Drama Rating: 6/10 Neck Score: A+
I said I was invested in everyone, and that's probably a lie. I liked everyone ok, but I was only invested in what I considered the main couple, Bak Ha (Park Se Wan) and Hae Joon (Kwak Dong Yeon) who were also the people who made me want to start it in the first place. She is a new widow and also newly single mom, as her husband dies in a freak accident at the beginning of the show and is accused of embezzling funds from Guseong Group, where he worked as an accountant. She was very pregnant when he died, and as a result she ends up going into labor in front of the inn on her way back from trying to figure out why her husband died, and why he was so accused. Hae Joon is the grandson of the chairman and misunderstands her demanding to see his granddad, acts stupid, but ultimately gets connected to her. Their love story is worth watching.
I was also super into the older couple. The owner of the inn, Bok Mak Rye, (Youn Yuh Jung) was my serious favorite person. I love Youn Yuh Jung, especially when she's playing snarky, slightly cranky, tough love moms/grandmas. She doesn't take crap from people, and she tough loved everyone in the inn into getting on their feet again. I also loved the dynamic between her and her first love Choi Geo Bok (Joo Hyun), since he was the sentimental one and she was the tsundere. Didn't they opposite in Dear My Friends too? They were at least both in it, and wonderful in it (I highly recommend that one!)
The other couples I was way less invested than I wanted to be. There is a golfer kid who is secretly dating the granddaughter, but she's a bag of wishy washiness and a hot mess, mostly because her mom (the older daughter-in-law of Guseong Group) is a hot mess too. But I like that mom anyway. She's an entertaining and jovial hot mess. Still not a great person. She also gets her employees fired and blames embezzlement, etc. on them ruining their lives. Which leads me to just talk about the baker couple.
I almost hated them. First they are all trying to kill themselves because they lost everything (at while at the inn too, how irresponsible and inconsiderate) and then they are all depressed, and then when they finally get their act together, sickness comes. Really, their drama was just annoying, and I think it might have been partially the writing of them, but the acting on certain aspects was also not my favorite. I didn't actually hate them, but their story was my least favorite part.
Then there was the gold digger couple. They were obviously into each other, but also so invested in gold digging that they would help each other find rich prospects, but also compete at who could date a member of the Gusong Group family. They were entertaining as friends, but I wasn't sold on their romance as much as I wanted to be. I think they stayed in the friend zone too long that it killed the chemistry. I liked the actors, but these were not their best characters. Maybe because their scenes were the more slapstick, over-the-top, clumsy mess types. I loved them, but I wouldn't say I watched the show for them.
Overall, I really liked the show, but if you look too close, or think to hard, it becomes less likable. Just enjoy the ride and don't think. They tried too hard to redeem all the baddies at the end, and while I expected that, it was lame. For the most part they were jerks, but they also did some things that didn't deserve redemption, so it was a weird balance, but since they were also tied closely to all the couples (as in the literal mother-in-laws to two couples) it's not like they could make them rot in jail and there had to be some redemption if there was going to be a happy ending.
Ultimately, my favorite younger character was Bak Ha. She was a smart, matter-of-fact, hard working, country girl who had sense enough for the entire ensemble. She was so sensible that most of that crap that usually happens just couldn't. Yeah, she was a little emotional at times when trying to figure out about her dead husband, but dead husband pass. She was super smart about how she handled most things, which made the romance even better. And when half of a romance is the dude falling in love with your baby and wanting to be your baby daddy, you know it's a good one.
Anyway, it was good, but maybe it has just been too long since I finished it that I can't remember more of the good parts. The previews trolled about it being worse than it was, but it stayed pretty chill, feel good, and goofy. I recommend it if you like the actors and want a family drama that's not super over-the-top makjang. Just a tiny bit.
