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.
Risky Romance
( 사생결단 로맨스 / Sasaenggyeoldan Romaenseu / A Life-or-Death Romance)
MyDramaList rating: 6.0/10
Hey hey, hope everyone’s enjoying their summer as much as I am! I’m here to bring you a new review for a golden oldie. To introduce this one, I actually have to share a story. This has never happened before, but after finishing Kujaku, my Spin-the-Wheel app picked out two shows in a row that weren’t available to watch anywhere. Both had been on my list for a long time, so that kind of threw me off and I ended up removing them from my list altogether – I would’ve had to go through a lot of trouble to access them, and after rereading their summaries I decided I might as well not bother. Again, this has never happened before, and it actually bummed me out so much that I didn’t even start out as enthusiastically on this show as I would have if I could’ve just proceeded with my list per usual. So yeah, this show right here was kind of a “third time’s the charm” case, and although the English subtitles on KissKH were pretty sloppy, I was able to watch it in full in an okay manner. There you go, a little behind-the-scenes from my side, now let’s get to this review!
Risky Romance is an MBC K-Drama that you can either watch in 32 back-to-back episodes of 35 minutes, or 16 episodes of about an our each. I watched it in the latter format on KissKH. I couldn’t find it anywhere else, and although the English subtitles left a lot to be desired, it was watchable. The story revolves around two doctors at the Darin Medical Center, neurosurgeon Han Seung Joo (played by Ji Hyun Woo) and endocrinologist Joo In Ah (played by Lee Shi Yeong).
A year prior to the story, Seung Joo lost his best friend Choi Han Sung (Kim Heung Soo) in a catastrophic traffic accident. Han Sung had been hung up on a girl who kept playing him, and he got into an accident on his motorcycle while he was drunk-driving to go see her. Seung Joo, who was following him in his car, also got involved in the accident, and sustained a head injury. The trauma of losing his best friend caused him to lose all empathy for the people around him, who at some point even started calling him a psycho, since he seemingly lost any sense of compassion. Fuelling this apathy is the hatred towards the girl who did this to Han Sung, and Seung Joo is determined to make her life a living hell. After finding a girl’s picture in Han Sung’s old room, he assumes this must be her and fixates on his target: Joo In Ah, who happens to work at the same hospital as him.
Just to give a short explanation of an endocrinologist (since I hadn’t heard of it before, either): endocrinology is the medicinal study of hormones. It might seem like quite a niche field compared to neurology, but I actually found it very interesting to learn that factors such as stress and even love, as it causes certain tensions in the brain, can have a significant impact on someone’s physical health. I’m not informed enough to determine whether the cases depicted in this show are truly based on facts (like, if the sensation of love can actually cause someone’s brain injury to worsen), but I thought it was an interesting and original field of medicine to focus on.
Anyways, Joo In Ah is an endocrinologist who is positively obsessed with hormones – I did find it a bit typical at first when she even went so far as to sing along to BTS’ War of Hormone, lol. Incidentally, her interest in the subject is also what initially ignites a professional interest in Seung Joo: she’s convinced that his behavior must be caused by some sort of hormonal imbalance. This turns out to be true, by the way, as his testosterone levels are quite literally off the charts. However, she keeps failing at getting him to agree to a blood test. A little more backstory on In Ah: I’m not sure if her biological parents died or abandoned her, but she grew up in an orphanage before eventually getting adopted into the Joo family. Here, she became an older sister to Joo Se Ra (played by Yoon Joo Hee), who at some point started feeling kind of inferior to her. Unfortunately, their parents passed away in a tragic car accident and because In Ah was with them when it happened, Se Ra has always resented her and even blamed her for their deaths. In present time, In Ah is staying with Se Ra at their parents’ home, even though Se Ra really dislikes it. While In Ah works at the hospital, Se Ra is going around trying to get reporter jobs here and there, and is eventually (beit unfairly) assigned as the standard reporter for Darin Medical Center.
And then we have the second male lead, Cha Jae Hwan (played by Kim In Yeop), the son of Darin’s director Cha Jung Tae (Jeon Noh Min). Since his and Seung Joo’s father used to be work partners and best friends, Jae Hwan grew up on friendly terms with Seung Joo and also became a neurosurgeon. He starts working at Darin some episodes in and quickly becomes friends with and develops feelings for In Ah.
To sum up the story: Seung Joo assumes that In Ah is the (ex-)girlfriend that led Han Sung to his death, but when he starts tormenting her he gradually realizes she’s actually a really good and genuine person, and he falls in love with her. As he does, the brain injury he sustained in the accident starts acting up again because of his hormonal imbalance. Amidst these developments, a lot of other secrets come out in one way or another as well, and it’ll be up to the leads to resolve everything to get their happy ending.
Before I start on my character analysis, I just want to get a couple of things out the way. First of all, I know I’ve already mentioned the sloppy subtitles, but I want to make a point of it because I’ve never seen such amateuristic English subtitles for a K-Drama before and I was honestly taken aback by it. Not only were the sentences incomplete and grammatically incorrect (I’ve only ever seen this level of English in Chinese series, not Korean ones), the subtitler even thought it was acceptable to add in notes such as “I’m not sure what he’s saying”, “She says something else”, “Can’t make it out”, “Incomplete translation, sorry”. Like, the fact that this wasn’t checked by KissKH before uploading is honestly baffling to me. What’s more, despite not being able to transcribe half of the series, the subtitler had the audacity to add their own comments and jokes, and even explanations for things that were clear enough to begin with. This is the first time I actually got annoyed at the subtitles. I’m honestly not sure why they let this person translate it at all, if they couldn’t make out so much of it. As someone who can’t follow K-Dramas without English subtitles, it really doesn’t help having to read “I’m not sure what he’s saying” over and over again. It would’ve been better to omit the whole unclear part, because then I wouldn’t know what I was missing, anyway. They only made it worse by pointing out that they skipped over and fumbled half of the subtitles. Maybe it’s because I’m a part-time subtitler myself, but this really pissed me off and I just wanted to make a notion of it. Here are just a couple of examples (keep in mind that this was the case for at least half of the series):
Yes, I’m calling them out for it. Sorry not sorry. I know it’s fan subs, but it should still have decent quality.
On a more positive note, I quite liked the wordpun in the original title. It’s called ‘Risky Romance’ in English, but in Korean it translates to something like ‘a life-or-death romance’ and I thought that was very fitting, as it directly referred to the story element that Seung Joo’s love for In Ah ultimately starts endangering his life. Maybe the original title sounded a bit too intimidating in English and that’s why they went for ‘risky’, although that generalizes it a little bit in my opinion. Anyways, it was cool that the title at least had a clear connection to the story, rather than just referring to the fact that having a romance at a hospital could be ‘risky’, lol.
Lastly, as both a general remark and a note to myself: please keep in mind that this is a K-Drama from 2018. We’ve come a long way in terms of storywriting and tropes, and I can’t deny that elements such as lacking communication and exaggerated love rivalries have become a bit tedious to me. I just want to make a disclaimer that I’ll be voicing a lot of frustrations on this show that stem from my current perspective in 2026, having seen how much K-Dramas have progressed in quality. It is what it is, of course. I’m very aware that the tropes depicted in this drama were the trend at the time, but I’m not going to hold back on what I felt as I was watching it. Please bear with me. Sorry if this sounds super serious – I promise there were also things that I liked about it – but I want to be able to voice all my criticisms without restraint. That’s what I’m doing this for in the first place.
Okay, let’s start this analysis with Joo In Ah, as I have more positive things to say about her than about most of the other characters, lol. I liked that she was revealed to have been adopted, because I thought that was quite a unique addition to her character. Looking at the narrative, they could’ve also made her Se Ra’s biological sister and retained the dynamic between them, but I guess the fact that she was adopted made it a bit easier for Se Ra to hate her? I’m not sure. Anyways, as we basically learn from the start, In Ah doesn’t have a single bad bone in her. Looking at her genuine passion for hormonal studies and the way she treats people, it’s clear that she’s a good person. To a fault, even. Although I didn’t really like that she became a martyr (in the sense that she absorbed everyone’s bad treatment of her as something she actually deserved), I did like that she never became a pushover. There were so many scenes that made me go ‘YESS GIRL’. I loved that she quit the hospital for herself, and not because she was bullied out of it – I mean, she kind of was, but she made the decision to leave herself. It was honestly the healthiest thing to do because her work environment was so freaking toxic at that point. I also loved that she kept confronting Seung Joo when he refused to talk to her. At least she made an effort to communicate. Seeing her be so gosh darn genuine to everyone around her really gave me Candy Candy vibes: she was an exceptionally pure person who somehow attracted everyone’s attention in the worst ways possible. Seriously, why was everyone out to get this woman when she was just trying to live her life and be a good doctor and sister? Sure, there were times when her goodness changed into unbearable naivety – I still can’t believe she didn’t even realize how much Se Ra hated her and even took her side over Seung Joo at some point – but the most important thing to me was that she was the only person who was kept in the dark about everything. About the reasons why Seung Joo initially treated her like trash and Se Ra was trying to ruin her life. Everyone knew, even Jae Hwan, and NO ONE told her. She was the last one to find out and took it the hardest, and that was really painful to watch. I’ll say it again: In Ah was the biggest victim in all of this.
Having said that, there are a couple of things that I want to point out in terms of grievances. As much as I loved her as a character, the whole ‘seeing only the good in people’ did reach its limit at some point. Although I understand that she loved her sister and automatically assumed the same from Se Ra, the fact that she couldn’t see her for what she was made me think she never took Se Ra’s behavior towards her seriously. I guess she always just brushed it off as her being stubborn, or something. I mentioned it before, but it was actually WILD to me that she ended up taking Se Ra’s side over Seung Joo’s when he was desperately trying to apologize and win her back. I can only chalk that up to her being blinded by sisterly love, but in the moment it felt so freaking naive of her, even a bit dumb, to be crude. As noble as it was of her to bear with Se Ra’s behavior and take the blame for their parents’ death to protect her, it really wasn’t worth it.
I guess that’s really the only thing that bothered me about In Ah, her tendency to make herself a martyr. Even though there were enough moments when she stood up for herself and called other people out, the habit of taking other people’s reasons for hating her to heart and blaming herself for them was really unnecessary. I remember her finding out that Seung Joo and Han Sung had been friends and it was her first instinct to apologize to Seung Joo because it must have been so hard on him. Girl, you do realize that, as much as that traumatized him, there was never any need for him to take it out on you like that, right? She was literally the last person to find out that Han Sung died, she didn’t even know that much, and to top it all up she had to find out THROUGH A PATIENT, not even because Seung Joo owned up to it. She had to find out her first love died via-via and that everyone except her knew about it, and still she went to cater to the sadness of other people. This woman was too pure for her own good.
Just as a side note, this show had a knack for revealing truths in the worst way possible. There were a couple of things that I was really looking forward to, such as seeing Seung Joo’s face when he found out he’d been tormenting the wrong woman and having Se Ra find out that her parents died while searching for her and that In Ah had always protected her from that truth, but when these things were finally revealed, it just didn’t have the impact I wish it would have. The timing would be off, they would find out through someone else, etc. When Jae Hwan found out who Han Sung’s (ex-)girlfriend had actually been, I even made a game of saying: “or you know, you could tell the truth?” “hey, today’s a good day to tell the truth” whenever he appeared on screen, lol.
I kind of wished Seung Joo would’ve found out that In Ah was innocent BEFORE he developed feelings for her. It kind of defeated the purpose a bit that he’d already accepted his feelings for her thinking she was involved, because in this case, finding out she was innocent should’ve been a happy bonus. I didn’t like the way he found out coincidentally by himself before Jae Hwan could tell him. As I said, I would’ve liked to see his reaction upon realizing what a jerk he’d been BEFORE he’d start treating In Ah better. Now it just didn’t feel as satisfying. Same for the thing with Se Ra. After In Ah told Seung Joo that her parents had died while searching for Se Ra when she ran away from home and she’d just taken Se Ra’s resentment because she didn’t want to burden her with that truth, Seung Joo had every opportunity to reveal this to Se Ra. Honestly, with the way she was acting, I was actually encouraging him to just drop the bomb on her, because it would make her realize that her hatred and treatment of In Ah had been misplaced as well. Instead, he only dropped it on her in the very last episode, when he and In Ah were on odd terms because he was kind of pushing-and-pulling her and Se Ra didn’t even take it seriously. So yeah, I feel like there were a lot of truth bombs that could’ve been dropped in a much more satisfying way.
The same thing went for the revelations. I don’t know about you, but I already clocked that Se Ra was the flaky ex-girlfriend by episode TWO. It was really predictable, just like the fact that Seung Joo would survive that less-than-5%-success-rate surgery in the final episode. They just casually revealed him during that athletic meet and I was like: ‘oh sorry, was this supposed to be a mindblowing “HE SURVIVED?!” moment?’ Because it wasn’t. We all knew he was going to survive. The huge fuss about his surgery and the fact that he pushed In Ah away because he didn’t want her to feel guilty about his possible death, was purely for drama purposes. It’s how these things go. I’ve watched these shows before. Anyways, it just felt like they kept missing the mark on the right and most impactful timing for their plot twists and big revelations, and that was a pity.
Let’s move on to Han Seung Joo. Don’t get me wrong, he did grow on me as he started going soft for In Ah, but the first five episodes were pure RAGE BAIT where he was concerned. The way he and In Ah started out actually took me back to the leads from Road to Rebirth, which is possibly the worst pairing to be compared to. I’m not even exaggerating when I say that Seung Joo started out as the least likable male lead I’ve ever seen. He just assumed something about someone based on ONE photo he found without fact-checking a single thing (additional flashbacks to Fates and Furies, or as I like to call it: ‘Frustrations and Furies’), and just started ruining that person’s life without even explaining himself. Heck, he even got In Ah FIRED from the hospital and reacted to it with a smug: ‘Game. Over.’ like it was a freaking GAME to him. He accused her of every single random thing and kept bothering and blackmailing her, and still had the audacity to say that SHE ruined HIS life. He literally saw someone record a video of him when he was threatening a client, and still blamed In Ah for it because she happened to be standing next to that person. He acted like a delusional, unreasonable manchild. Just within the first five episodes, it already became so unbearable that I was counting down to when he would find out that In Ah was innocent. Honestly, from how he was introduced I couldn’t even fathom how the writers would push him and In Ah together. Granted, they did a better job at it than in Road to Rebirth, where I didn’t feel the leads’ romantic chemistry to the very end. Making you hate a lead character so much and then ‘redeeming’ them by pushing the leads together whilst never properly acknowledging their past behavior just isn’t the way to go. I’m glad this show at least did a better job of creating a genuine connection between its leads, despite their ‘rocky’ start, to put it mildly.
Still, as glad as I was that Seung Joo finally started acting normal and softened towards In Ah halfway through, I found it hard to pinpoint what exactly made him change. It’s not like his feelings changed because he found out his grudge against In Ah was misplaced. It was like he suddenly just ran out of reasons to treat her like trash and allowed himself to see her for the good person that she was, without immediately interpreting every single thing she did and said as something malicious. Of course I welcomed the fact that he folded, but it still felt like a very sudden switch. He basically went from lashing out at her one minute to acting all tender the next. I couldn’t really pinpoint when or why his feelings for her started changing, all the more because he hadn’t gotten closure about her involvement in Han Sung’s death yet. It would’ve made sense if he found out she was innocent and then started seeing her in a new light while feeling sorry about the way he treated her, but now he already started liking her when he still thought she’d been connected to Han Sung. That made the revelation that the girl he’d been resenting was actually Se Ra feel a bit anti-climactic, because it didn’t become a defining twist in any way. His growing feelings for In Ah had already started making him feel guilty of how he’d treated her, and this only amplified that a bit, nothing more.
And of course, just when I was happy that the show succeeded in making me root for the main couple and I thought we were finally over the drama… THEY STILL ADDED MY LEAST FAVORITE TROPE IN THE VERY LAST EPISODE. They STILL made Seung Joo push In Ah away once he found out his love for her was threatening his life. Even when In Ah literally BEGGED him to talk to and rely on her and not keep everything to himself, he just nodded and GHOSTED HER ANYWAY. My goodness. After everything they’d been through, they still broke them apart in the FINAL EPISODE. It sucked even more because In Ah was literally the person who had warned him about his condition in the very beginning. She’d been looking out for him because she was worried that falling in love might cause him more pain. Telling her would’ve been the respectful thing to do, and she would’ve actually been able to help him look for a solution, you know, as FELLOW DOCTORS. I really didn’t like that. Even though it all turned out fine in the end, that additional piece of drama in literally the last hour of the series was just infuriating.
All in all, I’d say I had mixed feelings about Seung Joo throughout. While it was nice to see him become affectionate towards In Ah, the fact that he was able to push her away and treat her coldly again so easily, even after being intimate with her, never left my mind. I wish he could’ve just been his original kind self from the start, because I loved the way he used to be. I loved how persistent he was in pursuing In Ah as soon as he’d established his feelings for her. The fact that he came to her clinic and tried to convey his love for her as a patient, being all: ‘if you can’t reciprocate my feelings, then cure me from this unrequited love, doctor’ was actually kind of cute, lol. Their kissing scenes were very good (except for that first one, that was the biggest dick move ever), and they had really nice chemistry, so it was almost a pity that they couldn’t have been that way for the majority of the show.
As messy as Seung Joo was, his parents were absolutely lovely. His mom and dad (who for some reason aren’t credited ANYWHERE, not even in the actual ending credits) were really nice people. When they were first introduced I even remember thinking: ‘how could Seung Joo have possibly come from these people’. Han Sang Do, Seung Joo’s father, used to be co-director at Darin with Jae Hwan’s father Cha Jung Tae, but after burning his hand in a fire accident, he quit being a surgeon and retreated to an island to start a local clinic. The reason why I’m shocked that he’s not credited anywhere is because he had a fairly significant role – even the truth about the fire accident became an issue in the second-to-last episode. Not gonna lie, I even asked AI to look up the actor for me, and even when it finally admitted that there was a character called Han Sang Do in the series, it still gave me the wrong actor. Anyways, I just wanted to mention that I really appreciated Seung Joo’s parents, they were really wholesome.
Moving on to Jae Hwan, our second male lead. When he was first introduced, I really liked him. He oddly reminded me of the second male lead from Love til the End of Summer, with the kind of puppy dog vibe he gave off. I also loved how quickly he grew attached to In Ah. His petty side only started coming out when he became jealous of her relationship with Seung Joo, and that’s when his character started getting wobbly, in my opinion. Besides my frustration regarding his choice to keep the truth about Han Sung’s girlfriend from Seung Joo because he didn’t want to encourage his feelings for In Ah, there were a couple of scenes where I was genuinely baffled by how dense he was. I guess it was more disappointing to me because I wanted him to be better. I wanted him to be more upfront, transparant and observing, because that’s the kind of person I chalked him up to be from the moment he was introduced. As a result, I kept getting disappointed. For someone who claimed to care so much about In Ah, he really did her dirty. He kept all the things from her that she deserved to know more than anyone, and I believe he also even got away with it, which didn’t sit right with me.
First of all, he kept the truth about Han Sung’s girlfriend, and consequently the reason why Seung Joo had it out for In Ah, to himself because he feared that revealing it would cause Seung Joo and In Ah to grow closer. How freaking selfish can you get? He literally wasn’t even involved in Han Sung’s case, he just started investigating it by himself, and then kept the truth from both of them. What also pissed me off was that he actually went on to blab about his findings to SE RA, of all people, when he didn’t even know her that well. He should’ve already been suspicious of her at that point, and even more after seeing her grab In Ah’s bag and heard her yell about how she got it from her ‘boyfriend’. I just couldn’t believe he told her about how he was tracking down Han Sung’s phone and didn’t even suspect anything when she started asking very specific questions about which exact repair shop he was taking it to. Seriously, dude. This denseness came back in the end when he was trying to find out who had posted the incriminating footage of his dad during the fire accident that had incapacitated Han Sang Do. I can’t believe NO ONE even THOUGHT about Park Il Won, even though he was the only other person who claimed to have inside info about the incident and even threatened Jae Hwan and his dad to use that knowledge against them in their race to become the next Global Head of the hospital. The way Jae Hwan just came into Park’s office and asked him ‘if he knew who did it’, made me facepalm so hard. He really stumbled through those investigations in a way I hadn’t expected, and it didn’t particularly make me see him in a better light.
It’s a pity that his expression throughout the second half of the show was consistently ‘😠’. In the fun and casual scenes, he was a really nice guy and I’m glad that he at least stuck by In Ah’s side through everything. I was scared that he would team up with Se Ra for a moment, but luckily he didn’t do exactly as she wanted. I did wonder about their dynamic though, because at some point it even seemed like the writers were pushing Jae Hwan and Se Ra together and I was like ‘nonononono’. I’m glad that didn’t go through, I was troubled enough by the fact they became even slightly friendly with each other.
So yeah, even though Jae Hwan definitely wasn’t a bad person, I feel like the events in this series brought out a less than favorable side of him. I really wished I would’ve liked him more, because he could’ve been an awesome ally to both the main leads. It’s a pity that he let his own greed get in the way at times when he should’ve been righteous.
By the way, am I the only one who was kind of confused by the relationship between Jae Hwan and his dad? Apparently Jung Tae had been really tough on Jae Hwan as a kid, so much so that it actually lowkey traumatized his son. The fact that his father’s voice was enough to completely frazzle him during an important surgery, to the point of actually messing up, said enough. I just want to ask: why did Darin keep referring to Seung Joo and Jae Hwan as their best neurosurgeons, when they were both so traumatized that they couldn’t even finish a routine surgery anymore at some point? Everyone in that hospital needed to get a freaking grip, istg.
I couldn’t tell if Jae Hwan wanted to prove himself to his dad or show him how much he hurt him, but it didn’t feel like either of these options played out well. While he did end up proving his father’s innocence in the fire accident, he also suspected him. After all that, I couldn’t help but feel confused when they ended up talking about how they thought the world of each other in the end. I just couldn’t really pinpoint where they stood.
Although I did predict that Jung Tae was innocent, I kept wondering why he never just gave a straight answer about the fire accident. If he would’ve just said: “It was an accident, but now someone is using it against me to frame me”, things would’ve been resolved much more quickly. It was a bit annoying that this had to become yet another dramatic issue to be resolved in the second-to-last episode, together with Seung Joo’s decision to act out my most hated trope in existence.
Speaking of the fire accident, that was also pretty confusing to me. At some point, it’s suggested that Jung Tae caused the fire in Sang Do’s office to rob him of the opportunity to operate on the hospital’s Chairman (a surprisingly delightful guest role by Yoon Joo Sang). Then, we are shown a flashback that suggests that it was an accident and Jung Tae accidentally knocked over something that lit on fire whilst searching for Sang Do in his office. First of all, I don’t even know what the thing was that he knocked over, but if it wasn’t already weird enough that there was a thing that would light on fire so easily in an office full of paperwork, it was even weirder that it seemed to light on by itself. In any case, this would at least suggest that it was an accident, but then it was strange that Jung Tae didn’t just say so. Whenever Jae Hwan and Seung Joo started asking him about it, he just gave evasive answers like: “Why, do you think I did it?” and “Where did you get this information?” In the second to last episode, we find out that Park Il Won (Son Jong Beom), the vice director, was the one who ignited the fire (by accident) when he was stealing Sang Do’s preparations for the chairman’s surgery, allegedly to help Jung Tae. So that flashback we saw earlier wasn’t even a real replay of what happened, and Park had edited the camera footage to clip himself out of it so it only showed Jung Tae leaving Sang Do’s office during the fire. Why would he threaten the Cha’s with that accident when it would risk his own involvement to come out? It really didn’t make sense to me. Even if it was just going to be an accident, there was no need to beat around the bush so much – at least make it make sense.
Lastly, let me talk a bit more about Se Ra. As I already mentioned before, I did not deem her worthy of any redemption to the very end. She had been a bitter and selfish person from the get-go, and I doubt she would’ve been different if she’d known her accusations towards In Ah with regards to her parents’ deaths were misplaced. She’d been jealous of her even before they died. Even that final revelation that she’d been wanting to become a doctor like her parents didn’t have the intended effect on me, because it just came too late in the day. It kind of reminded of how in My Demon they kept adding dramatic revelations in the final episode that didn’t even really matter anymore at that point.
Se Ra had been treating In Ah unfavorably her entire adult life. She blamed her for their parents’ deaths and took everything and everyone (including Han Sung) away from her, just to spite her. She didn’t even care about those things and she never even loved Han Sung, she just seduced him to hurt In Ah. She made herself so unlikable that I actually started encouraging Seung Joo to drop the truth bomb that her parents had died while looking for her. It wouldn’t have been fair, because it still didn’t mean that Se Ra was to blame for their deaths, but it was just so annoying to know that her treatment of In Ah had been just as misplaced as Seung Joo’s initial accusations towards her. I actually relished in In Ah’s and Seung Joo’s speeches to her, because it was so satisfying to hear my thoughts being spoken out loud. That’s one thing I occasionally appreciated about Seung Joo, he definitely knew how to call someone out on their BS. It was kind of cathartic to see Se Ra get all white in the face when confronted with all her messed up personality issues.
As a matter of fact, I was kind of puzzled whenever they made Se Ra look like a nice person, for example in how she helped cheer up Jae Hwan after stuff happened with his dad. That just made me go: ‘sorry, are we supposed to like her now, all of a sudden?’ If you’re going to create a spiteful character, you might as well stick with it. They really only made her change her ways in the final episode, after making her watch a video her mother recorded twenty years earlier. After everything she did, even hiring a friend to pose as a reporter to publicly bash In Ah’s clinic in the very last episode, all that was needed to set her straight was one confirmation from her mom that she had always loved her just as much as In Ah. Just, wow.
I can’t remember the last time I watched a show where I felt so mid about almost all the main characters. Even though there was a clear story and they managed to wrap up all the misunderstandings and secrets, I still feel dissatisfied with the way they ended things, like how I mentioned before that they revealed all the truths in ways that just didn’t quite hit the spot. Apart from this, there were also a couple of other scenes that bothered me in terms of writing and continuation.
First of all, that scene where they let a celebrity die on the operating table. That was pure and utter BS. Let me go through this step by step. Towards the end of the surgery, Jae Hwan – who is outside the ER – realizes that the patient was given some sort of aspirin before undergoing the operation, which would negatively affect the surgery. He rushes back to the ER and calls into the room. A nurse answers and Jae Hwan urgently asks to speak to Seung Joo. The nurse says she can’t put him through because he’s focussing on the surgery. That’s when things go awry, the effect of the aspirin starts kicking in and Seung Joo completely freezes, not knowing what to do or what went wrong. The whole thing goes from bad to worse, and what does Jae Hwan do? He just STANDS there, looking through the window, doing NOTHING. He doesn’t even tell the nurse what he found out so she can convey it to Seung Joo. He just watches it happen. You’d think it would’ve been justified for him to barge in, tell Seung Joo about the aspirin and help solve the situation. But no, they just let him stand there. Afterwards, when Seung Joo hears about the aspirin and asks him why he didn’t tell him, Jae Hwan says – and I quote – : “I tried to tell you.” BRUH. Like HELL you did. You didn’t even tell the nurse. Seriously, what the frick was up what that? I get that they needed this surgery to fail because it would trigger Seung Joo’s trauma and make him unable to operate for a while, but this was just lazy writing. They could’ve created so many other reasons to stop Jae Hwan from getting the information to him in time.
Secondly, what was the whole idea of In Ah’s clinic, in the end? It seemed like such a big turning point for her to fulfill her dream of transforming her parents’ house into a clinic for local patients, and they would all sit around the table together and everything. When she first comes up with the idea, people heavily discourage it because of the financial hassle it entails, but she remains determined. Then, when she finally opens her business, she gets all discouraged when no one turns up on Day One. Like, what did she expect? They laid out all the risks to her in advance, and then after the first day she’s like: “Hm, maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all 😞”. And then one moment later, when a delivery man comes into the clinic and she immediately sees how unhealthy he looks, the first things she says is: “Oh, I’ll refer you to a bigger hospital”. GIRL?! He’s literally standing on the doorstep of your newly opened clinic that needs patients, and your first thought is to refer to him somewhere else?! I totally thought she’d immediately invite him in to examine him – the guy even mentioned how nice the clinic looked and everything! Also, I thought that after the delivery guy was treated, he would make a deal of how the lady at the Hormao Clinic was the first to point out his symptoms and everyone should trust her skills. Yet they didn’t even connect those things together. Next thing, she’s suddenly allowed to return to the hospital and the clinic basically becomes second-priority. Like, seriously, what was the whole point of it??
In terms of inconsistency, there was one instance where the continuation of two scenes was really confusing to me. At some point, Seung Joo overhears Se Ra talking on the phone about how her debt collectors came to find her at the hospital, and she goes all: “No, no, no, they can’t go there!” Then the scene suddenly cuts to her again, at the hospital, where she spots the debt collectors and runs away from them. Like, what was with that transition? I guess it was supposed to be the next day or something – she was also wearing different clothes – but because it immediately followed the previous scene, it actually looked like she got the phone call, went to the hospital to confirm the collectors were there and then ran away from them again. It was just weird.
Before moving on to the cast comments, I’d like to talk a bit more about some important side characters, because they pretty much saved the show for me.
First of all, Lee Mi Yoon. In Ah first meets Mi Yoon (played by Kim Soo Yeon/Xooos) after taking care of her dementing grandmother. Once she is admitted to a sanatorium, Mi Yoon chooses to stick with In Ah as an assistent nurse at the clinic (she has a degree). Despite initially coming across as a bit of a brat, Mi Yoon starts living with In Ah and Se Ra and becomes more familiar with the hospital people as well. She specifically warms up to In Ah’s colleague Jae Seung, who helps her get treated for her PMS-induced kleptomania.
I really liked Mi Yoon. I can guess why people might find her annoying, as she kept involving herself in things, but I really appreciated her spunk and straightforwardness. She was a breath of fresh air amidst all the drama and I liked her contribution to the story. Her friendship with In Ah became very wholesome, as well. As tsundere as she may have been at first, she immediately clocked In Ah for the genuine and caring person that she was and chose to stay with her. She was a cute and quirky character and I loved having her there.
As for the hospital staff, I loved that they basically all ended up as couples. The person that grew closer with Mi Yoon was Choi Jae Seung (Shin Won Ho). I feel like he was kind of the baby of the group, and I liked the additional info that he had three overbearing sisters, lol. It was nice to see the gradual buildup between him and Mi Yoon, and it was cute that they became a couple in the end (at least, that’s what their behavior in the final scene suggested). As part of In Ah’s endocrinology team, it was really touching to see how much he cared for his sunbae – her team really had her back, and she really needed that. I loved how they all had nicknames for each other that related to their specializations within endocrinology, like how In Ah was ‘Dr. Oxy’ because she always encouraged hugging to increase the effect of oxytocin. They had a nice dynamic, altogether.
Besides Jae Seung there was Lee Jin Kyung (Bae Seul Gi), a feisty lady who mostly got aggravated about the way Seung Joo treated In Ah. I loved that they had some girls’ time scenes together and how In Ah ended up staying at her place at some point. They might not have been super close, but Jin Kyung really felt like a protective sister to In Ah, which was nice to see. I would’ve liked to see her get some more development with Hyun Woo, they would’ve made a cute couple.
In Ah’s team leader was Yoo Sang Beom (Choi Ryung). At first I feared he’d also become a love rival, but I’m glad he got his own separate little love story. As calm and collected as he initially seemed, he turned out to be unexpectedly goofy. It was fun to see him have some screentime that didn’t have anything to do with the main story. I love it when side characters can function as pallet cleansers from all the drama, without completely dragging the attention away from it.
On Seung Joo’s side, there was Jang Ji Yeon (Sun Woo Sun). Again, I figured she might become a love rival, but I’m glad that wasn’t the case. In her case as well, I really loved how goofy she turned out to be. I initially thought she would be kind of a hardass and really uptight, but her scenes with Sang Beom and how she’d freak herself out about things made her really relatable and likable in my eyes. I thought she was a really fun supporting character who also got a significant purpose in terms of the medical aspects of the stories. It was nice seeing the characters in action at the ER every once in a while, it kept reminding me that they were all actual doctors, lol.
Lastly, Jung Hyun Woo (Jang Se Hyun) was probably my favorite side character. I just found him so endearing. He had a massive crush on Jin Kyung but was also kind of a wimp, in all the adorable ways. It was nice seeing him pop up everywhere, from the ER to the doctor’s offices and the hallways. He worked really hard and gave a very realistic impression of what being a doctor entailed, I think. I thought he was a really sweet guy, and I loved his awkwardness. To me, he was truly a very well-needed pallet cleanser.
I think that should be it for all the characters that I wanted to discuss! Since I don’t want to make this too much of a negative review, I just want to close off my analysis section by saying that I was mostly just annoyed by the typical tropes and the fact that certain characters were just relentlessly mean for no reason. It’s just not fun to watch people treat each other badly, you know? Other than that, I think the story was good enough, there was a clear goal they worked towards, and they ended up resolving every single secret and misunderstanding, although not always in the most satisfying ways. Other than that, as I said I liked that it introduced me to endocrinology and they managed to incorporate the hospital environment in the story pretty well.
Also, can’t forget the OST! I actually saved three new songs to my Shazam, thanks to this show. I really liked Pit-a-pat by Monogram, Push Pull by LEEBADA and More & More by NC.A. My K-Drama OST playlist grows~
It’s time for the cast comments! This show introduced me to a whole new batch of actors that I didn’t know, and made me appreciate new sides of a couple of actors I had seen before.
First of all, my girl Lee Shi Yeong. I’ve honestly loved her in everything I’ve seen of her so far, from Boys Before Flowers, Wild Romance and Playful Kiss to Valid Love, Lookout, and the SF8 episode Blink. I’m really looking forward to watching Grid, as well. I love her ability to pour so much sincerity into every character she plays. I’ve seen her go from silly, comical characters to tormented and troubled ones, and she never does too much. Although In Ah started out as a bit typical to me, with the nerdy laugh and everything, Lee Shi Yeong still portrayed her in a way that instantly made me like her. She’s honestly one of my favorite Korean actresses, and it was really cool to see an older work from her, because I actually haven’t seen her as the lead in a romcom that often. Man, this actually makes me want to watch Wild Romance again, even though I fear I might find it way too cringy now in 2026. It was great seeing her in this, her acting was amazing, she showed a lot of emotional variety and it felt like I saw a new side of her, even after having seen her in six other shows. Well done, girl!
This was my first introduction to Ji Hyun Woo, although I do see that there’s one more show of his on my list. I have to give it to the actor that he did a great job at making me hate his character so much in the first five episodes, before making me occasionally melt with his sweetness in the second half. The shift between his expressions from when he hated In Ah to when he fell for her was like the difference of night and day. I loved how he literally became this emoji: ☺️ when he looked at her. I’m kind of torn between my appreciation of the actor and my mixed feelings about the character, but since these are comments about the cast, I’ll stick to the first thing. Apparently he and Lee Shi Yeong had acted together before in Becoming a Billionnaire (2010). I don’t know if they played a couple there as well, but what I can say is that I loved their chemistry in this. Whereas the first half of the show led me to wonder if I’d ever be able to stomach seeing them together, their kissing scenes more than made up for that doubt. They were really sweet together once they became a couple, and part of me is glad that Seung Joo at least didn’t push her away overnight, he kept telling her that he loved her until the moment he really didn’t see another way out anymore. In any case, it was nice getting to know him through this drama, and I look forward to seeing him in Beauty & Mr. Romantic.
According to MDL, I’ve seen Kim In Yeop before in Lovestruck in the City and Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha, although I don’t remember him from there (sorry!). It’s kind of surprising to me because it’s only been a couple of years since I watched these shows and I’d imagine he would’ve stuck out to me because of his appearance, but I guess not. There’s a couple more of his shows on my list though, so I get another chance, lol. Although Kim In Yeop is his real name, apparently he took on the stage name ‘Han Seung Won’ in 2023. I’ve referred to him as Kim In Yeop here because he’s credited under his real name in this series. I think I got disappointed in his character because I overestimated him, but that was in no way related to the actor’s acting. If anything, I’m impressed by how all these actors managed to perform such petty antics with a straight face. I thought Jae Hwan could’ve been a much more relatable character if they hadn’t made him so wishy-washy about his actions. It would’ve been way more refreshing if he was one of the few people that would communicate clearly and show his cards to the people that needed to know. I’m really curious about the actor’s thoughts on Jae Hwan’s behavior, haha. He did as good of a job as he could, and I can’t deny his smile does something to me. It was nice getting to know him through this show, and I’ll make sure not to forget him again.
Yoon Joo Hee looks really familiar to me, but I don’t think I’ve seen her in anything before, either. I don’t mean this in a disrespectful way, but she really fit the bill in terms of the typical bitchy second female lead character. I just find it a pity that they were so bent on making her a bad person from start to finish, even if she had a reason for it. I would’ve liked to see her redeemed in a proper way earlier on so my sympathy for her could grow, but the fact that she kept pulling dirty tricks until the very last episode without an ounce of regret kept me from acknowledging the good in her. Having said that, the actress certainly did a good job at making me dislike her! Again, I’m curious to know how she felt about her character, and how she went about playing her, knowing that the majority of the viewers were probably going to hate her. I imagine it takes a different level of courage to play a villain on popular television. So yeah, as much as I disliked her character, I still want to give the actress credit for portraying her in the way that she did. I wonder if I’ll get to see her in something again.
Apparently Kim Soo Yeon/Xooos is also a singer and YouTuber. She also appeared in The Producers, although I don’t remember her from there (she may have been one of the members from IU’s girl group). I could kind of guess that she was an idol or something along those lines, and there’s always a risk with idol actors, but as I said, I really liked Mi Yoon. I thought the spunk and energy with which she portrayed her was really cool. I loved how she both did her own thing and remained a relevant supporting character to In Ah. She contributed as much to the main story as to her own side plots, which was a nice balance. It was cool to get introduced to her like this. I hope to see her again in something!
Shin Won Ho was one of the select familiar faces for me in this drama. I’ve seen him in Big, The Legend of the Blue Sea and 20th Century Boy and Girl. To my memory, his characters in those shows were all pretty stoic, so it was nice to see a more goofy and bubbly side of him for a change. Seeing him in a hospital (as a doctor this time, not in a coma) was fun as well. I liked his chemistry with Xooos and how they gradually became more friendly. Even if it was kind of predictable that they would be pushed together because they were around the same age, I still liked that there was a proper reason for their buildup. It was kind of sweet how they bonded through the fact that he found out about her kleptomania and offered to help her figure things out. I’m glad I got to see a new side of his acting. According to MDL, he hasn’t been active in any dramas since 2021, but I hope to see him appear again in the future.
Apparently I’ve seen Jang Se Hyun in a bunch of shows, like Boys Before Flowers, Sungkyunkwan Scandal, Hwarang, School 2017, Start-Up and Lovestruck in the City. He definitely looked familiar to me, but I can’t say that I actively remember prior roles of him… again, blame my short-term memory. This’ll make me remember, though! I adored Choi Jae Seung, and I’m glad he got so much screentime. I like that he got to represent the medical aspect of the show the most, as he appeared more inside the hospital than outside of it. As I said, he was a real pallet cleanser to me. It’s not even that he was such a major character, or that he got any backstory, but he filled the space with his personality and I really liked that about him. Sometimes the supporting actors contribute the most to a story, in unexpected ways. It was nice clocking him in this, and I’ll make sure to remember his face. There’s a lot of his dramas left on my list, so I look forward to seeing him again.
Sun Woo Sun was another one of those actresses that looked really familiar to me, although I haven’t seen her in anything else before. I was pleasantly surprised by her character. As I mentioned, I thought she’d be kind of an ice queen, but it was so nice to see her bubbly side and she has a really pretty smile, as well. It was fun to see her get closer with Dr. Yoo, because I definitely didn’t see that coming from the start. I really hope I get to see her in more shows, because I love the energy she gives off. Her last drama (and the only one since Risky Romance, according to MDL, came out in 2025), so I’m wishing that she’ll make more appearances in the future.
Jeon Noh Min is one of those ahjussi actors that has appeared in so many shows that I’ve lost count. I’ve seen him in Who Are You: School 2015, Queen of the Ring, Master: Ruler of the Mask, Itaewon Class, The King: Eternal Monarch, The One and Only and Yumi’s Cells S2. It was nice seeing him in an older drama, knowing that he’s still so active until this day. Although I didn’t really have a strong opinion about Cha Jung Tae, I thought the dynamic between him and Jae Hwan was very interesting and I wish they would’ve elaborated a bit more on that. I’m glad at least he wasn’t a bad person and it turned out he didn’t sabotage Sang Do by causing that fire. I feel like he often plays quite cold and nasty roles, so it was nice to at least get a bit of a ‘good person’ vibe from him. I just wanted to give him a shoutout since he’s such a classic actor.
I’ll keep it at that for now! I know I didn’t comment on all the hospital staff, but I want to actually have something to say about people besides: ‘I liked their character’, because I’ve already mentioned that in the review itself. I’m glad I got the chance to watch this, it brought me back to the golden oldie age of K-Drama (for better or for worse, lol). I loved seeing Lee Shi Yeong in a main role again, too. I still think the premise of the story was pretty original, as was the link to endocrinology. My lower rating is mainly caused by the amount of frustration I felt while watching it (it’s all about the experience!), but it’s definitely not the worst show I’ve seen and I’m happy I got around to watch it, regardless of my criticisms.
Well, that will be it for this review! To be perfectly honest, I thought I’d struggle way more with writing this one, also because I needed to sort out all of my notes. I got up extra early to make an fresh start, so it feels pretty satisfying to finish it before the evening for a change. I ended up having less trouble with it than I expected, so that’s nice.
I’m looking forward to what I’ll be watching next, and hopefully I won’t have any more issues accessing series online, because that really bummed me out.
Until next time!
Bye-bee! x
All I Want For Love is You
