This review may contain spoilers
When the Secondary Couple outshines the main one
TW for the drama: suicide attempt, depression, death of a family member.
Yes this drama was a Romance. But not in the way you'd expect. Love can take many forms: familial, platonic, self-love, and this drama was a masterclass in all the kinds.
The secondary couple I'm talking about is Hong Shi Jun and Son Ju-A, high school sweethearts who spent seven years together before coming to a crashing, tragic end.
The lingering feelings and unspoken confessions bring them together for one last time: their final chance to set things right. The ebb and flow of their relationship, the constant push and pull, pulled me in, so much so that I forgot that they were the second couple.
At first I found myself rooting for them, hoping for a cliche end where they realise their true feelings and the power of love sets everything right! But after episode 8-9, I finally, fully understood that they couldn't be together.
Jua's vice was loving Si-Jun too much and never asking for anything in return. She put aside everything for him and loved him like crazy. Si-jun's vice was loving Jua quietly, without any late night confessions or grand sweeping spectacles. This was fine for a while, but later brewed and caused burns that no words could heal.
They couldn't get back together. I realised it at the same time that the characters did. There was too much hurt that had been there for much too long. Even if they resolved everything and got back together, the wounds wouldn't go away.
This drama is a masterclass in storytelling. The way I understood some things even when they weren't said, the way the characters hesitate and glance at each other in silence, and when they speak it's in a few quiet words that carry the weight of a thousand unspoken regrets. I can't even begin to describe the feels this drama gave me.
It made me cry, it made me smile and most of all, I felt relieved when they finally parted because I understood, as did the characters, that they weren't meant to be.
I also want to say that I understand that romance wasn't really the point of the main couple coming together. It was grief. They processed their grief and trauma with each other and that's a beautiful thing.
After of all that, Ko Jun was actually my favourite character. A person who has no choice but to live on for someone else. He also taught me so much about grief. Sometimes, you love a person so much but know nothing about them. How do you even bear that? Someone you've loved all your life who didn't even trust you enough to open up about anything?
But that doesn't change anything does it? The part that loved you, was also ultimately a part of that person. They loved you and that was all that mattered.
I know that was kind of a mess and not the structured review I wanted it to be... but I just finished the drama and I feel so empty 🫠I hope you'll give it a try even tho I sound incoherent lol.
That was.... Melo Movie, not the romance it pretended to be, but an excellent, heartwarming portrayal of grief, healing, loss, self love and letting go.
Yes this drama was a Romance. But not in the way you'd expect. Love can take many forms: familial, platonic, self-love, and this drama was a masterclass in all the kinds.
The secondary couple I'm talking about is Hong Shi Jun and Son Ju-A, high school sweethearts who spent seven years together before coming to a crashing, tragic end.
The lingering feelings and unspoken confessions bring them together for one last time: their final chance to set things right. The ebb and flow of their relationship, the constant push and pull, pulled me in, so much so that I forgot that they were the second couple.
At first I found myself rooting for them, hoping for a cliche end where they realise their true feelings and the power of love sets everything right! But after episode 8-9, I finally, fully understood that they couldn't be together.
Jua's vice was loving Si-Jun too much and never asking for anything in return. She put aside everything for him and loved him like crazy. Si-jun's vice was loving Jua quietly, without any late night confessions or grand sweeping spectacles. This was fine for a while, but later brewed and caused burns that no words could heal.
They couldn't get back together. I realised it at the same time that the characters did. There was too much hurt that had been there for much too long. Even if they resolved everything and got back together, the wounds wouldn't go away.
This drama is a masterclass in storytelling. The way I understood some things even when they weren't said, the way the characters hesitate and glance at each other in silence, and when they speak it's in a few quiet words that carry the weight of a thousand unspoken regrets. I can't even begin to describe the feels this drama gave me.
It made me cry, it made me smile and most of all, I felt relieved when they finally parted because I understood, as did the characters, that they weren't meant to be.
I also want to say that I understand that romance wasn't really the point of the main couple coming together. It was grief. They processed their grief and trauma with each other and that's a beautiful thing.
After of all that, Ko Jun was actually my favourite character. A person who has no choice but to live on for someone else. He also taught me so much about grief. Sometimes, you love a person so much but know nothing about them. How do you even bear that? Someone you've loved all your life who didn't even trust you enough to open up about anything?
But that doesn't change anything does it? The part that loved you, was also ultimately a part of that person. They loved you and that was all that mattered.
I know that was kind of a mess and not the structured review I wanted it to be... but I just finished the drama and I feel so empty 🫠I hope you'll give it a try even tho I sound incoherent lol.
That was.... Melo Movie, not the romance it pretended to be, but an excellent, heartwarming portrayal of grief, healing, loss, self love and letting go.
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