A lil talking and trust is what it takes to make that Summer “Beloved”.

This review contains very little spoilers and is written in rather uncomplicated language.

So Let's Begin........

What could've been just a bunch of rather heartwrenching and traumatic memories for the Leads, turned out to be the most Beloved and Cherrished times of their Lives.

This show began at our Leads meeting again after 5 years since their break-up cuz of a Viral Documentary that they shot when they were in high school 10 years ago and how they ended up being together again after dating for 5 years since high school to breaking-up and finally understanding what Love and Life is.
How it just takes a lil more effort to look at things from a slightly different angle.

Life gave them a chance not to undo the past but to learn from the mistakes and not to repeat those again.
Like how Yeon-su said that "the more you try to run away from past, the more it traps you in and that it makes you repeat the mistakes again".

That documentary actually came as a gift for them and that's how they found out when they actually fell in love 10 years ago and how they loved each other but due to their own pride and prejudice they presumed things and let go of each other which could've been resolved with just a lil talk face to face which they eventually learnt. They learnt to trust each other and communicate.

Yeon-su found out that she wasn't all alone like she thought all her time instead she had someone to rely on at each phase of her life, someone came in as a friend, some as colleagues while someone as the love of her life. All she had to do was to look at them and let go of her presumptions.

And Woong learnt to let go of his traumatic past and being afraid of getting abandoned again.
Ji-woong learnt to accept his life too. They all embraced their past while learning to love their present.

This show dealt with a lot issues.
From Childhood Negligence by Parents to growing up in poverty without Parents and abandonment by loved ones. A messed-up break-up and it's consequences.
The drama showed how trusting yourself and your loved ones is the most important thing.

• Cast and Acting :
The Cast of this drama was top-notch. Each actor did justice to their respective characters. You could totally feel the emotions that the characters felt.
I've been a fan of Choi Woo-shik since "Hogu's Love" and Kim Da-mi since "Itaewon Class". Kim seong-chol is one great actor too, I remember him from "Prison Playbook" where he made a brief appearance. Roh Jung-eui did a fabulous job too.
Other cast members were perfect too.
While some were familiar faces like Woong's Mum and Dad who played such warm and kind people.
Sol-ri played Park Jin-joo, the perfect actor to play that eccentric best friend of the FL did full justice to her skills by bringing much needed laughter to our screens.
While others like Eun-ho, Chae-ran, Park PD, Yeon-su's colleagues were new faces to me. They all were so good as well.

Perhaps what surprised me the most about this drama is that there's no character that I could hate. I was reading the interview of the writer of this show and how she chose to write 3-dimensional characters with no-one solely bad or good, which I agree with.
After all, all humans have multiple sides to them.

• The OST :
I can say that this show had one of the Best OSTs of all time. Each song played in the background conveyed and aroused emotions. Every song went well with the over-all vibes of this drama.

My Favourite Tracks are:-
#1 Christmas Tree by V (OST Pt.5)
#2 Home by Janet Suhh ( OST Pt. 6)
#3 Drawer by 10cm ( OST Pt. 1)
#4 Maybe if by BIBI ( OST Pt. 2)
#5 The Giving Tree by Lee Seung Yoon ( OST Pt. 7)
#6 Summer Rain by Sam Kim ( OST Pt. 8)

I have these tracks on my Spotify Favourites now and on loop listening to these. Idk why but I cry when listening to Giving Tree, Home, Maybe if and Drawer.

Now what I didn't like:
The only thing that could've been better was if they had only 12 Episodes or if they showed a lil more of their school days and if the last episode gave a lil more elaborate ending to us than just throwing a lot at once.
No, I am not saying that it felt rushed or messy rather I felt that our Mains had a very lil time having those cute couple moments.

Besides that Product placement by Samsung lol 😂 every character had a "Z-flip".

• Conclusion: This drama is truly a gem. From great acting, writing, cinematography, direction and OST, this show had it all.
This drama has truly become one of my favourite dramas of all time that I like to call "Soulful" Dramas which I can watch multiple times.
I felt all the emotions while watching this. From crying to getting frustrated, from having that smile on my face unconsciously to feeling butterflies in my stomach. It had it all.
What made this show so special for me was how it reminded of my own life, being grown up as a single child of a single mom in a not so affluent family and being perceived as an aimless and lost cause person. I could relate to all three characters... Yeon-su, Choi Woong and Ji-woong.

I hope they make a season 2 of this perhaps 3-4 years from now like how in the very last scene they started filming again after finding that the sequel to their documentary went viral too and told the viewers that they're married.
Wouldn't it be interesting seeing Yeon-su and Woong married and their reactions to what life has in the box ready to be thrown at them. Also I want a true happy ending for Ji-woong and NJ too.
On that note let's wrap this up.

Hurry and go watch it now.

I didn't give away a lot of what actually happened cuz I want you to watch the show yourself and experience each emotion that the characters felt.

BTW, am so grateful that I watched this show in just 38 hours and got outta my K-drama slump.

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A Bittersweet Journey of Growing Up!

I'd like start writing this review by telling y'all that I am following the guidelines and won't summarize the show for you nor I'll give you a lot of major spoilers. (At least I'll try not to :) )

•Plot:-

This show actually reminded me of one of my favourite shows, Reply 1988 especially for the initial 10-12 Episodes. I loved the Main Gang and their journey of Growing Up. Their interactions with each other and their parents as well. You will actually laugh and cry with our Lovely Leads and their friends.

The way they grow up, the way they learn what growing up actually means is what makes this show a good watch. The plot although is your typical youth drama so nothing really outstanding there but it's a good show.
A show that'll take you through the memories of your school or college time.

• Characters + Acting:
(I won't give character descriptions here since I want you to watch the show yourself.)

My favourite character has to be Lu Shiyi although he ain't a perfecf person, he might appear naughty and not serious about his life but he genuinely likes and cares about Xiaoju. He doesn't actually force himself onto her which is commendable since you rarely see such ML. His interaction and chemistry with Xiaoju is the highlight of this show IMO.

Xia Xiaoju started off as a clumsy and "not so bright" girl who got transferred to a new school in a new city and is gradually shown as a Kind, Loyal and Warm girl who genuinely likes Cheng Lang and wants his happiness. The way she wrote those "secret letters" as Mango Pudding to support Cheng Lang showed that.
Though cuz her character was not given proper chance by the writers.... she took too long to understand herself, Shiyi's feelings and to not ponder over Cheng Lang continuously.

I wish if writers wrote Xiaoju a lil different.

Qiu Le Tao is the character which I didn't hate but neither loved. Le Tao while not being able to handle her own relationship gave advices to Xiaoju on "Love". She kept pestering Xiaoju to chase after Cheng Lang which actually didn't do any better for Xiaoju.

Lin You's character was meh :-\
While I liked Cheng Lang, he was a good BF, a good Friend and good son. I wish he had a different ending as well.

I liked the parents too, although they don't standout that much unlike Reply Series but they did a good job in their parts.

Now coming to the "Acting" part,
Each and every actor actually did a good job in portraying their respective characters. The Leads as well as the supporting cast did well in living their characters. Richard Wang has become one of my favourite C-Actors and Hu Yuxian is so Good. Having watched her before in "Unforgettable Love" she did a good job here too.

• The OST:-
I liked all the songs although I didn't know the back story of those old songs which they featured, it was still good and will make you feel the warmth of Friendship and Love.

• Things that I didn't like:-

erhhhhh.... The Writing

The writers actually wrote well till I'd say Episode 20 and captured the immaturity, the lessons you learn after committing mistakes or failing. But then the show started dragging unnecessarily with Xia Xiaoju chasing after Cheng Lang despite knowing that he doesn't like her but Lin You.
While ignoring the affection shown by Lu Shiyi to her. This chasing and failing again and again kept going till E32 when finally the story moved away from this arc but by that time it was too late and chaotic which made the writers to rush and grab the clutter they made in which they didn't do a "Good Job" I'd say.

This whole clutter actually kinda ruined the ending and stole the time away from our Lead Characters, their relationship and the time that they could've spent together as a couple who are still learning 'What being a Grown-up means?'

Left a lotta things unexplained like why Shiyi pretended to have a girlfriend.
Besides it left me wanting more.
I wanted to see the parents' reaction when they would've found out about Xiaoju and Shiyi. The whole mess they created in last 2 Eps ahhhhhhh >.<

There were some unnecessary plotlines and characters which could've been missed but were given focus like Xiaoju's classmate "Cheng Le" (Played by the Bad Guy from Skate into Love), that whole story arc was unnecessary.

•Conclusion:-

Despite not being satisfied with that ending (it's happy ending don't worry!) it's still a good watch. If you love Youth Dramas then definitely watch it but be prepared to have that "wanting more" feeling at the end.
If you'd ask me 'If I'd rewatch this?'
then Yes! totally but perhaps skipping some parts after E20 and not watching the ending.

It's a good 8 ⭐ for me.

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A wonderful Heartwarming Mom-Child Story!!

I just completed watching this beautiful dorama and here I am writing my second review ever on MDL.

I Loved the concept of this drama and being an otaku myself and a single child of a single mom I could relate to almost everything.
I don't have a lot of friends and have a hard time expressing my emotions to others so I can stand in Sora's shoes and feel what she feels.
And I loved how she and her mum are more like friends instead of your regular parent-child relation. But I guess that's how it is when your Parent had you at a very young age. Like my Mum was 20 when she had me.
Anyway not gonna fill the review with my own story. Really Sorry 😅.

Loved the acting and the chemistry between all the cast. Loved how the writer dealt with the story arcs which are somewhat taboo-ish and rarely shown like Gon-chan's Father and Sally's relationship.

This one is one of those few dramas where I didn't skip a single second throughout the 10 Episodes. I wish if they had more episodes pr another season tbh. I wanna see more of Hikaru and Sora. How they go through after this and where their relation goes.
Also would like to see more of Hikaru's story too.

Overall it was a really good watch. Will rewatch this soon and perhaps more often.

This will really be somewhere up there in my all time favourite drama list and recommendations.
If you haven't watched it yet then PLEASE do!!
The 10 hour that you'll spend wouldn't be regretful.

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