Melancholia (2021)

A riveting romantic story between Hardy and Ramanujan

Initially I went into this drama for the stacked cast and out-of-the box premise. What I got in return was something so mind-blowingly beautiful that exceeded all my ever-imaginable expectations. From the 150+ dramas and 50+ movies I have watched thus far, many of them highly rated on MDL, “Melancholia” which currently sits at a mere 8.0 has just comfortably took the top spot as my all-time favorite, has become the only drama I’m leaving as a 10/10 and that position will most likely hardly change in the future. Here are the reasons why I consider “Melancholia” to be such a special drama:

Yoon Su’s nickname when posing a quiz in the train was Hardy. Hardy, just like Yoon Su, had mathematicians as parents. Just like Hardy who meets Ramanujan after coming from a taxi with the number 1729 which turned into Ramanujan’s biggest discovery, Yoon Su crashes into Seung Yoo who is wearing a cap with the number 1729 while they are inside of a train facing each other, with both becoming their biggest discovery and incident with whom they feel an instant connection. Having experienced both rejection and illness from a young age despite his talent, Ramanujan, just like Seung Yoo, lived under great hardships before meeting Hardy. Hardy takes Ramanujan under his wing to become his disciple and partner, just like Yoon Su does to Seung Yoo. Thanks to Hardy, Ramanujan becomes one of the best mathematicians. The same happens to Seung Yoo because of Yoon Su. Seung Yoo never forgets his roots and returns to the side of his mentor, who is everything to him. Yoon Su likes Seung Yoo’s perspective of Math and wishes to nurture and protect it while Seung Yoo enjoys Yoon Su’s passion and the smile she carries when she thinks and talks about Math and wishes to preserve it.

When Hardy was asked what his contribution to mathematics would be, without hesitating, he said it was Ramanujan. He called the partnership they had “the only romantic incident in his life”

Luxurious Main Cast of well-reputed actors – Lim Soo Jung (I’m Sorry, I love You, Chicago Typewriter, Search: WWW), Lee Do Hyun (18 Again, Sweet Home, Youth of May), Choi Dae Hoon (CLOY, Flower of Evil, Beyond Evil) and Jin Kyung (It’s Okay That’s Love, Pinnochio, Romantic Doctor Kim 1 & 2). All 4 of them gave outstanding performances.

Directing/Cinematography – “Melancholia” is very beautiful and a pleasant drama to look at. Director Kim Sang Hyub in the past was responsible for works such as “True Beauty” and “Extraordinary You”, that despite having somewhat poor writing (from what I heard), are very gorgeous in terms of cinematography.

Original Script with a unique premise and great worldbuilding. The screenwriter has an history of previously having portrayed a teacher-student relationship successfully with “Doctor John”. This time, however, it was not an easy premise to go over as it needed to be dealt with carefully, especially with now being under a more controversial academic setting, but I believe it was very well executed as the boundaries were not broken beyond what they should while they were in school. The way the show blended math into dialogues, visual representation and plot/character specifics is also something worth lauding.

Slow-burn pure love. While there is not much “romance” per say, their interactions are very romantic, there is a lot of tension and chemistry and their relationship or the way they think about it sees small but exciting positive developments with each episode that are worth looking forward to, and it feels hard earned. Rather than the typical romance this is an intellectual romance, it’s also about the blossoming of a bond and relationship between 2 individuals who share the same passion that gradually develops into unconditional love despite all odds. The two of them wind up changing each other lifes forever, healing each other in the process and instigating change in themselves for the better. The feelings they have for each other build up as the links that tie them together increase. Their relationship far transcends the usual lovers. You may end up questioning what can considered romance. To me this ended up being the most romantic drama I have ever seen. The age gap of 16 years between the lead actors is actually not that noticeable as they match each other perfectly and Lim Soo Jung looks so young to the point that sometimes she looks the same age or even younger than LDH.

Inspiring core message: to never give up, that there is always hope even in times of despair and how passion for something beats everything else

This drama is much more than a love story. It also has an engaging and well-paced storyline with high stakes that brings out a rollercoaster of emotions, tackling relevant topics such as education, corruption, mental health and depression, parenting, high class privilege and inequality, and love of many kinds. There are also many life lessons given from the perspective of a mathematician.

Very good OST’s that blend well with the drama and leave you emotional

Hidden/double-meaning dialogues, symbolisms and interactions open to interpretation

Satisfaction of seeing the antagonists slowly driving themselves to their doom. It is ironic that the ones that make the most damage to the antagonists are not the leads, but the antagonists themselves. Those who end up belittling the fruits of effort and passion, will end being consumed by their own greed in the end.

Character arcs and how they were neatly closed and treated as humans by the end, be it the good or bad ones

Geometrical plot structure (6+6+2+2):
1-6: Episodes 1 and 2 – Getting acquainted; Episodes 3 and 4 – Healing Seung Yoo and becoming closer; Episodes 5 – Seung Yoo’s Feelings; Episode 6 – Error in the premise
7-12: Episodes 7 and 8 – Getting acquainted; Episodes 9 and 10 – Healing Yoon Su and becoming closer; Episode 11 – Yoon Su’s Feelings; Episode 12 – Error in the premise
13-16: Episode 13 – Yoon Su’s resolve; Episode 14 – Seung Yoo’s resolve; Episode 15- The old sun descends; Episode 16 – The new sun rises

Last but not least, Choi Shi An aka SY and YS’s adopted daughter (the drama makes it so intentional to make them seem like a family of four lol).

“Melancholia” oozes a special vibe where it enraptures you in its own unique world and is just the type of drama I was looking for. Above all it has a lot of heart. I hope more dramas that give out this type of feeling are made in the future. They have that special element that makes them different from everything else you have watched before and that can make you attached to it, and that is why I watch dramas.

There are many other things I have not mentioned in detail because I do not wish to spoil the story too much or may have glossed over and will only be able to notice with a rewatch (which I will certainly do, and more than once), but I think this alone should be enough, so I hope I was helpful in any way in convincing you to watch this magnificent work of art and thank you for dedicating your precious time in reading this review.

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Bitter sweet melancholia

I'm shocked at the low ratings this drama had. It is such a beautiful and unique story and one that will stay with me for a long time. Who knew maths could be so beautiful. This drama gives the viewer the opportunity to see the world through the lens of a mathematician. True slow burn love which is never made to feel inappropriate and the fight for justice against the corruption of an elitist education system. It was never too dark or depressing. I found this story with the backdrop of maths to be very deep and poignant without being boring. The ML and FL and the headteacher were excellent in their roles. I can't believe how young the FL leads looks ....she looked the same age as the ML. This drama deserves to be a hit and tbh I've seen so many K dramas C Dramas Lakorns and J dramas and this is really one of the most unique of them all. This is a must watch imo.

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Richly layered. Excellently staged.

"Melancholia" is silently impressive. If you're just looking for a sweet romance, you'll be disappointed. Still, the story is a tribute to love. It's also about school, education, South Korean madness about education and the market around it, the arrogance of the top 10 percent of society, as well as bullying and intrigues for optimal certificates. Altogether it´s ambitious in several respects.

"Melancholia" is about the love for mathematics. Mathematics is for the protagonists what notes are for music lovers or colors for artists: a way to capture and express the beauty behind the beauty of life and the aesthetics of life on this planet. In "Melancholia" there are two people (and actually two more) who recognize this beauty with their mathematical 'sense organ', feel it deeply, understand it, and want to delve even deeper - thus see and meet each other and understand how they feel inside.

"Melancholia" refers to "Melancholia I" - one of the three master engravings by Albrecht Dürer - mentor and student look at it together in the context of the story and communicate about it, understand it, and doing so get closer. The Dürer artwork is an allegorical composition peppered with geometric elements and symbols. There are a wide variety of interpretations in the professional world. The two protagonists in the KDrama are inspired by this and enthusiastically help interpret. In connection with "Melancholia I" by Dürer, his sentence "But I don't know what beauty is" has also been handed down. This creative crisis, through which every creative person (whether mathematician, artist, etc.) has to go through at some point, is processed in the KDrama in its own way - in the first half the male protagonist and in the second half the female protagonist is struck by this question. Individually both are thrown off track and have temporarily lost sight of their joyful creative power. They inevitably stand in the face of melancholy - to some extent a dark, black tunnel, that opens up the passage to a new, luminous dimension of their creative power.

With regard to the student, the first half of "Melancholia" focuses on a variation of Weltschmerz, which is at the same time an expression of suffering from the beauty of the world. The protagonist can't help but see this perfection of aesthetics in everything everywhere. And yet he is alone in this. He cannot convey his perception, cannot share his experience with his fellow human beings. That's way too high for the others. Family, friends and even some teachers cannot relate or really understand what he is about. Some of his classmates may misunderstand him as a show-off and envy his genius. In fact, he suffers from the loneliness in which he is stuck. Not the beauty of the world. Yet all this changes after he meets a mentor who in the face of his 'brilliance' isn't (like many others) out for her own gain. Rather, she recognizes his rare ability of perception and gives it a grounded direction. She did not promote the genius, but the human being, who should not exploit his talent, yet learn to enjoy it. The mere experience that he is not alone with his way leads him out of his suffering. This is how he finds his place in the world and no longer has to withdraw and hide from it.

However, "Melancholia" also shows the mentor as she herself is stuck in an aloof, depressive phase. The motive is the same: also lonely, isolated, trapped in her feelings that she cannot share with a world that cannot understand her. And this time it is her student who can remind and encourage her to step outside and back into the world.

"Melancholia" is a hymn to higher mathematics, with which the beauty of life finds an abstract form(el) - but also to art, which tries to aesthetically translate the formulas and mathematical knowledge into new colors and new forms.

"Melancholia" is a homage to the love between two kindred spirits who recognize each other in their kinship and can't help but love each other (selflessly and unconditionally).

But "Melancholia" is also one of many stories in the shade of a brutal South Korean education industry that unscrupulously rides on the hopes, fears and worries of parents and students and repeatedly bears the bitter fruits of bullying, abuse, meanness, despair and fraud produces. In this context, a variation of it is once again told in an exciting, at the same time moving and excellently staged manner.

Finally , this story of the two main protagonists is both a new edition and a contemporary free reinterpretation of the relationship between of two historical mathematicians: the Tamil Srinivasa Ramanujan and the British Godfrey Harold Hardy. The KDrama refers to the extraordinary, intuitive mathematical skills of the historically real Tamil math genius, who was professionally recognized and promoted by the British Hardy. In 1913 Ramanujan came to England under the wing of his mentor and subsequently became known for several important discoveries. It is said that when asked what his own greatest contribution to mathematics was, Hardy said without hesitation that it was (his mentoring for) Ramanujan. He described their relationship as his only romantic experience in life. And with that he refers first and foremost to the very special form of eroticism of their shared, highly concentrated, soaring flights of intellect. Anyone who has never had this experience of a shared 'Eureka' will probably struggle with the romance aspect of this KDrama. Everyone else might experience it differently... .

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Revenge, corruption and longing

Compelled to write my first review because I wanted something to counterbalance some of the low reviews this drama has been getting… Melancholia is seemingly a forbidden romance between a teacher and a high school math prodigy, but the romance is actually more of a one sided longing, the teacher has no reciprocal feelings until many years pass and they reunite. The romance is there but in the background to their fight to reveal the corruption behind the elite school where they become the targets of a scandal to shield the higher ups who are behind all sorts of shady dealings. The scandal is eerily similar to the college admissions scandal from the US - wealthy (but not ultra rich) professionals obsessed with finding a back door to an Ivy for their entitled spoiled teens. Whereas the ultra rich can legally buy their kids spot anywhere (ie donate a building), these just “regular” rich strivers need to spend their money on ways to cheat the system.

If you liked Secret Love Affair, consider watching this one - SLA had more steamy scenes whereas Melancholia is mostly emotional longing. Though there is a very sweet (satisfying though small) payoff at the very end. The chaebol villains in SLA bored me but the villain in Melancholia is EXCELLENT. She is awful but so charismatic - Jin Kyung is perfect. Lee Do Hyun is totally believable as a lonely teen who gravitates towards his teacher, the only person who actually makes an effort to help him find his passion for math/life again after a tragedy. The physicality of him as a teen vs. him as a man is on point - there is no mistaking him as a boy after the time skip. I am sad that it seems underrated - it’s definitely worth watching

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selfless, pure love

I am a sucker for tragic stories and this drama is delivering just that.

I first went into this show knowing nothing but something along the lines of a romance between a teacher and a student. This was off-putting, but my sister urged me to give it a chance and I’m glad I did. It has been too long since I have watched a show that has really resonated with me.

The relationship between Ms. Ji and Seongyoo is beautiful. I’m not talking romantically, just in general, what Ms.Ji does for Seongyoo is just so heartwarming. They both see the world the same way and she can see that, she as a teacher wants to help him be more open to the world and what is has to offer. She is the first person Seongyoo truly opens up to, and in this she becomes his first love and honestly, it’s touching to watch. Ms. Ji does not coerce Seongyoo into falling in love with her. Their relationship in the beginning of the drama as a student and a mentor is truly so heartwarming. Ms.Ji helped Seongyoo out of the his darkest place, she helped him rediscover that and in the second half of the drama we begin to see Seongyoo do the same for her, now as a 20 year old man. I am rooting for Seongyoo and Ms.Ji.

The love that Seongyoo has for Ms. Ji is the purest and most beautiful form of love. He is not selfish, he is not in it for himself, he wants the best for her and to protect her. It is completely understandable why he fell in love with her.

Now that I have finished the show I can say that it doesn’t disappoint. The acting done by every character was phenomenal. Everything was done perfectly, all lose ends tie up in the end. The show ends very satisfyingly. This show was just so beautiful, it’s hard to come across a show this good, one that makes you feel something so deeply. It’s just truly beautiful.

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Mathematical and human

DISCLAIMER: I'll be extremely biased here and foresee any flaws because I didn't even felt them, that's how much I loved this drama.

I don't think I have enough words to describe how close to my heart this drama got. I'm a mathematician myself, so of course I was immediately drawn into it, and it needs to be said that the way they portrayed math gives it justice: the beauty we can find in it, the joy and relief of reaching an answer, the frustration and sometimes even the pain of pursuing a proof when it seems too far away. And I definitely think the journey of our leads in proving Ji Yoonsu's innocence is a parallel of that of finding a mathematical proof (no wonder the last episode ends with a blank square, one of the usual symbols indicating the end of a proof).

Well, the parallel with math in itself is already beautiful, but the beauty doesn't end quite there. I found it delightful how multidimensional all characters are, even the antagonists. Their actions, thoughts and transformations are all results of their experiences and life examples, and for some of the characters, we catch a glimpse in detail of how their present self came to be - Baek Seungyoo and Song Yerin are my personal favorite example of that, and gosh, BSY’s growth throughout the years is fantastic.

About the relationship between BSY and JYS: for me it is soooo well constructed. Their bond is purely intellectual at first, and a mentor-student one; BSY ends up falling for her but that's it. JYS helps BSY to
reconnect with math and with himself, which is essential for him to escape the darkness he was in. Four years later, after losing everything, JYS is the one living in darkness, and the emotional roles invert: now is BSY who tries to help her to find herself (although I do think he crosses some lines by following her around, but I guess it is a reflection of how worried he was). That’s when they start to connect and care for each other on a more (two-sided) personal level, and it is all so subtle: stares, small actions, worries, words of respect and belief. It is not even clear to me where the romance starts. But wherever it is, it does so in a natural and extremely subtle way, and I enjoyed this development.

The utmost focus is in the corruption going around the school and how the leads try to reveal it, which was thrilling to me and easy to understand (I often get lost in plots like this). But for me the highlight is how the characters move and receive everything around them, which seems to reflect how well written the characters are - they move the story and make us believe in them without the need of a flashy plot. Side note: mathematicians are usually stubborn and prideful when it comes to mathematical truths (we see that when JYS challenges the student who solved the problem to come forward and BSY immediately does so), and I think BSY is so incredibly desperate to prove JYS's innocence not only because he cares, but also because his mathematical stubbornness merges with his sense of justice and makes him unable to NOT do his everything to reveal the truth. And that makes the entire story move.

Well, there sure is a lot more to talk about (like the lovely Choi Sian and Prof. Ji), but I'll stop here. My huge thanks to all the actors and production staff, thank you so much for making such a beautiful drama and for representing math and mathematicians in such a positive and realistic light. Melancholia made me feel all the feels and I’ll definitely go back to it many times.

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I love this drama. It is a unique and beautiful drama!!

Warning:
For the ones who want romantic scene a lot. Please don't watch this drama. It won't satisfy your demand. It's a subtle and pure romantic drama. Instead of love scene, they always use math metaphor for their love. If you want detective drama, this drama is also not for you. Sometimes the writer make a plot hole so the plot is not logic perfectly.
Here are some reasons if you want to watch this drama:
1. There are some different aspects you can see only in this drama. The way they use math to describe something is beautiful and the love of characters for math are so amazing. I don't like math but the characters make me curious about it.
2. The ending is perfect. Even though the writer can make them become a couple sooner like in ep 13-14, I think the wait is worth for ML that he will become more mature and have more time to pursue his career. Like what Ji Yoon Su said after becoming a real man, the answer would find him. In the end, Ji Yoon Su meet Baek Seung Yoo again in the place where they met the first time. In my opinion, it is more romantic than a kiss scene. There is nothing better than when you meet a person you love at the right time. In the past, They were exactly the right person for each other but the wrong timing destroyed everything. Now they can live happily together and never regret everything happened.
3. I love the way the writer build BSY character that he is a genius but also a human. He has a lot of mistakes but these mistakes make him stronger and more mature. If you don't know that Albert Einstein is also a imperfect person, he cheated a lot and made his wife hurt many times. If someone is a genius in a field, you can't conclude they are good at everything in their life. Sometimes emotion make them do something wrong. I hope all of you can think about it and stop criticizing two main characters.
4. The way Ji Yoon Su supports and helps Baek Seung Yoo. When there is no one cares about him, she is the person who is always there for him. She is always knows what is the best thing for him. That's why she rejected his love when he was a student and even when he became a adult. 21 years old Baek Seung Yoo was still childish and stubborn, he loves her but the way he showed his love made her get into trouble. Finally he can understand what Ji Yoon Su said and use his time to pursue the right thing for him. When you are in twenties the most important thing is improving and proving yourself, love can come after that. She rejected him many times in drama, it doesn't means she doesn't love him but she loves him so much that she can let him go to become a better person. The unconditional love between two main character is amazing. I hope you guys don't misunderstand their love.
5. The acting of every actors and actresses is awesome. From the supporting roles to main roles, they acts so well. Sometimes I thought everything is real. I immersed in drama so many times that I forgot about time. 10/10 for the actresses and actors.
Conclusion:
I love the drama so much. It's really brave to choose a different way to go instead of making a similar plot like other drama. I have experienced a new thing, so fun!!! I watch this drama because of Lim Soo Jung 's beauty and end up loving the drama. This drama will always be one of the most special dramas I have ever seen.

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Eveil, evil, corruption and greed, so what is not to like?

If you are here for the romance, then back away and go watch something else.... However if you are here for an interesting plot with twists, greed, corruption, cruelty, evil, more evil... so much evil that I thought of renaming it children of evil... and some more corruption privileged brats! With a side of friendship, sweetness, and maybe a small drop of romance in a lovely frame of umbrellas. This is the right place for you!

This drama is actually pretty hilarious with lots of great dark humour and one liners... that play a little bit with other well know n dramas that deal with corrupt parents going to great lengths for paving the way over other children so that their children can get a head.... So if you like that type of theme you will probably enjoy this too.

There where a few small issues here and there that bothered me including their portrayal of people becoming so obsessed that they go insane in a pretty stereotypical way. The last episode was also a bit of a mess most of the time... making the pace, sloooooooooow, slooooow, fast, slooow. slow... mess...


The teens here did a amazing job, and so did the leads portraying characters with all kinds of development and personality changes... And It was done brilliantly!

There where plenty of people here to bring out your inner anger and frustration, fun PPL and pretty cinematography with a decent OST, making math look both pretty and even a tad sexy, so hats off to the creators for achieving the impossible.

This was also mid to highly bingable, and most certainly worth watching.

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a worthwhile slow-burn

A melodrama that uniquely dances within several genres (slice-of-life, corruption, school bullying, romance) while connecting its very essence with mathematics. Huge fan of both leads. Watched Lee Do Hyun last in Youth of May (one of my all-time favorite kdramas) and was not disappointed by his role here. OST was beautiful and well-placed.

Well worth the watch. Some commentators here had a lot of prejudice toward the misconception that there would be a pedophilic or predatory student-teacher relationship, but it's nothing like that whatsoever. I've also seen many reviewers leave poor ratings because of their personal distaste for math. I also hate math, but I really appreciated the unique way it was implemented for this drama. All around solid cast with several worthy antagonists.

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"Melancholy is the happiness of being sad."

Edgar Allan Poe in one of his anthologies says, "And so, being young and dipt in folly, I fell in love with melancholy." Knowledge of the soul boundlessly make s us gloomy if the pros of feelings fail to keep us cheerful and vigilant. Melancholy leads to doubt which in turn results in despair and ultimates cultivates wickedness.

"Melancholia (멜랑꼴리아)" is a journey of desolation, dejection and despondency with fruitful meanings and worthwhile outcomes but what's different? It's mathematics. Yes, the most hated subject in the world, haha. The drama uses a different approach to promote the mathematical perspective of life through the characters who are devotedly peruse mathematics.

The drama have more than a dozen of flaws, even to be called good. It's purely an average piece and can be easily skipped though I can't exactly say it's bad and deserve to be treated as a complete trash, and I have many reasonings for it as well.

Note: There is no paedophilia or cheating involving the leads of the drama. It's just stupid perceptions of some narrow-minded people who jumped into conclusions without watching the drama.

Based on 2 different time periods with a gap of 4 years, the story is almost equally divided into 2 parts; a past story of 2017 and a present narration of 2021. Ji Yoon Soo (Im Soo Jung) and her most favourite student Paik Seung Yoo (Lee Do Hyun) falls victim to a conspiracy of intentionally set up scandal that frames them of having unsound relationship. Owing to the constraints, both of them fail to prove their innocence and fall apart, just to find themselves in misery. 4 years past the tragedy, both of them cross paths and unite to bring to surface, the corruption, conspiracies and the big faces behind it, in the school, of the past and the present.

Yoon Soo, morally upright and endearing woman, is a highschool math teacher, who is aware of the art of steadfastly making someone fall in love with the subject. She's all the qualities to be a perfect teacher but her sense of righteousness gets her in trouble. Paik Seung Yoo, born genius and immensely attracted towards math, is a highschool student after dropping from MIT which he joined at very young age. After a tragic experience, he shows no interest in studies, tho he has all the capabilities to conquer.

Im Soo Jung is an amazing actress and a movie person, rarely opting for dramas and very selective in that regard. She must have seen some potential in this though the execution went shabby. Lee Do Hyun is definitely the best in acting, among the rising Korean actors and his performance was good as well. Other than the leads, there are in fact many familiar and good actors in the drama and I will refrain from mentioning them to keep it short. But special applause for Jin Kyung who played Noh Jung Ah, the Principal of Asung High though she's the main antagonist in here. She definitely created an impression with her character dynamics and we are aware of her acting skills.

Plot development.....umm..... It's inconsistent and unremarkable though it had scopes and rooms for improvement with the episodes; like given the basic plotline and the mixture of 4 genres (romance, highschool, slice of life and corruption reveal), it could have been a lot lot better to finally come forward as a decent melodrama but, alas! I wasn't really that bothered while watching the initial episodes with the slow pacing, but the later half consequences made me realize that that the speed was totally inaccurate to begin with.

As a story, it isn't actually a trash as some people will tell you, or even below average. I would say it's just ordinarily average and the ratings can lie somewhere around 6.5 bcs Well, talking about episodic progression, From ep1 to ep8, i.e exact till the first half, it's a fair watch and didn't feel like skipping or fast-forwarding. The show starts going downhill from the beginning of 2nd half with the repetition of some events and constant push & pull between the characters over one thing. To reach the ultimate goal, i.e. bringing forward the truth, they particularly start dragging from the 13th episode and that's clearly visible. Tbh, I started fast-forwarding from 9th ep at 1.5× and kept the same till the end.

The script could have been squeezed into 12 episodes or even 10 by increasing the pacing and removing all the dragging they did in the last 4 episodes. However, I must admit that the ending sequences in the last 2 episodes were good.

Kim Sang Hyub is a producer of extremely popular yet qualitatively mediocre dramas. His dramas blow up bcs of good-looking cast and the story he adopts are usually typical cheesy romcoms. But this was a different approach, i. e. not a romcom and cast ain't dominated by good-looking young mass. Moreover, the slice-of-life elements along with mathematical pov; all these things are not his forte and he couldn't even execute them experimentally, which is quite visible. The direction was poor, the pacing is unnecessarily slow for a corruption-reveal drama. The slow screenplay could have been manageable only if it were a warm pure romance genre but that's not the case.

Kim Ji Won is known for only one of her scripts, that's Doctor John, which was in fact a good drama. I haven't followed other 2 dramas of her so can't really tell about her skills though I can assure whatever she had to offer for Melancholia, that didn't work to a great extent. Can't cite the script a total failure but it surely had the potential to be a good and likable one-time watch. I have already talked about the plot development above, so let's move on.

OSTs are very good indeed. Park Se Jun is quite a talented composer with the experience of working in uncountable numbers of dramas and the 4 OSTs of this show are the proof. I loved all of them. 2 of them are in English and other 2 are in Korean.
"All I Need" by Jemma is a ballad of comfort. More than love, it depicts solace, relief and assurance. The vocals of one of my fav singers Sunwoojunga in the soulful and longing song "Darling" questions one's faith in love. "Lilly of the Valley" by Band Nah, a popular indie trio is actually a cover of the song with the same title by Daniel. It's simply a beautiful melody that expresses gratitude to the essence of love. "Let Me Know" by Cheeze is a melancholic call in true sense; it has the feels of an authentic Kdrama OST.

The most notable thing about the drama is mathematics. I am a bio major and wasn't that fond of mathematical practises but I, for sure, knew that it's an interesting subject and studying it can be enjoyed though not everyone can accomplish it with utter amusement. The writer has tried to connect mathematics with life, love and living in a beautiful way. Mathematics here is not just a mere subject of academia and profession, it's much more than the mystery of the universe and one's pleasurable experiences.

There is very short-lived romance or you may take it as almost little to no romance, but sure there is development of chemistry, there ie comfort and there is undisplayable emotions that constantly blooms despite all the odds they have to pass through. This is not romcom and you should skip it, if you're actually expecting some romance. Even so, this buildup is worth it, in my opinion.

Bullying in highschool, corruption in admission process, unfair and unequal treatment to students in the same school, illegal & phoney favors, creation of unnecessary competition among students, parents negligence to children as well as leading children towards wrong paths, etc. are the factors used in the drama. I love how the writer has put emphasis on the ways of nurturing a child and their future, both in home and school along with the mistakes in the process that can ruin them. It also addresses the ways in which children are wronged by adults.

In short, the drama had too much potential with a good plotline, good actors and good premisea but what ruined it are choppy script, poor character dynamics, shoddy plot development, superfluous pacing and expendable characters of no significance. But personally, it was watchable for reasons like: mathematical interpretations of life, resolute leads, acting of the major characters, up to par basic plotline and so on.

I don't believe in completely discrediting something for flaws in some parts of it. If something specific has convinced me, I should def be fair with mentioning them. On that note, Melancholia, overally, is not a bad drama though it has a lot of flaws which could have been easily avoided. The major reason to watch the show is the mathematical frame of reference and utilization of that outlook in the drama. I came here, as expected, for LDH and ISJ and several other actors whom I like, and yeah, I loved their performances even though the drama didn't interest me to a great extent. So on a final remark, you can either skip the drama entirely or watch it in leisure when you have nothing to watch.

P. S. All of these in my review are very personal. I loved the drama but I didn't; i would like to describe it like that. For me, this drama was actually very difficult to judge; it'a not really very bad and not very good as 2 different groups will claim but I guess 7.0 is fair enough considering all the aspects. I thought it's important to put a unbiased, fair and balanced review. Some might agree and disagree with both my contents and ratings but I'm okay with constructive arguments.

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Hidden gem!

I didn’t look for the title, the title found me. And simply, if you liked WWW, you will love this one, me thinks. It’s not sugar coated romcom, and it’s beautifully written, directed and acted. A gem!
The series give you very well developed characters, the actors for me portrayed the resolution and hope of youth and the struggles and complicated world the older generation have. It created a circus of relationships, clashing those, who always have everything, their games, and contrast this world with the one of other people. They both have their struggles and truth and it’s interesting how you are guided to also the see both side fairly.
Despite all, there is a simple, pure love born out of being connected, truly connected, with someone. Haven’t finished the drama(2ep to go), but I loved it so far.
Why not 10 for me - mainly because I’m a bit tired to be shown that we have to bare the responsibilities of age - we all need to be free at some point, to hell everything else, we need to breath (I secretly hope that’s what will happen in the last two episodes) So I’m holding my horses:-)

(By comparison with Now we are breaking up, 100% better!)

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