Not the masterpiece everyone says it is

Don’t let promotions fool you this is not a ROMANTIC drama, it would be better described as a political drama, and by the lack of romantic scenes in all 16 episodes, it should hardly ever be considered a romance.

In terms of plot (not going to discuss the controversies, I believe there are better articles that explained it pretty well), I consider the first 2 to 3 episodes and the last 3 as the best ones in this big mess. The first episodes show us a glimpse into the life of Koreans in the 80s, especially the university/dorm life, and for me, that was captivating and interesting. However the drama loses its train of thought the moment the hostage situation begins and we spend the next 10+ episodes stuck in a loop, where the story sort of repeats - Main characters just look at each other, the north and south talk on the phone, somehow Young Ro starts crying, and in the end we see all the politics betraying just to save their skin.

All of this is amplified by the running time of each episode, after seeing the same repeating plot, patience starts to become short to continue. Because of this, the story starts to show its flaws, one of them being the introduction of already known character's hidden/past life, in most cases, they weren’t needed and it only created a new story line that by the end we didn’t get all the answers we wanted to it. After a dull plot for most of the running time, it appears the writers remember that they have to finish the drama, so they rush every good aspect in terms of action and character development to the last 3 episodes, which makes the ending feel very much rushed and while a lot of the questions got a response, the last 2 episodes created even more questions to arise - what happened to the students, the friendship of the roommates of room 207, the blooming friendship of Boon Ok and Pi, what happened Kim Man Dong's son,where did doctor Kang go…
One positive, I appreciate how humor scenes were done, it helped at times to pick the flow back again, even if most scenes were over the top. I feel this drama would benefit if it had a smaller running time.

The performances by the cast were phenomenal with Jung Hae In, Soo In Na, Jang Seung Jo, Yoon Se Ah and Kim Hey Yoon giving everything to their characters, we could see their growth and emotions very well represented, especially Jung Hae In. The actresses that played the students were well cast, giving their all, in particular the roomates of 207. One character that I did not like was Nam Tae, for me he became a very annoying presence.
Jisoo's performance wasn’t a bad one for a rookie actress, however in terms of development, her character barely had any, she spent most of the drama crying, and at times not only would she barely appear on screen but her story would be overshadowed by other characters life. In the end, I feel that Young Ro was not used by the writers to the full potential, in particular in the scenes with Sooho as both actors had great chemistry, and I feel that in a way Jisoo was mostly used to attract audiences to see a drama that even before its premiere was already in hot waters in South Korea.

Finally, for me, the only aspect of the drama that was executed to the point of perfection was the OST, which gave the drama a different dimension. The SET, maybe because almost 90% of the drama was spent in the same location, the production/design team gave it all in the details and you could see the high quality on-screen.

To the question would rewatch this drama, my answer is NO.
(English is not my first language, so I apologize if something is wrong or hard to read)

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Brilliant start with lost potential as the episodes progress

In terms of anticipation, for me, this was at an all-time high mainly because the cast was breathtakingly beautiful and the promotions were done right.

The plot is already well known, especially if you've watched at least one of the remakes. Every main storyline of the original is still present in the adaptation what changed was the direction chosen by the Thai writers. With a running time of 16 episodes, everything feels very rushed in the end. I also feel like they emphasize the development of unnecessary side stories. I think this may be the primary reason the show began to lose its potential after the first episodes. In the end, it felt very rushed and I feel like we didn't get more Thyme/Gorya scenes because of that.

The first half of the drama was very pleasing. I enjoyed how the bullying scenes were shot, it felt very realistic and not sugarcoated like the other remakes. Adding the aspect of social media made the drama even more approachable to the younger generation and added a new way of engagement with the audience.
I loved how Gorya's character is presented as a strong-minded girl, but that feeling started to disappear after the first episodes, I felt like her development slowed at times, and the screaming (at least to me) was annoying. Tu did a fantastic job, we can see very clearly her expressions and in the scenes where she needed to deliver (especially in the last episodes), she went for it and nailed it. For a rookie actress, she did better than most actors in the show and I believe her next works will be even better.

Thyme feels a certain way more empathic and caring than other interpretations I feel like its character could have had a broader development, but for me, he stayed the same from beginning to end. I neither liked nor disliked Bright approach to Thyme, he was great when it came to the sweet moments but his face and expressions were almost always the same when emotions had to come forward.
Both Tu and Bright had great chemistry, but because of the inclusion of many side stories, their relationship felt short and rushed. We don't see their feelings for each other grow naturally and in the end, their relationship consists of them beating each other (so much for fighting his bullying instinct Gorya).

F4 bromance is brilliant, they care for each other and just want the best for their friends.

The second half of the show is where things started to go downhill, they not only skip 1 year ahead just because, but they also tried to fit the best plot twist in 5-6 episodes, they completely forget other blooming relations (Kaning and Kavin) and add a ridiculous KFC commercial at the end of each episode so that MJ has a love line, basically killed the essence the first half gave us.

The star of this half is Cindy, she gave Roselyn the dept, aura, and charisma the character needed to surpass the messy script. She went above and beyond to break Gorya and Thyme even neglected to help her son get better, all of this only to let them be together so quickly in the end. For me, this is a big letdown comparing it to the Chinese and Korean where persuading the ML moms took a couple of episodes.
Another disappointment was Thyme's memory loss, the Thai version shows it all in the last episode, the other versions make it a bigger part of the plot, and here it's just thrown in to help with Roselyn's redemption.
The end felt very made at the last minute, I enjoyed the party Thyme gave her, but in my opinion, it was very simple, but the worst part was not having Kaning there. The writers completely forgot she existed in the last episodes so I was hoping to see her next to Kavin and consolidate their relationship but I was let down.

I did not talk about Ren because for me it was the biggest disappointment of the drama, it's normally the character that I like the most but in this remake, I didn't even feel sad for him. From the moment he knew she liked Thyme he never tried to win her over, even when he found her and had the opportunity to be alone with her he didn't do anything even if he had warned Thyme he would. This was not the case in previous versions, especially the Chinese, where he fought for her until he realised he could never get her. Congrats to Dew for giving Ren this mystique that made me fall in love with him and doing soo much with a character the writers gave soo little.

Lastly, I enjoyed the OST way more than I thought I would, it's nice that they gave the actors a space to show and promote their musical talent.

To end even with all its flaws I still feel this show is worth watching if you have time and specifically if you've never seen any other interpretation of this classic drama. Overall is a very enjoyable viewing experience, with some cringe moments that are brushed off by the comedy scenes that I loved and made me fall in love with characters I never thought I would, like Gorya's family and Gawao (flower store owner).

However to the question would rewatch this drama, my answer is NO.
(English is not my first language, so I apologize if something is wrong or hard to read)

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Marketing done right

Please remember that this mini-drama (the running time is about 10 minutes long per episode) is a gigantic AD for Lotte Duty-Free Mall.
With that in mind I have to say the marketing team nailed it. And if you consider this, these little episodes will be enjoyable.
It has all the good aspects everyone likes in a drama: a star-studded male cast (there are seven of them if you didn't notice ahah), a lot (and a mean a lot) of cliches, also giving us those annoying endings wherein the end they almost kiss but never happens.
All the stories will feel rushed, but in the end, that is something to expect from an ad, the music from what I remember was alright, and the acting performances were great (I wouldn't expect less from these beloved actors) but nothing out of this world.
So if you like any of the male leads, enjoy cringing scenes, want something light, and have a couple of minutes to spare, I would go with this mini-drama.
The only reason I gave a low score is that in the end, this is not an actual drama and I dont really like super cringe scenes.

PS: Even if the title is 7 First Kisses, do not expect any.

To the question would I rewatch this drama, my answer is YES (only if extremely bored) .
(English is not my first language, so I apologize if something is wrong or difficult to read)

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