Okay, grab your tissues because “Youth of May” is a new melodrama-romance sure to bring the tears flowing. This drama portrays a poignant coming-of-age love story between a medical student named Hwang Hi Tae (played by Lee Do Hyun) and a nurse named Kim Myung Hee (played by Go Min Si) who are both just trying to make it during a trying time in Korean history.
“Youth of May” is set during a tumultuous period in Korea known as the Gwang Joo Democratic Movement, or the May Uprising, which involved a series of antigovernmental protests due to a corrupt military dictatorship in Korea at the time.
During the May movement, hundreds of protesters were killed and thousands were injured, tortured, or went missing. It is a huge event in Korean history which helped lead towards a democratic Korea.
This drama is using the backdrop of this civil unrest to tell the innocent love story of a normal couple, as well as the everyday lives of people who laughed, cried, and loved in the middle of this turbulent time period. The show aims to give comfort to those who are in pain every May. They do not want to show heroes, just the average citizen.
“Youth of May” is led by a refreshing cast of up-and-coming actors. At the lead is Lee Do Hyun, who plays Hwang Hi Tae, a top student at Seoul University Medical School. At first glance, Hi Tae appears to be a mellow, guitar-playing guy from the countryside, but is actually a fierce academic competitor that bristles against conformity.
He does not like the idea that he has to protest and would much rather go to a music festival. It appears that his biggest concern is second-guessing his path as a physician due to an event that happened in his past, so he delays his graduation by one year.
His love interest is Kim Myung Hee, a nurse at Gwang Joo peace hospital. Though she has three years of experience, Myung Hee is still dreadful at comforting crying patients. However, she is excellent at her job, which includes finding blood vessels in even the youngest of patients.
Myung Hee is described as not an angel in a white uniform, but a warrior in one. She is often called cold-blooded by her colleagues due to her distant personal relationships. Her dream is to study abroad where she can forget a past pain.
Rounding out the main cast, we have Lee Sang Yi and Keum Sae Rok who play wealthy siblings Lee Soo Chan and Lee Soo Ryeon.
Lee Soo Chan works with his father to help run their family’s multimillion-dollar business. He returned to Korea after studying abroad in France and hopes to build a pharmaceutical company in his hometown of Gwang Joo. With his handsome looks and generous character, every matchmaker wants to set him up with a suitable mate. However, Soo Chan does not want to get married because he does not want to treat marriage as a business.
In some way, his little sister Lee Soo Ryeon can be looked at as the black sheep of the family. Known as Joan of Arc in law school, Soo Ryeon is at the frontlines of the labor and democratic movement fighting for the rights of workers even though her family is in the bourgeoisie class.
Some people think her name means she is a lotus flower that blossomed in a capitalistic family, and others think she is a hypocrite due to her capitalistic family. She has this internal conflict within herself as well, which I am sure causes all sorts of awkward family conversations.
Goodness, I can already see how these four people’s lives are going to interweave and bump heads in this drama. I would like to see how this show will tell the history of the movement from an average citizen’s point of view. Usually, we see a story like this unfold from a person on the protesting or opposing side, so it will be nice to see it from the eyes of a person who is just trying to make it.
Just looking at the teaser trailers released on KOCOWA makes me think this drama will focus on the love story and not on the political and civil unrest. While the strife is alluded to in the teasers released, the teasers focus more on Hwang Hi Tae’s blossoming love for Kim Myung Hee and how his love of music is interwoven into their story. Though, full disclosure, I definitely jumped at the end of teaser 1 and teaser 2 (you will have to watch them to know what I am talking about!).
You’ll love this show if you are drawn to dramatized stories set during real-life democratic movements such as “The Trial of the Chicago 7” and “Selma” on Netflix, or “No” starring Gael García Bernal on Amazon Prime. Or, if you enjoy documentary freedom films such as “Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom” on Netflix, then you must check out “Youth of May” streaming now on KOCOWA. Start your free trial today!
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