Oh boy. This is truly a difficult drama to write a review for. There’s so much going on here. Some, brilliantly written and portrayed. Some, truly hard to come by in media and dramaland. Some, well-intentioned but poorly written. And some, just poorly considered in general.

There are spoilers, sectioned off to the bottom, because it was impossible to make my review make sense without them. But they are clearly marked and separated as such, should anyone want my general thoughts only.

Based on the premise and advertisements, I was expecting a lot of cringe. Thankfully, there wasn’t as much as anticipated. They also became fewer as the story continued on. I would still say it’s much like a mash-up of the western stories “13 Going on 30” and “Sex Education,” but I found this mash-up itself not as unagreeable as initially presumed.

I think the biggest appeal to this drama is the representation and discussions.

Throughout the drama we get to watch as these initially unhealthy relationships resolve their individual and collective problems to become more healthy - for themselves and each other. There’s a lot of growth in these characters - something that I, as a character-driven consumer, love to see.

We also have completely human and developed trans AND nonbinary representation. We have straight, gay, and lesbian romance storylines with near equal prominence. A prominent storyline about BDSM and kink, that’s partially played for laughs, but also gets serious and reflective. We also get to see a side gay character. While some viewers may interpret this character as being asexual (and it’s totally within their rights to headcanon him as such), it’s important to recognize that this bedroom preference (rather opposite to a vers you could say) is rarely seen in media or discussed. So, while I only pressed play on this drama for the possible asexuality, I do not regard him as such - nor do I mind that he’s not.

There were also great topics about outing and being out, trauma, pregnancy, identity, workplace harassment, prejudice, safe sex practices, non-monogamy, and consent. Important topics. Topics that need to be discussed. A lot of these felt rather rushed in resolution, but understandably so given the amount of different problems and plot lines were packed into this drama. But uniting all of these plotlines is the notion that a singular moment can forever change you and your relationships moving forward. And that regret and forgiveness are powerful forces that shouldn’t be underestimated or scoffed at.

Romance wise, I actually found myself torn between the obviously end-game couple and each of their rival love interests. Especially since I did not feel that the ML (Alex) is actually IN love with the FL (Jean). He admires and cares about her for sure, but in love? I’m not convinced. And I can’t help but think it’s the writing or the lack of focus on this supposed romance, as New has sold me on his romances before (in the Kiss franchise and in Put Your Head on my Shoulder).

I loved the soundtrack (shazamed quite a few of them), but the fact that seemingly the majority of them were in English has me wondering who exactly the intended audience of this drama is meant to be? *side-eyeing GMMTV*



—SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT FORWARD—



My main issue is about the central premise. The main conflict centers around consent. It even gives straight up literal lectures on the subject. But yet never seems to address that one cannot consent when drunk.

Here’s the main premise:

Alex made a vow of chastity to his mother that he would be a virgin until he’s 18 (because turning 18 totally inherently changes his maturity). On the day before his birthday, Alex goes to a party and one of his crushes (because he has two), Jean, proposes that they have sex. So excited that he forgets his vow, despite it being on his mind all the way up until this moment, goes in search of a condom. Alex’s friend then forces him to drink a bucket full of strong alcohol in order to “earn” said condom.

Now thoroughly drunk, so drunk that he doesn’t register witnessing anything, being kissed twice, or even getting punched, the only thing keeping him moving forward is the thought of having sex with Jean (who has, by the way, decided to take some shots to keep her courage up). Is this unrealistic to the reality of being drunk? Possibly. But this is how the drama presents it.

Now Alex and Jean are both inebriated and having sex. Jean sobers up and withdraws her consent upon realizing that Alex forgot to put the condom, that he went through all that trouble for, on. She tries to get him to stop. But he’s so far gone from being drunk (remember, he didn’t even register that he was punched just a minute ago) that he doesn’t notice.

So Jean comes out of this experience traumatized (rightfully and understandably so).
The Alex that resumes that timeline is praised for his actions that night, and like a teenager, gets swept away by the fame of it all.
The Alex we come to know gets plummeted into the future, seemingly punished for committing this act of now mutually non-consensual intercourse just seconds before turning 18.

So now we have two victims of this action. Yes, Jean was way worse off than Alex, but they are still both victims. The script makes relative light of both of them as both of them paint themselves as the bigger/only victim.

But while this story had the chance to actually paint Alex as the victim he should be, we see that his only sustained concern throughout the drama is being able to climax again. So he goes around dropping these bombs of wisdom and compassion and relentlessly pursuing Jean to reconcile.

For one, reconciliation should be on her terms and her terms alone.
Secondly, while Alex’s actions suggest that he does care for his friends while he’s solving their problems, this concern doesn’t seem to linger. Instead, it comes back to “fixing the curse.” Not so that he can fix all these problems. Not so that he can go back to the past (heck, he doesn’t even grieve the loss of his beloved grandfather for more than a few seconds). But so that he can climax again.

Talk about insensitive and immature. Like, we come to like this character through the actions he takes with his friends’ problems, but then these points get brought up again and remind us that this character is a teenager. It creates a strange unbelievable dichotomy that’s hard to keep up with.

And then there’s the way Jean’s story is framed. Jean has sexual trauma from the incident. And period problems (that are brought up for like 2 episodes and never again) presumably from the resultant abortion. Considering how many people are out there in similar situations, the writers really should’ve at least mentioned the notion that one doesn’t require sex to have a good relationship (it would’ve fit the story as well). It paints a story of a woman who is unfulfilled in life, who thinks herself unlovable. And it paints this sexual trauma as not only a problem that needs to be fixed for her to be fulfilled and loved, but an unfixable problem at that. An unfixable problem that gets fixed by Alex going back in time, an option not available to real-life individuals who share her affliction.