And so I reached its end.
Just when I thought that I couldn’t last a 20-episode family drama, I found myself bawling my eyes out (yet) again as I watched the finale of this high-rating series. Any story that deals with my life’s constants is interesting for me. A soft spot probably that celebrates the WHYs behind the WHO I am today.
The age of youth. That awkward, come-what-may stage of our lives when all we want is to rush things, live and believe that the world is for us to own. That time when we seem to have it all figured out only to be proven wrong years later in life. That period when it’s a struggle to understand and be understood.
This coming of age drama brought back the nostalgia of being young as well as the crazy and the heart that comes with it. Each can relate to the characters of Sung Duk-Seon (Hyeri), Choi Taek (Park Bo Gum), Sung Sun Woo (Go Kyung Pyo), Kim Jung Hwan (Ryu Jun Yeol) and Ryu Dong Ryong (Lee Dong Hwi) as they grow old and grow up together.
The foundation of the story is very simple which makes it even more appealing for me. It’s a family drama sans the drama. If an episode made you cry, chances are it’s because it delivered a line that warmed your heart or a scene that touched your very core. Not to mention that the OST can make you feel melancholic too.
Real friendships and strong family ties. Two constants that serve as the backbone of the person we are now. No matter how odd, different or unconventional these relationships are in each of us, they indeed contributed to the becoming of us.
“There’s nothing more annoying and tackier than something that has belonged to me for a long time. However, another way to say “tacky” and “sick of” is “accustomed to” and “comfortable”. The feeling of being accustomed only comes with having spent a long time with something. And only the people I’m comfortable with can truly know me, embrace me and console me. Sometimes, you’re sick of something and it’s so tacky that you don’t event want to look at it. But, the only people in the world who can protect me are “my people”. People whom I’m used to and whom I’m comfortable with. The people who have been my people for a long time are people who you cannot help but to love them. We cannot help loving them. You can’t help but to love them.”– Jung Hwan
I think I left my heart in Ssangmundong after finishing all its episodes. They grew in me as I journeyed with them and their stories.
Binge watch and look back again to the best days of your life.
You and your youth.