One of the many sad things about the show it that things like it depicted still happen in other countries. Even the bit about soldiers shooting at ambulances has been in the news recently.

The skeleton being Myung-hee’s was not unexpected, but I think the writer made the right decision. Myung-hee’s dad’s death was tragic. Soo-ryeon or Soo-chan dying would have been tragic but would not have had the same impact as Myung-hee. I think the death had to make that impact to drive home how many lives were destroyed that May, how many families are still waiting to put their loved ones to rest.

I’m glad Hee-tae became a doctor and made the best life for himself that he could, even if he never moved on.

It’s depressing knowing that there is still not an accurate account of how many lives were lost because the government covered it up. It’s even more depressing knowing that those responsible went unpunished or were pardoned, free to continue spreading their lies and propaganda. This was a tragic love story set in a specific time in Korea’s history, but it was also an universal story. We all have our Gwangju Uprisings.

I don't know why it keeps raining in my eyes. Am not even cutting onions.
This show is life. I never wanted it to end. Just never.
To lessen the pain of finale, I read every spoiler I could. So I knew who it will be?! But the moment hee tae turned to his younger self, i lost it. I was bawling at 2am in the morning, and I cried myself to sleep, because it happened in reality. Those cruel people, just how much they tortured the youth of that time. That is so unfair. I cried again reading the recap.
I don't know, I never wanted to see them cry, but when hee-tae gave a smile to myung hee promising to live as per her wish, I cried again.

Our favorite drama coming to an end is a heartbreak, and when it is not a happy ending, you just go into the sadness mode for a long time. Thankfully racket boys is a light show, warm and fuzzy.

I had a lot of mixed feelings after finishing the finale. There were a lot of heartfelt moments that I absolutely loved and then some not so great moments that left me feeling a bit frustrated. It wasn't perfect by any means, and on a technical level, it did feel a bit rushed and all over the place at certain points. The writer knew they'd be killing MH off, but it felt like they didn't know how to go about it properly. I wasn't a fan of how things played out and all the decision making that led to her having to die. It all felt a bit too forced and contrived for me.
On an emotional level though, MH dying made the most sense. No other character's death would have been as impactful or as poignant as hers, not even HTs. It was cruel, heartbreaking and as tragic as it was intended to be. In a way, she represents those whose lives got caught up in the whirlwind of things. Someone who was simply just living her life and trying to do what she could to get by while being kind and selfless. She dies not as a fighter but as a protector. Not for the cause but because of the cause. This is not to take away from all those whose precious lives were also lost during that time, but since MH is our main heroine, I wanted nothing more than for her to catch a break.
As if it wasn't already obvious, MH is my favourite character, and I was surprised at how much negatively there was surrounding her. Whether it be because of her attitude towards her father and their broken relationship, her indecisiveness or her constant need to be self-sacrificing to a fault, I never saw these traits as things that made her a bad character/person. If anything, I loved her more because of these flaws and found her to be painfully realistic and at times quite relatable.
Overall, I'm glad the writer stuck with the tragic ending. As I said, it wasn't perfect, but it was by no means bad. The show did what it set out to do and stayed true to itself. In the end, Youth of May was a beautiful but heartbreaking love letter dedicated to MH and HT, a bittersweet romance that blossomed between two people living during 1980's May while also being a tribute to those who experienced firsthand the horrors and atrocities of having lived through such a tragic event.
Thank you so much for doing open threads for this drama! It may have not gained as much interest compared to other dramas, but the show still delivered some very meaningful messages that'll have a special place in my heart ♡

I found the balance of this drama wasn't so great. I didn't like some direction choices. At first, the scenes between MH and HT were pretty cringey, with too much slow-motion. Then, it was completely depressing with MH who always was pale and lost all her energy. I understand why she couldn't be the same anymore but it was too much in relation to the character. The beginning was too pinky and the second half too dark.

It didn't bother me that MH died but the way she did was too far-fetched. Her father died to save her brother and she died to save her brother? His reason to go in the forest was weak the way he ran away when everybody could see him was stupid, so MH's death was not dramatic but a result of stupid decisions. She died alone in the forest, how her body ended up in the town?

I really liked the actors in their roles they did well. GMS and LDH were super cute together. I'm happy to see GMS in a lead role, I really liked her in The Smile Has Left Your Eyes.

Thoughts on the ending:
-'Worst brother of the year' Award goes to Myung Soo: Got his dad AND his noona killed within a span of 24 hours, in the same way. Kid never learns. No wonder he became priest after that. I'm hoping Myung Hee and Dad's ghost haunted him every now & then.

- The 'bum and the skeleton' twist at the end. ISTG, they had DoHyun in prosthetics playing that old man, that turned out to be cute-soldier guy instead. Or I need to get my eyesight checked. Man... the writers totally bamboozled us, Class A Red-Herring. Super happy with the writing there! Although I pretty much bawled my eyes off when the timeline shifted to 2021, and we see the old-doctor turn into Hee-Tae. T_T

-Hee Tae's dad as seedy govt. agent was giving me major flashbacks to his CLoY role. Oh, how I love to hate him! Visually & acting-style wise, he reminds me of this Indian actor who recently passed-away! The other two-dads from Start-Up had great character arcs here! Infact, everybody from Jung Tae and his mom, the Lee siblings, even the short-haired girl (protestor) had well-written character arcs! :D

-Was kinda hoping Jung Tae to also die in the scuffle. I thought it really was going the way of the 'boy in the blue pajamas' direction , with whole 'exchanged fate of the privileged and the poor boy.' Disappointed with this, but ah well, we cant have cult-hollywood references everywhere.

-Speaking of Hollywood-references, the doomed romance against a tragic setting.... reminded me a whole damn lot of Jack and Rose , a gender-flipped version atleast. The references were there everywhere: from the whole cursed-watch being passed on as a harbinger of death, to the 'i can see the stars', to repeatedly trying to escape but getting pulled back into the situation again & again? Plus the whole 'rich one has a fiance(e), abusive parents' and 'falls for the poor & kind soul who is heroic but dies anonymously'? Like I have about 20 more similarities I can write about, but I will spare DB of the rant.

-Okay, anybody here as PISSED as me with MH's death? I mean the political part of the plot kinda had it guaranteed she would turn out to be the skeleton. But she was pretty much left to bleed to death under an open sky full of stars. Anonymously. Let me get this straight. She was 'Jack Dawson-ed'. The HERO of the story, dies a sad anonymous death. I wanted something more noble, grand and glorifying for her last moments, but I guess that would have defeated the whole purpose.

-Bonus: Military crackdown on civilians and students always makes for heart-breaking plot lines, no matter what the era. I wish we could have an artistic re-telling of the Tiananmen Square incident.... hope I didn't get too political, when I said this. I also now have high hopes for Snowdrop :)

I was really sad Myung Hee died and all alone at that. I knew this drama would be tragic, but honestly how sad. To take 40 years to bury her too, just wow.

1. That damn pocket watch gave me anxiety chills every freaking time it was being passed around.
2. I must be really evil to wish MS be shot instead of MH because Boy!! Kid or not, to go back to the very place and situation that just got your father killed is just outrageously stupid! I really thought he was gonna die and the troops were going to bury him cuz he's just a child. And...I wouldn't even have felt that bad. That was just plain stupid!
3. JT got physically impaired for life while saving MH, ending his athletic career while MS got his sister killed because he Ran.
4. I cannot believe KS waited for 41 years to reveal MH's whereabouts despite knowing who she was.
5. I cannot see LDH cry! I just Can't!! 😭😭
6. Looking forward to future projects from this writer.

Overall enjoying the awsome production (It's been a while since KBS investing a quality show), and the good writing. While it's not perfect, the drama certainly has heart. It's been a while I'm watching the old classic romance melodrama feels, despite it's not only focus on romance, but still, the romance conflict is connect to the narrative stake of the character turmoil inner feeling.

Love Geum Sae Rok, Lee Do Hyun and Oh Man Seok for their performances here. I hope Oh man Seok won't get typecasted by always playing the baddies. Finally, He is continuously playing in a good drama, from beautiful world, and now youth of May.
But At this rate, I will be rooting for the baddies at this point, lol.

Yes, there were flaws, but on the whole this was a great little drama. Each of the characters was interesting - sometimes infuriating but nevertheless interesting - and we had a clear journey for them all with believable endings. I didn't guess that the homeless guy was Kyung-soo till it was revealed, but then I really liked that - he was exactly the kind of person (super-sensitive, traumatised by all he saw and had to do) that would have fallen off the rails after the event, struggled to keep it all together, and withdrawn into himself out of guilt. It made perfect sense to me that he would have kept quiet for 41 years.

I've been majorly impressed by LDH in a couple of other dramas and this one has consolidated my very high opinion of him. He makes me *feel* his character's emotions. When he broke down in the restaurant when trying to locate Myung-hee, I suspect everyone on set was sobbing with him. Powerful stuff.

And, alas, Myung-hee never got to know the title of Annie's Song...

Several things I can nitpick, especially how the ending came about for one, but this was the conclusion I wanted as it just made a lot of sense from a narrative perspective. Overall the great things about this drama outweighed the flaws for me so I won't let those bother me much. ((Also, the kid brother MS was pulled from his training camp by his father and taken along in his first attempt to leave Gwangju - just because he was there and his father sacrificed for him doesn't make him at fault. MH's death is another matter, but at the end of the day so many things went wrong above a young boy's recklessness.))

I love the classic old school romance and vibes here. The tropes worked well because of it, and also because GMS and LDH's acting and chemistry was quite refreshing. I miss them the most and I hope one day they have the opportunity to lead opposite each other again. For this drama to have impact, they had to carry the romance and their characters, and both delivered superbly.

Additionally, the entire cast and characters are awesome. I love what they did with second leads SR and SC, not only that they were great characters by themselves but that they were strong together (because of the siblings connection and because too often second leads are removed from each other and exists just for one of the leads).

I realized this drama didn't dwell so much on backstories, with only a few flashbacks/snippets about certain characters (our leads) and while I wouldn't say no to diving deeper it might have thrown off the focus of the drama of 12 eps (and I love how short this drama is). Instead, I found enjoyment in mentally deconstructing each character based off the clues they did drop. For instance, although HT and SR were said to be very similar with their strong headed qualities, but I thought at a deeper level HT and MH actually had more similarities that allowed them to understand each other. Both were removed from their family, either by distance or emotionally, and were lonely souls. Despite having a rich and politically powerful father, HT grew up with his ailing mother eating leftovers. Both leads had dreams and had to work to pull themselves up i.e. HT wasn't given freebies either. Both like roses with thorns, and MH expressed herself coldly while HT has his aloof cheerfulness and motto to live without regrets.

Also the OST is underrated.

I only jumped onboard during the last week on a binge watch and waiting for the final 2 episodes, but this drama will still linger with me for some time. Although the discussion was low, I appreciate all the people that followed this from beginning to end, especially as I had forgotten about this drama and only the posts reminded me that there was something of LDH and GMS that I had put on my watch list.

Thanks for the weecaps!

A couple of final thoughts on YOUTH OF MAY and a film recommendation.
Congratulations to Go Min-si and Lee Do-hyun and really the entire cast for giving wonderful performances. I remember the emotional punch of CHICAGO TYPEWRITER (2017) but maybe YOM was more draining emotionally because it was a romantic drama first with the historical events of 1980 eventually enveloping our couple.

I may be in a minority but I thought the two main child actors gave beautiful performances for their parts as written. The two boys were a contrast. Myung-soo was so sweet and pure hearted. He could not believe that the SK army would shoot at its own citizens. It had to be the NK army as he reported to his coach. Jung-tae was such a burdened, hard nosed child. He knew better. He loosened up when he experienced the camaraderie of the boys on the team and after he had the heart-to-heart with Hee-tae. This is just picking out a couple of performances.

The entire YOM cast and crew can be proud of their work.

ughhhghghghg, i am not okay right now

Question: What happen to Lee Sang-yi's character, Lee Soo chan at the present time? I'm so curious, he is my favorite character among the four leads. Ha ha he. Please...

So glad I decided to watch this show. Even though til the very end I was hoping maybe MH was not the skeleton at the end, I agree that her death gives the story the most meaning. MH and HT's decision to love each other despite everything and make the decisions they wouldn't regret makes the end of her life that much more poignant. I appreciated seeing how the production team included brief moments of how other people within that time period (the officer, the protesters, family members, nurses) were experiencing the loss of lives. I think it really speaks to the themes I saw within the drama: take care of yourself before worrying about others, take responsibility for your words, make the best choices you can without pushing it onto others, commit to your values and beliefs, family first, etc. Few dramas have such meaningful/thoughtful endings so I applaud this one for getting there.

More than a love story between Hee-tae and Myung-hee, I felt this was a hearbreaking tribute to the people of Gwangju who courageously resisted, including those who were just caught in-between but rose to the occassion.

EP 11 COMMENT: Why didn’t HT change shirts? He’s very conspicuous with that bloodied shirt! Couldn’t they have bought or borrowed another shirt?? He’s been wearing that (for sure now very smelly) shirt for several days now: The day their vehicle was hit, all the time he was hogtied in his father’s office and his time at the hospital and now at their safe haven, the Church!

Couldn’t concentrate on the scenes and dialogues because of the distracting shirt! Geez. And yuck. =)

Who is that PSYCHOLOGIST with a limp in the present time? Is that SOO CHAN? It wasn’t made clear (or maybe I just missed something)?

I have a beef about casting older actors who don’t resemble the younger characters they portray. If they’ll get someone like those, I’d rather they use makeup or prosthetics to make the young actors look old. That way, it wouldn’t ruin the image/romance we have for those characters. That is my disenchantment with YOUR NAME ENGRAVED HEREIN. Because the older actors they got didn’t really look like the younger versions, it ruined the romance for me. Just saying. =)