Drama: Twenty-Five Twenty-One
Cast: Kim Tae-Ri, Nam Joo-Hyuk, Bona, Choi Jyn-work, Lee Joo-Myung, Choi Myung-Bin Genre: Melodrama, Romance, Coming-of-age story
Episodes: 16
Platform: Netflix
Rating:
★★★★ 4.5/5
“This story is about love, relationships, pursuing great ambitions, and moving on. The story begins in the present day when Na Hee-Do’s daughter decides to quit ballet. She stays at her grandmother’s (Na Hee-Do’s mom) house and discover’s her mother’s diaries. She reads about her mother’s fencing journey, her first love, her relationship with her mother, and her dear friends. This story also focuses on Baek Yi-Jin’s struggles and his family going from \”riches to rags\” due to the IMF crisis. Through Na Hee-Do’s diaries, we learn about his life and his journey of becoming a reporter and overcoming the obstacles in his life.
Drama Review:
This drama made me feel a rollercoaster of emotions. I laughed just as hard as I cried. I adored the love and warmth the characters felt but I also felt sad when life tested their patience and relationships. There were many moments that broke my heart as I watched this drama. But this is why I loved it. I love dramas and books that make me feel something and this drama did just that. Sometimes we don’t even know about the love and grief that has been buried in our hearts but watching something emotional just brings it all out instantly.
Na Hee-Do’s journey as a fencer was inspiring and you can see the amount of hard work and effort one has to put in to see the results one wishes to see. she is a lovable character and I loved how she expressed her feelings. Sometimes I wish I could do the same. We see her growth from a naive teenager to a mature and understanding adult. Whereas Baek Yi-Jin is broken from within but he is also wiser than the teenagers shown in the drama as he was 22 when they met. He inspired me to work hard towards my goals and to support the people I love and care about. He exhibits empathy, gratitude, persistence, and love throughout the drama. I fell in love with his character instantly. His journey made me think about life and the importance of financial stability for oneself and our family. Both of these characters together were simply magic on screen.
Na Hee-Do’s mother shows us the life of an ambitious single mother. She works as a reporter at UBS, and she is successful and well-known in the industry and within her community. She is talented as a reporter but her relationship with her daughter is complicated. Because of work she cannot always be there for her daughter. Sometimes we fail to understand our parents and their struggles. We wonder endlessly, why weren’t they present when we needed them, why didn’t they do this or that, but we must remember they are just adults who are growing. They are learning how to be good parents, how to do their jobs well, and they are trying to find themselves too. This is an important realization for kids. We think parents should have everything figured out, but in reality, they are just learning on the job and trying to figure everything out in their lives like we are.
The Ending (SPOILER ALERT!!!):
Lots of people have been expressing how dissatisfied they are with the ending of this drama. Many have said that the ending was too rushed and they could have ended up together. I have mixed feelings about the ending. On one hand, I feel like this kind of ending was expected because this story is about youth and experiencing your first love. We grow when we are in relationships and things may not always go how we want them to. We all have different needs, therefore even if we truly love someone we may not be able to spend our whole life with them. When we stay in a relationship where our important needs are not fully met then life can become difficult and unfulfilling. With these thoughts in mind, I understand why they wanted Baek Yi-Jin and Na Hee-Do to break up. It was their first love and the most precious relationship, and I believe they never fell out of love. However, being understanding of each other and sharing their struggles was becoming difficult for both of them. They broke up because they loved each other. They broke up because they wanted the best for each other. “]]],[1,”p”,[[0,[],0,”Now let’s talk about what I disliked about the ending. When I watched the last two episodes I felt like both of them needed a break from each other. After the break up they could have gone ahead with their lives, but after a few years when Baek Yi-Jin came back to South Korea, they could have met each other again and could have given their relationship another chance. During this time Na Hee-Do would have retired from fencing and Baek Yi-Jin would have been a full-time reporter for UBS. They might have been able to make more time for each other being in the same city. It was hard to believe they couldn’t make their relationship work when Moon Ji-Woong and Ko Yu-rim were able to make their long-term relationship work. At some point in their lives, there was so much potential for them to end up together, so it is surprising they didn’t end up together. At first, everyone thought that maybe Baek Yi-Jin dies at the age of 25 and that’s why they weren’t together, and for some reason that seemed more believable because they were so good to each other that it did not make any sense for them to break up.
Concluding Thoughts:
Overall, I loved this drama. I think everyone should watch it whether they like melodramas or not. There is a lot to learn from each and every character and the various events that can occur in one’s life. It highlights the unpredictability of our life and the importance of understanding our needs and holding on to the relationships we want and need to grow to be the best version of ourselves.
Favorite Quotes:
“I lost in so many matches. I couldn’t let everyday be tragic just because I lost every time. Laughing makes it easier to forget. You have to forget to move on.”
“In some moments we’re doing our best, but all of that is just practice.”
“Doing your best is a given. Don’t just do your best. You have to do well.”
“Lessons come at a price.”
“Your skills don’t improve consistently but in steps.”
“You can’t gain a sense of rhythm by mastering a single choreography.”
“Don’t belittle your achievement.”
“It’ll probably hurt if you lose it all. But what matters is that you had it a one point.”
– Twenty-Five Twenty-One K-drama
There are so many great quotes in this drama but I wanted to keep it short in this article. I hope you enjoyed my first Korean Drama review on my blog.
Please let me know what your thoughts are on this book in the comment section below.
Yours truly,
Nav ♡
LunaLuminous 