Again with the late post…I finished 18 Again on Thursday as usual, and spent some time mulling over and mourning the end of this great drama (and seriously pondering an immediate rewatch!). I know some beanies already said goodbye to the drama earlier this week, but I was hoping we could mourn together here one last time (or maybe another time once Ep 16 recap goes up lol). 
 
The last week has many great moments, and full of both sad and happy tears. What this show did really well was how most emotional moments played out very naturally, and in an expected way that is not predictable or manipulative. I chalked that up to the characters being so well-drawn that we understood them as people that we know how they would act, and when they did act we empathized with them so much, we cried anyway despite knowing exactly how it would play out.
Like this scene:
 

gifs courtesy of chanikang @ tumblr
 
🙁 saw it from miles away, and still cried buckets when he started crying 🙁
 
I would argue that maybe Dae-young’s despair to return to his boy actually didn’t happen early enough. That is because the conflict that was set up early on – that he had a chance to see for himself how his life could have been without getting married and skipping college at 18, was abandonned pretty early on. He very quickly realized what we had, and he was also able to help both of his children quickly as Dae-young. Through the flashbacks, we also saw him repeatedly put his family first without any hesitation. I did wonder at times whether this would have been a more gripping and modern drama if Dae-young’s morals were a bit more grey, i.e. we could see him go around enjoying his young body a bit more, being a bit more selfish and living his life for a few episodes, until he realized that wasn’t what he wanted. The conflict there would be what was intended early on: choosing yourself/your dream, or choosing your family. 
 
That said, I really love the version of Dae-young we got: a completely devoted husband and father who very understandably for some time let the harshness of his life beat him down, and said somet things he didn’t mean and did not do some things he should have done. The main drama conflict then became “can Daeyoung figure out what he did wrong and correct it?”, which is a much less interesting conflict, but also a lot more wholesome. Funnily enough, I feel like Dae-young in this case: what would have been would have been nice, sure, but what actually happened was awesome, and I have no regret 🙂 
 
In classic romcom style, everything is neatly wrapped up and nicely tied with a bow, and I’m here for it! Dae-young got to have the career that suits him best given the circumstances he was in (I was SO happy they figured out a realistic solution for him to get back to basketball; high school coaching would have been a bit far-fetched). Da-jung got the fame and the career she worked hard for, and deserved. And Yoon Sang Hyun finally got to have his haircut! 
 
You know you’ve had a great journey with a drama when you can imagine the characters living on beyond the end of episode 16. In this dark time, it’s so heartwarming to think that many Dae-young & Da-jungs in the world might have overcome their struggles (though probably not through going back into your young body!), and bravely and happily continue on ahead.
 
This drama will live in my heart for a long time.

 

 

@13infamyss @velvetstuff @suriyana-shah @mrsz6 @flyingcolours @inkcityxx @ObsessedMuch @smaltwalt @marina @neener @manichan @dramafan12 @Jenmole @blnmom @avazilla @ayalynn123 @shichybot @Jingbee @rusnicam @irishrah @earthna @swunnie
also cc @pickleddragon if you haven’t dropped the show yet, would love to hear what you thought!