Our Beloved Summer

My type of drama

I really love this drama. It's heartwarming and fun to watch. I don't know but I really have a thing with seeing two characters with a past and suddenly meeting again and sparkling their feelings which never really ended. I loved each and every character here. Gook Yeon Su was a character I can relate to in some way. She's seen as a strong, nonchalant, person but she's actually in pain and has a lot of sadness inside. Choi Ung on the other hand, was nice to see as he looks clueless, slow-witted, but definitely warm to people around him. I love how their love for each other bloomed after letting out their thoughts and emotions which were once untold. It makes me think that this kind of situation, actually happens in real life where a relationship falls apart because of misunderstanding and not being open to one another. I love how they lowkey care for each other even when they already broke up. I think they were the cutest! Can't get enough of them. The side characters were also fun to watch. Kim Ji Ung was not your toxic second lead who forces his way to the FL's heart. Rather, it was more realistic of them to focus his attention to his current situation; his loneliness and emptiness. I think it was a bit frustrating to watch that almost everyone has a sad story with them, but also, quite interesting and not over done. I think everyone was well written, with depth, interesting, and worth your time. I cried a couple of times and was feeling all emotional because this drama was well done. The reason why I'm not giving it a full rating because I admit, sometimes, I also felt like it was too sad for me as almost every character feels lonely and sad in the drama. But that's it! Setting that aside, I love everything about this drama. The cinematography, OSTs (try not to cry while they play challenge), plot, script, and the characters. It was an overall great watch to me. Might need to rewatch this in the future. Highly recommended.

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Its like a soft summer breeze

i suggest you to watch all episodes without much gap, so that you will get that feel, Feles like a nice realstic story line , there no bad characters or bad people in the drama, kind of pure love story, from high school to adulthood.

Watching the drama feels like , spending time in nature,like i told like a cool summer breeze.

But the last episodes are good, but kind of felt like, little bit boring, i really felt sorry for the NJ character, i heard many fans supported a different story line, Korean dramas never stop doing these triangle love stories, it hurts when all the characters are good ones like in this drama

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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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Beautiful OST and Cinematography

First of all, very beautiful OSTs. The OSTs definitely carried the drama to a higher place. It is one of the most beautiful songs I've heard in K-dramas.
The story of this drama revolves around the good parts and hard parts of being in a relationship. I think there were some relatable moments to it which makes you think back and ponder over them. The story was overall good. There were a lot of thing happening and they did a good job wrapping everything up in the end. I would say the story falls off a bit in the middle and the main characters literally switch their personality which was a bummer as I would've loved to see the female lead as she was in the first half of the drama, tough and strong. But it was still good and the change made sense. The side characters were good but they didn't have any character buildup to them, they were just there because they had to and for some comedy relief. Except for NJ. I loved NJ.
The cast and acting was good.
The Cinematography was good and made the drama that much more enjoyable.

This drama is not perfect but it did everything right and it paid off. This drama was overall a great experience and I would definitely recommend people to give it a watch.

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nostalgic summer

If you're into slow-paced, healing dramas, this series will be the perfect fit for you. The character development/relationship development is fairly slow-paced but it's a good pace especially because they have interesting flashback scenes as well as shifts between the characters. I really appreciated getting to know the stories of the side characters as well as the main characters, the directing and cinematography is definitely top tier as well...

The peaceful and calmness of this dramas as a whole was incredibly healing,, I think the last time I watched something that gave me such vibes was When the Weather Is Fine. The acting, as expected, was so realistic and the feelings were portrayed so well. Kim Dami and Choi Wooshik definitely did the original characters & the webtoon justice. Unlike most rom-coms, the second leads (Jiwoong and NJ) gave such great vibes/characteristics, it was such a breath of fresh air that they were so easy to understand and empathize with.

The OST was also wonderful, everything fit so well with this nostalgic-summer esq vibe that I long to revisit, it's like experiencing sweet first love moments when things were carefree :) Big props to the whole crew and this series overall. <3

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Our Painfully, Pain, Pain, Pain with a side of flufff

Prepare yourselves for some pain, and I do not just mean a little pain, I mean a lot of it as the team for this drama truly do all in their power to make you feel the prolonged suffering of the main couple with the use of dialog, visuals and a pretty painful OST.
I was honestly surprised over how much could feel their pain, as I spent most of this drama with a lump in my chest. And as the true drama masochist I am I LOVED every moment of it... yep I did! If you are not a fan of pain step away and do not come near this drama.. because it has so many different types of pain and levels of brokenness, fear and pain making it one of the most painfully, pain, pain, pain dramas I have watched of course with some humour, cuteness and beauty... but did I mention pain?

I think I read someone say this reminded them of Reply 1988 and I am willing to agree, I am just not going to tell you in what way, so I won't spoil it for you... But there is deffinetly a familiarity between the two dramas.

This drama has a few (very few) slightly annoying scenes, but I would say this is a meet after a break up drama done right. though I did want to yell at the cast from time to time to TALK TO EACH OTHER... There was not a single character (ok one) that was not lovable at least once.

"My mother is dyeing and I don't feel the least bit sad" made me forget every single flaw in this drama...

Extra points for the way they portray how poverty affects people, as well as some pretty raw lines about bad parenting... minus for some other parts about parenting but then again some more for the good parents and what makes a family...


Extra points for the OST, showing how much ones mood affects the way you hear a song, as some of the songs felt sad and dark in some of the episodes but happy, fluffy and romantic in others... yes the same song, same piano... same tone, same voice... completely different emotion. Now that takes talent and color me impressed!

It also has some well done product placement, some a bit too obvious that will make you laugh, and some PPL that is just in the way... Also wrong botle of Soju... it was blue! very confusing. They make good use of umbrellas too...

This drama is not for everybody, so do not be fooled by the name Our Beloved Summer... there is very little beloved and even less summer (it is mostly fall and winter). But for all you fellow drama masochists out there, this will have you felling stuff, biting your nails and screaming at the screen!

Oh and most of the episodes are named after movies from the 90s... kind of cute.

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I'm dramatic i know, but can you blame me?

randomly this show would come to my mind and i would find myself crying uncontrollably, though I don't know why. i think I've found my all time favorite characters.
I'm bad at explaining why i love something i only know how to complain about things but i love how complex the characters are i relate to each and every one of them their good and their bad sides. i would like to say who my favorite was but they're all so unique with their own backstories and emotional baggage. i would recommend watching the show when you're in the mood to it though as in relaxing with a warm cup of coffee and a box of tissues.

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KENA EMOTIONAL DAMAGE YANG LUAR BIASA AHAAAYYYYYYYY. DEMI ALLAH CAPE BGT NONTONNYA. KALO KATA ORANG SUNDA MAH, NYEREDET KANA HATE.

gue paling gasuka bangetttttttt cerita cinta segitiga di antara dua sahabat. terakhir gue nonton kisah serupa tuh di love alarm, tapi sama kaya obs ini, GUE TETEP GABISA BERENTI ALIAS KESEL TP GEMES JG HHHHHH.

secara keseluruhan our beloved summer emang apik banget sih. well written, semuanya dikupas habis tanpa meninggalkan lubang tanda tanya. dinamika plotnya cakeuppppp, lengkap! gemesnya ada, kesel dan gregetannya ada, sedihnya pun ada. penggunaan kedua─atau tiga kalau kim jiung juga termasuk─sudut pandang dari tokoh utamanya pas, ngga berat sebelah. character developmentnya juga keliatan walau pelan banget tapi ya masih dalam batas normal. tadinya kalo kook yeonsu masih nyebelin dari awal sampe akhir, gue pengen banget ngejambak rambutnya, tapi syukurnya dia berubah hohoho. selain itu kehadiran para pemeran pendukungnya juga sesuai porsi, ngga ada yang mendominasi. justru kemunculan mereka di semua scene nerbener mendukung ide cerita si pemeran utama.

visualnya cantik! vibes dan tone-nya kaya film-film indie korea, pastel pastel gitu. wardrobe pemeran utama (choi ung, kook yeonsu, sama kim jiung) juga cakeup cakeup. warnanya netral semua, jadi kesannya kaya matching aja gitu satu sama lain.

overall gue suka bangetngetngetttttttttt ahdhajsgajs sampe kebawa mimpi loh anjrit.

"coba nengok ke belakang"-nya choi ung ttep membekas di hati alias ga pernah gagal bikin gemes.

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Finding own self and How to be loved by our loved ones...........

OMG ! Like OMG ! Okay lets start from the start. I was eagerly waiting for this drama since it was rumored that choi woo sik and kim da mi would be starring in it together. I personally loved their chemistry in the witch so I really wanted to see them together in a rom-com. And santa gifted me 'Our beloved summer'.
The story is FANTASTIC. im not saying there are a lot of plot twists and stuff but it keeps you engaged so well. The directing and writing is FANTASTIC. it is always a difficult job when you are story telling the past and the present.
You can either show the past first and then tell the audience abt the present or you show the present and the past together which is not an easy job at all. I got to see flashbacks from the story whenever I needed. The balance between both those timelines was really good according to me the dramas pace was perfect. Not too slow nor too fast. Whenever I had a question while watching the drama it got answered the next moment. So I was never zoned out or it never happened that Idk why this is happening.
I love the character design for yeon su and choi ung. They were unique yet relatable. I could relate better with yeon su. The drama involves us so much with the characters that you slowly start to understand their point of views, decisions and habits etc. You start to live the characters through yeon su and ung. The conflict between these two is so great its like the saying 'opposites attract'. They both are extremely different but its really heartwarming to see them keeping their differences aside and embracing and loving each other as they are.
I really liked the documenatry that played a big role in helping viewers differentiate between the past and present. Also the documentary helped me understand how two people can have different memories and perspective of the same moment.
Dont even ask me about the second lead ji ung I really felt bad for him. He was suffering a lot be had a harsh childhood and craved for love, family but all's well that ends well. I really like how they ended it. With all the pieces of the art together.
Our beloved summer is full of romance, heartbreaks, patch ups, tension, humor. The new love story will give you butterflies while the sad moments will make you bawl your eyes. At the end it was a really fun journey for me ! And I would highly recommend this drama I had to write more but i'll only end up spoiling stuff for you. And if all those above paragraphs weren't enough for me to persuade you to watch it (it has a ost that was sung by V of BTS)👀🤫.
See im so helpful now go and watch it ! Im sure you'll love it

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Beautiful but Too Slow

I saw so many promising and positive reviews that I thought, okay, this must be something special. So I gave it a fair chance and watched all 16 episodes.
But honestly… I just didn’t feel it.
The storyline actually sounded promising. The idea behind it is nice, and I understand why people would find it meaningful. But for me, it was so incredibly slow. The whole story feels very small and compact, yet it’s stretched out over 16 episodes. Because of that, it becomes very repetitive. It honestly felt like the same conversations happening over and over again, just said in slightly different words.
The settings are also almost always the same. The same places, the same atmosphere, again and again. There’s very little variation, which makes it feel even slower.
And the chemistry… I’m sorry, but I just didn’t feel it between the two main actors, Choi Woo-shik and Kim Da-mi. For me, the spark just wasn’t there. Because of that, the emotional moments didn’t really hit. I know many people loved their dynamic, but I personally didn’t connect with it at all.
The acting also felt a bit flat to me. Very calm, very subtle — which can work — but here it just didn’t move me. The series didn’t surprise me, didn’t really touch me emotionally, and definitely didn’t keep me on the edge of my seat.
The whole time I kept wondering: what am I missing? Why is everyone so in love with this drama? I genuinely tried to see what makes it so special, but I just couldn’t find it. And I really did finish it until the very last episode.
Maybe this is just one of those series you either connect with or you don’t. For me, it simply didn’t click.

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Surprisingly, I enjoyed this cheesy, overrated drama. Honestly, I think this had more potential but a lot of stories or sub-plots were sidelined. Maybe their arc felt open-ended or just lost I am not really sure. Some stories just felt left out ...........I also didn't really understand the need for 2nd ML one-sided suffering plot ....... The character had lot more potential .......... not really sure if they really wanted the loose end to mean something or it was just typical sympathetic 2nd lead move........
But what I really loved were - the colors, production style and music. I also liked that the characters were portrayed a little raw and flawed.........

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