Blue Birthday (2021)

I just want to live, with you around….

Time Travel Done Right !!

Ever happened, even when all the pieces of the jigsaw are in place ...you feel that it still doesn't fit...that's the case with most time travel stories ...even when everything falls in place there's still this sense of perfect fit that I have always felt missing …
and after being disappointed so many times ...you just want to give up on your expectations and start believing that you would never find a show that will give you a sense of perfect fit and maybe what you are looking for is something that doesn’t exist...
I wanted to give up too ...but I just can't, I still have my hopes up every time I start a time travel drama....but to my surprise this time I want to yell loudly …
"I am not disappointed .... !!”

what was all this not so necessary plot build for ...??
(just to make you realize how much I liked this drama ....)

The drama revolves around Oh Ha Rin and her best friend for 10 yrs or shall I call the love of her life Ji Seo Jun who died on her 18th birthday and even after 10 yrs, regret's still holding her tight. One day she comes into possession of some mysterious photos that her first love left behind...with painful memories relighted she decides to burn the pictures....and to much surprise (okay, not for us) finds herself in the past ...maybe now she has a chance to create a future she wished for....but you know in drama land and in reality too, things can never be that simple right.....

For every time you change the past, the future will change too ....she gets few attempts of traveling back in time ...and obviously, in all those, she tries to create a perfect future by saving her love and friendship...protecting the people she cares for...but you got to pay for what you get ...every action has a consequence...and so does trying to change the past …
What happens next is what you are supposed to see the show for ...lol

Similar in premise and tone to other stories that deal with time travel ...this drama holds it better than most hyped ones with a rookie cast that'll gradually adapt perfection (in their upcomming dramas in next few years-hopefully ...lol) and a storyline that's "simply amazing".....(it doesn't mean every second was perfect, and trust me it need not be...)

The overall quality and technical aspects, including the visual effects, background music are unquestionably well-executed within a relatively shorter duration of 20 mins and 16 eps, the storytelling is compact with explanation for almost everything that happens and without the intrusion of unnecessary fillers....it makes you involuntarily press the next ep button.

As for the characters ..they give off realistic vibes with their actions and decisions most of the time...and the overall friendship and all the happy moments they share make the whole show warming and beautiful as is ...a must-watch if you ask me …!!
I give a special mention to the photo studio owner ...I don’t know why but he made it so difficult for me to not appreciate his guest appearance.

As for re-watch value ...even when I know what happens ...I can still watch it (even tho I won't cuz I never rewatch) ...but yaa that’s how much I have come to like this show …!!

As always the column for my fav quotes and dialogues :
“We can draw lessons from the past but we can not live in it”
“I don't think about the past, the only thing that matters is the endless present.”
“All I want is nothing special ...talking to you, holding your hand, spending an ordinary day with you are all precious to me.”
“When you touch the past carelessly there will be big trouble and misfortune.”
"There aren't right answers. But what we confirm is that the least regretful choice ...would nearly be the most correct one."
“Finally your standstill time begins to flow, at last, it flows to me.”

In essence, if you are looking for a time travel with almost no plot holes, fast pacing, and well-written story ...then stop looking here and there ...go watch blue birthday!

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The Icing On Top Of The Cake With Yeri, But Not Quite Having That Extra Cherry On Top…

Unravelling time- travel where our frantic heroine finds herself rescuing her lost love or crush from moral peril, isn’t new ground for K-dramas. Yet the immediate status around idol actress Yeri ( Red Velvet) being cast as lovelorn female lead Oh Ha Rin, has undeniably attracted the web series to receiving hype .

On a strong note Yeri’s acting is pretty solid here. She has a vibrant ambience around her character, immediately dragging viewers into sitting up and paying attention to the storyline. As it has been said beforehand, there is no beating around the bush that ‘ Blue Birthday’ is a fairly “ seen and done concept”, but this doesn’t mean that the director isn’t willing to try something new either. Park Dhan Hee’s cinematography was really mesmerising in a lot of shots. You could tell by the array of palettes, the pathetic fallacies that the director was trying to convey. Light hues of daylight could animate Ha Rin’s jovial mood , whilst darker, moody blues of the sky, a room or the rain brought the scenes surrounding Seo Jun ( Hong Seok)’s death or Ha Rin’s bereavement into a more hard-hitting and colder reality.

Yet ‘ Blue Birthday’ can truly be defined as a mixed party bag of flaws also. Whilst Yeri’s acting was decent, her fellow costars often struggled to pertain the same level of solidity over the course of sixteen episodes. Not unwatchable, just certainly not bringing these characters to life either. Admittedly this wasn’t entirely the fault of the cast as character writing could also be a cataclysmic problem with the mini series also . This is mainly because none of the characters ( including our mains) really seem like everyday people. Now it is arguable that this is the point of the series; it is a fantasy-romance mini series about two teens in high school and so nothing regarding their personal lives outside of this main plot is that important . On the other hand what makes a character feel relatable and real is drawing parallels and similarities with our own lives by their interactions and relationships with other characters which whilst it did exist, was only really shown to make the storyline move or crack into some “ comic relief” moments.

Again it’s wrong to entirely condemn the series here. There was some surprising twists and revelations with Seo Jun’s familial background which played a major part in unravelling the enigma of his death, as well as adding angst-ridden chemistry to Seo Jun and Ha Rin’s onscreen potential relationship.

On the other hand whilst Seo Jun was a useful plot device to keep the mini-series’ storyline on its feet, it’s hard to truly define Seo Jun’s greater calling as a character by his build-up, typically revolving around school ( rather than the series gradually building this up through small revelations of his family life) and his potential romance with Ha Rin. Sadly similar to Seo Jun was Ha Rin. Whilst it’s understandable that her main goal was to save Seo Jun through her “Groundhog Day” setup, it was baffling that Ha Rin seemed to have little interaction or revelations about her relationship with family or a personal past problem during this period that she wanted to focus on as an individual. To explain this further it’s fair to say that we’ve all made personal mistakes in the past and most likely often wish we could change them. Arguably part of Ha Rin’s “great mistake” is the feeling of letting down Seo Jun by being unable to prevent his death. That’s understandable and what made her grief resonate with audiences, but that’s also only necessary to the major plot line. Rarely do we see or delve into Ha Rin diverged subjective regrets on a personal level either with friends or others also.


In terms of our antagonist ( and without spoilers), it is fair to say that the storyline indicates subtly but early on through portraying this character in a negative light towards the true villain. Are they well-written? This character really just serves one purpose and that is to be a plot device to add tension and drama to the series. Whilst they do have some motives, they’re mainly disregarded and rarely fleshed-out in order to paint this character as “ being evil for the sake of evil”. Not entirely terrible for the pragmatic purpose of the drama, but certainly fitting more into the “ moustache twirling villain” category than complex.

On more nuanced note, there are also some seriously questionable moments within the drama’s writing logic that made little sense realistically in the drama such as Ha Rin ( despite being a fairly witty character when she wants to be) talking in a public place about a key plot revelation which could’ve easily put her in further danger ( and refuses to acknowledge further risks) or liability for her previous fatal mistakes , the main villain’s classic mistakes which could’ve been easily picked up upon earlier, the incompetency of the police ( including lack of DNA testing) and of course the shift between the present and a decade ago for Ha Rin not feeling that significant for viewers. It is arguable that perhaps the screenwriter was trying to show this from Ha Rin’s perspective by this suddenly becoming part of her normal everyday life. However for Ha Rin this is also a nostalgia trip down memory lane of her teens. It would have been understandable if small passing popular cultural references, slang, technology or fashion had brought it home for Ha Rin ( and viewers) towards being in the past. Instead it was hardly to truly grasp when we were stepping back in time. Aside from a quick wardrobe and makeup styling change for Yeri which was meant to indicate; “ Oh, Yeri had on a school uniform, and schoolgirl bangs. We must be in the past again.”

In conclusion ‘Blue Birthday’ wasn’t an unwatchable mini-series. The ending was decent enough and in between aesthetic cinematography shots, Yeri’s performance and the plot premise as well as the mysterious events surrounding Seo Jun’s demise in the storyline remained enticing factors for watchers. On the other hand, the screenwriting with characters, mismatched dialogue and logic as well as the acting and pacing remained the mini series’ greatest downfalls. This was certainly not a terrible with an easy amount of fluff and darker themes to keep you watching , but not without its evident inconsistencies either.

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