Lazy Unnie’s Couch: Twinkling Watermelon

In 2023, Eun Gyeol is a high schooler with a passion for music. During the day, he is a studious model pupil… but at night, he rocks out as a guitarist in a band. But when he stumbles across a strange yet alluring music store, he goes hurtling back in time to 1995. Here, he comes face to face with his father, Ha Yi Chan – as a high schooler! Yi Chan takes Eun Gyeol for a lunatic when the latter calls him “dad”. Worse still, it looks like Yi Chan has a crush on an icy cellist named Se Kyeong – not his future mother, Cheong Ah! In a bid to put things “right,” Eun Gyeol joins a band fronted by his future father. But will this be enough to help Eun Gyeol bring his future parents together… and will he ever get back to the 2020s?
mydramalist

Starring: Ryeoun | Choi Hyun Wook | Seol In Ah | Shin Eun Soo
Episodes: 16 (1 hr. 10 mins. )
Aired: September 25 – November 14, 2023
Network: tvN
Where to Watch: Viki

I’m back back BACK! Kinda, but either way, this year had been a hard one for watching and writing. But with a new season comes new and revitalized feelings. And for me, it was Twinkling Watermelon. My drama attention span was shot for months but when I saw this was airing and I adore a good Back to the Future plot, I had to invest. As a friend pointed out to me, I love a good story with characters who have something to overcome. For this one, we had Ha Eun Gyeol, who was the only hearing member of his immediate family. That alone was a lot to put on the shoulders of a child. He’s what they call a CODA, Child of Deaf Adults, and not only was he a liaison between the hearing world and his family, but they also had to deal with poverty. From the first scene, I fell in love. The way their deafness was portrayed was tasteful. As we started to get some backstory in the first episode through flashbacks, I fell for not just Eun Gyeol but his parents. They were positive people regardless of their disadvantage in the hearing world.

But none of that is what this show was about. It was a cross between Back to the Future and It’s A Wonderful Life. The story was basically about Eun Gyeol, feeling like he needs to give up his love of music for the sake of his family obligations, and is sent back to 1995 by some magical man. There, he meets his father, who is NOT deaf, and then his mother. I loved how he gets to the past and immediately is like fuck the rules of time travel and caused all the chaos in the beginning. It also showed a really nice dynamic between him and his father. What I didn’t like was that Eun Gyeol immediately wanted to “fix” the past. And by that, he wanted to make sure his parents fell in love and then wanted his dad not to become deaf. Personally, I felt like that was a waste of his energy but go on your journey.

Eun Gyeol wasn’t on his travel journey alone. Quickly we as viewers discovered that the daughter of his mother’s classmate was also sent back. The thing is, she’s a doppelganger for her mom and of course, his dad falls for her. I kinda liked this new love square that formed but it made me root for the parents even more. After a while, the story got a little repetitive with Eun Gyeol trying to save his parents from their lives that I found myself not caring much about Eun Gyeol but instead was all about his dad Yi Chan and mom Cheong Ah’s budding romance.

Speaking of Cheong Ah, she was such a standout from the cast. Her story of abuse and dealing with being Deaf in a hearing world and not really knowing love was so endearing. There were times that I just wanted to watch a show about her. I found myself toward the end of the drama really invested in the pace of the drama. Things were coming to an end and Eun Gyeol and his new love needed to return to their times. I was so excited to see what had changed and was SO satisfied with the HEA that came. All the trauma from before and in 1995 felt worth it to see the characters land where they deserved. In the end, this was wholesome and fun with a side of tears.