I’m a sucker for a good love story, but this one felt like it was determined to get to the 16th episode at a snail’s pace. Don’t get me wrong, Because This Is My First Life was chef’s kiss. Well-rounded characters, a great plot, and a satisfying ending; however, I was quickly turned off by the never-ending “I love him, but he doesn’t love me” sentiment. I understand that was the entire plot of the story, but by the end, I was skipping parts I didn’t particularly care for.

The story follows three young ladies, each of whom imagined their lives would be a certain way by the time they reached their 30s.

We first encounter Yoon Ji-Ho, an optimistic assistant writer who graduated from the University of Seoul. Despite her father’s vehement opposition, she follows her dreams and becomes a writer. After completing the last episode of her group’s drama, she returns home only to walk in on her little brother “tending” to his pregnant fiancée. Faced with the prospect of becoming a live-in nanny with no say in a patriarchal household, she quickly finds herself homeless—all on her birthday.

Next, we have Woo Soo-Ji, a spirited young salary worker who clearly enjoys the pleasures of the bedroom and has no issues telling it like it is. Motivated by her dream of being her own boss, Soo-Ji coolly navigates the male-dominated office space despite ongoing sexual harassment from her penis-cancer of a boss. Her cold exterior betrays the fact that she is a genuine friend with a heart of gold.

And last, but certainly not least, we have Yang Ho-Rang. Ho-Rang is a vibrant and beautiful waitress who relishes the thought of being a homemaker. So much so that she’s been in a tumultuous relationship with her beau of seven years, Sim Won-Seok, who clearly does not have marriage on the brain. Solely concerned with marriage, Ho-Rang may come off as an airhead, but she is very much self-aware and calculating.

From the opening scene with Ji-Ho’s younger brother, Ji-Suk, having relations with his pregnant fiancée, to Soo-Ji, who is clearly sexually active, and the almost rape scene, my thoughts were, “Wow, this drama is really pushing the envelope.” But that might be because I haven’t been exposed to many dramas—you let me know.

That brings me to my first pain point. I thought it was interesting that the drama acknowledged the reality of rape and how terribly the situation can play out. Just listening to the words of her co-worker, Director Park, during their group meeting the first time Ji-Ho sees her would-be rapist after he attacked her displays the sentiment you typically see in this situation. That good old “Get over it already” or “Boys will be boys” mentality. Cut to the next scene and everything is smoothed over because we don’t talk about it.

But instead of skirting around it, we really get into Ji-Ho’s psyche. We see how vulnerable she is living in a space so accessible and the terror she feels fighting off Gye Yong-Seok’s advances. It made me question the identity of the writer. Not to say that men are insensitive to the plight of women, but the delicate understanding it would take to write such a scene, I find, is not that common among men.

And you know what? A quick Google search proved my instincts weren’t wrong. The drama was written by Yoon Nan-Joong, a woman.

Quick sanity check: Hwang Se-Hee, Ji-Ho’s senior writer, dragging her to meet her would-be r*pist under the guise of getting a drink constitutes entrapment, right? I wondered how her senior writer, another woman, could be so callous. But then I thought maybe something happened to her too, and someone told her to suck it up, so she forgot the pain. Or maybe it speaks to how little the culture values women and how commonplace sexual harassment is, to the point that she saw nothing wrong with it.

But at the end of the day, I lost all respect for her. It was really messed up to play on Ji-Ho’s dreams of writing to keep her quiet. I don’t blame Ji-Ho for quitting writing.

My next pain point was Ji-Ho’s reason for marrying Nam Se-Hee. Sadly, life can drive you to make such a drastic decision as entering a loveless marriage in exchange for peace of mind. In some cases, maybe this relationship works, but I know for me, I want love.

And so does Ji-Ho.

The drama flashes back to her and her two friends’ high school years, where they each reveal their dreams. Spoiler alert: she wants to experience love more than she wants to be a writer. So it’s no surprise that after such a beautiful, tear-jerking wedding ceremony, Ji-Ho slowly falls for her landlord. But to maintain his cat-lady lifestyle, Se-Hee has to crush her hopes. Their situationship is the perfect breeding ground for infidelity and resentment.

Cue the slick-talking, bike-riding, stalker-hotty young lover boy.

I don’t have any romantic relationship experience to draw from, but I don’t think marriage is, was, or ever will be the answer for Ho-Rang and Won-Seok. I hoped that when they broke up, they would have stayed broken up. Scenes including their maelstrom relationship were heavily skipped. Scenes with Soo-Ji’s relationship with Ma Sang-Goo, Se-Hee’s boss, on the other hand, were heavily indulged. It was cute seeing her fall in love and watching her cold exterior melt under Sang-Goo’s cheesy affection.

Quick sanity check: was I the only one wondering why Ho-Rang and Soo-Ji were still friends? I mean, other than Ji-Ho, they would have never been friends. From the jump, these two were at each other’s throats. Maybe I’m being too hard on Ho-Rang, but she doesn’t seem like a nice person.

My two favorite characters out of the whole cast would first be Ji-Ho’s mother, Kim Hyun-Ja (I thought it strange that her last name didn’t change when she married—is that a thing in Korea?). I love the relationship between her and her daughter. From the moment she gave Ji-Ho that deposit money and pointed out the next-level nonsense her son pulled, she was my favorite.

She’s very observant and clearly wants more for her daughter. During the wedding, when she offered to make Se-Hee snake soup, she had my heart.

It must be stated that I am biased toward the actress Kim Sun-Young herself. I think she’s phenomenal.

The other is none other than Nam Se-Hee.

Initially, I thought, “Who is this prick making all kinds of unreasonable demands during an important meeting just to feed some damn cat?” Turns out he is a genius-level developer highly sought after by Sang-Goo, his college buddy and boss.

Fast forward to after the misunderstanding of mistaken identity, and he still didn’t kick Ji-Ho out. He recognized another human being struggling through life and offered her a safe place to stay at a fair price. (Lol.)

Se-Hee’s character would be, for me at least, a difficult character to write. It was maddening to watch, but I loved how consistent his character remained even after their first real kiss in Ji-Ho’s hometown. He didn’t suddenly become the mushy idiot people often become once they get the girl or boy.

After seeing the kind of man his father was and learning the reason behind his vow to never love again, I’m not shocked that Nam Se-Hee is the way he is.

It doesn’t hurt either that he beat up Yong-Seok for what he did to Ji-Ho. It was pretty satisfying (though I don’t condone violence).

Anypoops, I give the drama 4 out of 5 rose petals for originality and character development.