[Drama 2022] Twenty-Five Twenty-One ​⌛ 스물다섯 스물하나

[rocat]

So cute, this show is.

The FL is so hilarious and earnest that I forgive her for her ugly crying and unbecoming grunts when fencing. Hmmm, she often yells like the market ahjumma, and that severe fringe looks ghastly. But, when she gets silly and laughs, it all works out.  Very likeable. 
 

Also, I think I know who Injeolmi is. But does Injeolmi know who is at the other end?

[YongZura⁷]

 

The determination

 

 

 

Credit to the owner

 

[pp05]

17 hours ago, rocat said:

So cute, this show is.

The FL is so hilarious and earnest that I forgive her for her ugly crying and unbecoming grunts when fencing. Hmmm, she often yells like the market ahjumma, and that severe fringe looks ghastly. But, when she gets silly and laughs, it all works out.  Very likeable. 
 

Also, I think I know who Injeolmi is. But does Injeolmi know who is at the other end?

Hi..who is injeolmi according to u?

[rocher22]

Yi Jin is having the most difficult time.

But there is not selfpity or hesitation with him.

Just boldly going forward.      

 

https://n.news.naver.com/entertain/article/415/0000008149#

[rocat]

1 hour ago, pp05 said:

Hi..who is injeolmi according to u?

It’s just a guess from one of the scenes in ep 2…

Spoiler

The ML turned away from his computer screen and smiled seemingly satisfied right after the FL agreed to Injeolmi’s suggestion that they meet. Could be my imagination but it would be a nice development.

 

[Helena]

https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/k-pop/k-drama/article/3167054/netflix-k-drama-twenty-five-twenty-one-kim-tae-ri-shines
Netflix K-drama Twenty-Five Twenty-One: Kim Tae-ri shines in coming-of-age romantic drama with a fencing subplot, 2022’s first Korean TV delight

 

• In 1998, a girl who dreams of being a fencer meets a hardworking boy down on his luck, both of whom are set on changing the current trajectory of their lives
• Nineties nostalgia, the Asian financial crisis and sports collide in this compulsively watchable tale of grit and endurance. Kim Tae-ri is sensational

By Pierce Conran | February 15, 2022

 

Kim Tae-ri in a still from Twenty-Five Twenty-One, a coming-of-age K-drama on Netflix that revels in ’90s nostalgia.

They say that winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing. But Twenty-Five Twenty-One, the sensationally entertaining new coming-of-age romantic drama series on Netflix from South Korean broadcaster tvN, begs to differ.

1990s nostalgia, the 1997 Asian financial crisis and fencing collide in this colourful, compelling and compulsively watchable tale of grit and endurance led by a sensational Kim Tae-ri (The Handmaiden, Space Sweepers) and a charming Nam Joo-hyuk.

The show kicks off in a recognisable present, as Na Hee-do (Kim So-hyun) accompanies her daughter to a Covid-19 screening desk outside a ballet competition. She reassures her that winning isn’t important.
Yet the girl, now shifting in her pointe shoes as she watches a rival’s impressive routine on the stage, freezes when her number is called and runs out of the building.

Hee-do steps out of her car – she was watching the event on her phone, since the pandemic won’t allow a physical audience – and catches up with her upset daughter outside, who complains that there was no point in competing as she couldn’t have won.

Her mother asks her, “Is it meaningless if you don’t win?” This is a key question the show keeps coming back to.

The daughter runs away again, this time to stay with her grandmother, and there she goes through her mother’s effects, including her diary, which transports us back to July 1998, where we are introduced to the spirited 18-year-old Hee-do (Kim Tae-ri).

Hee-do is a bright young girl, but things around her are very different. The country is still suffering the effects of a financial crash that has wiped out many people’s livelihoods.

She trots through protests in central Seoul on her way to who we are led to believe is her crush. This turns out to be her idol, Go Yoo-rim (Bona), a gifted young fencer. Hee-do is also a fencer but her team has just been disbanded, yet another casualty of the crisis.

Over Hee-do’s protestations, her coach laments: “I didn’t crush your dreams. The times did.”

She begs her widowed mother, Shin Jae-kyung (Seo Jae-hee), to transfer her to Taeyang High School, which hasn’t dissolved its fencing team, thanks to their star pupil Yoo-rim, but Jae-kyung would rather see her daughter give up her fencing ambitions.

Desperate, Hee-do endeavours to get herself expelled from her school and thus automatically transferred, which sets the stage for several uproarious attempts to be deliberately caught red-handed.

 

Spoiler

Kim Tae-ri (left) and Kim Hye-eun in a still from Twenty-Five Twenty-One.

One of these finds her trying to insert herself into a girl gang fight after calling the cops. Things get real when a young man starts attacking a girl and Hee-do jumps to the rescue as she stands en garde with her umbrella and gives him what for.

The cops arrive to break up the fight but they brush past the too eager Hee-do, who makes the crucial mistake of not running away.

Life for 22-year-old Back Yi-jin (Nam Joo-hyuk) is very different. He was the precious elder son of the family behind a successful business and an engineering student at the prestigious Yonsei University, but the crisis has put paid to all of that.

The business goes bankrupt and now Yi-jin lives in a small bedsit and works odd jobs as a delivery boy and comic-book-store manager while he tries to land a job at a company.

 

Nam Joo-hyuk (left) and Kim Tae-ri in a still from Twenty-Five Twenty-One.

It’s on these delivery rounds and at the store that his life collides with Hee-do’s. Their first heated exchange is sparked when he tosses a newspaper into Hee-do’s garden and inadvertently snaps off the phallus of a copy of the Manneken Pis – a bronze fountain sculpture in Brussels, Belgium, of a urinating boy.

Their relationship takes a more serious turn when they cross paths again at a nightclub during one of Hee-do’s attempts to get booted out of school. Yi-jin drags her out and convinces her to abandon her scheme.

Taking the advice to heart, Hee-do confronts her mother and earnestly asks to be transferred. In this powerful scene, which escalates when Jae-kyung rips up one of Hee-do’s rented comics, Hee-do’s strained relationship with her mother, a successful television anchor, is beautifully rendered.

 

Spoiler

Img4

Bona in a still from Twenty-Five Twenty-One.

South Korea’s whirlwind modern history is full of traumatic episodes, and part of the reason why the country’s entertainment industry has been so successful has been its ability to process that pain. Poignant historical dramas and darkly allegorical modern tales are fixtures in multiplexes and television schedules but, every so often, a crowd-pleaser comes around alluding to that suffering while also being life-affirming.

From the very first episode, Twenty-Five Twenty-One is engaging, effervescent and emotional. It balances mirth and misery, drawing us in with its bright and rich tapestry, woven together from the ups and downs of life.
At the heart of it all is a show-stopping turn from Kim Tae-ri, whose pitch perfect comic sensibilities and effortless charm cement this as the year’s first K-drama delight.

 

Kim Tae-ri (left) and Nam Joo-hyuk in a still from Twenty-Five Twenty-One.

Nam Joo-hyuk, though given less to do in the opening brace of episodes, carries the emotional side of the story, while the supporting cast features several other stand-outs, including Kim Hye-eun as Hee-do’s charismatic new fencing coach Yang Chan-mi.

Twenty-Five Twenty-One is streaming on Netflix.

[Kathia]

Can't wait for saturday! Please come sooner! I absolutely love this show! It totally deserves the high ratings!

 

Also, I read the synopsis of this show again. And realized that they're going to keep meeting each other. At first, I thought they were going to meet at 18 and 22 years old. Then, time-skip, and meet at 21 and 25 years old (when they fall in love). But I was wrong, huh.

 

So it seems they meet at 18/22 years old and become friends. Then, they hurt each other at 19/23 years old (I wonder if it's because he wants to follow a similar career of Hee-do's mother, hence the tension). Afterwards, they rely on each other at 20/24 years old. And finally, they fall in love at 21/25 years old. Basically, they'll keep seeing other every single year until falling in love.

 

At the same time, 16 episodes seems short to cover all those years (and they need to explain the daughter situation, who is the father?).

 

And I have one theory:

Spoiler

I think the ML is truly the father. In the second episode, we learn that his father divorced his mother in order to protect the family. It makes me wonder if they changed his family name to his mother's family name for protection too. If so, then it makes sense.

 

[nrllee]

@rocat that thought did occur to me.  They were both on the computer at the same time.  And their meeting seemed rather coincidental (where she needed to go to the toilet) and he was there to print something for an interview.  Or it could be a red herring.  .  Initially I thought InJeolMi was the Girl Class President.  She has a forthright character and problem solves on the fly.  Like when she worked out how YJ should shower at a different time so she can get to school on time.  Or that HD didn’t need to know where the Science Lab was because she was not going to be at classes much.  Or you could be right and it is YJ.  and he realizes that he was the one who gave HD the idea about “moving to YR’s world” and therefore realized that HD took it too literally when she showed up at the night club.

 

@Kathia I like that theory. .  I am wondering if the father of MJ is absent because YJ (ML) decided to pursue his dream of working with NASA and is therefore in the US.  It would be interesting if the daughter MJ ends up being the one to reunite them after reading HD’s diary.   Full circle.

 

Other thoughts

- PD has used brilliant colors in the times past to reflect the exuberance of youth.  Everything is so much brighter.  The reds and blues pop.  Present time is more muted.  Which reflects how age mellows us and we aren’t as vibrant.

- the tunnel scene at the end of Ep2.  HD dragged YJ through the tunnel.  Bringing him out of his world of gloom temporarily and into her happy world.  
- in a way I feel like YJ would’ve been “safer” in the army.  Where he is shielded from angry creditors and the fall out from his father’s company’s collapse.  But what seemed to be a “kindness” by the government to give him early discharge because “his family needs him more than his country” was actually detrimental.  It left him defenseless and open to those creditors and the responsibilities of bearing his father’s name.
- I liked how the different approaches to problem solving are displayed in the characters.  YJ and HD sought to find solutions to their problems.  YR on the other hand (I think YJ’s dad used to sponsor her but with IMF and the company collapse, she lost all that funding), seemed more inclined to play the blame game and imploded.  Which is totally natural but hopefully she lifts in future eps and starts to find solutions to her slump.  

[Maetawinz]

EP 1-2  Making

 

 

[rocher22]

 

8 hours ago, Kathia said:

 

And I have one theory:

  Reveal hidden contents

I think the ML is truly the father. In the second episode, we learn that his father divorced his mother in order to protect the family. It makes me wonder if they changed his family name to his mother's family name for protection too. If so, then it makes sense.

 

Oh, I like that..     

 

 

*****

 

Whenever I see this tunnel I expect some murder to happen...  

 

 

I wonder if Yurim treats HD like that because of those sneakers and the incident

from the past...   

 

 

[sadthe1st]

On 2/15/2022 at 12:43 AM, rocat said:

Also, I think I know who Injeolmi is. But does Injeolmi know who is at the other end?

the first thought that came to my mind was that, its Yurim..

maybe that scene struck similarity with Shadow Beauty which i watched a few months ago..

 

24 minutes ago, rocher22 said:

Whenever I see this tunnel I expect some murder to happen... 

haha i actually thought of Hotel Del Luna instead!

 

hi fellow chingus! i usually lurk but, HIIIII !!!

 

 

[Kathia]

3 hours ago, sadthe1st said:

the first thought that came to my mind was that, its Yurim..

maybe that scene struck similarity with Shadow Beauty which i watched a few months ago..

 

haha i actually thought of Hotel Del Luna instead!

 

hi fellow chingus! i usually lurk but, HIIIII !!!

 

 

Ohhh we must be siblings from different parents! I thought the same! Yu-rim came to my mind when guessing Injeolmi. It could be a way for them to make peace. Hee-do did talk about her issues and idol, but did she really write the name "Yu-rim" on that chat?

 

And I did thought of Hotel Del Luna too! Ahahah! That tunnel is iconic!

[rocat]

6 hours ago, sadthe1st said:

the first thought that came to my mind was that, its Yurim..

maybe that scene struck similarity with Shadow Beauty which i watched a few months ago..

 

haha i actually thought of Hotel Del Luna instead!

 

hi fellow chingus! i usually lurk but, HIIIII !!!

 

 

 
I googled Shadow Beauty…looks interesting! The theme is current…reminds me of the social media lady on Inferno Island…

and, hi!! 

[nrllee]

13 hours ago, rocher22 said:

I wonder if Yurim treats HD like that because of those sneakers and the incident

from the past...   

 

Probably a bit of both?  And the fear of being usurped as top dog.  And it happened when HD beat her in the practice combat.  I think she imploded when the effects of IMF hit her family.  Wasn’t she on some scholarship from YJ’s dad’s company?  So when the company folded, her funds dried up.  She probably didn’t have money any more for new sneakers.  Suddenly she felt exposed and vulnerable.  So instead of believing that it  was her talent and skill that got her to the top, she started to worry about her gear.   Doubt crept in and she lashed out at the people around her.  She saw HD as a threat instead of a competitor that would spur her on to greater heights.  

[rocher22]

 

I expected her to be rude to him, but it was a surprisingly soft scene..

 

 

[haruhi17]

I surprisingly enjoyed the first two episodes. I'm quite curious about Hee Do's mom. Why did she let Hee Do think the worst about her regarding her dad's wedding ring if she didn't actually sell it? Or did she somehow get it back later on? Or did she withhold the truth from her daughter as a sort of punishment for herself since she didn't attend her husband's funeral?? Also, whats the deal between Hee Do's mom and the coach? Oh, well, lol, i look forward to the next episodes. I'm hooked!

[sadthe1st]

30 minutes ago, haruhi17 said:

whats the deal between Hee Do's mom and the coach

let's guess.. sister-in-laws?

or

Hee Do's mom is a news anchor.. and Coach Yang was probably a fencer before she became a coach.. they might be from the same school like how Hee Do and the class president relationship

 

just wild guesses.

[rocat]

13 hours ago, nrllee said:

 

Probably a bit of both?  And the fear of being usurped as top dog.  And it happened when HD beat her in the practice combat.  I think she imploded when the effects of IMF hit her family.  Wasn’t she on some scholarship from YJ’s dad’s company?  So when the company folded, her funds dried up.  She probably didn’t have money any more for new sneakers.  Suddenly she felt exposed and vulnerable.  So instead of believing that it  was her talent and skill that got her to the top, she started to worry about her gear.   Doubt crept in and she lashed out at the people around her.  She saw HD as a threat instead of a competitor that would spur her on to greater heights.  

Prolly fighting for the attention of the ML too? I’m guessing there’d be some triangle or square or some shape there…
She also strikes me as one who has performance anxiety. It’s harder to stay on top once you’re there - the pressure to remain top dog is intense, especially when she knows she is out of surprises and opponents can outsmart her moves if she does not keep improving. Harder with an injury…

[nrllee]

29 minutes ago, rocat said:

She also strikes me as one who has performance anxiety. It’s harder to stay on top once you’re there - the pressure to remain top dog is intense, especially when she knows she is out of surprises and opponents can outsmart her moves if she does not keep improving. Harder with an injury

Yeah.  When you’re at the top of your game, the only way is down and it’s scary.  Thing is though, you can treat your opponent as a threat or as an opportunity for growth.  She’s only 18.  So it’s something she needs to learn.  Her coach seems to know how to get the best out of her charges. 

 

1 hour ago, haruhi17 said:

Why did she let Hee Do think the worst about her regarding her dad's wedding ring if she didn't actually sell it? Or did she somehow get it back later on? Or did she withhold the truth from her daughter as a sort of punishment for herself since she didn't attend her husband's funeral??

Not sure what’s happening there.  But I get the feeling HD’s mom is guilty about something she did or didn’t do in the marriage relationship.  So she allows HD to continue to “hate” her as some sort of penance?  We accept the love we think we deserve (quote from Perks of being a Wallflower).  She doesn’t believe she deserves HD’s love, so she perpetuates the myth that she’s the distant uncaring parent.  

[thistle]

On 2/16/2022 at 1:55 AM, rocher22 said:

Whenever I see this tunnel I expect some murder to happen...  

 

Yeah, I thought of several dramas with murder scenes set in that tunnel as soon as I saw that image.  Creepy.

 

On 2/16/2022 at 2:21 AM, sadthe1st said:

hi fellow chingus! i usually lurk but, HIIIII !!!

 

I'm lurking as well while I decide whether to give this drama a try.  Sounds really good, though.

 

On 2/16/2022 at 5:39 AM, Kathia said:

And I did thought of Hotel Del Luna too! Ahahah! That tunnel is iconic!

 

My first thought was of It's Okay Not To Be Okay.

 

.....................

 

So, thanks to all the great posts I'm reading, I'm gonna give this drama a try.  Thanks, everyone!