About Time

About Time

3/10

About Time

Genre:                                                    Episodes: 16                                   Year: 2018

Romance

Melodrama

Synopsis:

Choi Michaela has the ability to see how long people have left to live as a clock that counts backwards. She herself has only three months left to live when she meets Lee Do Ha, a man who causes her life-clock to stop when he is near her.

Cast:

Lee Sung Kyung (Choi Michaela)

Lee Sang Yoon (Lee Do Ha)

Kim Hae Sook (Oh So Nyeo)

Kim Dong Joon (Jo Jae Yoo)

Im Se Mi (Bae Soo Bong)

Han Seung Yeon (Jeon Sung Hee)

Ro Woon (Choi Hwi Jin)

Min Sung Wook (Lee Do Bin)

Kang Ki Doong (Park Woo Jin)

Tae In Ho (Park Sung Bin)

General Thoughts:

This drama basically took everything that has ever annoyed me in all the K-Dramas I've watched, and condensed it into one package. This has got to be one of the most stupid, pointless, and irritating dramas I have watched ever. Not just in my K-Drama watching career. I mean, ever. Even the weird shows my baby cousins watch that are just people playing with toys make more sense than this sad excuse for entertainment.

I swear this drama caused me actual physical pain

I feel bad saying it, because I know it sounds harsh- but it isn’t. This drama is just unbelievably bad, and everyone involved in its making needs to know so that they can never make some something like this again. From what I can tell, this is the writer’s first ever drama, and that’s really where all the problems start.

Whine on

I usually say that I find dramas that are character based more emotional and interesting than those that are plot driven. ‘About Time’ is an example of a drama that is trying to be character driven but just fails. There is nothing going on in the plot, and the characters can’t make the show interesting because they basically just suck. Well no, to be fair it’s really only Mi Ka that sucks, but seeing as she takes up 98% of all screen time, it does often feel like she’s the only character in this show. Essentially what this drama had was a great premise and no idea what to do with it. The idea of the heroine seeing lifespan as ticking clocks was cool in a creepy kind of way, and was ripe for all sorts of adventures. But not long after the start of the show it became evident that the life-clocks were no more than a quick gimmick to get people to tune in. There was no plan for what happened after. The life clocks were largely ignored as a whole, and were only used as a plot device to get Mi Ka and Do Ha into contact with each other, and then provide an excuse for them to separate. The life clocks were given no thought whatsoever. The reason Mi Ka and So Nyeo could see them was never explained, nor was it ever explained why Mi Ka was able to take time from Do Ha’s clock and add it to hers.

This could have been super cool, instead it was just super annoying

Then, of course, no explanation was given at the end when neither of the leads died, and Mi Ka suddenly stopped seeing life clocks. It was the central point of the show, and it was just swept under the rug, as if we haven’t just watched hours upon hours of this girl running away from this guy cuz she doesn’t want to steal his time. Then poof she can’t see the clocks and suddenly everything is fixed and they live happily ever after. Um, what? The addition of Mi Ka being a musical actress was kind of bizarre, and while I get that it was a part of her character and whatnot, I felt like the musical was squished into this drama in an awkward way that Do Ha’s super lame business plan just didn’t fix.

Everything about the musical was kinda cringey

His big business plan for his father’s multimillion dollar company is…a musical? It just didn’t make sense, and frankly the to-and-froing with the Chinese investor was confusing and boring. Thank goodness the writer at least had the good sense to keep the business/Chaebol side of things to a bare minimum.

Kind of makes our heroine a bit of a home wrecker

The one Chaebol aspect that did get focused on a lot was the arranged marriage. At first Soo Bong seemed like an interesting second lead, as she didn’t take issue with Do Ha seeing Mi Ka as she was under the impression that their marriage would still be going ahead. I must admit, that giving Do Ha a fiancé didn’t make Mi Ka look that great. Sure, Do Ha didn’t love Soo Bong or anything, but Mi Ka didn’t know that. The excuse for being near him was fair enough, but to start developing feelings for a guy that was going to get married is always a low move. It’s not even like Do Ha and Soo Bong disliked each other- they had a fairly good friendship, and until Mi Ka’s appearance Do Ha was pretty keen to get married to Soo Bong. It really felt as if Soo Bong was the one getting screwed over in that equation- which is probably why the drama decided to make her the classic spurned lover who is all but evil and will do anything to get what she wants. Even Soo Bong’s ‘I’ll break him if it means I can have him’ attitude was kind of interesting because, unlike most K-Drama villainous second female leads, it meant she knew exactly what she was doing. Her boring wind up (complete with attempt at revenge suicide) was honestly a bit of a let down for her character, and meant that Do Ha and Mi Ka didn’t actually have to do anything about the problem of the crazy fiancé because Soo Bong sorted out all her issues on her own.

Why would you even keep meeting up with the girl whose fiancé you stole? That seems like a poor plan

While I initially liked So Nyeo, the older lady Mi Ka was friends with, by the time the drama came to a close I honestly did not understand why she was included in the story at all. At first she’s just a cute friend for Mi Ka, but then it’s revealed that So Nyeo can also see life clocks, and she’s presented as a source of wisdom for Mi Ka, as she’s lived her whole life with the clock issue and should supposedly know some helpful hints.

Yes, yes, run away from your problems- that'll fix everything

Only when Mi Ka’s course of action is to ditch Do Ha and find a nice quiet corner to die in, So Nyeo thinks this is a fab plan. So much for her previous position that love and happiness are the most important. In fact, that was an issue I had with this drama as a whole. It kept presenting the idea that love was worth the risk, only our heroine never actually risked anything for love. She spent the whole drama running away, so when she was rewarded at the end with a miracle where everybody lived I was a little miffed. Because Mi Ka did absolutely nothing to earn that happy ending. I was so fed up and annoyed at this drama that I was out for blood- I wanted one of the two leads to die. Morbid? Probably, but still. I wanted Mi Ka to have to live with what she chose. I wanted Do Ha to ignore her and get on with his life, and for her to die regretting that she hadn’t tried to make things work. Because d*mn that girl was annoying and it made me mad that she gets out of the whole thing thinking she made the right calls, cuz she didn’t. Unlike the plot and the characters, the acting wasn’t too bad. In fact, it was pretty good. 

It did feel a bit like Lee Sang Yoon did most of the work- but maybe that's just because Mi Ka was a sucky character

Lee Sang Yoon is always delightful and loveable, and he brought his usual charms to Do Ha, and made him a sweet and likeable man. I’ve always thought Lee Sung Kyung is an acting powerhouse. She brought the emotions in the sadder scenes really well (even if I had emotionally checked out of the drama episodes ago), and despite thinking that Mi Ka is the stupidest most annoying person on the planet, Lee Sung Kyung at least made me believe that the character herself felt like she was making the right calls.

Sadly the chemistry didn't pop as much as I thought it would

Mi Ka felt a little less sporadic due to Lee Sung Kyung’s great performance, but even her amazing acting couldn’t make such an irritating character likeable. Unfortunately good acting alone isn’t enough to make a compelling story. 

What Was Great:

Smaller Roles:

There were a couple of characters sprinkled throughout the show that brought me actual enjoyment. I wouldn’t go as far as saying that the drama was worth watching for these characters alone, but when they were on my screen at least I could think that this drama wasn’t all bad. One such character was Do Ha’s secretary, Woo Jin, played by Kang Ki Doong.

This man is delightfully hilarious

I thought Kang Ki Doong was delightful as one of the officers in ‘Smart Prison Living’, but I honestly found him so charming and hilarious here. He truly made the role his own, and brought all his cute quirks to set to make a character that was just completely fun to watch. Kang Ki Doong has a kind of nervous energy that can make submissive characters so funny when paired with quiet comebacks and comments. Woo Jin rapidly became by favourite character, and I adored any interactions that went on between him and Do Ha. The noona romance between Mi Ka’s younger brother and her best friend was also an aspect of the show that I found fun to watch. While I don’t really like Ro Woon that much (I saw him on some variety show somewhere and he just seemed so full of himself), I will admit that he’s on his way to becoming a pretty decent actor. He nailed the role of the cheeky younger brother, but could also bring in a more serious vibe for the scenes that called for it. I’ve seen Seung Yeon act better than she did in this drama, but I still thought that she had good chemistry with Ro Woon, and enjoyed watching to see how their romance would play out.

#whoops

Then the drama did something truly delightful- even if it was only for a short time. It teased a love triangle between Woo Jin, Sung Hee and Hwi Jin. Yes, yes, and more yes. It was hilarious. Woo Jin and Sung Hee actually had really cute, awkward chemistry together, and before I knew what was happening I was shipping them. Add in the hot headed younger guy who gets insanely jealous and the whole situation was just delightful.

This love triangle > whatever stupidity is going on in the main storyline

I was pretty sad that we only got to see such a small amount of Woo Jin and Sung Hee together, and can’t help but wish that the drama had spent less time focusing on the leads not being together, and more time focusing on the beautifully hilarious situation going on with the side characters.

What Wasn’t:

Noble Idiocy in Overdrive:

I hate noble idiocy. I hate it. With the fire of a thousands suns. I don’t think I have ever sat down and watched some noble idiocy and thought ‘yeah, you know what, that seems like a logical and fair plan’. Except maybe ‘7 Day Queen’, but that was countered out by the amazing communication that went on between the leads.

Boy, save yourself a lot of energy and just walk away now

The leads here had very poor communication skills. Well, Do Ha’s weren’t bad, but Mi Ka seemed almost obsessed with keeping secrets and trying to do things on her own while leaving Do Ha out in the dark. She told Do Ha pretty early on about the life clocks, as it was her way of trying to convince him to let her stay with him. Then they fall in love in the span of about two seconds. Not long after this Mi Ka realised that she’s stealing Do Ha’s time and naturally decides to break up with him. Break Up 1- I don’t love you anymore so I’m leaving. Obviously a lie, and not a very good one, and in no way going to hurt Do Ha less than the truth. Break Up 2- You are stealing my time, and I want to live so I’m leaving. Slightly more believable, but still going to hurt Do Ha. The problem I have with this lie is that it then makes Do Ha look like a bit of a clown for continuously following Mi Ka around and asking her to stay with him. I guess the writer assumed that because we knew the truth we’d give him a pass, but if he actually was shortening her life it’s completely her call whether she wants to stay in the relationship or not, and following her around is totally not cool. Break Up 3- I’m stealing your time and I don’t want to live if it means killing you so I’m leaving.

If you're going to break up do it properly and f*ck off for good!

Finally the truth. Took us long enough to get there. The problem at this point is that Mi Ka still doesn’t feel the need to talk things out with Do Ha. She can only see things from her own perspective and don’t even give him a chance to explain what might be on his mind. She makes all the decisions in the relationship, and disappears whenever she likes.

I'm kinda bummed she didn't die so that he could get a new (better) girlfriend

Even during their brief reconciliation after she told him the truth, she was lying to him and plotting ways to run off on her own. It was exhausting and exasperating, and took up almost all of the drama's screen time. Cliche though it may be, what I was wanting from these two characters was for them (mainly Mi Ka) to realise that it is the happiness of a life, not its length, that is the most important, and for them to spend their days giving and receiving as much love as they can before their potentially tragic ending. What we got was Mi Ka constantly finding excuses to run away from Do Ha before being given a magic, unexplainable happy ending where the life clocks don’t matter and they both get to live. Like, what was the bloody point then? Answer- there was none. Also, on a side note, Mi Ka's Mum was just as stupid and annoying as Mi Ka. I mean, what kind of useless woman doesn't get a job to support her children, spends her daughter's savings, and then whines about her daughter getting mad about it. I guess it explains where all Mi Ka's annoyingness came from- it's hereditary.

Recommend?

Not even if I was dying and the only way to live was to get someone else to watch this drama. 

Don't let the pretty pictures you see online fool you- this drama sucks major donkey balls

Age of Youth 2

Age of Youth 2

7.5/10

Age of Youth 2

Genre:                                Episodes: 14                           Year: 2017

Romance

Comedy

Mystery

Synopsis:

Set one year after the conclusion of Season 1, Kang Yi Na is moving out of the Belle Epoque share-house. Jin Myung has found a job, but struggles after having to fire an employee she grew close to, Ye Eun is still recovering from her kidnap and abuse from the previous year, Ji Won searches for the truth behind a lost memory, and Eun Jae is struggling with her first breakup. A new housemate, Eun, arrives after finding a threatening letter addressed to Belle Epoque.

Cast:

Han Ye Ri (Yoon Jin Myung)

Han Seung Yeon (Jung Ye Eun)

Park Eun Bin (Song Ji Won)

Ji Woo (Yoo Eun Jae)

Choi Ah Ra (Jo Eun)

Kim Min Suk (Seo Jang Hoon)

Son Seung Won (Im Sung Min)

Lee Yoo Jin (Kwon Ho Chang)

Ahn Woo Yeon (Heimdal)

Shin Hyun Soo (Yoon Jong Yeol)

General Thoughts:

I love Age of Youth! As soon as I’d finished watching the first season I was wanting a season 2, and now that I’ve finished Season 2 I want a season 3. It was nice to come back to the house and the housemates that we loved so much in the first season, and it’s good to see that not much has changed (though there ARE some noticeable big changes).

I missed you guys!

The second season really does feel like an exact continuation of the stories in the first, and that’s a big achievement considering how successful the first season was. While the two shows are delightfully similar (same pastel colours, same hint of dark mystery, same painfully realistic problems), the actual stories in season two managed to be vastly different. So while the show is a continuation of all the things we love from Season 1, it’s not a repetition.

It's kinda like being welcomed back home

Obviously Kang Unnie has departed the house so we have a whole new housemate to learn about, but the girls from last time are still growing and developing and having to face new challenges in their lives. The structure of the episodes was also a little different. Rather than having one girl take centre stage and narrate the episode, each of the stories were pretty evenly spread out in every episode, and each of the girls shared the narration. Despite this change in format, the individual stories actually felt much more individual than they did last year. At times I found myself missing the interactions we had between the girls previously as the stories this time around were much more event-based as apposed to character-based. I was actually happiest with how Yoon Sunbae’s arc went. It might have seemed a little strange to some, but I personally enjoyed it a lot. Yoon Sunbae was much more relaxed than she was last season, but still had her semi-prickly exterior, and was still the mother hen to the other girls.

With all her baby chicks

When the character descriptions were released for Season 2, I was sad that Chef wouldn’t be playing a major role, and thought that Yoon Sunbae was getting a new romance. It was a delight that Yoon Sunbae was still dating Chef, even if he was far away, and it made her Noona-Dongsaeng relationship with Heimdal really sweet to watch.

Dorky and kinda cringey- but still cute

I’m glad the show through in a few snippets that suggested that Yoon Sunbae might have been reminded of her younger brother when she looked at Heimdal, but regardless of if she did or didn’t she obviously felt some sort of responsibility towards him. Despite how much she wanted to not care, she just did. Heimdal didn’t have a lot in common with Yoon Sunbae- he was following his dreams and believed if he worked hard enough his effort would pay off. Perhaps Yoon Sunbae felt that way herself once, before she was saddled with debt and had to work any job she could just to survive. It was heartbreaking to watch Heimdal slowly realise that he would never achieve his dream of being a famous idol, but it was almost more heartbreaking for Yoon Sunbae to already know that and have to watch him discover that his dreams were just too out of reach and no amount of hard work or effort would get him there. Ji Won seemed to be making up for the lack of story she got last season, as her story this time around definitely got the most amount of screen time. Hers was the only story this season that had an air of mystery to it, and it was carried out quite well. The show dropped enough hints that by the end we were aware of what had happened without the show needing to blatantly spell it out for us.

The saddest of the 'Age of Youth' stories so far

My favourite part of the mystery was less about the actual events and more about the character responses to the event. Once it became clear what had happened between the two young girls and the art teacher, it became less important what the exact details were and much more important how Hyo Jin and Ji Won reacted.

Sherlock Song and her adorable Watson 

I appreciated that Hyo Jin didn’t hold too much resentment towards Ji Won for what had happened, and that in the end it was about gaining closure and revealing the art teacher’s crimes rather than about revenge. It’s a tricky topic to navigate smoothly, but the writers did an excellent job at keeping the yuck-factor to a minimum while dealing with the fallout of the situation, and I think a lot of that was due to revealing just the right amount of information and of that information just the right amount in flash-back form. I much preferred gathering an idea of what happened from hearing Ji Won discuss things with others rather than seeing an overload of flashbacks with a creepy teacher and a young girl. Ji Won’s reactions to her discoveries were always perfect and fit in well with how her character had been developed previously. She latched onto the mystery as soon as there was a mystery to latch on to, but she didn’t shy away from what she was uncovering. Ji Won was ready and willing to accept any responsibility and/or punishment for any wrong she might have caused Hyo Jin- as was evident in the hostage situation.

So much of Ji Won's personality got explored this time around

She was scared and shocked, but she never backed away from her involvement with the incident, which was so in line with everything we knew about her character. Despite the fact that most of what she was going through was something personal and individual, I adored the friendship and support that Sung Min offered her. Their interactions and hilarious banter quickly became a highlight of the show (after being offered so little of it in Season 1), and no time spent with the two was wasted time. Though I do wish that they’d actually got together on screen rather than just having it being heavily hinted at. Again.

Just kiss already!

Ye Eun’s story picked up pretty much exactly where we left off in Season 1. I appreciated that her story really revolved around her anxiety and other issues caused by her violent boyfriend the year before. I was glad that the show was very realistically addressing her mental health issues and gave her a nice, steady progression throughout the series.

Never before has a taser been so sweet and sincere a gift

It was satisfying and rewarding to see Ye Eun start to come out of her shell again, but it had an air of realism in the few steps back along the way. While her progression was steady, it wasn’t smooth at all. There were moments when Ye Eun became more fearful and there were situations that would set her into overdrive. The show defiantly didn’t suggest that there was a quick-fix to her trauma, and was actually hinting more that this was something that would always stay with Ye Eun and something that she would have to learn to deal with rather than ‘fix’. I also appreciated that the show didn’t just throw another man at her to fix the problem. It would have been easy to give her a strong, confident, capable man and say ‘there, now she feels safe’. Instead it was satisfying to have Ye Eun make those steps towards feeling confident and safe on her own. Ho Chang was a great partner to help Ye Eun help herself. As a victim of bullying himself he could sympathise with her and offer slight assistance, but he never forced Ye Eun out of her comfort zone, nor did he suggest that he would be able to keep her safe. It was a cute and sweet romance that never once suggested that Ye Eun needed to rely on Ho Chan for safety or anything else.

She relied on him because she wanted to, not because she needed to

Unfortunately, this time around I found Eun Jae’s story a little exasperating. I really loved her Sunbae romance last year, so I was pretty disappointed when I read in the character descriptions that they’d broken up. At the start, Eun Jae’s obsession with her ex was mildly annoying, and she herself became a smidge irritating. It was all just a little unclear where the show was trying to take her story.

Sorry Eun Jae...you just...weren't as fun as you were last season

For a long time there I thought she was going to get her ex back in the end. Once it became clear that the story was actually more about Eun Jae realising her mistakes and having to let go and move on, I was much more interested and much more sympathetic towards her character. Because getting over a heartbreaking first breakup is much more interesting than watching a girl try and win back a guy she dumped herself. Finally, we arrive at Eun. Last season we came into the house with Eun Jae and learned all about the housemates through her, so it was a nice parallel to have us learning about the new girl through our old housemates. On paper Eun’s story is pretty simple, but it still managed to have its interesting aspects. Thankfully, her story left behind the mystery of the revenge letter pretty early on in order to focus on her own issues. When I think about it, not a lot actually happened, but it was interesting enough to watch Eun, who had become so protective of herself over the course of parents’ separation, slowly start to open up towards Jang Hoon. As enjoyable as her relationship development was with Jang Hoon, I do wish that her female friend had been phased out a bit earlier.

Get rid of her. Like now.

Overall I liked the commentary on their relationship and how having to let go of that toxic friendship was still hard for Eun (as they’d been so close for so long), but I just found the friend so freaking annoying. She was just the worst. I didn’t find her cute and I didn’t find her fun, and she actually sucked a lot of enjoyment of of Eun’s story arc for me personally. Acting-wise everyone was pretty good.

And Min Sukie is even wearing his high shoes

The three girls from last season were all splendid and slid perfectly back into their roles. They felt exactly like they did last yer, but were still able to show how their characters had changed and how they were continuing to develop. Choi Ah Ra was pretty good most of the time, but sometimes I did feel like she got outshone a bit by the other actresses. She was very good at acting the awkward, soft-on-the-inside-hard-on-the-outside sort of character, but I think she struggled a little when it came to portraying Eun’s increasing comfort around the other characters. Ji Woo really had the hardest job of all as she was coming into a character that had already been so loved and so well received when played by a different actress. Overall, she did an excellent job. If given a choice I defiantly would have loved to have Park Hye Soo resume her role as Eun Jae (as she was one of my favourites from Season 1), but Ji Woo did wonderfully at making the actress change as unnoticeable as possible. Her take on Eun Jae was enjoyable and sweet, and she really could have played Eun Jae in Season 1 to the same success that Park Hye Soo had. It’s just so difficult when a show has to recast a character- for both the actress and the viewers.

An excellent job at a difficult task

The boys were all excellent, no questions asked. Kim Min Suk has been a favourite of mine since his ‘Shut Up Flower Boy Band’ days and I adore him in everything he’s been in. Cute, funny roles suit him well (though he can bring the heavy emotion too when called for), and he was undeniably sweet in this series.

Delightfully dorky

It was hilarious to have his height be incorporated into the show’s humour, especially when paired with Choi Ah Ra’s height. It was an unconventional, but still delightful pairing. Ahn Woo Yeon was excellent as the unpopular idol, and I really felt for him when his story arc came to the more emotional moments. He could play the optimistic dreamer well, but it was his moments of grief for his lost dream where he really got me. I was a little disappointed when Onew lost his chance to star in this show due to a rather unfortunate and over-exaggerated scandal, but I completely forgot about him (sorry, Onew) once Lee Yoo Jin made his appearance. He was hilariously endearing as the quirky nerd, and he absolutely nailed all of Ho Chan’s odd, nervous habits and made them look completely natural. And of course Son Seung Won was perfect- when is he not? Thankfully he got much more screen time than he got last season, so he was really given space to sparkle. Not to mention his chemistry with Park Eun Bin is just ridiculously addictive.  

If we're all being real- this is what we came for

What Was Great:

The Girls:

The stories are all fun and are all enjoyable to watch. Season 2 returns with a familiar every-day vibe even when the events aren’t all that every-day. Each of the girls have their own problems to face and each of them deal with their issues in very unique ways. Much of the success of the series comes from how different these girls are and how well developed and structured their characters are.

I love our girl gang

When you consider how often leading heroines feel the same as each other, it really is a marvellous achievement to populate a K-Drama with unique, distinct female characters that have their own identities. Yoon Sunbae would never react to a situation the same way that Ji Won would, and that is clearly showcased in the series. Each character is entirely her own, and there’s no overlap in the house. 

The Guys:

One of my longstanding favourite aspects of ‘Age of Youth’ is how secondary the men are to the girls. It’s not saying that they’re unimportant (because they’re not),

I also love the lads

but the story really focuses on the girls themselves rather than the romance, which is kind of refreshing. In saying that, the boys are are still excellent characters. One of the show’s strengths is having these completely capable, wonderful girls open up and share experiences with these completely capable, wonderful men. Rather than focusing on the romance in the situations, the show really focuses on the relationships- there may be romance involved or there may not be. Similarly to the girls, each of the boys is a fully developed and nicely constructed character. Each of them have their own past and histories, and their own hopes and goals for the future. Jang Hoon’s feelings about his approaching enlistment were particularly interesting as a foreigner watching, as I have really had no experience with that issue before, and I’ve not watched a lot of K-Dramas that present army enlistment as an issue. I also enjoyed how, as the landlord, Jang Hoon was a little bit involved with each of the girls. Previously each of the boys were only really around the girl whose story they were a part of, but Season 2 did a pretty good job at bringing the boys and the girls together. It wasn’t only Jang Hoon, but the other boys also came along for some more group moments- such as apple picking. It was enjoyable to see our boys interacting with each other as well as with the girls, and really made the individual stories feel as though they were part of a greater whole.

Even Chef made an appearance!

What Wasn’t:

No Closure:

I understood the lack of closure in Season 1 as it was clear the writers were angling for a Season 2, but the lack of closure this time around was a little unsatisfying- second seasons are rare, and third ever rarer. I still feel like we never made it to the bottom of Ji Won’s story.

So...so close...

Yes, we discovered what had happened with her and Hyo Jin and had a pretty good understanding that Ji Won would be successful in her trial after another victim stepped forward, but I would have liked to see that play out a little more. And then the biggest disappointment is that she never actually starts dating Sung Min. This is a relationship that has been hinted at since Season 1, and while their interactions as friends is cute and fun in its own way, I really was waiting for them to express their feelings. Ji Won admitted that she thought of Sung Min as more than a friend and Sung Min even went as far as saying he was interested in Ji Won- but then nothing happened! We’ve been waiting two seasons to see these two finally admit that they liked each other, only to have it NOT HAPPEN. I need Season 3 just to see who cracks and confesses first. I also felt there was a little more to explore with Eun and her parents. Seeing her hatred towards her father and his new family start to fade was a good start, but I really wanted to see Eun stand up to her mother.

There's still more Eun to unveil

Her mother has been a hurtful presence in Eun’s life, telling her that she was abandoned by her father and constantly bringing her down (Eun’s short hair being a constant reminder of that), and I thought the show really needed a moment where Eun stood up for herself. Acknowledging that her friendship with Ye Ji had become unhealthy and hurtful was a good place to start, but being the new addition to the house I kind of wanted a little more development for Eun.

Recommend?

Of course! It’s a very similar style as the first instalment of ‘Age of Youth’ and I got just about as much enjoyment out of it. If you liked the first season, you’ll like the second.

Here's to Season 3!