Twenty-Five Twenty-One (Review)
Twenty-Five Twenty-One is one of the most successful K-Dramas of 2022, and highly praised critically. It is a mix of romance and coming of age story, with a focus on a particular period of time in recent Korean history, the very end of 1990s.
The series is particularly a tour de force for Kim Tae-ri who plays Na Hee-do, an aspiring fencer. The show focuses on Na Hee-do’s career as a fencer, and her rise to international success. While 2022 is full of notable performances in K-Dramas, this is definitely one of them. Kim Tae-ri was perfectly cast for the role and she indeed masterfully reflects the youth and vigor of her character. Also, if you don’t believe the fountain of youth exists, just watch this show (Kim Tae-ri was 32 at the time of filming portraying 18-year-old, and I swear she looks even younger).
Nam Joo-hyuk is main male lead as Baek Yi-jin, a son of a failed businessman who went bankrupt. Baek Yi-jin has to pick up the pieces following his family separation after his father failure, and his goal is to reunite them again. He is involved in a romance arc with Na Hee-do, and this is not your typical K-Drama romance. Nevertheless, it is still moving and heartbreaking.
Another lead, Bona plays as Ko Yu-rim, a role model, rival, and finally Na Hee-do’s friend. She is a fellow fencer, comes from a poor family, and struggles financially to keep her fencing career going. Admittedly, the relationship between Na Hee-do and Ko Yu-rim is even more important for the show than the romance arc. It delivers great character development for both leads and shows an incredible journey rarely seen in K-Dramas. We rarely see so deeply personal arcs for characters beyond romance plots.
All of this happens against the background of one of the worst financial crises in Korea’s history, so-called IMF crisis. While this is not the only series portraying this event, it’s definitely one of the best. It shows its catastrophic consequences for Koreans through the stories focused on our characters: all of them deal with that differently, some are more affected than others, but all become emotionally scarred. It is especially timely right now when we go into yet another economic recession worldwide.
Among the supporting characters there are Na Hee-do’s friends and classmates, team members, and others. Perhaps the most important is Na Hee-do’s strained relationship with her mother Shin Jae-kyung (Seo Jae-hee). And there is a secondary romance arc, as usual in K-Dramas, between Ko Yu-rim and Moon Ji-woon (Choi Hyun-wook, apparently the youngest actor among the main cast, despite most of them playing teenagers).
And there is the whole fencing arc. It is perhaps the best portrayal of any sport which I recently saw in any K-Dramas and other shows. It is incredibly detailed and realistic. In a very compelling way, it shows sacrifices and effort required of athletes. It allows viewers to completely immerse themselves in the world of fencing and get a pretty good understanding of what it entails.
The show is not without its flaws: it starts quite slowly, and it takes a while until we get to the main storyline. Also, to really understand what’s going on it requires some basic knowledge about IMF crisis and Korea of the time, so it is very deeply based in local circumstances which might be difficult to grasp for international viewers.
In sum, the show delivers incredible performances, particularly that of Kim Tae-ri, against the background of compelling storyline. It also portrays one of the best portrayals of sports in recent TV and streaming.
Twenty-Five Twenty-One on Wikipedia and MyDramaList
