That was such a sweet ending for Eun Ha and her Hyun Woo-oppa! 🥳 The deerlings provided such a sweet support and the matching trenchcoat was cute. I knew they were not up to something nefarious. They did gloss over some storylines which I didnt mind as much since the gangster storyline was my least favorite. Also it looks like Man Ho and Jae Soo are bound to be the cool uncles for a little bit longer. They need to find women who would love them as they are. Yun Byul is really cute and its good that Mi Ho and In young got together in the end. I suppose Ye Na and Hong Ki didnt get together. Dong Hee will go to college. I wish them all the best.

What can I say?

So glad that they stick the landing and it goes out in an aptly Sweet Mobster way with truckloads of laughs, sweetness, and heart.

When I went back to review my earlier post where I laid out my wish-list for the 2nd half of the series, I realised they fulfilled just about every one of them (couple goals, marriage, they conquering the meat market, EH rebooting her career, beating the bad guys, deerlings completing their GED, except the baby is from our second couple, not OTP). SO, no complaints. My heart is full, and I am a happy man ❤❤❤

Notable highlights for me:

how come not one company took advantage of the heavy advertising of trench coats? Burberry hello????

Lord Cobol’s right, dramas do flow downhill. But that’s everyday stuff. What I truly find outrageous is that after getting rid of Mi Ho’s logic, Ji Hwan’s cuteness, the deerlings’ screentime, and Eun Ha’s entire individuality, they even took Cat Boss’ perm and jackets from us. Heol!
My first thought while watching episode 16 was “what’s Eun Ha doing in this show” and the second thought was “wait, what is any woman doing in this show…” Like, for real. What did Eun Ha or Mi Ho or Ye Na did in the drama? Eun Ha waiting forever for her possessive and disrespectful boyfriend till he bothers to tell her anything, Mi Ho making how many babies the nation needs, and Ye Na doing… nothing, because she has nothing to do except stalk Ji Hwan and eat the food she’s allergic to. Okay. Brilliant.

Was this drama written by two different people? Because I don’t want to believe that whoever wrote these characters in the first half is the same person that wrote the second. Particularly, Eun Ha’s character regression and the way she was treated by other characters in these last two episodes was low-key insulting.

Just another one that was good until it wasn’t. I'll add it to the pile of bodies we call romcoms these days.

I don't have much to say..it was sweet. They wrapped up everything in a sweet way. The drama was overall average.

Thank you for the mobster sweet 🍬 recap.

I'm just glad the drama didn't off fake Hyun-woo. Although the way he talks to uri Sweetie I want to off him myself. 😠 He doesn't deserve to be a Deerling. 😤

It's a no-no 🚫 from me to the Marketing Deerling and his Miss Cold. I get no feels. 🤷‍♀️

I teared up a bit when Eun-ha effectively said she wants to be with Ji-hwan for better or for worse. 😢

I confess to have ffwded the Dad Mobster scenes a bit - I didn't sign up for the torture. 🙈 I legit screamed when Ji-hwan took the hit for his father. But then it was so much in-character. Sigh.

The way Jae-soo woke up Hyungnim, 🤣🤣🤣 I hope he never tells anyone about it unless he has a death wish. 🤪 But then he did ensure that fairytale ending and Eun-ha didn't throw him out. Molla.

The way Ji-hwan still zones out thinking about Eun-ha is freaking adorable. I wonder if a man who has marriage in his mind would act like that. But his Deerlings are incredibly supportive. The proposal was 💯 dreamy. The short and meaningful words and Ji-hwan looking with the eponymous Prince Charming. 🤩😍🥰❤💕 Now that's how you propose. 👌👏👏👏

The Trenchcoat and White T-shirt uniform of uri Sweetie Mobster and Deerlings is so cute. Eun-ha looked the best of course and Ji-hwan what was that I Love You in the car!? 👌🤣 I loved it. 🙌 ❤💕

I'm now waiting to see if it makes an appearance on Netflix like LOVELY RUNNER did after it wrapped up.

Let me start by saying that I really loved this show for thw first10 episodes. It struck a great balance of comedy and heart and the acting was superb. Um Tae Gu’s breakout in this drama was no joke and a revaltory gift to dramaland. Han Sun Hwa also brought a depth to her sunny candy carrying character to make this drama feel like more than fluffy sweetness. And the deerlings felt like family, the comic relief, and Greek chorus we didn’t know we needed (the deerlings commentary during the petty shower/happy singing fight was everything).

Then . . .the show just decided to go all in on the men’s story. I felt Castaway Diva’ed with the whiplash tone when the show got brutally violent making the sweet hard to enjoy. The show decided that the women who at the beginning had spark, minds of their own, and savvy all were going to be stripped of all that and only live for one man—Eun Ha and Ye Na for Ji Hwan and Mi Ho for Il Yeong. After the “Aegey-ya Ga Ja!”scene, which I both liked and hated, the show put Aegey in a drama corner ostensibly for her safety and had her do nothing and have no raison d’etre other than wait for Hyun Woo Oppa. This scrappy, hard-working, having a calling for helping kids play woman all of a sudden just was seen being kept in the dark about the various threats to her safety so the men in her life could argue about her safety and vaguely hang around and not hang around in pursuit of her safety. In the last couple of episodes, when Ji Hwan who frustratingly did not tell her anything other than go to Mi Ho’s house and stay there with a necklace with a faulty clasp that had more of a dramatic arc than Eun Ha in the episode, Eun Ha was literally fluffy pillows and not much else. The show had officially flattened Eun Ha to be nothing other than a Mobster doll who had one defining experience in her life—Hyun Woo Oppa— and nothing else, Ye Na similarly who started off as a successful and hard working but jealous of Eun Ha’s authencity kids content creator was reduced to a “Seo Ji Hwan saved me once and I can’t forget him” girl. When Eun Ha and Ye Na collaborated for the sausage challenge (a metaphor for how many different ways can we make this show more about the men?), there was no resolution of their previous rivarly or even apology for Ye Na’s bad behavior; instead, it became a given that the two women whose characters now only existed for Ji Hwan would do this one thing together for him. And Mi Ho—a woman who started out a woman who unapologetically lived and called out Il Yeong for being a coward was turned into one who would take a man back just because he was unapologetic, good-looking and rich. (I really disliked Il Yeong by the end. His smug smile and advice giving when his own relationship worked ONLY because he was rich and good-looking was no longer cute but maddening.)

The darkness of the return of father and gangworld into Ji Hwan’s life also made the 4 episode hand-holding level of Ji Hwan and...

Hmmm. It did kind of go out with a whimper. But I applaud Show for maintaining its improbable, goofy hilarity for so many episodes. And agree with @empressgirl, I'm so glad to have been introduced to Uhm Tae Goo. Hope he gets more romcoms!

Marrying into this deer family is like winning a game show, everyone gets a brand new car 😂

I loved the first 10 episodes, along with the 2nd half of episode 16, and assorted moments from the other episodes but the show didn't seem to really know what to do with itself, with all the time it had to fill before the finale. Which then leaned too much into nonsense like keeping the FL in the dark so the plot could set up for the finale week showdown.

But that said, I laughed and smiled so much too, so overall really enjoyed this one. I've only seen Uhm Tae-gu in A Taxi Driver (and Spellbound apparently but i don't remember him there 🙈) and hope he gets more roles like this because he was amazing at the rom and the com. And can't forget, your recaps have been so entertaining @daebakgrits!

There was so much to like about this drama for the most part. I wish they had made Ye Na more fun and Hyun-woo more competent and left the love rival trope out. Both love triangles seemed forced and turned out rather boring efforts.

They could have made the main couple's relationship more mature and left the childish stuff to the dearlings who did a great job with it.

@daebakgrits..."Cat-Loving Deerling’s magical gray hair plucking technique is the fairy tale “kiss” that not only wakes Ji-hwan but heralds the return of our drama’s light-hearted tone." Loved that. Thanks for a thorough recap that reflects both the dark & light tones throughout the show and still left us smiling at the end. The last two episodes hit us with the bitter reality of a crime ring's dirty bloody side...which we all knew was coming... yet I felt it never went too rogue on the violence. Yes, it's a comedy but when you joke about the topic, there still comes a time when the piper must be paid, choices must be made and consequences dealt out. After that, we were free to enjoy the fluff & see all our characters living a happy life as the result of their good decisions: babies, marriage, graduation and the best one for me: our two precious bachelor goons having a dating experience! (wishing the drama 'mafioso' orders a 2nd season just about them). I was ALL in for this show's rough & tough but loving 'Goon Gang' bromance' from the start. Such an endearing group of misfits, whose every tough-guy snarl or harsh stream of curses just made me love them more. Why? Because they were only protecting their boss or Eun-ha...our enthusiastic FL, who showed us spunk, but thankfully not attitude (like her more succesful but edgy competitor) Seh-na. Eun-ha worked hard, inspired co-workers, but refused to dominate in order to win....always taking the tough but high road to create her own brand by doing what she does best: interacting creatively with people, especially children. Her battle to get noticed by We-tube viewers, all her wild promotional ideas and the events she staged on We-tube gave me an insight into how challenging it must be to keep vying for a career that so many others are after too. She was a strong presence everywhere she went, imbuing a sense of family into the brotherhood of hoods at home...a great sister/therapist...and also a dedicated daughter for a single-minded mother who still seemed like she still had some growing to do. Best of all, Eun-ha refused to desert her talent in the tough times. She was a one-woman-band of games, education, fun and encouragement, not just for the kids watching her channel, but for adults as well (Prosecutor..looking at you). And when the risk level went up because of Ji-hwan's gang background, she resisted his attempts to protect her and adamantly stayed by his side, which often weakened him, but on even more occasions, tempered his hot trigger anger and saved bad situations. I loved that they talked through awkward or tough times. Mi-ho too was another strong female character who refused to be overrun by her surprise pregnancy and was pragmatically (not emotionally) determined to have the baby without a Dad. She didn't jump at his offer to marry her until she was sure of their relationship, then finally agreed ...but on her terms, all the while managing a busy hair salon AND a very...

My overall feelings have been summed up by everyone else - it was so good for the majority of the episodes; it had a severe wobble at the landing but kept itself upright in the last 30 mins.

For me, the Deerlings were the MVP. Apart from the oddity that was the blind date - still not sure why that was important to include, but Man-ho and Jae-su laughing at their own dad jokes was truly in character and confirmed that they are basically married to each other, so ok... - they were consistently the part I always enjoyed. And I loved Jae-su's serious moment in ep15, where he explained why he will always call Ji-hwan "Boss" - that was a genuinely moving moment where we grasped just how much Ji-hwan had done for them all and the respect in which he was held. Actor Yang Hyun-min turns up in all sorts of minor roles, but he is a superb actor and absolutely nailed this role.

Yang-hee could make a comeback in part 2. What made him such a great villain to me is the humor he brought to his character. I love it when the writers find ways to write their villains the way he was written.

I found the last four episodes very haphazard and poorly written. After reading other comments I realized part of this is the loss of agency for the female characters. Why suddenly did the FL’s channel just go to 10,000 viewers? I was expecting more of the travails of her getting her career together complicated by dating and mob issues. The storyline with dad and other gangsters felt poorly planned by the writers, leaving it predictable and boring, especially the ml taking a hit for his dad. There are so many more interesting options: cat gang leader coming over to the good side, ml finds the cat gang leader's weakness and extorts it, the deerlings work together in the ultimate con to take down dad mobster, and I'm sure plenty of other interesting options. A lot of these would have worked more with the cute tone of the show and could have also included our female characters. I feel like a former mobster leader would have lots of tricks up his sleeve even if he now uses them for good.
My favorite moment in the wrap up was when the deerling told the FL how much he appreciated her accepting him. To me that was the best part of the show, the redemption arcs for former convicts.

I’m afraid I have to agree with the many here: A rather disappointing ending to a fresh beginning. Still, it was good fun with the mobster family at the outset, lovely to see redemption as a theme, and most especially, Uhm Tae-gu fit the role like a glove. 😍

And for that I’ll give MSM a half a grade more than it really deserves and rate it an *initial* B+. (Ratings subject to change once the hearts are out of my eyes. 😂 )

Ahhhh... Unfortunately for me, as per my episode 8 comment, this did not stick the second half.

*Rubs temples*. Satisfying Thematic and Character Resolution remains the greatest hurdle for Kdramas to vault, I see. Aiyooo...

I'm late to the party so I'm just gonna say that I'm really annoyed there were two tertiary romances that were strongly set up but didn't actually go anywhere on screen (2ML and his coworker, and Ye-na and that Deerling). Don't bother to set them up if you aren't going to follow through! Apparently we just needed more scenes of poor 2ML looking all sad and explicitly saying that he didn't feel like he could move on.

I didn't watch this live, but just watched the whole thing. I finished it today. I had not been reading along with all of you, so I didn't realize that this one was based on a web comic. Sometimes, it helps a show make more sense to stick to the original material! All the things that seemed weird or off in the plot of the show seem to have been based on decisions to make things more...dramatic? cinematic? Pfft. Anyway I enjoyed the show very much, even though I think it suffered from some narrative flaws. Also, I'm glad I didn't know about the web comic until I was done! I might like the comic a little better than the show, but since I didn't know about it, I just enjoyed the watch. I'm definitely going to be on the lookout for many of these young actors in the future. Uhm Tae-gu has a lot of potential and I want to see him again.

This is why we watch Kdramas: ENTERTAINMENT with romance, comedy, drama and intrigue. It is just SO CUTE and fluffy and FUN--a perfect palatte cleanser if you need one--with a satisfying ending. Definitely worth watching.

My LIKE list:
--good humor, with NO bathroom humor
--tropes that are cute and well-done (playground scene is a standout)
--familiar yet fresh set up: "Wendy" or "Snow White" & the Beast
--characters that are entertaining
--rough outside, soft inside mobster
--meaningful childhood encounter of leads
--violence is not cover-your-eyes level
--sweet kisses, male lead's voice!
--new lead quality: husky voice (yes, there is height)
--expressive female leads, especially 2nd female leads
--an ENDING that is satisfying and logical