VCelaya

Here are characters you really want to root for.
Our ML, Taesoo, is a pure soul, smart young man, disciplined student, devoted brother/grandson and academic star. His work ambitions suit what seems a need for routine, control, and availability to respond to family responsibilities in his home town. From a world view that such potential = endless life possibilities, some letting go is required to take the journey of this coming of age, loss/return of first love, career and life choices journey. He identifies his highest value early on: self-reliance, though you wonder as you watch if this is acquiescence and “settling” or the actions of one with the soul of a servant. Especially when it comes to his relationship with the FL, Eunha.
Eunha. She chases Taesoo in high school until he chooses her, too. A bright personality, gutsy (sneaks him into her bedroom). And she is able to define her big wish in life: freedom. Independence from her father. Again, I had to keep going back to her reality. Mother left the family (not sure timing), whereabouts unknown. Father has chronic depression and a history of suicide attempt. They’ve come back to the town where grandma resides to regroup, run a homestay. She studies hard but fails to secure a college plan that synchs with Taesoo’s, then finds and follows a different opportunity in a hotel training program, leaving university life behind.
The characters’ early adult life choices are followed pretty quickly by a 10-year jump and re-connection. Taesoo is in Seoul but still deeply rooted in family responsibility. Eunha has had several different experiences with her hospitality career, including a stint in Hawaii, the most recent one managing a remote guesthouse, disrupted by an unplanned ownership dispute. Her career is uncertain and she has suffered more personal loss. She seems shrouded in unhappiness and depression.
This juncture is where you’ll spend most of your time with these two.
And with secondary characters. The best developed: Taesoo’s very likeable younger brother, a former soccer player, who courageously faces a likely lifelong rehab with a leg injury, gainfully employed as a postal worker. An old crush (on Taesoo). Should we root for her? A long-time admirer, supporter and 3-month BF of Eunha. He is a bit annoying and creepy. But quite handsome. Maybe creepier because of that.
A sort of step-mom. I never trusted her. Good acting on her part.
I was deeply invested in all the goings-on in the leads’ circle of life at this juncture. Choices are made. I reacted very emotionally. Not happy. The idea of love with “let’s not make it hard on the other person” vs. “let’s be together and be happy” is not something easily grasped if the love is for the person you want to spend your life with. But this is not romantic love nor is it a romance story. Perhaps that would have helped: their recognition of the nature of their love.
Might have been interesting to have Taesoo letting go…
And Eunha realizing that she suffers from abandonment issues and depression (like her father) and maybe looking for the missing piece of the puzzle…her mother. Her choice in the end…the stepmom she had hated and her step grandmother (we don’t know her at all, but she was nice to her)…did that make sense? She had a very loving grandmother in her hometown.
This one stuck with me. I respect the writer’s choices. Thus, the high rating. But….Still Shining? Weird title. Here’s an alternate: Ask the Fireflies. Or Second Chances. Frustrating but makes you think. And I like that.