Home is where your heart is, and for Song Ha Gyeong (Choi Sung Eun), the heroine of the new Saturday-Sunday K-drama “Last Summer,” “peanut house,” where she lived for 17 years, is no longer it. Living alone has turned into torture, and because an empty house can never be a home, she is determined to pack her bags, sell her place, and never look back. That is, only until her childhood friend Baek Do Ha (Lee Jae Wook) returns to their hometown, ready to bust her plans. Reunited again after two years apart, this unforgettable summer might bring them a second chance for love, forgiveness, and friendship. Here are all the things we loved from the premiere episodes of this show!
Warning: spoilers from episodes 1-2 ahead!
1. Two flawed yet beautiful main characters
Song Ha Gyeong isn’t exactly your typical female lead, and she is far from being perfect. She is stubborn, strong-willed, and a certified weirdo according to Baek Do Ha. But she doesn’t need to be flawless to be great in her own way. At first, her character might come across as a tiny bit unlikable due to her bulldozer-like mindset, but soon enough, she shows that underneath her salty personality lies a kind, thoughtful, and tender soul.
Furthermore, she is determined to turn the page on her sad past, her lack of family, and even her poor professional circumstances. It might be hard to agree 100 percent with her decisions at some point, but nobody can deny or dismiss her strength and resilience.
On the other hand, Baek Do Ha seems to be the embodiment of perfection. He’s rich, handsome, and successful. However, at second glance, you notice that behind his kind eyes and sweet smile, there’s a domineering, insidious, and sometimes vexing man who resembles Ha Gyeong a lot in terms of stubbornness. In a sense, despite their differences, these two friends are two peas in a pod. In these couple of episodes, we got to see just a small part of their personalities, but we can already guess how profoundly human, contradictory, yet beautiful they are as characters.
2. The depiction of complexities in relationships
Life is complicated, and so are relationships. After knowing each other for most of their lives, Ha Gyeong and Do Ha are far from average friends or neighbors. Their ties run deeper and stronger than they would even want them to be. To Ha Gyeong, 20 years wouldn’t be enough to forget about Do Ha, let alone two years, and she doesn’t precisely welcome him with open arms. In Do Ha’s case, although he appears confident and laid back about her clear animosity and open rejection, he has come to realize that nothing can stay the same forever. Even if he has a weak spot for her, he won’t hold back or run away again from their unresolved past. This fundamental conflict will constantly drive them to butt heads, making having each other in their lives a blessing and a curse at the same time.
But they aren’t the only ones with mixed feelings and complicated relations. Lee Seul (Jung Bo Min), one of Ha Gyeong’s oldest friends, might have a harmonious and loving relationship with her long-time boyfriend, Oh Seung Taek (Ahn Dong Gu), a para ice hockey player, but she is far from being completely happy. Unable to choose between her love and her grandfather, who disapproves of their relationship, she has to forsake her wishes of marriage, always making concessions to please everybody. Though there’s still much to discover about their story, it’s already commendable and touching that they try to be more inclusive, showing an unbiased portrayal of people with motor impairments but also the harsh reality of the discrimination they face.
3. An intriguing secret about the past
Thinking about raising their children together, their fathers built the “peanut house” in hopes that they would grow up as close as siblings. But things don’t go quite as well as they expected. The blended family that seemed to live so peacefully is practically destroyed after a mysterious incident that happened two years ago. The scar that this situation has left is so deep and so painful for Ha Gyeong that she doesn’t hesitate to cut all ties with Baek Do Ha, wishing to forget all their memories together. This mystery alone is good enough to keep viewers engaged with the story as the source for multiple theories about it, but it also serves as the starting point of the conflict.
Ha Gyeong plans to sell their beloved “peanut house” and go back to the city without delay. However, when she thinks she has found the perfect family to sell the place to, Baek Do Ha interferes, refusing to sell his part of the house. This problem gets so big that he even hires Seo Su Hyeok (Kim Gun Woo), a popular and charismatic lawyer, to mediate between them. Even though Su Hyeok seems completely unaffected by the friends’ complicated relationship, his growing interest in Ha Gyeong could potentially become another problem for them later on. Is it possible that we will have our second male lead in him? Only time will tell.
4. Romance and angst perfectly combined
Set in the summer season, this show is filled with the fresh, sunny, and lively atmosphere that comes with first love and the youthful memories from the main leads. However, even with the sun shining brightly above them and the cicadas chirping in the distance, the feelings of nostalgia and melancholy that portray both Ha Gyeong and Do Ha are enough for us to feel the chilling air of autumn through the screen. Nonetheless, the growing tension between them not only ignites a spark that infuses their feud but also brings a shy sense of romance.
Going back and forth between the past and the present, we get a story with a dynamic flow but that is easy to follow, giving the vibes of a slice-of-life K-drama. It’s a show that mixes the cheerfulness of youth while transitioning to the sometimes painful reality of adulthood. Even if Do Ha loves to tease Ha Gyeong, and she hates to see him constantly hovering over her, their lingering bond makes it impossible for them to truly turn their backs on each other. But will this new season give them the warmth to overcome the pain and differences? Let’s tune in and find out more this week!
Watch the premiere episodes of “Last Summer” on Viki below:
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Andy zar is an avid drama watcher, from K-dramas to C-dramas, she believes any weekend is a good weekend to enjoy 12 hours of binge-watching dramas. She loves romance, web comics, and K-pop. Her favorite groups are EXO, TWICE, Red Velvet, and BOL4.
Currently watching: “Ms. Incognito,” “Last Summer“
Plans to watch: “Spirit Fingers,” “Dear X”
