I Love You, Don't Cry

I Love You, Don't Cry follows Jo Mi-soo, a woman whose daily life is shaped by family obligations, romantic entanglements, and the practical struggles that come with long running domestic conflict. She crosses paths with Han Young-Min and Jang Hyun-Woo, and their interactions form the backbone of the series as alliances shift and secrets surface. The show focuses on how ordinary choices ripple through households, affecting parents, children, and romantic partners over time. It keeps the story grounded in everyday pressures rather than sensational plot twists, letting relationships and interpersonal tension drive each episode across a slow-burning, episodic format.

Directed by Lee Dong-yoon, the series aired on MBC from November 17, 2008 to May 22, 2009, running Monday to Friday at 20:15 for 132 episodes, and starred Lee Yu-ri, Lee Jung-jin and Oh Seung-hyun.

The series did not attract major national awards or high-profile nominations during its run, and it wasn't cited in major prize listings from that period.

As a weekday melodrama it fit squarely into MBC's established daily lineup, offering steady employment for veteran actors and giving viewers a regular, familiar hour of domestic drama. It appealed mainly to a local audience interested in family-centered plots, and it contributed to the era's catalogue of long-format television storytelling without creating a notable international footprint.

Critical and viewer response was mixed to lukewarm, with low aggregate scores reflecting uneven reception. Reviewers and audiences noted recurring themes of family obligation, romantic complication, and generational tension, while commenting on the slow pacing typical of long daily dramas. Fans of serialized, character-driven domestic stories will find the steady focus on relationships familiar, while those seeking faster plotting or high production gloss may find it less satisfying.