Our Beloved Summer | K-Drama Review

A refreshing yet sentimental love story, Choi Ung and Yeon-Soo met again 10 years later for another documentary project. Is it a gift that will bring them back together or is it a curse that will open the healed wounds? Our Beloved Summer is a coming-of-age K-Drama that made Wooga Squad teased Choi Woo-Sik (during Wooga Squad’s Winter ’22 Trip) as a Rom-Com King!

Disclaimer: The post ahead may contain SPOILERS since this is a review of the whole series.

Storyline of Our Beloved Summer

Our Beloved Summer started with Choi Ung (played by Choi Woo-Sik) and Kook Yeon-Soo (played by Kim Da-Mi) as high school students who filmed a documentary that went viral. The viewers came to know that the two eventually dated and they all wanted to see them one more time. Ten years passed and they met again to film another documentary project together as requested by the viewers.

The story showed us the past where the two fell in love with one another yet broke up in the end. As they started working together again, we get to see the two bickering as they used to do in the past while their old feelings starts to unfold little by little.

Not only focusing on the love story, Our Beloved Summer conveys us a story with topics such as childhood traumas, family relationships, and artists’ inspirations and point of view.

Personal Review of Our Beloved Summer

Despite twisting Choi Ung and Yeon-Soo’s relationship due to lack of communication when they were young, it’s totally relatable. We usually don’t know any better when we were young isn’t it? That’s what makes the story realistic.

As the story progressed, we saw them re-discover their self and their feelings, their pain and their dreams. The story also makes me wonder if I will also get a chance like Choi Ung and Yeon-Soo. Not to be in a relationship with an ex-lover but at least to know why the relationship went wrong or how did the other person felt and moved on?

Where do I even start praising the three idiots’ (including Ji-Ung played by Kim Sung-Cheol) scars? Their individual traumas and hardships where delivered profoundly with overflowing emotions from the actors. I couldn’t stopped crying when Choi Ung cried about his father. I felt so blue for many days when Ji-Ung realized he can’t have anything better from his mom.

Yeon-Soo with a responsibility for her grandmother. Choi Ung with a trauma of being abandoned by his father. Ji-Ung with an immeasurable longing for affection from his mother. What a trio. Three individuals living with their own pain, they became one another’s stumbling block yet they found comfort from each other.

I loved how the story intertwined a youthful vibe at the same time comforting us (viewers) through the character’s dialogues. It’s not an extraordinary romance drama but it doesn’t have hate-able and cliché characters either. Even NJ (played by Roh Jeong-Eui) as the idol crushing on Choi Ung is not a hate-able character. Maybe a little predictable and simple, it’s a refreshing romance that will make you want to fall in love again.

K-Drama Rating

An innocent romantic story from two scarred individuals, Our Beloved Summer is a light K-Drama that will transport you back in time. It has a magical feeling that makes us giggle, fall in love and cry with the characters from the start until the end.

• Personal Rating Score: 9 out of 10
• Target Audience: Rom-Com Fans, Hopeless Romantics, Artists
• Will I recommend this: YES!

Why not a 10 though? I hate the cliché character development of Ji-Ung’s mom, the dying character in order to be forgiven. But then, dying and death is usually the turning point of people. It’s when people either find inner peace or a lifelong pain and regret. But Ji-Ung is such a sweetheart who deserves a closure and healing. Even though their ending is a little cliché, it’s a small step to get that ‘piece’ he’s been longing for.

If you’re looking for a nice romantic K-Drama with a happy ending, watch Our Beloved Summer!