"Twinking Watermelon" concludes on a satisfying note despite leaving several plot points unanswered.
0014: They could've made the finale last for 2hrs and I wouldn't mind.
If there's anything that time slip dramas have taught us, it's that 80% of the time what is meant to be will still happen. What's in your control is how to mitigate the consequences. When the premise for Twinkling Watermelon was released, I thought it was a remake of a Thai movie I had seen on Netflix. The similarities ended with time slip and meeting younger versions of one's parents.
The main character, Ha Eun-gyeol, is a CODA who grew up balancing the expectations of his parents and pursuing his own interests on the sideline. He is selfless to a fault. After an incident sends him back to 1995, he ends up befriending an 18 year-old version of his father and even forms a band with him. Soon he comes to understand the life experiences that shaped the boy who grew up to be a loving husband and a father of two in 2023.
This is the second drama of Ryeoun that I loved this year (watch The Secret Romantic Guesthouse, I beg you!) and the guy is really good. How is he able to cry at the snap of a finger?😅 I had always believed in his potential since 18 Again. Choi Hyun-wook is equally phenomenal and it's amazing to see how far he has come since I've seen him in Racket Boys. Together with Seol In-ah and Shin Eun-soo, they were the heart and soul of TW.
Spoiler Alert:
Viva La Vida's Master turns out to be a variant of Grandpa Viva/Mr. Jonathan. My interpretation is that he was given this chance to resolve his regrets over not being able to fix his relationship with Se-kyung. Fate led him to the son of the boy who once thought the world of his daughter and in the process reconnects him with the granddaughter he never got to meet (in the original timeline).
Nitpicks:
They never really addressed what happened to Cheong-ah's mom. Are we supposed to just believe she abandoned her daughter all those years and never made any attempts to contact her? It would've been a nice bookend to her teenage years after falling in love and reconciling with her dad if she reunited with her mother as well.
I feel like the stepmom (and her children) got away with a slap on the wrist after everything she had put Cheong-ah through. The son, after running over Yi-chan, wasn't even apologetic enough when booked for his crime at the station.
Remember this scene from the Se-kyung's episode? Shin A-yeong was already referenced. At first I thought it was her adoptive mother's name (the actress is credited as "Shin A-yeong" on AsianWiki and MyDramaList) then I realized it must've referred to the running joke that Se-kyung's family are basically clones of each other. It wouldn't make sense if she was "adopted" by her biological mom because that would be a continuity lapse on the writer's part.🤔
Also, whatever happened to Byung-ho (remember him, the bully?) and his annoying mom? Uggghh, would've been a nice payback to see what became of them in Eun-gyeol's new future.
Rating: 4/5
Watch this on: VIU (all 16 episodes done)
Interested in another time slip drama? Read my review on My Perfect Stranger.