ROBLOX. VIDEO GAMES. MOVIES. ORIGINAL ANIMATIONS.
CLAY TRIBUNE.
Advertisement

Netflix’s My First First Love Gave Teen Romance a Villain-Free Run

My First First Love, the Korean romance drama on Netflix, ran two seasons and 16 episodes without a villain. Here's why the house full of friends works.

By mitch·2 min read
Four friends sit together on a sunny stoop during a warm summer afternoon.

My First First Love ran for two seasons and 16 episodes on Netflix, and it never needed a villain. The Korean romance series, created by Jung Hyun-jung, follows Yun Tae-o (Kim Ji-soo) as his friends move into his house for their own separate reasons — a college drop-out, a runaway family friend, his long-time childhood friend — and then have to figure out how to live together and how to love.

Trailer, via Netflix.

A House Full of Yun Tae-o’s Friends

The premise is a pressure cooker built from ordinary bad luck. Nobody schemes their way into Tae-o’s home. They arrive because something else in their lives fell apart. That choice keeps the show warm instead of cruel, and it gives every roommate a reason to stay that the audience can believe.

Advertisement

The cast carries the load: Jung Chae-yeon as Han Song-Yi, Jung Jin-young as Seo Do-Hyun, Choi Ri as Oh Ga-Rin, and Kang Tae-oh as Choi Hoon. Five youths, one house, and the same subject on repeat — first love, and how badly people handle it.

Five Youths and Their First Loves

The show is a reboot of the 2015 OnStyle drama My First Time, produced by the same company. Jung Hyun-jung, who wrote that earlier series, is credited here as creator. That history shows. This is not a remake that flinches from its source; it keeps the messy, overlapping romances and just gives them a bigger platform.

  • Season 1: released April 18, 2019
  • Season 2: released July 26, 2019
  • Total: 2 seasons, 16 episodes
  • Genre: drama
  • Creator: Jung Hyun-jung
  • Network: Netflix

What the Two-Season Split Costs

Netflix split the story in two, three months apart. It is the right call for a binge model and the wrong one for momentum. The first season sets the house in motion; the second has to resolve what the first left tangled, and the gap between April and July flattens some of the tension that a single drop would have carried.

Still, the format suits the material. Sixteen episodes is enough room for five people to make mistakes without the show needing to invent new ones.

The Score

My First First Love does not chase a twist. It sits in a house with people who are bad at saying what they want, and it lets them be bad at it. The result is a drama that earns its small moments rather than demanding big ones.

Key facts: Netflix, 2019. Two seasons, 16 episodes. First aired April 18, 2019; last aired July 26, 2019. Genre: drama. TMDB audience score: 8.2/10 from 556 votes.

8.2 of 10.

The Notebook

Get the Notebook.

The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.

We send one note to confirm. Every issue has a one-click way out.

Advertisement

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

As an Amazon Associate, Clay Tribune earns from qualifying purchases.