Why I Adore Age of Youth 2

This may come as a surprise for some, but I didn't enjoy Age of Youth all that much. It was fine, but it always felt like it was missing something. And then Age of Youth 2 came along. I loved it, and I love it even more in hindsight. Netflix didn't release the official subtitles until all the episodes were out, so it stands as the only show I have been so impatient for that I watched raw in its entirety. So the question is: Why do you love the sequel so much more than the predecessor? That can be partially answered by the fact I was probably too young and prude to enjoy the first season when it aired, and by the time the second came out, I was full of perspective that made the show's unique humour and structure far more to my taste. But there's another answer. If Age of Youth is about embracing youth (and primarily, the joy of being young) then Age of Youth 2 is about letting it go. It's about taking the first steps into true adulthood, and looking back with clear eyes at what you're leaving behind.

When Age of Youth 2 aired, I had just left school and started college. It was a big transition, sure. But I didn't realise what Age of Youth 2 meant specifically for me until I watched it again a few months ago. Now I'm in university. It's worlds away from the college experience - I'm bitterly lonely most of the time, and working to become a functional adult is the biggest struggle I've ever faced. Suddenly, I relate to the girls in Age of Youth 2 more than ever. Their arcs (generally) take them to darker places than the first season did.

Age of Youth 2's selling point is that it's just as much about my life as it is yours. Broken friendships and broken romances that just can't be pieced back together again. Separations that are beyond your control. Death. But most importantly, making peace with the past. Age of Youth 2 tells us that growing up means understanding where you've come from. Choosing to bury that will leave you broken.

I always knew that Age of Youth was perhaps the most true-to-life show I could be watching. People have criticised its famous tonal shifts - the first season, for instance, is ten episodes of slice-of-life and two episodes of thriller. Except that's not it at all. Age of Youth is determined to capture how we actually experience the world, the high highs and low lows. We're used to conflict in television being slowly and carefully plotted, so the tension builds to a perfect peak. But in the real world, you tend to find that tragedy doesn't announce itself before it strikes. It just tumbles in. Age of Youth captured this brilliantly, but Age of Youth 2 takes the cake. Because do you know what the first season was missing? Song Ji-won.

Why did the creators decide a season two was necessary? Well, because we explored the minds of every girl in Belle Epoque... except Ji-won. Loud, energetic, perpetually happy Song Ji-won. Out of all the girls, she was the only one who didn't cut herself open and bleed for us. The season dedicated to exploring her pain is a masterpiece. I won't spoil more than I already have about her truly tragic life, but just know that Age of Youth 2 would be nothing without Park Eun-bin's incredible performance as a girl haunted.

An Age of Youth 3 will likely never grace our screens. It's implied that they were planning it, but with Son Seung-won in prison and other complications, I don't see it coming back. But that's okay too. I liked everything about Age of Youth 2, even the loose ends. Fourteen episodes long, or perhaps fourteen episodes short, this drama is perfect as it is. It's messy, but it is perfect in that messiness. Once again, important questions going entirely unanswered is just a part of life. We might never receive clarity on Eun-jae's past, we might never see Ji-won and Sung-min finally start dating. But you know what? Life doesn't have a happily ever after. This is not an entire story - this is a snapshot into the lives of six girls, and they'll keep on living somehow. The tragedies and trauma that knock them down will not hold them there for good.

To every Song Ji-won, Yoo Eun-jae, Jung Ye-eun, Yoon Jin-myung, Jo Eun and Kang Yi-na: I love you, and I can't wait for you to get through this. You still have the rest of your life to live.