Last Summer Episode 1-2 Review
Director: Min Yeon-hong
Date Created: 2025-11-03 13:37
4
Last Summer Episode 1-2 Review: Directed by Min Yeon-hong and written by Jeon Yoo-ri, the kdrama 마지막 썸머 will have 12 episodes, airing on KBS2 from November 1 to December 7, 2025. However, THE first two episodes bode tremendously well for the future, as the Series introduces an emotional rollercoaster led by Lee Jae-wook, who excels in the challenging dual role of Baek Do-ha and Baek Do-young, alongside Choi Sung-eun, bringing depth and quiet melancholy to the character of Song Ha-gyeong, while Kim Gun-woo shines as Seo Su-hyeok, adding complexity to the story’s dynamic. The ensemble also features Ahn Dong-goo, Kwon Ah-reum, Jung Bo-min, Choi Byung-mo and others, rounding out a strong supporting cast.
Last Summer Episode 1 Recap
In the monologue opening, episode 1 of last summer, we are introduced to Song Ha-gyeong as she introduces her connection to Patan, a silent coastal town battered and shaped by significant loss and regret. In its heyday, this neighbourhood was full of laughter and closeness. However, a tragic incident left her world in tatters. If her life story were told, it would start with her independent and capable public servant in the architecture department’s tight ship.
Ha-gyeong returned to the office in the morning after quashing a rowdy protest at the gates. She discovered something else that would bring her bad memories. She sought to sell the house where her traumatic experiences took hold of her in childhood. The seemingly simple deal becomes complex when she learns the title was changed to a man with a common past, Baek Do-ha.
Her situation forces her to call him, and she tries to buy the rights to her property with threatening words. However, Do-ha has also changed in these years, and now he is an arrogant and self-possessed man, so the deal is not completed. Their meeting in the building is very cinematic and creates an excellent atmosphere of awkwardness since business words very quickly flow into personal attacks.
After the phone call with the lawyer advising that she can’t build without Do-ha’s agreement, Ha-gyeong tries to take a step to reduce the wall to show him how he upsets her. When she tries to sue him, Do-ha only asks her whether she still hates him as it was years ago. It is a disturbing question that stuns her, but she cannot answer.
The chapter of Last Summer kdrama ep 1 paints a picture of a time continuum of grudges hardened over closeness, gearing toward a rather bittersweet and sensitive reunion of what used to mean the world for these two people.
Last Summer Episode 2 Recap
Episode 2 of Last Summer brings the viewer deeper into the whirl of feelings between Ha-gyeong and Do-ha, such as in the flashback, we see their unwavering childhood friendship – every summer, the brightest twenty-one days, during which she spent time with him, because this summer they stayed without parents for the first time. Do-ha was patient and kind; he was always willing to lose to her in an argument. Ha-gyeong trusted him; the boy was ready to indulge, and from that day, they met constantly. However, two years ago, her mother died, and after that day, Ha-gyeong abruptly broke ties with him.
Their relationship is strained and bruised as of the moment. In the future, however, Ha-gyeong discovers that Do-ha got the best lawyer for their property dispute. She goes to his office to tell him that she will not step down and negotiate for less, but is outwitted by his wit. Meanwhile, Do-ha is doing well at work and secretly checking on her via the documents she submitted, which shows an obvious sign of care.
They often started off in equal sarcastic terms, creating a superficial pretext, but beneath that layer was familiarity. Once, when arguing, Do-ha abruptly and accidentally cited Jongman, the tree they planted. When Ha-gyeong lies about cutting it down, her apprehension proves her lie; she has deep feelings for Do-ha, now deflected due to pain.
Concurrently with their story, we are introduced to Lee Seul and Seul’s grandfather, and her rocky love story. Her grandfather disapproves of her relationship with a thug, and when she learns of lies of Ha-gyeong’s sadness and insomnia, Do-ha realizes the extent of his emotional destruction. He is forced by guilt and compassion to call Ha-gyeong months later. He tells her that if she plants a new tree other than Jongman, he will drop the lawsuit.
The couple’s journey to buy the sapling feels like an extended and uncomfortable first date at first, embarrassing when Ha-gyeong notices her couple of photos on Do-ha’s phone. Suddenly, her awkwardness veils the love that still simmers under the surface between them. Though that moment takes a quick turn for the worse, and a stalking ex, Nam-jin, catches up to them quickly, it all goes downhill.
In the police station, as bitter truths resurface and they struggle to comprehend what they mean to each other, Nam-jin finally reveals the truth behind the tree. Ha-gyeong, filled with pent-up emotional overwhelm, admits how often the memories of You and her together take away her breath. Seeking time, she flees her house and then is forced to return in search of those memories as a flood threatens to carry them away forever.
When she hazards her life to save her basement filled with knick-knacks from being ruined, Do-ha knocks on the basement door just in time to save her. She tells him to go away for good in a sorrowful and tearful moment drenched in wet and regret. The only reason Do-ha returned was to fulfil the pledge he had previously broken, to spend “one final summer.” When Last Summer kdrama ep 2 comes to an end, they are each still so damaged yet so mended.
Last Summer Episode 1-2 Review
The first two episodes unfold like the slow return of a long-forgotten memory: tender, aching, and wordlessly beautiful. Last Summer ep 1 captures the distance between the two, not with anger but as two people lost inside the same wound. Their conversations are tense, while beneath the harsh words are whispers of affection that neither of them dares admit. Every lingering glance, every pause between sentences, feels weighted with years of what-ifs. It doesn’t hurry into healing the pain for them; it lets it breathe, enabling one to feel the heavy weight of unspoken emotions.
It’s not until Last Summer ep 2, that the tone deepens to something far wistful: golden light filtering through, flashes of laughter, shared secrets, and summer warmth against the coldness of their present. Most poignant perhaps was the scene where they shopped for a new sapling, awkward smiles revealing the tenderness they were trying so hard to hide. It’s in small, almost mundane interactions that Last Summer finds its rhythm: an ache of familiarity, fragile comfort in being seen by someone who once knew you completely.
The cinematography mirrors the mood: sunlight spilling across their faces, the quiet hum of rain, the soft stillness of a house remembering much more than it needs to. Lee Jae-wook and Choi Sung-eun are effectively restrained and powerful in their delivery, saying much with their silences. The chemistry between them feels lived-in, whittled from the years of longing and regret rather than romantic idealism.
From these two episodes, it’s clear that this will be about two souls learning to forgive themselves, not just a tale of two former lovers reconnecting. It leaves one with a soft ache, the promise of one more summer together, and the fear of what that may cost. If the first two episodes are any indication, kdrama Last Summer is shaping up to be a slow-burning, emotionally rich journey of memory, loss, and the delicate hope of second chances.
