austen
hungry wok
In terms of the acting, I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of pretty much every performance. What originally piqued my interest in the drama was Park Hye Soo's portrayal of Eun Jae. Most times I find that actors playing socially awkward characters always fall short for me, as in I can just tell they're trying to act awkward. Hye Soo, however, had me convinced by the first 20 minutes that she was legitimately the shyest, awkwardest person on the planet and I fell in love with her character. The way she interacts with her fellow housemates and classmates is just so adorably bumbling and so believable. The performances by Han Ye Ri, Ryu Hwa Young, and Han Seung Yeon were equally as impressive. Who really impressed me though, was Park Eun Bin. This drama begun my love affair with Park Eun Bin and all of her work. Just the pure confidence that she brought to Ji Won made her my favorite character throughout the entire series.
In terms of the story, there were strong and weak points. I loved each and every one of the romance lines. I thought every couple had an unreal amount of chemistry, especially Jae Wan and Jin Myung. The crazy situations and quarrels that all the roommates find themselves involved in just creates the most fun, lovable atmosphere that anyone who has or had roommates can relate too, and there were often points where I found myself legitimately laughing out loud. I will say however, that parts of the plot did seem a little disorganized. I feel like the supernatural element, as well as Eun Jae's backstory were either not explained well enough or just didn't fit in to the story as well as other storylines. I also felt like it was wrapped up quite quickly in the last two episodes and a lot of loose ends were left open for interpretation. I'm assuming this might be due to the second season, so it doesn't bother me as much.
Whatever Age of Youth lacks in story, it makes up for in music. I don't usually cry watching kdramas, but there were quite a few scenes that made me shed a few tears because of the beautiful music choices. Every song was so beautifully matched to scenes and just elevated the storytelling. The soundtrack itself is beautiful and I highly recommend listening to the entire OST on its own, but it really did complement the tone and the feeling of the drama. Even now that i've watched however many more dramas, I still haven't found a show that quite matches the effect music has in this one.
I haven't re-watched the show yet, but as soon as I finish season 2 and have some time I am definitely planning to. I truly feel that this is a drama everyone should watch at least one. The heart warming friendship, laugh-out-loud comedy, and wonderful soundtrack just can't be missed. I would highly recommend this drama.
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What I liked:
1. The radio setting - To me this is what made this drama special. It really made me fall in love with the radio and really rethink the importance of radio shows and such. It also was a super cool look into what goes into the radio. I just wish they had focused more on the radio show, but more on that later.
2. The music - This OST is beautiful! I just felt like it really matched with the mood of the show and added to scenes in the best way. I especially loved Radio Romance sung by Taeil and Doyoung of NCT, and Hidden Path by Nakjoon. The second one is such a gorgeous song and I love how its a part of the story as well.
3. The styling - Unpopular opinion: I thought Song Gue Rim's poodle hair was cute. I just really liked all of the styling that they used throughout the show and I felt that by establishing each character's style really well, it helped to develop the characters further.
3. The acting - I thought the acting in was superb. Both Yoon Doo Joon and Kim So Hyun played their characters extremely well and as always Yoon Park stole the show. This drama was by no means lacking in the acting department, but rather I was disappointed in how the characters and the story was written.
What I didn't like:
1. The overly complicated plot - Somehow nothing and everything happened in this story. As the drama was ending I noticed how many conflicts actually had to be resolved. Between managing a radio show, Ji Soo Ho's family and childhood, Song Geu Rim's writing aspirations and her mother, the love triangle, Jin Tae Ri and whatever bad situation she got herself into, and crazy Dr. Jason, this drama was just an unorganized mess of storylines. First of all, Soo Ho only needed a simple backstory and a current conflict, but somehow he ended up with two childhood traumas, almost no one he can trust, and a love triangle. Meanwhile, Song Gue Rim got a proper backstory, but her only conflict throughout the entire show was I guess falling for Soo Ho? I mean she struggles with her writing in the first few episodes but its not really an issue after episode 8ish. In any event, instead of having one big conflict that was solved in an interesting or surprising way, the show ended up with all these useless conflicts that were solved in boring, predictable ways. Personally, I think they should have just stuck to the radio and explored the stories of their listeners like they did in the first 8 or so episodes.
2. The characters - I realized again as I was watching the last few episodes how annoying the majority of the characters are. I have issues with most of them but the one that particularly annoyed me was Dr. Jason, Soo Ho's psychiatrist. I love his character the first few episodes. I thought he was hilarious and would provide the comic relief needed throughout the show and eventually end up as a really good friend for Soo Ho. I was highly mistaken. I can't explain any further for fear of spoiling but just know his character becomes useless, stupid, and unrealistic. I'm still mad about it.
I know it seems that I hated more than I liked, but to the show's credit, despite my criticisms of both the story and the characters, I still really enjoyed watching this. It was always the highlight of my Mondays and Tuesdays, and any show that can keep me entertained, even though I'm not particularly interested in the plot, deserves quite a bit of credit.All in all, I enjoyed watching the show. If you like this sort of puppy love romance with more verbal confrontations than physical, its a great drama. Just don't expect to be able to remember every single conflict that's happening and ignore Song Gue Rim's poodle hair and Ji Soo Ho's super red eyes (I promise it gets less poodly and they get less red).
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