Don't be fooled by its premise, Record of Youth isn't as heavily steeped in romance as I thought it would be. In fact, I was totally wrong about my timeline theory that our male lead Hye-jun will enlist in 2018, get discharged in 2020 and the drama will focus on his rise to stardom post-military. That's ok though because we instead got a whole other look at how these youths manoeuvre their way through the entertainment industry, making their mark on the people around them.
SERIES RETROSPECT AND REVIEW (SPOILER ALERT)
Before I properly start, I just want to say that the sheer number of cameos from other big stars was amazing. We got to see Seo Hyun-jin, Park Seo-joon, Lee Sung-kyung and of course, Girl's Day's Hyeri, the last of whom I wished got to properly interact with Park Bo-gum (who she paired up with in Reply 1988). While not holding much weight to the story, these cameos will undoubtedly get the average K-drama fan to get off their seat in a "hey, I know them" moment because that happened to me.
In episode 1, we saw our leads Hye-jun and Jeong-ha with their own personal struggles, the former trying to break into the acting industry after a floundering modeling career and the latter trying to gain stability in her life. Over time, the two form a close friendship that turns into a romance and we get a lot of cute moments in the drama. Earlier, I mentioned that I thought Hye-jun would enlist in 2018 but I was wrong. Turns out, he delays his enlistment after getting a small role in a movie with a famous director and he starts to build traction after this appearance. Not very important but it was super refreshing to see Park Bo-gum play a charismatic villain because we're so used to seeing him act as the kind, pure-hearted guy. It's a huge callback to his psychopathic character in Hello Monster, which was equally amazing.
After that role, Hye-jun's popularity skyrockets, gaining both supporting and lead roles in dramas, culminating in him winning the award for Best Actor in a mini-series, edging out previous favourites like Park Do-ha, an arrogant actor with a huge mean streak and hidden insecurities. While his career is starting to boom, Hye-jun's life isn't all peaches and creams as he's bogged down by scandal after scandal, caused by his previous manager (Lee Tae-su), who's hellbent on winning him back now that he's successful, and a reporter who refuses to back down from writing these scathing articles. Apart from having to deal with all these scandals, Hye-jun also has to commit to his secret romance with Jeong-ha and mend his relationships within his family now that he's famous.
It's quite a lot of growth for his character as even though his essence doesn't change, still staying as the honest, hardworking person he has always been, Hye-jun has to come to terms with how his family has treated him in the past, knowing that everything his father (Yeong-nam) did to deter him from his dream was all for his own good. It's especially heartwarming to see Yeong-nam's character development, going from someone extremely skeptical of Hye-jun's attempts at the entertainment industry to completely accepting his son's new stardom. Initially, while Yeong-nam was furious when Hye-jun got his grandfather (Min-gi) to become a senior model, by the end of the drama he's completely turned around, even becoming Min-gi's manager. Let me tell you, I held out till the end but when Yeong-nam and Hye-jun shared the first real father-and-son moment of their lives, with the former apologising for all the things he did in the past, man did that scene get me emotional. I was truly invested in Hye-jun's rise to stardom and most importantly, how his family dealt with it.
Hye-jun's enlistment is actually a well-crafted out idea in the drama and while it's not heavily emphasised, we know that it's the writers' way of describing the amount of control he has on his own life. At the start, he receives his draft notice at the lowest point in his career and has to delay it in order to get his second chance at stardom. Of course, this works out in his favour and by the end of the drama, even though he can delay it further, Hye-jun chooses to enlist at the peak of his career, now in full control of his future and knowing that no matter what, he will flourish and only become a bigger star, fully confident that his momentum won't be broken by his enlistment. In a way (albeit extremely dramatised), our male lead's enlistment struggles are probably similar to Park Bo-gum himself, considering this is his last drama before enlisting and he probably had the same thinking as his character, that no matter what, his name will still be on the map.
On Jeong-ha's side of affairs, she had to deal with the bullying from her senior at the beauty salon as she attempts to make her own way in life. Personally, I didn't really feel too much about her backstory. Yes, it's sad to find out that she's a child of divorce and that she had to grow up very fast in the harsh reality presented to her by her mother but I didn't feel like that was the crux of her character. For our heroine, I find her charm came in how she was willing to put everything into her relationship. From the start, she was devoted to Hye-jun and fully supported him, even when he was a struggling model. Initially, it seems that their love is standing the test of his increasing popularity but cracks start to form. We see a flashback of Hye-jun promising Jeong-ha that he'll never apologise for lacking in their relationship but as the series progresses, we see that he breaks this promise countless times, constantly apologising to her for not being as present for her due to his career. Ultimately, this reaches a head when the biggest scandal breaks out about their secret romance, with all parties (less Hye-jun) denying this truth. In the end, they break up even though they're very much in love, with Jeong-ha tired out from being Hye-jun's emotional outlet for the stress brought on by his tough schedules.
Unfortunately, even though Hye-jun attempts to win her back, they don't get back together and go their separate ways, with our hero enlisting in the military. Fast forward 2 years later and we see that both our leads are leading successful lives, in the acting and makeup industries. As fate would have it, they chance upon each other at the same filming set and the drama ends with them walking side-by-side, presumably rekindling their friendly relationship. This is actually quite a satisfying ending even if their romance didn't work out because we see that the love that they experienced in their youth only strengthened their characters and they came out of it as better people. Even though we get an open ending with no clear indication as to whether Hye-jun and Jeong-ha get back together, we at least see that they're now comfortable with their current places in life, having moved past their own struggles.
While our two leads definitely had interesting character development arcs, our second and third male leads Hae-hyo and Jin-woo also had their fair share of problems. For Hae-hyo, whose whole professional life had practically been orchestrated by his mother and even one of the few things that he thought he achieved on his own, his 1 million Instagram followers, was actually numbers bought by his mother, and so his personal struggle was trying to make it big on his own accord. It's an interesting juxtaposition of him against his best friend Hye-jun because at the start Hae-hyo was the one in the limelight due to his affluence and his mother's connections but as our lead started to make it big as an actor, Hae-hyo started to fade into the background as his career stagnated. The whole time, he gets his self-esteem trampled on by his mother, who constantly compares him to Hye-jun, even though he's genuinely happy for his friend's success, although he eventually harbours resentment for him. It doesn't help that Hae-hyo is also in love with Jeong-ha but she doesn't see that through her love for Hye-jun. Ultimately, our second male lead takes matters into his own hands by enlisting into the Marines without his family's knowledge and after his discharge, he enjoys his life, having reconciled with his mother and starting on a blank slate.
While Jin-woo doesn't have as much screentime as the other leads, he also has a character arc to showcase, namely how he grows as a person through his relationship with Hae-na (Hae-hyo's sister). Their relationship is strange because even though they are very much in love with each other and try to make it work, they know they are destined for failure. Their path is rocky, with Hae-na's mother actively trying to break them apart and she ultimately succeeds because they do break up. However, we can see how they've grown from their relationship because Jin-woo is the one who initiates the break up and realises that they both need to grow stronger as people first before they can get into a serious relationship. That maturity that he gains throughout this series is very comforting to see and by the end of the series, we know he's grown as a person, opening his own photography studio and gaining his place in life.
At the end of the day, the title of this drama really embodied everything it was about, a record of our leads' youths as we see them navigate their way through their life, romance, careers and ultimately finding stability. Our characters have all come full circle, Hye-jun maintaining his status as a successful actor, Hae-hyo breaking away from his mother's influence and starting afresh, Jin-woo starting his own studio and Jeong-ha becoming a sought-after makeup artist. Throughout the series, we see them maturing as people and finding their place in life and by the end, they've moved into their 30s, as Hye-jun described it, a time when they can't blame others anymore and they have to forge their own paths from there.
I do wish we had seen more of Tae-su and Do-ha after the 2 year time-skip just to see where they're at. At the end of the drama, we know that Do-ha is involved in some scandals, namely with his father's debt scandal. It's also quite apparent by this point that Do-ha's arrogance and flashiness is a result of his upbringing because in many ways, he's very similar to Hye-jun in that both of them come from humble backgrounds. While our hero maintained his kindheartedness, Do-ha hid his insecurities behind his mean outer shell and belligerent attitude. He's actually quite a match for Tae-su, who behind all his scumbag-like ways is actually quite a good manager. While it's easy to write off Tae-su as the main antagonist of the show (don't get me wrong I hated his guts) but his character was also probably forged as a result of this mercenary industry that focuses on power and status more than talent. This transformed Tae-su into a money-grabbing executive but I feel like deep down, he really wants the best for his artistes, as shown in his final scene, where he comforts and reasons with Do-ha about why he's constantly the subjects of scandals.
I also wanted to see the aftermath of Hye-jun's mother choosing to stop being Hae-hyo's family's housekeeper. While she does tell Hae-hyo's mother that she's quitting and of course her employer tries to stop her, we don't actually get a proper answer as to whether she really leaves. In many ways, though their relationship is somewhat "toxic", I think both mothers are truly attached to one another emotionally in a weird way and I was hoping to get some kind of conclusion there.
To sum this retrospective up, many of us are currently in the stage of our lives where we're trying to make it in life, myself included. Although many of us are soon to be embarking on our university educations, we still want stability in our futures when we end up as jobseekers and beyond. At the end of the day, we all have our personal struggles and it's up to us how we want to spend our youth making a name for ourselves, and secure a place for ourselves in life. So, I'll just end this post with a question for everyone. How will your Record of Youth look like? Thanks for reading.
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