Youth of May: Not for Those with Tender Hearts

By: Janina Insigne Paler

Youth of May is a sweet old-school romance that took place in May 1980 during
the harsh political and social backdrop of their country. It tells the love story of medical
student Hwang Hee-Tae (Lee Do-hyun) and nurse Kim Myung-Hee (Go Min-si). Rather
than focusing on the frontline of the Gwangju Uprising, the drama is about the love and
friendships of young people who would’ve had ordinary lives otherwise. Hwang Hee-Tae
becomes the pride of Gwangju when he enters Seoul National University College of
Medicine with top marks. His best friend Kyung-Soo, an avid pro-democracy activist,
insists they open an illegal clinic for students on the run from the government. One day, a
factory worker is injured during a protest. In exchange for the costs of discreetly
transporting himself and the factory worker to his hometown, Hee-Tae must go to a
meeting with a potential marriage partner arranged by his father. At this meeting, Hee-
Tae meets Myung-Hee, a nurse persevering through the hardships of life. She only agrees
to go to this meeting in place of her friend Soo-Ryeon, because she needs to come up
with the airfare to go study in Germany. However, Myung-Hee and Hee-Tae end up
falling in love and found themselves in a twist of fate.

Being a melodrama, one would expect its’s plot to give you a roller coaster of
emotions. The plot of Youth of May initially resembled a cliché drama, complete with the
rich man/poor lady, cruel parent, female lead overcoming all obstacles, and star-crossed
lovers’ trope. That's the kind of drama I can get really into. Not to add the fascinating
historical backdrop, which I was completely ignorant of before seeing Youth of May. I
really found the show to be pretty good. The brilliant writers, producers, and actors are
absolutely my cup of tea!

It makes me happy to see Lee Do-hyun choose back-to-back shows with strong
plotlines. He is one of today's generation's most versatile actors. On the other hand, Go
Min-si is like a wave of breeze that uplifts your mood every time she acts as Myung-Hee.
Since each scenario and line of conversation was essential to the overall plot, they
succeeded in holding the audience's interest and attention.

The set design, props, styling, and music all served to effectively transfer the
audience to life in the 1980s, especially during the chaotic month of May 1980 in
Gwangju. The crazy mash-up of drama, romance, suspense, comedy, action, and history
had me fascinated nonstop. The love between the main characters for one another and for
others more than made up for the emotionally taxing and graphic sequences, despite the
film leaning more toward the brutal side of humanity. They have taken this series in a
really mesmerizing manner from the evolving love story to the student's protest till the
finale.

Nevertheless, the ending of the drama will surely make you shed a bucket of tears
for the reason that it was so tragic and the couple didn’t have their happy ending. This
drama is only for those strong hearted people so if you are not, don’t even try to watch it.
In addition, watching this drama will sometimes confuse you specially if you are not
aware of South Korean’s culture. To fully understand the ending, you should pay extra
attention to the first scenes of the drama in order for it to make sense in the end. Aside
from having an utterly bitter and sad ending, most scenes in this drama are harsh and
violent that made me come up with an idea that it is not good for children to watch,
especially those who are soft-hearted.
Retrieved from:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Youth_of_May

https://asianwiki.com/Youth_of_May

https://hallyureviews.wordpress.com/2021/07/22/youth-of-may-will-shock-you-and-rip-
the-heart-out-of-your-chest/