[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Our Beloved Summer" Episode 14

Last time on "Our Beloved Summer" Woong had asked Yeon-soo, in the context of their restarting their romantic relationship, why she broke up with him five years ago. The episode ends with him asking that exact same question, again. He just includes more assurances that he won't be mad and is simply dedicated to knowing everything that's going on with her. This is despite there being so many scenes hinting that he already basically knew that I don't even know what to think any more in terms of who knows what about the backstory.

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The problem with "Our Beloved Summer" is that the conflict has no obstacles. Yeon-soo simply refuses to talk to Woong for no reason, because every possible motivation for her taciturnity is presented in too scattershot a way. Early on we get a flashback of Yeon-soo as a child making an early turn to aloofness because she apparently has no parents. Obviously Woong knows that Yeon-soo has no parents and lives with her grandmother.

This isn't a reason for her not to talk to him! "Our Beloved Summer" has also gotten to the point where NJ's storyline is actually making the overall storyline worse, just because NJ's storyline is more well-drawn. NJ abruptly realizes during a recording session that she can't relate to the experience of wanting to share a quiet moment with friends because she has no friends. As usual, Roh Jeong-eui shows tremendous nuance in the moment. She's not resentful.

NJ just doesn't get the premise of an advertisement that is intended for a broad audience because her whole idea of what qualifies as normal is so skewed. We can also see, through her chat with Ji-woong, that what appealed to her so much about Woong wasn't that Woong himself was so special, but just the fact that he spoke to her like she was a normal person at all. Those scenes with NJ show definite character growth building on past experiences.

What makes these nominally good scenes frustrating is that they call so much attention to how the main storyline isn't doing that. Woong and Yeon-soo's love story is charming in the sense of affirmations. Yeon-soo, for all her diffidence, wants Woong to really fight for her, despite this defying his personality. This has almost nothing to do with any of the story's actual plot hooks. The documentary is finally released, for example, to almost no effect in the actual narrative.

Review by William Schwartz

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"Our Beloved Summer" is directed by Kim Yoon-jin-I, written by Lee Na-eun-I, and features Choi Wooshik, Kim Da-mi, Kim Sung-cheol, Roh Jeong-eui, Ahn Dong-goo, Park Won-sang. Broadcasting information in Korea: 2021/12/06~Now airing, Mon, Tue 22:00 on SBS.

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