Our Beloved Summer had a very unique and beautiful tone. It was funny and sweet, but also heartfelt and sentimental, even heartbreaking at times. The writing, the characters, and the acting all felt very special. The two leads had beautiful chemistry and they depicted the emotions between the different stages of their relationship wonderfully. The dynamic of rivals to lovers to exes to friends to lovers was done so well.

The documentary was a different idea I don’t think I had seen before. The character interviews, the stolen glances, the emotions they didn’t realize others could see on their faces were all fantastic and it makes me want to watch all the documentaries in their entirety.

The main characters, Ung and Yeon-su, felt like real people with their complexity. I loved both of them individually and together. All of the secondary or side characters also felt very real. I often get annoyed by side characters and find myself fast forwarding through those scenes, but I never skipped a scene in this show. I found every character compelling and they explored very interesting dynamics between them all. Love triangles can be very hit or miss but Ji-ung was such a sympathetic second lead that I always found compelling to watch. There was never really a doubt as to who she would end up with but Ji-ung displayed such heartbreak with his unrequited love.

I’ve seen people complain about Yeon-su but I loved her. She was very relatable and her backstory made her current day struggles and decisions make a lot of sense for her character. The way that Ung spoke about Yeon-su, even when they were broken up, brought tears to my eyes several times. Her relationship with her grandmother was also a highlight of the show.

There is very little to take issue with in Our Beloved Summer. The main thing that I wanted was just a little more exploration and resolution of the couple’s struggles and emotions in their present day relationship. Yeon-su had such issues opening up to Ung and it seemed like she never fully revealed her past struggles to him. It would have been great if they actually had a discussion about their breakup in detail as well. I would have liked to see her explain her reasons to him and for him to also acknowledge some of his shortcomings in their relationship. The realization that Ung had never told her that he loved her in years and years of dating stung a bit.

All of the three main characters could have had their backstories fleshed out a bit more but what we did get was great. Even the secondary couples had great dynamics and I would have liked to see even more of them.

The final episode was perfection and exactly what you want from a romance. This would be a great comfort show and is suited so well to be a rewatch.