#the year we

[consumeronionbulletin]

Our Beloved Summer (2021-22)

A well written second chance romance that just feels real. I enjoyed the characters and just loved spending time with them, even when they were clearly going through it.

What Worked

The writing was top notch, but the two leads made this show come alive. The actors all put in the work to make sure all of the layers shown through with these characters. Every episode lets you see a new faucet to all of the characters and their relationships. It feels almost like an adaptation to a much larger story, which is an amazing trick to pull off in any drama.

Also, I normally hate love triangles, but the way this show did it worked. Mainly because it never felt like a dramatic love triangle, it just felt like a bunch of people in a mess because of their feelings. And that's always more interesting.

What Didn't Work

I don't think there were any major missteps, but there were choices that some people like and others won't. This is a slow, slice of life show that tries to ground itself in real life. For some people, like me, this is going to hit them right away. For other people, it'll seem boring, or hard to get into, and that's okay.

The Performances

Choi Woo-shik as ("the artist") Choi Ung. If you've seen him in Parasite, you already know he's a darn good actor. He makes a character that's kind of a loser (especially at the start of the show) seem instantly appealing, because you can tell there's more to him than you see on the surface. Fun to watch in every scene, and the way the character subtlety changes over the series is just fascinating.

Kim Da-mi as ("grumpy overachiever") Kook Yeon-soo. I loved this performance. The character is portrayed as this uptight, stuck-up person (even in High School), but (like Choi Woo-shik's performance), you can tell there's more going on under the surface. While Choi Ung's character has a hidden strength and charm, with Yeon-soo, it's the vulnerability and compassion that's hidden, and it's so good to watch these layers get uncovered over the series.

Kim Sung-cheol as ("side character") Kim Ji-ung. He played a similar quiet character in Do You Like Brahms? and he did an even better job of making him seem layered and interesting (it helps that the writing overall is better). This performance will probably shine on rewatches when you get his entire story and can see where things were hinted at early on. Fun to watch, even when he was a little mopey.

Roh Jeong-eui as ("super idol") NJ. I loved this performance too. The actor did a great job of playing someone who was forced to have feelings and care about people, even though she was way too cool for any of them. I liked how she interacted with Choi Ung, and pretty much all of the other characters as well. Just fun and interesting in every scene.

Park Won-sang as Choi Ho / Choi Ung's father. and Seo Jeong-yeon as Lee Yeon-ok / Choi Ung's mother. These actors were delightful. Just brought warmth whenever they were on screen.

Cha Mi-kyung as Kang Ja-kyung / Kook Yeon-soo's grandma. I loved the scenes we got with her, especially with Yeon-soo.

Park Jin-joo as Lee Sol-yi. I always like seeing this actor. The character work was solid, but the writing for her scenes (and so her performance) was a little uneven. She was funny and great to watch with Yeon-soo and sometimes with other characters, but the stuff with her and Eun-ho was kind of hit and miss.

Ahn Dong-goo as ("manager buddy") Gu Eun-ho. His performance wasn't exactly weak, just not nearly as good as the other people he had to share a scene with. Might have been improved by giving the character more depth, but I would still rather have an additional scene learning more about any other character, which is why he never got that.

The documentary team. The side characters (Ji-ung's boss, writer-nim, Ji-ung's junior, and the intern) were all well developed and it was nice when they got screentime. A good example of how this show treated even minor characters pretty well.

RUN Company people. I feel like this group was a little weaker, especially Yeon-soo's boss and the gossipy coworkers. At the start, they felt a little tropey and mostly interchangeable. By the end of the show, they were in a good place, but it took a long time for them to get interesting.

TL; DR:

A hard hitting romance drama that's not afraid to take its time. Definitely worth a try if you're even a little interested in this.

[modernchemical]

watching death note with my family and after the college entrance episode my mom asked offhandedly if anyone had ever pictured L and light as a couple before. it felt like one single white dove had landed on a crystalline lake in a beautiful pure clearing. no i dont think anyones ever thought of that before

[stealingpotatoes]

i love my cat but he is very fond of trickery

[crystal-mouse]

happy last same year as it was yesterday 2024 tuesday

todays the only/last day you can reblog this lol

[lakecountylibrary]

LIBRARY WRAPPED

You checked out... probably some stuff? Thanks for doing that :)

Used our wifi maybe? For something?

Look we actually don't know what genres you read or how many times you renewed Gender Queer.

We don't want to know.

Our gift to you is privacy.

Take it.

Be free.

[bandzboy]

since spotify wrapped is coming today i just want to bring awareness to the fact that around 86% of the songs on spotify are currently demonetized since spotify decided that tracks with under 1,000 cannot be monetized. not only that the ceo of spotify cashed out $35.8 million dollars in spotify shares in the third quarter of the year and it has been reported that he earns more than the top artists on the platform.

for a platform that claims to support artists, this is outrageous and i hope people realize that an artist who is starting out, cannot make a living out of spotify streams simply because daniel ek and his friends made it worse for the artists trying to start a career. if you wanna support musicians and the possibility for them to get a living wage please follow United Musicians and Allied Workers (UMAW) which are trying to make The Living Wage for Musicians Act a reality so musicians can be paid fairly through streaming platforms and get the cut they deserve.

[sexygaywizard]

Have not talked to my brother in 8 years because he went down a sad alt-right pipeline but he just gifted me a yaoi game on Steam for Christmas?? lol

[tierras]

the mutual aid los angeles network (malan) has put together a spreadsheet with valuable resources for people affected by the ongoing los angeles wildfires and wind storm. the sheet is constantly being updated with resources such as shelter info, animal boarding info, addresses for distribution centers, volunteer opportunities and so much more.

please share this spreadsheet widely

[pangur-and-grim]

one thing that took me embarrassingly long to learn is "sometimes when people say things, they will not be true."

I used to tell people about this revelation and they'd be like yeah.....duh.....but like, why wouldn't my base assumption be that you're communicating to me in a straightforward manner. anyway, I get scammed a lot.

[eosofspades]

i didn't have "i'm broken" teenage asexual angst i had "i'm literally being the only reasonable one about this concept and the rest of you are behaving like fucking freaks" perception issues

[idontmindifuforgetme]

Made a starting December strong compilation :-)

[grave-farewell]

not to be stardewposting again but

Elliott can't fucking say this shit when I'm dressed like THIS

What made him see me leave the house and kiss him looking like THIS

WITH THE JINGLING BOOTS. and decided "Yes, his courting plumage is immaculate. I must bed him immediately."

[stemmmm]

more people gotta try this shit where bill has not improved and will not change but he's just chilling so its fine probably. its great

[brian-kinney-apologist]

I had to do this guys

[happyheidi]

｡ﾟﾟ･｡･ﾟﾟ｡ ﾟ. 2025 will bring blessings.

ﾟ･｡･ﾟ