Record of Youth - Guest Review

I'm falling behind on my regular posts! Lately, I have just been posting our guest reviews (thanks Manang Karen for your time!) Here is our fourth Korean drama review: Record of Youth (청춘기록). This drama was shown on TVN and Netflix, falling under the youth and romance genre.

Synopsis

This drama follows the lives of Sa Hye-jun (Park Bogum) and Ahn Jeong-ah (Park Sodam). Sa Hye-jun is a popular model aspiring to become an actor and Ahn Jeong-ah is pursuing a hobby-turned-career of being a successful makeup artist. The two characters very coincidentally ended up meeting.

Manang Karen's Review

You know how there are some dramas that just make you feel complete or satisfied by the time you finish watching the end of the series? Well, this isn’t one of them. This falls under the category of really rooting for something exciting and good to come out of watching over half of the series and then feeling great disappointment at the end. Am I exaggerating? Maybe a tiny bit, but I think for the most part that was an accurate description of this drama.

The main storyline itself had potential. A guy struggling to make a name for himself while overcoming hardships from society and his own family accomplishes the unexpected against all odds. Sounded interesting enough, but add into that a lackluster romance with a potential third party conflict and attempts at portraying love scenes that make you cringe or roll your eyes, and it’s just like a puzzle that had no future of coming together. I mean I actually had to fast forward some “romantic” parts because they were so slow and boring. The majority of the cast, Park Bo Gum excluded, seemed sub-par. The only part that probably tugged my heartstring was the portrayal of deep relationship between Bo Gum and his grandfather. Other than that, it just felt blah. The romance factor was lacking. The conflicts did not fully develop. The resolution left you feeling like you just wasted 16 hours of your life. There were just too many small story plots that could have been deleted to focus on the main story.

On a good note, there were a few positives worth mentioning. First, Park Bo Gum - probably the main reason this drama pulled me to watch it. There were several cameos, and those made for interesting watching (thinking of you, Park Seo Joon). The soundtrack included some nice songs including “Every Second” by Baekhyun and “Shine on You” by Whee In. And…that’s it.

I was quite disappointed because I was really rooting for this drama to work just like I was rooting for the main character to succeed. Unfortunately, this drama did not. We rated this generously at 6-6.5/10. Would I recommend this? I think not. Next drama, please!

Record of Youth (16 episodes)

Rating: 6-6.5/10

Recommend: No

Sumorie - MINI SPOILERS AHEAD

Before I began, I would like to quote Manang Karen on something that really resonates with me:

"...feeling like you just wasted 16 hours of your life"

Reading that sentence really made me laugh, but it was also a sad realization of how true those words ring. As written in the review above, there were too many storylines and none of them were developed - not even the main plot. I know this is not real life, but Sa Hye-jun and Ahn Jeong-ah's relationship was not realistic. It moved incredibly fast and ended just as fast (not to mention selfishly). The ending was terrible. I would have to say it was the worst ending out of the four reviews on the site.

There were a few things that I enjoyed. One of my favorite characters was Hyehyo's mother. While she is the definition of a helicopter mom, she was portrayed in a funny and likeable way. She was the comic relief in this serious drama. It was also nice to kind of experience what it's like behind the scenes of a real set and actors' lives, although it wasn't really shown - just bits and pieces. The relationship between Hye-jun and his grandpa was very wholesome and sweet. I really liked the grandpa - he was a sweet, old man and was determined to make up for his past mistakes.

Verdict

I do not recommend this drama. Overall, there is nothing captivating about this drama, except maybe Park Bogum's perfect teeth (which he didn't even show much).

Sumorie Rating

2/5