Still Shining

What's Shining?

Such a tiring script.

ML should just move on and give that other girl a chance who's been crushing on him since high school.
Putting a name tag of her name in his backpack for support was really sweet. Letting him know she's there thinking of him. It's not a big deal, but if she can do that little thing without even dating ML.... what about FL who got with him two times?

FL is impossible. Dates ML, but then later drops him because she wants to work far away.
She likes her job. Nice!
But not trying anymore with her boyfriend because their schedules doesn't match so lets break up.
Gets back with him years later because she wasn't happy with the new life she left him for was dumb.

Also irritated with ML behavior for taking the time to take care of her feelings again when she doesn't have the time for his.

& why is she still being around her ex?
He's there always telling her what to do and she just let him.

ML had a girlfriend his friend said so, but where is she?
He doesn't keep talking and drinking with her does he?

When can they write a ML forgetting his first love and moving on? He will be 70 and still waiting for FL to return.

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This is a life nobody deserved!

Love JinYoung! His acting is amazing, but this drama was so frustrating.

Timing, short conversations, not opening up, years go by and still in the same place. As adults time keeps going by and everything is the same, so much love to live in angst, sadness, waiting, yearning, remembering and nothing changes. How can a relationship of love hold this? When two can decide breaking up or get together and try to be happy while it’s there. So many years wasted, when he could have moved on or have a life with her and even after all this they will wait for each other!

Life is much more than this!! Move on!

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Please don’t waste your time

I only give it a 4/10, cause the first two episodes were amazing and the cinematography was excellent, other than that: full garbage.

I have never seen such miserable and annoying characters. The ML is the most miserable person ever. The lack of self respect drove me INSANE. How can someone hate themselves that much? His character was really interesting at first, but they ruined it by making him a simp. They should have give his character more in depth scenes, the character was much more than an idiot waiting his whole life for someone who left him.

The female character is the exact opposite, super selfish. I appreciate people who choose themselves and go for their own dreams, but she should’ve never interrupted the ML’s live. She made things only worse and left, again.

I can rant about the absolute RAGE I am feeling right now, but I will spare you guys, just don’t watch it for you own sake.

The only good thing about this shit drama is that they didn’t end up together, THANK GOD! Or i would’ve given it 0/10

I am so disappointed that they ruined absolute perfect two episodes. I can absolutely love second chance romances, but not like this ever again please.

They WASTED an great opportunity the worst way possible and I will have to mourn for this now.. THANKS.

edit (and spoiler): I forgot to mention that the FL is really the worst girlfriend ever. she drank wine with her ex, whom she hid from her boyfriend, while her boyfriend was having a hard time, because his grandma was almost dying. i think i won’t be forgetting this awful situation ever 💀

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Much ado about nothing

This was such a waste of talent. The actors, amazing. The writing, TERRIBLE. We learn nothing about the ML and it feels like he's the Main character but his story is unfinished. His friend talks about how difficult it was for him to do his military time but we never see any of it. It's said many times how he's had a difficult life but we rarely see any of it. His love interest is selfish and that's her right but the writing makes it so there are no redeemable attributes to her, little to no growth in her from start to finish. I kept hoping something good would happen in the show but it never did. The best thing is the chemistry/little moments he has with the 2nd FL. She really understood him and helped him see life from a different POV.

Save yourself the time and do not watch.

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Missed potential

Well I really was looking forward to watching this drama. I thought the actors were great. All of the characters had well developed stories for the most part. But, there was just too much misunderstandings. The main couple never talked straight with each other. Maybe the fl had depression in the family, but she was really hard to deal with. I thought she had a lot going for herself but never really figured it out. The story line was frustrating because the ml, who had great potential kept get dragged backwards. I thought the job of train engineer was fitting because he kept going in circles. I want to infer a happy ending because ml puts fl’s name plate on the house at the end. I’m glad it was only 10 episodes.

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Ok slow burn, but this is an ice lolly

I love slow burn dramas, but here I can’t understand where is it going…I can only save the first two episodes and actors’ work. in my personal opinion, don’t waste your time.


***Spoilers***




the FL is insufferable, make up your mind girl! Every episode with this miserable bitter-sad-angry expression. ML without spine!! Just move on! This unrealistic story of “one love forever” has bored all of us.
Got together, split up and got back together just to conduct the exact same conversation (or non conversation), depression just to prove a point, plot holes, extreme slow development if any…I could manage up until ep. 7, then I had to drop.

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"Where Memories and Feelings Quietly Meet Again"

Still Shining is a drama that feels more like a memory than a story. It doesn’t rush to impress or overwhelm—instead, it unfolds slowly, focusing on emotions that are left unsaid and moments that feel almost too real.

The drama centers around a reunion between two people who once meant everything to each other. Rather than turning this into a dramatic love story, it keeps things grounded and realistic. Their interactions are quiet, sometimes even awkward, but that’s exactly what makes it believable. There’s a sense of familiarity between them, mixed with distance created by time.

The biggest strength of Still Shining is its mood. The soft visuals, dim lighting, and gentle transitions between past and present create a nostalgic atmosphere. It constantly reminds you of how certain feelings don’t disappear, even if life moves on. The performances, especially from the leads, carry this emotional weight well without overacting.

However, the drama might not work for everyone. The pacing is noticeably slow, and there are moments where it feels like not much is happening. The storyline is simple and doesn’t offer many surprises, which can make it less engaging for viewers who prefer stronger plots. Some supporting characters also feel underused, leaving parts of the story less impactful.

Even with these flaws, Still Shining has a quiet charm. It doesn’t aim to be unforgettable in a dramatic way, but rather in a soft, lingering way. It’s the kind of drama you watch when you want to feel something gentle and reflective.

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Good start but crashed towards the end

This is a slice of life drama that shows that life is what happens between the day to day life and tragedies... While one tragedy after another seem to leave the leads unaffected its the small drops that push them over the edge, over and over again.

The first 6 or 7 episodes have decent pace and decent story and even made me shed a tear or two. Our female lead didn't really deliver much when it comes to talant but her story was mostly interesting and so was her character. This drama could truly have been great and gotten a higher score if it werent for the painfully slow last 3 episodes that went back and fourth, round and round we go...

At times it felt like they put more effort to shooting pretty things than making sure the story had a good flow. A decent story dragged out a bit to long while still leaving out a whole lot of missing pieces towards the end.

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At the end of the day, we need to let go of the past

I'll start my review with no spoilers, so everyone can read my general opinion!
The show was a 10/10 for me. Everything was perfect, from the writing, to the cinematography, to the final message, to the acting.
You may like it or not, but I think I'm quite objective when I say the characters are very well-written, in a complex, realistic way. The script and dialogues were just wonderful, with a lot of symbolism and parallels that you may notice or may not. The shots were just breathtaking, as were the color palettes. The OST was exactly what the show needed : it was never loud music in your ears. It was soft, low and heavy music, just like the show was.
The actors delivered a close-to perfect acting in everyscene, with raw scenes.
The show relied a LOT on the acting because a lot of things were shown without being told (which makes the show amazing to me, but you need to have analytical skills). There are a lot of silence where emotions are only transmitted through gestures or glances, and I can tell you, the actors mastered it. If you're observant, you get it.
I can preshot a lot of negative opinions about the show. It may make you hesitate whether to watch it or not. I'll tell you, this show is not for everyone. If you're here for a feel-good romance where things are smooth and light, then, clearly, don't watch it. This show is slow, raw, heavy and bittersweet. But it's also full of hope and deep messages. Still Shining's purpose was never to show a classic love story. The point of the show is to focus on realistic character-growths. People make mistake, sometimes they accept things they shouldn't, sometimes they're not logical. That doesn't mean the characters aren't coherent or well-written - quite the opposite, actually. The show was full of foreshadowing and hints. You can guess very early which direction it will take and it stays true to itself, and you got to love a show that doesn't change himself just to please the audience.

***SPOILERS***

"This is where I stop. Trying to make things work, intruding in your peaceful life, and repeating this vicious cycle. Enough."

While there are a lot of people upset about the ending, I think it delivered exactly what it promised to deliver : a hopeful story about life and relationships. The main focus may have been the romantic relationship but the story was never about romance or happy endings. It's a story about letting things go.
Each character was stuck in the past at some point, not only the main characters.
Taeseo grew up with heavy responsabilities on his shoulders and never truly let them go, even when he started living in Seoul. He was always afraid of the idea of going back to his hometown, and never truly freed himself from the responsabilities, because he was stuck in that past where his brother couldn't handle things and he had to do everything himself. I think his main journey was about making peace with that past and accepting that his brother could handle things, and only then did he realize that he actually wanted to be by his grandparents' side. He no longer had to put distance between them because he loved them - his love for them was not a burden anymore. I think Ahsol hit exactly where it hurt when she told him what she was thankful for. I think, before that very instant, Taeseo still thought of himself as that stuck highschool boy, without noticing he had become an adult and overcome what weighed on him back then.
Eunah was clearly stuck in her guilt toward her father. In higschool already, when she couldn't plan on leaving him because she was afraid for him, and then, as an adult. She was still stuck 10 years ago, in that time when she broke up with Taeseo, in that memory in the snow, with the "what if" AND stuck with the guilt of her father's death, that she tried to escape from by blaming Sohyun. Her whole journey in the show was to accept things, let go of both her guilt and anger, and stop repeating the same mistakes. She needed to meet Taeseo again for that, to learn how to break up correctly with him, and needed to reconcilile with Sohyun to let go of her guilt/anger.
Seongchan was clearly stuck in his obsession for Eunah. He was obsessed with being here for her and doing everything for her and he had to let those feelings go because it hurt both him and Eunah. I found him a very interesting character because, you know, why would he fall in love with a girl who was a highschool students months ago, as a guy 7 years older? You see him being all controlling over her, not accepting her giving up her pension, and I kept wondering, is he actually a creep who just want control over her or is he...right? And turned out he was right for most things. He was when he thought Eunah was making a wrong decision to stay in Seoul, and at the end of the day, he knew Eunah better than we did, because we didn't know (and we'll never really know) what happened to her in the 10+ years between the time gaps, while he was there and looking after her. So what came out as controlling was actually rightful concerns because he knew better than us how many efforts Eunah put into her pension. And she should never give all that up just for a man. (Now I'm not saying Seongchan was perfect, he was clearly very borderline, but his character was so interesting).
Heeseo was probably the most resilient character of the show. The whole show starts with him undergoing a huge surgery and he had to learn how to let go of his leg. His whole journey was to overcome this grief, the anxiety it brought him, and learning how to live with his liability. He did a wonderful job and despite having the most legitimate reason to be "stuck", he's the first to actually move on.
Even Ahsol was a character who had to learn how to let go of her compassion and love for Taeseo. I think quite literally all the main characters were stuck in the event from ten years ago and the whole show was about them finally moving on. The grandma being stuck in the past after she wakes up and her brain jumping memories from memories until she's finally back in the present is, in my opinion, the most beautiful and unique way to show what the whole story was about. When Heeseo comes to bring Eunah back to his grandma and says his grandma is back, he has those words : "It's right now. The present." And to me, that was the whole message of the story. All the character were stuck in the past and they finally let go of it. It was finally the present for all of them.
At the end of the day, I think even Eunah's dad was a character stuck in the past. He was quite literally the exemple of what a person becomes when they can't "move on". Being stuck in the past and in the regrets brings depression... and while some are lucky enough to recover and start moving toward the present, like our main characters, some people aren't that lucky and get stuck forever, like Eunah's dad.
Now, on whether Eunah and Taeseo ends up together or not... I actually think the version they were at the end of the should could never be happy in the long term. What separated them was not only their different ambitions but also the way they processed things. They just don't work the same way, and no amount of love could ever change that, so the smallest problem can quickly turn into a huge misunderstanding that hurts both of them. But at the same time, that doesn't mean they can never end up together. Maybe in ten years, when they'll be different versions of themselves, they'll be more compatible. Which is why I loved that they didn't use a timejump to show them reunite. I didn't want to see that because I think it will take a lot of time for them to find each other again and to be together, and that might just never happen.
But the show chose to be faithful to its premise and be hopeful. It ended on a very hopeful note, where characters were finally free from the chains that trapped them in the past.
I'll end this review with my favorite quote of the show :

"Dad. When you told me to live freely, as if I was on a journey, you meant that in life, we can't stay even when we want to. Things seem like they'll last forever, but they don't. And since life is full of such things, when it's time to leave, you meant I should just take off, as if I was on a journey."

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HOLY AIRBALL - DO NOT WATCH THIS

The Good:
- The actors are capable of acting well and I have seen the ML act in a different show and put in a good performance
- Music is solid
- Cinematography and visual vibes are strong especially in the nostalgic shots

The Bad:
- The two leads are the most incompetent people on planet earth when it comes to interpersonal communication. The first time when they were young it was fine but when they reconnect a decade later its clear that neither of them have grown at all.
- The conflict in the leads relationship the second time is completely ridiculous and if either of them was capable of communication it never would have happened at all.
- The actors I think CAN be good but in this show the male lead especially is written with two emotions, 1. neutral 2. slightly sad, this gets old fast and I would've loved to see this guy emote like a human one time.
- They don't expand upon or wrap up any of the side character stories.


**********SPOILERS************

- The main villain of this story being the fact that the two leads are adults with schedules that they need to work around is frustrating to see play out especially when both of their circumstances are known to be temporary, FL: wants to get closure on her guest house and close it properly...doesn't communicate it at all and leaves out the fact that her ex was involved heavily. ML: grandma is hospitalized and he needs to visit often...knows that this event that causes another hardship in their scheduling is temporary but somehow can't work through it for the short-term.
-The ending. I do not care at all if the leads end up together and my whole perception of the show doesn't hinge on that but what the f**k was that ending. My thoughts going into the last 20 minutes of the last episode was that the two leads would finally have a proper breakup and get their closure......I GUESS I'M A STUPID JACKASS. Instead we get the male lead (who was written as the most passive, uncommunicative, self-loathing, loser of all time) professing his love and sending the FL off to Hawaii to start her new life and to call him if she ever sees a future with him in it. THIS GUY IS PATHETIC. He then decides to fix up her old house, take a job that his mom use to have near the city (he had said previously that he had wanted this job since he was a kid so I don't hate this part), and I guess just wait around for the FL to maybe come back?

Summary:
DO NOT waste your time. The show was only 10 episodes but it managed to make me feel like I spent an eternity trapped inside it. The show starts off strong enough but quickly loses all momentum and grinds to a glacial pace. I had to put this show in 1.5 speed in some sections and it still felt like it was moving in slow motion. The leads both being insufferable to watch interact and the complete lack of a real ending made me genuinely angry as I mourn the hours I spent, and will not get back, watching this steaming mess of a show. I have never written a review on any 30~ dramas I have watched, but I was genuinely raging at the end and needed to get my thoughts out somehow so that I could go to sleep.

Note:
A lot is left to the imagination so I guess if you're creative enough you can spin the ending any way you want to fit whatever narrative you want but this open ended style where neither lead gets a real ending is frustrating to see when you invest this much time into the show. A show that I felt did a similar end a lot better was **SPOILERS** Twenty Five Twenty One. In this show it feels like the leads were able to get closure and grow as people while not ending up together. It seemed like this show was going for that kind of vibe at the end but tripped over their own proverbial feet.

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Childhood Trauma and Tragedy Interferes With Love

I just finished Still Shining. This is not the typical romance love story and doesn't have the happily ever after ending. It starts out with a first love that seems to be heading in the direction of two lives together, but it takes a different turn. Traumatic events leave lasting scars and can change the course of people's lives, their hopes and dreams. Let me unpack some of this...

Both of our main leads are heavily burdened. We meet them while studying for college entrance exams. They are each other 's first love. We also get introduced to their lives.

Tae Seo has lost both parents in a car accident and he and his younger brother have to move to the country to live with their grandparents. His younger brother badly injured his leg in the same accident and will always have a limp. Tae Seo now assumes the responsibility for taking care of his brother and his grandparents. He studies hard to get into college, majoring in engineering but quits his engineering job after college when he realizes that his responsibilities to his family will always come before climbing the ladder or career success. He takes a job as train engineer and makes wooden frames on the side for extra money, all so he can be available when his family needs him. His life is busy fulfilling one responsibility after another with almost no time for anything else.

Eun-A helps her father run their home which also doubles as a vacation retreat. Her mother is not in the picture as she apparently left. Eun-A's father deals with depression and tried to commit suicide when his wife left him. Eun-A's main goal is to never leave her father alone, and to never be a burden to him or to anyone. There is a woman who enters her father's life, and while this gives Eun-A the chance to pursue her dreams, she has a hard time accepting this woman in her father's life.

Both Tae Seo and Eun-A go off to college but not in the same place. They juggle classes and trying to see each other. Tae Seo has to tutor, work part time, and take care of his grandparents. Schedules often do not work out. Eun-A quits college and pursues working an internship at a resort, which only makes seeing Tae Seo that much harder. In an effort to not be a burden, she breaks up with Tae Seo over the phone breaking his heart.

10 years later Tae Seo and Eun-A see each other in Seoul. They still have feelings for each other and start to see each other. However, life is still hard. Eun-A owned her own vacation rental, but had to leave it suddenly due to some corporate takeover (?). This was a part of the story I had a hard time following, Tae Seo is still juggling his responsibilities for his family, and this time his grandmother has a stroke (I think), so he juggles hospital visits. There are also other people who are in each of their lives so jealousies erupt and misunderstandings happen. This gets to be too much and this time Tae Seo breaks things off over the phone.

At this point as the viewer I'm wondering (in a frustrated voice) where the hell this is taking us. You really have to see the story through to the end. In the final episode. Tae Seo and Eun-A meet several times that end up being nothing, but finally they talk. Tae Seo wonders out loud why they ended up the way they did....and I'm sure every viewer is wondering this as well. The meaning behind this mournful couple who could never seem to get it together came in one line..."That is us. Never wanting to make things harder for the other." Eun-A's childhood scars meant she runs whenever she feels like she is a burden to someone and Tae Seo has so many burdens already on his plate, she doesn't want to be just one more. At first I thought she was just a narcissist that played with his heart, but I think she is just very realistic about how burdened his life is, and doesn't want to add to it.

This is the story of a very, very deep love two people have for each other who couldn't be free enough of life's burdens to be together. It's sad really as we are cheering for them to be together through the entire story. It's not a happily ever after ending, but only a hopeful one that maybe one day burdens will lesson and they can be together.

The acting was very good. It is very emotional throughout and the actors really brought out those emotions.

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