Part gauzy rom-com and part serious palace intrigue, Show does have some pacing and tonal issues, and, in my opinion, also works out to be a little bloated, at 20 episodes.
However, if you can put aside the pacing and tonal issues, there are stretches in this show which are genuinely enjoyable. The central romance didn’t tilt my world, but was pretty great at serving up cute, reverse rom-com tropes, in Show’s lighter stretch. My interest wavered in Show’s last quarter, but importantly, I found the ending satisfying, and worth hanging in there for.
I’ll start by saying, I LOVE your blog! I tend to agree with your unpopular opinions, and I take OST recommendations from your posts all the time, even when I haven’t seen the drama itself. Thanks for putting in the effort to create such an informative, fun space – it pays off.
With the 57th Baeksang Awards coming up, I was curious about your thoughts on award shows. Do you follow them and take them seriously? Do you think the credit is given where it’s due?
You might need a tiny bit of patience with this one in its early episodes, but Show turns into such a thoughtful, sweet, sensitive love story, that it’s completely worth it. Our story leans restrained and slice-of-life in execution, so some viewers might find it too small of a story, but I love it.
Our central love story is teased out with a detailed, sensitive and tender touch, and the resulting feels are organically swoony and so satisfying.
Our leads are great together, and Ro Woon is especially wholesome and endearing as a young man smitten with his sunbae.
As a bonus, our supporting characters and their relationships also get a similarly thoughtful treatment, making for a very enjoyable watch overall.
Show remains consistent all the way through, and even manages an ending that feels earned and satisfying. Highly recommend. ❤️
(This is a long intro, so skip it if you wish) Hello! I’ve been a silent reader of your blog for a really long time, since I was thirteen and I just made this account to comment!
I’m sixteen now, and I feel like I’ve grown up with your blog- you introduced me to dramas and k-pop, and I still read your older articles when I feel down, it’s like comfort food for me. So thank you for that!
The question I have is: What do you think of idol actors? I don’t know if it’s just me, but it feels like a lot more idols are starring in dramas nowadays, and they may not always be good at acting. The general consensus among some of my other drama-watching friends is that idol actors take away jobs from better-trained rookie actors, and some think it’s unfair that they get to use a drama as an acting class.
Personally, I think it’s a bit of a gray area, since there’s plenty of perfectly well-trained and decently popular actors who can’t reeeallly act that well, but also it kind of ruins the drama for me if the lead cannot act well (fourteen year old me wasn’t that bothered about acting skills so much as ~swoon~ factor and watched The Great Seducer on repeat, but I watched it last week and had to skip a big big chunk of the scenes because the acting was…not the greatest) What do you think?
(But I think we all know idols are going to keep getting casted anyways, lol. They’re far too popular to miss out on for profit-related purposes, and some of them are really really good!)
Annie writes:
Would be interesting to read your thoughts on idols turned actors/actresses.
I think it’s time for me to admit that I’m just not this show’s target audience, because try as I might, I keep losing interest in this one.
They say that life’s too short for bad dramas; I think it’s also true that life’s too short to force yourself to keep watching dramas that you’re just not feeling, even if lots of other people love it.
I’m now literally just 2 hours away from finishing this one, but I just don’t have it in me to keep going, I’m afraid. I’m dropping out, 28 episodes out of this show’s 32.
You might think that’s a waste, since I’m just 2 hours away from finishing my watch. But looking at it another way, we could say it’s 2 hours gained, that I can spend on some other drama that I’d enjoy more. That’s not a bad silver lining, eh?
The characters and their journeys are the stars of this warm workplace drama with an emotional, humanistic sort of touch.
We get to know and care about key characters and their personal journeys, even as Show serves up human interest side stories relevant to the management of a world-class airport.
Even though large chunks of the cinematography feel quite pedestrian, there are very prettily shot, beautiful poignant scenes sprinkled through the drama as well. The music is also quite lovely and atmospheric, and effectively lifts the watch experience.
Unfortunately, Show’s narrative gets muddied by too much emphasis on shady gangster dealings, which overshadow our key characters in regrettable ways, particularly towards the end of our story.
Show also has a habit of introducing story threads and then dropping them, sometimes without even a hint of resolution. This was a downer.
Still, I found this to be a warm and enjoyable watch overall.
