'My First First Love' season 1 set characters perfectly up as individuals for season 2 to show them deal with their feelings
Yun Tae-oh (Ji Soo), a college student, finally got his hands on the ancestral home he grew up in with his mother. The only rule his father had laid out was that he not use the house like a college frat boy and respect his space.
He was also warned that his father will make spot checks if necessary. One fateful day, Tae-oh's best friend Han Song-i (Jung Chae-yeon) is thrown out of her house after her mother abandons her and sells their property, his family friend Oh Ga-rim (Choi Ri) runs away from her suffocating classe supérieure life which allows her no interaction with people outside her circle and his childhood friend Choe Hun (Kang Tae-oh) is thrown out of the house for wanting to be an actor.
All of them arrive at Tae-oh's doorstep hoping for refuge and the Netflix show 'My First First Love' portrays their lives going forth. In season 1, we are let inside their lives to observe the ebb and flow, familiarize ourselves with each relationship and how it influences the characters' behavior.
We learn Tae-oh's first love was Song-i, but a misheard conversation during their school days led him to get over the same. Song-i also initially had a crush, but not for long. The first season set up these lead characters to play the roles of individuals who learn the truth about their feelings and it was in the second season that we saw the two of them deal with their feelings.
The situation is a little bit more complex in the present because Song-i has secretly begun to date Tae-oh's best friend from college Seo Do-hyeon (Jung Jin-young) and Tae-oh has also begun to date an art major who is two years older than him, Ryu Se-hyun (Hong Ji-yoon).
Choe Hun and Ga-rim, on the other hand, had their own journey of self-realization and coming to terms with the reality of what it meant to achieve their dreams. The two of them have been used to privilege - of different levels - and this time around, they have to face the reality of what it means to step away from the support of their family to achieve their dreams.
In season 1, the two characters were playful as they went through some hilarious situations, especially Ga-rim, who is only now learning to even interact with people not from her own class. These characters' playfulness takes a serious turn and the transition is smooth, supported majorly by great writing and performances.
The influence Choe Hun and Ga-rim have on Tae-oh and Song-i is also big as the four of them begin to lead lives together and support each other through thick and thin. If we were to trace the exact moment things change for all the four characters it's when they go on a trip together.
Tae-oh, who sees Song-i kiss his best friend Do-hyeon, realizes he has always been in love with her. Ga-rim spills the secret about all of them living together to Tae-oh's girlfriend Se-hyun. Song-i takes a big step forward in her relationship with Do-hyeon and Choe Hun realizes the first real role he had been signed to play as an actor was a lie. And this is where the show wrapped up its first season and set up its characters to take the plunge in the next season.
It is fascinating to see four individuals from different walks of life begin to live together as a family in this coming-of-age romantic comedy. Despite conflicts that are brought into their relationships by individuals outside their close circle, like Do-hyeon, Se-hyun or Ga-rim's mother, the four pull through with scrapes and scars but life intact.
'My First First Love' season 2 premiered on Netflix July 26.
