Our Beloved Summer (2021)

The Good:
⌲ The documentary concept
⌲ The sequencing of the major plot points (first half is more melo, the second half more romcom)
⌲ The docu flashback scenes are the best.
⌲ The romance, mostly (It's way more magical in Hogu's Love)
⌲ The chemistry between the two leads
⌲ The brilliant acting (If ML did variety, he could dethrone YJS in a few weeks & the FL is also incredible)
⌲ FL's cute chubby face
⌲ The bickering
⌲ The weak love triangles
⌲ The last 5 minutes of the drama (Had they spent 1-2 episodes on that 3rd documentary, I would have given the drama a 10/10 rating for sure, flaws be damned.)
⌲ The mild melancholia
⌲ The visuals
⌲ Despite all the stupid foreshadowing the leads stay together after they start dating again.
⌲ The rewatch value should be excellent with some FW buttoning.
⌲ The low key good OST

The Neutral:
⌲ NJ (I'm suspecting the actress was portraying Sulli & that made me quite sad)
⌲ Let's be friends! (Horrible plot device, but the ensuing romcom moments were good)
⌲ There were some well acted, but underutilized supporting characters.

The Bad:
⌲ The writing is not coherent, this is especially obvious if binge watching. (yay live filming)
⌲ The reasons for the initial breakup (I would have accepted "pride", but they just had to put a noble reason spin on it)
⌲ The second ML's character feels misplaced & pointless. (Could have FW buttoned all his scenes for more enjoyment)
⌲ The last 3-4 episodes were sullied by the entire "French Architect School" plot. (Woong of all people is such a genius that he has become an architect/engineer in 2-3 years and then he went back to Korea to continue drawing for galleries and whatnot)
⌲ The story drags in the middle. (The writer pulled the breaks on romantic progress in jarring ways, because 16 episodes..)
⌲ The final episode is weak, sans the last 5 minutes. (It's not ruining anything, it's just whelming)
⌲ The audio quality is trash, don't bother with those planar headphones! (were all microphones bought at the 1$ store, then again even some of the songs sound horrifyingly low-fi, while some others are excellent)



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I strongly recommend watching https://youtu.be/yxGomiIUN8s AFTER you are done with the drama. (it's only 2 minutes long)

Leggi di Più

Very sweet, very funny, and VERY SMART

This Drama was superb. Laugh out loud in so many places, but with real heart too. Most importantly, it was intelligent. Everything that happened made sense in its world. Characters behaved in ways that were credible for them, noone said or did anything stupidly out of character and there were no facepalm moments when the Drama caved to tropes to the lasting detriment of the show.

The acting was as good as the writing. As much as I loved the leads, and the always excellent Park Jin Joo, I think the character/actor pairing that best encapsulated what made this such a remarkable show was Roh Jeong Eui's NJ. The character was fascinating, not at all a typical 2FL, and not a typical idol character either. Ms Roh delivered her part superbly, and I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for her in future.

The intelligence of the writing was also shown by the way it kept me guessing about the ending right into the final episode. Not only was it not clear how it would end, what was even more remarkable was that HOWEVER it ended, the ending would have felt right. I would not have felt cheated, frustrated or disappointed by whatever end transpired. Bravissimo!

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Our Beloved Summer

Just finished watch this Drama for the 3rd time. It´s so beautiful , one of the best for sure !! Main couple with wonderfull chemistry, lots of good suporting actors/actresses , beautifull OST soudtrack and photogaphy.

The way the Drama takes care of the subject "love" it´s real and well done

The way the jump 10 years in time it´s very well done too. In both period of time tha interest of the story keeps the same good level.

Kim Da Mi is a top actress any part of the world. Choi Wook Shik it´s the perfect mate and wins a lot playing role with her (like in "The Witch")

Leggi di Più

A drama that tugs at your heartstrings

Our Beloved Summer chronicles the two lives of Choi Woong and Kook Yeon Soo as they meet in high school while filming a documentary, fall in love and then meet again 10 years later post a painful breakup and after having no contact for 5 years. The story alternates between present day and the past as you find out what happened between them and as there are new developments in their relationship in present day.

While it is a romance drama, the show also really dived into both of their individual lives and what made the characters who they were... their upbringing, their family, the way that they present themselves to the world and how that was a result of their history. It's definitely an emotional show and I feel like I cried a lot but you do really get to know the characters and they all grow so much.

I liked the friendship between the two "Woongs" and it was so heartwarming seeing how Choi Woong welcomed Ji Woong into his family and pretty much gave him a home. I was NOT expecting the big plot twist / reveal near the end but my boyfriend predicted it so maybe I'm just not good at picking up subtle hints. Regardless I feel like the writers / director were very clever with how they chose to reveal things and with the flow of the show.

Even before I watched the show, I listened to Christmas Tree by V because it was so popular and it really did fit the show so well. Beloved Summer has probably one of the best OSTs I can recall in recent shows that I've watched.

I also liked NJ's character a lot. She was really fun and I looked forward to her scenes and how they added to the story. I also like that she was a decent person, despite being the second female lead and she didn't do anything shady.

Leggi di Più

probably in my top 3 dramas... just so fucking good bro from the angst to the little funny moments and all the characters were so good too and so interesting they didn’t feel like background ones. ost very very good!!!! i liked how we got to see how their relationship progressed from the start and how they broke up and that we also got to see how yeonsu felt throghout all her issues in life and how it reflected on her actions like she’s my babyyyy :( and ung finally growing and getting his degree i just really love this show very wholesome very perfect. would erase it from my memory just so i could watch it again

Leggi di Più