not exceptional, but not terrible. 6.5/10
It was hard to like Lisa because she was very mean to Dowon but then you learn of her tragic past:
her mom pressured her into acting despite Lisa hating it but excels in it because she had talent. turns out her dad was a famous actor (Yeomyeong? Ye) who had raped her mom. Bio dad also beats up her half bro (JoJo a popular kpop idol) so that's why her half bro hated her and plotted her demise since he was jealous of how his dad always only paid attention to Lisa who was an actor prodigy and the dad had often abused JoJo whenever JoJo failed at acting. Lisa doesn't know who her real dad is at first so she doesn't get why Jojo does some horrible things to her like getting his "friends" to give her drugs while she was drunk (which he had encouraged) then let the media know so there was a huge scandal and she had to retire from acting - and this happened when Lisa's mom just died not too long ago. (Lisa's mom died when she was around high school so it was difficult for Lisa to go through high school if it wasn't for her meeting Dowon soon after her mom's death and then he took care of her). After she lies and hurts Dowon to break up with him, she gets into a drug scandal orchestrated by her half bro JoJo (she was age ~20/21) she spends 3 years gaming and drinking but still look the same: pretty. lol. she then comes back to acting when her mom's friend, a famous director, has a high school tv drama for her as female lead as it was based on her life story. her costar is Dowon, who had decided to pursue acting because he wanted to be worthy of Lisa who said she broke up with him because he was a nobody and wasn't as handsome as the celebrity she was seeing (which was a lie as she didn't date anyone else). Dowon ends up being male lead quickly because he sells his body (a "sponsor" who was a rich older woman) and he goes through a lot of trauma doing that to get famous (barfing after sex with the sponsor, getting beaten up when he wants to leave and get out of the "sponsorship", feeling too ashamed to face his family so he avoids them and has no support system, etc.)
It's hard to see why Dowon liked Lisa or how he fell in love with her in the beginning. They just started dating because Lisa fell for his kindness and asked him out (in the stye of "you should be grateful that an acting prodigy is asking you out" kind of way). Otherwise, he's like the perfect boyfriend when they were dating in high school before they broke up: soft-spoken, does all the house chores for her, cooks for her, worries about her, even when she lies to hurt him to break up with him for "his own good" he realizes she likely lied. and he's tall & handsome to boot. Lisa's a tsundere, prickly on the outside but she can be nice sometimes.
during Lisa's comeback tv drama (3 years after her drug scandal and retirement) Dowon and Lisa briefly secretly date after falling for each other again while shooting the drama, and it's a little chaotic how they got back together but then Dowon had to break things off when his "sponsor" found out, beat him up, and threatened to create scandals to ruin Lisa's career as well as his.
Dowon ends up leaving the sponsorship by telling the media about it (a scandal about how he sold sexual favours to get to the top) to protect Lisa from being affected by a video of her drug scandal in the past being released by her half bro JoJo. With his acting career ruined, Dowon then leaves acting and goes back to see his family. So sad there's no epilogue/special chapters of current Dowon. Lisa and him don't end up together but it would be nice to see how he's doing as he's MIA for the last arc (taking down Lisa's dad).
2nd male lead Zeya with the dyed red hair: how he fell in love with Lisa was more believable and he always adores Lisa and admires her for her pro acting. He had a crush on her since he first saw her acting when they were around middle school age. He played 2nd male lead in Lisa's comeback tv drama and falls deeper in love with her but Lisa has no interest in him (until the last special episode after the epilogue which hints she may finally have feelings for him.) Zeya doesn't even mind when she uses him to get Dowon jealous during shooting the drama (before the 2nd time Dowon and Lisa date).
Zeya's character is pretty much the same throughout the story as a steady beacon of light in all the dark drama surrounding Lisa.
The climax is Lisa and JoJo (after the siblings make up) take down their dad (who's a psycho who wants the perfect actor child and believes the child is his possession to control) by recording him beating up JoJo and by releasing the video recording of Lisa's mom and dad talking about how he raped her mom despite being married to JoJo's mom. she adds the cherry on top by getting Hagyeong Ma (rival actress turned friend who played 2nd female lead in her comeback tv drama) to beat her up and claim her dad beat her up to sink her dad further (dad was saying he beat JoJo up because JoJo had just admitted to screwing Lisa up with the drug scandal). So now the public knows that Lisa was taken advantage of for the drug scandal and she's also the famous dad's daughter so JoJo also quits being a kpop idol (he was a genius with composing and singing/dancing but never got acknowledged by his dad). The epilogue/specials never mention what happens to JoJo either. He just disappears.
Lisa ends up winning the best actress award from her comeback tv drama. the end.
(-67)
