My absolute favorite thing about this drama so far has been how they are handling the interactions between Tae Pyeong and Mi Rae. No tropey bandaging her knee for her, no demanding she continue riding on the bike to her destination. He obviously finds her interesting but is not in any way pushing anything at her and he immediately listens when she refuses an offer. Letting the female lead have agency! Love this and hope it becomes a kdrama trend!
I second Unit's love of a middle aged romance, one of my all time favorites is Second to Last Love, also starring the fabulous Ji Jin Hee so have high hopes for this one, despite the mysterious burning apartment.

Hum.. I'm mixed... I love Ji Jin-hee but the mystery with the arson, how he got the money (with the old man) don't really interest me, I just want a family drama...

The start of this drama felt like a bunch of pieces of spaghetti being thrown at a wall--workplace drama! arson! daddy issues! money mysteries! first love! jaded love! second chance love!--and nothing was really sticking for me. I found some of the humor and tone to be a bit try hard in nature, too, like the writers came in with the intention of not being formulaic but failing to offer a cohesive story. I'll give it one more week.

I tried this out and am now interested to see how both romances progresses though Ji Jin-Hee's character is definitely shady AF.

They took their own sweet time to bring Ji Jin Hee to the show!! But he entered with a bang. That twirl and hold was hilarious!!
I hope that those tattoos are just misleading us and the reason for fire is nothing to do with Moo Jin. Or atleast he isn’t an evil person.

I like a story about a family finding their way to each other. So I am curious to see how Moo Jin redeems himself. We have seen that he was failing and caused his family huge financial distress. I totally get why his wife divorced him. But we also heard that they were quite a loving couple when they weren’t fighting. He has to show a lot of growth for us and his family to be convinced.

And Mi-Rae is strongly team mommy, and has been bearing resentment so long that it affects her own life to a point where she is anti-marriage. There is a lot of healing to be done here. It won’t be easy for Moo Jin to win her over.

Choi Min Ho is cute. And their moments are sweet. And that last scene was hilarious. What a way to enter the family :) bring on the chaos, I am ready.

What’s with dramas writing these immature or irresponsible boys in dramas. I don’t find the brother funny. He isn’t a school kid but he is going to college. He reminds of me of Doctor slump brother.

Except for the possible murder subplot. This was so much fun. I laughed. I sure did.

I really enjoyed these two episodes. This is giving me Cunning Single Lady with a spoon of weekender and a sprinkle of Not Others. I like all of that so yeah, this is totally my jam.

1. First of all, I already know that the "otaku" husband is going to be my favorite. Does he have an obsession with crime shows? Is that why they call him otaku? I don't know, but he's totally me. I would also find the FL's dad super sus in that situation. LOL

2. The dad really scared me at the end of episode 1. I thought that JJH was the mom's new love interest or something. I wasn't expecting him to be the (not) dead dad. LOL Great intro to his character!
Also, is it me or his partner and the hairstylist neighbor would be a nice couple? I really want that ship to happen.
Maybe it's because of the weekender vibes, but I really want the three ships to sail.

4. I like Mi Rae's style: "I see someone hurting my mom, I get them out of my house." It was heartbreaking to see that they really had a 미래 mirae—future— with her mom's business, but instead they ended up losing it, plus their house, because of the dad.

It seems like Mi Rae had to grow up when her dad couldn't and that led to resentment.
It was really sad when the mom asked Mi Rae why she wouldn't let her dongsaeng work and study at the same time. If she did it, he could do it too. Mi Rae didn't respond, but it was obvious that the answer was that because she knew how hard it was, she didn't want her little bro to suffer the same.

Mi Rae seems to have as her family as her priority 1, 2, and 3 (3 being her dongsaeng, because we stan uri maknae Medal over Hyun Jae in this house). Her goal is to give her family the best, but that's a big responsibility that her body can't take at the moment.

Like everyone is telling her, she needs to take care of herself first—which reminded me that this show is definitely not one of the recent weekenders—. It's time she lives her own life.

Anyway, it depends on how the show develops the different relationships, but I think we could have a cute and healing family drama here. All the characters are harmless (family, neighbors, coworkers, friends), and even the ML is a real gentleman! this is a rare kind of positive vibes in kdramaland. I'm here for it.

PS. Choi Daniel's cameo was soooo good. 😂😂 He gave me so much laughs I'm sad we won't see him again. I miss him in kdramaland.

I was immediately drawn into this world. Dramas with a side of slice of life can be really hit or miss. Yet I found myself drawn into the neighbors, as they were created in short moments used to their full potential rather than the drawn out not-funny-at-all.
I also loved the look of the drama. The physical environment is not fancy, but it is also not stereotypical poor. Everything has a paired down look, but then there are real splash of colors. The first scene that cemented this for me was the store locker room. You see it again in mom's room with the accent being the flower pillows, or the pretty chandelier in the kitchen. I like how it represents that things are hard, but ok, and also there are real moments of family and friendship.

I am pretty sure we are being intentionally misled about the landlord's death being attributed to the ML. There is no way that an audience would root for a killer as the ML in a family drama. He might be a reformed gangster though, which would cause a lot of drama, but not a murderer.

Also, count me firmly in the camp of people who appreciate an older ML as a romantic lead.

I liked the episodes, second more than the first. Rom com + Only Murders in the Building + Behind Your Touch vibes- Small town show, but set in one apartment block, replete with nosy neighbours, arsonist, prodigal ML, etc. Sometimes, the switches in tone were jarring!

I also like the characterisation of the mother and daughter relationship- it was poignant, supportive, and yet showed two strong women with their own personalities and lives. Mi Rae is just a lovely girl. I wish the son had been portrayed differently, because he comes off just slightly better than the one in Dr Slump (and I could NOT stand that twit).

What my ahjumma eyes did appreciate a lot though, was simply Ji Jin Hee on my screen. Whoever styles him here deserves a raise 😅 and I wish I could make gifs or whatever of that thirst trap tattoo scene in the sauna Lol. Just gimme more of hot guy around my generation please, that I can fangirl over guiltfree!!
I hope he isn't going to be the bad guy here, and all those obvious hints are just red herrings. I look forward to seeing how he seduces his way back to the family fold, and the fireworks between him and his daughter!
Next weekend is going to be full again with this, and Friend's Son!

Great Recap from Unit.

The return of the husband and second chance idea is made more poignant by the fact that he did not choose to abandon his family before- he was cast out. And, according to what he says to his ex, she may not want to know what he did to now have a pile of cash. With that tattoo it is very likely that he is or at least was in a gang- and given his past as an athlete it is possible that he committed violence as part of that program.

But I am going to bet that he did not commit arson. Fire is way too tricky to be trusted to somehow just burn the one unit so arson on his part would have meant knowingly putting his family- or at least their possessions- in danger. At the very least it might have forced them to move out. which would have defeated his purpose in being there. As an experienced gang member, he also would have been acutely conscious of the risk of being caught. What this does do is insert a true genuine mystery into this story- complete with a nosy neighbor who is convinced that our ML did it.

The first episodes were good, and I am looking forward to the next ones.

I need help! The Choi Philip scene in ep 2 was obviously taken from some Korean classic with the cheesy breakup lines and the dramatic music. What was it???

Thank you, drama. I appreciate watching a more mature couple in a romcom/family drama. The fact, that there will not be a cheating husband, chaebol, or a childhood-turn-lover thingy trope is a huge plus, I will not skip this one. Lastly, there is no huge age gap between the ML and FL.

What I like:
✔ Ji Jin Hee - been a fan since I watched him in Dong-Yi as a girl
✔ Middle-aged romance (last good one I watched was Crash Course in Romance, Dr Cha doesn't count count cos FL didn't accept her suitors). Actually, would love to see a good seniors romance too!
✔ Second chance & redemption trope / underdog or reversal of fortune trope
✔ Tenants in a block (which is usually ripe for comic shenanigans, without tripping into the pettiness of small town stories) l the ensemble supporting cast is amazing (Jung Suk-Yong / Hwang Jung-min and Hwang Bo-ra etc)

What gives me pause:
✖ Tone, editing, directorial choices are sometimes uneven ( I hope it settles after the 2nd week); dialogue is a bit on the nose too
✖ I find the younger brother character quite triggering (mentally I am already thinking of how I will issue him an IOU for his college tuition fees and leave him behind when I move) I hope script evolves into a better plot function for this character later (like lowkey shipping / sly parent-trapping)
✖ And this...is my biggest reservation: given their prior family / marital history, I find the reversal of fortune and the current power gradient steep in favor of the prodigal husband-landlord almost painful to watch. I know they meant the set-up for comedy, but it's not funny to me cos I can *feel* the humiliation and desperation of the mother and especially the daughter. The script needs to resolve this sore point, otherwise I think it will alienate viewers who catch onto this same undertow of relational dynamics.

I want to watch jinhee and romance, but honestly... our young pair are not my favorite idols turned actors out there. for now, I will read the recaps and watch some cute edits

Thank you for the recap @unit. Started it for JJH but the story got me hooked. CMH is going to have a tough time with his future FIL🤣🤣
I liked JJH in Misty and hoping for his character to be positive here.

Two exposition heavy episodes. I will allow for one episode of world-building even if I usually find it boring. But, there was a lot of unnecessary fluff in episode 2. So, he sent out a letter making his tenants panic for no reason? He was going to move to the burned unit anyway? And, even worse, he did it to his ex-wife who he wants to get back with? So, we are forced to see him shopping for appliances, which was at best exposition showing that he has matured. (I was not amused) I think I will have to FF through a lot of boring parts.

I was only intrigued by the anti-marriage bit. I wonder if Mi Rae is anti-marriage because she doesn't want to humiliate her mom, who can't afford to pay for a wedding, or because she is devoted to her unfortunate family, or because she doesn't want to be burdened by having to possibly take care of a useless husband. But, in this case, why even date a useless momma's boy. I was less impressed by the cameo than others here. I watched on 2x for that part and the baseball part.

I hope they tighten it up in the next few weeks. There is potential here. The performances are good for ex-idols (not that high a bar). There are a lot of subplots to develop. I hope they don't paint the younger brother to have inherited his father's lack of business skill and have that be a plot point. Fingers crossed.

I really enjoyed the first two episodes. I hope they don't make the dad a criminal, which i don't think they will because the suspenseful similarities were too pointed and obvious, but I thought there was a really good mix of funny with sad, but in a lowkey semi-realistic way so far. Mi Rae is a good pov character too, she feels real.

I loved the mother daughter relationship, Mi Rae had to grow up fast but not because her mother didn't try too, they both had to weather through storms together and I love how Ae Yeon clearly didn't want to move at first but said yes right away because she saw that Mi Rae really wanted to and they're a unit. The brother is mostly useless so far, but not maliciously a manchild, so we'll see how he contributes to the story, though he might just be more of a comic relief space than anything. Mi Rae's romance might be pretty cute too, Tae Pyong is attentive and nice without being a NIce Guy so far.

I also really like that while I am absolutely on Mi Rae's side with how resentful she is of her father, because he pretty much ruined their lives and she doesn't want him to make her or her mother sad again, I also felt some sympathy for Moo Jin. He isn't just a callous waste of space. He was wrong and he should have been more careful and done better by his family, and he deserved to be cast out so they could pull together something to move forward with, but he's not unsympathetic as a character or awful as a human being so I'm into seeing his redemption arc where he proves he can do better by them.

On a shallow note, Ji Jin Hee and Kim Ji Soo look gorgeous together, and I totally feel their chemistry even with everything so fraught right now. That first episode entry with the swirling dip, truly the epitome of kdrama romantic shots! I had to laugh at the line where Ji Jin Hee says he has a really common face. I would very much enjoy living in a world where many men had that face!