Television series
Twenty-Five Twenty-One
A Korean romance that jumps between 1998 and the present day, following two people whose lives intersect during a financial crisis and collide again in adulthood. It's tender and melancholy, built on the idea that timing matters as much as feeling. For anyone who's ever wondered what happened to someone they lost touch with, or believed in a love that didn't work out when it mattered most.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you want a coming-of-age romance that takes its time, where the era's texture and two bruised, stubborn people's slow growth matter as much as the love story itself.
Skip it if the tone runs wistful and the plotting is loose, so if you need tight structure or brisk momentum, the slow middle may test your patience.
What it asks of you: Sixteen episodes of roughly seventy minutes apiece, unhurried and patient, wanting you to settle in and let feelings build across years rather than scenes.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
Crash Landing on You2019
A charming cross-border romance with the same warmth and gentle humour. It balances weightier emotional moments with genuine lightness, and the chemistry between leads feels lived-in rather than performed.
But The premise—a South Korean heiress falls into North Korea—requires suspension of disbelief that not everyone finds easy to manage.
Itaewon Class2020
Another tvN series with a fractured timeline, moving between past and present to show how trauma and ambition reshape people. It has the same willingness to let characters make real mistakes and live with them.
But It's considerably darker and angrier. If you want something purely comforting, this will test that mood.
Her Private Life2019
A lighter romance with the same emotional intelligence about how people grow and change. It trusts the audience to understand longing without needing to constantly explain it.
But It's much shorter—only twelve episodes—so if you want something to sink into for weeks, you'll finish it too fast.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Twenty-Five Twenty-One
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire2019
Both argue that love is complete and real without a happy ending. Both use time as their central emotion rather than action.
A film about two women and the summer that changed them both forever. Like Twenty-Five Twenty-One, it's interested in how time and memory reshape love, and in the bittersweet certainty that some connections matter precisely because they don't last.
But It's French, deliberately paced, and entirely uninterested in plot mechanics. Some find that freeing; others find it frustrating.
More like this (7)
Romance Is a Bonus Book2019
Focuses on adult characters rebuilding lives after failure and finding connection in unexpected places. It has the same sense that love isn't always about perfection or timing working out.
But The pacing is deliberate to the point of slowness. It's a show that asks you to sit with quiet moments, which isn't for everyone.
The Lovers2023
Another recent Korean drama exploring how the same two people can be right and wrong for each other at different points in life. It has similar emotional architecture and restraint.
But It's heavier on melodrama. If you prefer subtlety, this tips toward the theatrical at moments.
Descendants of the Sun2016
A romance that takes its time developing feeling, with strong supporting characters and genuine stakes. It respects the audience's intelligence about how relationships actually grow.
But It's longer—sixteen episodes—and some find the action sequences distract from the emotional core.
Something in the Rain2018
A tender, adult romance about people finding each other later in life. It has the same quiet conviction that connection doesn't need explosiveness to feel real.
But It's slow and deliberately unglamorous. If you want spectacle or fast plot movement, it will feel static.
My Love from the Star2013
A foundational Korean drama about connection across time and circumstance. It proved that vulnerability and humour could coexist, influencing many series that came after.
But It's now over a decade old, so some visual and production choices feel dated in ways that might break immersion.
Undone2019
Both use non-linear storytelling to explore identity and time. Both ask what we owe the people who shaped us, even when we can't go back.
An animated series about a young woman unraveling her life and past. It has Twenty-Five Twenty-One's obsession with how we become ourselves, but tells it through rotoscope animation and magical realism instead of chronology.
But The animation technique is visually demanding. Some find it beautiful; others find it tiring to watch for long stretches.
Firefly2002
Both center on people who bonded in difficult years and carry that bond into adulthood. Both understand that the most important people in our lives are often the ones we didn't get to keep.
A short-lived space Western about people bound together by crisis and circumstance. It has the same structural idea: time and loss as the thing that defines relationships, not resolution.
But It was cancelled after one season, so there's no grand conclusion. For some, that incompleteness is the point; for others, it's infuriating.
People
Cast
Recommended by
Hospital Playlist, Answer Me 1988, Our Beloved Summer, Jeopardy!, Nevertheless,, Thirty, Nine, She Would Never Know, Run On, A-Teen, A Love Other Than Yours