Fantasy Ok-drama Twinkling Watermelon is a captivating coming-of-age story of music, household and romance as a younger man travels again in time and experiences his dad and mom’ youth. The collection follows music-loving highschool scholar Ha Eun-gyeol (Ryeoun), the youngest son of a deaf household who’s, as his father places it, the “voice that connects their household to the world”. Eun-gyeol is pressured to develop up rapidly as he helps his family members navigate the world, studying to protect them from the cruelty of others.
Below the super strain he’s pressured to hold, a younger Eun-gyeol learns to let unfastened after secretly befriending an previous man who owns a run-down music retailer, the place he discovers his ardour for music. One fateful day, a hearth breaks out at residence whereas he’s out in search of his music instructor. And whereas the whole household survives the ordeal, the hearth leaves Eun-gyeol wracked with guilt, main him to proceed hiding his love for music properly into his teenagers.
On the identical time, we journey to 1995 the place we meet highschool scholar Ha Yi-chan (Choi Hyun-wook), his crush and cellist extraordinaire Choi Se-gyeong (Seol In-ah) and aloof visible arts scholar Yoon Cheong-ah. In an try and win over Se-gyeong, Yi-chan decides to kind a band to carry out with at an upcoming college pageant.
Again in 2023, Eun-gyeol excels in his research and plans to go to med college however is later recruited by a college band, and he decides to chew the bullet and pursue his ardour for music. A string of unlucky occasions leads his father to stroll into certainly one of his performances at a membership, who’s livid with the invention. They get right into a fierce argument that ends with Eun-gyeol storming off and promoting his guitar on the first music retailer he comes throughout.
Stepping out of the shop, Eun-gyeol is shocked to seek out himself in 1995, the place he bumps into Yi-chan whereas he’s recruiting a guitarist for his band. Glancing down at his identify tag, he realises that Yi-chan is the teenaged model of his father, and – opposite to what he has been led to consider – is ready to hear and communicate. It rapidly turns into clear to Eun-gyeol that his father had been carefree and fun-loving in his youth, fully reverse to the person he later turns into.
It’s a convoluted set-up that lastly lands Eun-gyeol prior to now, the place he’s appalled to study that his father is crushing on somebody moreover his mom, whereas dedicating his days to one thing as frivolous as beginning a band to win her affection. Nonetheless, he joins Yi-chan’s band as he tries to seek out his method again to the current, however turns into more and more invested in his father’s highschool life. Whereas issues turn into a lot clearer from this level, Twinkling Watermelon regrettably spends far an excessive amount of time getting its characters the place they must be.
Regardless of the perplexing begin, the characters preserve Twinkling Watermelon grounded with their complicated relationships. Choi Hyun-wook, specifically, shines because the playful Yi-chan – it’s straightforward to turn into invested within the character and keep simply to seek out out what occurred to him between 1995 and 2023. And whereas the massive emotional arcs have but to disclose themselves 4 episodes in, it’s clear that the core of the collection is its lovable ensemble of characters.
Beneath the overly difficult set-up, Twinkling Watermelon has potential as a fascinating Ok-drama that’s filled with coronary heart. Even in its complicated early episodes, the place it struggles to seek out its footing, the present succeeds in portraying the joy and temporality of youth. It stays to be seen whether or not Twinkling Watermelon will be capable to overcome these shortcomings because it picks up the tempo, however the story to date is a sufficiently entertaining and touching story.
Twinkling Watermelon airs each Monday and Tuesday on tvN, and can also be accessible to stream on Viu and Viki