I should not be this in love with a mystery, but there you go. Hiring leads that can sell chemistry in a scene or two are golden.

Main Characters:

Nam Sang Hyo: Our spunky heroine who is capable, but young. Dedicated to her job. Beset at every turn by competition. Able to pretend like she's invulnerable, but show us her sensitivity. Not a candy!

Goo Hae Young: Sang Hyo's Vegas Ex, which means they were only mostly married (and of course still in love) he's marrying random girl. has someone else obsessed with him. He's talented and cocky. He also plays games on his phone when he should be doing serious stuff.

Jo Sung Gyum: The Hotel's MD. Manipulative. Angry and charming simultaneously. Chaebol son. All the women are in love with him. May have a soft spot for our heroine. Definitely has some sort of mystery attached.

Central Conceit:

This is harder to nail down. The first two episodes established character and backstory, but I don't think we're at the central conceit other than there is a murder, the murder seems to have to do with another murder, and our three mains have pieces of the information. I doubt they all know all the pieces, but at least we can see the motivation.

The character and backstory was enough to hook me, but only because I am a sucker for this level of cute, not because I'm a mystery fan.

P.S.

I did not realize that this was a "Mess with Tropes" Drama. But I guess anything that's focused on Trot Music would already be subverting the dominant paradigm already so might as well go all the way.

Here are the tropes that I have noticed as turned on their ear in these two episodes:

- Loan Sharks: scheme to get their money back by supporting the obvious soon to be burgeoning career of their mark instead of unnecessarily setting her back.

- No room at the Inn: the other room is being used to dry bean paste and that just smells nasty.

- Boy Kisses Girl without consent: She smacks him and leaves.

- Someone has to sacrifice for their well-being: He cooks and cleans and learns to drive.

- Noble Idiocy: actually makes a lot of sense and is probably a reasonable choice based on the information available to him.

There is one trope that they haven't given up on and that's the second female lead undermining the female lead at every opportunity. Sad, really. The writers could go watch Protect the Boss and learn how to do that well.

P.S.

Well, the obligatory plot arcs have begun!

In this episode we have manipulating sunbae and competitors.

A random plot line that shows the parents of the first and second female lead are intertwined.

AND

Random and seemingly arbitrary competitions that will somehow legitimize her place that her obvious talent somehow cannot.

Tropes, tropes everywhere. Still working so far.

P.S.

I hate Ji Hyun Woo because at the beginning of this episode he was practically chewing on the scenery, and, as always, by the end he had me eating out of the palm of his hand. Two years in the army hasn't changed his acting style at all.

Today's episode had all the obligatory Candy sequences:

Seemingly Too Good to be True Deal: Check Betrayed by Trusted Friend: Check Deal as Bad as we Feared: Check Eviction: Check Back to the Bad Deal: Check Hostess Bar: Check Gangsters in the Hostess Bar: Check

Every country has their tropes to rely on, this checklist is one I'm growing increasingly familiar with. To the point that it is as effective on me as boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back. I know what I'm in for when I see it and I totally buy the whole package.

P.S.

OK, time for me to finally start enjoying Trot music! Let's break it down.

Choi Chun Hee is our spunky, never quit, voice of an angel Candy girl. Well, I say Candy, but when a character is played by Jung Eun Ji, it's hard to ever really consider her a Candy. I mean she's got all the markers: Poor, Father in Debt, Father Runs Away, Debt Collectors take it out on her, ADORABLE little sister who relies on her. BUT, she's als Jung Eun Ji, she's not going to take crap lying down, she's going to make kimchi bokum bap from her expired triangle kim-chi and not be ashamed of it.

Jang Joon Hyun is yet another one of Ji Hyun Woo's characters at least as they start out: full of himself, talks too much and too quickly, and is convinced everything he does is perfect. This sounds like I hate him, but in fact, it's the opposite. The jerk is so charming that he sucks me in every single time. Granted, never in the first few episodes, but  by 16 I'm on board with being madly in love with him and puffing up that ego. In this case he's an Idol who falls from grace within the first two episodes. He's so ready to get back to the top he'll do anything, including taking on our Candy girl (whom he hates OF COURSE) as a protege.

Jo Geun Woo is the slacker son of the President of the Agency that JJH is represented by and CCH is trying out for. He's got the best personality quirks: kleptomaniac, forgetful,  presumptive, and very easy going. As soon as my brain stops screaming "Serial Killer" everytime I see him, I'm sure I'll love him.

Park Soo In is our cliche. She's an idol wannabe who will use anyone to get what she wants and keep the sweet little girl smile on her face while she does it.

Choi Byul is not one of our leads, but she may as well be, she's the adorable little sister who will be instrumental to our leads falling in love, but for now she's doing a great job of stealing the show. Love her!

Central Conceit:

The premise appears to be that our Candy Heroine Chun Hee is meant to become a major singing superstar, but her music of choice is Trot.

For those who may not be as obsessed as I am, Trot is the kind of music that is popular with people who are grandparents and older. It's based on the Foxtrot's 4/4 time, but has a lot of elements of traditional Korean music as well as some traditional Japanese elements. My sister-in-law's parents LOVE trot music so while we were visiting them we heard a lot of it.

Joon Hyun starts out as a top star musical talent who falls from grace after a one night stand sets off a scandal. The Agency President tells him he'll sue him for damages unless he helps our poor heroine become worthy of a spot in the agency.

Our first conflict will be an audition that Park Soo In is all but guaranteed to win thanks to her mother's connections.

First Impressions:

It's very full of tropes, but it's a musical centralized on Trot music, of course it has tropes! I imagine they're trying to pull a slightly older audience due to the music and introduce the younger generation to the joys of Trot.

I have hopes for it so far since the plotting is good and the characters, once they're no longer painting with broad strokes should be very engaging.

P.S.