New Obsession: Hello, My Twenties!

From left: Eun-Jae, Ji-Won, Jin-Myung, Ye-Eun and Yi-Na, leading ladies!

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Hello, My Twenties! alternatively known as Age of Youth is a South Korean dram-com that follows five twenty-something girls living in a shared house in Seoul. It’s like an Asian take on the American HBO show Girls only -dare I say it- better. It’s a little more wholesome, a little less raunchy, and the Korean setting appeals to me! Three episodes in to Hello, My Twenties! and I’m already hooked on getting to know the fab fivesome and watching their friendship flourish.

The opening sequence is bouncy and bubbly, with bright colours, a jaunty tune and plenty of dancing! But Hello, My Twenties! isn’t all sunshine and karaoke. In the midst of all the laughter and romps around campus and Seoul, there’s a definite sadness that shadows around the girls-- each is confronted with their own day to day struggles and haunted by their own doubts and fears. The dramatic tone isn’t of soap opera proportions but it is potent enough to really tap into our emotions. My heart has ached for each of girls more than once, twice or even three times. They go beyond just the typical girl group tropes of the sexy one, the smart one, the cute one, the shy one and the funny one even though that is the initial jumping off point for how we’re introduced to the fivesome.

Ji-Won channeling her inner zebra.

Ji-Won’s a third year communications major and is notorious for her strings of first-dates that end up going nowhere. She’s got her heart set on a second date --and beyond -- but is thwarted just about everytime by her incessantly chattiness and her overzealous and bubbly personality. If she’s not talking dudes ears off, she’s freaking them the hell out with her off-the-charts enthusiasm. With her funky short bobbed hairdo and kooky colorful clothing she gives of quirky, spastic and dorky vibes. But she's also the "cool big sister" type, and the one our initial main protagonist Eun-Jae admires and connects with most. Ji-Won is the heart and soul of the fivesome and really brings all of the girls together and defuses the tension and bad vibes that flare up in the Belle Epoque sharehouse.

Ye-Eun is a third year college student studying nutrition, but studying is putting it lightly. Sure she gets her course work done, but she’d rather have fun socializing and going out. With her candy coloured, floral and liberally pink wardrobe and impressive makeup collection Ye-Eun is a giggly, loud, and sometimes sassy girlie girl. She’s an unapologetic flirt and prioritizes her boyfriend Doo-Young. She’s not a promiscuous sex maniac, but she is high-maintenance, a little self-absorbed, and at times annoying. She doesn’t always take into consideration the feelings of her housemates and takes whatever she wants, without thinking about the consequences. In one hilarious scene Eun-Jae rages her little head off when she finds out Ye-Eun scarfed down her entire jar of homemade jam, while Ye-Eun quirks an eyebrow and retorts that “you said I could have it.”

Ye-Eun: pretty in pink; jam thief.

Ye-Eun’s relationship with her boyfriend is at the heart of her dramatic arc. Their ‘ship becomes rather lopsided when he does grade A dick moves like forgetting their one year anniversary, consistently showing up late, breaking plans, and opting to go out drinking and clubbing with his friends instead of being with Ye-Eun. Ye-Eun is a confident girl, there’s nooooo doubt about that. But that outspokenness and radiance doesn’t translated to her dating life, and she takes the neglect and cruel behavior from Doo-Young time and time again.

Our third Belle Epoque resident is Yi-Na, the only girl who has a private room. Sex appeal is her deal, and she’s got an overtly“exhibitionist” personality. She knows she’s hot and she flaunts it. So naturally she’s a heartbreaker, and as it turns out, she dates multiple dudes at once. Rich business type fellows (often married) who spoil her with clothes, designer handbags, and credit cards with 3 million won limits. Wowza. Yi-Na isn’t just some typical Candy Girl though, it turns out by episode three that erm… what she’s doing is actuaaally prostitution. Yikes. And for all her bravado and talk of self-love, she’s got her own insecurities and harbors a serious case of jealousy for the life Jin-Myung is living.

The youngest and newest housemate is Eun-Jae. Hello, My Twenties! begins with her as our protagonist for the first two episodes, before rotating between the other four female leads. Leaving her suburban town for the first time Eun-Jae’s thrust into the shiny, explosive, and sprawling metropolis that is Seoul, all while also attending a university as a freshman. 

Eun-Jae and Ye-Eun, strollin' in the rain.

So not only is she juggling her demanding psychology classes and learning the ropes of being a student, but she’s flailing around trying to figure the city life out too, and how to coexist with the small mob of roommates at Belle Epoque. Annnnd avoiding the attention of a fellow student Jong-Yeol who’s idea of hitting on her is teasing her like a fifth grade playground bully. Much like the typical k-drama heroine, she’s got a bit of an inferiority complex. She’s bare-faced with long and unstyled hair, and a basic wardrobe that’s meant to emphasis how “plain” she is compared to the other girls. But of course she’s still kind of effortless cute and pretty. Eun-Jae is timid and keeps her complaints to herself and apologizes when she has no reason to. While she’s not as completely insecure and depressed as Bong-Sun in Oh My Ghostess! Eun-Jae is definitely in need of learning how to speak up for herself and her needs. And already she’s started doing just that as soon as the second episode.

Twenty-eight year old Jin-Myung, a business major rounds out the bunch. She’s a studious, brainy girl who spends her time studying and working three jobs to put herself through school to obtain her degree. Constantly busy and overloaded with obligations up the wazoo Jin-Myung still manages to come out top of her class and rock it as an employee. She’s kind of friendless, and controlling, but her drive and persistence is pretty darn awesome. She’s got  a lot stacked up against her, but she doesn’t let it keep her down or block her from seizing her goals. She doesn’t have a boyfriend, she puts zero effort into dressing up or doing her makeup, scraping through her social interactions doing the bare minimum. 

Family dinner~!

She does private tutoring sessions, is a hostess and server at an upscale restaurant on weekends and works graveyard shifts at a convenience store the rest of the week. Her age makes her a non-traditional student, and her struggles with supporting herself and money are something I can definitely relate to. She’s not the typical privileged college student who coasts through her semesters without tuition being even a spec in her mind. I’ve been in her place. I’m still in her place as I write this, even though I’m a couple years younger than her.

Sure there’s catfights and bickering but there’s also exploring sexuality, body consciousness, financial struggles and fears of inadequacy. There are PLENTY of comedic moments too--like some of the banter between Ye-Eun and Yi-Na when Yi-Na finds out Ye-Eun has been secretly borrowing her clothes. And the moment when Eun-Jae is hunched over the bathtub (fully clothed) washing her hair with a shower head when the door flies open, and Yi-Na plops down on the toliet, peeing out an ocean while introducing herself to Eun-Jae for the first time. There's also a super fun interactive element that's SO 2017-- the girls frequently text one another and it shows up on the screen with icons and voiceovers, and there are cheeky "what if..." scenarios when a girl will imagine what the other girls of Belle Epoque would do in the same situation.

#squadgoals

There’s a dark mystery aspect as to what happened to the former housemate, a dancer, and why she decided to leave Belle Epoque. The girls turn grim whenever Eun-Jae broaches the subject, and they dodge around her questions. The dark looks the four girls share is answer enough that whatever happened it was not good. But for us, it makes for a juicy reveal in future episodes.

There’s also a supernatural element if you squint. Ji-Won confesses after a night of drinking with the girls that she can see ghosts, that she’s been able to her whole life, and that there’s one lingering in Belle Epoque. A dark, spiritual mass that may have crept in around the time Eun-Jae moved in. Ruh-roh. The paranormal isn’t as prominent here as it is in say Masters Sun or Oh My Ghostess but it definitely does play a role. Could it be connected to the dancer? As Eun-Jae says in her voice over at the end of that episode “there are two kinds secrets you can have. The ones you can tell and the ones you can’t.”

The only thing that doesn’t quite belong in Hello, My Twenties! are the recurrent flashback sequences-- they’re trippy to say the least, with things like a goldfish flopping on a tiled floor, a glass of milk shattering to the ground, classrooms full of children with horror-movie-giggles and swirling fog, and a girl struggling and drowning water, her body frantically flinging out. The quality of these montages is horrible. Gosh. The filming is so grainy and poor and just bizarre as hell that it makes these scenes not scary or eerie, but hilariously BAD. They feel utterly disconnected from the story that’s going on and being told. It’s as if a completely different show has been cut and pasted in. They may be put in there to convey a dark and moody, even sinister tone to Hello, My Twenties! but really the interactions between the girls alone and their emotional journeys do that well enough on their own.

My girl friends mean the wooooorld to me, so finding a k-drama that orbits around female friendship instead of just girl-chases-guy love stories is so rad! Add to that the pressures and demands of being a young twenty-something tossed into hashtag #adulting and bombarded with responsibilities and expectations before you know what the heck is going on, is a song and dance that I know the tune to and am struggling to keep in step with in my own life. So HELLO relatability! The idea of a spirit haunting the sharehouse, Eun-Jae harboring secrets, some of which can be criminal, and the she-who-must-not-be-named dancer and her mysterious exit has me hooked. I’m beyond stoked to see what awaits the girls of the Belle Epoque house.

Catch Hello, My Twenties! on Netflix or streaming on Drama Fever under the title Age of Youth. 

photos from IMDB, drama fever, and google images