So I finished Moment of Eighteen. I did not expect to cry that much at the end. I did ok throughout the show, but the last couple episodes did me in. Also, I didn’t expect to find the ending as satisfying as I did. It was a little ambiguous, a little strangely-timed (I thought), but also left me with just the right feeling. I will miss those kids and Kang Ki-young so much.

Also all my hats off to the boy who played Ma Hui-young. Not since Forest of Secrets’s Lee Chang-joon have I been so torn over and invested in a villain. LCJ still ranks as my favorite villain in anything ever, but MHY is on the list, too. I didn’t get a chance to do a write up for the theme-of-the-month on villains, but one thing I love about kdramas is how complex the villains are. I like that they are given an arc, like the protagonists, and I like that that arc includes a lot of inner moral debate. I really liked seeing that debate translated into a youth version, too.