… And this is a little bit of both.
Delightful is the one word that comes to my mind when trying to describe Our Beloved Summer. I will not lie, this series nearly lost me in its second half, but now that is done and all wrapped up, I can’t help but miss it. I try not to have too high expectations in dramas these days no matter what I hear as to not set myself up for disappointment and then be too harsh on a show, as it has happened in the past, but I couldn’t help but be excited for Our Beloved Summer before it even aired. I love the cast and the mature concept and good God- I just love a mockumentary format. It’s a trope that I will never ever get tired of. So yes, I would say that had pretty high hopes for this drama. And while this is definitely not flawless, it still delivered what I wanted from it.

Even at its weakest moments, Our Beloved Summer felt comfortingly youthful from start to finish. The actors, as expected were great. I adore Kim Da-mi, I find her oh so charming and looking at the webtoon, she seemed like the perfect choice for her character. And without a doubt, she definitely did end up being my favorite aspect of this romance. Gook Yeon-su is such a great female protagonist, I couldn’t help but fall for her. Strong-willed, smart, competent, cold but never cruel, childish but never annoying. She was just a wonderful lead.
Second lead syndrome also definitely hit me hard here, Kim Ji-wung was my second favorite character by far. I read many complaints about him being hung up on a girl for years despite having little to no contact with her and while I will gladly admit that he was annoyingly whiny about it at parts, I always viewed Ji-wungs affection for our female protagonist as an extension and manifestation of his jealousy towards Ung: His best friend already got the restaurant chain named after him, the loving family to come home to, how come he has to get the girl as well? So even though I didn’t necessarily agree with our second-leads actions at certain points, they made sense to me from a storytelling-perspective. Him being in love with Yeon-su didn’t feel like a plot point shoe-horned in for a love-triangles sake, it was pretty clear from the beginning on, that his romantic attraction was entirely one-sided. Instead, his unresolved feelings were something for him personally to overcome, and considering that, he felt like a more well-rounded and realistic second-lead than what I am usually used to from my K-dramas.
The chemistry, the most important thing in any romance, was definitely there. Our two leads were great together and a joy to watch through all their bickering and loving scenes. It’s hard to convince an audience, that two characters are good for each other even if you see them constantly fighting and making each other miserable but I think this was achieved here. There was never a doubt in my mind, that our two protagonists deeply cared for each other. Their relationship felt heart-warming and believable and I just had a lot of fun watching them interact.
I don’t think that Our Beloved Summer’s cinematography was necessarily anything special in terms of shot-composition but the color-grading definitely stood out to me and largely contributed to the youthful vibe of the show. Also: the documentary format worked excellent here. The many hand-held shots made this feel even more intimate, like I was genuinely eave-dropping on this couple and experiencing their love with them. The interview parts also fit in really well and were the shows main source of humor. In not many stories do we get to see the dissonance in how a character views themselves and how they actually behave, I thought it made a really fun addition to the show and allowed me to get to know the two leads on another level.

But I had mentioned in the first paragraph that this show nearly lost me in its second half. Even though this is a pretty mature and fresh story in concept, I can’t help but feel like this series still fell into all too many K-drama tropes it really didn’t need.
I loved Ungs family, they were incredibly lovable characters, but I am so sick of secret-adoption plot-lines. No matter how maturely they are handled, and I feel like Our Beloved Summer did its best with it, they always seem so cheesy and needlessly melodramatic to me. Like, was this plot point really necessary? His adoption wasn’t something for Ung to work past, he kind of just makes his peace with it without any major events, and I wouldn’t say that this detail about his past really added to his character. The whole thing felt like something written in solely for a plottwists-sake. I don’t think you need to justify a character having adoptive parents, unconventional families are definitely something that should be represented more in media, but I much would have preferred it, if Ungs adoption hadn’t been like a grand reveal or something his parents kept from him. If this was an attempt to further normalize adoptive families, I think it would have been much more sincere and overall tasteful, if Ung had simply been adopted by a loving family, aware of that fact and at peace with it. To me that way, this plot point would have felt much less out of place.
Speaking of out of place, I don’t know what to make out of NJs character. In no way did I find her unlikable or unpleasant, if anything I think she is rather cute but something as glamorous and otherworldly as an idol didn’t really fit into a story that, other than her, felt pretty grounded and somewhat thrived of its relatability. I don’t know, I have to admit that I enjoyed her dynamic with Ung but I can’t help but feel like her presence took away a lot of realism from the show.

However, both of these flaws really didn’t bother me all that much, they were just minor things that took me out of the show a bit. My main critique is something else and it’s a sentiment I don’t think is shared by many people. In my opinion Our Beloved Summers biggest weakness is Ung himself.
Don’t get me wrong, I like Ung, he is funny, kind, intelligent and thoughtful. He is basically flawless, perfect even. But herein lies the problem: Ung is too perfect.
“It is her fault we broke up”, is something Ung says about Yeon-su in one of the first few episodes. Through the majority of this show I was under the impression that this attitude would be something he would have to overcome. That Ungs weakness was supposed to be his ignorance about his own shortcomings. Very rarely can you blame a break-up entirely on one person, I thought that would be something he would have to come to realize. But then a weird thing happened: The plot validated his thought-process.
It is very subtly implied, that Ungs immaturity and sunny mindset are the reason our female protagonist doesn’t feel comfortable sharing her pain with him. That his nonchalant attitude seems othering to someone who has had it rough and I figured that, since he, for the most part, had lived a comfortable life, Ung can sometimes be ignorant about the struggle of others. But then the show portrays it as if that is something for Yeon-su to work past alone. She should just get over it and open up more. It is stated by herself that the reason they broke up was her own pride, no questions asked why she never felt completely safe to share her burden with her boyfriend. Ung never has to self-reflect. He is someone that was wrongfully left by his girlfriend because she had issues to overcome. His carelessness not only gets portrayed as something that makes him more lovable but as an actual strength Yeon-su has to learn from. Meanwhile her strengths, like her strict work ethic, are actually also portrayed as her biggest weaknesses that made her miserable all her life while her ex-boyfriend got to follow and achieve all his dreams.
I don’t understand why so many K-dramas are so terrified of giving their male protagonists actual tangible flaws to overcome. Maybe it’s because romance dramas mainly serve as female wish-fulfillment and the writers are terrified that we will lose interest if the love interest is not perfect in every single imaginable way, but it is something I am starting to grow really tired of. It’s especially tiring because Yeon-su is such a great example of a perfectly imperfect character, with an equal number of strengths and weaknesses. She had an actual character arc, wisdom to share but also things to learn. I just feel like the same thing can’t be said for our male lead. That is why this felt more like a story about Yeon-su’s growth than like a story about two people both working past their issues to rekindle their relationship. That didn’t make this drama unenjoyable, I love Yeon-su and her learning to open up was still an interesting character arc I enjoyed watching, but I just think that this show could have even better if it had provided Ung with chances to grow as well.

All this doesn’t change the fact that I thoroughly enjoyed Our Beloved Summer. I feel like 2021 had been somewhat disappointing on the romance-front but this drama truly was a breath of fresh air. Hopefully this is a good sign and I can expect more out of 2022. Despite its flaws, Our Beloved Summer really felt like summer to me, keeping me warm through this cold winter season.