At a Distance, Spring is Green has come to an end, and it’s time to say goodbye to the youthful cast. After watching the finale, we’ve gathered our thoughts for a review of what we loved, and what we thought could be better in this episode. As this review contains spoilers, don’t forget to watch the finale prior to reading this.
Click here to recap what happened in the first episode of At a Distance, Spring is Green.
Yeo Joon and his group decide to go with the theme of light and darkness for their project. The team all share a period of time where they faced a dark period in their lives, and Yeo Joon was the last one to speak.
Image adapted from: KBS
Yeo Joon reveals that he suffered years of darkness as he was abused by his father. After Yeo Joon spots the change in expressions of his classmates, he quickly adds that he overcame his dark period and is doing fine now.
Image adapted from: KBS
After the project meeting ended, Soo-hyun, who was previously the only one in school who knew about his past, tells Yeo Joon to go easy on himself. He says, “Scars don’t heal instantaneously.” Yeo Joon takes his advice and assures him that he’ll be over it soon enough.
It was really brave of Yeo Joon to share about the darkest point of his life, especially when it’s on the sensitive topic of child abuse.
Image adapted from: KBS
Yeo Joon and Soo-hyun were constantly bickering from the start, and despite Yeo Joon’s attempts to get close to Soo-hyun and become a friend to him, the guard Soo-hyun put up was rather unbreakable.
As the show progressed, Soo-hyun began opening up to Yeo Joon. We’d say the turning point of their relationship would be when Soo-hyun had to put his pride aside and move in with Yeo Joon.
The duo became more comfortable with each other, especially when their vulnerable sides were unveiled away from the public eye. They learned to be each other’s source of comfort.
We see the fruit of their time together in their actions in school. They are more understanding and sympathetic towards others too. We’re glad this enemies-to-friends trope was pulled off well in At a Distance, Spring is Green, and the finale provided us with a bittersweet separation between Yeo Joon and Soo-hyun as Soo-hyun will be spending summer with his mother.
Image adapted from: KBS
So-bin bumps into her childhood bestie, Chan-ki, while she was on the way back from her project group’s celebratory dinner.
Chan-ki reveals that he’ll be leaving for his military enlistment. They two drifted apart after So-bin began hanging out with Soo-hyun and Yeo Joon more often, so his announcement came as a shock.
So-bin tells Chan-ki that he’ll do just fine on his own although they were joined at the hip for the longest time, and she’ll treat him to his favourite pork belly the next time they meet.
Image adapted from: KBS
Before they part ways, they reconcile with a hug, and we’re glad they are back on good terms with one another.
Image adapted from: KBS
Fast forward to the new semester, and Yeo Joon and Soo-hyun meet again in the same class. We are treated to a callback to the first episode – this time, it’s Soo-hyun spilling coffee on Yeo Joon.
Flashback to Episode 1
Image adapted from: KBS
Yeo Joon, after realising that it was Soo-hyun who spilled the coffee on him, recited the exact same lines that Soo-hyun did in the previous semester. He went on about how Soo-hyun should compensate him with KRW600,000 to make up for the mess he made, just like how Soo-hyun did last time. Ah, memories.
Image adapted from: KBS
We know that Soo-hyun and Young-ran have been friends since they were kids. Later in the drama, we find out that Young-ran has feelings for him, and Soo-hyun was oblivious to her advances as he was too busy working his butt off to clear his father’s debts.
Soo-hyun surprising Young-ran with an energy drink.
Image adapted from: KBS
After Soo-hyun and his project group mates celebrate their good results, he mests up with Young-ran. Young-ran admits that she’ll give up on liking him, as he was too busy in his own bubble and not emotionally available to do anything to reciprocate.
As a result, their friendship and relationship is uncertain for now. It would’ve been good if we saw some sort of reciprocation from Soo-hyun while the drama was still ongoing, but at least we got to see him supporting her on the side in the last episode, where he treated an exhausted Young-ran to an energy drink.
It’s a bummer that the drama adaptation of At a Distance, Spring is Green swapped out the main couple of the series, which was originally Yeo Joon and Soo-hyun, to Yeo Joon and So-bin. We assume the production team did so to adhere to broadcasting standards, since it was aired on one of Korea’s free-to-air channels.
They even had a character poster with the two male leads, falsely leading us to believe that Yeo Joon and Soo-hyun would be endgame.
Image credit: @victorycontents
Well, at least we’ve got a whole two minutes worth of Yeo Joon-Soo-hyun ship content during their group project presentation. The production team also inserted a scene where the duo reminisces about their interactions over the past semester on a bench at the porch. We’ll miss their daily banter too, as it was what brought them closer to become who they are today.
Image adapted from: KBS
At a Distance, Spring is Green wrapped up the finale with many wholesome moments and moments of realisation for the characters. As they go into the new semester, we hope to see them shine and achieve their desired grades in school.
If you enjoyed At a Distance, Spring is Green, you can find more Korean school dramas to watch here.
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Cover image adapted from: @victorycontents and @victorycontents
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