Netflix K-drama Twenty-Five Twenty-One: Kim Tae-ri shines in coming-of-age romantic drama with a fencing subplot, 2022’s first Korean TV delight
- In 1998, a girl who dreams of being a fencer meets a hardworking boy down on his luck, both of whom are set on changing the current trajectory of their lives
- Nineties nostalgia, the Asian financial crisis and sports collide in this compulsively watchable tale of grit and endurance. Kim Tae-ri is sensational
They say that winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing. But Twenty-Five Twenty-One, the sensationally entertaining new coming-of-age romantic drama series on Netflix from South Korean broadcaster tvN, begs to differ.
The show kicks off in a recognisable present, as Na Hee-do (Kim So-hyun) accompanies her daughter to a Covid-19 screening desk outside a ballet competition. She reassures her that winning isn’t important.
Yet the girl, now shifting in her pointe shoes as she watches a rival’s impressive routine on the stage, freezes when her number is called and runs out of the building.
Hee-do steps out of her car – she was watching the event on her phone, since the pandemic won’t allow a physical audience – and catches up with her upset daughter outside, who complains that there was no point in competing as she couldn’t have won.
Her mother asks her, “Is it meaningless if you don’t win?” This is a key question the show keeps coming back to.