binktops

[binktops]

this may just be the stupidest thing i’ve ever drawn

[binktops]

heedo and jaekyung

oh god

cr: @honeytuesday

[binktops]

i'm dying to hear your ending of the show after ep.13 if you ever want to share 💗

thank you for the ask (my first one <3) and sorry for how long it took to get back to you!

depending on where we stop and alter 2521, i have 5 different endings for them.

1. end of episode 13

there’s a running joke to watch 2521 but stop at the end of episode 13. it’s unsatisfactory because to build up a couple and get them together at the very end without anything afterwards is not my cup of tea, but is arguably better than the final 1 and a half episodes for an ending.

2. after the ladder+bridge scene / halfway through episode 15

the second possible watch option to skip the ending is to stop before the 9/11 plot-line starts. you could also end the show here and yes, it doesn’t have an 11th hour crisis and is a bit off story telling wise, i believe you could flash forward to future baekdo and say they lived happily ever after and i would take it over the “real” ending.

3. during / after new york

the best options with what we have from the canon episode 16 are either

1. heedo chases down yijin in nyc because she understands he’s going through a rough patch and stand with him through it or

2. they resolve and decide to move together forward as one at the bus stop / bridge goodbye. support each other through both the bad and the good (i forgot the specific quote but you get it)

either one has been explored more in fics and alternate endings but either route of these would show heedo choosing to step up as less stubborn and save yijin like he’s done for her and yijin opening his heart to keep the relationship healthy.

4. time skip obs hell

finally, this is my brain on obs brainrot but fine, say they split up due to their unwillingness to empathize and cooperate.

i find the idea they never meet again and never reconcile insulting. before lovers they were best friends *pulls hair out*. it doesn’t need to be believable but they meet either kdrama magic or the gang (yurim, jiwoong, and seungwan) meet up. none of them have that many friends — yes adulthood makes people busy but you can still meet with friends the funeral conversation was stupid.

clearly they aren’t happy with breaking up and losing one another. an interesting idea is having them reconcile to stay as friends. for endgame baekdo, they decide to give it another shot. you could make this a full new season and drag it out with new conflicts and growth or pace the one season we have better. (i always saw 16 episodes as too short for 2521 or they needed to get them together much earlier than episode 13 to break them up)

the important part of a break up—reconciliation is baekdo are still each other’s pillars of support by the end to not break this important theme of the show.

5. surprise rewrite the whole show option

the fifth option is create a better last episode crisis that still tests baekdo because i still do not and will not ever believe yijin would voluntarily go to nyc without telling heedo!

they could keep going with the jaekyung/yijin parallels (don’t switch him to local news) and fully complete the idea heedo has moved forward from her past trauma of her mother and loves unconditionally like yijin. ideally we include an arc where yijin understands being all sacrificing is not noble but selfish.

this one was just off the top of my head because there are tons of ideas you can explore to fully complete their arcs. it amazes me how awful the 2521 ending was to allow me to create this many alternate possibilities. i hope you enjoyed reading them and share any ideas you all have <3

[binktops]

love parallels in media. they just make me feral. love blatantly intentional ones. love parallels that i don’t catch until i’m watching/reading it for the 800th time. love when someone else points out an absolutely insane, heart wrenching one. gotta be my favorite part of deeply loving and knowing a piece of media, especially a tv show

[binktops]

[binktops]

Baekdo nation how we doing

[binktops]

"I can fix him" this "I can make him worse" that Pathetic. I can love him so much that it changes the course of the entire narrative.

[binktops]

the four stages of finishing 2521:

1. disbelief that a writer can be this stupid

2. anger at the viewers who accept the ending uncritically

3. grief over the potential of the show and the characters who deserve better

4. refusal to accept the ending and the peaceful realization that true fictional events are the ones we believe in

[binktops]

i act like i’m all okay and everything’s fine but deep down i’m still so pissed about 2521.

[binktops]

Sorry for being obsessed with love. As if it's my fault

[binktops]

tired of the disinformation going around

[binktops]

Hey, miss. Why are you crying? Is something wrong? No, sir. No? Whatever it is, have some soju and shake it off. It’s okay. I’m still in school. You’re in school? Wait. Isn’t that her? What? Wait. Aren’t you the athlete Na Hee-do from yesterday? What? Na Hee-do? It is. The fencer from yesterday?

TWENTY-FIVE TWENTY-ONE (2022) EP. 7

[binktops]

one more person tell me the ending was realistic justified not that bad actually ok made sense wasn’t horrifically out of character totally destroyed character arcs and storylines no seriously tell me ☺️

[binktops]

the people defending or uhm actually-ing (not a verb but i don’t care) the ending of 2521 are either so jaded by life it’s depressing and don’t know how to have hope anymore or are desperately trying to cling onto the idea their beloved show got what it deserved.

[binktops]

teal and orange truly is the greatest color combo in the world. like name one better combo

[binktops]

+Bonus:

[binktops]

Hi, I like reading your post about twenty five twenty one drama. I am baekdo fan and still can forget about baekdo. I want to ask you, why do you think yurim and jiwoong can succeed in their relationship while yijin and heedo have to separated? Is it because Yurim is Jiwoong's top priority? while the priority of yijin is his work? thank you....

hi!! thank you for the ask!!

i've seen this argument floating around and my view is completely different. in short, i think yurim and jiwoong's relationship would realistically not last.

yurim and jiwoong are exactly the kind of first love that baekdo aren't. their attraction is based on looks (jiwoong's main reason to pursue yurim is because she's attractive) and on taking advantage of someone's attention (yurim seems to me to be interested in jiwoong because he's interested in her, similar to how heedo decides to give dalkong a chance because he likes her). their relationship is a foil to baekdo's -- while baekdo form a bond based entirely on emotional connection, yurim and jiwoong receive too little screentime for any real development and real depth to enter their interactions, leaving them as the light side teen romance to the very serious, real relationship taking centre stage.

the writer doesn't devote any energy into exploring the less-than-sugary aspects of their romance, leaving it flat and often boring. i honestly thought jiwoong would snap out of it as the series progresses, and either realize his relationship with seungwan is much more real (i like them as friends too, but if the plot went towards a romance for them i would have approved), or that yurim isn't ever going to return his feelings (i'm not convinced that she genuinely does -- it looks like she's more flattered by the attention than anything, that she's in love with him being in love with her). that's why they are the first love trope that the writer seems to be unable to grasp -- their attraction is based on first impressions that might conceal personality clashes that could compromise their relationship if they were ever properly explored, and they could break up tomorrow and the world wouldn't end for either of them, because they're both just a passing presence in each other's lives.

jiwoong is the least developed character of the five protagonists. he never receives a personal arc -- he starts as someone interested in fashion blogging and develops only in that direction, and mostly off-screen, and his biggest arc is connected to him being a victim of school violence, but he's mostly passive within this plot as seungwan is the character who takes action and developes thanks to this plotline. when yurim and seungwan received episodes that focused on their personal lives, i kept expecting for jiwoong to get the same treatment, i kept hoping we'll get a closer look at his family situation and an episode dedicated to his growth. but we never did, and that's why it might seem to many that jiwoong's top priority is yurim -- it's because he was never given an arc that centered around him as a person instead of him in connection to the friend group. if yurim is what jiwoong is all about, that's because he's very close to being a flat character, where a flat character is someone who's defined by only one interest or character trait. he likes yurim, and if you never develop him, that's gonna be the only thing he can do as a character, perpetually.

i don't believe that work is more important to yijin than heedo, because we've seen him priorize her over his work many times -- ditching his sunbae in ep.6 to find her and then to drive her to the match, chasing the referee to clear her name in ep.7, arguing with his superiors in ep.9 when she got injured, getting in trouble for prioritizing his honest reporting of her match in ep.13, changing departments in ep.15 because he doesn't want her to be disappointed in him and doesn't want to risk hurting her with his reporting... all these instances pile up like court evidence when you build a character, become precedents for their future behaviour and development. how is it logical for a character who had a whole crisis when the person he loves ignored him for two days and sent her late-night voice calls whenever he thought he'd offended her to suddenly stop contacting her when he's at his most vulnerable, alone in a foreign country with no friends and no hope? how is it logical for him not to make time to see her on new year when everyone goes to see their loved ones, to apply for a position at a place that makes him more miserable than anything without even discussing it with her when they're in a serious, two-year relationship, and to agree to break-up the moment he sees her again without even trying to fight for the relationship he's devastated about losing? that's not character development, that's character assassination for the achievement of a plot point none of the characters cause or want or need to progress as individuals.

jiwoong and yurim nonsensically remaining a couple while she lives in another country and they barely communicate is the writer's consolation prize for the viewers after she attempts to destroy the one real relationship in her show. they don't have a teaspoon of baekdo's maturity, compassion, depth, and real admiration of a person for who they are -- someone who never gives up, someone who doesn't let the cruelties of the world take his kindness away -- and all they see in each other is what they are -- a pretty boy and a pretty girl. and the reason we didn't see much of a fandom for them or many discussions about them is the biggest marker of the truth -- the relationship the viewers know is real and lasting is the one we care about. and that's baekdo.