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Twenty-Five Twenty-One: The Good, The Bad, and The Unknown Twenty Five, Twenty One (2521) is one of the most talked-about K-dramas this season. Kim Tae-ri plays Na Hee-Do, Nam Joo-Hyuk plays Back Yijin, and Bona from WSJN plays Ko Yu-Rim. The plot is divided into two timeframes, 1998 and 2022, with comparisons drawn between South Korea's International Monetary Fund (IMF) Crisis and the current COVID-19 issue. It concluded with 16 episodes, all of which are now accessible to watch (or replay) on Netflix. We opted to see the drama because of the positive response from both local and foreign K-drama enthusiasts. And here are our thoughts Story Line The story began with 40 year-old Na Hee-Do (Kim So-Hyun), driving her daughter Kim Min-Chae (Choi Myung-Bin) to a ballet competition. Hee-Do told Min-Chae that winning isn't everything, and that what matters is that she gives her best to the competition. Min-Chae disagreed, claiming that there was no purpose in attending if she wasn't competing to win. Hee-Do attempted to persuade her differently. The scene cut to Min-Chae going to Hee-Do’s childhood home where Hee-Do’s grandmother (Shin Hyun-Sook) lives. Min-Chae said she ran away from home and will live in that house temporarily, to which her grandma agreed. Min-Chae started to rummage through her mother’s old possessions and found Hee-Do’s old journal. Min-Chae read through it and started learning about her mother’s 19-year-old self (Kim Tae-Ri), including Hee-Do’s youthful aspirations, frustrations, and relationships. The two leads, Na Hee-Do and Back Yijin (Nam Joo-Hyuk) grew from friends to lovers. From two lost souls trying to follow their passions amid many challenges brought by the times, they were able to overcome their problems with the help of each other and their friends. Eventually, Hee-Do became a professional fencer who competed globally. Yijin, on the other hand, became a successful New York correspondent after he covered the 9-11 tragedy. All the traveling ended up causing a strain between Hee-Do and Yijin's relationship, though, with both of them feeling like they were losing touch with each other. In the end, the two exchanged heartbreaking statements and mutually decided that it was best to break up. As the drama's title hinted, they were ages 25 and 21 when this happened. Meanwhile, WSJN’s Bona plays Na Hee-Do’s fencing-rival-turned-friend Ko Yu-Rim. Bona portrays the complexities of her character, a flawless and fresh-faced ace fencing player on the outside, but a struggling 19-year-old on the inside, with ease. The rivalry between Yu-Rim and Hee-Do is one of the central storylines of the drama and both Bona and Kim Tae-Ri succeed in creating an onscreen atmosphere that makes you root for their characters despite them being rivals at first. The good 1. It uses the power of nostalgia to appeal to a wide range of audiences. It effectively creates a parallel between the lifestyle and technological changes from 1998 to today by using nostalgia-inducing props such as cassette tapes, VHS tapes, and bulky computers that can be contrasted with their modern-day counterparts such as smartphones and laptops with high-speed internet. It's an approach that's incredibly relatable to millennials and Gen-Zs (the drama's unquestionable target demographic) because people from these generations experienced these technological transformations – and the lifestyle adjustments that came with them – firsthand. Meanwhile, the hilarious dialogue, typically from Min-Chae, about how 'ancient' some of the items are as she goes through Hee-old Do's belongings really catches Generation Alpha (those born in the 2010s to the present). 2. Kim Tae-Ri is a compelling lead 31-Year old Kim Tae-Ri demonstrates in this K-drama that she has the versatility to play any role. Tae-Ri’s portrayal perfectly balances the happy-go-lucky and childish facade Hee-Do usually puts up for her peers with the resilience and straightforward attitude the character has for life and her passion, fencing. It’s sometimes easy to forget that the series is a romance drama, considering that Tae-Ri’s Hee-Do has the makings of a good solo heroine. 3. It presents a conflict that relates to both timelines Thankfully, this drama does not rely only on 90s allusions to keep its audience's attention. It instead connects 1998 and 2022 by a similar conflict: the IMF Crisis and the COVID-19 epidemic. The two events significantly vary in nature (one being financial and the other health-related) but the economic impact of these situations are almost identical. People are being laid off, schools are forced to make drastic adjustments to continue operations, and businesses that were previously thriving are closing down. By giving these two timelines a commonality, the series removes the ‘generation and timeline divide’ of the story and presses on an important message that transcends generation and age: powering through adversity, no matter what crisis you and the rest of the world face. 4. The cinematography deserves recognition Typically, dramas use different color filters to contrast two (or more) different timelines. However, for this drama, the scenes use filters based on the emotions of the characters. This adds to how the narrative tries to connect the two timelines together, showing that certain emotions and experiences transcend from one generation to another. 5. It portrayed love and loss beautifully We usually expect happy endings from romance dramas, especially when our main leads go through many hardships before and as they get together. However, Twenty Five Twenty One decided to end things by breaking our hearts a little (okay, maybe a lot) when we learn that Hee-Do and Yijin broke up not because of any exaggerated reason but simply because they grew apart. It portrays relationships very realistically — be it romantic or not — reminding us that some people come and go into our lives because we're just meant to learn from them and that we have to continue to grow without them. And yes, even then, it doesn't make their role in our lives any less meaningful. The bad 1. Min-Chae reading 19-year-old Hee-Do’s diary While it was fun at first to see Min-Chae discovering her mum’s old diary, we wish adult Hee-Do was the one who saw it instead after watching the recent episodes. Episodes 11 and 12 provided parallels between Hee-Do and her mum’s relationship in both the past and the present. and it would’ve been great to see adult Hee-Do looking back at her teenage thoughts from the perspective of a mother who also has a strained relationship with her daughter. We think it would’ve followed the drama’s theme of tying the past and the present together using a common element better. 2. Na Hee-Do and Back Yijin’s age gap Age gap romances are common in a lot of K-dramas (and Asian dramas, in general) and they’re usually met with a lot of raised eyebrows (as they should be) especially if one of the pair is a minor. Twenty Five Twenty One is no different. Na Hee-Do was 19 and Back Yijin was 23 when they met. K-netizens expressed their concern over this age gap since the story is obviously set Hee-Do and Yijin up as the main couple of the story. Thankfully, their relationship is portrayed more as friendly and platonic in Episodes 1 to 8, with little to no romantic connotations, as well as no creepy ‘grooming’ undertones from Yijin’s character. The unknown 1. The identity of Min-Chae’s father One of the biggest mysteries on Twenty Five Twenty One is if Yijin is, in fact, Min-Chae’s father — but in the end, the drama never revealed it. This sparked the interest in a possible season 2 among fans of the show. Note that the drama never disclosed Min-Chae’s age, but it seems fair to assume that she would find her mum’s diary when she was 19 when she was around the same age to create an effective parallel between the two of them. 2. Hee-Do and Yijin reunion Of course, our predictions wouldn't be complete if we wouldn't mention a Hee-Do and Yijin reunion. Now that Yijin is confirmed to be alive, it would be great if he and Hee-Do were to meet each other again. We're not expecting them to get together, but just like the diary entries that showed us what their 25- and 21-year-old selves left unsaid, it would be great closure for the audience to see them crossing paths again in the present timeline. Verdict Season 2 or not, Twenty Five Twenty One will remain to be one of 2022's best heartwarming K-dramas so far and we hope another series delivers the same feel soon ASAP.