"다 지난 일이야"
You won't find any other drama that was made with such love and tremendous attention as Oasis. You won't find any drama as fine-tuned and organic. You won't find any thing sticking out and spoiling the detailed set or the flow. The first episode rating in Korea for Oasis was 6.3% and the final one peaked at 9.7%. These impressive numbers say it all.
🔹️I confess: I've watched the first episode 3 times simply because it's so immaculate and immersive from the very first second that I couldn't keep from going back to it. That musical sequence in slow motion, serving as a gate to the drama world, is the level above any K-drama we are used to seeing. The creators masterfully weave the music and movies of their childhood and teenage years into the layers of long kept secrets and hurtful passions. As nostalgic as Reply 1988 in some way. They made me fall in love with the music band 해바라기 that was popular back then, they made me explore more Korean movies made at that period of time. (You can find my review on Yeong Ja's Heydays here on MDL and on Letterboxd. That was the age-restricted movie the characters watch for the first time together in a theater) And I am still going through the history of South Korea under Park Jeong Hee and Jeon Doo Hwan, though it doesn't seem like the major historical events affect the story here, only the overall economic and social situation.

🔹️I love the quality of Oasis. I can feel the creators put all their warmest memories and souls in it. Especially the fights choreography is so good! I can track all the movements with my eyes, and camera doesn't shake like if the camera operator had a tremor. The gang wars are rampant and spectacular. Crashing glasses, breaking bones! There is a lot of visual humor: some gangster plays dead to not get his a$s beaten up. 😂

🔹️I tried to track the timeline, which is not always defined. The story starts in the late 70s (I calculated, most probably it's 1975) and ends in 1987, the year the current Sixth Republic of Korea was established and the authoritarian rule finally ended after all the years of struggle. It's a very matching background for the drama story. The unrest in society is passed to the teenagers who are becoming adults and learn to navigate their lives in this hectic environment.

Oh, have I already said that Choo Yeong Woo is an acting genius? Yep, I did. On his debut mini drama. I can't believe anyone else could ever play such a complicated and controversial character as Choi Cheol Woong. I will definitely keep an eye on this shining young talent.

P.S. Goddamn I wish there was a second MDL with only reasonable and mature viewers that I could escape to. Looks like the people here don't appreciate ambiguous characters, only simple entertainment, and for some reason think that the screenwriters have to satisfy their whims. I'm not trying to offend you, only those who wrote the mean comments.