Strongest Deliveryman

One of the Kdramas I'd downloaded an episode of on Netflix was Strongest Deliveryman wherein it is described as "Two gutsy food delivery workers strive to overcome their socioeconomic disadvantages to achieve big goals--and bump into love along the way."

The only clip I'd seen from it made it look fairly humorous and that description definitely made it sound like there wasn't any chabeol junk in it. So I watched it while I was at the gym.

I didn't realise going in that Chae Soo-bin (I'm Not a Robot and Where Stars Land) was the main female lead. I'd only seen the guy Ko Gyung-Pyo in the little trailer clip from Netflix. So, that was a surprise. I do mostly like her (in the robot one, anyway) so that didn't necessarily put me off, even though I'd just seen her in something.

The first episode is a bit jumpy as it introduces the characters...

• Choi Gang-Soo (played by Ko Gyung-Pyo) -- a delivery guy who never stays in one location for more than 2 months, which immediately made me suspect he's searching for someone and Lo, the epilogue proved that as we see a flashback of him as a teenager when his dad died and learn that his mom had stolen all their money and abandoned them and he's planning on searching for her in Seoul to basically tell her how crap she was. He seems a nice enough character and a decent guy (chasing down a hit and run driver, for instance) but I'm also guessing that the mom might be the chaebol bitch-ity bitch we see in the first episode buying up shopping districts and putting little shops out of business + the not-very-nice mom of Lee Ji-Yoon (below). So...more chaebol crap I wasn't expecting ONCE A-FREAKING AGAIN.
• Lee Dan-A (played by Chae Soo-bin) -- a delivery girl with an attitude who is working hard to save money to get out of Korea to find new opportunities. She's tough. 
• Oh Jin-Gyu (played by Kim Sun-Ho) -- a younger son chaebol kid who's dad treats him like a loser but his older brother spoils him. So far, seems like a complete asshat, having insulted Choi for no reason. His family is apparently 3rd or 4th in line in the corporate world, so probably competing with the bitchy chaebol mom's family. 
• Lee Ji-Yoon (played by Go Won-hee) -- A chaebol daughter of bitchy mom, who has run away and subsequently been "cut off" in order to force her to come back home with her tail between her legs. She's apparently 23 but very innocent/sheltered and Choi, who gave her food and a place to sleep after he caught her eating someone else's leftover food on the street, thinks she's only 17. So, if her bitchy mom is also his bitchy mom, that makes her his half-sister. They might not be related, but that would be my guess. 

Do you see my problem? Out of the four leads, two of them have definite chaebol connections/ties and the main character (Choi) might as well. I have a bit of hope as the AsianWiki description of the show says "Story depicts love and success of a deliveryman who eventually becomes the CEO of a delivery app company." But still. 

It does seem to have some funny bits but also some downer bits. I think it is one that I will watch, just not entirely sure that now is the time. Also, the lead guy has that poodle hair that I don't understand the appeal of. 

Will update once I go on...

Edit: watched episode 2 because it was downloaded on my phone already via Netflix and I didn't want to use up any more data because little dude has almost gone through it all this month. Anyway...

Welp. I think I'm still kinda feeling the same. This one looks to be even more depressing than I thought after the first episode. Jin-Gyu is still a complete ass BUT his dad also beat him with a freaking golf club and told him to kill himself. I mean, what the WHAT. Sure, your kid might be an asshole, but who does that?? Evil Chaebol Dad, I guess. And Ji-Yoon is super manipulative, though they've framed her as someone "innocent/cute/sweet/in need of rescue" but she's able to turn on the waterworks at will to get what she wants, which makes me personally not really care for her. Dan-Ah is more sympathetic as she's got a crap family she wants to get away from but it's also hard to see her completely cutting them from her life (at least the brother...the parents seem like total idiots)...AND she's also not above stooping to blackmail (she thinks Gang-Soo is a transvestite because she found Ji-Yoon's stuff in his room and is extorting money from him). At this point, Gang-Soo is really the only wholly sympathetic one and he's a pretty prickly panda.

And, at the end of the episode, Dan-Ah comes across Jin-Gyu about to/trying to commit suicide and is saving him when they both fall into the water. We obviously know they don't die but geez, that's a downer. As is the friend of Gang-Soo who got into a car accident and is probably gonna die because he couldn't get taken to the hospital fast enough because Jin-Gyu's cronies had the road illegally blocked off for a car race. I mean, seriously. Hella depressing. Wasn't expecting that from this show based on how it was billed.

So...I might continue on with it at some point but I'll have to put on my stoic face first.