Establishing its relevance at present, Twenty Five Twenty One spurs a beginning filled with laughter and tears.
Serving a retro vibe to its viewers, Twenty Five Twenty One captures the reality faced by all people, both young and old, during a crisis. Ranging from lives disrupted and dreams shattered, each character’s life set-up is introduced. A blend of emotional and comedic scenes builds up the start of a memorable drama.
Opening Week Rating:
Marcie Line watches Twenty Five Twenty One on Netflix
Episode Recaps: 01 & 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | Finale + Review |
Twenty Five Twenty One Opening Week Story
“The times can easily take away your dream.”
At present, Na Hee-do accompanies her ballerina daughter to a competition, but she backs out at the last minute on stage. Her daughter then decides to quit ballet, and stay at grandmother’s house, looking through her mom’s old room.
Seeing her mom Na Hee-do’s journal entries in 1998, a flashback begins with a Hee-do optimistic that the IMF crisis would not affect her.
Contrary to her optimistic belief, the crisis leads to the disbandment of the fencing club in her school. Her mother, who is a famous news anchor, hears about the disbandment and expresses her relief at the end of Hee-do’s fencing activities.
Angered by her mother’s reaction, Hee-do becomes determined to transfer schools, and meets the newspaper boy, Baek Yi-jin who accidentally tipped off the fountain at her house.
Hee-do, who is determined to transfer schools for its existing fencing club, tries everything to become involved in an assault case, which could trigger her transfer. Her plans fail, and Yi-jin warns her of the dangers of her reckless plans in the club.
Hee-do’s mom hears about how her daughter entered the club, and rips off the copy of Full House out of anger. Hee-do then returns the book, replaced with her drawings, causing Yi-jin to laugh.
“Everyone’s skill level is similar. Competitions are about luck and vigor.”
Regularly, Hee-do visits Ko Yu-rim in her school as she is eager to see her idol in fencing. Planning to join Tae Yang high school for their fencing club, Hee-do pleads with Coach Yang to accept her.
She does everything to beg the coach to accept her. Although she first failed to meet Coach Yang’s condition, Hee-do successfully meets one of the tests the coach gave. Unknown to her, her mother has also met Coach Yang to accept her in the fencing team, even though they have a bad history.
Excited to meet her idol, Hee-do realizes that her relationship with Yu-rim is different from what she imagined. Hee-do meets good people in her new school such as Moon Ji-woong and Ji Seung-wan, who acquaints her with the atmosphere inside the school. In a match together, Hee-do defeats Yu-rim, and their relationship remains cold.
“The times took everything from you. You can’t give up on happiness.”
On her way to Baek Yi-jin’s house, Hee-do witnesses men angry with Yi-jin. They demand him to tell them where his father is. Feeling bad for those men, Yi-jin promises to never be happy to appease the men.
About to return the money for the book she damaged, Hee-do treats Yi-jin to a drink instead. Hee-do tries to cheer up Yi-jin, and brings him to her old school, where they flip the opened faucets, looking like a fountain.
The guard catches on to what they are doing, and they escape, running together. Going far from the school, Hee-do tells Yi-jin that they should do exciting things from time to time, promising that he could be happy during those times, and she will keep it a secret.
Twenty Five Twenty One Opening Week Musings
Seeing all the events that have happened for the opening week of Twenty Five Twenty One, the plot trajectory is promising. Even at the beginning, it has already established its relevance to the present times. Moreover, a blend of the retro theme and comedic bonds contribute also to the entertainment value of the series.
Truly, our youth are the times when we may feel that the sky is the limit. However, to be put into a crisis, this optimistic outlook may be hard to maintain.
As we can see in the opening week, everyone is affected by a crisis, both young and old. What’s also notable to the conflicts that were included is about being great in your dream career.
For some, chasing your dreams may be immature especially when you lack the skills. However, Hee-do’s persistence proves otherwise, which is an inspiring reminder to all.
Introduced to each character’s life set-up, Nam Joo Hyuk’s scene evokes pity and empathy. His life from being abundant to nothing reflects in his eyes, and hopefully, it gets better for him in the next episodes.
Even though some scenes may become emotional, the episode has also contained scenes that were hopeful and also comedic.
It successfully captures the attention of its viewers, either by empathizing with one of the situations of the characters and/or feeling nostalgic with the vibe of the time period it covers.
Watch the latest episodes of Twenty Five Twenty One every Saturday and Sunday on Netflix.
Photos: tvN
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