[Drama 2021 - 2022] Our Beloved Summer ⏯️ 그 해 우리는

[Bojun]

The intro of high schoolers Ung and Yeon-soo being interviewed side by side piqued my attention, and I was surprised the lady was Kim Da-mi of Itaewon Class. Don't get me wrong, she's a very good actress but I wasn't a fan of her fashion in Itaewon Class and didn't really like that drama.

But I liked Our Beloved Summer and the chemistry of the leads. Started watching Sunday and I'm on episode 15 now. I will definitely finish it today. I don't like Ji-ung's character because he is quite pathetic. There is a rule between guys, especially bestfriends, that you don't take a dig at his girlfriend or even ex-GF unless you've spoken about it. 

I hope it is a happy ending.   

[Hong Banjang]

I'm writing in this forum for the first time after watching this show for a 3rd time. I didn't watch the show when it was being aired, binged on the whole thing later. And I kept going back to this show.

It's not perfect. It's not a legendary story like Crash Landing on You or It's Okay to Not Be Okay. It's not a complete package with entertaining subplots, like Hometown Cha Cha Cha. It has its flaws. It's a story that we have seen before. But it's the treatment that has me completely whipped. The two leads, bless the person who cast them together, fit each other so well it seems that they aren't even acting. They carried the show on their shoulders with their sincere portrayal. I'd been a fan of Choi Woo Shik when I didn't even know who he was. I l really liked him in Train to Busan and later on in Parasite and only figured much later that it was the same actor. He has this very laid back sexy vibe about him that I rate over abs and hot looks. Choi Woong was written for him, in fact Choi Woong is him.

Kim Dami, I didn't know well then. Now I do and she's incredible! Nobody could portray Yeon Su apart from her, with the right balance of tenderness and firmness. She made Yeon Su humane and realistic, anybody else would have overdone it with the cold arrogant vibe or the melodrama.

I had my reservations while starting this drama. But it is the realism in the show that makes me come back. It shows the anatomy of a relationship, when you start out young, idealistic, wide eyed, full of young love and then couple of years into it, things don't quite work out. He is too laid back, doesn't seem to know what he wants in life, she seeks stability as that's the one thing she's never had. The narration of the show is clever as they show, in some places, how memory plays a trick on you when you recollect old incidents. I wish they'd spent more time in the non-linear narration than the story of the secondary characters. They were good characters but I was too invested in the romance, how it began, how it ended, why it ended, and if it rekindles, will it sail through now. And more importantly, I wanted to feel everything the characters were feeling. I sobbed for Woong, I cried for Yeon Su, I felt like an eavesdropper, listening in as they quietly navigated the different stages of love and heartbreak.

This show is a masterpiece. It will not be very popular as many other dramas as it's not a formulaic entertainment package, but it has a hypnotizing sincerity backed by powerful performances. A story that's told honestly will always find praise.

Our Beloved Summer - take a bow!