SPOILER THREAD for Twenty Five Twenty One
Added 2022-04-03 17:01:10 +0000 UTCLet's do this. I (Megan) finished and I'm feeling... lots of feelings. Some good some bad lol. I will post more in the comments. Release your feels, people!
Comments
I’m coming to this a week after everyone else, but I’m happy to have a place to say… what was I thinking??? Between the first episode and spoilers online, I was 99% sure this wasn’t an HEA, but I dove in anyway. Oof. Credit to the writing and acting, because I loved almost everything about this through episode 13 and then was bawling my eyes out at the very end. Some of the details I loved: the early appearance of (I think) a Tamagotchi, the hideout at the high school, online chat, the pink pencil case, Yu-rim’s parents, the entire beach trip, Yu-rim and Hee Do’s arc. Like others have said, I was left with some big questions about present day. I loved how Hee Do’s daughter was woven in along the way, but her last scene was a let down. And the breakup/observations on what we lose as we grow up just hit too close to home. I don’t know what would have made me feel better/more optimistic/at peace in the end. At the moment, I’m just left with a beautifully crafted take on how heartbreaking life can be. Can you love a drama but never, ever want to watch it again?
Nicole H
2022-04-11 17:36:14 +0000 UTCThank you for posting that! She explains much more articulately than I could why I was so bummed by the ending.
Lorna
2022-04-09 02:05:29 +0000 UTCThis was spot on. I definitely felt like I was sitting beneath the jumbo jenga tower when it fell.
Lauren Cohen
2022-04-05 23:53:17 +0000 UTCSomeone shared this in the Kdrama Facebook group and I think this is bang on about why as a romance reader I felt cheated by the way their relationship was built up https://tatooine-rainstorm.tumblr.com/post/680584025104154624/2521-vs-la-la-land-and-why-it-hurts-so-dang-much?fbclid=IwAR2OVtDB1I2nJoR115zaQoXZCnzQs5UQAkP6yk1oATyu8J_9iGwnMVaAUxs
Sarah @afternoonaasks
2022-04-05 08:15:21 +0000 UTCAlso the best part ended up being Heedo and Yurim's friendship. I guess that was the real love story if I'm honest.
Megan Crutchfield
2022-04-05 06:06:10 +0000 UTCI really loved this drama... until the last episode. I think they could have given us 4 more and answered so many of the unanswered questions. Like Heedo just married some other guy? We don't even see him at all or their relationship? Also the adult Heedo and the young adult Heedo do not vibe. I understand people change, because I have, but not as much as was presented. And you're really telling Yi-jin really did keep here as his question to unlock his passcode? What the what? I feel like the writers got tired around ep 14 and just rolled over. The 9/11 storyline was great, but I really thought it would bring them closer together. UGH I hate it, but also loved it.
Megan Crutchfield
2022-04-05 06:04:43 +0000 UTCSo agree with many comments from above, you guys are the best at summing up your frustrations! I really enjoyed lots about this drama except for the ending of their relationship and the modern dah stuff. I’m ok with not having HEA despite being a romance reader at heart IF the love story itself was satisfying and led me to agree that they weren’t meant to be. This wasn’t the case though with their story. They’d overcome so much in their personal back stories but couldn’t overcome a LDR or a busy job? Agree that the modern day version of Heedo, who was nothing like Heedo, I could have done without - and without them it could have been ambiguous and I’d have been ok with that. So many things didn’t make sense to me. Like at the end she says they had that summer - a summer where she can’t even remember they went to the beach? Some people on twitter etc are saying it’s a good ending cos it’s realistic - but I’m here for drama and a cohesive narrative, not necessarily realism (and the rest of the drama wasn’t about realism either!)
Sarah @afternoonaasks
2022-04-04 23:10:01 +0000 UTCYES
Megan Erickson
2022-04-04 21:35:12 +0000 UTCIf you want to feel happy again, watch today's episode of Business Proposal.
LauraPat H
2022-04-04 19:43:13 +0000 UTCWell put......I agree that there was some final peace for their break up tho I was crying over it. But man oh man, 25 21 AND (spoiler) Snowdrop with tear-inducing endings. Forecasting was too weather- y and not enough romance(not enough use of the fabulous Song Kang...come on!) but at least they had something of a sweet HEA.
LauraPat H
2022-04-04 16:50:39 +0000 UTCIt was an absolutely gorgeous drama from start to finish and I was so moved by the healing aspects of the finale. I would have preferred even an ambiguous ending, honestly, so that I could sort of write it myself. But that resolution and peace with the past was very healing to me even if all too "real life" for my state of mind these days!
Antonina (Tonya)
2022-04-04 15:27:32 +0000 UTCThe /spoiler Mr Sunshine ending is glorious its sadness, you can revel in how upset you are. I don't know if that makes sense to others? But with this I just feel sad they didn't try at all to make it work, and that the drama didn't convince me they couldn't make it work.
CD
2022-04-04 12:46:32 +0000 UTCI loved the show, but i am sad & disappointed by the turn it took the last three episodes. I've found the reddit for today's episodes really cathartic, so I recommend it to others. Personally, I want a kdrama that has a happy ending but that's not to say I can't understand & appreciate those that don't. But there are lots of great comments there about how & why this story didn't earn that ending.
CD
2022-04-04 12:44:41 +0000 UTCLots of feelings and emotions here. Maybe I shouldn’t even try to write anything for a couple of days. I too am sad/frustrated that the OTP didn’t get the HEA that we hoped for, although it was satisfying to see Yu-rim and Ji-woong together at the end. Seung-wan, too, apparently. But so many loose ends about Hee-do and her daughter and her mother!! Come on. I think the ending for Hee-do and Yi-jin was LOGICAL but… That said, their 2 breakup scenes, especially the one outside Hee-do’s house, were masterful and painful and nearly uncomfortable to watch, they were so wrenching of my emotions. The writing throughout was so good, even when I didn’t like the direction it took.
Claudia Copeland
2022-04-04 02:40:06 +0000 UTC
