honestly at first i thought i had started this kdrama too late (bc i was busy and i was already almost half of the series when i started) but i literally eat every single episode in two days, and i found myself for one month patiently waiting for the next episodes. i'm so grateful for the only existence of this serie bc it made me feel happy for monday and tuesday coming!!
genuinely i don't know how to start, the story, the time travel, the cast, the couples, the music, I LOVE EVERYTHING
I love the way they introduce us to the main story, with this kid called eungyeol who lives all her young life focus on make his parents proud instead of worrying about the things he loves, bc his family for him was always his priority
The part when eungyeol and his father argue in 2023 in sign language was one of the most painful and beautiful scenes i have seen in my life, and after that, this kid "magically" travel to 1995 and meet the young version of his father, I LOVE IT?!
the first thought it came to my mind in the middle of watching the series was "i hope they don't victimize his parents by proving them right about what they believed was best for their child" but we (eungyeol and us as spectators) discovered together how painful was his past (yichan) with his own family, and how awful was life for his mom, cheongah, and why yichan particularly didn't like the world of music his son wanted for his own life, It was a reminder of everything he lost.
The series develops in a good and fluid way, making me more excited every week for a new episode.
But when they introduces eunyu as her mom, i was worried for my beloved couple cheongchan and how painful it must have been for cheongah to feel like she lost the chance to be with yichan because of her return, but after they made things clear with each other (and each couple), it was easier for me to love her character.
If I have to say something about a character it is about how much I loved the character of Cheongah (played by Shin Eunsoo), her construction, her story, the way she saw the world, I felt that she was a very sad and lonely person behind that mask, but I am very grateful that Yichan has appeared in her life (because her son is right, her smile is very beautiful)
I firmly believe that her character is one of the reasons why the public in general loved the story, as it was well described, narrated and interpreted, at all times it was seen how capable she was as a human being, and even if her hearing disability prevented her from doing some things (like when she tried to ask for help for Yichan and couldn't, and then she left because she couldn't do anything else (I cried a lot)), It wasn't an impediment to interacting with the rest of the world bc the problem WAS NEVER HER, on the contrary, it was how the world reduced her to her disability (especially in her own home and how they mistreated her for the same thing???), causing her to decide to isolate herself from the rest.
but finally, he met sekyung, who was the first one who had a nice interaction within the school, later it was yichan, whom he constantly met, and when he discovered that she was deaf, the first thing he did was LEARN TO COMMUNICATE WITH HER the way she needed, not what made him feel comfortable (because he could perfectly write everything on paper) HE LEARNING SIGN LANGUAGE (yichan the fucking standard!) and finally, when his son discovered that she was his young mother, he did everything possible to open the way for her to communicate and relate to the world, something that was prevented for 12 years of her life :( a fact that allowed her to communicate with many more people, eunyu, the band's friends, among others, they always saw her as an equal, adapting to what she needed <3
I think Cheongah is a very complex character and I feel that they handled it very well with the tools they had, both in narrative and acting, I hope that next year they give ALL the awards to Shin Eunsoo for her wonderful performance, no one could have done it better than her (actually rooting for her winning best new actress at baeksang awards 2024).
yichan, my beloved yichan, i'm so grateful it was played by choi hyunwook (aka my baby), he did it so well, his character is so silly (in a good way) but he had his own story too, and i love how they tell us about it, and why he protected cheongah so much!
even if i thought the ending could have been better (in terms of explaining some things, give us some scenes and not deleting cheongchan scenes to us :)), i love it so much, HIS FAMILY DESERVED THAT ENDING
there's a lot of things i want to say about this serie but i think it's enough

if you really want to watch a good youth show with a funny, sad but hopeful storyline, you are going to learn a lot watching twinkling watermelon! i hope you enjoy it as much as i did, best kdrama of 2023 so far!!