Record of Youth

Record of Youth

Starring: Park Bo-Gum, Park So-Dam, Byeon Woo-Seok

Record of Youth is a journey of an aspiring model/actor and a make-up artist from obscurity to success. It also touches upon friendship, relationship between father-son and agent-actor.

Sa Hye-Jun (Park Bo-Gum), is a struggling actor who dreams of making it big in the acting industry. He is often berated by his father who thinks of him as a good-for-nothing son. On the other hand, Sa Hye-Jun’s good friend, Won Hae-Hyo (Byeon Woo-Seok) is an established model and a struggling actor born with a silver spoon. We also have Ahn Jung-A (Park So-Dam), a practical, no-nonsense person who works hard towards her aspiration to be a big make-up artist.

Sa Hye-Jun and Ahn Jung-A date for a while before their individual commitments overshadow their romance. Ahn Jung-A breaks up with Sa Hye-Jun because she feels shortchanged in the relationship and wants someone totally committed to her. This is actually one of the highlights of the show. Every individual should put themselves first even at the risk of sounding selfish. Also, this must be the only show or the only instance in the whole wide world where a boyfriend (Hye-Jun) asks the permission of the girl (Jung-A) to kiss her. That was a total swoon worthy moment.

Sa Hye-Jun climbs the ladder of success but feels empty on the inside. Also with success, he finally gets purged of all the angst he had towards his father. On the other hand, despite coming to know that his acting career is totally micro-managed by his mother, Hae-Hyo refuses to hate his mother. He simply decides to opt for military training.

It is heart-warming to see that the friendship between Hye-Jun and Hae-Hyo remains unaffected even when they are rivals and even when Hye-Jun sees success while Hae-Hyo’s career takes a nosedive. Also, Hye-Jun even after their breakup still helps Jung-A to get more clients. That’s a real sign of maturity. Though there is a love triangle, Hae-Hyo likes Jung-A, they remain just friends till the end.

There are many life lessons to be taken from Record of Youth. It is not a drama about romance, but depicts the confusion that youth often have in their 20s – their anger towards their parents and blaming them for their shortcomings.

This is what Hye-Jun says in the show that is one of the major highlights and takeaway of the show – “In your 20s, you learn to detach yourself from your parents’ influence. Now, we’re entering our 30s. The age at which you can no longer blame others.”

Watch Record of Youth or make your kids in late teens or college watch this. It’s fun to see how characters evolve. And though it is slow paced, the drama has its heart in the right place.

Note: I watched this show when I had just entered into the world of Kdramas, and I actually mistook Byeon Woo-Seok for Park Seo-Jun. All this while, I thought it was Park Seo-Jun in the drama. But TBH, I like Byeon Woo-Seok more and wish I can see him in more dramas.

This post is a part of #BlogchatterA2Z 2023.

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