A Slow Burn Mystery that Makes you Questioning Everyone

Cheat on me if you can was a show that I was super excited for initially because of many reasons. The main lead played by Cho Yeo Jeong was definitely a defining reason, but the main source came from the mystery. There are sadly not a lot of good mystery kdramas out there, so I was excited to watch one that involved some great actors. This drama was one that made you question everyone and everything, leaving you the viewer always a few steps behind. The dark humor is one reason I enjoyed the show, as I am a sucker for it. While there were many that found certain aspects of the show boring; especially with it being pretty slow burn, I felt that you can't avoid a pace like this when watching a mystery. This show revolved mainly around one mystery, so of course it would take a little while to get to the solution.

A summarized version of my review is as follows; the story was interesting, but there were parts that felt heavily unneeded and a lot of things left unanswered (no I am not talking about the end). The actors were absolutely amazing, and definitely played all of their characters well; even when *cough* she was boring as hell and heavily useless. as it further cemented the status of the characters. Music wise, I was pretty happy with what was played. I tend not to pay too much attention to the music, but they always found the right soundtrack for the right scene. Finally, rewatch value might not be that amazing as it is a mystery and relies on the viewer not knowing the ending or what will happen next.

Story - The mystery portion of this show was pretty good. I am someone who loves true crime and reads mystery novels as a pass time (yes I just said that), so I can usually pick out a good mystery when I see one. Like I said before, this show never really lets you understand what is going on and you are constantly left on your toes. In the end, you are left reeling with the results of everyone's actions. The story for me was something I often times disagreed with other viewers on. As the show was running, there was a wide variety of people who stopped watching for its pacing. While I understand why that can be a hindrance, as I have definitely experienced that, I felt that the pacing was actually pretty ok. From my point of view, I realized that it was a mystery, and one that revolved around one major case to be solved. For this reason, I understood that they were not going to solve it in the first eight episodes. Besides that, there are some other drawbacks that I can agree with. The main one being how useless some of the characters are. This will feel like slight spoiler so feel free to move onto the character portion if you have not yet watched it. (Sorry, I don't want to leave this as having spoilers because this next section is going to be as vague as possible). There are certain characters who I felt had storylines that were prolonged for far too long, or completely unnecessary *cough* female lawyer... Their subsequent storylines only hindered the overall show as it took time away from the people who viewers probably wanted to see. While I understand why some people had to have the storyline they did, there are others who I found so frustrating. I also realize that side characters will always be needed, but this show just found weird ways of emphasizing them.

Acting/Cast - I will only be doing thorough reviews for four characters, and a short one for two of them. I was glad that there was a mix of very "seasoned" and "rookie" actors, as it better added to the status each character held.
Kang Yeo Joo: Oh my gosh, what can I say? I absolutely loved this character, and found Cho Yeo Jung's portrayal of her incredible. She managed to show Yeo Joo's intelligence and confidence in a way that made you admire the character; not hate her. She was also able to show her character's more emotional side really well, while also portraying to borderline psychopath perfectly. It is very interesting to see how this character compares to her character from "Parasite," and I'm so glad she was chosen for this role. I could go on and on about her performance, but this post is already long.
Kim Young Dae: For a "rookie", Cha Soon Ho played his character really well. He played the perfect "pawn" trying to break out from his confines by using his intelligence to figure out what the hell is going on. I felt that he really became his character, and now I really only see him as Young Dae... haha. I say this mainly because I started "Extraordinary You," recently and didn't even realize he was the one acting in that; but like in the way that the characters were so different.
Han Woo Sung: While I absolutely hate the character, I will say the actor Go Joon did a good job making me feel this much hatred. He played the sly but also aloof husband really well, and really did the scenes where Woo Sung was being stupid well. Woo Sung's scenes where he's uneasy about his wife were really well done, and I'm glad he was played by Go Joon; cheating bastard or not.
Go Mi Rae: Now this will be a slight spoiler so uhm skip? She was utterly useless, but I commend Yeonwoo for portraying her so well despite this. The character was written flawed, so I can't blame her for how utterly boring Mi Rae was. The character lacked depth and really did nothing for the show, except finally make Yeo Joo realize that her husband is not as virtuous as he claims.
The cops: I really liked the actors who played the two investigators, as they did a really good job. Kim Ye Won and Lee Si Eon showed a really fun but interesting duo. Both did really well at playing their respective characters.

Music - Like I said before, I tend not to pay attention the music so my review might not be the best for that area. While that is the case, I can admit that they were amazing at always choosing the right song for the scene and mood.

Rewatch Value - Because this is a mystery, I find it hard to imagine anyone finding good rewatch value. The only reason I would probably rewatch is to see if there were clues I missed after finding out what really happened.

Overall, this drama was pretty good despite its pacing and character development (or lack thereof). If you love funny and dark humor, definitely watch as there is lots. The actors are amazing, and the mystery is quite interesting.

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A piece of your mind was a show that I have been anticipating ever since I saw that Hae In was the lead for the show. At first I was very confused by the storyline, but after watching the first two episodes it gets a lot better. Just as it got super excited to watch the show as I was a few episodes in, they announce that they are cutting the drama by four episodes. You'll read later on in this review how dramatic of an effect this has on the drama as a whole.

If you want a summarized version of my review, here it is. The story was good, but it felt rushed through the end and the only one to blame is TvN for cutting it short. The acting and characters really did save the show, and did a great job at portraying the emotions to the watchers. You'll find yourself relating to certain things each character does and seeing a little bit of yourself in them. The music is not that great, and the rewatch value is ok.

Story:
The story of this show is basically that Ha Won and Ji Soo are childhood friends, and as they got older Ji Soo married and feel in love with In Wook. Ha Won on the other hand still loved Ji Soo, and watched the life she lived with his unrequited crush from the sidelines. Ten years after moving to Korea, Ha Won is now an ai developer and Ji Soo is working alongside her husband. Alongside Ha Won is his family member Soon Ho who is the grandchild of a woman that adopted Ha Won. Then comes Seo Woo, a music engineer who works under the studio that Ha Won has recently bought to work on his recent AI project. As the five of their lives come to entangle, the story of unrequited love and all the pain that comes with it is told.
For me the story was doing really good before the four episode cut happened. TvN had stated the cut was due to low viewership, but a drama as slow burn as this needs more than just twelve episodes. I loved the idea and the concept behind it, but after the eight episode mark, it began to become apparent that the writers had to rush the rest of whatever they had in mind. The storylines of the side characters suddenly dropped, and the main character's relationship seemed rushed. It would not have been as bad if they cut it down by two episodes, because then they could have just gotten rid of any unneeded parts. With four episodes comes almost four whole hours of footage and story they could not tell. The story for a drama like this should progress over time, but because of the cut in episodes, a lot happened in the last three episodes of the show.
Even though this happened, I really did enjoy the show and the story it told, I just wished TvN had waited a few more episodes before they decided to cut it or just not done it at all. I feel that they could have gotten a better viewership if they had kept to the original 16 with good progression, over a rushed 12.

Acting/Cast:
First of all, like I stated before, I practically started watching this solely for Jung Hae In being the lead. I watched him in One Spring Night and Tune in for Love, and now he is my favorite actor. I hadn't ever seen any dramas with Soo Bin in it, but I was willing to give it a chance. I recently have fallen in love with melodrama kdramas, and was excited to see where this one went. Now that I have watched the show, I feel each actor played their role really well.
Moon Ha Won - Jung Hae In played Ha Won really well. He was able to display the underlying pain that he always felt yet suppressed and kept deep in him. There were times where you could see the innocence the character had when it came to love and his relationship with Seo Woo. One of my favorite scenes is when Soon Ho and Ha Won first meet, and Ha Won looks up from his computer and cutely waves to his new family member. We all have memories or people we so desperately want to hold on to yet feel pain from, and Hae In displayed those emotions really well.
Han Seo Woo - This was the first drama I have watched with Chae Soo Bin, and I have to say that I loved her for this role. Seo Woo is a character who is honest to herself and despite going through hardship, is trying her best to get past it. She is a character with many flaws, yet I can't help but see myself in her. The moments where she is doubting her abilities, or trying so hard to stay strong for the people around her. Seo Woo is a very human character who I believe everyone can find a little piece of themselves in. One thing I really liked about this casting in particular is how perfectly Soo Bin played the role. This is incredibly unbiased because I have never watched a drama with her in it, yet I felt she really captured the kind of character and person the writers were going for.
Moon Soon Ho - I know a lot of people found this character really annoying, but I felt she brought a sense of lightness to this almost depressing show. The actress Lee Ha Na did a great job displaying the playfulness yet sad character, especially towards the end of the show.
Gang In Wook - This character despite everything he did, made my heart hurt. The actor Kim Sung Gyu did a really good job in showing the despair he constantly went through because of his past and current actions. I felt that I could relate to how something he once treasured, the piano, became a reminder of everything he lost. I'm sure there are several things in our life that once had a happy memory to it, but there are sad feelings tied to it. Sung Gyu did an amazing job at portraying the eagerness In Wook had to find out what happened to his wife, and how far he would go to do just that.

Music:
I will say upfront, I didn't really pay attention to the music so I don't think I am the best to go to for this subject. I will say that the music was not "good" enough to pull me in and make me love any particular song.

Rewatch Value:
Because this show is so dependent on secrets and big turns of events, the rewatch value is not as high. I would probably purely rewatch it to see the chemistry between the two leads again, but beside that I don't think I would be able to put myself through the heart wrenching pain again.

Overall I feel this drama is definitely worth a watch, but I would just be aware that the end will feel a bit rushed. If you need one reason to watch this, then definitely the chemistry and amazing acting between the two leads.

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