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It all began that summer of our youth…
Except for a typhoon, I do not think anything can be more intense than raging high school hormones. Summertime understood that from its very first episode. The sexual fantasies, the bathroom stall kisses, the stolen moments, the fireworks on New Year’s Eve…this is the messy, exciting age when friendship, desire, and fear all arrive at the same time. It felt like a Korean BL version of Secret Lover, with enough chemistry and sexual tension to pull me in immediately.
At its heart, this was always a childhood friends becoming lovers story. Eun Ho and Do Hyeon have known each other so long that their closeness feels like family, which makes the change between them even more complicated. The arrival of the openly gay third wheel was a good catalyst. He did not simply create a love triangle…he exposed what Do Hyeon had been trying so hard to suppress. The hot dog jokes and all the provocative NC scenes may have been visually exciting, but they worked because there was real emotional tension underneath.
Do Hyeon knew exactly what he wanted. He had the patience, the possessiveness, and apparently enough serious heat to keep Eun Ho constantly on edge. Yet beneath all that physical intensity was a boy who had spent years hiding the one thing he could not control…his heart. Eun Ho may have been the one slowly discovering his feelings, but Do Hyeon had been waiting for him all along. At times it did feel like Eun Ho was doing all the emotional running while Do Hyeon pulled him close and kept him guessing. I kept waiting for him to push back, not merely physically, but with honesty.
The finale brought us back to high school through that dream. At first I wondered what the writer was thinking…after all that separation, growth, and finally finding their way back to each other, why return to the beginning? But perhaps that was the point. The dream was not a reset. It was Eun Ho looking back at the summer when everything changed, now finally understanding what all those glances, jealousies, kisses, and fireworks really meant.
The beauty of Summertime is realizing that love had been staring at Eun Ho all this time. Their friendship did not disappear when love arrived. It simply became something neither of them could hide from anymore.
At its heart, this was always a childhood friends becoming lovers story. Eun Ho and Do Hyeon have known each other so long that their closeness feels like family, which makes the change between them even more complicated. The arrival of the openly gay third wheel was a good catalyst. He did not simply create a love triangle…he exposed what Do Hyeon had been trying so hard to suppress. The hot dog jokes and all the provocative NC scenes may have been visually exciting, but they worked because there was real emotional tension underneath.
Do Hyeon knew exactly what he wanted. He had the patience, the possessiveness, and apparently enough serious heat to keep Eun Ho constantly on edge. Yet beneath all that physical intensity was a boy who had spent years hiding the one thing he could not control…his heart. Eun Ho may have been the one slowly discovering his feelings, but Do Hyeon had been waiting for him all along. At times it did feel like Eun Ho was doing all the emotional running while Do Hyeon pulled him close and kept him guessing. I kept waiting for him to push back, not merely physically, but with honesty.
The finale brought us back to high school through that dream. At first I wondered what the writer was thinking…after all that separation, growth, and finally finding their way back to each other, why return to the beginning? But perhaps that was the point. The dream was not a reset. It was Eun Ho looking back at the summer when everything changed, now finally understanding what all those glances, jealousies, kisses, and fireworks really meant.
The beauty of Summertime is realizing that love had been staring at Eun Ho all this time. Their friendship did not disappear when love arrived. It simply became something neither of them could hide from anymore.
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