Twenty-Five, Twenty-One #Second Impressions

"Change your life through action"
Good morning. This is Zero.

🤔 "Is watching Netflix an action?"
😗 "Of course, it's a positive action."

This time, I'm writing about "Twenty-Five, Twenty-One"
which I also wrote about on April 11th.

I've finished watching it all, so here are my thoughts.
It was truly interesting. It was great.
From episode 14 to 16, I was crying the whole time.

Contains spoilers.
If you haven't watched it yet, are planning to watch it,
or are in the middle of it, please turn back here.

Well then, let's get started!

"That summer was ours"

The story progresses as the protagonist Na Hee-do's daughter (Min-chae) looks at Hee-do's diary and remembers (recollects) the past.

🤔 "It's just a youth drama, right?"
🤨 "Huh!? It's not just that. It's a youth drama that draws you in immensely!"
"Why? Why is it so captivating?"

I forced myself to narrow it down to three reasons.

🤺 I'm drawn to the historical background

Na Hee-do is an 18-year-old high school student,
Baek Yi-jin is a 22-year-old part-timer four years her senior
(likely Korean age, counting years),
set in 1998 as looked back upon by a child through a diary.

🙄 "What was I doing in 1998?"
"I was a college senior!! Almost the same generation!"
"Even though the countries are different, there's so much I can relate to."

In the drama, Baek Yi-jin's family goes bankrupt due to the IMF currency crisis, and Na Hee-do transfers schools. They are at the mercy of the times.

There was the Great Hanshin Earthquake in '95, and it was the employment ice age around graduation. The company I joined laid me off after six months; I was also affected by the times. Things like that happened.

🤔 "The changes in communication methods—pager to mobile phone to email—are also nostalgic."

Communication methods evolved along with moving up in grades and school. Also, the bulky computers, CRT televisions, floppy disks, and MDs were nostalgic.

"Back before email, we used to send faxes. It was hopeless if your parents picked them up😱"

It's nostalgic for those around 40 and older. It's fresh for Gen Z. I think both can enjoy it.

😆 People in their 40s should definitely watch it!!

🤺 Drawn to the friendship

😭 "Tears shed many times over the friendship between Yu-rim and Hee-do"

When they discover each other's true identities
The Olympic finals
Hee-do's retirement

I cried along with the two of them.
Rivals in the fencing club who don't get along
"Hurry up and become friends."
Betraying the viewers who thought that, they just keep getting along worse.

When Yu-rim ran away after seeing the yellow rose
😱 "No way!!"

Is this, by any chance,
Yi-jin posing as Injeolmi
"She Was Pretty"style development?

🙂 "I'm glad it didn't turn out that way"
When she immediately revealed she was Injeolmi
☺️ "I was incredibly happy"

Our personalities don't match! Once you think that, they match even less. Even if that's not really the case!

Jealousy, vanity, past memories, goals, and dreams

Because of just a tiny misunderstanding or a slip-up, people who were supposed to be close friends drift apart. Maybe it's inevitable when you're competing for something. I understand that, but it's a gap that can't be fixed.
It was good that the two of them had the chat.

"It was our era"

The ultimate rivals. And, best friends.
Around '99, would that be Hakkinen and Schumacher?

They stop being able to say what they really feel and start clashing. Even so, the reason the "friendship" with Yu-rim didn't fall apart was perhaps because they weren't dependent on each other?

Ji-woong and Seung-wan were also the best.
In the school trip scene, it reminded me of when I traveled with friends, like the Tottori Sand Dunes in high school or Shodoshima in college.

Memories with the friends from back then. Nice!!

😆 Anyone who has friends should definitely watch this!

🤺 Drawn to the path of the two

Will they get together? Won't they?
What will happen?

The path of Hee-do and Yi-jin's love.
Early on, Hee-do's daughter calls him "Mr. Yi-jin"
and we realize he isn't her father.

When you think about it carefully, the daughter is Kim Min-chae.
Her mother is Na Hee-do. Baek Yi-jin.
From the very beginning of the first episode, the daughter is called by her full name in an unnatural way. 😱 I hadn't noticed.

"No, just get together already."
is what I'm always thinking in my heart.

In episode 14, it delivers the final blow.
News anchor Yi-jin interviews Olympic gold medalist Hee-do.

"Lastly, congratulations on your marriage"

😵 "Don't give us spoilers!!"
The style of stating the conclusion first.
Is this a presentation!? It's fine if it's just a dream!

Hee-do gets married,
and it's a dream where he interviews her!?

Yi-jin jumps up, "What? Was it a dream?"
"I'm the one who marries Hee-do."

If such a scene existed,
it would feel like it degraded into a mediocre work with no emotional impact or lingering resonance.

That couldn't be. This is a masterpiece.
The middle-aged viewer's"Please stay together!"wish did not come true.

They loved with all their might. But it didn't work out.
They didn't break up because they grew to hate each other.
They broke up precisely because they loved each other, because they loved each other so much.

"Is it a sad ending?"

I didn't think so. It's not a happy ending. It's not a bad ending either.
It's sad, but refreshing. In the first place, it's not an ending. Even if the drama ends, life goes on.
So, it hasn't ended.

Yu-rim and Ji-woong get married.
The two of them seemed to have a more difficult road ahead.

They overcame that.

Then, Hee-do and Yi-jin should have overcome it too!!
They didn't.

A news anchor and an Olympian. The two couldn't overcome their busy schedules and drifting apart.
Or, did they break up in order to overcome it?

"They cared for each other. But it didn't work out."

A news anchor and an Olympian.
If you scale down this situation,
and replace it with an office worker and a college student, or job hunting, for example.

It's not that they grew to hate each other.
They just drifted apart.
It's not that they grew to resent each other.
For the sake of what they had to do,
they broke up while still in love.

"Does everyone have such memories?"

But, I have no regrets.
I am not clinging to it.
It's a precious memory.

Because of that experience, I am who I am today.
Sometimes life doesn't go as planned.
But, precisely because of that,

the result was brilliant,
and the process was beautiful.

The drama has ended, but
the protagonist of my life is me.

That illusion from back then. That intensity from back then.
Those thoughts from back then. Those feelings from back then.

Remembering those,
what will I do from now on?
Walk firmly, okay?

I felt like I was told that.

"That summer belonged to us."

Yes, it was my summer too.
I felt like I had stepped into the drama.
It was such a wonderful work.

🤔 "Wait, you've never had a romance like Yi-jin and Hee-do's, right? You're talking about it like it's a memory everyone has."
😵 "It's at the level where memories and delusions get mixed up!! That's how interesting it was."

See you again

#TwentyFiveTwentyOne
#NaHeeDo
#BaekYiJin
#K-Drama
#Netflix

Introducing a wonderful review from a noter

Mei-san's note

I was like, 'Yes, exactly, exactly!'
Please, take a look.

📻 I talked about it