Twinkling Watermelon (2023)

A breath of fresh air

where should i start??
twinkling watermelon was definitely one of the best kdramas of 2023, if not THE best. it was a breath of fresh air, unique in its own way, heartwarming and perfect from the beginning to the end.
twinkling watermelon broke me in so many ways and then healed me piece by piece, and that’s why it holds a special place in my heart.
there are many aspects that i loved about this drama but what needs to be mentioned the most is the way it dealt with such an important theme as deafness in such a delicate way.
i want to thank this amazing cast for bringing their characters to life and portraying them in such a beautiful way ?
definitely a 10/10 and it goes straight to my favorites! ❤️‍?

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cute and a good different story

I didn't put too many expectations on this drama, as the first episode was just a backstory, something that usually happens in boring dramas, but that wasn't the case, even though at first it may seem like the story isn't progressing, you can be sure it won't be boring. , while watching up to eps 4 and 5 I wanted to put it down, but it's a much more interesting drama than I imagined, but there was one thing I missed were the old elements from the 90s, as the character takes place around 1995 I was expecting something like "20th century girl" or "twenty-five twenty-one" but that didn't ruin the drama, I really liked it.
The characters are charismatic and their personalities are very well constructed.

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With an enjoyable first half and a confusing second half, the main characters are well written. Acting is very good. Solid 8.5/10. ❤️ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎

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Even our parents once had sparkling youth

Ever had argument with your parents? Ever had differnce of opinions with them regarding career ? Ever wanted to know how their youth was?

This drama picked a very beautiful concept and executed it flawlessly. This is a whole package .

This brought tears in my eyes, made me laugh when most unexpected and left me with mixed feelings.
I would say the ending was not very perfect and would have been beter had they explained it in more detail but overall i loved it.

The characters stole this show, especially Yi Chan is such an inspiration. The music was good and i felt the concept was similar to perfect stranger but what makes this different is the mix of all genres.
Overall this is worth a watch!

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Fun chaotic experience... except I'm a virgo and chaos is not my thing.

Jokes aside, Twinkling Watermelon deserves all the hype. I can't lie that this colourful poster and the confusing synopsis are a bit of a turn-off, and usually time-travel concepts can go wrong so eaisly. Thanfully, this drama never went wrong... somehow, it worked.

Behind its popularity hides the fact that TW is somewhat different than a lot of popular dramas. The concept itself is quite unique. And poeple love unique stuff. I remember when we were all watching Extraordinary You three years ago, we've all enjoyed it because it was different and it quickly became really popular... somehow it reminded me of it.

The drama gives you a warm feeling. It makes you feel young again. It makes you regret that you're not a teenager anymore. It makes you dream and it gives you motivation to achieve these dreams. It tells you that you should be grateful to your parents and that they had life before you that you don't know and never will. It can make you cry, either out of happiness or pain. It's thought-provoking and it stays with you for a bit even after finishing it. Supported with cute characters, excellend acting and some good music, it's the perfect drama if you want to watch something to keep you warm on cold days or to distract you when you need it.

However, it is indeed very chaotic which leads to probles with the pacing and it made me skip a bit. Like, close to the end, I just wanted to fast-forward to the ending episode because I just wanted to see how it ends. The second half gets a bit too draggy, I feel like if it was shorter it'd have been better. Started off stong and ended strong, but somewhere in the middle it losts the charm.

But it's still worth it. There are way better dramas out there but there are also way worse.

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Full of plotholes, but endlessly endearing

Twinkling Watermelon is about eighteen year old Ha Eun Gyeol traversing through life as his parents "angel" and how that stacked a burden on his shoulders until he blows up. In a fun bit of magic, he then becomes a blast from the past and meets his father. Shenanigans ensue.

To be quite honest, I struggled to get through the first half of this drama and failed to see what others enjoyed so much. Characters were annoying, I disliked certain plotlines, and thought it had no direction besides relying on chaotic humor and a prevailing feeling of anticipation for already known events. The MC's everyday adventures were not enough to capture my interest, and I wondered if I should continue.

Probably around episode seven or eight is when I felt myself being pulled in, and I'm extremely glad I continued watching. The plotlines all gather up in a cohesive bundle, the characters redeem themselves without sacrificing their base motivations, and the developed relationships between all of them tugged on my heartstrings continuously. Twinkling Watermelon has a perfect blend of magic, storyline, and family relations to keep you watching. It's a bit cheesy at points but endearing, enough angst to keep the plot propelled but not so much it bogged it down, and everything was drawn up neatly.

There are plotholes concerning the time travel, but I just squinted and pretended they weren't there. It's not too glaring of an issue at the end of the day.

All in all, I would recommend you watch for a lovely story about found family. It's not a wholly light watch, but it is a pleasantly surprising one.

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The ending....

I have seen people rate this 10 and I agree with them if it's only the story of Ha Yi Chan and Yoon Cheong Ah. Their story was perfect for me. But there was no other story apart from theirs.

There was a part where they introduced On Eun Yu's friend's death, but there was no follow-up on that. And the future, I was so curious about how things will end up for Choi Se Kyung, but the only ending we saw was of Ha Eun Gyul's family. Choi Se Kyung, being one of the main characters in the drama, and her ending wasn't even shown.

So yeah, the drama was perfect in the time traveling era, but the future and ending wasn't enough for me.

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A beautiful journey to heal yourself thanks to music, brotherhood and 1990's vibe

This youth drama with a fantasy twist and set mainly in 1995 provides a great nostalgia throwback feeling as you follow a group of high schoolers starting a band together. The drama approaches in a wholesome way profound topics about friendship, family, as well as differences and disabilities that overall resonated well with me as the characters grow and learn. Though both romances were pretty cute, it is the brotherhood within the band and especially the father-son relationship that really got me invested.

In terms of storytelling, I truly enjoyed the set up and introduction. However, I cannot help to think that the conclusion would have deserved more time to reap properly all the rewards of the set-up done in the show. I was expecting the way it ended, there was a lot of satisfying emotional payoff but it could have gone deeper on the aftermath for all the characters following one of the major event happening in the last episode as well as regarding the evolution of the main protagonists and their relationships (especially regarding the female leads where it felt a bit short).

Overall, the quatuor of main characters work very well together, and I am pretty satisfied by the performances of the ensemble cast (especially for some of the more secondary characters). Choi Hyun Wook delivers a consistent and reliable performance in the role of the frontman of the band. I loved him in Weak Hero Class 1 and I love him as well here. The only little flaw I see is that his character tends to be very shouty. I think it is both bound to the role as well as to some of the directing. It is not at all detrimental to the story but it prevents some range in the acting as the character is always at 100%. Despite this, he (and his character) was clearly my favorite part of the show.

The filmmaking is pretty great with a colourful and boyish atmosphere perfectly fitting for the scenario. I love the soundtrack with its "older indie rock" feels. Every song done by the band is super catchy and the musical scenes each time delighted me.

I would recommend this to people looking for a very solid youth drama set in the 1990's. If you enjoyed movies like "Back to the Future" and dramas such as the "Reply" series, you will for sure immensely enjoy it! If you are a fan of musical genre shows, this one is also clearly made for you. I personnally really loved it despite some issues with the pacing of the script and the way I would have liked a bit more development on some elements, especially towards the ending.

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It's good, but overrated!

I started this show about a week ago, but long after the show has ended, so I have seen & read many glowing reviews & saw how folks proclaimed this drama being the best one they have ever seen.
I not for one moment have felt that way, but it took me quite a bit of introspection to -I think- figure out why.
I mean at the very least we’ve seen amazingly well acted emotional scenes, that are up there with the best of the best in Kdramaland. There is a lot of good music, romances & one amazing bromance thing, so at the very least I can understand why someone would rate this at 10/10 amazing..

Let me explain, why to me this is far worse than 10/10 & why I felt something is really wrong with this drama throughout most of the episodes. Disclaimer, I’m a rather nitpicky person. I can find logical flaws in almost anything, but that has not prevented me to give 10/10 ratings to flawed shows before.
Let’s start with a TLDR to not waste anyone’s time with my long rambling: Many and perhaps most of the minor details in this drama are either wrong or off. This pile of immersion breaking lack of attention to detail is just too tall for me.

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So here I go:

I could go on and on about -tiny or large- time travel related plotholes, but I have begrudgingly accepted them, because time travel shows always have a ton of these. (Though the level of disregard for consistency is on another level in this drama.)

Music is an important part of this drama, but the sound is completely unrealistic in most scenes. Not only does everything sound like an overly perfect studio recording, but also every guitar in the show sounds like $20000. These kids are not millionaires, yo! Sure the guitar point is very nitpicky, but I have never at any point felt like I’m listening to music made by a very talented up and coming band, or anything remotely live-like. (as in live music sounding like a live performance)

Sol Ina is just too old for this role. Yes, she acted amazingly well here & I’m happy for her success. I’m sure no one could’ve done better in her place, but I would love to see a big budget kdrama where the teens are played by at most 22 year olds. Just to reiterate again, yes she is stunningly beautiful and everything, but she's not a teen & can never pass as one. If this only happened in a couple of flashbacks it would’ve been fine, but she is a teen the entire time.
This point applies to Ryeoun as well. He is not a believable Korean teenager at any point in time. He is 25, what could he have possibly done, right?

The portrayal of disabilities in Korean media always have been very annoying to me. Here it’s probably the best I’ve seen so far from them, but there were still quite a few weird moments. Being deaf is very difficult to portray well to begin with, I don’t know. Largely because you want to keep the audience entertained, but if you as an actor do over the top emotional faces in every single scene, then the end result cannot possibly be something believable. Though of course the actors followed well what was asked of them. I can somewhat understand why they choose to do it like this. Imagine if the story was almost the same in every way, but Cheong Ah had not been deaf just an introvert, if Eun Gyeol's parents were able to hear, but lived a very hard, tumultuous life. To me it seems like most of the plot would have worked just the same. I strongly suspect that the writer added decided to go with the CODA thing, because there were a couple really big hit shows that featured disabilities. Deafness is not completely an important, integral part of the show.

Romance is only so so, I did not really feel the chemistry, nor are the romantic plots very engaging. Then again this is probably the most realistic part of the drama, because teenagers falling in love is the easiest thing in the world, no elaborate plots are needed.

The main villain is very sterotypical and boring, her actions were very silly & her end is anticlimactic. The family situation at that house makes no sense. They could have made Cheong Ah's backstroy much more interesting without opting for this whole "her father ignores her suffering" plot.

The late nineties Korea in the show is -you guessed it- highly unrealistic.

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My fellow MDL user, I’m sure you’ve noticed by now how most of my criticisms are about realism. It would be a logical conclusion that this is a me problem, since kdrama as a genre tends to be very lacking in realism & anyone who wants realism should not watch kdramas.
I agree with this of course, but if a show’s end goal is not just to entertain with comedy & sugar, but maybe to educate about disabilities, to present gut wrenching moments and to make the audience empathize with the characters, then realism becomes rather important, or at the very least a fantasy setting should respect its own established rules & just in general the writer should not insult our intelligence.
Just look at the various Reply dramas, every single one of them has a similar blend of teen romance, bromance and to a lesser extent family tragedies to Twinkling Watermelon, but they are far more reasonable in every way, the emotional scenes in those are really really great, while the comedy and romance still get to shine.

The overall presentation is a bit childish. So perhaps we should just judge this as a teen programme. That’s fair, I’ve given it some thought & perhaps watching this at the age of 14 my mind could have been completely blown, I don’t know. Most of us on MDL are adults though & with that in mind I decided to settle for a rating of 7.5, because despite everything I've said, here and there there were moments of real brilliance in the show.

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As fresh as summery fruits, as hopeful as green grass in the winter

When I watch Twinkling Watermelon, I remember that Shakespearean idiom:
"My salad days. When I was green in judgment, cold in blood. To say as I said then!"

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The plot revolved around two teenagers who feel that their whole lives are mere fulfillment of their parents expectation. Until one time they find themself in the year of 1995. This time the two teenagers able meet their parents in their salad days, youth as bright and as sweet as summer fruits.

Yi Chan is a bright, passionate teens, living his youth to the fullest. Cheong Ah, a lonely deaf teens, keeping her desire to communicate with the world in silent. Se Kyeong, the cello queen, living as replacement, unable to owning her own live. Now the two teenagers able to see them not just as 'mom' or 'dad', but individuals with their own struggle and dream.

Here they begin the journey to understand. Journey to accept. Journey to learn to listen (because apparently it's not deafness that make you unable to listen, it's unwillingness).

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Actually the beauty of this drama didn't lie in the plot. It's heavily rely to the charm of the characters and relationship between them. Their bonding moments, how some slowly falling in love, the desire to help the person you love, youth friendship. But overall the vibe is summery bright, no somber at all. At the end, there is no regret.

The main attraction is Eun Gyeol and his parents. Yi Chan, this man is the frontman of this drama. His way of live, how he treat others, this charming youthful energy. Cheong Ah, the sweet girl that's been treated unfairly by the world. Her journey to connect to the world is the highlight of the show. This two is my main couple. Our appa and eomma, haha.

And Eun Gyeol, a CODA, the dutiful kind child who do everything to protect his family. He is so precious, his burden was too heavy. I'm glad some of this burden lifted from him. The ending is working in a sense that it's hopeful and satisfying. It's so fantastical but it's keeping some of realistic take. That no matter what happen in your life, don't take all burden by yourself. Communicate with the person you love. And even though life doesn't give everything you want, it has unexpected present for you in many points of your journey. It's keeping the spirit of living.

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It wasn't what I was hoping for

I guess I should be blaming myself for this, but after watching the first two episodes of Twinkling Watermelon, I was VERY interested in what could happen to Eun Gyeol after traveling back to 1995. The premise of the story also made me wonder how would the plot unfold, and what would be the overall message and the ending. My problem with this drama is that, unfortunately, even now that I'm done watching all the episodes I'm still wondering what were they supposed to be.

The beginning of the story introduces us to Eun Gyeol and his life as a CODA: the way he had to grow up and be mature at a young age, the responsibilities and burdens he felt on his shoulders throughout his childhood and his teenage years, and the way he felt guilty whenever he tried to actually live his youth.
As he went back in time, I thought to myself: "okay, so I guess that this time-travel will teach him to actually live his own life and stop looking after others and sacrificing himself for them, right?"

...except that Eun Gyeol does the exact opposite for the entire drama. He looks after his parents, works as hard as possible to fix their problems and make them happy, even puts himself in danger for their sake. The theme of living his own life and letting others live theirs is barely hinted at until the very last episode, where it's exposed like some sort of lecture rather than something Eun Gyeol has actually internalized and made his own. It also goes against the entire plot, because Eun Gyeol changed the lives of both his parents for the better, which actually ended up influencing the future of many people for the better as well. It felt more like Eun Gyeol was truly supposed to take care of his parents after all.

I also wondered if this time-travel was about him learning that his parents had to struggle in life, and that he wasn't the only one who had to suffer, but I really hope not because that would be a horrible theme. His life as a CODA and the struggles he had to face in his youth are not magically erased just because he finds out that Yi Chan and Cheong Ah suffered as well. Especially with the ending, I felt like Eun Gyeol's hardships were just swept under the rug and there was no actual communication between him and his family, which was truly a shame.

Something else that I couldn't understand at all was On Eun Yu's presence in the story. I might be biased here since I didn't like her character at all (and as much as I like Seol In Ah, I don't believe she was a good casting choice for a teenage character), but I seriously believe her presence was useless for the sake of the main plot. Even her "plan" didn't make any logic sense and felt like a huge waste of time. The screentime spent for her story could have been used to better explore Yi Chan and Cheong Ah's characters, or even better: it could have been used to create a more complete and satisfying ending. It really felt like the writers wanted to give Eun Gyeol a love interest at all costs, which was frustrating to see.

I can't say that I hated the story. It has a very interesting premise, most of the characters are loveable and it's a drama that makes one want to binge-watch everything in a day. I laughed, giggled, kicked my feet, got angry and cried with the characters, which is always great. There were multiple plot holes, but for the most part they were easy to ignore. I just had bigger expectations from it.

The production overall seemed good to me, but I wish they showed the characters better when they spoke in sign language, and I also wish they didn't use voice-overs whenever someone signed. The acting was also great, I especially loved Shin Eun Soo's performance as Yoon Cheong Ah and Choi Hyun Wook as Ha Yi Chan (and their moments together! So adorable!). The pacing is perfect in the first 10 episodes or so, then it started to feel a little draggy, but it wasn't too bad overall. The music is pretty good, I really liked the song choices for the different performances both in the past and in the present.

Overall I can say I had fun, so maybe give it a try for yourself! I can recommend it if you're looking for something that is both fun and tear-jerking.

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soft, funny and romantic

loved everything bout this show.. soft, funny and may bring tears to ur eyes in every episode... it doesnt matter how old are you, your gender or your character; this show can give a piece of some emotions that you even dont know that you need it... also there is a good chance this show can give you a new perspective about people with disabilities... especially if there is a person with diabilities in your family i guess this show make you vry like a river from beginning to the end... actors and actresses are perfect fit in scenario and from the first episode you can relate with them easily...

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