[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Our Beloved Summer" Episode 3

It is only at the end of the third episode of "Our Beloved Summer" that screenwriter Lee Na-eun-I finally sees fit to grace us with the completed premise. Woong, after a great deal of soul-searching, finally decides that what he truly wants is vindictive spite against Yeon-soo for breaking up with him five years ago with no real explanation. Despite constantly teasing that Yeon-soo had some sort of reason for breaking up with Woong, even in the epilogue "Our Beloved Summer" refuses to explain what actually motivated her.

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I should note that before "Our Beloved Summer" screenwriter Lee Na-eun-I had only really written web-dramas, which explains a lot about the pacing. Story beats that should logically take about twenty minutes to get through at most end up taking an hour. The result is seriously deflated tension. Clearly Yeon-soo must have had some sort of good reason for abandoning Woong in such a cruel manner. The scene where she cries by herself certainly makes that much obvious.

Yet the extended runtime begs a lot of questions that I seriously doubt will ever be satisfactorily resolved. Perhaps most blatantly, why Yeon-soo thought that she could just pop up out of nowhere and negotiate a contract with Woong the artist to make her pitch work. Such an idea would make sense in a short web-drama, where there wouldn't be time to deliberate over Yeon-soo's exact motivation. But in the longer form, the incomprehensibility of Yeon-soo's plan is just far too obvious.

Other characters suffers from the same problem. Our second female lead NJ is being borderline pathetic when it comes to interpreting Woong's typically inexplicable reactions in the context of what seems, to her, to be obvious flirting. This is a good gag for a few minutes, not a few dozen. Then there's Eun-ho (played by Ahn Dong-goo), Woong's manager who doesn't seem to be very competent. His behavior rather inadvertently justifies why Woong would try to contact NJ directly.

Finally there's the second male lead Ji-woong, whose obsession with making a documentary about Woong is borderline creepy, given the admittedly cute exposition about their childhood relationship. "Our Beloved Summer" is relying hard on chemistry to tell a story. Lucky for director Kim Yoon-jin-I, Choi Wooshik and Kim Da-mi have a lot of it. But even great chemistry can only go so far when it's almost entirely contained in flashbacks, with more recent scenes being filled with weirdly passive-aggressive hostility.

Review by William Schwartz

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"Our Beloved Summer" is directed by Kim Yoon-jin-I, written by Lee Na-eun-I, and features Choi Wooshik, Kim Da-mi, Kim Sung-cheol, Roh Jeong-eui, Ahn Dong-goo, Park Won-sang. Broadcasting information in Korea: 2021/12/06~Now airing, Mon, Tue 22:00 on SBS.

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