[Drama 2021] Youth of May, 오월의 청춘

[marrez1]

2 hours ago, Latte_Anyday said:

Myung Hee & Hee Tae ah poor babies~ Star crossed lovers torn apart by cruel hands of fate.. 

    I'm afraid if Soo Ryeon might end up falling for Hee Tae while Myung Hee for Soo Chan.. 

    The last scene where the otp held hands & ran with smiles on their faces.. sighs. It won't last long before tragedy will strike again. 

I know they fell in love, but I can't help but tell myself that the behavior of the male lead is what they make they will be unhappy. he was not obliged to formalize the engagement with the other girl and especially when he was kneeling in front of his father,  he knew very well that he would be hands tied. I am angry.

[backstreetboysfan]

Aww finally they kiss, so cute but what the heck was that ending eh.

[tofumochu]

Sooryeon is such an incredibly bad friend.

All she does is lie and hide behind Myunghee + takes advantage of her desperation/financial status with her family's power. I had a gut feeling she was involved with Myunghee's undergound-dungeon-arrest and ha, I was right. I was really hoping that Sooryeon wouldn't fall for Heetae but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ *urgggh love square*

If she sent her friend to replace her on the date, how do you not expect that something would happen between them? And why nudge yourself in like a third wheeler. Like why not fall for one of your mates in your democratic group instead? I'm also flabbergasted at SR's audacity to gas MH when she's never taken responsibility over the school incident.

 

I'm also surprised that none of the family members are treating this as a platonic arranged/business marriage. Specifically Soochan who's dense af in terms of romance.

My ounce of hope wished that Sooryeon would just let Myunghee and Heetae do their thing for a month, let her fly abroad and eventually dissolve the engagement. But now MH's life is at risk over her petty lie and Soochan's interference. 12 episodes is too much for this.

 

 

[agenth]

13 hours ago, marrez1 said:

I know they fell in love, but I can't help but tell myself that the behavior of the male lead is what they make they will be unhappy. he was not obliged to formalize the engagement with the other girl and especially when he was kneeling in front of his father,  he knew very well that he would be hands tied. I am angry.

I mean...  he kinda was? His father expected it, and if Sooryeon made it clear to the elders that she wanted to get engaged (to save her family), then the father would know it was HT who dragged his feet, not SR. And we all know that his father means serious business. That actor always plays antagonistic roles, I know, but I think in this series he is topping his past performances. 

 

SR/MH friendship is toxic. SR is just a princess who is used to waltz in and out of her friends life, how she wants it. It was clear when she basically banned her friend from approaching her, despite her good intentions. Has SR ever listened to MH? 

 

Loved this episode, it had all the cute date moments and then the stuff with their little brothers that is heartwarming. I think that child actor of HT's little brother is going to be someone to watch out for in later years. I know he already has impressive list, but I just liked the moments between the brothers, and also what captured me was the moment he tasted cotton candy - as if it was something he'd never tried before. 

 

I like the HT's father as villain, because it shows he isn't all that powerful. He, too, is under pressure. So I'm looking forward to next episode, where it got real fast.

 

 

[ferily]

I'm on Episode 4 and I already dislike what Soo Ryeon is doing to Myung Hee. Like asking her to tell Hee Tae to get engaged? Selfish move much.. Man I can't imagine how much more I'll dislike SR in the next couple of episodes.

 

BTW anyone have any theories on who the man was in Episode 1? Do you guys really think it's Hwang Hee Tae and we'll get a tragic love story between him and Myung Hee?

[Latte_Anyday]

Damn Hee Tae's father is the devil!     

Poor Myung Hee.. How dare Soo Chan, Soo Ryeong & that stupid friend from church tell her it's her fault?! 

   Soo Ryeong only decided to tell the truth after Myung Hee's kidnapped. Ugh she never learns. Myung Hee always had to put her life on hold while catering to others. 

 

I knew the worse was coming but it still sucks LoL. 

[letsgoa_s]

I'm wondering why the FL agreed to go along with Soo Ryeong's plan to pretend to be on the blind date. I know she was motivated by money, but hasn't she learned from the past that going along with SR's plans have horrible consequences for her? After getting kicked out of school, if I were Myung Hee, I would have cut SR out of my life completely. 

[agenth]

1 minute ago, letsgoa_s said:

I'm wondering why the FL agreed to go along with Soo Ryeong's plan to pretend to be on the blind date. I know she was motivated by money, but hasn't she learned from the past that going along with SR's plans have horrible consequences for her? After getting kicked out of school, if I were Myung Hee, I would have cut SR out of my life completely. 

 

Well she wants to go to school in Germany. That is the real goal, not the money.

 

Yeah, but I suppose SR was nice to her when she was kicked out of school, and nobody else was around. And it was probably the first time she really sacrificed something, her future. Then afterwards she got used to always saying yes to people. 

 

Only when HeeTae shows up did her frame of mind start to change and hope. So they meet - against all odds and reason. 

[Marta79]

I was enjoying that the main characters all seemed interesting and complex, but episodes 5 and 6 seemed to be trying to reduce the female leads to one dimension -- saintly MH vs. spoilt SR. This is annoying in itself, but it also totally doesn't fit the storyline so far.

 

We're told that MH has been selfless her whole life, but how? Her day-to-day behaviour is normal, decent-person stuff -- helping her colleagues, having a caring relationship with her brother, sending some of her earnings home, working hard at a job she chose, enjoys and is good at. Meanwhile, her relationship with her father is totally self-centred. What her grandmother has said suggests that MH's father had his own brush with the authorities a long time ago, an experience so negative that it traumatized his mother and probably gave him his limp. He could have been a star runner but was forced to eke out a living at a watch repair stall. After the poster incident, when he told MH to say yes to eveything she was accused of and to live quietly afterward, he seemed to be trying to protect her based on his own experience. Yet, MH has no compassion for him. She either ignores him or treats him like dirt. She's also planning to leave the country forever without even telling him. As for the poster incident itself, MH didn't offer to take the blame in SR's place; she was punished for her own involvement. Yes, the punishment was harsh, and, yes, SR should have been punished too. However, the tactics of the authorities and the influence of SR's father are not SR's fault, though MH has been blaming her for years. Not selfless. Her friendship with SR isn't selfless either. If anything, it's one-sided in MH's favour. SR and Soo Chan treat MH like one of the family. She eats with them, is included in family events, receives gifts, borrows expensive items, uses SC's influence to get her passport expedited, etc. In return, she never invites SR over, takes no iniative to spend time with her and gives her nothing (though she offers to once.) As for helping her, she agrees to go on one date for a $900 plane ticket, which SR suggests because MH won't accept the plane ticket as a gift. Hardly a raw deal for MH. When SR begs her, in tears, she also agrees to persuade HT to accept the engagement, realizing that her many-year relationship with her best friend might be slightly more important than her feelings for a guy she just met and is leaving forever in three weeks. Well, she realizes this for about two seconds, before deciding to hurt and endanger everyone for the sake of a few dates. Whoa, what a saint.:(

 

Conversely, how is SR a princess, expecting everyone to dance to her tune? No one is dancing to her tune. Her political activies aren't for her benefit since her family already has money and influence. She is incurring her father's disapproval, associating with people who use her for her father's resources then badmouth her behind her back, and risking her life for society's benefit. The engagement is also not for her own sake. How could she be happy, or even safe, married into a disfunctional family, with a greedy, dangerous, amoral father in law and a husband who makes no effort to get along with her and is in love with her best friend? Yet, she agrees for her family, who neither notice nor care how miserable she is. Even her best friend decides that helping the family who considers her one of them is less important than a bit of fun. But SR is the selfish one. Right....

 

 

 

[rolisrntex]

1 hour ago, Marta79 said:

 

 

Conversely, how is SR a princess, expecting everyone to dance to her tune? No one is dancing to her tune. Her political activies aren't for her benefit since her family already has money and influence. She is incurring her father's disapproval, associating with people who use her for her father's resources then badmouth her behind her back, and risking her life for society's benefit. The engagement is also not for her own sake. How could she be happy, or even safe, married into a disfunctional family, with a greedy, dangerous, amoral father in law and a husband who makes no effort to get along with her and is in love with her best friend? Yet, she agrees for her family, who neither notice nor care how miserable she is. Even her best friend decides that helping the family who considers her one of them is less important than a bit of fun. But SR is the selfish one. Right....

 

 

 

 

Except SR never stands up and takes responsibility and hides behind daddy's money. When asked directly by the two father's if she knew about MH and TH's relationship what was her answer? Yeah. She's a saint.

 

She only became interested in getting engaged to TH when her family's fortune became threatened. She doesn't love him. Heck she doesn't even like him. She's only in it for personal gain at the expense of others.

[Marta79]

30 minutes ago, rolisrntex said:

 

Except SR never stands up and takes responsibility and hides behind daddy's money. When asked directly by the two father's if she knew about MH and TH's relationship what was her answer? Yeah. She's a saint.

 

Yes, she hid behind her father's money in the poster case, but Myeong Hee would have been punished regardless as she was involved. Now, she's not hiding. Her wealth doesn't exempt her from arrest and interrogation, and, when she was released early, she begged to have her friends released also or to be thrown back in jail with them. When she was interrogated, she didn't even tell her father, let alone ask for his help. As for lying about HT and MH, I thought she was doing that to protect MH as she knew Hwang Ki Nam would go after her. She didn't realize that he already knew.

1 hour ago, rolisrntex said:

 

She only became interested in getting engaged to TH when her family's fortune became threatened. She doesn't love him. Heck she doesn't even like him. She's only in it for personal gain at the expense of others.

She still isn't interested in getting engaged; she's doing it to save the family business. This isn't personal gain as she will be considered part of Hee Tae's family, not her own. What else could she gain? Supportive in-laws? Nope. A loving husband? Nope. Social standing? Nope. Hee Tae's family is looked down upon, which is why his father is trying to gain prestige by allying himself with Soo Ryun's family. I'm not seeing any personal gain here, only unhappiness for her.

 

[Kdramaenthusiast 101]

4 hours ago, Marta79 said:

I was enjoying that the main characters all seemed interesting and complex, but episodes 5 and 6 seemed to be trying to reduce the female leads to one dimension -- saintly MH vs. spoilt SR. This is annoying in itself, but it also totally doesn't fit the storyline so far.

 

We're told that MH has been selfless her whole life, but how? Her day-to-day behaviour is normal, decent-person stuff -- helping her colleagues, having a caring relationship with her brother, sending some of her earnings home, working hard at a job she chose, enjoys and is good at. Meanwhile, her relationship with her father is totally self-centred. What her grandmother has said suggests that MH's father had his own brush with the authorities a long time ago, an experience so negative that it traumatized his mother and probably gave him his limp. He could have been a star runner but was forced to eke out a living at a watch repair stall. After the poster incident, when he told MH to say yes to eveything she was accused of and to live quietly afterward, he seemed to be trying to protect her based on his own experience. Yet, MH has no compassion for him. She either ignores him or treats him like dirt. She's also planning to leave the country forever without even telling him. As for the poster incident itself, MH didn't offer to take the blame in SR's place; she was punished for her own involvement. Yes, the punishment was harsh, and, yes, SR should have been punished too. However, the tactics of the authorities and the influence of SR's father are not SR's fault, though MH has been blaming her for years. Not selfless. Her friendship with SR isn't selfless either. If anything, it's one-sided in MH's favour. SR and Soo Chan treat MH like one of the family. She eats with them, is included in family events, receives gifts, borrows expensive items, uses SC's influence to get her passport expedited, etc. In return, she never invites SR over, takes no iniative to spend time with her and gives her nothing (though she offers to once.) As for helping her, she agrees to go on one date for a $900 plane ticket, which SR suggests because MH won't accept the plane ticket as a gift. Hardly a raw deal for MH. When SR begs her, in tears, she also agrees to persuade HT to accept the engagement, realizing that her many-year relationship with her best friend might be slightly more important than her feelings for a guy she just met and is leaving forever in three weeks. Well, she realizes this for about two seconds, before deciding to hurt and endanger everyone for the sake of a few dates. Whoa, what a saint.:(

 

Conversely, how is SR a princess, expecting everyone to dance to her tune? No one is dancing to her tune. Her political activies aren't for her benefit since her family already has money and influence. She is incurring her father's disapproval, associating with people who use her for her father's resources then badmouth her behind her back, and risking her life for society's benefit. The engagement is also not for her own sake. How could she be happy, or even safe, married into a disfunctional family, with a greedy, dangerous, amoral father in law and a husband who makes no effort to get along with her and is in love with her best friend? Yet, she agrees for her family, who neither notice nor care how miserable she is. Even her best friend decides that helping the family who considers her one of them is less important than a bit of fun. But SR is the selfish one. Right....

 

 

 

Okay. Let me try to unpack some things, because your explanation and POV is very interesting and something to think about. 
 

I don’t think either girls are irredeemable or the worst. The intense Lee Soo Ryeon hate is unnecessary. But her her character ahhh she has a few things there. 
 

The way you explained it, to me you framed it almost as if MH gains a lot by being SR’s friend and thus she is only her friend as an opportunist. She gets “expensive” gifts. She gets to eat with them, etc. It’s almost as if MH should be honored to be with SR. MH never flexed anything she “gained” from SR. Wealth? Materialistic goods? Nothing. Her focus was always work hard, and get herself out of the cycle of poverty. BUILD HERSELF. She wasn’t the happiest at her job actually. She didn’t feel respected there and she overworked herself. I don’t think it was the best quality of life for her either. You said something along the lines where MH didn’t involve SR in her family as much. MH’s family relationship is strained. And as you can see SR briefly mentioned her Little brother when she referred to him “you still need to take care of that kid” . Does SR ask about her family as much? No. for people like MH who did not come from a family of privilege, sometimes you have to do things like go on a fake date for you friend to get plane money fare in order to get an education. That doesn’t make her an opportunist. She wasn’t with SR to gain things from her.

 

You mentioned her relationship with her father. Yes a very strained one. And I too thought this was too much and she needed to stop being bratty. But with the flashbacks I kind of understand her perspective. Imagine being a highschool kid. In a cold , cold interrogation room. You thought you were doing something good, and handed out flyers with a good friend. Then YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE TO GET IN TROUBLE, and there are these scary people interrogating and hitting you even. In this situation your family, ESPECIALLY your father is supposed to be your rock. The one to be by your side. She was probably waiting for her father to help her. Instead he told her to agree. To take blame, and to withdraw from school. Nahhhh this ain’t it. No matter what. THAT is childhood trauma. And that sticks. I can completely understand her ire towards her father. Now. Is her father justified? Ofcourse. He must of had his reasons and I’m almost 100 percent certain, he will do everything for his daughter and he’ll even be heroic. That relationship will mend eventually in my opinion 
 

MH decides that she wants to be with HT. Because she’s happy, and she can finally maybe be selfish for once. MH isn’t Saint like lol. Her character is actually quite ordinary and representative of your average working woman, who doesn’t come from a background of money and yet have great ambitions. She’s not angry about giving money to her family. She’s angry at her father. She wants to support her family. Don’t make this about her victimizing herself because she has to work hard to provide for her family. She wanted to go to Germany to finish her education. She got the scholarship. She said she wasn’t going to come back , but viewers can highly doubt that based on her conversation with her little brother about leaving. 

 

I don’t think they’ll spoil SR’s character like this. Despite her friend getting in trouble, she was breaking inside and was probably feeling many years of guilt even though she never had the courage to confront MH about it and apologize. But I think her resolve is greater than this love business. I know she’ll be pivotal in the role of revolution on her own. 
 

 

Edited May 22, 2021 by Kdramaenthusiast 101

[ferily]

I just wish Hee Tae didn't agree to the engagement, then we wouldn't be in this mess... Why Hee Tae, why  Why did you listen to what Myeong Hee told you to do..

[Marta79]

14 hours ago, Kdramaenthusiast 101 said:

 

The way you explained it, to me you framed it almost as if MH gains a lot by being SR’s friend and thus she is only her friend as an opportunist. She gets “expensive” gifts. She gets to eat with them, etc. It’s almost as if MH should be honored to be with SR. MH never flexed anything she “gained” from SR. Wealth? Materialistic goods? Nothing. Her focus was always work hard, and get herself out of the cycle of poverty. BUILD HERSELF. She wasn’t the happiest at her job actually. She didn’t feel respected there and she overworked herself. I don’t think it was the best quality of life for her either. You said something along the lines where MH didn’t involve SR in her family as much. MH’s family relationship is strained. And as you can see SR briefly mentioned her Little brother when she referred to him “you still need to take care of that kid” . Does SR ask about her family as much? No. for people like MH who did not come from a family of privilege, sometimes you have to do things like go on a fake date for you friend to get plane money fare in order to get an education. That doesn’t make her an opportunist....
 

 

I didn't phrase what I meant very well in saying that the relationship seems one-sided in MH's favour. I don't think she's an opportunist. She's not malicious or greedy, and you're right that her financial situation and family dynamic make her unable to give to SR materially or involve her in her family in the same way. What I wanted to point out was that, from what we've seen, SR takes the iniative in the relationship -- offering to help MH, inviting her over, etc. We don't see the same initiative from MH, which goes against the episode 6 assertion that she always puts others first. Maybe we're meant to assume that MH has SR to her boarding house for noodles all the time or asks her to the orphanage or the amusement park the way she did with HT. After all, they have been friends for a long time, and we've only seen a small part of that.

 

14 hours ago, Kdramaenthusiast 101 said:

MH isn’t Saint like lol. Her character is actually quite ordinary and representative of your average working woman, who doesn’t come from a background of money and yet have great ambitions.
 

 

This is my point. Until the last couple of episodes, she has not been written as a saint but as a realistic, well-rounded, flawed character. This is what I like about her. What I don't like is the writers suddenly implying, and then stating outright, that she's actually sweet and selfless all the time. I feel they're using this assertion to justify her dating HT, even though it's not true and doesn't justify it, in my opinion.

 

BTW, thank you for dissecting my rant.:) I just discovered Soompi had forums, and it's nice to be able to discuss dramas. My friends and family haven't (yet?:)) gotten into kdramas, so I don't know anyone willing to talk about them.

 

 

[Kdramaenthusiast 101]

9 hours ago, Marta79 said:

I didn't phrase what I meant very well in saying that the relationship seems one-sided in MH's favour. I don't think she's an opportunist. She's not malicious or greedy, and you're right that her financial situation and family dynamic make her unable to give to SR materially or involve her in her family in the same way. What I wanted to point out was that, from what we've seen, SR takes the iniative in the relationship -- offering to help MH, inviting her over, etc. We don't see the same initiative from MH, which goes against the episode 6 assertion that she always puts others first. Maybe we're meant to assume that MH has SR to her boarding house for noodles all the time or asks her to the orphanage or the amusement park the way she did with HT. After all, they have been friends for a long time, and we've only seen a small part of that.

 

This is my point. Until the last couple of episodes, she has not been written as a saint but as a realistic, well-rounded, flawed character. This is what I like about her. What I don't like is the writers suddenly implying, and then stating outright, that she's actually sweet and selfless all the time. I feel they're using this assertion to justify her dating HT, even though it's not true and doesn't justify it, in my opinion.

 

BTW, thank you for dissecting my rant.:) I just discovered Soompi had forums, and it's nice to be able to discuss dramas. My friends and family haven't (yet?:)) gotten into kdramas, so I don't know anyone willing to talk about them.

 

 

Ahh thanks for replying. We still have 6 more episodes. And we will see each of the character arcs develop a bit better. 
 

I think we can both agree, both girls have very distinct charms and goals of their own and we would hate it be ruined by a love triangle. 
 

And yeah, this was my first time on a forum as well. Hope to see you here more often haha 

[Marta79]

19 hours ago, Kdramaenthusiast 101 said:

Ahh thanks for replying. We still have 6 more episodes. And we will see each of the character arcs develop a bit better. 
 

 

 

Yes. I think a lot will happen. It seems like there's still so much to explore; I can't believe it's already half over.

 

19 hours ago, Kdramaenthusiast 101 said:

 

I think we can both agree, both girls have very distinct charms and goals of their own and we would hate it be ruined by a love triangle. 
 

 

Yes, and yes! (Or a love square.:))

 

19 hours ago, Kdramaenthusiast 101 said:

 

And yeah, this was my first time on a forum as well. Hope to see you here more often haha 

Cool! Yup, "see" you soon, I'm sure.:)

[Koko]

Hey guys! I'm koko. Jumped here from LDH's very new actors forum

 

The cuts from ep.7 seems to already be out on twitter 

 

Can't wait for eng subs!

 

18 hours ago, screwyupsidedown19 said:

I think SR made several poor decisions that resulted in MH being put at risk or suffering. I think SR may suffer from poor judgment but she got engaged for unselfish reasons. SR also is protesting against the martial law in South Korea at the time which in my limited knowledge of Korean history seems like a noble cause. MH also put a lot of people at risk with running off at the engagement party with HT. I think one of the nice things about this show is that the three main leads all have complexities to their characters. 

 

I like that their characters are not morally white or black. Everyone at some point acts on selfish emotions.

 

It's fun being on a rollercoaster of emotions though, I know I was annoyed as hell by SR's reaction to MH telling her how she felt about her past sacrifice, there was 0 ownership and just deflection of guilt. So kudos to the writer for making me that engaged. I WAS IN MY FEELINGS YA'LL lol.

Edited May 24, 2021 by Koko

[backstreetboysfan]

Episode 7, so so sad, I cried so much .

[Kdramaenthusiast 101]

On 5/23/2021 at 7:56 PM, Marta79 said:

Yes. I think a lot will happen. It seems like there's still so much to explore; I can't believe it's already half over.

 

Yes, and yes! (Or a love square.:))

 

Cool! Yup, "see" you soon, I'm sure.:)

Ahhhh I need to know your thoughts on episode 7 bestie >.< bc wtffffff

[Latte_Anyday]

Oh my gosh so depressing! And there's 5 ep. left oy?! Facepalms. 

    Due to differences in political views and social status, our otp is torn even further apart. Romeo and Juliet all over eh? And we all know as well what happened to those 2 at the end.. 

    Soo Ryeon is indeed her father's daughter, only good to those because they are for their manipulation. At least Soo Chan has a conscience. Although he is a fool. 

     No previews for next ep. Wonder what else awaits Myung Hee, Hee Tae..?