Our Beloved Summer (2021)

it started and ended with a documentary

⚡ our beloved summer brought us inside of woong and yeonsu’s journey as individuals and as a couple. the slow burn romance that one falls in love to as they watch more. we felt the flutters, frustrated, and cry with them.

⚡ordinary that’s extraordinary. we resonate with how the characters are struggling, and how they are facing their unresolved issues. we have been woong, yeonsu, and jiwoong in our lives. we have the 3 idiots personality within us.

⚡our beloved summer reminding us — it’s not a dull life we are living, but a dazzling one. in times where we felt we’re alone, there’s someone who’s always there. you’re not alone. it also reminds us — our year hasn’t ended yet, there’s still more to come.

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my beloved time... wasted.

FULL REVIEW, SOME SPOILERS

i have never been as disappointed in a drama as i was with this one. because truly, i wanted to love it. it started off well, with beautiful cinematography and osts, with a fun plot and good actors, but thats where it all ends. after the first few episodes it all felt monotonous and repetitive. i expected fun bickering, lovey dovey moments, thought out characters, an unexpected twist with the documentary, DEPTH. the initial trailers seemed fun, fresh, nuanced and promised all of this, which the first few episodes somewhat delivered. afterwards, everything was a dull filler. let me explain.

my biggest issue was this: despite all the love professions and cute moments, i didnt care for the couple very much. after showing us how yeonsu constantly broke up with him whenever she wanted, the immature miscommunications, the imbalances in the relationship, i just didnt want to see them together. your first love is not often the person you stay with forever, and thats okay. this wouldve been a great healing drama, where the leads heal individually and learn to love themselves without the other. instead i felt the opposite, like they were codependent: ung could only sleep with yeonsu by his side, yeonsu felt empty without him.

therefore I think the drama should’ve gone in a different direction- a story of forgiveness, growing up and growing apart, getting closure. i wanted them to meet again, learn more about each other now that they were broken up, heal separately and stay separated. that would sent a better message, and it also wouldve worked better given the set up. if they were to end up together, there shouldve been a different backstory. all we saw initially was them bickering, which was cute in highschool, but we never really saw them grow to like each other. more specifically WHY they liked each other.

they were complete opposites and the drama never went deeper with their relationship past superficial conversations and longing gazes. this lack of depth made it hard to imagine how this was a love strong enough to last YEARS. they had so many problems, i mean, yeonsu’s “if i leave you just come back to me” what? how is this in any way cute or goals?
speaking of, i felt that the characters werent created equally. yeonsu was given so many flaws while ung… wasnt (especially in the beginning) and it made yeonsu look like the bad guy. i wish he had been more stubborn, or complacent in the misunderstandings so i wouldnt have to “pick a side”. especially when ung was defending yeonsu to us, saying he saw a different side of her: her ripping notes just to give it to ung, her refusing to see the flowers then bringing ung petals, etc. this whole “mean to everyone but me” trope is outdated. if the ending had to be them together, then the backstory should’ve been more “right person wrong time” and less “pointless couple break up for dramatic effect”.
and yes, they matured in the present day relationship, and there were cute moments. but yeonsu and ung were kinda boring , both in and out of the relationship. i didnt ever feel that they had that strong of a connection, and i never even got why they kept breaking up and getting back together in the first place. overall their relationship just didn’t work for me. and yes they were cute during the end, but it doesnt make up for everything else.

everything outside of their relationship was also undercooked. yeonsu went to work every few episodes (to not do work), ung barely drew. and these were their main traits. rather than being fully developed it felt like they got a traumatic little backstory which led to them having ONE issue: yeonsus pride and ungs attachment. what happened to the first few episodes, to the driven yeonsu? why didnt they explore more of how she burnt herself out from working too hard? or what jobs she had before landing the one we barely see her go to now? why not delve more into ungs wishes to live a peaceful relaxed life? how he even got famous considering it’s the complete opposite of his life goals? these questions are all unanswered because all the drama cares about depicting was their relationship.

lack of depth affected the other characters as well, with them being mere stepping stones for the main relationship. producer ji for example, giving him mommy issues and a never ending crush doesnt make up for the lack of personality. and am i supposed to believe he hung onto his crush with the girl he barely talked to… for YEARS? why not go more in depth to his relationship with ung and ungs parents instead, or even his won parents? in the present day he didnt seem like a very good friend, so depth is much needed. his documentary thing wasnt developed at all, even though the documentary aspect was initially what made this drama so unique. it felt like filler instead of its own character, and didnt connect with jiungs arc at all.
yeonsus best friend- aka the only character with some pizazz- was not on screen nearly enough. all we know about her is that she had a lot of boyfriends and has a strict family. ungs manager just fangirls over nj, i found him unbearable. couldnt he have been given ONE personality trait? nj pops in and out when we need some drama when she couldve been such a GREAT character. we had her tiny subplot with online bullies, and that was it. why not showcase the pressures of being an idol, or maybe even ONE scene of her singing or dancing or modeling or acting or SOMETHING?? mr jang, who i assumed would be the SML, never showed up after the first few episodes after he said he liked yeonsu?? what even was that ?? yeonsus coworkers are only there to gossip about her love life and their boss- i dont even know why hes there. i just wish the other characters were more delved into, like in hometown cha cha cha. its been proven that this CAN be done and still leave enough time for the main couple. and they certainly couldve spared some screen time. i know this is a romance drama, but there is such a thing as too much romance.

overall,
this drama felt undercooked. it could’ve been fantastic, really. highschool romances, bickering couples, cold leads, this has all been done well before. look at fight for my way, hometown cha cha cha, its okay thats love, etc etc etc. this drama shouldve taken notes from those that did it well. instead, they created a perfectly average drama that relied on cute moments and filler to make up for poor writing and direction. no slice of life, just romance. a poorly written, average romance.

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