Seung Yoo's tale was relatable for me in some ways. The drama portrayed the tragedy of the gifted child beautifully. I may not be quite the genius Sung Yoo is, but I was labeled a "gifted child" and even went to a private school for gifted children. Being a gifted child is not always a positive. For some it's adults pushing you too far, when you just want to have a normal childhood. For others it's the world telling you, you need to do something extraordinary and not waste your talent, when in fact you might just want a simple job and live a normal life. For some it's a thin line between genius and madness and it not being worth to immerse yourself in your genius until you figure out how to do so safely. All of these points were beautifully shown in Melancholia.

I was completely submerged in this drama's world for two days. I could not stop watching and was glued to my screen. The OST, cinematography, set design and color grading are gorgeous and the mathematical formulas and geometric shapes added to show how Seung Yoo sees the world were a really nice touch. I just wish they had continued with that because it's not like he looks at the world differently after four years. Quite the opposite: he is fully into math again, so it would've made sense to keep showing that in a creative way.

As someone who was bothered by the age difference in Goblin, it didn't bother me here. And that is not because the genders were swapped but because of the reason for the characters' attraction to each other. Seung Yoo and Yoon Soo are drawn to each other because they see the world the same way. For Yoon Soo that is a completely platonic fascination at first. They are simply both happy to have found another human who shares their unique worldview. Seung Yoo, being an immature teenager developed a crush from that feeling, probably not knowing how else to interpret it. Yoon Soo always draws a line and rejects him. Only years into the future, do her feelings change. And yes, the latter can also be said about Goblin, but just the general vibe of their relationship and the reason they were drawn to each other was different. (The way the fl in Goblin acted like a 5-year old was just super icky, okay.) The math metaphors were really nice, especially when they used them to clumsily express their feelings to other characters.

The cast did a great job. Lee Do Hyun's acting is always a pleasure to watch and Im Soo Jung was the perfect fit for her role. The whole ensemble of side characters was amazing but I especially enjoyed Woo Da Bi's performance.

I think everyone who watched this is a bit baffled by how different episodes 7-16 are from the first six episodes. The first six episodes were slower, mostly focusing on Seung Yoo and Yoon Soo and felt very tender - with lots of long shots, beautiful pictures, math metaphors etc. After the time-jump it turned into a tense tale of corruption with a hint of Makjang. While I was completely obsessed with it nonetheless, the change bothered me a bit at first. Just because it didn't feel very cohesive. But on second thought, it actually makes sense. In the first few episodes the world was mostly ok. Sure, there was already corruption and cheating, but the characters' lives were still fine.
Seung Yoo was a teenager, still not knowing much about the workings of the corrupt upper class and we see the world mostly through his eyes. We see him falling in love - with math and with Yoon Soo - and we see him heal from his trauma. The allegations changed everybody's lives, though. And for the rest of the drama we watch them deal with the aftermath. And boy, is it a ride.
The way the unraveling of their lives and secrets is told through masterful editing is incredibly thrilling. The tension is constantly rising, the editors keeping the viewers on their toes and the cliffhangers always made me immediately click on "next episode".

There's really just two small things that bothered me:
- He was already a genius before he met Yoon Soo. He was literally at MIT at 10 years old. It kind of bothered me, that he always said he wasn't that smart, it was only because of Yoon Soo. Yes, she made him fall in love with math again after his traumatic past, but she didn't really teach him much about math, let's be honest. His genius was already there.
- Dear writers everywhere in the world: No German man under the age of like 77 would ever be called Adolf. Please take note. Now, this character called Adolf Müller might be 85, they never said how old he is. But if you have to name ONE German character, you should not call him Adolf.

But anyway, Melancholia is both beautiful and thrilling. I loved it!