Last Summer
마지막 썸머
KBS2 (2025) 12 Episodes
Nostalgic Melodrama / Romantic Comedy
Grade: B+
Korean Drama Review by Jill, USA
(End Spoilers Included)

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Last Summer (2025) proved to be an interesting, suspenseful, cerebral drama filmed outside of Seoul, which is always refreshing to me. Most Korean dramas are filmed in and around Seoul so country setting dramas always add extra appeal to me. The duplex house and landscaping featured in that country setting were truly beautiful; the cinematography captured its loveliness very creatively.

Our attractive cast included the always delightful male lead Lee Jae Wook (I'll Go To You When The Weather Is Nice, Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol, Search: WWW, Memories Of The Alhambra) and the very pretty and capable female lead Choi Sung Eun (The Sound Of Magic, films My Name is Loh Kiwan and Gentleman).

Second male lead was the very handsome Kim Gun Woo (Live, The Glory 1 and 2, Record Of Youth, Catch The Ghost, Fight For My Way) and our supporting couple who played friends to the main couple were admirably played by actress Jung Bo Min (A Hundred Memories, Doctor Lawyer) and fantastic actor Ahn Dong Goo (Fix You, See You In My 19th Life, Snowdrop, Our Beloved Summer, I'll Go To You When The Weather Is Nice, The Wind Blows) who really deserves to play a first male lead in future dramas, he is so incredible, especially here playing a handicapped athlete. Yet another good performance was delivered by actress Kwon Ah Reum (Beyond The Bar, The Story Of Park's Marriage Contract) who played another friend to the main female character.

 

The writer of the drama was Jeon Yoo Ri who had written the 2018 charmer Radio Romance, and the director was Min Yeon Hong who did a good job with a rather complicated story of a woman who fell in love with identical male twins, and her angst with coming to terms with her torn feelings for both young men. There was some criticism online regarding how long she took to realize who exactly she was in love with; I felt that perhaps the flow of the story would have been more natural if the drama had been only ten episodes instead of twelve, and her ultimate decision about whom she loved had been realized earlier in the drama. Especially younger K-drama fans tend to become impatient when true love isn't realized early in the drama. Older fans like I am tend to be more patient and accepting of a slower romance. In any case I never became bored watching Last Summer, and did enjoy all the great acting! I usually don't include end spoilers in my drama reviews but I will do so here because I want to emphasize how sweet the finale really is compared to the angst which happens in the beginning and middle parts of the story.

The Story:

Identical twin brothers Baek Do Ha (Lee Jae Wook) and Baek Do Yeong (Lee Jae Wook) have lived apart for most of their lives since their parents' sad divorce when they were children; the parents split primary custody of the twins. Do Yeong lives in South Korea with his Dad, and Do Ha lives in the United States with his Mom.

The boys only reunite during the summertime in Korea for twenty-one days when their schools are let out. During those times Do Ha returns to South Korea and lives in the pretty duplex house with his brother Do Yeong. Both twins become fast friends with a young girl in the adjoining duplex, pretty Song Ha Kyeong (Choi Sung Eun). Her Dad had been good friends with the twins' Dad and both Dads had originally designed the duplex house together, intending to be next door neighbors permanently. Until the divorce had created distances between them.

Song Ha Kyeong grows up looking forward to her time spent together with the twins. They have interests in common, for instance they all love architecture and plan to study it in college as their major. Ha Kyeong does seem to have a friendlier, more fun relationship with Do Yeong, though she secretly cares for Do Ha too. However, she is unable to express her feelings to him because she doesn't want their friendship trio to be hurt or ruined.

We skip ahead to their adult years. Do Ha has finally graduated with a degree in Architecture in the United States. Adult Ha Kyeong works as an architectural government official, working on visually improving their country town's older buildings, for instance adding an astronomy-oriented addition to the local public school building so local schoolchildren can study the stars.

However, a tragedy occurs in their lives when Do Ha's twin brother Do Yeong dies suddenly in a hiking accident. Do Ha decides to stay in Korea to be close to Ha Kyeong who is devastated over Do Yeong's death. Due to sad memories of past happier days, and also in need of money, she decides she wants to sell the duplex. Do Ha is against the idea, he'd rather live next door to Ha Kyeong, care for her comfort her in her grief. It's obvious he is very much in love with her. However, Ha Kyeong fights him so much on the issue that he starts a lawsuit to prevent her from selling the duplex. He hires a fancy, accomplished lawyer named Seo Soo Hyeok (Kim Gun Woo) and in an odd sequence of events the lawyer begins to fall in love with his client's sweetheart! He takes Ha Kyeong out to dinner several times. She agrees to date him. Do Ha is jealous and even drops the lawsuit. They end up spending more time together in the duplex after all and Ha Kyeong decides not to sell. Eventually the lawyer realizes he's fighting a losing battle. Obviously Ha Kyeong has never really fallen out of love with Do Ha.

Meanwhile, Ha Kyeong's friends continue to comfort and support her, including her female co-worker Yoon So Hee (Kwon Ah Reum), and long time friends Lee Seul (Jung Bo Min) and Oh Seung Taek (Ahn Dong Goo) who is an athlete who became crippled and needs a wheelchair to move around. Lee Seul and Seung Taek are in love, though they do sometimes have difficulties communicating their innermost feelings with each other.

In the end we have happy reconciliations for both couples, and a marriage for Lee Seul and Seung Taek. When it comes time to throw the wedding bouquet at the marriage ceremony it's Ha Kyeong's Golden Retriever dog Subak who catches it and he carries it to his Mommy. :) So cute! We all know who will be married next! :)

You can enjoy Last Summer currently on Viki.com. I definitely think it's a worthwhile watch.

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