JTBC
Review
K-Drama Review: “Age Of Youth 2” Delivers Another Nimble Nonsense That Does Not Drag
Age of Youth 2 keeps a gleeful second serving of fun-filled friendship and romance.
Title: Age of Youth 2
Distributor: jTBC
Theme: Youth, Romance
Length: 14 Episodes
Broadcast Period: 25 Aug 2017 – 7 Oct 2017
Age of Youth 2 sustains the feel-good vibe of sassy dorm sisters, who seize the days of their lives by chasing dreams and romance.
Seasoned with love pairings which induce nostalgic memories of college romance, the girl-powered cast of Age of Youth 2 proves that role commitment as a group translates to the drama’s steady following.
Highlights
Perky Vibe
Continuing its snappy trademark, Age of Youth 2 delightfully entertains with clever farce, blending well to the searing emotional frames of the story. Park Eun Bin’s character is a gift. Her interaction with her lead man is hilariously cute. The kind that would make you feel envious. Newcomers Choi Ah Ra and Kim Min Suk’s love-line feels like a chirpy drunk cherub.
The girls, when together, evoke a trite nostalgia that all women can relate to. The cheerful ambiance is what made me watch this feel-good drama. It does not require you to go beyond over-analyzing its trajectory because you tend to enjoy watching the quirky moments more than paying attention to the sometimes not fitting conflict insertions.
Flavored Love Pairings
Eun Jae (Ji Woo) passes and circles through the stages of pain, denial, bargaining and acceptance after breaking up with her first love. Her relationship struggles provide the angst in the story.
The stoic yet gentle Sung Min to the lively and scattered Ji Won is an on-screen relationship that you can’t help but root for. Theirs is a chemistry that easily amuses viewers due to its perfect hinge. Sung Min is the kind of boyfriend we all wish that we can have. His rational mind complements his quasi-girlfriend’s mood swings.
Reversing the couple prototype to a tall-girl-small-guy has never been cute with newcomers Eun and Jang Hoon’s love progression. It is the type of romance story which you can spin off to a whole new drama that guarantees to work.
The youth drama for the most part credits the popularity to the charming all-female cast, but the boys of the second installment match well with the established Belle Epoque girls, creating the hook factor of the shallow illustrated narrative.
Drawback
Detached Conflict
What’s strange about the concerns tackled in Age of Youth 2 is how the individual problems draw connection, yet it failed to yield a lingering closure. It is the kind of finale which makes you stare blankly at a window after watching it because there is no impact. The narrative moves by showing each character’s issue resolving it one at a time. But the part that links the driving discord involving Ji Won’s childhood trauma feels out of place in the premise. It could be the time constraint or the fact that Eun’s initial motivation to live with the girls suddenly becomes dull. But there is something unsettling on how the events are chronicled. Having a big cast is prone to uneven exposure. Hence, I felt a surplus of characters at some moments. Even the first installment suffered from the same trifling execution of conflicts and twists. Thanks to the winning portrayals of the girls, it still keeps the drama sane.
Recommendation
Age of Youth 2 maintains the soothing tone which it is known for. That is why you would end up choosing to watch it over dramas with smarter storytelling. I refuse to compare it with its predecessor because the charm of the former is the friendship buildup while the sequel is strong on the love stories told.
Belle Epoque girls mark a small screen sisterhood that fans would dearly miss. If you intend to have a chill weekend with your family or pyjama night with your girlfriends, Age of Youth 2 gives you a lot of reason to laugh and grin.
