Melancia Cintilante (2023)

Good but something was missing

I know ... I know... It's loved by many and has a 9.2 rating on MDL. I'll give it a 6.5, which is not bad at all. It's good in my rating system. I can totally see why so many loved this show and why it has a high rating. But my expectations were really high and left me disappointed. This is because I was looking for something different. Here are a few point I want to say:

- The first two episodes could not grab my attention. I was not invested and because I was desperately looking forward for the romance between Yi Chan and Cheong Ah... but it took too long to get there
- Yi Chan and Cheong Ah: I was super invested in their romance but it fell a bit short. I wanted to see Yi Chans feelings develop but they did not have that many scenes. That being said, the scenes they had are the ones I loved.
- Honestly, I was just not interested in the main couple and I did not feel the chemistry
- The ending felt a bit short
- I loved that it covered the topic of being hearing impaired

Leia Mais

WILL BE THINKING ABOUT THEM FOR A LONG TIME ⯎

I have no words to describe this feeling, but Twinkling Watermelon is one of the best things that I happened to watch this year. This and Moving got me out of a horrible drama slump, the kind where you want to watch something so much but you still can't manage to focus on anything.

I recommend Twinkling Watermelon to everyone, it is such a perfect and comforting drama. The cast is simply amazing, Hyun Wook is, at this point, the king of high school roles in 90's youth dramas, it's like this boy was created to play soft but cool high school boys, it suits him so well. But it is beautiful to see how all of these roles are different and how he can give layers and emotions to different characters. He still shows so much variety. Ryeoun is so talented and is such a pleasure to watch always, I love his acting so much. They were so perfect in their roles that I cried and laughed with Yi Chan and Eun Gyeol.

I loved every single character from the Watermelon Sugar members and Ma Joo to Yi Chan's grandma. Cheong Ha made me cry so much but I am so happy for her growth and empowerment. Although the father cannot be forgiven for neglecting her throughout her childhood, I am still so grateful that they managed to fix their relationship thanks to Eun Gyeol and that Cheong Ha now has an additional member of her loving family. No one could have portrayed Cheong Ha the way Shin Eun Soo did and I am so amazed by how strong of an actress she is. I found Eun Yu annoying at the start as I couldn't understand her motives and there were so many parts when she was almost on the verge of ruining everything but after a while, I started to enjoy her and Eun Gyeol's banter and goofiness. It was beautiful how she and Eun Gyeol finally understood that they were not there to change anyone's fate but to help their parents fix some of their regrets and enjoy their youth and life's little moments. Everyone in this drama has become my comfort character and I loved all the songs so much. I believe that OSTs really complete a drama and I only truly enjoy a drama if the OST is just as good. The music, the friendship, the nostalgia and the youth of the 90s created pure magic altogether and I will be thinking of this drama for a long time. Usually, with time travel dramas they end up giving a rather unsatisfactory ending but I felt the happiest watching the final half hour of the last episode. I feel like nothing could have been done better. Yes, I hoped that Yi Chan's accident wouldn't have happened, but I had a feeling that the accident was always meant to occur one way or another and that Yi Chan was bound to lose his hearing. However the ending makes up for all of it: Eun Gyeol is finally back with his family, their love and support for each other is just as strong and their life is still what it was always supposed to be: shining and bright, no matter their situation. It was so beautiful to watch Yi Chan and Cheong Ha be so successful and happy, using something they considered their 'weakness' to shine ever more brightly.

And this is not even everything I wanted to say, but like I said above words are not enough for me to describe how good this drama was, and how wonderfully the actors portrayed the beautiful characters in this drama.

Thank you to all the writers, directors and producers for bringing this gem to us. Thanks to the amazing staff and the brilliant actors, main leads and all the support cast, I had the most beautiful time watching this the past couple of months. Thank you for making my autumn 2023 so memorable, I will be thinking about Twinkling Watermelon with affection for a long time ♡

"From time to time, let yourself enjoy the moment. You can never get back your youth. Let yourself twinkle while you can. Do things that make your heart flutter. It won't make your world come crashing down." (Ha Eun Ho)

"Life didn't have to be perfect for it to shine. It's the little moments that make your life twinkle, and happiness is what you experience when those moments come together." (Ha Eun Gyeol)

Leia Mais

Refreshing like a watermelon on a hot day

Here is a drama that is about youth, coming of age, with hints of romance. Overall the whole feel to this drama is nostalgic and friendly, tragic sometimes, happy sometimes, it gives a lot with just the first two episodes alone.


The first twenty minutes of this drama is really good. The chronology of events are easy to follow, and I personally love how they had the childhood backstory at the beginning. It is a smart way to get you to know your characters upbringing, and you will understand them better because of this. The child actors are amazing and for the most part none of the actors I have a problem with.

Ryeon gives an amazing performance, and his parents and brother have hearing loss so the communication between all of them is nice to see. I like to see how they adapt to their circumstances, and how it holds them back, etc. Ryeon's character Eun Gyeol has a lot of depth to him, and it is a hard character to fill. He acts as a bridge between hearing and silence, a communicator and a 'trophy' for his family. He is a very good son and doesn't put himself first other than his music. So that right there is a well written character/family.

The pairings and relationships between characters are where this drama shines. I loved all of them and was looking forward to each episode to see how the characters grew. I can tell they had fun filming and everyone really cared for the roles they were in, so when watching it didn’t feel like roles, everything felt natural.


For Seol in Ah and Ryeon The chemistry between the two is so fun and credit to Seol In Ah, she really is good at differentiating her roles here. It’s really fun to see her character develop. She seems at first to be arrogant and not caring about how she affects others around her, but she is actually very perceptive and has tragedies that shape her to who she was, and she also grows as a person through the drama and her journey. I am finding her to be one of my favorites if not my favorite character.
These plot lines of time travel are tricky but very interesting. Because in the end it is about growing and learning about characters, rather than them shaping their own fates. Maybe Gyeol's future will change because of this. The logic is confusing with this, that is ok thought because it is a drama and its just fun.

As the plot developed those stories and characters become more clear, personally I am rooting for the parents to get together (as I’m sure we all are). I love how this drama just gets better and better with each episode.

This drama really was a gem out of all the dramas I have seen this year. The amount of care and learning that went behind the roles particularly amaze me. I enjoyed this a lot and it is one of those I would recommend to anyone honestly.

Leia Mais

"Twinkling Watermelon" radiates warmth and knows how to touch. Cheers to life. (And to magic, too.)

What a nice surprise in 2023!
Full of heart and love for music, too. Though neither major, nor minor, but plenty of both. Fresh, cheeky, cheerfully playful and yet with complex substance. RomCom inclusive. “Twinkling Watermelon” follows the trend of 2023 productions: time travel. A journey into the past, into the parents' late youth - as a gift that offers the chance to understand a little more about them and thus at best make peace with life here and there. Charming magic is also involved, as life is full of surprises if you just open and follow your heart... that's the wonderful motto that offers balm for troubled souls. Viva la Vida!

In fact, the story's ostensibly cheerful melody is supported by an emotionally serious basso continuo. This gives this KDrama a warm, complex, lasting depth, despite all its youthful playfulness. The protagonist is a hearing child of deaf parents (CODA). He is an extremely talented, eager, responsible, loving son and brother, but he is inevitably somewhat overwhelmed by his responsibilities (as a child), out of guilt loading even more responsibility on his shoulders. He feels lonely at times with his experiences of the acoustic world that he cannot share with his parents. And he also suffers from the social marginalization that he and his family experience.
Eun-gyeol (for all his positive approach to the challenges of his life) embodies the psychological conflicts of any CODA, that he, too, has to deal with by living between the worlds (with and without acoustics). He does it quite well, yet deep down he understandably suffers from the great responsibility he has to bear as a child already. Sooner or later he has to come to terms with this conflict in a self-loving and self-confident manner, so that he may allow himself to go his own way in life, too, despite the challenge. Basically, it is precisely this inner psychological dynamic that is the dramaturgical driving force of the story.
It is not uncommon for CODAs to seek professional support or ask for help, if the emotional burden feels too heavy. (Just like anybody else would as long as they acknowledge.) Here the support comes unexpectedly in the form of a magical journey through time, and there is help, too. But significantly, Eun-gyeol got so caught up in his trained behavior pattern that he (almost obsessively) only sees the time travel as another challenge to prove himself and being in charge - no matter what the cost. It is almost verging on megalomania to believe that he might now be responsible for the fate of his parents in their past, too. (However, throughout the series this aspect opens up room for fun and comedy.) On the other hand, the immense inner psychological pressure that he puts on himself also subtly reflects the sad dilemma that keeps him trapped. (Which in turn latently contributes to the emotional depth of the KDrama.)

In fact, “Twinkling Watermelon” opens up space for even more serious topics in different storylines. Aside from the social stumbling blocks in the lives of deaf people, there are child abuse and suicidal tendency, too. Thus, overall, there are pretty profound themes that the KDrama tackles bravely and plays through with a lot of feeling, yet still in a digestible manner - despite all the seriousness, embedded in colorful joy of life. "Twinkling Watermelon" radiates warmth and knows how to touch. Cheers to life. (And to magic, too, that can re-shuffle the cards of time and space... who knows?)









PS:
Would have, could have... if only the sign language hadn't been processed acoustically... but authentic silence was probably too daring... and would probably have neutralized the lively esprit of the music band's approach towards life... hmm... everything altogether probably doesn't work...

Leia Mais

Charming Characters with Frustrating Storyline

Recently, I have a bad experience with all these new dramas with an overwhelmingly positive reviews and ratings. So, I went on with the intention of changing my opinion on this one, but sadly, that didn't happen.

I have watched enough dreams to distinguish what the writers main focus is on, which definitely not the story in this one. Their main focus was just to capture the attention of the audience by charming and endearing characters when they couldn't make up for the lose and boring storyline.

1st episode after the second one, it started to get boring. I get it that every drama has a boring phase but this one just didn't get better. Boring, dragging and remains always the same. Everything that happens seems like a straightforward continuation of what was previously established. When it comes to the characters they have a mindset of a 10yo. No one was willing to give up anything in order to get what they want and in the end there were no negative consequences , only the positive ones.

In conclusion mostly teenagers and new audience are the watchers for this show who calls everything they watch a masterpiece. Hope soon mature audiences will pick up the show and the ratings will got down a bit. The storyline remains unfinished in the end and the fate of several characters remains undecided.

Final Note: Don't trust MDL ratings and waste your time on this one there are many drama's better than this one.

Leia Mais

Fun but NOT complete

A good way to waste time, without realizing your wasting time. Yes, it's that fun to watch. There are a lot of funny moments and the bromance is spot on and it makes you cheer for the family.

However, there could have been thinks that were done better. For example, it took way to long for both of the main characters to realize that they were both from the past (around episode 13 or 14). The ending also feel rushed and we didn't get to see a lot of time in the future. It would have been better to see how Yi Chan and Ah Chung went through and not just the main characters coming back to the future, and boom everything is fine and they are rich(?).

One thing that really bothered me is how they protrayed Yi Chan as deaf. Just because he is DEAF, does NOT MEAN he CAN'T SPEAK! Especially since he was not born deaf. I have a deaf friend, that can read lips and speak fine. So, it was annoying to see that being glossed over.

Reccommendated if you want to see something light-hearted with, just a bit of a plot and not just fluffyness. The acting was good. Ah Chung, really made an impact and how she expressed her self through her eyes!.

The female character (from the future) was annoying because she kept trying to mess things up for Eun Gyeol unintentionally. Also, the solution she had to solve her problem was so stupid. She cannot live her life for her mom, so how is finding her first love and setting her up going to do anything...?

Overally, recommend for something light-heart. It's NOT perfect, but it a good watch.

Leia Mais

Just want to air out my frustrations

(as the headline suggests this is subjective)

I initially liked the concepts of the show enough to overlook some problems with the execution but I can't pretend that I didn't feel a huge disconnect when it switched to the present in the last episode. The questionable aspects clouded my thoughts and took me out of the experience. Maybe I should've been more prepared for how much Eun-Gyeol's interference in the past would naturally affect the present, but I still feel like they could've done way better to make it less jarring and evidently divisive.

It's just so bizarre to think about how alone Eun-Gyeol is with his memories of what his whole life was like before he went back in time, and he's basically just now starting the life he's responsible for creating. Also the fact that everyone who knew him in 1995 has the worst memory ever and can't tell that he looks exactly like the guy they befriended and have pictures of and also has the same name. Idk I'm just disappointed and the emotional moments that really landed don't even feel like much anymore.

Eun-Yu as a character was very solid though I love her.

Leia Mais

Cute, fun, & interesting, but...

I definitely enjoyed this drama. It had me coming back for more all the way until the end. Unfortunately the ending itself felt rushed and incomplete. There was so much about the after that we didn't get to know about, and even the last moment was too quick imo.

I really wish there had been more expansion into after the return and how everything that was left behind unfolded to become how it was when they made it back.

I liked how their connection was consistent the whole time, but it still felt somewhat incomplete and rushed etc. I think he deserved his own explanation in the "after" - and more about their family relationships with him!

Very enjoyable, but not without it's many many plot holes.

Leia Mais

A fun youth story about family and responsibility but poor writing detracts from the experience.

Twinkling Watermelon is an enjoyable watch with an intriguing premise. While it had a warm, cheerful atmosphere, when emotional moments struck, it had me crying. The strength of this drama was the relationship between Eun Gyeol and his family, not the plot, nor romance, and most certainly not the logic. I also loved all their individual backstories; it was both relatable and emotional.

Eun Gyeol is a CODA (Child Of Deaf Adults) which shaped him into who he is. He puts his own happiness aside to ensure his family’s. He time travels back to when his parents were in high school and is on a mission to bring his parents together and protect them from what troubles them in the present. Time travel is a device, not the theme, for him to learn about his parents and how he isn't solely responsible for their happiness.

It started off strong, setting up the present perfectly to refer back to after time traveling, but then it devolved into one of those shows where I need to turn my brain off. Both Eun Yu and Eun Gyeol handled the time travel frustratingly. I would understand if this had something to do with their growth as characters, but it's dumb decisions that could have been written better.

Eun Gyeol states that he cannot find his mom and is breaking down because of it, but he never looked for her. He should have been asking schools if they've heard of the name Cheong Ah or literally anything.

Eun Gyeol and Eun Yu are terrible at keeping their time travel secret. He explains to Eun Yu that he wants to act as if they're from 1995 because he doesn't want to mess things up. Yet, he's been telling Yi Chan multiple times that he is his father and then taking it back over and over. When he should be hiding it, he's so bad at it as if he doesn't know how to come up with a better excuse. As for Eun Yu, sharing the same face, taking the same name, and acting absolutely nothing like Se Kyeong shouldn't have worked as well as it had. She's obviously not who she poses as when she's giving so little effort.

Eun Yu’s goal didn't make sense. She wants to romance her mother's first love to hook them up to avoid being born, but I don't see how she could date someone and then effectively pass that date. Se Kyeong would steer clear of someone who acts as if they know her, like how she was disturbed by Eun Gyeol who knew more than he should have about her. Not to mention, this first love would fall in love with Eun Yu’s personality and not Se Kyeong’s because she acts nothing like her.

The way that Eun Gyeol treated Eun Yu was unfair and overlooked. Eun Gyeol should have put more focus into finding and uplifting his mom into his dad's heart instead of focusing on destroying Yi Chan’s relationship with Se Kyeong and Eun Yu. It made him come across as unlikable and immature for me. Yes, he's acting as a caring friend and son since Se Kyeong had been lying and leading Yi Chan on, so Eun Yu picking up after Se Kyeong doesn't leave her with a good impression. But for all Eun Gyeol knows, Se Kyeong (Eun Yu) is an actively changed person apologizing and trying to make it up to Yi Chan by giving him a fair chance, and Eun Gyeol is trying to rid them of Se Kyeong (Eun Yu) when he has no right in policing Yi Chan’s relationships. Of course I know that Eun Yu has ulterior motives, so we as the audience overlook Eun Gyeol's actions, but that doesn't make it right.

Eun Gyeol was hypocritical when he got angry at Eun Yu who's now responsible for Se Kyeong’s action of leading Yi Chan on, but then he did the same by lying about his love for Se Kyeong (Eun Yu) to string her along and away from Yi Chan. I can understand why both Eun Gyeol and Se Kyeong did this. Yi Chan wouldn't take no for an answer and Eun Yu was disrupting Eun Gyeol's plans, but it does decrease their likability since they never suffer the consequences or apologize for it.

The romance between Eun Gyeol and Eun Yu was baseless at first. They had no reason to like each other. Eun Gyeol was constantly trying to get Eun Yu out of their lives yet he made her heart flutter? Eun Yu has been nothing but an obstacle with a bad impression for Eun Gyeol, but he is developing feelings for her? I only started to like their romance when they began to have a reason for liking each other. Like when Eun Gyeol began to show worry for her, and when Eun Yu would help Eun Gyeol out with his problem despite being ignorant of it.

I love Se Kyeong’s storyline, but it was disconnected and a waste of potential. I found it tragic that no one truly suspected that Se Kyeong was no longer Se Kyeong. All everyone knows about Se Kyeong is “I take cello seriously.” This should have been explored more to make her more connected to the plot. She's a main character that was cut off and comes back for one or two scenes at the end. To make her storyline less disconnected, she should have been more involved. It would have been more impactful if the catalyst for her to rebel from being her mother's jewel and to become her own person was if she got to know Eun Yu and found out that everyone wasn't able to distinguish who's the real Se Kyeong.

Se Kyeong, Eun Yu, and Cheong Ah’s relationship should've had more tension or at least acknowledgement. Se Kyeong is friends with Cheong Ah, knows her crush, told her that she did not like Yi Chan, and that he's all hers. Se Kyeong (Eun Yu) actively pursues Yi Chan, yet Cheong Ah doesn't show any acknowledgement or conflict toward Se Kyeong (Eun Yu) who went back on her word. There's also that time when Se Kyeong openly showed enjoyment about leading Yi Chan on, yet Cheong Ah only showed dislike toward Eun Gyeol when he wronged Yi Chan. I couldn't tell where the relationship stands a lot of the time.

The ending was rushed and did give the bare minimum to infer. For some reason, the Watermelon Sugar members didn't realize that 2023 Eun Gyeol looks exactly like 1995 Eun Gyeol, but we know they should since Yi Chan was hinted to have connected they're the same person. It's only a matter of time before they discuss the past. Did things change between Se Kyeong and Eun Yu? Eun Yu’s hair length represents her freedom. In the ending, she had short hair that was slightly longer than in 1995. This signifies that things did change and that she didn't just keep her hair length after time traveling. Se Kyeong was always meant to go back to Korea and meet her real father, and might have always meant to break the furniture as a small act of rebellion before going back to how things were. I don't see how Se Kyeong could’ve changed when she was disconnected from all the changes in the past. That leads me to assume that when Se Kyeong came back to Korea, all the connections Eun Yu made transferred to her, giving her true friends that she didn't have previously which instigates positive change. Perhaps Eun Yu’s goal to transfer a romantic relationship to her mother wasn't so far-fetched after all.

Even though I had a lot of problems with Twinkling Watermelon, the characters, the relationships between them, the theme of responsibility, and the way the story made me feel for it made it worth it.

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Encantadora pero poco arriesgada.

Absolutamente encantadora, con personajes que te atrapan y se ganan el cariño del publico, pero la historia se queda a medias, no parece tomar ningún riesgo y todo lo que ocurre parece un simple tramite de lo que ya estaba establecido, de igual manera se disfruta muchisimo, aunque por momentos se siente que se puede explotar algunos personajes que parecen interesantes y solamente divagan en lo superficial.

El final me parece poco arriesgado, no hay consecuencias negativas, solo positivas, nadie sacrifica nada para obtener algo, y hay arcos que no se terminan por concluir. Pudo ser mejor pero se disfrutó muchisimo.

Leia Mais

Overall, good but not great. Long live the bromance and friendship!^^

Eun Gyeol is the only one who is hearing among his deaf family, he loves his family and has a passion & talent for music. One day he goes back in time to 1995 where he met his young father who is still hearing, so he wants to change the future. Will Eun Gyeol succeed and can he get back to the present?

This drama was love at my first-sight until ep 6. The story within those episodes give me a lot of typical sweet kdrama moments that first got me like first-watching kdramas. I appreciate the heartwarming family, as they have been underrepresented in recent dramas. Each character is given a strong personality that make me root for them. All-round very very good acting! Their expressions seep off of the screen and pulled my heartstring instantly. The young cast, they are so cute and perfect together. Also the emotional moments are so heartbreaking, I could cry any moment thinking about them. Everyone so good in doing sign languages, but my favorite is Bong Jae Hyun who plays the brother, the way he’s doing sign language is so cute especially when he’s angry XD

The film-editing is on-point: the band, the musical world in Eun Gyeol perspective and such... all fit perfectly with the context. The music is nostalgic and few gives 80's vibes. Storyline is easy to follow but the plot is not-so-simple; different threads and relationships are going on without them being confusing. Honestly, I didn’t know this is a timeslip show until I reached ep 2. What can be either a con or a pro, depending on your own taste, is the drama constantly being very plot-driven, that a lot of things are happening around characters and they don't have enough chances to drive the plot through their decisions.

…this part has spoilers:
So after ep 6, it fell a little flat. Even though there's no slump, the concept of wanting to change the future feels out-of-the-blue, they don’t say anything convincing that take me to be on board with this mission. How much time pass in present day while being in the past is not clear as well. They spent many episodes on lovey-dovey moments, which was sweet, but not as impactful. However, I really like how they develop Chung Ah’s character, that part makes me want to learn sign language now...

Also, the foreshadowing incident that is discussed throughout the drama is teased to our faces with a typical high-school trope, which is serviceable, but doesn’t sit very well with me personally, especially due to what really happened to close this incident arc has nothing to do with this. Another thing I was hoping to see is the conflict resolution between Eun Gyeol and present-day father in the early episodes about schooling vs music… I was curious how they handled this and we get practically nothing, so I'm a bit salty on that. The ending is good but also not explainable, it sooths our souls with happy moments but it could have been a lot more interesting had it be a bit more consistent with the premise.

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Light and Shadow

“An artist should recognize a metaphor” a character tells the show’s protagonist towards the end. And like Jin Soo Wan’s earlier shows, this one uses metaphor (in this case the trope of time travel) to explore how pain can become the garden in which art and joy grow, how parents can fail and save their children, and how it is not luck or fame or fortune but love that keeps us rooted in this broken world.

Most shows hesitate to mix comedy with serious themes, as if by merging the two, they’ll either destroy the lightness of the former or dilute the gravitas of the latter. Twinkling Watermelon explores child abuse, neglect, suicidal ideation, and discrimination against the deaf community, but it does so amidst a candy-colored swirl of music and unbridled teen exuberance. Its characters face real trauma, but they also laugh and flirt and rock out with their friends and wear their hearts on their sleeves for all to see. There are few dramas as unapologetic in their delight as this one, and even when plot points get messy or a random gang of thugs appears, the show’s warmth never falters. And in the end, it suggests that’s what truly matters both in art and life.

So to judge it by this criteria, does this show spark joy? Yes. So, so much. And its happy moments shine all the brighter for being set against the darkness.

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