Twinkling Watermelon

Looking To The Past

The story is about a man who is a CODA (Child of a deaf adult). He must survive in a world where their parent and brother are deaf. He's the only one who can hear in the family as a bridge for communication with the external environment. One day, He's involved in one of the band and become a member but doesn't want to be known by his family. Then his father saw him and was very angry because He didn't tell him first. On the night of that day, He find that there is something wrong with the moon and there is one of the strange shop that appears from nowhere. That's how his journey begins by traveling into the past to find out the truth about what's happening with his parent.

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Well written coming of age, time travel, romance that is heartwarming

9.5/10 is my rating. This is 2023 South Korean Coming of Age, Time Travel, Fantasy romance.  It has 16, 59-73 minute episodes.

 

First I provide a unique synopsis then review.

 
Synopsis



Han Eun Gyeol (Reyoun, Go Yoon-hwan) grew up in a household where the other family members, his dad, mom and older brother were all deaf and he acted as the interpreter and spokesperson for his entire family.  It was a large burden for a young person, so he found refuge in the company of a grandfather figure who taught him to pay guitar at a local music shop.  Growing up, he continues to pursue guitar but keeps it a secret as his father, Ha Yi Chan (Choi Hyun Wook) is determined his son become a doctor, or something else, to elevate the status of the family.  Just when Eun Gyeol’s secret is discovered by his father, and they are amid a huge falling out, Eun Gyeol is transported back in time to 1995. A magical music store appears, because it has musical instruments he goes in, sells one of his guitars, then he steps out back in time.  In the past, he encounters the younger version of his father, who is forming a band but is also very interested in a beautiful but icy cellist, Se Keyong (Seol In Ah) who is problematically not Eun Gyeol’s mother.  To get his mother, Cheong Ah (Shin Eun Soo) and father together Eun Gyeol he has to join his father’s band and make it successful.  Will he succeed in uniting his parents in this new past and can he return to his own timeline?

 

Review

I did not fully read the description before starting this series, so I was surprised it turned into a time travel show.  I thought the main element was just going to be a family where most of the members were deaf.  That would have been enough to write a compelling story, so when it switched to time travel, I was surprised.  The switch from a family centered drama to a time traveling drama, would have been okay, but I did not feel they did it well.  It was confusing a lot of times.  The switches back in forth in time were not very clear at times. But then it got really good. It had a bit of a rough start, but the latter half of the series was very good. There were a few, relatively minor, issues in terms of time travel concepts. I liked it a lot and I am not a huge fan of time travel. The romance was not completely central to the story, it was more focused on the family relationships. But there were two very heartwarming romances. I liked this a lot, would definitely rewatch it and recommend it to anyone that likes time travel, romance, stories about musicians, magical content, or are fans of any of the actors.

 

Spoilers

 

I am not a fan of time travel series.  I like things to happen in the order they occur.  Switching back and forth between timelines can be confusing and I felt like this story suffered a lot in that process.  For instance, when the younger version of the dad was first introduced, we were simultaneously following the main guy in the current time and I kept wondering who that character was and how they fit into the story.  We hadn’t yet been introduced to the time travel so I was not considering the possibility it could be a younger version of one of the characters.  After the big reveal on time travel, and I realized that was the younger version of the father, I had to mentally review what happened with that character.  There were times when, rather than just abruptly change the scene to something that transpired earlier, they could have had a character reflect back so it was clearer the events happened in the past.  Instead they just throw a scene in with past events and you wonder if that is present or past. 

 
I found it annoying how oblivious the main character was to the fact that the people, in the past version of themselves, would not know who he was.  I get it would be exciting to come across a young version of a parent, other relative, or close friend but you would have to temper that with the knowledge they haven’t lived the future yet.  If they were time travelers too, sure call someone “dad” or “ajumma” but if you call someone that, who you are a stranger to, they will think you are crazy.  And he didn’t just call them like that once, realize his error, and act like you would towards someone you just met, he continued to call them familiar titles. He persisted even when the person would say I don’t know you or why are you calling me that.   I’m like dude they don’t know who you are.  No wonder he is running from you, you seem crazy.

 
The main character, who is supposed to be super smart, not only didn’t realize people in the past wouldn’t know him, he was also really frustrating in getting practically any point across.  Like when he is trying to convince the younger version of his dad he can play guitar, he doesn’t say let me play guitar and show you.  So, they would be arguing about whether or not he is telling the truth about his musical abilities and there would be a guitar right there.  I am like grab the guitar, and do a riff, that would convince your “dad” way more than any verbal argument.  But they tease that through scene after scene until they finally have him playing and the dad hears him from a distance.  There was the same frustrating situation with the past version of his mom.  She is deaf, and the dad keeps misunderstanding her because he doesn’t know she is deaf, it has to be apparent to her that is going on yet she never grabs something and writes “I am deaf.” In both situations the situation could have been resolved quickly. And I get it is entertaining to have that carrot move as you are just about to grab it, but if you do that too much it quits being amusing and just becomes frustrating. And both were such smart people, it is not credible within each character that they would fail to think of something so obvious.   

A “hole” in the time travel concept was when one of the main female leads traveled back in time and people mistook her for her mother, she let them think she was her. The grand plan was, she wanted her mom not to fall in love with her dad but with someone else. She was suicidal and figured if her “mom” fell for someone else, then she would never be born. But, the problem with that was, people thought she was her mom, but she wasn’t really her mom. Her mom was studying abroad. They never explained how her getting someone else to fall in love with her would have any impact on her mom’s future. So that was an inconsistency, to me, with the theories around time travel.


#TwinklingWatermelon  #Ryeon  #GoYoonHwan  #JungHeyonJun   #ChoiHyunWook  #ChoiWonYoung   #SeolInAh  #LeeSoYeon  #ShinEunSoo  #SeoYoonHee 

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Very Good Indeed!

This is honestly such a good coming-of-age Kdrama. Firstly, the acting was very stellar, I was especially impressed by Ryeouns performance here. The show also blends romance, comedy and drama in a very good and natural way. I was invested in both romances even though the parents love story hit a bit different. Honestly its difficult to point out all the good things about this drama because most things just work and tugs on your heartstrings. I even shed a tear or two watching it. Lastly, the soundtrack is just *chef´s kiss*. That being said, it does have a few flaws in my opinion which takes it down a bit.

What did not work as well imo:
- The first 2 episodes did not grab my attention, I was genuinely considering watching something else instead, happy I didn´t though.
- The show was a bit frustrating at times, with all the misunderstandings etc.
- I honestly wish they had ended it in a different way. It´s supposed to be a happy ending but I honestly felt a bit sad (not in a bittersweet way), because like...Eun Gyeol kinda missed out on his entire childhood? All his childhood memories didn´t matter in the end. Also I think it kinda went against the ethos of the drama. Because they had a happy life despite all the struggles, but now they ended up basically in the same way but rich? I think the ending would have been a lot more impactful if nothing had changed, just that the Eun gyeol now feels more connected to his parents and is able to follow his dreams. This was also how I predicted the show to end, because it kinda pointed in that direction, but I was wrong.

Overall, I totally understand the people who give this drama a 10/10. I just had a few issues with it that I couldn´t look past. I can imagine that this drama will grow on me as time goes by, but right now it´s a very respectable 8.5/10.

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Started with 0 expectations and fell in love

I don’t even know where to start from. I believe the cast is what gives justice to this drama more than anything else. I fell in love with Ryeoun, although I've watched him in Adult Trainee I freaking DID NOT RECOGNIZE HIM. The story is a little confusing when it comes to time traveling because it leaves some unanswerable questions, like what happens to the present until Eun Gyeol comes back? How did everything change and how did this affect the others? I have many questions, plus the ending seemed a little rushed. I would LOVE a scene where Yi Chan recognized Eun Gyeol as his past friend. Of course there would be some flaws but I think the drama is very close to being perfect. Seorina, Choi Hyun Wook and Eun Soo were soooo good, this genre gives justice to Hyun Wook's acting. The best part is the sign language and deaf people recognition, I think many people got interested in learning sign language after watching TW, including myself. I hope we see more dramas like this in the future ☺️

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VIVA LA VIDA~ Long live Life!

Let me start by saying. I adored it. I resented it. I also found myself going back to it, squinting my eyes and looking between the lines. The layers are just folded so perfectly. Twinkling Watermelon is cute, heartwarming, a bit heartbreaking, and relentless.

The story. It is the story of many people and many communities, that are shaped by way too many events. First is the story of Eun Gyeol, the body who feels pressure and burden from being the only "hearing" member of his family. He made mistakes that made his love for music hard and he always feels guilty. Guilty for not being part of his family and guilty for not wanting to be defined/weighed down by this while wrestling with his love for them. We also have the story of Eun Yu. The drama just does a great job of weaving between them while presenting to us the idea that everyone was someone before they are placed into the roles of "mom" and "dad", "son" and "daughter."
The time travel was a brilliant way of giving these two their youth and a place to be themselves as well as understand the people they had such strong feelings towards in their own time. It also helped them see who those people were and what experiences they went through. I also liked that it wasn't some guilt trip, treat your parents better but more of a rediscovery of their parents that they clearly loved and wanted to understand more. That it became a means of courage to face them in the future.
I - mmy heart. I know going into the past means things change. I also know it was on purpose, but the one thing I wanted to change, didn't change. It was heart wrenching, but I also knew it was the pivotal lesson they wanted to teach beyond all this. It is that this experience is supposed to fuel one with the courage and insight to look forward into the future rather than trap yourself into the what ifs of the past. They weren't going there to save their parents but give them the validation and courage to become a better version of themselves in the future. As much as I hated it, I loved that the accident was something that was meant to be. As it really shows that changing a pivotal life event and running away from the reality of having to convince your deaf parent of your love for music is not the solution to the problems he faces. It also means we shouldn't run from the problems we face either and tackling the problem instead. That mindset is huge for me. The idea that we should use what we have been given to its fullest and let the disadvantages act as a driving force .
There were just so many people that I cared about, that played a role in things, that I was so happy to see again as time went by.

It was a huge moment of reflection for me. What things am I running away from? What things do I wish I could change if given the change?

If I am going to be honest, I watched this because I am a huge fan of our actors Choi Won Young and Choi Hyun Wook. I also wanted to see Seol In Ah again but the cast really grew on me. They all suited their characters and there were so many scenes where the acting really swept me off my feet. It was just so cuteeee.

I honestly don't remember much of the music while watching but I enjoyed a bunch of it while studying. The opening though is a banger.

As it is a big life lesson one, I think the rewatch value is endless. I will also be replaying Cheong Ah smiling clips forever and maybe learn some ASL as well.

The pacing towards the middle can be a bit slow for the people wanting to move the story but I loved it as it really showed the lives of the people in the past (they had regrets too). It was the whole reason they went back in time after all. Give it a try :) I'm sure something will get you to stay. If you do, I hope the lessons, feelings, and experience you get from it sticks and you are able to carry it into some aspect of your life. :)

Have a nice life everyone! You are your own person and while you don't need to life for someone else and can try living through someone else, no one can live your life the same way you do. It might not garner the same results but it will definitely be fulfilling. I hope you take a moment and embrace the youth you can experience now before you have to become a "mom", "dad", "aunt" or "uncle" for someone else. VIVA LA VIDA~ Long live Life!

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Starts off slow and builds into an amazing story

I wasn't sold on the first two episodes like many people seem to be. But I stuck it out, and I'm so glad I did because this is such a beautiful story, and honestly is probably close to the top of my list of favorite kdramas.

This show made me cry a lot, and I honestly love when that happens. The cast did such a great job in each of their roles, and I believed every emotion they were trying to convey, even from the children. It usually takes me a long time to get through dramas because my attention span isn't that great, but I got through this whole series in just two weeks, which is the fastest I've ever watched anything because I just couldn't stop thinking about this show and I wanted to do nothing but watch it as soon as I was home and able to. I already want to go back and rewatch it

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Very fun and emotional drama about strong love and vulnerability

I loved watching this drama so much. First of all the story was really original, the concept is around the deaf community and the kind of hardships they face and I learned a lot while watching this drama. It's a story about an unbreakable bond between a father and a son that goes through a bumpy patch but comes out stronger than ever. It's also got the cutest romance stories. The friendships of the leads was honestly so admirable and the drama is FULL of laughter from both the characters on screen and the audience off screen. While there were also emotional scenes that made characters in and off screen cry. It was an all round, entertaining drama. The acting of the cast is just amazing and crew have put together a truly miraculous piece. The music was absolutely perfect and full of every emotion portrayed. Overall, this an incredibly entertaining drama that was full of emotion and fun while portraying the strong bond between family and the true bond between friends (and ofcourse the insane romance between lovers). 🍉✨👩🏻‍🎨🧑🏻‍🎤✨👨‍👦🧒🏻🎸🌕🎻👧🏻✨🍉

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A drama I didn't know I needed

I don't watch shows until they are completely available to watch. I've been burned too many times by sad/terrible/rushed endings. I skulked around daily under the comments for this show, reading everyone wax eloquent about how wonderful it was. That's normally the kiss of death for me. If everyone thinks it's the best thing in the world, I'm usually meh about it. Then, add to that my aversion to time travel movies (they always raise more questions than answers for me) and that this sounded exactly like Back to the Future, I wasn't holding out much hope. My hand is raised here, I admit it, I was wrong.

I won't reiterate the storyline, but I will say this didn't reach out to me as a romance so much as a family/friend-fest. I didn't even feel that the focus was so much on the school aspect of it, but the kids themselves, which I loved. This show had so much heart. I laughed a lot, I cried quite a bit, and I vacillated back and forth between "hurry up and show me what's going to happen next" and "slow down, because I really want to savor this." The story was great, but the characters themselves, and the actors portraying them, were what kept me coming back for more. I really liked the direction they took with two people going to the past, one to save a life and one to end a life.

Ryeoun as Ha Eun Gyeol. This was a teenager that was old for his years, by necessity, as he was the mouthpiece for the whole family. That's a lot of responsibility to have from a very young age. Ryeoun was excellent, and I felt his wonder at meeting his younger father and finding him completely different than he imagined. Most of the scenes that made me cry involved Eun Gyeol. He was trying so hard to make things right, time after time. I could feel his desperation, as well as his sense of being unsuccessful. This story arc spoke a lot to destiny - are certain things that happen in our lives fixed? If you change something in one direction, does the river of destiny re-route itself to make it happen anyway?

Choi Hyun Wook as Ha Yi Chan had the gangly puppy/bouncy behavior going for him, moving from one thing to another quickly. If you are going, you run, if you are talking, you yell, if you don't know how to react to someone, you put them in a headlock. He was very immature, which was a perfect foil for Eun Gyeol, who had to switch places and become the father in the past. I did struggle with the length of time that he liked Sy Keong, so when he switched to Cheon Ah, it was kind of sudden and didn't necessarily flow well.

Seol In Ah as Choi Sy Kyeong/On Eun Yu. I had difficulty with this character. First, her voice is so distinctive, I kept flashing A Business Proposal when she talked. Other than that, my difficulties were more character related. Eun Yu was a totally repressed young woman, being driven by her mother's wishes. I don't feel that she would have been able to have the personality change that she did in the past. And, to me, there was something not always very nice about her, like she thought she was better than everyone else. And we didn't get to see any difficulties with her adapting to the past.

Shin Eun Soo as Yoon Cheon Ah. She was the standout for me. Eyes wide with sadness, living in silence, being betrayed by those that were supposed to take care of her, the character of Cheon Ah had a strength about her. I was so glad they didn't make her a doormat. It is really hard to act without using your voice, and Eun Soo was wonderful.

Go Doo Shim as Lee Chan's grandmother - she was terrific. She surrounded herself with students, cared for everyone and kept everyone fed. I love how she didn't baby Lee Chan, but was raising him to be a responsible adult, supporting him in every way she could.

The band mates were fun to watch, full of pen-up energy, running here and there. It was like they were all amped on caffeine, then I remember that's what it was like as a teenager. The Master was mysterious and brought levity to a lot of the scenes. I loved when he'd throw random English words in. Cheong Ah's step-mother - don't even get me started.

The soundtrack was very good and, of course, went along with the theme of the show.

BONUS - the lengthy BTS reference was a hoot!

Small nit-picky things:
I would have liked to have seen Yi Chan and Cheon Ah together for a longer period of time in the past, and watch their relationship develop.
So much bullying by so many people. And what about Yeom Byung Ho and his mother? They made a big deal about them and then they disappeared.
All the past band members, in 2023, thought Eun Gyeol "looked familiar". Did everyone get amnesia or something?
It was very vague as to whether his father remember him from the past as well.

Bottom line? Watch it!

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A High Quality Drama But The Emotional Weight Is Not As Consistently Strong As You Would Hope.

I’ll start by saying I put off watching this one. I purposely did not watch it while it was airing. There are certain dramas that I know I won’t get the most out of them if I don’t watch them at a time I am most receptive to them.

Disclaimer * I don’t think this was the most receptive time either, even though I enjoyed watching it. I plan to watch it again in the future to see if I can get more out of it.

That said, for now I think it is a 9/10 drama and not a 9.5 or a 10/10 drama. The positives for me are what makes it a 9/10 and not the usual 8.5/10 that I give to solid k-dramas is that it is a heartfelt story, the plot is pretty solid and the acting is pretty good. The reason I won’t elaborate on the positives is because I’ll be honest; apart from recognising it as a solid production, this story did not get me as deep as it ought to have. I’ll go into why I think this was.

Starting from episode 2, although I was aware that time travelling was involved, the abrupt introduction of the time traveling element at the end of ep 2 felt like a sharp turn transition wise. It was not smooth at all. It was like being in a race car and suddenly making an extreme turn with little to no preparation, except this was done with the theme. Usually in dramas that include fantasy, they sprinkle a little bit of the fantasy elements in the lead up to the full blown reveal of the fantastical part of the drama. With this one, it was almost two full hours of a slice of life family drama that seemed rudely interrupted by the fantasy element suddenly being dropped in. And this was my reaction as someone who WAS waiting and expecting the fantasy element.

Another thing was, I couldn’t help but feel like this drama was an amalgamation of several movies, music and popular culture storylines and references, all pieced together. It made a huge chunk of the drama feel like a knock-off, ensuring that I could never really get into it as all I could think was, “they’re copying so and so”. I don’t mind things serving as an inspiration for others but you really have to make it your own and create something new with it, but with this drama, a lot of the concepts and scenes seemed borrowed. Whenever I was drawn into the drama, I’d notice that a scene or concept resembled something else and it would immediately take me out of the scene.

I have a minor point to make about the way the scenes were cut/edited together. It didn’t affect the majority of the drama much, as it fit that youth-indie style type of visual aesthetic but when it came to the emotional scenes, it felt somewhat choppy aka not-so-smooth transitions. It meant that the emotions didn’t hit fully 100% because the viewers weren’t able to sit with those scenes and absorb the depths of emotions before it suddenly changed to another scene. Typically for emotional scenes to work best, there needs to be a build up of emotional tension that is finally released and the cameras should not cut away in the middle of that emotion being expressed. For example, the cameras should not cut away in the middle of someone’s heartbreaking crying scene as it’s like cutting off the climax of emotion right at the top, which results in an immediate plateauing of the emotional weight built up when our focus is shifted to another scene. Instead it should be like a hill with a slow rise to the climatic top and a smooth decent to the other side of that intense emotion. This must be done in order to properly build and sustain the emotional weight of what the characters are experiencing and their plight, to help forge the bond between the viewer and the character and to allow the viewer to really connect to what the character is feeling.

This fourth reason was the most jarring for me. I have to preface this by saying I’m not trying to assume what’s best for the hearing impaired community, I’m coming at this solely from the perspective of someone who knows what storytelling mechanisms resonate with an audience. That being said, the thing about this drama that made it the hardest for me to get into it was the fact that they dubbed the deaf characters. I can understand from a practical pov why this was done but surely someone in the creative chair should have known how much of the connection and the power of the performances of the actors playing the deaf characters would have been lost by doing this. If you don’t understand what I mean, go watch CODA and tell me that by having the focus of communication solely on the deaf characters’ facial expressions, the movements of their hands and only the silence to convey their ‘lines’; you didn’t feel everything they signed just a little more deeply. That you didn’t feel the frantic and the hard hitting angry signing or the soft signing in tender moments that much more. That you couldn’t feel the frustration of the characters through their hands more than with a dubbed voice overlayed on top to explain what they are saying. I’m sure it was useful for Korean viewers to not have to read subtitles but I’d argue they lost some of the power of the performance by doing this. Of course, I’m not saying you shouldn’t have dubbing. I understand that having dubbed dramas makes it more accessible for different types of audiences such as vision impaired viewers. I’m not saying dubbing should not be available. Just like I’m not saying subtitles should not be available. I know these are both very useful features for making dramas more accessible to others. What I’m saying is that these should have been optional and the drama should have been released un-dubbed with the option to select dubbing as needed, as you do with subtitles.

If at the end of this you are wondering why I rated it so highly if I had so many critiques. It’s because of three things. One, this drama had excellent characterisation. Like truly excellent (especially the father and son). Two, I did enjoy watching it. It won’t make it on my favourites list but I really did enjoy it. And three, I like to give dramas and movies their dues. Even if I don’t fall in love with a drama, I still rate them objectively by what they have to offer and what they do well. This drama was a solid, above average and at times, truly above average, drama.

If you ask me what could have made it a 10/10, I’d say, not rushing past the emotional scenes too quickly, not dubbing the deaf characters and finally; trusting the foundation of the story more - which was a story about a boy’s love for his father and vice versa, while grappling with the difficulties of being a CODA. If they did this without trying to borrow from other films, dramas, music or American popular culture; it could have been a 10/10 drama that stayed with me.

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Quite a refreshing plot

I did not expect to enjoy this drama as much as I did. The title sounded comedic, while the entire cast looked very young, but it was not really a comedy.

It was a drama on love – family love, relationships between family members and just a small portion on the usual love between man and woman. It was a rather refreshing plot to me. Simply put, it was mainly about a boy who travelled back in time to when his parents were at his age. He was able to see for himself the things that happened to them and what led them to become the persons they were. Seizing the opportunities to control his family's future, he tried to prevent all the bad happenings and hoped to eventually change his parents' destinies.

As in all Korean dramas, the pace was on the fast side. Things happened quickly, so there was never a boring moment. The first half was a little slow, but come the second half, you will want to keep watching till the end.

There were loopholes here and there, but I was still able to overlook them for the story and the acting. *Like in most Korean dramas, the leads were always able to run to one another’s houses in minutes, as though they were all living on the same street lol, not a major loophole, but still not very realistic after a while.

I give kudos to the main cast for their acting. The four main leads were young, in their twenties, in fact two of them were only 21 years old. However, their acting was convincing enough. I would not say impressive but it was sufficient for the roles in this drama.

The OSTs were melodious. The fast ones were catchy and full of life while the slow sad ones were touching and good enough to bring tears to my eyes.

All in all, it was one of those dramas I would not re-watch, not because it was bad but because I already know the story, the meaning of their actions and the ending, so I do not see the point of re-watching, but I think it was one of those dramas that was worth at least watching once.

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