nice to see that, besides being a lovely and bright person, she was also mature enough to understand the situation and reflect on and apologize for whatever she could. I thought she was a nice supporting character, and as I said it was cool how she became further involved in the story, also in how Mo Geon asked her to play the piano instrumental for his music etcetera. I liked her, she was cool.
The last couple of side characters I want to mention, purely because they kept popping up throughout the story, are Pyo Joon Soo aka Matthew (played by Kim Nam Hee) and Yoon Dong Joo (played by Jo Hye Joo). Pyo Joon Soo worked at Barro, in the Games department. To be honest, I’m not sure if they were making games or producing/funding them or something, but they did have meetings with people like Mo Geon for the music and stuff, so I suppose they were involved with the production, at least.
Pyo Joon Soo is introduced when he suddenly appears next to Ta Mi and treats her VERY friendly. Ta Mi doesn’t recognize him at first but then realizes she dated him back in her twenties (I still can’t get over the fact she legit forgot about him 💀). In any case, it’s been a long time since they saw each other, he cheated on her back then, and so she’s not comfortable with him being so overfamiliar with her. Especially when she finds out he’s actually dating Hyun at that point, and all the more when he turns out to be dating yet another woman.
I’m not gonna lie, Pyo Joon Soo was pretty wild, lol. He just skipped through life and didn’t seem to feel any real remorse towards the women he was dating at the same time. It was funny when he got upset about working with Mo Geon after finding out he was dating Ta Mi. I initially thought they were going to bring Pyo Joon Soo in as a potential love rival or something, but I’m glad he was established as a clown from the get-go, lol. Also, was I the only one who realized they actually misspelled his name on his name plate at work? 🥲 It said Mattehw, lol. I kind of hoped they’d make a joke about it somewhere, but I guess it was a genuine typo and no one else noticed it😅.
Yoon Dong Joo was an influencer, or at least someone who livestreamed vlogs while doing all sorts of things, from visiting places and grocery shopping to mukbangs. Every so often she contributed to real-time search words as she boosted certain topics through her vlogs. She stirred up some drama when she posted an article online exposing her relationship with Pyo Joon Soo, in which she emphasized that SHE was his girlfriend first, NOT Hyun, and this sparked some ill feelings between the two. I love how Hyun called Ta Mi when she was going to meet Dong Joo face-to-face, like she knew she was going to need someone to hold her back, lol.
I honestly didn’t find Dong Joo a very sympathetic character, she really didn’t seem to care much about other people and her actions were slightly childish at times, but it was nice that they at least involved her in different parts of the story to keep her presence relevant. Overall, I can’t say the stories of Pyo Joon Soo and Dong Joo interested me that much, but they weren’t completely irrelevant characters and they still made their own fun contribution to the story.
I’m just going to give one final shoutout to Byun Woo Seok for his appearance as Han Min Gyu, the troubled idol that Ga Gyung got into a semi-scandal with. From what I gathered, Ga Gyung had acted as his “sponsor” before, with all the associated implications, and he at some point even attempted suicide. He appeared quite sporadically and I have to admit I wasn’t too invested in his story, but just as with Dong Joo I liked that they kept him as a recurring character in the story who also contributed to Ga Gyung’s character development. It reminded me of Cha Eun Woo’s role in The Best Hit, albeit significantly more minor. It was just nice seeing another familiar face, even among the more minor characters.
With that, I think I’ve mentioned everything I wanted to say about the characters that I wanted to mention. I’d now like to make some more general comments about things I liked about the show and get to some minor criticisms before moving on to my cast comments.
First of all, I thought the setting of the two rivaling companies was very interesting, and especially the focus on portal websites. I also love it when dramas feature a specific occupation or industry that you normally don’t stop to think about, so this was definitely a very unique choice. I can’t say exactly that I learned that much about how it all worked, and some explanations went straight over my head, but I did appreciate that it focussed on how equally important and stressful working on these portal websites is and how much influence search words have on modern society and politics.
Besides the rivalry in itself I also found the difference in work environments between Unicon and Barro very interesting. There was definitely a stark contrast between Unicon, with its traditional corporal vibe, and Barro, with its western-influenced naming system and open office spaces. I would definitely prefer to work at Barro based on how it was decorated alone, it looked so cool! I loved how the design of the office matched so well with the relaxed vibe of how the people interacted with each other and worked there. Everything about it screamed casual, fun, relaxed, whereas Unicon was much more of a traditional company with a regular hierarchy. Whereas Brian was super easy to approach and interacted with his staff on the same level, Unicon’s CEO was always on a different level than the regular employees and therefore treated differently as well. Corporal dramas can get a bit stuffy sometimes, so I always like it when the office space looks cozy enough to make me want to work there, lol.
Something else I picked up on throughout the show was that they occasionally used really cool and original cinematography and transitions between scenes. I always love it when they do something unique with the cinematography, because I know there can be a lot of symbolic meaning behind the choice of certain angles and shots. I honestly wished I’d made some GIFs because that would’ve made it easier to explain it, but some examples I can remember were a long pan shot to indicate time passing at the Barro task force office, the cinematic sequence of Ta Mi and Mo Geon spending their time after their breakup, and the rotating shots during Brian’s return and the reveal of the three women in the car in the final episode. I love, love, loved the moment when the roof of the “ridiculous car” opened up to reveal the three ladies as WOW by MAMAMOO started playing, that was such a cool moment.
As I mentioned earlier, there were a lot of moments where I was just squealing behind my PC because of cool moments, and the cinematography strongly contributed to my experience of these, so I just wanted to give that aspect a shoutout.
Finally, I thought it was really cool how the English title Search: WWW was derived from Ga Gyung’s final exposure of KU Group’s unethical business. She went on the news and encouraged to go to their portal website of choice and type in “www”, which led them straight to all the chat conversations and secret messages that revealed KU Group’s shady business, given to her by In Gyung after she had to step down from Unicon. This moment actually felt like a proper TITLE DROP HOO! moment, because it made way for a really satisfying ending. After that, I couldn’t agree more that this sentence by Ga Gyung became the title, both in Korean and English. Up to that point, I was inclined to think the “WWW” just stood for the World Wide Web, but this gave it yet another cool last-minute twist and I really liked that.
We’re approaching the end of this review, which means that I’ll only jot down some final criticisms before making my way on to the cast comments. I say criticisms, but they aren’t as much criticisms on the story or the quality of the show as comments on a couple of character responses that I didn’t really get or agree with. It didn’t take away from the rest of the show, that’s for sure, but I still wanted to mention them.
The first one has to do with the whole Pyo Joon Soo two-timing Hyun and Dong Joo and Ta Mi being aware of that. On the one hand, I guess it was a bit similar to how Ta Mi kept her mouth shut when she found out that Mo Geon was Da In’s first love and walking away instead of telling her “sorry, he’s my boyfriend”. On the other hand, the situation was quite different because at this point, Ta Mi wasn’t as close with Hyun yet, and she did actually tell Pyo Joon Soo to stay away from her. Anyways, I just found it very hard to believe that, when Hyun confronted Joon Soo and he let slip that he’d talked about it with Ta Mi, her first response was to go after Ta Mi for not telling her about it sooner. Like, the problem in this whole ordeal was clearly Pyo Joon Soo, why would she get angry at Ta Mi when they weren’t even that close yet? That made no sense to me. It made no sense to me that the girls, including Dong Joo, ended up fighting amongst themselves when it was Pyo Joon Soo who put them all in that situation in the first place. It would’ve been so much better if the three of them just ganged up on him from the start! Girls should stick together!
Coming back to the topic fo Ta Mi and Mo Geon’s relationship which I already teased before, I had difficulty understanding why Ta Mi kept sabotaging their relationship, and I felt like I was more on Mo Geon’s side than on hers. I feel like Ta Mi couldn’t stop worrying about the future while Mo Geon just wanted to enjoy the present with her without thinking too far ahead. Instead of having a nice time together and enjoying each other’s company in the here and now, Ta Mi kept bringing up the issue that he wanted to get married and she didn’t, and it was like she kept looking for excuses to break it off with him. Not because she didn’t love him (quite the opposite), but purely because she felt like she was holding him up while he could’ve been looking for a partner his own age who did have a marriage wish. No matter how many times Mo Geon told her he didn’t care about her age and that they didn’t need to think of deciding whether to marry or not, she really stood her ground on that.
At some point, Mo Geon said something along the lines of “There is just no present with you, because you only worry about the future”. I don’t remember the exact words, but I thought that was a really good way of phrasing it.
Besides Ta Mi’s consistent wavering in their relationship, another thing that bothered me was that I felt like she used Da In’s confession to him as an excuse to break things off with him. I mean, it’s not like she busted them cheating or anything, and she must’ve known that Mo Geon would reject Da In. I honestly thought Ta Mi was actually in the wrong here. She was the only one who knew that Da In was in love with Mo Geon. She realized she’d unknowingly encouraged her to chase after her own boyfriend, and still she actively chose not to do anything with that information. Sure, she quit her piano lessons out of unspoken consideration, but as Mo Geon also commented, she chose to walk away instead of butting into their conversation to say ‘back off, he is my boyfriend’, while that was exactly the kind of move Mo Geon would’ve wanted her to make.
I thought Mo Geon’s descriptions of her behavior were very accurate. It actually felt like, even without the Da In situation, Ta Mi would’ve found some other excuse to justify why their relationship wouldn’t last. Of course I’m glad that she did end up realizing how much she needed him in her life, but I really would’ve liked her to at least be carelessly happy in the moment while they were together instead of constantly doomthinking like “oh wait but he still wants to get married so it won’t last anyway”. It would’ve made their relationship more enjoyable to watch if it wasn’t for this cloud constantly hanging over them. It’s because of this that I ended up enjoying the relationship between Hyun and Ji Hwan more, because at least Hyun – despite also initially holding back – expressed her feelings very clearly when push came to shove. Ta Mi just kept her walls up the entire time, which made me feel for Mo Geon because he was literally head over heels with her and never made a big deal about their differences because he just enjoyed spending time with her. I guess I just couldn’t really understand why Ta Mi was so bent on sabotaging herself when she was literally living the dream: she had a really nice connection with a super cute, younger guy who was completely into her. Just enjoy what you have!
I’d say that’s it for my analysis, really! I’d like to start on my cast comments section now. It was really nice to see so many familiar and new faces in this show, and I definitely saw some new sides to actors I’d seen before, so that was exciting.
I’d seen Lim Soo Jung before in I’m Sorry, I Love You and Chicago Typewriter, and in the movie I’m a Cyborg, But That’s Okay. I know she does more movies than dramas, but it seems like she’s been doing more dramas recently, so that’s cool. I think this is the first time she really made a big impression on me. Her portrayal of Ta Mi was really nice, I loved how she could switch between the different layers of Ta Mi’s personality and portrayed both the tough badass side as the more emotional and vulnerable side. I also really liked her chemistry with Jang Ki Yong, especially since in real-life there’s a 13-year age difference between them! It didn’t look like that at all, to be honest, I thought they were very well-matched. I might actually check out her more recent dramas, I’m really excited to see her in more modern dramas since I’d only seen her in older stuff before. Anyways, I thought she was a really great choice for Ta Mi, she certainly embodied that confidence and she did looking f*cking badass with that lipstick (not to mention the Swarovski sunglasses😎. I hope I get to see more of her!
It’s funny because I mainly know Lee Da Hee as the host for variety shows like Road to Kingdom and a panellist for Single’s Inferno, but I haven’t actually seen that many dramas with her. Besides her appearance in one of my favorite shows, I Hear Your Voice, I’ve only seen her in The Beauty Inside. Welp, guess I can add a new favorite role of hers to my list! As I mentioned in my analysis of Hyun, she was my absolute favorite character. I will forever remember Lee Da Hee as Hyun now, she did such an amazing job. It was my first time seeing her portray such an expressive and versatile character who could go from kicking someone’s ass on the street to gross-sobbing over a drama series. She brought so much energy, so much effortless humor, and I’m delighted that I got to see her in this. She’s definitely rising in my list of favorite Korean people, I just love how this show and this character brought such an unexpected spunky side out of her and how she was so natural throughout the whole thing. I absolutely adored her in this, and I know I’ll see her in more. I can’t wait!
Apparently, Jeon Hye Jin was also in I’m Sorry, I Love You, but it’s been too long since I watched that – I only remember Lim Soo Jung from it since she was the main character. So yeah, besides, that I didn’t actually know Jeon Hye Jin from anything else, and it was cool to see an unfamiliar face shine among so much familiar ones. I really liked her portrayal of Ga Gyung, she emitted such an enigmatic energy that I just wanted to take a peak inside her head to see what she was thinking. I think she did a great job at suppressing her emotions as Ga Gyung, like it was actually nice when there was a tiny smile here and then, but other than that she kept everything she felt strictly to herself, not only from the other characters but also from the viewers. Even we are left guessing as to what her next move would be, and that was actually quite genius. I liked that there was at least one main character to keep my on my toes, and it was all the more satisfying when they all drove off together in the end, finally free. I thought her portrayal of Ga Gyung was very impressive, because you could just feel the silent rage bubbling under her stoic demeanor sometimes and that made her very unpredictable. I thought she did great. Now I wonder if I’ll ever see her in anything where she’s suddenly super smiley and bubbly, because that’ll take some getting used to, haha. I’m curious to see different sides of her acting now that I’ve seen her stoic side, though!
I’ve seen Jang Ki Yong in a bunch of shows before, such as Surplus Princess, The Liar and His Lover, Go Back Couple, My Mister and Come and Hug Me. I think this might have been the first time I’ve seen him play a flirty/seductive role, but I can honestly say he pulled it off very well. He definitely made me swoon (again, that pantry kiss scene😩)! He just has something over him that’s effortlessly confident, not in a dominating or toxic masculinity way, but in an actual smooth way, lol. I really liked what he brought to Mo Geon, he got to show a variety of emotions and as I said I really liked his chemistry with Lim Soo Jung. It looked like they were actually comfortable with each other, despite being 13 years apart, and I can imagine that isn’t always an easy thing to pull off, even as professional actors. It was nice seeing an unexpected cheeky side to his acting, he really portrayed Mo Geon’s youthfulness and maturity very well. He’s such a consistently good actor who always delivers, so I was glad to see him in this and look forward to watching more of his shows.
I didn’t even know Lee Jae Wook was in this until I saw the introductory section! At first I legit thought he would just appear as a character in the TV show, but I’m glad they made him an actual person, lol. I’ve seen Lee Jae Wook before in Extraordinary You and Alchemy of Souls, and after the latter he really stole my heart. Now I am happy to see him in anything, whether it’s as a jerk or a puppy – and in this show, he got to play both!😆 It was actually really nice seeing him as such a smiley guy because he does tend to have a bit of an RBF, lol. I thought his chemistry with Lee Da Hee was super sweet, and the romance between Hyun and Ji Hwan was my favorite out of the whole show. Honestly, he was such a cutie patootie as Ji Hwan, and I loved how he got to show off his versatility through his portrayal of that awful drama male lead. I honestly couldn’t when he got slapped with seaweed, and when he went “You can’t be pregnant! I’m infertile!” with that super serious expression on his face🤣🤣. He did an awesome job, I really hope I get to see him in more dramas after this, I love seeing new sides of his acting!
Apparently, Ji Seung Hyun appeared in Descendants of the Sun, but I don’t remember him from there. He’s also in a bunch of shows that’s still on my to watch list. In any case, while watching this I didn’t think I recognized him from anything else. It’s funny how the couples are matched like this, with him and Jeon Hye Jin being the only main actors I didn’t know before. I thought they were very well-matched in energy, and I even admit getting a little excited when Jin Woo suddenly started acting so caring towards Ga Gyung and holding her close. I loved the scene where he comforted her when she started crying after signing the divorce papers. I would’ve liked to know a bit more about their relationship as a married couple though, because despite the fact that they were clearly never affectionate or intimate with each other, there still seemed to be some kind of empathy between the two of them. Ga Gyung even admitted that he wasn’t one of the reasons why she wanted a divorce, so despite his neglect of her he must have at least shown her some kind of sympathy during their marriage. I liked that he became a bit more emotive and expressive throughout, to the point where I actually wanted to root for him to win Ga Gyung over, lol. In any case, it was nice to see him switch between a seemingly distant husband to a supportive friend to Ga Gyung, and I liked the silent chemistry that existed between them.
I’ve seen Kwon Hae Hyo before in Lie to Me and Jealousy Incarnate, and although I can’t remember him exactly from those shows, his face was definitely familiar to me. I really loved him as Brian. He brought just the right energy to the Barro team, and I loved his dynamic with Ta Mi and Hyun, like they were his rowdy daughters or something, lol. It was cool to see how he switched between the relaxed, jovial co-worker and the serious, more responsible CEO. If only every CEO could be like Brian, that would make the corporal world a much better place. I really enjoyed his performance, he made such a great impression on me in this show that now I’m looking forward to seeing him act in something else. Great casting choice. He didn’t even do that much and still managed to invoke such sympathy that I was actually ready to sign that petition for his return along with the other 2500 people, haha. He was the best.
I was getting confused when searching on MyDramaList because I was sure that I recognized Ye Soo Jung from something but couldn’t find anything I watched that she appeared in – and then I got to Specials and realized she was Sister Sabina in the SF8 episode The Prayer! I keep forgetting MDL lists SF8 as a special rather than an actual drama. Anyways, I definitely remember Ye Soo Jung from that! It was really cool to see her portray Chairwoman Jang, I wouldn’t have guessed she would be able to exude such an intimidating energy from tattooing, lol. I thought she made a formidable villain character, especially because of her consistent calmness. She already managed to make me feel uneasy with just one stern look, and that’s impressive. As I said, it would’ve been nice to get a little bit more backstory on Mrs. Jang, or at least just a hint of humanity to redeem her, but on the other hand it wasn’t really needed because all that mattered was that she continued to be crooked, even after Ga Gyung exposed her shadiness to the world. I thought she did a great job at portraying her as this frail-looking yet intimidating and calculating business lady.
I’m going to leave it here for the cast comments. I know I discussed way more characters in my analysis, but I simply don’t have much to add to what I’ve already mentioned about the supporting actors. I generally liked everyone’s performance a lot, the casting was great and everyone brought a really exciting energy to the show in their own way. I hope I get to see the actors I didn’t know yet in more dramas in the (near) future so I can build on my references.
And with that, we have reached the end of this review! I kind of bulldozered on today because I didn’t want to take more than two days to finish this. The story is pretty straightforward, there’s plenty of interesting events and not a dull moment in the character and romantic developments, so I had a really good time watching it. I’m not even lying when I say this one is going into my favorites list, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I really like that shows like this exist which despite not having even been promoted that much (as far as I know) still turn out to be actual gemstones. From the music to the cinematography to the acting, the setting, the story and the characters, I was properly pulled in and I wasn’t disappointed. I am so glad I put this on my last after that Mo Geon thirst clip🤣. I really had a great time watching this.
Having said that, I am very much looking forward to my next watch and I’ll try to upload another review next month.
Until then, bye-bee! x
