Disappointing
There isn't much to discuss; it would have been better as a 12-episode series. I ended up fast-forwarding through the second half just to finish it. The ending was lackluster, and many storylines were left unresolved or forgotten. The only consistent aspect was the military enlistment of the male leads. It's disappointing because I was genuinely intrigued and enjoyed the first half of the series..
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Great show but the ending? Meh.
This drama started out with a lot of promise. I was really enjoying everything that was happening in the first half of the show. I was enjoying it so much that heading into the second half of the season brought about some anxiety as I just knew that the other shoe was going to drop and everything was going to go up in flames. I was right that everything was going to change in the second part of the season but I was less invested in what was happening in the second half.So this show follows two best friends who are both actors and a makeup artist who is fiercely independent and a huge fangirl over the main male lead, Sa Hye-Jun (Park Bo Gum). Sa Hye-Jun is a twenty-something-year-old actor and model who is looking for his huge break. He’s a struggling actor, working multiple part-time jobs to support himself and seems to only get the crumbs from his much more successful, and rich best friend, Won Hae-Hyo. The story follows the both of them as they struggle, Hye-Jun struggled with staying true to himself and to his beliefs in the harsh world of entertainment, and Won Hae-Hyo struggles with being in the shadow of Hye-Jun’s spotlight for the first time. He’s not used to coming in second behind Hye-Jun in anything and realizing the truth about every job he’s ever gotten, every follower he’s got on social media bites him in the ass so they both struggle with being jealous of what the other has.
When Ahn Jeong-Ha comes onto the scene, she’s proud to be a fangirl for Hye-Jun because he’s everything she hoped that he would be before she met him. When they became friends and they flirted their way into a relationship, I was so invested in their relationship and in their lives apart from each other. They were interesting characters who didn’t have it easy but were optimistic that eventually if they worked hard enough, their efforts would pay off. They understood each other better than anyone else in their lives and seeing them grow to care for each other on a more personal level was a lot of fun.
I really enjoyed a lot of what this show had going on. The relationship between Hye-Jun and his grandfather was a good one. The relationship between Hye-Jun and his two best friends even though they were all idiots at different points in the show. I liked the friendship that sparked between Ahn Jeong-Ha and Hye-Jun’s manager was another fun friendship that was enjoyable. I liked that they all had their own struggles that they were dealing with but were still there for one another when it was needed. I liked that their friendships weren’t perfect but they were trying to be good people and when things fell apart, that was where I was left feeling confused AF. I didn’t understand what drove Jeong-Ha to do a lot of the things that she did, where Hye-Jun was concerned. It felt out of place, and character with what she felt and acted throughout the entire first part of the show.
A lot of the issues that Hye-Jun suffered through with his family, his friends, and then with the work stuff didn’t make sense to me. Like Hye-Jun’s Dad. What in the bleeping hell was his problem? He acted like Hye-Jun was irresponsible. The boy was damn near killing himself working so many different part-time jobs so that his parents didn’t have to support him and his acting jobs, but that didn’t stop his Dad from bitching at him for breathing. The way that the Dad’s lopsided support system worked got on my hot damn nerves because Hye-Jun was paying for crimes that were not his to begin with. I was glad that the Mom supported him and loved him through everything. But the Dad and the brother got on my hot damn nerves. The Dad eventually wins me over but even until the end, the brother annoyed the shit out of me.
Overall, the acting was good and the story was a solid one but the second half didn’t capture enough to keep me in love with what was happening to the characters and I just thought the second part of the season was weaker than the first. So it had a strong start but the end left a lot to be desired and I’m not used to that with the k-dramas that I’ve watched so far. I really finished the last episode looking lost as hell.
Because, honestly, WTF kind of ending was that? It left a lot to be desired and I’m not a fan of those, leave it up to the consumer to figure out on their own BS. Tell me what the heck happens to them and leave no detail spared, please. So he comes back, sees that she’s wearing his shoes and …that’s it? Nope, didn’t like that shit. At all but I didn’t hate it enough to give this drama less than 3 stars so the strong start really saved this one for me.
I became a big fan of Park Bo Gum, Park So Dam, and Byeong Woo Seok so I’ll be on the lookout for more of their stuff for sure. Oh and another really big highlight for me was the Park Seo Jun cameo. OMG, every time he came on the screen, I was Hye-Jun’s manager. Haha, she was great and Park Seo Jun was fan-freaking-tastic too. I always love seeing him on my screen. So yeah, those were great and if the ending had matched the strong start, I would have given this one a higher grade but oh well…life’s not perfect.
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less than my expectation
i watch this drama because the visual is do attractive (of course Netflix did well) and i thougt is going to be lite drama that i can watch when i just don want to think about everything.I really enjoyed for first quarter of this drama; slice of life. But the writter make the main actor always have many problem that never ending. The plot also have slow time untill i get sicked of this story.
The main reason why i still watch because the visual and the character the of the mom of tha main role. She has strong personallity and i love it. but overall the drama is tell about the bitter of youth of many people that they faced.
For the ending it self i love how the writter make it so realistic and real so it really suitable of whole stories.
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A romantic story, but not the goal
It's not a must-see, if you're not Bo Gum fan.There's a lot of secondary stories and they don't finalize the majority of them.
The romance is cute, but a bit cheesy. I think it's okay to be cheesy when you're in love, and they tried to show the couple's jokes and things like that.
For me, it feels like a drama to promote Bo Gum skills, and I confess I would certainly watch him as a bad guy. Not sure if I consider a great acting, but I believed in him when he stands as a good guy, doing the right thing.
I don't think it's a great romantic story, cuz it wasn't the main focus. The main focus is the protagonist decisions about life. If you watch with romance in mind, will be disappointed.
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Park Bo Gum is a great actor and played his part well. I have always admired Park So Dam, she did well. I thank all the other actors/actresses for their part in this drama. I thank the team as well.
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Fresh and loving drama
To be honest I’m surprised to see the amount of really negative reviews on here. I have to admit that it’s not my favorite K-drama of all time, but I did feel a lot of important messages coming through. I also really enjoyed the acting, the OSTs are great and I could actually see a lot of character development. I’ll point out some of my favorite things/storylines:
- One issue that a lot of reviewers mentioned was that An Jung ha was amazing at communicating at first but completely stopped in the last episodes. I do get why people find it confusing, because it’s such a big part of her character and also a very big and centered character trait of hers. But for me it did make a lot of sense. I can totally understand how a person could even lose such a dominant character trait when being troubled 24/7. They didn’t really see each other anymore, she slowly felt like the relationship wasn’t right anymore. I, myself, would say that I’m a good communicator and will always say if something’s not right, but I also had times where I was just exhausted from always communicating and speaking up, when I already feel something’s off in a relationship. So I do believe that a person, especially at such a young age and when having a flourishing career.
- I got really mad at Hye Joons dad at times, because I will never understand how you could treat a son like that. But i think that we have to take the relationship between Young Nam and Min Gi into account before accusing Hye Joons dad of anything. It did frustrate me at times, but I also know that cultures differ and that talking to your children like that is normal in some. I am a sucker for apologies from parents though, so I did bawl my eyes out in the last episode, both at the awards ceremony and the scene in Hye Joons room. The last episodes showed the depth of Young Nam and Min Gi, I did wish it would’ve happened a little earlier.
- I actually did enjoy that Hae Hyo did not try to make any moves on Jung Ha. He did have a huge crush and did spend a lot of time with her, but he always stayed loyal to his childhood friend. The trio friendship itself was very beautiful to witness. Although they did resent each other at times, they always found a way back to each other and communicated well. The boys really do love each other dearly and they grew to be adults, but will always be boys when together.
- Hae Hyos mom was terrible in my opinion and what she did was only hurting her children. She was selfish and only wanted her Hae Hyo to succeed so she could have her way. In the last few minutes of the last episode there was a complete turn around of her character and although I do believe that she has changed over Hae Hyos military time, but I just don’t like her in general and believe that she still is quite toxic. She did bring a lot of tension and drama to the series, so I did enjoy it.
- The romantic relationship between Jung Ha and Hye Joon was beautiful and youthful. They did have their faults and I did miss the passion at times, but it did fit both characters well to be super understanding. I did not like the open end in the beginning, but it has grown on me. In my imagination they definitely end up together and Jung Ha will finally meet Hye Joons family (and will learn what a loving family is).
- My favorite message that I received from this Drama was that no matter the age, you can always follow your dreams and make success out of it. I feel like a lot of young people, all over the world, have to chose a career path way to early. Seeing the grandfather do what he really enjoys and being successful by doing it, might inspire a lot of people to chose a career that actually makes them happy.
What I did not like is the following:
- I felt like the last episode was rushed and so many things were put in.
- I would’ve enjoyed to see more of Jung Has relationship with her mom. A lot of people wrote that they did not understand why it was even mentioned at all. I think that it showed the contrast between a functioning and not functioning family quite well. Hye Joons family wasn’t perfect at all, but they loved each other a lot and somehow always found their way back into each other’s arms.
If you enjoy really dramatic and kind of toxic storylines where the man chases the girl to the maximum and is the dominant one, DON’T watch this drama, because you will hate it.
I did really enjoy it, because it was a youthful and fresh approach to a typical storyline. I liked the character development of the main, but also of some side characters.
It changed my view on a lot of topics concerning Koreans society and it also changed how I see Korean celebrities, they do not have it easy.
Would definitely recommend if you don’t like rushed storylines and like a loving relationship between FL and ML!
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don't expect too much
i personally didn't mind the show and i kind of wish there were more like it. a lot of people say it was disappointing but i wasnt expecting much when i first watched it anyway. i was looking for a kdrama that didn't have much drama and i got what i wanted. yeah, it's a bit slow but it's sort of an easy finish when you just want to wind down. everyone says the ending wasnt good and even though it wasnt great, it's definitely not the worst out there. the story is literally what the title is, 'record of youth'. its borderline realist. i like that it doesn't entirely focus on love either, i kind of like how it's a bit unstable. would i watch it again? maybe not, but i don't regret watching it once.Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
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Cute and not horrible!
A couple things about this drama, and if you watch a lot of kdramas, you’re probably used to way more drama. This is definitely not that kind of drama!First, This is a feel good, watch characters develop, grow and overcome the pressures elders put on them growing up. That alone is inspiring and eye opening for young people trying to break through different social classes… YOU CAN DO IT!
Second, the cast is seriously amazing. They seem to work so well together… from the main characters to support characters, everyone plays their part well… well enough to hate some of them. Even those hated characters!
Third, it wraps up nicely. This is not a drama that will leave you hanging…. Though episode 12-15 are a bit boring, you see pain and growth in this time.
If you’re looking to take a break from those tear jerking dramas and just want to root for characters that you know will succeed, this is your drama!! Plus, swoooooon over the amazing cast!!!
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kinda boring
I really really wanted to like this drama. And for the most part, I did. I liked the family dynamic of the main lead and I liked his struggle to fame, esp the bit where he was confused about whether to take on the last shot of opportunity. It felt relatable in many ways. However, the biggest miss for me was the lackluster chemistry between the two main leads. I liked them individually but together they were kinda boring. Disappointed because I usually really enjoy their work as actors and I was looking forward to seeing them together on screen.Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
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I saw in it something else
Again, I am going up the river of dissapointed reviews. Again, I saw in this drama something else and I don’t regret it. Again, I want to be that weird one and give you my opinion which will be totally confused.I know I often focuse on psychology of characters, which is pretty basic, but I have feeling that this part of this subject doesn’t take much of our attention. Which I don't like much, maybe. Supressing emotions, communication that no longer works as before, personality problems and more. These are topics I would love to see more in dramas. And yeah, Record of Youth gave me this in full experience, that I was anxious. Maybe I liked it because I saw myself in main characters, maybe. Or maybe not and I loved it for thought which created this story.
Record of Youth doesn’t tell a story about romance which never won’t die, we won’t get many miracles here and also not many dramatic scenes that we are used to from dramas like It’s okay to not be okay and so on.
I can understand why many people don’t like it, second half just hits differently and even though this part of the story gave me headache and I was feeling like I was watching my life crushing, the bigger impression from this show I have. In second half, story turns of, it’s not about a girl, how she falls in love with boy in real life and the same goes for him, we follow life change: Hyejun starts to be more popular and their relationship begins to stagn, it is on place where way out of it isn’t that sure anymore. They didn’t communicate about their hardships and they are with themselves pretending they are okay. She doesn't want to burden him, he does the same. It was amazing watch how it doesn’t work anymore, atmosphere of their relationship got me, not happy anymore, it was just sad and even sadder was how they couldn’t talk it out.
Every character has his space, not much, but has. In the end, yeah, I didn’t get answers on all of my questions, but this is again something, which I somehow like. There were plots which were only outlined, but not finished, still it suited the story so much. Because timing of everything was off and story told us everything is not that easy and it definitely can’t be.
This show definitely has lacks, I admit, but the thought which it gave me was more important. We got a story about a topic that is not discussed very often, I am reminded of "At a distance, Spring is Green", these shows work differently and maybe people are not ready for it or maybe I am just weird, I don’t know that yet. But I love it.
Also big applause for cast, Park Bo Gum gave his best and Park So Dam was fabulous as lead heroine, Heo Hyo was for other people plain, but I saw his internal struggles and again, here we are, with supressing emotions, not talking about it that much. Every character somehow won me over.
I definitely recommend it, but also – you need to have similar thinking as me to like it, it’s a little hard to watch, but worth it.
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Better than its rating suggests
Cursory watch.There is a lot of meat on this despite it having a lot of flaws. The two leads are great, the many dysfunctional family dynamics are intriguing, although some of the actors are underwhelming or seem to be acting in a different, comedy script while this is clearly a drama. I like how both lead characters never resort to screaming and try to stay calm, collected, kind and thoughtful while navigating job and personal troubles that are infuriating. I like how these infuriating issues are thrown at the viewer in a manner that deems them mature enough to work through it and never give them an easy out.
The treatment of the lgbt storyline is despicable, it seems this writer is so sexuality/gender illiterate that they can not even make the distinction between workplace harassment and merely being gay, one is bad, the other is not. There are not enough characters with an explicitly lgbt friendly stance. This is just not good enough in 2020.
On the whole there is a lot of good, some bad, but this drama gets an unfairly bad rep.
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Are you surprised with the high rating that I give, I have my reason ⬇️
When the most simple scene helps you reflect on the thing that you do, you know that it’s sincere.This drama is full of sincerity and that what unite all the pieces you’ve seen throughout the story. When I first watched the teaser, I question the genre, “would it be romance? Why does it only look like a slice-of-life drama to me?” Well, it does feel very slow-paced and “boring” in the beginning but later you’ll see that every scene matters. Every character in this drama might show you every side of yourself. Yes, you. In one scene you’ll feel like you know Hye Jun like you’ve been in his shoes, on another scene you’ll feel like no one know you better than Hye Hyo does. Yes, everyone is so relatable as the writer shows everyone’s story.
Can you imagine being all wet after enjoying some "good rain"? You will catch a cold and feeling all uncomfortable, but you glad you took the chance to have fun there when it happened. Watching this drama feels like that to me, so does everything that happened in the story. You will wonder if you've done the right thing, regret it, but you then think you might probably do the same thing if that would ever happen to you again.
I appreciate the writer for appreciating every character in the movie. Although there’s nothing new here, the plot feels like it was not made to satisfy the viewer, but to let the characters be honest with themselves. That’s cool, tho! — OOT but, from this drama, I realized that people can stay being who they are but their thought & action toward certain things (and or people) can change. That is a realistic yet hopeful point of view. Love it, hehe.
This might not be most people's cup of tea, however...if you have not watched this drama yet, I would still recommend this! Who knows that this drama would help you appreciating a silent night and your own room like never before.
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