Twinkling Watermelon

Comforting and fun, but has pacing issues

So I still enjoyed this quite a bit but definitely not as much as everyone else.

To start with the good things, it's definitely a really heart-warming and inspiring show about following your dreams, connecting with loved ones, and finding what sparks your happiness in life. Every single character ends up in a better place than where they started and for that reason alone I think this drama is worth the watch.

To nobody's surprise, my favorite plot in this story was the story of Cheong-ah and Yi-chan. It's so much more than a romance; it was also about the importance of communication and how people with hearing disabilities can stay connected to the rest of the world, and about how Yi-chan would learn to face the world again after losing his hearing, this time with more people who cared about him in his life. Or rather, it should've been more about the latter.

It seems like most criticism of the plot surrounds the last episode being rushed (which I do agree with) — we get the big accident, some hugging and deep talks, and then jump back to the present day, all without any interaction between Yi-chan and Cheong-ah, who should've been the most important person in his life and the one who would've most understood what he was going through.

Which brings me to the biggest issue I had with this: pacing. Eun-gyeol's main goal to prevent his father's accident and stop him from losing his hearing goes all the way up to ~episode 15, while he also tries to get his parents together and Yi-chan still chases after Se-kyung until about episode 11. I was definitely getting really tired of the same plot points by this point and could start to see the ending coming.

By these episodes I felt like it was pretty obvious that the accident was not going to be prevented because one, it would've gone against the ethos of the show — Yichan does not have to hear for his life to be good, and to let his son follow his dream of playing music — and two, there was just not enough time to explore a brand new timeline by that point.

I really think they should've had the accident happen earlier and shown just a little bit more of the aftermath and interaction between Yi-chan and Cheong-ah and everyone else; I understand the counterpoint of not needing to show it because we've already seen Yi-chan's development and can infer how the future would change, but for me it would have been preferable to see this over a faux love triangle plot that started to get really repetitive, and then wait for Eun-gyeol's perspective shift to happen as late as the 15th episode.

The side characters were fine — I liked them as a whole but only a few of them had interesting subplots. And antagonistic side characters like Cheong-ah's brother seem to come in and out of the show when it was convenient. Eun-ho was a side character I expected to be a main character and I still wish he had gotten more screentime, whether it was with Eun-gyeol or with the parents.

Overall, none of this is a deal breaker by any means, and I still really enjoyed this drama throughout and would say it's worth watching. It's light-hearted and cozy, but I would be lying if I didn't say it stopped being plot-driven and started fizzling out for me.

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Good but something was missing

I know ... I know... It's loved by many and has a 9.2 rating on MDL. I'll give it a 6.5, which is not bad at all. It's good in my rating system. I can totally see why so many loved this show and why it has a high rating. But my expectations were really high and left me disappointed. This is because I was looking for something different. Here are a few point I want to say:

- The first two episodes could not grab my attention. I was not invested and because I was desperately looking forward for the romance between Yi Chan and Cheong Ah... but it took too long to get there
- Yi Chan and Cheong Ah: I was super invested in their romance but it fell a bit short. I wanted to see Yi Chans feelings develop but they did not have that many scenes. That being said, the scenes they had are the ones I loved.
- Honestly, I was just not interested in the main couple and I did not feel the chemistry
- The ending felt a bit short
- I loved that it covered the topic of being hearing impaired

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Overall, good but not great. Long live the bromance and friendship!^^

Eun Gyeol is the only one who is hearing among his deaf family, he loves his family and has a passion & talent for music. One day he goes back in time to 1995 where he met his young father who is still hearing, so he wants to change the future. Will Eun Gyeol succeed and can he get back to the present?

This drama was love at my first-sight until ep 6. The story within those episodes give me a lot of typical sweet kdrama moments that first got me like first-watching kdramas. I appreciate the heartwarming family, as they have been underrepresented in recent dramas. Each character is given a strong personality that make me root for them. All-round very very good acting! Their expressions seep off of the screen and pulled my heartstring instantly. The young cast, they are so cute and perfect together. Also the emotional moments are so heartbreaking, I could cry any moment thinking about them. Everyone so good in doing sign languages, but my favorite is Bong Jae Hyun who plays the brother, the way he’s doing sign language is so cute especially when he’s angry XD

The film-editing is on-point: the band, the musical world in Eun Gyeol perspective and such... all fit perfectly with the context. The music is nostalgic and few gives 80's vibes. Storyline is easy to follow but the plot is not-so-simple; different threads and relationships are going on without them being confusing. Honestly, I didn’t know this is a timeslip show until I reached ep 2. What can be either a con or a pro, depending on your own taste, is the drama constantly being very plot-driven, that a lot of things are happening around characters and they don't have enough chances to drive the plot through their decisions.

…this part has spoilers:
So after ep 6, it fell a little flat. Even though there's no slump, the concept of wanting to change the future feels out-of-the-blue, they don’t say anything convincing that take me to be on board with this mission. How much time pass in present day while being in the past is not clear as well. They spent many episodes on lovey-dovey moments, which was sweet, but not as impactful. However, I really like how they develop Chung Ah’s character, that part makes me want to learn sign language now...

Also, the foreshadowing incident that is discussed throughout the drama is teased to our faces with a typical high-school trope, which is serviceable, but doesn’t sit very well with me personally, especially due to what really happened to close this incident arc has nothing to do with this. Another thing I was hoping to see is the conflict resolution between Eun Gyeol and present-day father in the early episodes about schooling vs music… I was curious how they handled this and we get practically nothing, so I'm a bit salty on that. The ending is good but also not explainable, it sooths our souls with happy moments but it could have been a lot more interesting had it be a bit more consistent with the premise.

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A Time-Traveling Melody of Love and Nostalgia

oh my! "Twinkling Watermelon" is a time-travel love story that hit me right in the feels. Picture this: Eun Gyeol, a high school whiz by day and a guitar-wielding maestro by night, accidentally stumbles into a 90s time warp. Yes, you heard me right, time travel!

Now, this isn't your average time-travel tale. It's a heartwarming blend of laughs, romance, and music. Eun Gyeol's meet-up with his young dad, Yi Chan, is like a comedy goldmine. Imagine trying to play matchmaker for your own parents while your future dad thinks you're a lunatic. Hilarious, right? But the twist? Yi Chan ends up falling for a cellist, not Eun Gyeol's future mom. Talk about turning the love story playbook upside down!

Let's talk tunes. Oh, the music! It's not just a soundtrack; it's a time-traveling jukebox of 90s hits and soul-soothing originals. Eun Gyeol rocks out with his dad's band, trying to play cupid through melodies. It's like a musical journey that transports you to the good old days.

The characters are the cherry on top. Eun Gyeol's struggle to keep his parents' love on track while navigating the awkwardness of time travel? It's relatable, and you can't help but root for the guy. The band members add spice to the mix, making you wish you had a gang like that in your own life.

Well, the pacing hits a few bumps, and some story bits could use a little more TLC. But who cares when you're swept up in a whirlwind of laughter, romance, and sweet tunes? This series hooked me with its charm and left me feeling all warm and fuzzy inside.

"Twinkling Watermelon" isn't just a show; it's a time-traveling symphony that'll make you laugh, cry, and maybe even dance a little. It's a sweet escape into nostalgia, exploring the messy business of changing destiny. Trust me, you're in for a treat – a watermelon-flavored treat that'll leave you smiling and maybe a little teary-eyed. 🍉💫❤️

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Just want to air out my frustrations

(as the headline suggests this is subjective)

I initially liked the concepts of the show enough to overlook some problems with the execution but I can't pretend that I didn't feel a huge disconnect when it switched to the present in the last episode. The questionable aspects clouded my thoughts and took me out of the experience. Maybe I should've been more prepared for how much Eun-Gyeol's interference in the past would naturally affect the present, but I still feel like they could've done way better to make it less jarring and evidently divisive.

It's just so bizarre to think about how alone Eun-Gyeol is with his memories of what his whole life was like before he went back in time, and he's basically just now starting the life he's responsible for creating. Also the fact that everyone who knew him in 1995 has the worst memory ever and can't tell that he looks exactly like the guy they befriended and have pictures of and also has the same name. Idk I'm just disappointed and the emotional moments that really landed don't even feel like much anymore.

Eun-Yu as a character was very solid though I love her.

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Beautiful but Incomplete

Twinkling Watermelon has a lot to love about it. I love Time Travel tropes already and I am happy they chose to introduce deaf characters and depicting family bonds and friendships. Despite it having several heart touching moments there is still something missing.

Ha Eun Gyeol is the only hearing member of his family. He has seen a lot of struggles as well as had to put aside his own dreams for the sake of his family. He is carrying burdens and is scarred without realizing what he means to his family. Travelling back in time helps put a lot of things in perspective and he hopes it is also an opportunity to save his father. It is only when he goes back in time, he realizes that his father was also once a teenager who had dreams of his own as well as struggles of his own. The same with his mother and he still desires to carry his family's burdens. But in the process he also ends up sharing a strong bond with his father, Yi Chan. One that he never expected. His moments with Yi Chan are the highlight of the show so the ending does leave you with a little more to be desired.

With regards to his mother, Cheong Ah, again he forms a protective relationship and a lot of instances made me tear up. The depictions are beautiful. Yet again, the ending speed runs through their reintroduction.

Eun Gyeol also meets Eun Yu. I found the chemistry between them quite lacking unlike Yi Chan and Cheong Ah's. The former's relationship didn't really develop well and felt quite choatic. We also don't see Eun Yu overcoming her own trauma rather running away from it. The series also completely skips over Eun Yu's family reunion which was disappointing.

There were moments that felt like the series was dragging and if they had simply reduced those, they would have had the time to give us a more complete picture and then I could surely rate it a 10.

The OST is nice but other than the final song, nothing really blew me away which is disappointing since music is such an important aspect of the plot. The final song is catchy but not exceptional.

Overall, the series is good and heartwarming. The actors have done a fine job in their portrayals and make this series worth watching.

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Too Many Flaws To Overlook

Before started watching I have the feeling that this drama is overrated, but I wanted to give it a chance because of the premise. Unfortunately, Twinkling Watermelon was not up to the expectation thanks to several issues that I will explain later.

Overall, this drama was a mix of "good visual, make-believe, cute moments" with "draggy, non important, filler moments".

With the long duration of each episode (to me 1 hour is long LOL), people tend to remember the former more than the latter, creating a wrong perception that it was a decent drama while it's actually not. Perhaps this drama could only be considered good after we remove all the unnecessary? Or maybe it will be good if the following issues can be handled better by the production team, and then only we can overlook the filler moments;

1. Failed to focus on small details
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This is the major issue in this drama. The writer was lazy to take care of the small details resulting in many afterthoughts writing "cover up". There were also some questionable illogical actions from the characters that felt unnatural throughout the drama. The representation of deaf people was more on the superficially dramatic side instead of the believable one.

2. Non consistency in main character
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The main character, Eun Gyeol sometimes was portrayed as smart, responsible, and genius. But at other times he was portrayed as plain stupid. Because of that we had to deal with unnecessarily TIRING misunderstanding between him and his teenage father, Yi Chan for like half of the duration of the drama in each episode. I understand the writer wanted to create the so called cute moments and pseudo bromance but it felt repetitive and too forceful (and tiring). His slow ability to read the clues left by Eun Yu was another example of his character stupidity, where the writer used this to drag out the plot to the max.

3. Disappointing music/band element
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The other major disappointment in Twinkling Watermelon is its music direction. Some may say this is not the main focus of the drama. But please remember that the whole thing start and end because of music. From the young Eun Gyeol learning the guitar until he joined SPINE9.

Firstly, they superficially made Eun Gyeol as the genius guitarist. However it wasn't clear what was his style of playing and what kind of music genre he was into. Showing some random guitar techniques and Canon Rock did not help.

Secondly, the whole band-forming arc in the 90's was a JOKE! They confused making a band with making a sport team, where you need to find the most powerful player...LOL. It would have been great if they could show what kind of music Yi Chan listened to, rather than randomly picked Nirvana but didn't show anything close to that genre/sound in the end.

Thirdly, the choices of music, sound, and styling for the band was not ROCK enough for a band that's formed in the 90's. Similarly the background music selection did not vibe the 90's. Considering good budget the Korean have for their drama it won't hurt paying royalty to appropriate western songs if needed.

Finally, the band members were shown as doing all sort of things except playing music. It was not until Ep10 that we see them play and practice together. Even so it was like magic that everyone could blend in so quickly and able to play like professional backup musician at one try.

4. Pseudo 90's portrayal
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I guess 90's era is one of the selling point of the drama but the writer and production failed to utilize it. I didn't get the nostalgic feeling even though I was there (not in Korea though LOL). Nothing portrayed in the drama was really a fair representation of the era except for maybe some posters and vinyl album covers at random places. The technology limitation did not play an important role to the plot at all. Instead, the writer chose to overuse PAGER as one size fits all solution for the writing, which is a bummer since it was not a must have device unlike smartphone of today.

5. Pacing
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Most people found this drama boring during the beginning right up to Ep4 before it turned into better. For me, Ep1 was okay but it started become draggy and overstretch right after that. Only the last 6 episodes were showing some progress, with the following breakdown:

Ep11 - Ep12: They show more of the band and its members in action
Ep13 - Ep14: They show more of the romance
Ep15 - Ep16: They show MC solve the mission and conclusion

Even though many found the ending rushed, I personally liked it because they didn't explain everything and left it for interpretation. It was an ideal ending for this kind of drama IMO, albeit typical and predictable. Or maybe I just wanted to finish the drama quickly IDK...LOL

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MY OPINION

*Just want to warn you, you may not agree or not like my opinion but its how I feel deal with it*


SOOOO I really liked the beginning of the story of how all his family was deaf except him and he had to help the deaf girl. He goes to the past and helps his deaf mother and learns her story along with his fathers. What I didn't like was that they actually changed the past and the present. I would have much rather had both stay the same with the kids knowing all that they know and mend the relationships that they already had with their parents. But his whole life changed and he was so happy? Like yeah you can do music but your dad who you knew before Is gone. Also your mom as her life path made her a different person. And your brother. All his family was replaced with new people but he was jumping with joy? I feel like it would've been more heartwarming to see character growth in the dad to accept his son and they bond about his glory days. Also his bond with his mom changed knowing how badly her life was in the past. Also with the female lead I wished things could've been different with her mom where she let her have more breaks and didn't push her as much. I wish that the whole going to the past experience was something they both remembered but no one else did. if that makes sense. I wish it was just a learning period for them both to improve their lives in the present
This is rated a 5 because of how many disappointments I had with the plot: /

That's my opinion lmk if you agree

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It's good, but overrated!

I started this show about a week ago, but long after the show has ended, so I have seen & read many glowing reviews & saw how folks proclaimed this drama being the best one they have ever seen.
I not for one moment have felt that way, but it took me quite a bit of introspection to -I think- figure out why.
I mean at the very least we’ve seen amazingly well acted emotional scenes, that are up there with the best of the best in Kdramaland. There is a lot of good music, romances & one amazing bromance thing, so at the very least I can understand why someone would rate this at 10/10 amazing..

Let me explain, why to me this is far worse than 10/10 & why I felt something is really wrong with this drama throughout most of the episodes. Disclaimer, I’m a rather nitpicky person. I can find logical flaws in almost anything, but that has not prevented me to give 10/10 ratings to flawed shows before.
Let’s start with a TLDR to not waste anyone’s time with my long rambling: Many and perhaps most of the minor details in this drama are either wrong or off. This pile of immersion breaking lack of attention to detail is just too tall for me.

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So here I go:

I could go on and on about -tiny or large- time travel related plotholes, but I have begrudgingly accepted them, because time travel shows always have a ton of these. (Though the level of disregard for consistency is on another level in this drama.)

Music is an important part of this drama, but the sound is completely unrealistic in most scenes. Not only does everything sound like an overly perfect studio recording, but also every guitar in the show sounds like $20000. These kids are not millionaires, yo! Sure the guitar point is very nitpicky, but I have never at any point felt like I’m listening to music made by a very talented up and coming band, or anything remotely live-like. (as in live music sounding like a live performance)

Sol Ina is just too old for this role. Yes, she acted amazingly well here & I’m happy for her success. I’m sure no one could’ve done better in her place, but I would love to see a big budget kdrama where the teens are played by at most 22 year olds. Just to reiterate again, yes she is stunningly beautiful and everything, but she's not a teen & can never pass as one. If this only happened in a couple of flashbacks it would’ve been fine, but she is a teen the entire time.
This point applies to Ryeoun as well. He is not a believable Korean teenager at any point in time. He is 25, what could he have possibly done, right?

The portrayal of disabilities in Korean media always have been very annoying to me. Here it’s probably the best I’ve seen so far from them, but there were still quite a few weird moments. Being deaf is very difficult to portray well to begin with, I don’t know. Largely because you want to keep the audience entertained, but if you as an actor do over the top emotional faces in every single scene, then the end result cannot possibly be something believable. Though of course the actors followed well what was asked of them. I can somewhat understand why they choose to do it like this. Imagine if the story was almost the same in every way, but Cheong Ah had not been deaf just an introvert, if Eun Gyeol's parents were able to hear, but lived a very hard, tumultuous life. To me it seems like most of the plot would have worked just the same. I strongly suspect that the writer added decided to go with the CODA thing, because there were a couple really big hit shows that featured disabilities. Deafness is not completely an important, integral part of the show.

Romance is only so so, I did not really feel the chemistry, nor are the romantic plots very engaging. Then again this is probably the most realistic part of the drama, because teenagers falling in love is the easiest thing in the world, no elaborate plots are needed.

The main villain is very sterotypical and boring, her actions were very silly & her end is anticlimactic. The family situation at that house makes no sense. They could have made Cheong Ah's backstroy much more interesting without opting for this whole "her father ignores her suffering" plot.

The late nineties Korea in the show is -you guessed it- highly unrealistic.

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My fellow MDL user, I’m sure you’ve noticed by now how most of my criticisms are about realism. It would be a logical conclusion that this is a me problem, since kdrama as a genre tends to be very lacking in realism & anyone who wants realism should not watch kdramas.
I agree with this of course, but if a show’s end goal is not just to entertain with comedy & sugar, but maybe to educate about disabilities, to present gut wrenching moments and to make the audience empathize with the characters, then realism becomes rather important, or at the very least a fantasy setting should respect its own established rules & just in general the writer should not insult our intelligence.
Just look at the various Reply dramas, every single one of them has a similar blend of teen romance, bromance and to a lesser extent family tragedies to Twinkling Watermelon, but they are far more reasonable in every way, the emotional scenes in those are really really great, while the comedy and romance still get to shine.

The overall presentation is a bit childish. So perhaps we should just judge this as a teen programme. That’s fair, I’ve given it some thought & perhaps watching this at the age of 14 my mind could have been completely blown, I don’t know. Most of us on MDL are adults though & with that in mind I decided to settle for a rating of 7.5, because despite everything I've said, here and there there were moments of real brilliance in the show.

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It wasn't what I was hoping for

I guess I should be blaming myself for this, but after watching the first two episodes of Twinkling Watermelon, I was VERY interested in what could happen to Eun Gyeol after traveling back to 1995. The premise of the story also made me wonder how would the plot unfold, and what would be the overall message and the ending. My problem with this drama is that, unfortunately, even now that I'm done watching all the episodes I'm still wondering what were they supposed to be.

The beginning of the story introduces us to Eun Gyeol and his life as a CODA: the way he had to grow up and be mature at a young age, the responsibilities and burdens he felt on his shoulders throughout his childhood and his teenage years, and the way he felt guilty whenever he tried to actually live his youth.
As he went back in time, I thought to myself: "okay, so I guess that this time-travel will teach him to actually live his own life and stop looking after others and sacrificing himself for them, right?"

...except that Eun Gyeol does the exact opposite for the entire drama. He looks after his parents, works as hard as possible to fix their problems and make them happy, even puts himself in danger for their sake. The theme of living his own life and letting others live theirs is barely hinted at until the very last episode, where it's exposed like some sort of lecture rather than something Eun Gyeol has actually internalized and made his own. It also goes against the entire plot, because Eun Gyeol changed the lives of both his parents for the better, which actually ended up influencing the future of many people for the better as well. It felt more like Eun Gyeol was truly supposed to take care of his parents after all.

I also wondered if this time-travel was about him learning that his parents had to struggle in life, and that he wasn't the only one who had to suffer, but I really hope not because that would be a horrible theme. His life as a CODA and the struggles he had to face in his youth are not magically erased just because he finds out that Yi Chan and Cheong Ah suffered as well. Especially with the ending, I felt like Eun Gyeol's hardships were just swept under the rug and there was no actual communication between him and his family, which was truly a shame.

Something else that I couldn't understand at all was On Eun Yu's presence in the story. I might be biased here since I didn't like her character at all (and as much as I like Seol In Ah, I don't believe she was a good casting choice for a teenage character), but I seriously believe her presence was useless for the sake of the main plot. Even her "plan" didn't make any logic sense and felt like a huge waste of time. The screentime spent for her story could have been used to better explore Yi Chan and Cheong Ah's characters, or even better: it could have been used to create a more complete and satisfying ending. It really felt like the writers wanted to give Eun Gyeol a love interest at all costs, which was frustrating to see.

I can't say that I hated the story. It has a very interesting premise, most of the characters are loveable and it's a drama that makes one want to binge-watch everything in a day. I laughed, giggled, kicked my feet, got angry and cried with the characters, which is always great. There were multiple plot holes, but for the most part they were easy to ignore. I just had bigger expectations from it.

The production overall seemed good to me, but I wish they showed the characters better when they spoke in sign language, and I also wish they didn't use voice-overs whenever someone signed. The acting was also great, I especially loved Shin Eun Soo's performance as Yoon Cheong Ah and Choi Hyun Wook as Ha Yi Chan (and their moments together! So adorable!). The pacing is perfect in the first 10 episodes or so, then it started to feel a little draggy, but it wasn't too bad overall. The music is pretty good, I really liked the song choices for the different performances both in the past and in the present.

Overall I can say I had fun, so maybe give it a try for yourself! I can recommend it if you're looking for something that is both fun and tear-jerking.

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