Thirty-Nine (2022)

The drama was a one big tournament of who had it the worst. Whose misery is worse than the next person? Who should be the saddest? Who is the least fortunate? It was a constant competition where everyone was competing for these misery points. This is the drama's biggest downfall, having a handful of "sad" stories competing against the main story of the trio. It misses up with the emotional direction the characters were meant to carry and shifts the focus outside the scoop of the drama. It was nothing but laughable and disingenuous when a certain character had to react to 2 sad events at once. The problem also extends to the casual relationships of everyone around them. There was simply just too much interference with the main story to make the drama work. Outside of the misery, there were a few romantic plot-lines that didn't have a place but was forced anyway. Mi Jo & Seon Woo had a full romance story along side all of the sadness going around. It wouldn't be much of a problem if it was good but their story and romance was tasteless, uncomfortable, tacky and most importantly, lacking the chemistry, easily the worst part of the drama. The drama was also leaning a bit too much onto throwing in a handful of plot conveniences when it really didn't need to. These instances could've been written naturally and it wouldn't stick out as much. The most obvious example was Seon Woo's introduction and his initial connection to other characters. The drama sure does look pretty and attractive but lacks a defining identity. The main trio were good while the rest of the support cast were okay.