Eleison

Oh, I know! While the suspense was a little much for me, I loved the friendships and bonding between all the students and their commander in the first part. I didn't even try to watch the second part since I read some of the spoilers and couldn't believe how epically downhill it went. 😳 Yikes.

I just realized this drama was written by the same screenwriter as Dr. Romantic! I love her Dr. Romantic dramas. But what a genre shift! 😅 And it would be fun to see Park Seo Joon in something since I don't think he's done a drama since Itaewon Class?

Will see what everyone says here before I take the plunge since I don't like horror, and made it through Sweet Home with great care...

There's more romance in Part 2, but the characters kind of switch roles in the next season. The ML becomes dark and moody and the FL becomes talkative and cheerful.

I don't think Cdramas tend to have them. They do seem to be a perennial feature of Kdramas, though!

Oh yes, the ending of Vagabond was not my favorite, haha. And yes, can't wait to see what he does when he gets older!

Oh, also, Woo Jin (young Ki Ho) was the nephew of the ML in Vagabond which is where I noticed him the first time (he was so good in that one). The cropped hair, glasses and growth spurt threw me off in this one at first but I remember thinking, "This kid's acting is too good for this to be his first drama. He has to have been in something else I've seen." And sure enough. Already quite the versatile actor despite his age!

Was waiting for you to post this; 😁 also, I loved your review of the drama!

Yep, couldn't have said it better. Loved all the same parts as well! I loved that actually most of the things we loved about young Ki Ho found in older Ki Ho almost take a rewatch to find/appreciate, they're so subtle; but they're there. Everyone who maintained Bo Geol was Ki Ho because of his expressions was picking up the hints they were dropping for us, and of course, later episodes filled us in on all he'd done behind the scenes. I loved all that showing rather than telling. CJH proved he could pull off the subtlety necessary to deliver on the young Ki Ho's inspiring portrayal while simultaneously trying to hide his identity and pretend to be a completely different person. I also liked how they showed him unable to sustain the duplicity any longer as he got closer to Mok Ha again. 🤣 He wasn't a perfect character (as none of the characters were), but deeply sympathetic and relatable.

The young and adult actors for Mok Ha and Ki Ho definitely collaborated on body language and mannerisms. Loved the little consistencies they kept between the actors!

Anything by this screenwriter, though Start-Up is a toss-up as it has a lot of lying. It's a good drama, just less enjoyable than this one or this screenwriter's other dramas. The screenwriter that did Crash Landing also has good dramas, and the Dr. Romantic seasons are also good. 😏 Some of my favs!

Definitely food for the soul! And I agree, I think Episode 1 was objectively the best. Young Ki Ho just owns the screen whenever he's shown, and young Mok Ha was great, too. Episodes 7 and 11 are hard on Episode 1's heals for me, too, though. Then Episode 5, cause the wedding scenes were really sweet and we finally got more Ki Ho and Mok Ha. 😏 But there were cute scenes throughout all the episodes; those were just my highlights.

I liked Someday the best, too (of Park Eun Bin's songs). All the other songs were lovely and quite good, too, but that one stuck the most (Dream Us was cute, too). I ended up liking As If It's Your Last Day in Episode 11 the most out of all of them, though. Overall, such great listening throughout! They did an amazing job writing both a good script and good songs for this. That was probably a harder goal to achieve than we realize! And the song lyrics intertwined really nicely with the themes, too. 😊

And thanks! Her lip syncing during the music video looked more realistic, so that makes sense.

Almost got an 80 minute episode!

I suppose it depends on what you find annoying, since there are a lot of ways love triangles can be handled. 😏 In this, the 2ML does like the FL and is sad he can't be with her, but that's about it. No angst or drama or conflict. There are some questions about love triangles below, too, and you can see how people responded if you want more details. :)

Yeah, for some reason she's not in the cast list. I wondered who sang her song, too, since it's obviously not Hyo Jin or Eun Bin.

Hope to see him get more lead roles! Have loved him in everything I've seen him in and he's good looking AND can act. He can do subtle facial expressions which is a must-have for a character who doesn't rely on words to emote and communicate.

Whoa, he's been in a unexpectedly large number of TV shows! Did not expect to see that gigantic list, haha. Stole the show for me in Bad and Crazy and thought he was adorable in Castaway Diva!

Why does his bio page say he's 31? If he was born in 1993 then he shouldn't be 31 until May of next year. 🤔

I usually wait for a version that includes the sung OST plus all the BGMs and they're usually all grouped together in one playlist. Here's hoping it drops soon! 😁

Those reading this comment section hunting for a Kdrama with heartwarming characters, beautiful cinematography and discography, a tight, well-written script augmented by lovely metaphors that highlight the themes throughout, stories about family and the beauty of love and the sacrifices it requires (a picture of the world as it can be, not as it is, and not in an escapist sense, but in the sense that it inspires one to want to live more fully and meaningfully in the world you're a part of or in other words, idealism in the best sense), you will ENJOY this drama from start to finish. (And if you like this screenwriter's other works, this is definitely one of her best so you won't be disappointed).

Don't focus on the comments about it being written poorly, since this version of Kdramaland is probably just not to their taste. So, with that said...

Go for it!