“Terius Behind Me” enjoyed great popularity since it premiere and continuously scored the top spot each week.

It tells the story of a former fallen agent (who used to work for the NIS) and an average single woman with twins. Her husband dies in mysterious circumstances, the former agent gets involved with her and the story begins.

On paper, the story is actually pretty interesting and different. We don’t usually get to see kdramas with single moms as the leads and a plot surrounding spies and conspiracy, Jung In Sun’s character is a young hardworking mother overcome by sudden unexpected tragedy.

Despite taking over “Time” time-slot (which recorded low ratings), the drama did exceptionally well. So Ji Sub is enjoying great popularity as well as results for his performances in 2018, he has already led a hit movie alongside Son Ye Jin titled “Be With You” which I loved.

This is a subjective spoiler-free review but as you can already tell from the title. Heads up!

What sets this drama apart is the spy theme and the comedic element and I think this was one of the reasons the drama was such a hit. The other reason has to do with the cast who share great chemistry together.

The drama main idea is; as I said previously; extremely cool. On paper, this drama has so much potential and the setting is rather unique.

In reality what we have is nothing but the outer fragile shell of what the drama was supposed to be, and it’s sad!

Writer Oh Ji Young has only one more drama to her name, the hit 2016 cute drama “Shopping King Louis,” which I enjoyed. Thus, I am going to assume she’s a rookie.

The good

Let’s start with the good of this drama before I speak in more details about what I disliked.

The acting performances are amazing, even the child actors are amazing. Everyone is doing a good job as their respective characters and I couldn’t have wished for a better cast.

So Ji Sub is so cute around kids and Jung In Sun does well as the mother, she has good chemistry with the child actors.

The supporting cast is also on point. They all mesh so well together its like they were meant to starr in a drama with each other. I loved the dynamics surrounding the supporting cast and how much they influenced the drama.

The comedy of this drama is on point. There are moments when you’re like ‘sheeeet is about to go down’ but then it plays off in a way that makes you laugh.

All the characters (no matter how serious) make you laugh and my favorite characters have to be CEO Jin and the hacker. I just can’t hate Sun Ho Jun, he is too adorable and sweet and I don’t think I am the only one who has a soft spot for him; he is so lovable despite his supposedly ‘dark’ demeanor.

We all appreciate a romantic comedy that tackles difficult subjects in a comedic manner at times while pulling off the serious tone at other times.

I like the directing of this drama as well and love the production quality. They didn’t skim and spent a lot of money on making the drama look more real, kudus to them.

The bad

With simple words, the plot is…. I am gonna say ‘illogical.’

I kind of almost feel offended by the plot (let me explain).

The plot is filled with plot-holes and worse than that, illogical actions and reactions made by the characters that make no sense given their character description.

I cannot go into details about the plot, where and what the plot went awry (since this is a spoiler-free review) but I can say this, its very difficult to follow up with it because it lacks sense.

The writer treats Ae Rin (Jung In Sun) as a blank sheet of paper type of character who does whatever the writer tells her to do without consideration of her background, consequences or her kids. I was very disappointed with this character.

Almost all aspects of the plot don’t feel like real decisions made by real people working for such a sensitive sector (the NIS). I know that it’s supposed to be fun but that doesn’t mean it should be written poorly to be fun, let’s not confuse both things.

I have seen comments about people disappointed with the plot while other defending it and going after whoever says the drama disappoints because of the plot. I don’t understand why people associate dumbness with comedy, comedy isn’t dumb, not anyone can write and execute comedy well.

In my opinion, the writer doesn’t have any idea what to do with the NIS part of the plot nor has the experience to deal with it properly and put on a plausible plot that would do NIS part justice.

The writer is good at writing cute characters and romantic comedies; I have no idea why she thought it would be a good idea to experiment with something that needs so much thought.

Its entertaining and enjoyable but it has so many mistakes that the comedy part and good performances barely overshadow the flaws.

The drama clearly is made for laughs which I understand, its fine!

Spy dramas aren’t easy to make and also requires extensive research as well as proof-reading (lots of it). Because you need to make sure the plot makes sense to the average viewer before you.

When you write you’re so immersed in the plot, you need a fresh eye that will look at the overall plot. This isn’t something you craft and put out as you write. Such a script must be entirely written (and proof-read) then made.

The reality is many kdramas shoot as they’re pumping out episodes, this gives any writer very little time to inspect and double check because they’re always racing to get the script finished on time.

Without the spy part, this drama is just like any other rom-com.

Despite saying all of that having been a kdrama fan for 6 years and knowing well what the community likes, the majority enjoyed this drama.

Its still fun and comedic at times, the writer does have a good comedy sense but that’s about how far she can go.

Should I watch the drama?

So if you’re a kdrama fan who enjoys sweet romantic comedies, there is a good chance you will love this drama.

If you love any of the leads, there is also a good chance you will love this drama. If you like So Ji Sub and seeing him with a suit playing around with adorable kids, your heart will probably melt on many occasions.

However, if you value sense and plausible plots that are well-written, there is a good chance you will give up the drama before episode 8 rolls in. It also has a slower pace as the drama progresses into the second half.

Personally speaking the drama disappointed me! I am a huge So Ji Sub fan and with all this drama has been disappointing…. He has the luxury to pick better scripts….

I hope you take this review with a grain of salt and forgive me. Whenever I review a kdrama of an actor I like I am usually harsher.

So what did you think of the drama? Did you like it?