"That Year, Our Summer" is over. This is another Korean drama that only gained word of mouth in a small circle, but in the end failed to become popular. Although it was well received at the beginning of the broadcast, the series was suddenly scolded when it reached nine or ten episodes, driving away a large number of viewers.
Korean dramas are always like this, the first eight episodes are responsible for being praised, the last eight episodes are responsible for being scolded, and "abandoning the drama in time" has become a summary of the experience of watching Korean dramas. The more the plot of "That Year" develops, the more it reveals that the screenwriter's pen is not strong.
Nowadays, although the unexpected reunion ending meets the expectations of fans, it is also said by many people as "bad tail" and "no novelty".
It's been too long
Drain the audience's patience
Choi Woong and Guo Yeon-so are a pair of lovers who have broken up. Ten years ago, when they were both high school students, they made a documentary about the theme of "The First and The Penultimate Life in the Whole School", and they became acquainted with it.
Ten years later, their love affair was over, but the film went viral on the Internet, and the two were pulled back to the camera by the director's team. After a long time of reunion, they obviously did not let go of their original feelings, and the atmosphere was very delicate.
This is a story that breaks the mirror and reunites, so "untying the knot of many years" naturally becomes the key point of the series. When the two broke up that year, it was almost college graduation, and Guo Yanxiu unilaterally dumped Cui Xiong. Their background in life has led them to be doomed to be unable to live in peace.
Cui Xiong's family is wealthy, so he is content with the status quo, enjoys a comfortable life, and has a very happy life even if he has always been the first to last in the exam. Guo Yanxiu is arrogant, lonely, and full of thorns, and does not make friends with anyone under the aura of "first in the whole school". But in fact, her pride is only to hide her inferiority - she has no father and no mother, is dependent on her grandmother, has a lot of debt in her family, and from time to time there are creditors who come to the door to make trouble. So she had to fight for her life, which was the opposite of Cui Xiong's concept.
In the stage of explaining the background of the characters at the beginning, the male and female protagonists are fake and awkward, trying to pretend to be light and breezy, funny with a little sadness. The subtle and interesting atmosphere makes the audience's expectations go all the way up. The plot progresses to the eighth episode, and the Korean drama "the eighth episode must kiss" law is staged, leaving a beautiful ending, which hangs people's appetite.
As a result, at the beginning of the ninth episode, the male protagonist turned to the female protagonist and said, "Let's be friends", and then the female number two and his emotional line were inexplicably put on the agenda. The presence of male number two has gradually increased, and the story has developed towards the old-fashioned four-corner romance, and the audience has shouted and stepped on the thunder and abandoned the play.
But as long as you see the back, everyone will find that the various lightning points expected before have not actually exploded-
Cui Xiong's proposal to "be a friend" is the psychological shadow of being abandoned by his father in childhood. He was afraid of being abandoned by Guo Yanxiu again, so he only dared to take a step back and did not dare to face his heart. Although the feelings of the male and female protagonists are awkward, they have always been very clear, the supporting characters are not blind, and under the mutual respect of adults, polyamorous love has not really unfolded.
"Why did you break up that year" is Cui Xiong's heart knot all along. Until the end, this reason was known only to the audience, and he did not know it - in his senior year, Guo Yanxiu overheard the news that Choi Xiong refused to study abroad, but the reason was that he did not want to be separated from his girlfriend.
Guo Yanxiu's family is a chicken feather, graduation is imminent, the job is not settled, the debt has not been paid off, and the grandmother is already old. She realized that she couldn't share the burden of life with him, and for the good of everyone, she could only dump him fiercely.
Obviously, it is a very realistic and resonant reason, but it has not been able to explain it well. The knot in the heart of the two has not been able to be undone, and it is difficult to see people's hearts.
The front line of "That Year" is too long, the foreshadowing is buried too deeply, and the side plot is filled in too much, even if the loopholes are slowly rounded back, but the ratings have slowly slipped from the top of the list to the bottom half of the leaderboard.
No matter how wonderful the plot is, it will not taste after too long. The emotional line of the male number two and the company's juniors, the funny plot of the female protagonist's girlfriend and the male protagonist's agent have interfered with the audience's vision, and the main plot can be ended by ten episodes, relying on these unimportant branches, which are hard to fill sixteen episodes, which inevitably gives people a feeling of water injection.
The characters are well-built
The repertoire has a unique value
However, if you want to watch a tightly paced and climactic drama, then "That Year" will certainly not meet your expectations.
In this drama, even the fiercest contradictions are gently brought over in a gentle way, and the development of the plot depends on the psychological monologues of the characters, and the content of the episodes is often not how the protagonist "handles a thing", but the protagonist "feels something through these experiences", using the psychological activities of Cui Xiong and Guo Yanxiu to promote the plot.
Therefore, as long as these two characters are well portrayed, this drama has already succeeded for the most part. Both characters are indeed very vivid - Guo Yanxiu is proud of her inferiority, which shows that her heart is very sensitive. Such a person has a strong sense of observation, and she always holds back when she has something in her heart, so when she faces Cui Xiong, she often swallows back the words that are put on her mouth, and never says anything directly.
Cui Xiong has a simple mind and has a deep obsession with the matter of "being dumped". So even though his life is still simple and relaxed, his state is much lower than when he was young. When facing Guo Yanxiu, he always wants to escape his own thoughts.
I have to say that the acting skills of the actors add to the watchability of this drama. They perform these subtle thoughts in their entirety, and the subtle expressions of the characters are often the biggest attractions in the series.
The whole drama can be said to be the psychological diary of the two characters, and the last episode concentrates on combing through their mental journey, elevating the intention of this love story to "building themselves".
At this stage, the male and female protagonists have been compounded for a period of time, and the feelings are mixed with oil, and Cui Xiong once again gets the opportunity to study abroad - his creation has entered a bottleneck period and needs to be nourished by new things. It was the same situation as when they last broke up, and now, both of them have matured.
Cui Xiong finally had a long talk with Guo Yanxiu's grandmother and understood her responsibilities and entanglements. He wanted to be someone worthy of her, get out of his comfort zone, and boldly go to France to study abroad.
At the same time, Guo Yanxiu got the opportunity to go to France at work, but she reflected on her life - the debt had been paid off through hard work, friends and relatives were around, and she clearly realized that this was the life she wanted. So she didn't sacrifice hastily and decided to stay where she was. After two years of long-distance love, they eventually married.
Cui Xiong began to take responsibility and become brave, Guo Yanxiu began to slow down and reduce the pressure of life, they all found themselves, so they were able to calmly survive the emotional crisis. This is the unique feature of "That Year" - the twists and turns are secondary, the personalities of these two people and the way they deal with problems are the focus, and the audience seems to have really watched a documentary about their lives.
In order to tell a love story with twists and turns in this loose and peaceful atmosphere, the requirements for the screenwriter are very high, but it is a pity that the screenwriter's pen strength cannot keep up with the ambition.
Nowadays, Korean dramas have entered a stage of transformation. Romantic love dramas that used to talk only about wind and snow and no philosophy of life can no longer satisfy the audience's appetite. And this intention to make a fine product is difficult to achieve for a while.
More types, more content transformation
Korean dramas are still improving
"That Year, Our Summer" is an investment drama for Netflix. In recent years, Korean dramas have carried out in-depth cooperation with the world's largest streaming media broadcasting platform, and it is rumored that in 2021, Netflix's investment in South Korea will be 84 billion won, and it will only inject funds, do not interfere with the creation of dramas, and everything is quality first.
Netflix's investment has expanded the content field of Korean dramas. Zombies, monsters, fantasy and other themes that were rare in Korean dramas in the past have increased a lot.
In recent years, Korean dramas that have become popular overseas can be divided into two categories, one is a short and refined, similar To American drama series such as "Squid Game" and "Kingdom", and the other is a slow-paced love drama like "That Year, Our Summer" and "Coast Village Chacha". The former is fast-paced, the theme is more curious, suitable for creating hot spots in social networks, and the latter puts forward novel insights on love and life, slow and delicate, giving people afterglow.
However, during the transition period of Korean dramas, both genres have their own shortcomings. For example, although "Squid Game" is curious and wonderful, it only attracts attention in the first few episodes, and the later stage falls into a stale discussion of human nature, which fails to meet the audience's expectations for watching cool dramas. Romantic love dramas such as "That Year" put forward higher requirements for the ability of the main creator, which require deep skills and a long time of polishing in order to present a deep love proposition. Therefore, "high open low walk" and "rotten tail" are still the bottlenecks that the current Korean dramas cannot escape.
That being said, Korean dramas are only on the basis of doing well, and there is still some room for growth. Korean dramas have always been popular in overseas markets, and they are online at a high level from production to marketing. Whether South Korea can once again produce plays like "The Heirs" and "You from the Stars", which have great influence in other countries, is still a question mark.