K-Drama: That One Teenage Crush Kept In Our Hearts

Our Beloved Summer | 그해 우리는 (2021)

Netflix | Our Beloved Summer

Kook Yeon-Su (Kim Da-Mi) and Choi Woong (Choi Woo-Shik) go to the same high school in a small town, yet live very different lives. Yeon-Su is top of the year group, smart, hard-working, and is considered to be very cold-blooded. Woong on the other hand doesn’t seem to care much, or at all, about grades. His grades are actually the lowest in the whole school, which he’s fine with as he prefers to stay in the shade for naps than study. What puts these two completely opposite characters side-by-side is a documentary that they end up filming together. The documentary puts the two students with top grades and the lowest grades with each other for a month to observe the chemistry and changes of the two.

Netflix | Our Beloved Summer

Although none of them really wished to film this in the start, one thing led to another and they ended up being classmates for a month. With such differences in their personalities and lifestyles, it was a given that they wouldn't be best buddies. However, there was definite chemistry from the quarrels and laughs that they often had. Ten years later when this old documentary suddenly went viral online, people were loving these cute high schoolers and wished to see more of it. 

Netflix | Our Beloved Summer

But ten years is not a short time, and there has been a lot going on. The truth is that these two have been in a relationship for five years since the documentary. Nonetheless, after a harsh breakup, they’ve never seen each other for the next five years that followed.  Yes, this K-drama is really dealing with ex-lovers that spent their most intense, loving, impassioned, yet selfish early 20s together. How they feel about each other now is the main emotion of interest that absorbs viewers into Our Beloved Summer.

Naver WEBTOON | Our Beloved Summer

If you’re a heavy K-drama fan you might’ve noticed that many K-dramas these days are originally based on webtoons. For Our Beloved Summer, it’s a little different. The drama series and the webtoon series released the first episode on the same day, with the same characters. But rather than unfolding the same plot, the webtoon acts as a prequel of the drama. While the drama deals with bits of Woong and Yeon-Su’s school lives as flashbacks to mainly focus on the present life of them as 29-year-olds, the webtoon stays in high school. It’s kinda like looking into the drama characters’ behind the scenes story, which made the whole experience with a lot more interesting!

Netflix | Our Beloved Summer

We’re coming near to the end of the series at the moment, as up to twelve episodes have been released out of sixteen (releasing on Jan 26 2022). I’m glad I started binge-watching the series during my start-of-year break, cause it easily became my favourite K-drama of 2022 and no doubt will stay that way for the next eleven months. The acting is AMAZING for all characters. The expression of mixed emotions is so realistic, that it makes you feel like you’re the one who broke up and ran into your ex five years later. With a very easy watch, Our Beloved Summer will bring you multiple thoughts about your own immature, childlike but also very sincere relationships of the past teen life. Check our K-Media TMI articles, and you won’t find much of me recommending drama series - which is the exact reason why you MUST watch this one. In hopes you do, here’s the official trailer!