Erika Song

I think here are the reasons:
- The first two episodes, while the acting is good take the time to build the premise of the drama.
- The 3rd episode is where the emotions are ALL hit (for me), the acting was the best and the delivery of lines and everything was so good.
- The first 3 episodes focus on Lee Jeung Eun and Cha Seung Won's story, their past is similar to first love, however Cha Seung Won's character is married so probably some think that it was pushing love affair, but it really is not as proven by episode 3.
- The drama pictures many different stories and since they are tackled one by one instead of having leads with supporting story lines, the first five episodes still feels a little experimentation, however, from that point, it is really moving into a good pace and the drama is able to flesh out more human-layered emotions.

So far, it is good.

I love Flower of Evil so much that I'm going to ignore few "slander" over that masterpiece. I definitely get what you feel. However, it's still a fun one and I love Lee Joon Gi so I'm going to stay for him and his fight scenes, also hoping that this will get better.

I think this goes both ways as you and me along with others probably have different perspective regarding the matter, but I think you may look at this way: teenage pregnancy will not be easy as shown in the drama, therefore, younger generations surely needed to be more careful not to cross the line before they are ready and they should be educated properly so they will not be introduced to such difficult situations. The drama shows the sincerity of those two teenagers, however, it also shows how difficult the situation is. You may think or feel it is encouraging, but it really is not, personally, to me, it is just showing how teenage pregnancies are being dealt with and how hard it is -- specially at the school situation, where the administrators wanted them to drop out (this IS discrimination towards pregnant women regardless of age). As I said, there's a stigma with teenage pregnancies, we should NOT normalize it, however, if we cannot help with their situation, we should at least offer some empathy towards their situation as oppose to what those people in the drama do to those teenagers, as things are already hard for them but they are still persevering. Let's not give those people more reasons not to persevere.

I actually commented earlier that I'm proud on how those two teenagers are owning up to their 'mistake' and taking responsibility over it, however, Yeong Ju and Hyeon emphasized that calling it a mistake would make the baby a mistake as well. With that, I edited my comment. Those two, while they are teenagers, are sincere and I think that's what more people here need to understand or be opened to. When Yeong Ju is getting an abortion, she's ridiculed by an adult doctor, when they now decided to keep the baby and put more work for it, she's being questioned and belittled for their decisions (of course, they were probably sharing to the creators of the drama), however, many scenes in the episodes 7 and 8, I believe, tackled how hard teenage pregnancy was and the layered emotions that teenage parents experience. Both episodes 7 and 8 are now my favorite episodes and I also appreciated the story of their dads.

I definitely can't understand the sentiment of the own commenter, because I am sure that the girl tried to abort her baby multiple times but her circumstances cannot allowed her, the baby of her father while heartbroken with it, cares more for her and do not want her to be harmed. After struggling, they finally composed themselves and owned up to their responsibility (isn't it a good lesson? That you need to be responsible for your actions, instead of running away from it?).
Both are sincere to care for their baby and are willing to put the work. Both acknowledges that it will not be easy. Their fathers are relentlessly and carelessly pushing their own opinions and perspective on the issue and want to abort it WITHOUT caring if that's what the parents wants, especially Yeong Ju -- the mother.

Of course, those two are still teenagers, but you see how sincere and how hard they try. The boy's father is being belittled for impregnating a young woman and at work. Yeong Ju is being ridiculed at school and scorned by TEACHERS, still, girl wants to go to college. In my country, THERE IS A CONSTANT STIGMA BETWEEN TEEN MOMS THAT THEIR LIFE IS ALREADY RUINED AND THAT THEIR LIFE IS OVER BECAUSE OF PREGNANCY AND CONSTANTLY BEING RIDICULED FOR IT, while it is true that it is hard, some with the help of loved ones and proper authorities, they are able to study again and get back to life (if your standard of life is being with other people your age and doing the same with others, yeah sure). This is real life, they are showing the realities of teenage pregnancies and there's no way they are encouraging it.

YES! Today's episode was so good, I cried healthy tears. That last scene where In Gwon repeatedly asked his son if he really embarrasses him made me cry and remembered the time I fought with my father. The perseverance of Yeong Ju and Hyeon made me want to do well myself. I love how the drama was able to hit right emotions while not being over dramatic, it was very good portrayal of realism in dramas and human flaws.

Pain and beautiful tears for episode 7 and 8. These episodes would be my favorite ones.

Few minutes in, I'm actually so proud on how Young Joo and Hyeon are trying to sort out their responsibilities. I'm seriously rooting for the both of you to make it and have a beautiful family.

Okay, I'm now on episode 5 and I think I'm starting to warm up to it.

I'm down with Kim Hee Woo and Kim Han Mi lol.

Mr. Sunshine's ending seems hopeful even with the death of Eugene since it clearly served a great purpose! I haven't fully watch it, but it aired during my country on late nights and my dad's clearly a fan of it!

I honestly don't think it will win best drama (but if it will, it is probably because of the previous episodes except that last 1.5 ep, fencing matches, and strong portrayal of female leads), but I'm supporting for Kim Tae Ri to win best actress! I have watched critically-acclaimed dramas that were able to get best drama, best screenplay and best directing nominations--yes, all these three major categories at once, all of them are magnificent from top to end, sadly, they aren't as popular and loved by many like 2521.

The reasons why I didn't like the ending are because:
- It ignores character development and destroys it.
- They were shown to be emotionally intelligent and mature, both knows how to communicate disappointments with one another but after going into relationship and being in a relationship for two years, suddenly this agency to communicate disappeared, especially Heedo.
- The 9/11 event was used disrespectfully in my opinion, how disrespectful it is to use it as nothing but an initiator or precursor to break-up? It is a sensitive event yet it wasn't handled delicately and its mere purpose is to create traumatic experiences for Yijin but he wasn't allowed to heal.
- Yijin's family disappears out of the blue especially on 9/11 event to further the writer's motive that Yijin is now only left with his woman to save him and it's up to the writer if Heedo would stay or not stay.
- The character assassination and forced choices on Yijin on the latter half, as if suddenly, he's deprived of emotional intelligence.
- Both characters' maturity and devotion were suddenly not relevant nor have bearing on their relationship.
- The build-up for the "break-up" or "sad" ending wasn't properly developed, hence it shocked people's core especially those who have been loving the Heedo and Yijin's relationship for its healthy portrayal and for the amazing character depth that both have. The writer, suddenly destroying their character integrity, of course, is not something that many people would accept nor praise for no matter what other messages there are.
- The ending didn't give much justice to the present timeline especially to Min chae whom I thought would be a pivotal character. Her character ended with just single-handedly telling her mother that she would write her own story and continue ballet, they should've wrapped her story better especially with her struggles to ballet.
- There is no PROPER balance between the present and past timelines for many viewers to fully relate to the present. It was mostly just there to present bittersweet feelings and further the marketing's intention of guessing who the father is. Aside from the scene in episode 11 with Heedo's mother, it wasn't wrapped properly.
- The theme in itself that nothing last forever, that memories are the ones that you have in the end, that atleast you gotta live on it. Honestly, this looks good on paper. However, come to think of it, nothing last forever but doesn't mean it already is the end just because that moment passes, there are many things you wouldn't even remember because you are busy creating more memories, you are busy sailing life for more good and bad experiences. Moreover, friendships doesn't only last when you are in your youth, you can find more lifetime friends in the present. Even those who you are friends with in highschool/college can still be your lifelong friend. Take a look at Yurim and Heedo, Yurim has a fencing academy, wouldn't Heedo visit her friend or be a guest instructor?
- Tainting Heedo and Yijin's pure and true love with "passionate" love. We all know it is more than passionate love.
- The pushing of the idea that the ending is realistic, but ALL other characters have their HAPPY ENDINGS.
- The overall execution of the ending that can come of as weird editing and weird sequences.
- Lastly, there are stories where characters both fiction and real life do not end up together and the best choice is to let go with mutual respect intact, but we see them tackle their relationship problems head-on. We see that the writer do not destroy their character integrity just for the sake of finishing the story with the writer's desired ending.
- After Heedo and Yijin's separation in Pohang, their bond only have gotten stronger to the point that the better ending for them is only to nurture their relationship, meet each other half way and have more profound understanding of both each other.

Actually these do not cover everything, but you get the point.

Alright, I love your comment. Thank you for commenting this lol. Some are just accepting the narrative that the writer wrote without fully analyzing why it destroyed character integrity and disregards character development of the characters.

I know both Yijin and Heedo would've talked early-on their setup, communicate their disappointments and uphold each other's good and bad.

Lmao, also both persons share the good and bad times, it's just that when they are together they were able to pull through and make happiness out of it -- they both met during bad times and persevere together during those bad times. All bad times when they are together became good times.

The 9/11 is really a bad time (ignoring how forced this plot is) but instead of taking their relationship into new heights, the writer used this for Heedo to think that both are growing apart. It didn't serve any purpose other than break-up.

Also, Yijin's decisions in the latter half of episode 15 were just too forced and deprived of agency and emotional intelligence, which I know he wouldn't do, nor realistically, people would do to someone they treasure, respect as a person and think of as a long time partner.

I've heard that it is sad but I'm okay with sad endings as long as properly developed ^_^

For me, instead of breaking-up, they should've shown how their relationship can receive new heights. It's too force in my opinion and the main writing reason that it was there is only because they needed to tick-off the "first love break-up" on the bucket list -- when what was shown was no longer a first love but rather a true and great love. This drama would be more magnificent and love from top to end if they gave the "happy" ending that the characters deserved, instead of pulling another narrative that doesn't give much significance or one that only ruins character integrity. Happy endings are not weak, it is worked for. Sad endings only work if it is properly developed, in this case, I don't think it is. The present timeline doesn't also mesh very well with the past and doesn't have balance screen time.

Apparently, the writer already had an idea that their relationship should only stay in 25 and 21 but the 13 episodes of the drama was the characters slowly falling in love. To me, her theme that "the light fades" is no longer applicable after their separation in episode 5 -- it already is too strong and the rest of the episodes were only headed on how they fall in love. I honestly believe from that point in time, the writer should've reevaluated her theme and if it still appropriate or if that was still the characters deserved. To me, the ending was not "tragic but beautiful", it was just plain tragically cruel to the characters no matter what other messages there are. The theme apparently looks good on paper, on reading it, but it only stayed there.

Wait...in the preview it seems like the teenagers' father are planning to abort the baby or something? I mean, how dare them after those two teenager went through and when they finally realized its worth. By the way, I love how the teenagers finally figured it out and owned up to it. It's very courageous of them and I love the rain scene! Another scene I love is the school scene because they literally are holding their head up high and they wouldn't live in somebody else definition of perfect life. I love those two teenagers for that and I root for their happiness, but seriously, their dads, please for the sake of your children, especially for Young Joo and her baby.

Nope.

fun fact: her daughter doesn't even know Ko Yu Rim in the present lol

Yes that 9/11 insertion they could not even get it right. Lol. The montage of their relationship in episode 15 only worked because the editing was smooth especially the last sequence (but writing wise, esp Yijin seems to have out-of-character choices).

Their relationship development has shown to have lesser depth compared to the bond they built. Suddenly, the characters can't communicate disappointments with one another, both have busy schedules yet it's only Yijin's scheduled that were grinded by the writer. Actually, most of Yijin's stood-up were too much of a coincidence, I just knew that they were planned and forced because they were insisting to break the leads. Lol. I think the reason why they showed 3 break-ups in the last episode just so it could be justified to be the good reason and probably in thinking that it could provide a satisfying resolution (but it isn't to most viewers, including me), otherwise, more people will be so underwhelmed with the break-up. Also, probably for emotional manipulation. It really such a shame. And all your points lol, the irony of "realism".

Plus, they actually used Yijin's career being similar to Heedo's mom when the whole drama showed how different he is from her mother, in fact, he's very much similar to Heedo's father.