5
6
2
FreshKicks
This review may contain spoilers
The biggest mistake of Best Mistake Season 2 is that it's centered around a mean and deceitful new character while at the same time trying to tease us with a love triangle where the conclusion is so foregone that you just feel sorry for the poor sap who you know is destined to be turned away by his crush before the last bell tolls.
What's also annoying is that the writers endow the mean and deceitful character with a seemingly superhuman ability to manipulate people, allowing her to get all of these close friends to distrust and turn on one another after what for some has been years of friendship. I hate it when a series is so lazy that it resorts to something like this. Unfortunately, it's all too often what a series will do in a second season because they can't think of anything else to be dramatic about.
The problem is, with Best Mistake Season 2 everybody watching knows that if these close friends were to have just one realistic conversation amongst themselves to compare notes, Ahra's lies would unravel and she'd be exposed within a couple of days. But instead we're supposed to believe that almost every one of these people has undergone a common-sense lobotomy that renders them incapable of anything but wide-eyed wonder over Ahra's beauty.
Also at issue during Season 2 is Hyunho's struggle over being misjudged by the education system, and in particular by a teacher who has a knack for popping up every now and then just to lower his self-esteem a little bit more. On a couple of occasions she takes a few shots at Yeondoo as well, telling her that she owes it to herself to break up with Hyunho because he's a loser who will just drag her down. Smart girl that she is, Yeondoo will have none of it, but alas poor Hyunhoo proves to be not as strong. Since the teacher is blind to his efforts to improve, cruelly dismissing him at every turn, he eventually starts to believe her BS and ultimately decides that he should, indeed, break up with Yeondoo, supposedly for her own good. The breakup is half-hearted at best but still manages to devastate Yeondoo.
This is where the love triangle comes in, and where Season 2 actually does something wonderful. No, it's not the love triangle itself, but rather the introduction of a new character who is complex and interesting. Seunghyun is an athlete who starts out as aloof and unapproachable. His standoffishness is what especially irks Hyunho, whose territorial instincts go haywire from the get-go. He becomes very wary over Seunghyun, and it is to his credit that it eventually turns out that in this regard he does, actually, have something to worry about.
Although many viewers (mainly out of loyalty to Hyunho, I suspect) are put off by the way Season 2 develops the friendship between Yeondoo and Seunghyun, I think the tentative way that Seunghyun builds up his trust in her is very sweet. Pretty quickly it develops into a one-sided crush on Seunghyun's part, and that's another thing that I believe is depicted realistically and with great insight. As Yeondoo slowly breaks down Seunghyun's somber exterior we start to see someone who is ethical, sincere, and probably more than a little bit lonely. Yeondoo has precisely the personality to pry open the feelings of someone like that, just by being herself, and through one kind-hearted interaction after another that's exactly what happens.
I think people can hate the love triangle itself (blame the writers for that) but they shouldn't take it out on Seunghyun, who turns out to be respectful of Hyunho and Yeondoo's relationship even during most of the time when they've supposedly already broken up. Seunghyun can sense that their breakup isn't really final, so in his insistance on always playing fair he waits until the moment when he finally gets word that they are definitely, positively over with before making his move. For this I think the guy deserves a lot of credit! It's got to be the first time he's ever approached a girl so there's so much potential for a rookie mistake, but he still navigates the situation in a way that avoids hurting anyone. In Seunghyun I think we have an amazing character, and Lee Jung Joon's performance in the part is nuanced and masterful. He gives us a Seunghyun who in some ways is even more compatible with Yeondoo that Hyunho is.
(Also, one thing we should always keep in mind is that Seunghyun is the one who finally manages to expose Ahra and eventually get Hyunho and Yeondoo back together again. So please stop hating on my boy!)
Regarding Hyunho, I think one of the reasons Yeondoo chooses to take him back in the end is not only that they're the main couple for the whole series (duh) but given her nurturing personality she knows that Hyunho just needs her in his life much more than Seunghyun does. Hyunho's fragility in this regard is just one of the ways that I think Kang Yul does such a terrific job in playing the role. He gets it right when depicting how such a person is always struggling between bravado and vulnerability. It's this very duality that endeared Hyunho to viewers so much in Season 1, and Kang Yul keeps up the good work in Season 2.
Another great thing about Hyunho's character is that he's always skeptical about anything the evil Ahra says or does. (Big ups to Ryu Sul for also refusing to be taken in by Ahra. She's not only skeptical of her but downright combative about it. Hey, Ryu Sul, I didn't like you in Season 1 but in Season 2 you're killin' it.)
Meanwhile, Yuna proves that she is shallow, dumb and pathetic by wallowing in her ridiculous one-sided love for Seunghyun, and allowing Ahra to convince her that Yeondoo -- Yeondoo of all people! -- is a phony. I can only be grateful that the writers didn't toss her a bone in the end by actually pairing her up with Seungyun. Yuna, girl, you are a sad excuse for a best friend. If there's a Season 3 please do not show up.
Another new character who deserves a thumbs-up is Ah Hoon. He's a cool kid who just needs some big-brotherly guidance, and that's exactly what Seunghyun provides for him. It's not clear to me what purpose he really serves in the season other than to provide comic relief in what in many ways was a bleak season, but it must be said that Keum Dong Hyun does a fantastic job in his drama debut, and I enjoyed the bromance between him and Seunghyun immensely. Part of me hopes that there will be a Season 3 and that the reason for Ah Hoon's introduction in Season 2 is that he'll be the central character in it.
As a last complaint, I think another dishonest thing the writers do is to surgically remove Ji Sung's backbone when it comes to Ahra. She humiliates him to the core after her plot unravels and she's exposed as the snake that she is. She even tells him to his face that she could never really be attracted to someone like him. This is one cruel person, I'm telling you. After all of this treachery, what we see in the last episode is that Ji Sung has skipped the big reunion lunch with his friends and actually decided to SIT WITH AHRA in the cafeteria. Seriously? Here we have a series that has spent 15 episodes showing us what a total lowlife Ahra is, then in the finale they suddenly want us to feel compassion for her. Well, sorry, no sale. Seeing Ji Sung sit with her was just annoying af. I'd rather they just hadn't shown Ahra at all in that episode rather than extract the last modicum of self-respect from poor Ji Sung. I know we're supposed to view it as a teachable moment and think he was doing something noble by extending forgiveness, but people like Ahra need to feel the consequences of their actions or they will never stop.
So, while I could rewatch Season 1 over and over (and actually did during Season 2's airing), I don't think I'll be returning to Season 2 that often. If I do it will mainly be for the two characters, namely Seunghyun and Ah Hoon, who can't be found in Season 1. The franchise still has lots of life in it and I'd be super excited for a Season 3. Either center it around Ahoon or follow the gang to college. The characters are so vivid and lovable and I don't want to be missing them for too long.
Final word: It's funny how my review of Season 1 is really short but this one turned into a novel. I guess it's because I feel that a review that's mostly negative needs to do some explaining. If you got this far while reading it then I'm very flattered and thank you for your time!
What's also annoying is that the writers endow the mean and deceitful character with a seemingly superhuman ability to manipulate people, allowing her to get all of these close friends to distrust and turn on one another after what for some has been years of friendship. I hate it when a series is so lazy that it resorts to something like this. Unfortunately, it's all too often what a series will do in a second season because they can't think of anything else to be dramatic about.
The problem is, with Best Mistake Season 2 everybody watching knows that if these close friends were to have just one realistic conversation amongst themselves to compare notes, Ahra's lies would unravel and she'd be exposed within a couple of days. But instead we're supposed to believe that almost every one of these people has undergone a common-sense lobotomy that renders them incapable of anything but wide-eyed wonder over Ahra's beauty.
Also at issue during Season 2 is Hyunho's struggle over being misjudged by the education system, and in particular by a teacher who has a knack for popping up every now and then just to lower his self-esteem a little bit more. On a couple of occasions she takes a few shots at Yeondoo as well, telling her that she owes it to herself to break up with Hyunho because he's a loser who will just drag her down. Smart girl that she is, Yeondoo will have none of it, but alas poor Hyunhoo proves to be not as strong. Since the teacher is blind to his efforts to improve, cruelly dismissing him at every turn, he eventually starts to believe her BS and ultimately decides that he should, indeed, break up with Yeondoo, supposedly for her own good. The breakup is half-hearted at best but still manages to devastate Yeondoo.
This is where the love triangle comes in, and where Season 2 actually does something wonderful. No, it's not the love triangle itself, but rather the introduction of a new character who is complex and interesting. Seunghyun is an athlete who starts out as aloof and unapproachable. His standoffishness is what especially irks Hyunho, whose territorial instincts go haywire from the get-go. He becomes very wary over Seunghyun, and it is to his credit that it eventually turns out that in this regard he does, actually, have something to worry about.
Although many viewers (mainly out of loyalty to Hyunho, I suspect) are put off by the way Season 2 develops the friendship between Yeondoo and Seunghyun, I think the tentative way that Seunghyun builds up his trust in her is very sweet. Pretty quickly it develops into a one-sided crush on Seunghyun's part, and that's another thing that I believe is depicted realistically and with great insight. As Yeondoo slowly breaks down Seunghyun's somber exterior we start to see someone who is ethical, sincere, and probably more than a little bit lonely. Yeondoo has precisely the personality to pry open the feelings of someone like that, just by being herself, and through one kind-hearted interaction after another that's exactly what happens.
I think people can hate the love triangle itself (blame the writers for that) but they shouldn't take it out on Seunghyun, who turns out to be respectful of Hyunho and Yeondoo's relationship even during most of the time when they've supposedly already broken up. Seunghyun can sense that their breakup isn't really final, so in his insistance on always playing fair he waits until the moment when he finally gets word that they are definitely, positively over with before making his move. For this I think the guy deserves a lot of credit! It's got to be the first time he's ever approached a girl so there's so much potential for a rookie mistake, but he still navigates the situation in a way that avoids hurting anyone. In Seunghyun I think we have an amazing character, and Lee Jung Joon's performance in the part is nuanced and masterful. He gives us a Seunghyun who in some ways is even more compatible with Yeondoo that Hyunho is.
(Also, one thing we should always keep in mind is that Seunghyun is the one who finally manages to expose Ahra and eventually get Hyunho and Yeondoo back together again. So please stop hating on my boy!)
Regarding Hyunho, I think one of the reasons Yeondoo chooses to take him back in the end is not only that they're the main couple for the whole series (duh) but given her nurturing personality she knows that Hyunho just needs her in his life much more than Seunghyun does. Hyunho's fragility in this regard is just one of the ways that I think Kang Yul does such a terrific job in playing the role. He gets it right when depicting how such a person is always struggling between bravado and vulnerability. It's this very duality that endeared Hyunho to viewers so much in Season 1, and Kang Yul keeps up the good work in Season 2.
Another great thing about Hyunho's character is that he's always skeptical about anything the evil Ahra says or does. (Big ups to Ryu Sul for also refusing to be taken in by Ahra. She's not only skeptical of her but downright combative about it. Hey, Ryu Sul, I didn't like you in Season 1 but in Season 2 you're killin' it.)
Meanwhile, Yuna proves that she is shallow, dumb and pathetic by wallowing in her ridiculous one-sided love for Seunghyun, and allowing Ahra to convince her that Yeondoo -- Yeondoo of all people! -- is a phony. I can only be grateful that the writers didn't toss her a bone in the end by actually pairing her up with Seungyun. Yuna, girl, you are a sad excuse for a best friend. If there's a Season 3 please do not show up.
Another new character who deserves a thumbs-up is Ah Hoon. He's a cool kid who just needs some big-brotherly guidance, and that's exactly what Seunghyun provides for him. It's not clear to me what purpose he really serves in the season other than to provide comic relief in what in many ways was a bleak season, but it must be said that Keum Dong Hyun does a fantastic job in his drama debut, and I enjoyed the bromance between him and Seunghyun immensely. Part of me hopes that there will be a Season 3 and that the reason for Ah Hoon's introduction in Season 2 is that he'll be the central character in it.
As a last complaint, I think another dishonest thing the writers do is to surgically remove Ji Sung's backbone when it comes to Ahra. She humiliates him to the core after her plot unravels and she's exposed as the snake that she is. She even tells him to his face that she could never really be attracted to someone like him. This is one cruel person, I'm telling you. After all of this treachery, what we see in the last episode is that Ji Sung has skipped the big reunion lunch with his friends and actually decided to SIT WITH AHRA in the cafeteria. Seriously? Here we have a series that has spent 15 episodes showing us what a total lowlife Ahra is, then in the finale they suddenly want us to feel compassion for her. Well, sorry, no sale. Seeing Ji Sung sit with her was just annoying af. I'd rather they just hadn't shown Ahra at all in that episode rather than extract the last modicum of self-respect from poor Ji Sung. I know we're supposed to view it as a teachable moment and think he was doing something noble by extending forgiveness, but people like Ahra need to feel the consequences of their actions or they will never stop.
So, while I could rewatch Season 1 over and over (and actually did during Season 2's airing), I don't think I'll be returning to Season 2 that often. If I do it will mainly be for the two characters, namely Seunghyun and Ah Hoon, who can't be found in Season 1. The franchise still has lots of life in it and I'd be super excited for a Season 3. Either center it around Ahoon or follow the gang to college. The characters are so vivid and lovable and I don't want to be missing them for too long.
Final word: It's funny how my review of Season 1 is really short but this one turned into a novel. I guess it's because I feel that a review that's mostly negative needs to do some explaining. If you got this far while reading it then I'm very flattered and thank you for your time!
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