Youth of May 오월의 청춘 [2021]

[abs-oluteM]

9 minutes ago, mademoiselle said:

I thought you liked melodrama, or the premise is it has to have happy ending?

Heavy is OK but this one has elements I don't enjoy ~ like a toned down version of Qiong Yao

Yeah I like melodramas still...I will complain about sad endings but I prefer a sad ending than an open one . And I rather a sad ending than a forced happy ending.

In this case , if the story had not started with the skeleton and the watch , it would not be far fetch to have a happy ending. But I believe the writer wanted to send a message about how this dark period in SK's history affected many lives. 

[gilaswan]

Aw man... no happy ending??? Pfft. 

[ktcjdrama]

Just came from watching the finale.... I'm a sobbing mess right now, shouldn't have done my night skincare routine before watching coz it's all wiped out with my tears. What was I thinking... Yes, we don't get the happy ending we wanted, but I think the drama still wrapped beautifully. We even get a wedding... 

 

Be back to share my thoughts tomorrow when I have collected myself. Don't let the ending deter you from watching the finale. This drama is good, well written and produced. I have no complaint except for that one satisfaction that is being held back from us viewers.

 

[ktcjdrama]

2 hours ago, mademoiselle said:

From all the spoilers, it looks like it's back to melo again.

I won't say the ending going melo though... 

Again, there are so many great lines and thoughts from these two last episodes.

 

10 hours ago, abs-oluteM said:

The production team said, "The final episode contains the message that the tragedy trampled on by the devastation of that day is not far away, but exists close to us. It would be nice if you could sympathize with that pain even a little."

This is so obvious that the ending is not gonna be a happy one for us viewers... but it still conveys an encouraging message.

[ktcjdrama]

Couldn't sleep well last night. My mind was busy thinking about what happened in the drama. I know I won't be able to revisit the drama for a long while because of knowing what happened in the end, but more than that, it was painful to see what the people in Gwangju had to go through in those days. I would still highly recommend the drama to anyone interested though. 

 

First off, my biggest disappointment with the story ~ whatever happened to Hwang Ki Nam?!?

 

I was too naive to think that the skeleton found at the beginning of the series could belong to someone other than our four main leads, or even other than our two main leads. There won't be any impact at all if that were to happen. Besides, the watch gave a very big clue already who the skeleton could be. I guess I was blinded and in the denial hoping for a happy ending. Of course the cause of dying and the identity of that homeless man were so unexpected. During the finale, watching that watch was like watching a game of musical chair. I immediately tensed up each time I see the watch passed from one hand to another. It was done very well though, that we viewers don't feel our emotion is being teased/toyed around (unlike some other dramas)

 

Let me talk about the sacrificial love first...

~ Myung Hee's father leaving Myung Soo under the bridge so as to draw the soldiers away from finding the kid. The scene of them parting was so well done and well acted by both actors.

~ Jung Hye Gun mentioning Hee Tae's name so he could be beaten to death because he wanted to protect his family while refusing to become HKN's dog on extended leash. 

~ Myung Hee coming out of hiding so that Myung Soo could run for his life, and blocking the bullet for him.

~ Special mention of brave little Jung Tae who tried with all his might to hold back a gun-holding man so as to protect Myung Hee noona. Her little act of care and kindness left such great impact that he ran out of his house in order to save her.

 

Stuff I love...

~ The introduction of our main characters in the current time, how it just weaved seamlessly into the storytelling. In case you're not aware, the first person shown in ep.12 is Jung Tae, from his slight limp.

~ Soo Chan joining Soo Ryeon in the movement due to what he witnessed and experienced himself. The cherry on top was their father tossing them the keys to their warehouse and told them to empty it if necessary. They've been raised well by a good father.

~ The letter from Myung Hee's father. How he's decided to always be running at the forefront in order to shield Myung Hee from the strong wind. It's really sad and a pity that she only found this out after he died. She held her anger towards him a tad too long.

~ Kyung Soo volunteering to run after Myung Soo because that's the only way he could save the kid from being shot by those heartless soldiers.

~ Hee Tae giving advice to the young doctor the same advice he got from Myung Hee. Indeed, life and death is not decided by human's hands, but by God.

~ My favorite: the most effective prayers. Our OTP only been together for one short month, yet their love runs deep and for decades. Hee Tae said to let him be the one to go through the dangerous things, the painful things. He be the one left to mourn was kind of the answer to that prayer. Myung Hee's prayer was the best ~ "Should they be parted because of a misfortune, don't let sorrow drown the life of the person left behind. The tears shed alone by that person, even if it accumulates up to the neck, don't let it drown that person, let the person continue swim forward and out of it. Give that person strength and courage." Their prayers were granted. We see while old Hee Tae was writing his letter, that despite multiple attempts to take his life, he was not drowned out, endured the sorrow and carried on with his life well, as a professor in the hospital. I was expecting him to break down and bawl when he read the prayer Myung Hee has written but he was given strength to hold himself together. 

 

Oh man, I've been tearing so many times as I was writing the above. Okay, break time for my eyes. I was okay watching it last night, but as I think more about it, and rewatch some scenes, tears just couldn't stop streaming again. There are little things that I am upset about, but I will leave that for next time if it's still nagging me.

 

Question though: Why is Kyung Soo living such a life? Was it because of what he had to do being in the army at that time? That he felt so ashamed of himself and not able to pick himself up? He also was not reunited with his girlfriend, Seok Dol? She is well and alive at the end....

 

Edited June 9, 2021 by ktcjdrama

[gilaswan]

Finished the last episode. Heartbreaking. So very heartbreaking. And as @ktcjdramasays, I probably can't revisit it any time soon because it is so very heartbreaking (and you know, I'm not the sort who cries watching shows), but I highly recommend this for a very well put together snap shot of a time in history that was not easy to live through, but remembered by many still in their community. I can see why it was filmed the way it was, to commemorate lives lost for larger cause that did not come immediately - it was not for another 7 years into their future that things would change some more. I'm not Korean, nor am I in any way or for any reason, of need to be interested in modern Korean history. Nevertheless, the knowledge of the fact that today's S.Korea (flawed as it might be, and really, which community isn't?) came at a very significant cost. It would appear people are still researching the incident and the causes that led to them (some to this day continue to believe it was the work of N.Korean spies).

 

Many interesting and significant things to note as the show tied itself up.

 

1. How HeeTae's father too professed the Christian faith but how warped his thoughts and views were. He certainly did not live the life of a believer, choosing to make all decisions on his own, by his own power, only to crumble by them. I think we saw his end in the form of his family deserting him, and his career ending too. It was ironic that as he was holding his son captive, he was copying the bible verse from Psalms 12:7-8 "The LORD will protect you from all evil; He will keep your life. The LORD will guard your going out and your coming in..." Indeed, how the Lord protected his 2 children, despite them living in such an evil house. 

 

2. The prayers. The heartwrenching prayers. But Hee Tae finally understood them. And often, life is this way - God has a way of answering our prayers even if we don't always see that it has already been answered. Just because it is answered in a manner different from Man's expectations, does not mean God's answer isn't the better. It is always the better. If Myeonghee had survived, the 2 of them would have had to live their lives running. I'm not so sure that would have been a better life or a more settled life. And while it took Hee Tae 41 years to realise how God had answered his prayers, he had lived a good life as Myeonghee had prayed for too.

 

3. Kyungsoo. He must have lived with guilt his entire life. He was the last one to see Myeonghee alive. If he had the courage to bring her to safety, she could have lived. We don't know what happened to his girlfriend, but Hee Tae did what he could to keep her alive for him. He did not do the same for Hee Tae. Indeed what Hee Tae said to him was also true - he's not a good person afterall. The civil war must have scarred him for life. 

 

What a tumultuous time in life where dreams were made in a time of youthful passion, and also killed through the treachery and evilness of man. 

Edited June 9, 2021 by gilaswan

[gilaswan]

@ktcjdramaWas Kyungsoo's girlfriend the first person who met Hee Tae at the "reunion"? But why would she be there? She didn't know Myeonghee. Was it implied what happened to Soo Chan? 

[mademoiselle]

[ktcjdrama]

1 hour ago, gilaswan said:

@ktcjdramaWas Kyungsoo's girlfriend the first person who met Hee Tae at the "reunion"? But why would she be there? She didn't know Myeonghee. Was it implied what happened to Soo Chan? 

Yes, she is. Hee Tae called her name out, and asked her to get some check-up done in hospital. I guess she woke up and somehow just remain in contact with Hee Tae. She must've heard about the missing Myung Hee and how the family been looking for her. Soo Chan was at the beginning of ep.12, overseas, assuming from all the people around him at the cafe. That's all. He and Soo Ryeon still living their well-to-do lives apparently. 

[gilaswan]

Who's suffering from YoM withdrawals? I am... sobbers... I hope Lee Do Hyun and Go Min Si have another shot at working together, this time with a happy ending, please! But both of them really have such old soul vibes that suit period stories. Maybe in a Joseon period drama this time! 

[ktcjdrama]

6 minutes ago, gilaswan said:

Who's suffering from YoM withdrawals?

I am not sure if what I have is considered withdrawal... but the slightest thought of the drama, especially this week's, made me all teary again... I kinda want to stay away from this thread for a while  but like I still have things to say... but I don't want to think about it anymore...

[gilaswan]

3 minutes ago, ktcjdrama said:

I am not sure if what I have is considered withdrawal... but the slightest thought of the drama, especially this week's, made me all teary again... I kinda want to stay away from this thread for a while  but like I still have things to say... but I don't want to think about it anymore...

That's when you know it's a good drama. 

 

I'm just thinking about the start of the drama when we see Hee Tae for the first time in his snazzy convertible and annoying bedside manner, and then the end of it when you see his softer side that only Myeonghee could have brought out of him. 

 

I wonder who his step mother was in terms of social status. Clearly the father did not hit her - she was unscathed. Prolly just threw things around in a fit of anger. But that she was able to go to him and demand that divorce, which he clearly could not afford to allow happen, shows she was someone of status herself. 

[ktcjdrama]

7 minutes ago, gilaswan said:

 

I wonder who his step mother was in terms of social status. Clearly the father did not hit her - she was unscathed. Prolly just threw things around in a fit of anger. But that she was able to go to him and demand that divorce, which he clearly could not afford to allow happen, shows she was someone of status herself. 

Yeah, that part wasn't explained well. Not to mention what happened to Hwang Ki Nam?? I get that on the same day he got served divorce papers, he also almost lost his son, then was rejected by his son. Was quite surprised that he was affected by how Jung Tae treated him, when he never showed any care for him. Indeed, no one would want to call him family. 

[gilaswan]

1 hour ago, ktcjdrama said:

Yeah, that part wasn't explained well. Not to mention what happened to Hwang Ki Nam?? I get that on the same day he got served divorce papers, he also almost lost his son, then was rejected by his son. Was quite surprised that he was affected by how Jung Tae treated him, when he never showed any care for him. Indeed, no one would want to call him family. 

I think it was the shock that his own son could have been killed by a situation caused by him. As much as he treated Hee Tae harshly to the point of physical abuse, he would not have killed him. He was able to kill others because he was able to "otherise" them. But his own children is another matter altogether. What does he have if he does not even have a family? He placed his bets wrongly and it backfired on him. 

 

As for Hwang Ki Nam, I think it was quite clear he had lost everything. His superior no longer trusted him and he was being investigated. In such a political regime, one loses favour very quickly, and because no one trusts anyone - your career is made up of manipulations and betrayals, manipulating and getting manipulated, betraying and getting betrayed. What kind of a life is that? So I reckon his end was exactly that - lost favour at his work place, lost his wife, lost both sons. 

Edited June 9, 2021 by gilaswan

[ktcjdrama]

51 minutes ago, gilaswan said:

So I reckon his end was exactly that - lost favour at his work place, lost his wife, lost both sons. 

But we want to see his suffering state 

[gilaswan]

1 hour ago, ktcjdrama said:

But we want to see his suffering state 

I think from a drama standpoint that would give viewers a lot of satisfaction. But I don't think that's what the writers of the show wanted to convey in their story telling. Feels like they wanted to remember the season, recognise the pain, "name" the cause of it (seems like they want to debunk ideas that it was caused by the communist north, but more importantly, they wanted to celebrate the loves and lives of those who survived.

[ktcjdrama]

8 minutes ago, gilaswan said:

I think from a drama standpoint that would give viewers a lot of satisfaction. But I don't think that's what the writers of the show wanted to convey in their story telling. Feels like they wanted to remember the season, recognise the pain, "name" the cause of it (seems like they want to debunk ideas that it was caused by the communist north, but more importantly, they wanted to celebrate the loves and lives of those who survived.

Yeah, I know... it’s the bloodthirsty me talking haha... This drama is great in balancing the emotions, the tension and the reveal, not just for dramatic sake. Eg. they don’t show the slow-motion dramatic way of Myung Hee being shot. Just her expression of shock of what might happen to her brother, gun shot sound, next thing we see her being laid to the side already. Yet the impact is still felt by us the audience. 

[abs-oluteM]

It goes without saying that I cried buckets in the final episode. In spite of the sad ending, this is a very good drama and a favorite for 2021. No, I am not a sucker for pain, but the ending felt right and paid tribute to those who lost their lives or lost someone dear in the May of 1980. Was MHee's death necessary ...probably not.  Then again is death ever necessary ? From a story telling perspective, her death would make a lot more impact than say a side character.

 

If I were to think about it , Myung Hee's character is probably my favourite in this show and was written consistently right to the end. In her final prayer, she prayed for the relief of the suffering of those who were left behind . And in the final moments of her life , she saved her brother. Our sweet girl MHee  who had put everyone else 1st before herself , touched many while she was alive and even in death. It wasn't a saviour complex or anything like that , because  MHee was genuinely kind , thoughtful and selfless.

 

So it is no surprise that Hee Tae could never move on and never found someone else. The irony was that his prayer came true - he suffered being left behind. But I believe her death and the tragic events of this uprising probably pushed him to put his whole heart into medicine. And looking at the career choices of Myung Soo & Jung Tae , there's some sort of silver lining I supppose. Though sadly,  not everyone thrived . Kyung Soo , poor fella who seems like  some homeless man now,  was an unwilling soldier then. He is probably still haunted by all the things he was forced to do and that's why he looked so lost. 

 

When people have no choice but to fight back against an authoritarian regime, there will always be collateral damage. Not all who died were fighting for the cause. And while not everyone started off with strong beliefs like Soo Ryeon, many came to understand why this was necessary given how brutal the government & military were. I thought it was a nice touch to see how Soo Chan and their father ended up helping SR distribute aid to those who needed it. 

 

I do think that GMS and LDH deserve recognition at the KBS Awards at the year end. Their heart gripping romance anchored the drama for me. Even when they were playing siblings in Sweet Home, I had always felt they would be great as lovers. I was not disappointed.  And should they reunite, I will gladly watch them again. 

 

Goodbye MyungHeeTae. Will miss seeing them on my screen.

 

[mademoiselle]

Hee Tae with Jung Tae and Myung Soo

[mademoiselle]

 

This smile is

 

Spoiler

 

 

[gilaswan]

@abs-oluteMI love that picture of them. I think I'm quite drawn to this reel couple. They portrayed their stories so well. 
 

@mademoiselleAnd yes, that smile. Megawatt smile. How could Myeonghee (and Dajeong before that, and Manwol before that) not fall for him? 

 

I agree, Go Minsi and Lee Dohyun really deserve awards for their portrayal of these 2 characters. Especially Lee Dohyun. I could really feel his anger at his dad, his conflict and desperation when approaching his father for help, his indifference towards the arranged marriage, his gut wrenching pain at the loss of Myeonghee. And kudos to the writers. They really managed to get the audience to feel the hurt and agony of the people who went through the events that May, 41 years ago, without anyone getting upset over a sad ending (cos you know, there will always be those feelings of dissatisfaction when a drama goes that way). 

 

I take back all I initially said about Sooryeon being a brat. Maybe she was, but she also sobered up very quickly when she realised what it was her family was going through, and the terror of Hwang Ki Nam. I had thought that YoM would end up like other romance dramas where you'd have an unintended love triangle and the anguish that would come out of that. But YoM was nothing like that. This was truly a story about lives that were simply thrown into chaos and turmoil, whether they were personally passionate about the cause, or simply caught in the crossfire. 

 

@ktcjdramaMaybe I do want to revisit the drama.

[ktcjdrama]

3 hours ago, gilaswan said:

@ktcjdramaMaybe I do want to revisit the drama.

Good for you! It will take me some time before I will do that. I barely returned to a normal self today, haha... being quite mellow all day yesterday. Tearing up whenever I thought about some scenes of the drama. I cannot say it enough ~ this is a very good drama. There are a lot of thought provoking lines, interactions and scenes. 

[mademoiselle]

Some more never seen before stills...

 

Spoiler

 

[abs-oluteM]

 

[ktcjdrama]

 

++ According to Lee Kang writernim, the main message of #YouthOfMay are the prayer of Myunghee + Heetae's letter. We will sincerely support and pray for many Heetae(s) out there who are still living against the tide to always continue to swim.
 

Reading this got me teary again...  

That was indeed the punch of the whole drama.