Youth of May (2021)

It seems the drama excuses itself way too much and too often under the umbrella of "real life events" which denotes for a lazy writing. Moreover, the antagonist in the drama is portrayed as an omnipotent being who possesses an uncanny awareness, insight, and control over everything and everyone. Practically a god! It undermines the believability of the story and weakens the conflict by eliminating any sense of balance or potential for meaningful character growth and development. This kind of characterization is only passable for makjang shenanigans, mindless action or goofy adventure flicks. Instead of crafting a compelling tragedy, it turned into an extensive series of self-inflicted misery, unreasonable maneuvers and forceful entanglements. This is not how to make a tragedy!

The brothers playing the big turning point for the climax were only brought to attention in the last 2-3 episodes. How do you expect the viewers to care? While some of the support characters may receive attention initially (or eventually like the brothers) but they ended up being underdeveloped and lacking depth. Their presence feels inconsequential and fails to contribute meaningfully to the overall story. Either give them a proper investment or don't waste unnecessary scenes. The 12 episodes run already feels too long! Despite dealing with potentially emotional and poignant themes, the drama fails to delve deeply into the emotional lives of its characters. Instead, we got a superficial, quick and dry cuts that were barely sufficient to progress the story.