I have Really mixed feelings about this drama.
On one hand, the drama was good, I really liked it but on the other hand, there were some ick-y things here and there. There was so much potential but the writer just didn't go down that route.....
The drama is kind of boring and draggy, cause I guess, it's slow paced, but I really liked how they showed how the lives were affected by the Gwanju uprising, how innocent people lost their lives to achieve the democracy South Korea has today, how scary death is, and how terrifying and traumatising the uprising would have been and how brave and courageous these fighters were to not give up even after being faced by these horrendous things and it's so inspiring to know that they did win in the end, after years of struggle. These all things make you really grateful and feel the responsibility of the privileges we normally take for granted.

The chemistry between the leads was amazing, I could really feel their love and it was heart wrenching to know how the female lead won't survive. This made their happy scenes 10x sadder for me and I'm not complaining, I like to know beforehand if it will be a sad ending.
The things I feel ick-y were like when both the leads were so devastated and that was how it was portrayed to us to, like it's the end of the world and they can never meet again and all that.... but.... the next episode, the second female lead so easily tells the male lead to go to the female lead and it was like, the viewers were made all that sad for....... nothing. Weird.

Then the climax, I feel like was really really rushed. Also, I really feel like the drama didn't do Myeong-Hee's character justice at all. She just died..... so easily. There was no drama, nothing. Like Are you kidding me? It's the fricking female lead!
They should have made it distressing, disturbing, upsetting, heart rendering, tragic, the kind where you sob and sob and can't stop sobbing. They should have made Hee-Tae be with her in final moments, with both of them crying and us viewers, bawling the heck out of our hearts. It was honestly really disappointing, how the drama failed to make me cry, I remained completely dry eyed, and especially cause I picked this drama for a good cry, but alas the drama completely failed at that.
But I guess, this was what made it sadder and more tragic too, the fact that he suffered so long trying to find her or at least her body and had no idea where she is or what happened to her. The fact that this may have happened to lovers or people in general, that so many of them must have lost their loved ones this way. Not knowing what happened to them or where they are is actually the saddest thing.
Then, we also didn't get to know about or what happened to Soo-Chan or Soo-Ryeon or Hwang Ki-Nam or the protesters or how did the uprising ended, etc. In short, the ending just felt Really rushed, incomplete and dissatisfying. I feel like they had to leave out parts to adjust it all in 12 episodes.

The cinematography was good, I really liked the whole old school, nostalgic vibe with a tinge of sadness all the time.
The OSTs were fine, okay-ish. They complemented the drama really well, with the same old school nostalgic sweet and sad vibe, but the problem is majority of them were really forgettable and mediocre, at least for me. "I regret" and "Winter of May" really stood out to me though, you could feel the pain through the lyrics.

This drama teaches you a lot of things about life, hardships, freedom, democracy, dictatorship and especially, how precious freedom is. This drama will stay with me for a long time cause of the stories it portrayed and the lessons it taught.
Over all, the drama was good, could have been better though.

P. S. Y'all listen to Bigger Than The Whole Sky by Taylor Swift! The lyrics fit the leads perfectly, it's like Taylor really, actually wrote it from Hee-Tae's perspective for Myeong-Hee!!