Early Access: Twenty Five, Twenty One E1 (Patreon)

E1. Ahhh! I like this one, so much, and right away too!! This rarely ever happens, so I'm beyond thrilled. If Show manages to keep this up, I'm going to be a very, very happy camper.

I love how fresh, this all feels. Many dramas feel like they're rehashing similar storylines and working to make them feel fresh. This doesn't feel anything like that at all; this just feels fresh, all on its own. I love that.

I really like the premise, where our entire story is basically viewed in the mind's eye of the protagonist's daughter, as she goes through her mom's diary, while going through a ballet slump herself.

Also! What a pleasant surprise, to see Choi Myung Bin play Hee Do's daughter Min Chae. I love her, and hope that we'll get to see more of her, even though I'm thoroughly enjoying our main story, told in flashback.

On that note, how poignantly universal is it, to have mother and daughter actually have so much in common, including the teen angst of feeling like Mom doesn't understand, and therefore it's impossible to talk with Mom. It makes me think of my own teenaged years, when I, too, had felt like it was just too difficult to talk with my mom, because I was convinced that she wouldn't understand. Ah, don't we all go through this, after all.

I have to say, I hadn't quite been sure how I would take to Kim Tae Ri in this role, but I am loving her in this, right away.

I love Hee Do's energy and spirit. She's so full of passion and enthusiasm, and her dreams are so big, and so pure. She's such a gangly, flaily bundle of chaotic energy, and her feelings are as large as I would expect of any wide-eyed, innocent teenager who's unacquainted with the worries, or the scary things, in the world.

For a start, I love how simple her joys are. Getting to see her fencing idol on a Saturday, even if it's from a distance, and getting to read her favorite comic book are enough to bring a gigantic smile to her face, and more than a simple bounce to her step, and I find that very innocent and endearing.

Hee Do's shortsighted plans for a forced transfer also strike me as very teenagery. It amuses me that it doesn't ever occur to her, that getting arrested in and of itself, could get in the way of her having a career in sports.

Her outrageous plans were fun to watch, though, and in particular, I enjoyed that whole umbrella-fencing sequence, where she singlehandedly commands the attention of both petty gangs, and everyone stops fighting, just to see how she thwacks that one boy into submission. I found that very amusing, and also, I found it rather thrilling, to see her fencing skills and instincts at play.

Even though Hee Do is supposed to be in a slump, it seems like there's no problem whatsoever with her fencing performance, when she isn't actively thinking about it, like during the umbrella-fencing thing, and also, when Coach Yang throws that apple into the air, and Hee Do pierces it right through, with her foil.

She does have a knack for fencing, it looks like, and I'm glad that she's passionate enough about it, to pursue it this actively, despite being in a slump and not performing up to expectation.

I love-love-LOVE that scene, where Hee Do floats that umbrella down to her idol Yu Rim, and then hugs herself in glee, at the thought that her idol is using the umbrella that she's provided. It's so very pure, and so very cute. I love it.

That scene where Hee Do screws up her courage to talk with Mom about wanting to transfer schools and keep fencing, is so very well done, I thought. Hee Do's childlike innocence, earnestness and frustration is so believable, and Mom's anger and hurt is so clear to see as well. I found Mom's glassy eyes, as she fights back tears, especially poignant.

Again, it hits home in such a universal way. Hee Do's thoughts and priorities are just completely different from Mom's. Mom's probably been through a lot, having lost her husband, and become a single working mom, trying to do her best for her daughter. And yet, there's this giant gulf between mother and daughter, that, right now, seems too huge to bridge. It's such heartachey stuff.

I'm glad Mom seeks out her old friend Coach Yang to help Hee Do transfer schools, even though it appears to be an uncomfortable situation. I'm definitely curious to know more about what's happened between Mom and Coach Yang, and why Coach Yang feels Mom owes her an apology, and why Mom had felt so keenly, the need to be understood.

I'd been curious to see how Show would work with using the IMF as a backdrop, without it feeling too suffocatingly like a history lesson, and Show is doing beautifully, on that front. I like how we get little nuggets of history here and there, like how the public had donated their personal gold belongings, to help the nation through the crisis, while Show keeps its IMF focus mainly on our characters' personal experiences, thus making it all that much more relatable.

Like how Hee Do couldn't care less about the IMF, until it impacted her fencing dreams. And how Yi Jin's entire life has turned upside down, because his family's gone bankrupt.

On that note, I am really enjoying Nam Joo Hyuk as Yi Jin. So far, it really feels to me, like this role fits him like a glove.

He totally looks the part of a young man, who, up till recently, had grown up with all the comforts he could have ever wanted, and is now acquainting himself with the harsh reality of working multiple jobs in order to make rent.

I really like Yi Jin's temperament, so far. He doesn't get riled up easily, like when the neighbor on his paper route makes a fuss about receiving his paper late, or when Hee Do tries to repair that copy of Full House, and fails so miserably.

He could have gotten upset both times, but instead, he remains calm as he apologizes to the neighbor and assures him that it's just coz it's his first day on the job, and that his paper would be on time going forward, and he chuckles over Hee Do's desperate drawings, which she's used to replace the ruined ones.

Plus, there's how he works to protect Hee Do at the nightclub, even though they are barely acquainted. I kinda love how he tells his so-called friend that the one good thing about his family going bankrupt, is how he gets to see people at their worst; that that so-called friend should have treated him this way from the start, so that he wouldn't have been mistaken that they were friends.

YES. I love how matter-of-fact that takedown is, and I love how Yi Jin doesn't stoop to his friend's way of doing things, just because he's down and out. I love that earthy steeliness about him.

So far, I'm also loving the interactions between Yi Jin and Hee Do.

She's all bursts of pure, unfiltered emotional energy, like when she yells at him for breaking the peeing boy statue in her garden, and he's all matter-of-fact groundedness. I love the way he seems to be consistently unruffled by her outbursts, and just homes in on the logical things, like checking her returned comics for snot, and telling her that her plan for transferring school sucks.

Plus, I do love that he is so amused by her attempt to repair the comic book. He's so good-natured. And, it does warm my heart, to think that he's grown a little bit fond of the noisy, chaotic girl who's inexplicably invaded his life from the most unexpected corners.

I love that closing scene, where Hee Do yells after him with so much unadulterated joy, to tell him that she's going to transfer schools after all, and keep fencing, and that she'd used the special right that only comes with her age, that he'd reminded her of.

I love how delighted Hee Do looks, in this moment, and I also really like Yi Jin's quietly muttered "congratulations," as he cycles away. That feels pitch perfect, because he's happy for her, but at the same time, we're reminded that his life isn't rosy at all right now, and he's got to keep working, to keep making ends meet.

I'm really looking forward to watching how this unexpected connection between Hee Do and Yi Jin continues to grow.

On another note, I'm nicely tickled to see Kim Hye Eun play Coach Yang. Having recently rewatched Secret Love Affair, where Kim Hye Eun plays the vain Young Woo who's always in tight, revealing clothing and heavy makeup, it's just a bit of a mind-bender to see her in baggy tracksuits and sneakers here, as Coach Yang, and speaking in Saturi, no less. I love it.

Also, I am enjoying Bona as Yu Rim so far as well. I'd last seen Bona in Girls' Generation 1979, and liked her there. This is quite a different role for her, and so far, I already find Yu Rim rather likable. She's focused and disciplined, which I like, and there are also lashings of vulnerability and loneliness, which I think I spy, so far.

I'm really curious to see how Hee Do gets on with her fencing idol, now that she's finally in the same orbit as her.

Also, I'm curious to know who Hee Do's online friend is. Could it be Yu Rim herself, I wonder?

Next episode notes will be out on: Sunday, 20 Feb 2022!

*This show will be covered on the Ultimate Early Access (US$25) Tier*