For those who don’t know, “18 Again” regurgitates the same fundamental premise of the American movie“ 17 again” (2009’). Yet rather than having Matthew Perry in a rugged business suit moping around for most of the opening of the movie, we are instead introduced to Yoon Sang Hyun ( Secret Garden, I Can Hear Your Voice) playing our very different protagonist, Hong Dae- Young.

In a slightly similar manner to his American character counterpart, Dae- Young isn’t living a happy life- his job as a practical handyman brings in only enough for him to survive, he is in the process of a divorce with his former teen sweetheart, Jung Da-jung ( Kim Ha Neul) and to make matters worse, he has totally lost touch with trying to connect with his two children Hong Shi-ah ( Roh Jeong Eui) and Hong Shi-woo( Ryeoun) since they have entered their teen years . A surprising miracle , however, allows Dae- Young to return back to his 18 year-old self ( Lee Do Hyun) as he attempts to relive his glory days back at high-school.

On the other hand, whilst comical misunderstandings from generation gaps to Dae Young’s best friend, Go Deok-jin ( Kim Kang Hyun) having to pose as his father are undeniably taken from the movie for comical effect ,
where the drama divulges in plot from the original movie is by adding a more bittersweet and crisp level of characterisation and backstory to our characters for viewers .

Whilst Sang- Hyun felt a strange and respectfully mismatched choice as the older counterpart of Lee Do Hyun, it soon became apparent how both actors were able to perfectly mimic the other in a fairly complicated manner. Do Hyun had to juggle between portraying his version of Dae-Young and Dae-Young’s new alias, Go Woo- Young in a mature lighting , whereas evidently Sang-Hyun had to channel the elements of being a high schooler again when the camera reverts Do Hyun back to his “ true-self”.

Respectfully this is also thanks to fairly good characterisation as well- rather than merely writing off Do Hyun as a love struck clown like in the movie ready to win back his wife . The reasons behind Do Hyun’s estranged relationship with Da- Jung and his children are far more complicated as a consequence of his biggest challenge in the drama , being to overcome his personal struggle by attaining an altruistic perspective for others, rather than allowing his past problems to consume his sense of identity .

In addition to this one of the most surprising examples of characterisation in the show had to be with Shi-ah ( Roh Jeong Eui), the teenage daughter of Do Hyun. Although Shi- ah appears in the first few episodes of the drama as a stereotypical teen through milking her father for cash , obsessed with her looks and a rebel at school , Shi-ah’s reasons for doing so are actually a lot more complicated than they first appear. Perhaps my only slightly annoyance with Shi-ah’s character portrayal was the desire to pair her off with the cliche of the dreaded stereotype of the “ goody two shoes” childhood friend ( Choi Bo Min) as well as disturbingly the bully of her brother ( Hwang In Yeop). It wasn’t that Shi- ah shouldn’t have had a romantic pairing in the show, however, it took away a lot of focus away from Shi-ah’s own story and familial relationships as an individual more than anything else.

On one note of appraisal, however, In Yeop’s character, Goo Ja- sung wasn’t written off like his American counterpart as merely just the “ superficial bully” of the story. Similar to a lot of real-life scenarios, Ja- Sung is a product of his own unhappy environment and thus only begins to learn from his mistakes as a consequence of others like Shi- ah and Dae- Young showing empathy towards him. This is perfectly shown is a tragicomic scene in one later episode of the series where after a certain incident, Dae- Young is able to bond with Ja-Sung (despite his initial anger over bullying his son ) over a similar incident also happening to him . Whilst a fairly sad and heartwarming scene, a great misunderstanding by Ja- Sung over Deok-Jin ( pretending to be Dae-Young’s father) leads him to comically claiming that Deok- Jin doesn’t “ seem the type” to do so.


This naturally moves us onto Ha- Neul as Da- Jung. Initially Ha- Neul’s portrayal as Da- Jung came off a bit too headstrong in the first several scenes of her character introduction, however, as the drama progresses Ha- neul peels back another layer to her character as rather than just a comical plot device through her portrayal of Da- Jung as an individual. Da- Jung’s past with Do Hyun from teen lovers to on the brink of a divorce offers Da- Jung new opportunities as a working news reporter and rekindled connections with her children, yet it also faces her with conflicting over rekindling the past by holding onto memories of Do Hyun as well as her friendship with Choo Ae- Rin ( Lee Mi do) or a new interest in baseball player Ye Ji- hoon ( Wi Ha Joon). Initially whilst Da-Jung’s character was fairly strong, a problem which clearly manifests near the ending of the show is the anticlimactic finale- it isn’t necessarily that the actual ending itself needed to be changed, however, the quality of logic by the end of the show or climaxes seemed to fizzle into nothingness at the end of episode 16.

Obviously not entirely touching new ground with the concept, 18 Again was rough around the edges in parts due to anticlimactic storylines, cliches and again an indulgence of product placement later on in the show ( without rhyme or reason in some cases). On the other hand, there’s no denying that overall 18 Again was one of the few decent dramas overall of 2020 with good acting , casting as well as fairly good characterisation amongst a bittersweet storyline . Although not flawless, 18 Again is a perfect drama to watch if you want something which will touch your heart.