Where Your Eyes Linger (2020)

An Apt Title For An Apt Drama

literally perfect. the best friends to lovers pipeline with the yearning and the angst the grief and the longing and the eventual hard-earned, happy conclusion. it tackled some heavy themes like power dynamics and feeling of constantly wondering if someone likes you for you or for what you can do for them. of course there's miscommunication in the sense that sometimes, when you're gay and afraid of losing the one person in the world you care about, who cares about you... rejection from them can cause your whole world to colapse. it's about forcing yourself to maintain the status quo when you already know things are in motion and you can't help it. it's a lot about tackling that self-recognition head on. it's about knowing, in earnest, that trust more difficult to give than love is. and then giving both. the actors had immense good chemistry and they really sold the story. this drama isn't sixteen eps long and it didn't need to be. YET it keeps you wanting to know more and never storp watching.

They really weren't messing around with the title of the drama, they really nailed it. literally 80 minutes of an emotional roller coaster ride that packs so much intensity into it the gays really felt that and by the gays i mean me. an all time fave <3

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It WORKS

Yup this show absolutely is a winner. It's everything I enjoy in a BL honestly.

Characters: FUNNY! The comedic lines had me dying and everyone delivered where they needed to. Stand out favs were the hyemi and her mom, taejoo, and the dorky guy who's name I forgot. They felt real yet exaggerated in a good way.

Plot: this was the perfect level of drama and light heartedness for me. It felt real, but didn't take itself too seriously. The story unfolded exactly how I wanted it to (well, up until the end).

Music: I don't pay much attention to it, but I enjoyed it when I noticed it.

Cute factor: ALL THE WAY THERE. I was so giddy, I tell you.

Alright here are some critiques:

The story and logic does start to break down toward the end as far as character's motivations and how things unfold, particularly with kang gook. He said some pretty crazy stuff in his argument which, okay, but the 180 in behavior after felt a bit weird. Taejoo had a point, I'm not sure why he acted that extreme given what he did a few scenes after that.

Also, the time skip, I don't know, it didn't work for me. It was cliché which was fine, but I kinda feel like there was a better way to end story. Again, it just feels inconsistent with the way the story was going up until that point for me.

My final criticism is that we definitely got robbed with the steamy scenes. I think this pairing could've REALLY been electric to see getting hot and heavy but sadly none of that. Also easily one of the worst kisses I've seen yet.

But anyway those are just little nitpicks. Overall I really enjoyed it!! It's a very quick watch and probably my favorite BL series so far because the characters seem the most real.

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SO close

This show was SO close to being a hidden gem among the short BL format, but that ending....

The overall story was nice, the chemistry was amazing and the actors were good. But the "someone is going abroad for some time" is such a bad plot device, specially in a short show like this one. I understand the need to drive the couple apart as a way of making them prove how strong their love is. But, it's the 21st century, how can people stay 3 years without having any form of contact?!

It's impossible that Tae Joo's father could prevent all forms of communications (text messages, emails, phone calls, video calls...) for years. The last episode felt extremely rushed, and wastes a large portion of the time with the restaurant scene, which literally adds nothing to the series. The lake scene is sweet and has a nice callback to the promise between them. Overall the show is strong, but they really dropped the ball at the end. Maybe 1 extra episode could have helped.

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Boring Plot

I don't know what review to write, but it's really boring bl. I saw a lot of reviews that said that this is a beautiful bl, etc but I don't think it's 100% true. I mean, everyone has different standards or expectations. I didn't expect to watch this boring series, I mean the story and the actors are not too bad but for some reason there is nothing interesting on offer in this series. Although it is only a little duration, it is really boring i could say. I often watch short Korean drama series, but in terms of story, it's still good, but this is true.....
At the time I wanted to watch this, I was very excited, but when watching it, I don't expect that it's really boring. So yes...

Even so, I was still able to watch until the end. Not recommended, but if you want to watch it, just watch it

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Really, really good. As close to perfect as I've seen a BL K-drama get.

I really enjoyed this. The chemistry, the actors, the cinematography. Even the story wasn't terrible (albeit it was rushed and I would've just told the father to take a hike and ran away, but what can you do with 80 minutes total screentime?)

It was lovely. The only thing I'd have like more is less "shy" kisses, that looked like something you'd give your family, after all that angst. Boy waited 3 years - he should've gone hard.

The music was... generic, if I'm being brutally honest, but it didn't distract from any scene, and I really adored the pacing. It didn't flow badly and none of it felt like "yo, what?" (apart from maybe being friends with Pilhyeon again. Eff that dude.)

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Big Impact in Short Episodes

Is it normal for such short episodes to make you feel so much emotion?
It was enough that the first episodes were short, but I especially wanted it to slow down a little more towards the last episodes. It would be unbeatable if there was just one more episode. The way he handled emotions made me feel like I was watching a Japanese drama.
The only thing I can say negatively is that what I typically dislike in most k-dramas is that the kisses are shown as lips touching each other. Looking for a French kiss in K-dramas is like searching for a needle in a haystack.

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大大大キライ

キミがいた画面　下までスクロール　
だけどもう　今は　いない
流れていく写真たち　
どうでもいい　キミじゃないなら　
いらないよ

El plot tenía un monton de potencial y de nuevo fue arruinado por tratar de plasmarlo en 8 capítulos de 10 (diez) (じゅう) minutos!!!! me escucharon quejarme de los bl coreanos de 15 min y dijeron ah siii comete esto entonces. Esto podría haber sido tranquilamente una película en vez de hacerme ir poniendo capitulos más chicos que mis ganas de vivir
Idk el cheto ese me pareció un re hijo de puta cuando lo dejo al guardia irse caminando mientras el iba en auto o cuando fingio usar yeso para que el otro lo bañe y le de de comer pero a la vez me pareció hot y kinda lo entiendo porque no se le ocurría como acercarse al otro sino
Also el beso miserable que se dieron a 2 minutos de terminar la serie los odiooo y ni siquiera fue bueno, fue uno de esos besos de kdrama bien tiesos que decís que si asi se van a besar entonces que no se besen y listo.
Pero algo que si me gustó fue el skinship y cuando dormían juntos y etc etc
También creo que me gustó el plot? porque había cierto transfondo y que puedo decir adoro todo esto de relaciones prohibidas y gente con guita rompiendo las reglas idk kinda like young royals?
Todo lo del final de 3 años después me pareció una chota, hubiese preferido un final bien angsty como que no se vieron mas o se encontraron bien de grandes o un final abierto con ambos encontrándose sin mostrarnos siquiera diálogo entre los dos, simplemente callados mirándose a los ojos y perhaps sonriendo de lado
Solo se que si esto hubiese salido en 2014 hubiese sido mucho mas groundbreaking e icónico al punto de que todos en tumblr se la pasarian reblogueado gifs de estos dos (yo incluida)

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Great, short series. The concept could have used a longer runtime.

For over a year, I have seen "Where Your Eyes Linger" at the top of so many people's favorite BL lists. I was always intrigued by the concept, cliched as it may be. I was deterred from watching it for a long time because I didn't like the idea of such short episodes. And while I still stand behind that after watching all 8 episodes, I will say that it's still quite enjoyable, regardless of the short runtime.

To be honest, my reservations about the short episodes could have been challenged if the bodyguard aspect wasn't included in the plot. For one, the characters are only in high school, but it is stated multiple times throughout the series that Kang Gook has been Taejoo's bodyguard for 15 years. Having a child be a bodyguard for another child requires backstory. There was no backstory revealed throughout the entire series. Nevermind the fact that Taejoo never seemed to be in any imminent danger. So, why did he have a bodyguard at all? For the sake of the short runtime, having Kang Gook just simply be a friend who is protective Taejoo, or having him only be a bodyguard for a much shorter period of time would have been a better fit. I don't necessarily feel like giving the characters 15 years of companionship really added anything to the story except justification for a codependency that was never fully explored or emphasized.

However flawed the execution of the bodyguard aspect may have been, it doesn't ruin the show. I found everything else about the series to be quite enjoyable. The acting was phenomenal. The actors really sold me with their chemistry and sexual tension. Great visuals. OST was always spot-on and pulled me right into every intimate or intense moment. There were multiple times throughout my single sitting that I googled songs from the series.

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