This slice-of-life drama seemed to come out of nowhere (mostly because the title was misleading) and instantly pulled me in. Below is my review of what I consider the best currently airing kdrama of the season.

About This Drama:
‘Just Between Lovers’ follows the lives of survivors of a tragic building collapse accident. It’s a slice-of-life drama about the struggles of life after experiencing deep loss and how relationships around that are affected. 

The Good Stuff:

• Beautiful Storytelling: This is not your average K-Drama. From beginning to end, Just Between Lovers has the perfect balance of sadness, joy, anger and love. It is definitely a sad story with heartbreaking moments, but the writers allow us to follow the characters as they deal with the pain and loss and experience happiness and friendship so there is the perfect balance. Those of you who are scared to watch because of the feels: There are a bunch of funny and cute moments throughout and there are even some classic tropes like the piggy back ride and cute dates!
  

(–spoilers ahead–)

Originally posted by kdramaxoxo

• Realistic Character Development: Moon Soo and Gang Doo might be my favorite deeply developed couple from a K-Drama. You experience all of the pain and fears they have, as the show reveals what that happened to them. Step by step you learn what their deepest fears and traumas are, and all of the quirks and imperfections of being human. The side characters are also deeply developed (though not as much as the leads) showing you how everyone deals with tragedy differently. Not everyone heals completely but finds their own path and that’s how life really is. 
  
  
• Moon Soo as a Soft but Strong Female Lead: After ‘Because This is My First Life’ had a quiet and unassuming female lead who ended up taking control, I’ve realized I LOVE SOFT STRONG FEMALE LEADS. A strong female doesn’t have to come in screaming ;-) Moon Soo is struggling with her family and guilt from the accident, but she still is steadfast in her career, has extremely high ethics, and is the strong portion of the main couple. Without her, I’m not sure Gang Doo would have ever healed (or even stayed alive).

Originally posted by addictingkdrama

• Gang Doo is everyone’s favorite boyfriend: At first I thought Gang Doo came on a little violent (he has a lot of guilt and ptsd so his rages were kinda disturbing) but once the main couple starts sharing their pain and struggles, he basically becomes the world’s best boyfriend. Gang Doo knows he got the best end of the deal so it’s super cute. If you like romance, you’ll LOVE the two of these precious beans together. 
  
  
• Mental Illness and Disability Representation: ALL of the characters who were in the accident are dealing with some form of mental illness: PTSD, Depression, Anxiety. Alcoholism etc and I love how the show empathizes with them and doesn’t look down on them (especially as someone who is constantly working on my own mental heath). It never pretends they are perfect or on the other hand totally lost, but instead allows you to see the reality of what people go through when they have these issues. My favorite side characters are Kim Wan Jin and Sang Man(!!!). Kim Wan Jin is in a wheelchair due to a different accident and is feisty, strong, smart and super capable while still having to deal with discrimination. Sang Man appears to have a mild intellectual disability but is clearly the smartest and most insightful character of the show - he is a joy and most of the best quotes are from him - I LOVE HIM!
  
  
• Great Cinematography and Soundtrack: Both of these are lovely! Whenever a show is stunning, I can’t resist making gifs of everything and well, I’ve giffed my heart out. The OST isn’t released on itunes yet but I’ve listed to the songs over and over again on youtube so… <3

Originally posted by kdramaxoxo

The Bad Stuff:

Honestly unless I’m being SUPER nit-picky there really isn’t a lot to complain about. There is one jarring error but the rest are small things like: the forced breakup for 1 episode that dramas always like to do for some reason - (just make the show 15 episodes DUDE. We don’t need that heartbreak!)

• The main bad thing is everyone’s least favorite character: Jung Yoo Taek is an interesting villain because he doesn’t actually have very much power. He’s easy to hate because he’s a jerk, but he’s kind of a sad human and you can tell he doesn’t even like himself really. But the biggest issue I had was his relationship with Ma-Ri: A strong independent woman who has NO reason to actually like him. The writers either wanted to tie their plot line up with a pretty bow or just failed Ma-Ri as a character.
  
  
• One funny side note that isn’t really negative but…because it’s a k-drama, everyone who is struggling with their traumatic past (included the architect) gets a job on the EXACT JOB SITE that the trauma originally happened and there is a TON of stress revolved around that. Why doesn’t everyone just quit? Just saying ;-)
  

Originally posted by idleminds

In Conclusion: It’s always a joy to write a review about a show I love because I can hopefully convince others to watch it too! It’s got a great balance of everything: sadness, joy, funny, heartfelt moments and well, it’s almost perfect - I miss it already!

Rating of show: 9/10

Handling of social issues: 9/10
(highest I’ve ever given on a k-drama)

The more I watch ‘Come and Hug Me’ the more I realize that Chae Do Jin/ Nam Woo is the same person as Lee Gang Doo from ‘Just Between Lovers.’ 

Ok here me out..below are striking similarities:

• Both have lost family and loved ones from a childhood trauma.
• Both are adults that live for others instead of themselves because of guilt related to those accidents.
• Both have father issues (though Gang Doo’s is more minor)
• They are both in love with someone connected to their childhood trauma.
  
• Neither of them has an ability to care for themselves due to how much self-hatred they have.
• They literally have the same child actor playing them (Nam Da Reum)
• Both look hot bloody (sorry!!)
• Both break down at even the slightest amount of compassion from another person.

Let’s do a thought experiment and swap their places:

Imagine that Chae Do Jin was in the mall accident and grew up under the same stress and loss that he did. Would he act out in anger and desperation the same way Gang Doo does? Would he need someone connected to the trauma to help him heal? Would he work at that job site and protect others over himself? Could he heal like Gang Doo does in ‘Just Between Lovers’?

Now imagine Gang Goo as the son of a serial killer. How would he act? Would he protect his childhood love and grow up distancing himself from her for her own protection? Would his guilt eat him alive so that he couldn’t have friends or healthy relationships? Would he become part of the police so that he could be a good guy? Could he heal on his own or would he get stabbed and wander around allowing damage to his body? Would Gang Doo recover? 

I honestly cannot think of any way they are different from one another and I love that idea!  Gang Doo and Do Jin are brothers from another mother and deserve to be protected!