Thanks, @mistyisles, for the excellent and cogent recap, which clarified a few things for me--okay, I'll admit, I was writing e-mails as I was watching, so just proved I can't multi-task.

Anyway, I do like this show now that it has settled into the team vs. Jeokmuk. BUT, and this is a big BUT--the person who cast the two male leads deserves the title of INDefensibly Deceitful. First, as I've already said, making Kim Dong-wook, the king of the deadpan, a sufferer of "excessive empathy disorder" might have been an inside joke, but it makes it very hard to empathize with him, let alone excessively. And Yoon-Park was doing a great job as an open-mouth-gum-chewing, jerky, slightly sleaze of a probation officer, who might have come around just at the very end to save the gang, but now we discover early on that in fact he's a noble character, except for his suffering from EJSBD? (The well-known psychological syndrome, Excessive Jerky Sleaze Bag Disorder.) There was absolutely no indication prior to this episode that that was the case, and I put that down to bad direction, ineffective writing, and a weak portrayal that maybe another actor could have pulled off more effectively. And then, what really chaps my hide, one of my favorite actresses, the always classy Sojin, is in line to be Yo-han's love interest, the second show in a row her character is paired with a character way beneath hers? Come on, Sojin's agency, remember Sh**ting Stars, and once again get her a decent character as a romantic partner!

Okay, with that off my chest, I'm sticking with this one for Chun Woo Hee, who now that she's stopped breaking the fourth wall and somewhat disconcertingly talking directly to me, (I've had to bite my tongue to keep from replying) is really effective as the brutally traumatized, on the surface cold and conniving but really decent female lead.

The moment we got a small glimpse of Lee Taeran as Jang Kyungja in ep 5 I knew we were in for a big juicy character. Then they start ep 7 with her as just a scared and meek wife of the school director and I was all disappointed. But as ep 7 progressed and then ep 8, ahhh, there it is, Lee Taeran Lee Taeran-ing.

(Makes me wish she played one of the mothers in Happiness Battle, the dead one or the bat-sh*t crazy one.)

(Also, I want to nestle in her long, flowing, luxurious hair.)

We are halfway through the show's run time and I remain indifferent towards it. I am purely watching, with some ff, as there is nothing else to watch.
The show was billed as a comedy, revenge drama. So far, there has been a very light sprinkling of comedy (is the female lead breaking the 4th wall the comedy?) and a heavy hand with the revenge drama component featuring characters with bleak, dark tortured past lives as only kdramas can do. They could easily rival a Greek tragedy with how much each character has been through.
Finally, hallelujah we have a show with a professional therapist to help our extremely traumatised characters and she is underused. Maybe the therapist will feature more now she has been linked into the cult through the mother of the probationary officer.
Speaking of the probationary officer, which way are we leaning, is he good, bad or a psychopath himself? I have whiplash from the amount of times his character direction changes which makes it very hard to like or care about him.
The male lead, I feel so over exposed to his disorder that I am depressed watching him. Stop banging us over the head with it as I am starting to lack any compassion for the poor man and he has had a severely traumatised life so I know I should, just get the man to therapy asap.
The female lead, get her to therapy asap.
I think I should drop this show, it just frustrates me now.
Another one to add to the list for 2023 :)

Glad I'm not the only one confused by Yo-han's mixed signals. And I found myself laughing a bit at how Mu-young's psychiatrist both seems to be popping up everywhere while simultaneously being extremely underutilized.

This isn't a show I honestly devote my whole attention to, but I found myself paying more attention this week. It's a bit of a mess on the whole, but Episode 8 in particular had some good moments. Nasa and Ro-woom's vault standoff (anybody else notice it looked like Ro-woom only had one bullet?) and the team falling apart was a long time coming. And of course Mu-young wasn't going to be scared off by the revelation of who was involved in his family's destruction but I liked that he obviously struggled with it.

It's amusing that almost all of us watches with varying degrees of disinterest. I don't know if it's the characters or the acting but it's hard to care about any of these people. Kim Dong-wook's stone face has reached such ridiculous proportions that the drama has to keep reminding us it's a disease.

Plot-wise it's funny that this bunch of geeeniiiussss criminal masterminds never manage to get anything done without alerting either their target, or their lawyer, or their probation officer 🤦‍♀️. If Yo-han is going to get added to this not-so-super team, I can only imagine what the outcome will be...

SIGH, I feel like the writer had a truly brilliant concept in mind, had great actors, but forgot how to execute. These folks are not as brilliant as they are made out to be, the "psychopath" was never a psychopath, just an incredibly traumatized girl who grew up to be a traumatized woman. The male lead is suffering so much from over empathy that it makes him desensitized. We have a group of traumatized characters going after villains who are both smarter and have more resources. This would be a better drama if it were better written, but alas here we are. The only seemingly un-traumatized character is the psychiatrist and she is like the worst game of wackamole, she pops up, but you don't want to hit her, because she will disappear for a long time again, so what is the point. As someone stated a waste of Soljin's talents. We will continue on with this "mid" as the kids say drama.

In this kind of drama things always have to get worse, before the final revenge is set into motion. I hope we have reached rock bottom now, but I am not sure.

I am starting to develop very soft spot for Ring-go and the actor playing him. I also really enjoy Yoon Park here, his character's development is a little flawed to say the least, but I like how he turns up unexpectedly at the right places, putting two and two together.

Ro-woom posing as the environmental health inspector was much needed fun before it all went wrong! The Korean title certainly makes a lot more sense.

I think these two episodes were all about Ra-Woon finally understanding how much she and her gang needs Mu-Young. They may all be geniuses in their own ways but they are still damaged and emotionally stunted kids. Their IQ may be high but their EQ is near zero. They need Mu-Young's high EQ for their schemes to actually work, and for them to start living as full humans. Coz for now they are stuck in a mental jail that's not letting them live a normal life like free citizens.

About Yo-Han, I never felt that he was hounding his probationers. When he caught one of them stealing a bike, he made him put it back and took him out for lunch. Anyone else in his place would have put the guy back in jail. And now we know his mother's connection with Jeokmak is the reason he is so interested in Ra-woon. I also feel he is another emotionally stunted person who is attracted towards Mu-Young's empathetic self - he doesn't trust Mu-Young but still seeks him out when he feels in need for a friend.

I wrote in another forum that this show doesn't feel grounded. These characters don't seem real. The bleak colour palette of the show also doesn't help. But the show is still engaging in its own way and I'm happy following it week on week.

At first, Kyung-ya ordered her man to call the cops on Ro-woom and Nasa. Ro-woom snickers: What would the president do when he learns that the first thing I did after getting out of jail is to steal from your vault? This made Kyung-ja change her mind and tortured her by bringing her to her old home.

Chun Woo Hee is the clear MVP of this drama and I enjoy every moment of her on screen. It's so clear that there is so much that she's had to repress over time both because of how she had to grow up and probably thought her parents deliberately abandoned her there, and then after her parent's murder when she realized they wanted to help her and she finally felt ready to leave. I hope she and Da jung can get to a place of understanding without the undercurrents of guilt/fear/resentment one day. I also like that she's not infallible even when she's bold and daring, the mix of strength and vulnerability is really great.

Kim Dong Wook is good too and I like their dynamic, but I wish they hadn't done that empathy disorder nonsense because it doesn't bring anything to the story other than maybe shoehorning in the therapist connection with Yo-Han's mother. I really liked that Mu Young found out the truth, battled with it, and then went to her anyway because it genuinely wasn't her/their fault that they were forced to do something as children.

Yo-han is still very annoying, and I don't understand the turn his story took either because there was nothing about his previous actions that pointed to these motivations. It has nothing to do with his previous obsession with Ro Woon and his actions with Mu Young (harassing him and barging into his house) and if he'd been a full antagonist instead that would have made more sense. I'm ok with not seeing him again.

The one thing that makes it hard for me to truly love this show is that it seems to be designed to keep viewers at arm's length and not immerse them in an emotional experience. In fact, one of the themes of the show seems to be that emotions themselves are a burden and hinder our ability to do what we must (specifically, our jobs and revenge plans). I expect that to flip as the story resolves, but for now, because the characters feel they are or are actually weighed down by their feelings, it's difficult to feel any empathy--excessive or otherwise--for them, an irony not lost on me.

I do like the interplay between all the characters, Yoon-Park's performance, and the chemistry between the found family group, but that lack of emotional bond, although understandable considering their past trauma, once again makes it hard to really root for anyone here.

I'm not the biggest fan of the 'heist' genre so halfway into the bank heist I started fast-forwarding... and immediately missed the big plot twist, which mean I had to rewind and watch to see what went wrong.

This show has a once-common K-drama flaw that you don't see that much anymore. The world is VERY small, so of course person X is the son of person Y whose the mentor to person Z who randomly visits the comic book store of person A. Because what Gangnam psychoanalyst doesn't like visiting a hole-in-the-wall coming book store up a dirty side street!

From the comments, sounds like I am the only one who likes this show. The characters are unlikeable esp the FL but somehow I find myself rooting for her and the other kids, despite the fact that they are bonded by guilt and trauma. Oh, I like the Ringo character and I am impressed by his English! Not sure if he is also acing the other languages , but he did sound as if he is doing it well.
Revenge drama had always been a genre that I like so I am staying.