Our Beloved Summer

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.

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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

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Our year hasn’t ended yet.

Originally written on Apr 02, 2022

K-Dramas are so dumb, in a good way. Our Beloved Summer is the perfect example. After the first episode, it is incredibly predictable how the story is going to develop. You know right away that they’re getting back together. It’s obvious some people are going to try to come between them. Things from their past are coming back to haunt them. It’s all so... by the numbers. Yet, it’s still so much fun to watch and find out if you’re right or if the show has some surprises in store for you.

Our Beloved Summer is such a good comfort watch. Its premise is very interesting, following two people, Kook Yeon-su and Choi Ung, who met each other while shooting a documentary many years ago. Things turned sour, which led to them losing touch. It’s a lot of fun to see how they change throughout the years, growing up while growing more and more apart. When faith leads them to each other again, their adventure starts anew, and it’s very sweet to see them try to figure out their past and try to salvage whatever’s left of their broken relationship.

As with a lot of K-Dramas, Our Beloved Summer is a couple of episodes too long. When it seems that the story is nearing its end, a wrench gets thrown into the works to stretch it out considerably. This should’ve been 12, maybe 13 episodes tops, which would’ve helped a lot with the pacing. Yet, by the time the credits rolled, I wish I could spend more time with these people, because they are just so much fun.

"Everyone has unforgettable memories from a certain year of their life. They cherish those memories so much that it lasts a lifetime. And our year hasn’t ended yet."

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Our Beloved Summer is a nice, light, and sweet romance with opposite-attracts leads who show believable personal development throughout the drama. I like watching Choi Woo Shik's acting, which is always on point. And even though one can anticipate what is going to happen, the whole drama is so feel good that it doesn't seem to matter too much. Scenes are filmed in an ethereal light (outside) or cozy warmth (inside), which contributes to the fuzzy feelings.

I was not a fan of the manager/bar owner story line at all but the second leads and other assorted characters grew on me, especially NJ.

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A Drama that Warms Up Quite Nice

Our Beloved Summer is a wonderful drama that does a fantastic job in telling the story of a cast of characters that have such a deep history that they share with actors that do a perfect job in selling that dynamic. I have to say I was initially put off with the first few episodes with how the main leads, Ung and Yeon Su were when interacting especially the main female lead, Yeon Su regarding how cold and distant she was as a female lead. But the drama didn't linger around that personality for far too long and explained her disposition and why she acts the way she does. The main male lead Ung was an extremely relatable and down to earth lead that was instantly connectable for me within the very first episode.

The secondary love interests were good however I found Ji-Ung to be a sort of detestable character that had no real redeemable qualities. Most if not all of his actions towards his best friend were completely reprehensible. He has to be one of the worst secondary love interests I have ever seen. But the secondary female love interest, NJ, was such a breath of fresh air when it came to the secondary love interest category. Her bright and charming personality made me look forward to her scenes every episode and while Ji-Ung's detestable loathsome actions, NJ made up for it with her admirable pleasant actions. The rest of the supporting cast was enjoyable and did a great job in carrying along the story both inside and outside the main plotline.

The one thing this drama did absolutely perfect was allowing for the relationship of Ung and Yeon Su to have screen time. Dramas tend to only have the final episode or two be the time period where the main characters relationships to have screen time which unfortunately causes a lot of crunch time, however this drama started, well, re-started the relationship many episodes before the end which allowed the two main characters to interact in such a refreshing and lovely way.

The OST was perfect with great songs from 10cm, Ha Sung Woon, Kim Yung Hee, and especially The Giving Tree by Lee Seung Yoon. I'll definitely be listening to this drama's OST for months to come. The cinematography and quality of the drama was perfect as well, I like the way the drama presented the past, present, and recent memories with the different filming styles from the full screen to widescreen formats.

One final thing, also the drama definitely delivered on one thing, Ung's final drawing and who his first ever person he would draw. That made this drama an instant classic for me. I would 100% recommend this to everyone and definitely would be revisiting this to rewatch in the near future.

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I know I am minority here but I found it boring and filled with unlikable characters

6/10 is my rating. This is a 2021/2022 South Korean coming of age/time gap romance with 16, 60-70 minute episodes.

First I provide a unique synopsis then review.

Synopsis

Choi Ung (Choi Woo-shik) and Kook Yeon-soo (Kim Da-mi) first got to know each other while participating in a docu series in high school featuring the best student and the student with the lowest grades academically. Not hard to imagine they did not get along well which made for some very comedic moments in the series. A decade later we find out they dated for years but suddenly broke up in such a hurtful way they vowed to never see each other again. But one of their close friends becomes a producer with the production company that is still getting traction out of their original docu series. Looking for hit content, the company pressures Kim Ji-ung (Kim Sung-cheol) their producer friend, to get the two back together for a sequel to the hit docu series. But Ji-ung secretly had feelings for Yeon-soo since high school and is reluctant to draw the two back together. Still, he caves to the oressure from his work and talks his friends into participating in the project. Things have changed though as Choi Ung is now a mysterious and successful artist who has fans. Fans such as NJ (Rohn Jeong-eui) a top idol who likes the art “Go-oh” (a secret pseudonym Choi Ung does his art under) creates but also has a crush on the artist. Now that things have changed, and time has passed, will this new project bring the two ex-lovers back together or drive them further apart?


Review

If you like straight drama and slice of life, that doesn’t depict the sunny side to life, you might like this. In fact, I think most of the people that rate this very high would fall into that category. In the other reviews, I read before watching this, I saw a lot of it’s a lot like reality. The characters were well developed. The interactions were real and raw. For me I am not a fan of just straight drama, I like a little bit of comedy at least sprinkled in or at least a plot that has some levity. In general, I did not enjoy this drama. I yeah.found it boring through a lot of it and repetitive, and I wouldn’t rewatch it. None of the characters were compelling because I did not like them except for the actress. It was emotionally heavy and I felt like I was watching people be emotionally abused.

Spoilers

The number one thing I did not like about the show was Yeonsoo was just completely unlikable. The way she treated Choi Ung was emotionally abusive. First there is the Cherrie blossom thing where he wanted to go see the cherry blossoms, but she said she couldn’t find the time. But then she obviously did find the time because she had a pocket full of cherry blossoms and sprinkled it over him like there there’s your cherry blossoms. It was such a demeaning way to show somebody something they had wanted to see, but they tried to spin it like it was a romantic thing. That was a jerk move. Later they have a date day, which I had the sense they hadn’t had in a long time, and she let him think she was going to break up with him the entire day. Yeonsoo led him here and there, never asked him what he wanted to do, just kind of pushed him along. He wasn’t enjoying it because he thought it was a break up date. Then at the end of the day they have this emotional scene where she basically ridicules him for thinking they were gonna break up and then tells him out of the blue that she is in love with him. The level of emotional manipulation in that scene was hard to watch. It was cruel. But she was not the only one in the family that was an emotional abuser. Later in the series, the grandmother, Kang Ja Kyung (Cha Mi Kyung) tells him not to blame Yeonsoo because she was poor, and the grandmother taught her to be the way that she was. Somehow this convinces him that Yeonsoo’s abusive behavior is okay and he not inly accepts her back but practically begs her and says things were his fault. I found that whole thing entirely disturbing from a psychological perspective. Just because you were poor and raised to be mean as a defense mechanism does not mean being an emotional abuser is acceptable. She would even badmouth him to other people when he wasn’t around, never supported him in his art endeavors and always held the thread of break up over his head. That is living on egg shells and it is a typical pattern for a narcissistic emotional abuser. So I never wanted to see them get together. In fact I was happy any time he stood up for himself and pushed her away.

in the beginning, I liked the grandmothe. She had raised her granddaughter and worked so hard to do so and the relationship between her and Yeonsoo started out as something very heartwarming. But later in the series it’s revealed she’s not very nice to a close friend she has to the point where Yeonsoo mentions it and says she should apologize and be nicer But what really made me not like the grandmother when when she was so mean to Choi Ung about making Yeonsoo cry. She did that without knowing any details just assumed he was the villian in the situation even knowing and acknowledginhpg how her granddaughter was. Then she gives him that whole story about Yeonsoo and how he should just understand her because she raised her that way. What?

I did not like Choi Ung’s producer friend, Kim Ji Ung (Kim Sung-Cheol) as he lusted after his friend’s girlfriend not based on some deep connection but simply because he found her pretty. He also took a lot of the very limited affection of Choi Ung’s parents knowingly and yet seemed like he thought he was doing Choi Ung a favor. I wanted him and Yeonsoo to wind up together as they were both sort of crap people.

His manager/friend Gu Eun-ho (Ahn Dong-goo) was a horrible manager. He is obsessed with NJ (Roh Jeong-eui) such that he interferes with Choi Ung and NJ getting together. I wanted to see Choin Ung date NJ. She probably would not have been a long term girlfriend but she would have shown him other possibilities. She thought he was great, loved his art and was always nice to him. Rather than tearing him down she would have bolstered his career.

His parents were confusing. His mother, Lee Yeon-ok (Seo Jeong-yeon) did have the one time she took care of him when he was sick that showed some close emotional ties but that was it. His mother and his father, Choi Ho (Park Won-sang) mostly seemed to like and spend more time with Choi Ung’s friends than with him. They even left his art show early which was weird.

I disliked most of the characters so much I did not care aboit them or anything they were doing. I only liked sweet, talented, sensitive amd emotionally abused Choi Ung and NJ whi was like a breath of fresh air. NJ was the only descent person in Choi Ung’s life and he oassed her over for Yeonsoo. I did not find it credible that not one but two men would be completely onsessed with Yeonsoo.

#OurBelovedSummer #ChoiWooShik. #KimDaMi

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OVERRATED and DULL!!!

This show has only big names attached to it. The series had sorta good premise but is unable to execute it.

FL (Kim Dami) is playing almost the same exact role from Itaewon Class. But in Itaewon Class her character had growth and development. FL is quite toxic. She is a good actor but I didn't care enough for her as a character too root for her.

The main lead Choi Woo Shik, I just realized that he doesn't really have the charisma to play the main lead of a 16-episode show. I personally thought the chemistry was lacking. This is the first time I am watching him as a lead in a TV show and I thought of his performance as lack-luster. (I'm sorry if offended his fans, this is just my personal opinion)

The story had little potential but they fail to make it interesting. None of the second leads catch me interest, they were rather dull. The story does not pick up its pace and fails to include interesting plot twists.

I personally wouldn't recommend anyone to watch this show. Some shows have interesting characters but not great story and some shows have great story but dull characters. This show doesn't have strong storyline or any interesting characters.
My suggestion to the viewers would be "don't waste your time on this". But you are free to judge it for yourself.

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Everything is messed up

I just want to say if the writer hides a story from the audience and bring out like it never happened earlier then I would say it's kinda look alike betraying with their fans. Mostly goes with this drama. In first episode it creates intense to go for the second episode. Nevertheless it revealed that there were more stories at their intermediate periods.
Moreover, the relation between the lead characters are bit confusing! I find a quite lacking in the supporting characters story. And the story telling is a little bit slow.

Most of all, I am disappointed but never know other would loved it.

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You can judge a book by it's cover.

Most romantic kdramas filmed from 2019 and onwards seem to be following the same manufactured formula on how to produce a soulless, rigid and dull show- good enough for first time viewers or rookies in the genre to feel like this series deserves these high ratings. No wonder the standards for romantic shows are significantly dropping which makes hidden gems shine brighter than ever.

This is not a hidden gem. After seeing the cover, I noticed the main cast are actors which I would personally consider B+ in their overall acting abilities which means they have potential, so I was a bit expectant to see them in a show with high ratings- maybe the script is good, or the cinematography that everyone praises or the music...right?

No! It was an absolute mess from the beginning, and here's a small list of every frustration that led me to drop it by episode 2:

-Background music was louder than the actors speaking.
-Background music was playing in 3/4 scenes and cuts of the episode.
-Background music was forcing a different vibe from what the scene itself was portraying. Was there an actual compositor making these choices or did they put a youtube video editor to do this?
-Cinematography was nothing special; Who are the people getting paid to praise this?
-Dialogue felt unnatural.
-Side characters did not have their own stories to tell. They simply existed to push a non-existent story forward. Cliche and uninteresting; Were the writers playing house?
-Boring & predictable storyline; So the lazy student ended up being a "successful" artist while the teacher doter ended up in a corporate job. Wow! I forgot to tell my body to react to those reveals that I thought i was in a coma while watching the first episode.

Now, all of these were red flags to me. The underlying theme is interesting- it's not often that you see a romantic story revolving two exes reconnecting, but this was poorly executed. I will give it a plus for trying at least, but shows like this soulless crap need to stop getting produced.
Dear kdrama viewers, please watch a real drama before hyping this manufactured slop.

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Cuando una historia te habla sin gritar

No sé si fue el ritmo, la música suave o los silencios con significado, pero Aquel Año Nuestro me hizo sentir cosas que no esperaba. Es como cuando te sientas a ver algo por curiosidad y, de pronto, te das cuenta de que estás emocionalmente invertido... sin darte cuenta en qué momento pasó.
No es solo sobre romance. Es más bien sobre crecer con las heridas que uno carga, sobre las decisiones difíciles que tomamos, y sobre cómo las personas que nos rodean—aunque imperfectas—pueden ayudarnos a sanar. Los personajes no tratan de ser perfectos, y eso los vuelve reales. A veces decía “¡ay, no!”, otras “¡ay, sí!”, y otras simplemente me quedaba en silencio viéndolos luchar con lo que sentían.
Visualmente, tiene colores cálidos que hacen sentir que estás ahí, acompañando a los protagonistas. No hay exageraciones; todo se siente íntimo, como una carta escrita para quien realmente quiera leer entre líneas.
No me cambió la vida, pero sí me dejó con esa sensación reconfortante, como cuando termina el verano y sabes que algo especial pasó, aunque ya se haya ido.

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