@unit thanks for the weecap and hanging in there despite the serious breach of trades description act (looks at poster looks back at murder and mayhem plot). It is a shame they didn’t tie up the nasty sooner so they could bookend with two episodes of the real healing drama as a reward for everyone who stayed because of the glimpses of what the drama could have been.

For an allegedly healing drama, we got many annoying things. The murder arc was completely unnecessary and it got solved way too hurriedly. All of a sudden they take notice of Guen-ho losing his glasses and reach the answer pretty soon and catch the culprit a few minutes later.
I hated how they forced Boem to forgive her father at first only to prove what we had seen coming no serious punishment means the repetition of the crime Her father was seriously annoying and I am glad they got rid of him but such a character will just keep popping out of nowhere with the forgiveness nonsense, emotionally exploiting his children who are clearly better off without him.
Also, I agree with you. The introduction of Boem's childhood felt flat as they just made him show up to get Jae-hoon jealous and go back to the states. I can't stand doing things for the sake of doing him without any proper justification.
I loved that Dae-bum resumed working on his thesis with a better professor than the selfish one. He could now have a life-work balance without sacrificing any of them. While Dae-bum used to get scared of making mistakes, this new professor made him think it is okay to make mistakes and learn from them. It isn't a big deal.
If not for the annoying residents, I would have supported Yeo-rum's decision to stay in Angok but she seems much happier than she was in the beginning.
The sudden change in Ji-hyun felt out of place as if the plot used it for tension and then realized it is the final episode so let's turn her into a good character. Not to mention Angok residents who remained the same without any character development or redemption.
All in all, the drama had the potential to give us some healing from our everyday exhausting life but it threw all of than to drain and just did the same boring things.

I am truly grateful to Unit for covering this show. My wife and I stopped watching it after the fourth episode and we now know that this was a good decision. Thank you, Unit, for taking one for the team.

I don't know what the original webtoon is like but man, this drama felt like one big sigh to me haha (and not necessarily a sigh of relief)

I know that dramatic elements have to exist for it to be entertaining but why did all the obstacles have to be so unnecessary? The murder mystery, unnecessary. The guy going to America to just come back, unnecessary. The childhood friend coming back into the picture just to be taken out again, unnecessary. What even?!
I really don't want to compare dramas but this just came to mind; didn't hometown cha cha cha do the city person going to the countryside better? There was still conflicts, bias, and traumas in the characters backstory and yet it worked for them. Here, so many characters are frustrating to me that I kinda wanted to throw my phone (and as I wrote that I remember the guy throwing & breaking his phone after seeing Bom riding away with her friend rather than trashing the gift he had gotten her).

I try not to be too critical of things because I know being creative isn't easy and to each its own and satisfying endings are subjective but this drama really tested me because it had *all* the elements I can't stand about kdramas and then it ended with me feeling like why did I even watch this.

Bless the cab driver for being offended and taking off, I guess.
And what is with the police department?! How could they treat someone who is clearly special needs like that? Also, the realtor confessed to murder and tried to kill her as well but the first thing the police officer says is it's illegal to record someone without their permission? So how exactly was anything supposed to be proven?
(There has to be some kind of leeway with that law because seriously, how was anything going to be resolved with their theories and no proof aside from the recordings?)

And did the woman ever give Yeo Leum her money back for overcharging for the dog?

I thought I would be dissatified or disappointed because people I didn't think would be forgiven and I was right (but maybe it's because I'm just a black hearted jaded person🙄). The only ones I felt anything for by the finale was Jun haha. Apparently that issue with the money really matured him haha

I don't understand the writer... The past murder was enough, they didn't need to kill the poor grandma. In 12 episodes, they shoved every injustice they could find, and forgot the rest...

Yeoreum worked a lot for someone without a job : there were murders to resolve, Daebom's trauma, Bom's family situation to handle (an attack, bills to pay, etc...). But her own mother mourning or her new life were kinda forgotten...

I really liked the relationship with our 4 protagonists. So I'm still happy to watch it. The scenery was beautiful!

I thought the point of 12 episode dramas was to do away with unnecessary plotlines that no one likes: murder, jealous 2 FL/ML, random abusive relationships that serve no purpose. Somehow, this show seemed to fit it all in. Bravo.

Yeah, I feel mislead, as others have into thinking this was a slice of life drama about someone regaining their life. That went south pretty quickly. Glad there was a 'happy ever after' ending, glad also that it's over.

SIGH, a mess. What a way to ruin a great idea. Just incredibly disappointing. The drama not only barely stuck the landed, it fell with a thud in the middle and barely managed to get up.

Ouch.

(@unit, you star for keeping going to the bitter end. Yes, turkeys at Christmas, but this isn't the one we ordered...)

I went through all that just for hand holding?

Hilarious how they spent the last too episodes solving a murder instead of focusing on the development of the leads and their relationships.

Oh, and I think that was the most unnecessary going to another country/time jump trope in kdrama history.
And let's not talk about how they sent the poor Dae Ho to jail as a plot device so Bomb and JH would fight and break up (in the most annoying way possible). You know what? I'm not even going to say everything that's annoying about this show otherwise I'll spend the rest of the year writing this comment.

Conclusion:
This drama sucks and I'm pretty glad it's done. The only good thing about the show was the relationship between the leads and they even ruined that when they saturated Bom and Yeo Reum and then Bom and Jae Hoon and used a lazy time skip to bring them back together.

Thanks @unit for finishing this drama. I stuck around for Lim Si Wan. Such a waste of his talent and pretty face for such problematic story and directing. I still don’t understand the reasons for the realtor and policeman to trying hurt Yeo Reum but end up killing grandma instead. There were no character developments. The only thing I was happy with was how Da Beum overcame his childhood drama but his back story was the most depressing with discovering his sister’s and mom dead bodies and his statement was used against his dad as the murder. I don’t ever think I can be ever normal and pleasant person as Da Beum if I was in the same situation. Bye Summer.

First, thanks @unit for the weecaps.
Second, I finished all twelve episodes and SS is now a ‘survivor’ drama for me as in: “I am a SUMMER STRIKE survivor”. SS is a drama where the blame for such a flawed project has to fall on the writers and not the actors.
Third. I want to exit on a high not so let me reference Siwan in pic three above. The scene where Dae-beom returns to the pool hall, the place of all his childhood trauma, was for me Siwan’s finest acting in the drama. He doesn’t say a word but his face tells it all as he recalls the pain he experienced as a child in that place. Well done Siwan!

I agree with the others with this drama actually being quite dark. Like yes I know it might be coz they wanna show reality ig but it is definitely not light. I remember writing a comment after just watching the first episodes and commending yeo reum for making a healthy choice by leaving the city. But I CONSISTENTLY see soo many unhealthy things here. Like seriously just the last episode is maybe light-ish.
I actually just read the weecaps for eps 7-9 and I'm honestly glad. I watched the ending eps and I'm not disappointed coz I liked yeo-reum and bom's relationship; I think that's one of the only relationships I like. I liked the last scenes of contentment and (although kinda felt unreal), I appreciate the ending.

TLDR- Wouldn't watch it again, but completed it just coz I started it. Yeo-reum and bom's relationship is nice(and obviously gyeo-ul).

Honestly, I thought the writing was so awful. And I hated the female lead from the moment she chastised THE STABBING VICTIM for upsetting grandma, one of the worst enablers in Kdrama Land, who sacrificed her grandkids for her son, letting him traumatise them in a drunken stupor for over a decade. Like, WTH?!
Also, the writer didn't seem to realise if you confess to stabbing yourself in the liver with a cleaver(!), you don't go home after a few days rest?? A suicidal teen would be kept on involuntary hold until a full psych eval and I very much doubt Bom would have gotten away with any less than 3 months in a psychiatric care facility.
Basically, it was clearly written by someone who hates small towns. Apparently everyone knew everyone else's business, but apart from the male love interests, did not bother to help each other ever, for decades. Like they literally let their neighbour lock an autistic kid indoors for what, over a decade?! And OMG I think the writer actually believed having them all raising money to pay medical fees made up for forcing the child they should have all been protecting, to protect her assaulter. All I saw was an abused teen literally betrayed by everyone in her life who claimed to care. So yeah, for me it was a solid 2 out of 10.

Hello -
In the beginning, they said the sister was "strangled" but when they flashed back, she hit her head on the shelf. So which one was it?
And why did Mr. Kwak want to show YR the building to rent and then go on to harass her? And who was the juvie guy? Bom's half-brother? That was confusing. Yes, it bothered me that they struggled with the dog but I am glad the dog didn't die. But I was upset that Grandmother died instead. In our Netflix translation subtitles, it used the word "sufficient" rather than "enough"... which I see is used here in the weecap.
Thank you!