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20th Century Boy and Girl korean drama review
Completed
20th Century Boy and Girl
1 people found this review helpful
by XXI
Dec 1, 2022
32 of 32 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 8.0
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 6.0
Rewatch Value 10.0
This review may contain spoilers

A sweet drama about friendship & love

A few months I was in a drama slump & in the mood to watch something lighthearted, fun, & sweet so I decided to rewatch this to see if it was as good as I remembered when I first watched it (when it aired). While I was remembering it to be better than it was (maybe I'm just a picky watcher now but I will further explain what I mean later in my review), it hit the right spots that I wanted as a viewer.

For starters, the friendship between the 3 women is the highlight of the drama & a huge reason of why I like & remember the show. They all come from different backgrounds & shapes. They don't spend every second together all together, which is understandable given that they all have busy lives, nor do they have deep conversations all the time when they do meet. However, that's what made them feel real & enjoyable to watch. As another review mentioned, even if they weren't seeing or speaking to each other all the time, they were there for each other when needed. & seeing them have simple & regular conversations, that one would have with a friend of about 20 years, was nice to watch.

Though Jin Jin is the FL & a celebrity, I liked the fact that they didn't make her friend's stories revolve around her & that they were interesting enough on their own. Young Shim is the quieter friend who works in a law office. Though there are times when I would've liked to see her be more outspoken (like when dealing with the rude cleaning lady), she brought a good balance to the friendship group. Maybe she didn't accomplish anything extremely inspiring in her workplace but I didn't mind seeing her work & develop a relationship with her boss. Also, it was kind of fun to see if she would ever make it on time or be early to work lol As for Ah Reum, she's the fun, go with the flow kind of friend who works as an airplane stewardess. She has no problem speaking her mind & following through with her decisions once she's made them. What I particularly liked about her was how she didn't fully let her mother's nagging about getting married & losing weight get to her too much - like she thought about it but didn't take it too serious.

The romance is another reason to watch the show, especially if you're a fan of the first loves & friends being reunited trope. First, the leads look beautiful & good together so I'm thankful to the casting for giving us this pairing. (Most of the other cast are good in their roles & have good chemistry too.) Of course the leads also have chemistry that is natural & easy to watch. Though they are friends & first loves that hadn't seen or spoken to each other in years, everything fell in to place when they met again but it didn't feel too forced. (I mean it is a cliché trope so we have to expect & accept some things to be forced to drive the plot.) Part of that is because they take time getting to know & fall for each other again, though I personally wouldn't call it a slow burn but maybe some would. While Young Shim doesn't really have a romantic love line (she kind of gets an open ending regarding love towards the end), Ah Reum's attempts at love are interesting to watch - not only because of the way she approaches love but because of how her relationship plays out with her boyfriend, who she wasn't expecting at all.

Now, let me begin to share the things that I didn't quite like that made this show not as good as I initially remembered. Though Anthony's character was there to showcase Jin Jin's fangirl side, I found myself confused by what exactly his feelings towards her were. Maybe it was partly due to his acting but it wasn't really clear if he only appreciated Jin Jin as a fan or if he saw her romantically. (The fact that him & his brother really didn't completely speak about her but left the conversation half way didn't help to clear up that confusion.) I don't know if we're supposed to feel as if we're watching a love triangle but it never felt that way to me because it was always clear that Jin Jin's infatuation with him is solely that of a fan. But, that infatuation is partly why it takes the leads time to get together - as they each don't know the other's feelings are mutual & are scared to make a move.

Going back to Anthony, his career sees a rise & he even finds love but it felt like throwing a dog a bone so he could have a happy end - I say that mostly about his love life. I really didn't care about him like that to have his love life mentioned (it's like one sentence or two) & I didn't really think it was necessary. Aside from Anthony, his manager lowkey got on my nerves for some reason. Again, maybe it was her acting but I just didn't care for her, especially when she got mad at Jin Jin for actually dating. &, just like with Anthony, her having a love interest at the end of the show felt matter of fact.

Finally, while Jin Jin's sister was mentioned & her storyline was waiting in the shadows, the way it was executed could've been better. It felt as if they brought it up & left it there to serve as a filler time towards the end episodes. I felt like we never really got a good reason for why she disappeared & then her reappearance was quick before she was gone again making you wonder what was even the need for her in the first place. So, those things I disliked were enough for me to not give this drama a higher rating but not enough to say they make it a bad watching experience. Since I've watched it twice already, maybe will rewatch it again in the future, & would recommend this to anyone looking for an easy & feel good watch, that's why I gave it a 10 for rewatch value. I wouldn't be able to list the songs used in the drama, nor say I listen to them outside of it, but, while watching, I liked them enough as background music. (5 is my typical rating for music, unless I actually loved it & listen to the songs outside of the dramas.)

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