Sweet and fun but rushed
It was definitely nice and heartwarming, but it felt like it would be even better if the series were longer, otherwise the story felt rushed.I liked almost everything about it, there were no unnecessary drama and no stupid jealousy over nothing. You know, in a way it felt refreshing, I started with little to none expectations and the first episode felt kinda mid, but the closer I was to the end the more I wanted this series to be longer. The music was good, and the food looked really appetising. Characters were really cute and actors had some chemistry.
But if I had to talk about the things I disliked about it, it would be these two things:
1. Not enough romance, it was enjoyable and warm but in my opinion there were just not enough skinship, not enough kisses, not enough even basic holding hand's. Of course, they had their cute moment's, but I would just love if there were more of them.
2. Too short/rushed. As I previously said, this series felt rushed. Especially the story around why Gi Hun were so against drinking alcohol as well as selling it in his restaurant. While they did tell us why, it was so short and seemed like it was an unimportant part, while it's literally a thing that the whole series is build around. The same goes for the fact that Gi Hun started drinking alcohol towards the end, I was supportive of his boundaries around alcohol, so I was caught of guard when this man bent under no pressure and just started drinking. While, yes, he wanted to change and understood that maybe his views were a bit harsh.
It doesn't change the fact that there were actually no time in between him screaming at people because of his hate for alcohol and him drinking like it's water. And it's again comebacks to the point that the series were definitely rushed because otherwise they could've done much better job if only they had more time.
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All in all it is a good and solid series.
It left me sitting here with a soft and happy feeling.I had no expectations of this one when I started, but now I'm glad I saw it.
It's short, the actors do a great job of bringing the character to life, and the soundtrack fits. There is no drama and the love story between the leads unfolds at a steady and healthy pace.
Perhaps one shouldn't follow the example of how much alcohol is drunk in the series, but I can very well empathize with the enthusiasm and passion that Han Ji Yu has for food.
Director Kim Jin Yeol made his debut this year (2023) with 'Individual Circumstances' ( a BL, go watch it if u liked "All the liqours").
"All the Liquors" is his second work and I personally find it entertaining as well.
If you compare the two series, you realize that they have similar imagery and they also feel similar when while watching. Whether that's good or bad is in the eye of the beholder.
Back to "All the Liquors": All in all it is a good and solid series to watch in between or just don't know what to watch next. I had fun watching it and I will definitely recommend it to other people.
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Disappointed drama
First let me tell you why I didn’t like this drama is only script and there is no chemistry at all between leads, they should give more scenes and showcase of feelings for each other I don’t think they had such scenes until 7 th episode and in last episode I’m not sure how did they soon confess to each other without any prior crush feelings or no intimate scenes rather directly they kissed totally shitty script but i don’t have any problem with the actors and they did the best but unfortunately korean bl dramas sucking this is the second drama apart from love class im disliking I really like Korean bl drama but most of them are sucking I m not expecting any bad scenes or kissing scene all i’m asking is chemistry between leads and we need to know how their relationship growing rather than focusing on unnecessary script anyway all the best to the actors I hope they never meet again this shity scripts and get a good scriptWas this review helpful to you?
It's Like Eating a Nothing Burger
One can call this BL series cute, soft, and slightly entertaining. A nice entertainment escape story. Not deep of course, and not very memorable but nice for the moment. Its story is simple, basic, and frankly, boring. A couple of distractions made this series less impactful for me. Frankly I did not understand the point of this series. It is barely romantic. The kissing scenes were insulting, and obviously badly rehearsed. What distracted me from this series are two things. This series has no depth to its story or its characters. Secondly, we have yet another example of a BL series unwilling to commit itself to showing ‘love’.Was this review helpful to you?
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Great short show! Good for beginner BL watchers!
"All the Liquors" stands out as a captivating Korean BL series that intricately weaves a budding romance with the world of alcoholic beverages. Following Ha-Joon's dream of becoming a bartender and Jun-MO's responsibility as the heir to a prestigious liquor business, the series navigates their personal aspirations amidst societal pressures.
The undeniable highlight of the show is the genuine and heartfelt connection between Ha-Joon and Jun-mo. Their chemistry is palpable, drawing viewers into their evolving relationship. The incorporation of the liquor industry serves as a fascinating backdrop, adding depth and uniqueness to their journey.
Character development shines through the main leads, offering nuanced portrayals of their struggles and aspirations. However, the supporting characters could benefit from more depth and meaningful contributions to the storyline.
While exploring societal expectations and family dynamics within the liquor industry, the series manages to maintain a consistent pacing and delivers emotional depth, albeit occasionally missing opportunities for a more profound exploration of these themes.
The production quality is generally commendable, maintaining a visually appealing standard throughout the series.
Overall, "All the Liquors" earns an 8 out of 10 for its engaging central romance, genuine chemistry between the leads, and the incorporation of the liquor world into the narrative. It's an enjoyable watch within the BL genre, offering a balance of emotional depth and a unique setting, although with some room for improvement in supporting character development and deeper exploration of its thematic elements.
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The characters balance each other nicely
I like how realistic the series felt at times and the fact that it lacked unnecessary drama and jealousy fits. The two main characters are adults and their interactions and lives fit their roles. The locations for the series were really beautiful and aesthetically pleasing, the spaces of each character really seemed to fit them well.Park Ki Hoon & Han Ji Yu: I found the two adorable! Han Ji Yu seems to be quite wild, easy going yet a bit awkward at times. Park Ki Hoon is an introvert who doesn’t do well in social situations, and that shows. I really liked how they kept their personalities throughout the series, there were no drastic changes. Sure, cold male lead became softer and more caring, but he still kept some of his traits. I do like how drama free the series was. It was a bit of a slow burn, but it felt realistic. The two are adults who didn’t rush into things. Even with having a crush on one another. They balance each other out really nicely. Han Ji Yu being a foodie and how he enjoyed pretty much everything he was eating was such a mood.
I am not really a fan of the fact that Han Ji Yu was shown as pretty much alcoholic. And the whole reason why Park Ki Hoon hates alcohol was delivered in a very cold, stoic manner. It was quite anticlimactic. Including how he was then suddenly cool with not only people drinking around him and in his restaurant but with him drinking as well.
I loved the friendships shown in the series. Park Ji Ha is an absolute cutie, the typical always single, in and out of relationships, kind of friend. His friendship with Han Ji Yu is amazing, they are the kind of friends that tell you just how things are. I also really liked the friendship between Park Ki Hoon and his friend / employee Choi Wan. It felt more formal, but the two had a close relationship and Choi Wan was doing his best to get his friend to open up a bit more. Kim Yuh Ah was a great addition to the group.
There was some humor to the series too. Which I liked. I really loved the opening scene, actually I really liked the whole first episode. I was hooked! Sadly, I feel like things got very rushed after the 2nd or 3rd episode, instead of focusing on the whole persuasion to work together part which was promised in the series description.
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Shall we eat some ramyon...later?
When I started watching Kdramas a few years ago (thank you covid!), I was struck by the place eating and drinking take in these series: the characters eat huge amounts of food and drink until they fall into a drunken stupor! And when they emerge from it, they continue eating and drinking late at night! What was even more surprising was that no one had anything to say about the unseemly behaviour of those drunk people: often they are considered cute and people promptly fall in love with such drunks!All The Liquors is just the same but a BL, apparently. A cold and serious chef keeps bumping into the drunken JiYu and falls for his dubious charms. THE END
JiYu is a drunk, almost an alcoholic, barely functioning during the day because he spends nights drinking himself into oblivion in order to forget that he had been dumped by his boyfriend on Christmas. Ten months on, he is still drinking heavily every day, and drunk and hungry one afternoon he stumbles into the chef's restaurant where he loses consciousness. The chef, who is very rigid and prohibits alcohol in his restaurant, in contact with JiYu changes the tune and starts admitting alcoholic beverages in his restaurant and drinking quite a bit himself.
There is nothing I liked about this drama.
I do not like the message that is behind it: if you want to enjoy your life, you need to eat and drink heavily preferably with like minded friends. Otherwise you are a weirdo!
I do not like the lack of chemistry between the leads nor the character of JiYu who is a slovenly drunk; Though there is a bit of development where he is concerned: he drinks a little bit less towards the end! With a couple of dead fish kisses and talk about rameyon!
I do not like the music: it is boring and mostly played when not needed and vice versa. And the sound recording was atrocious: you could hear the empty space of a hangar they filmed in since the echo was really bad!
I do not like the clothes they wear: all those large high rise baggy trousers and oversize shirts are not nice!
The only thing I liked about this drama is its length and that's why I finished it!
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Light but for the alcohol
Light is the operative word to describe “All The Liquors”, a low budget Korean BL about a young marketing lad falling in love with the small restaurant-owning chef he persaudes to front one of his company’s alcohol product launches. Key to the series is the 20 year old Kim Jun Hyung, who combines light comic elements with his inherent cuteness to maintain interest in this love versus work plot line. His partner in love is played by debuting model/actor Won Do Hyun, whose wooden acting ironically turns out to be perfect for the hesitant lover.The cast is small, as in similar low-budget Korean shoots, like last year’s “Individual Circumstances” and the locations are limited. “All The Liquors” has the benefit of a city locale which adds some interest, although the poor audio quality inside the undampened box-like location of the chef’s restaurant represents an unusual drop in film production standards from a Korean production team.
“All The Liquors” had the potential it seemed at first to tackle a much more serious issue of over-consumption of alcohol in Korean society but managed to drop the ball on this opportunity and to reaffirm instead the dubious notion that too much Sujo is a good thing where it assists romance to flow.
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Foodie lovers
Lovely bite sized encapsulation of going from a mutual love for food into a mutual crush and romance. Ji Yu is so lucky to literally fall into the arms of his dream man who understands to importance of delicious food from fancy culinary cuisine to instant noodles and Gi Hun in turn is also lucky for his dream man to fall into his arms and fill in the knowledge he needs for great alcohol food pairings in the alcohol loving society that he operates an restaurant in, as well as being the balm of happiness for his stage fright. The side noona romance is cute too.Was this review helpful to you?
Realistic drama.. an expected Korean BL
To begin with , I called it realistic because the awkward stares and the interactions felt real as if it was not a filming scene but a moment straight out of a daily life of a person.Other BLs show this dreamy world where leads are so much in love or are ardent enemy turning into lovers, but here everything goes smoothly.
Little more screen space was required to show how and why the chef falls for and is tender towards the soju guy at the beginning, given there was no previous interactions between them
But anyway, the story is average, a bit dragged but the cute moments and expressions makes up for it.
The kisses were just touch of lips as expected from Korean BL but not complaining since they look natural and awkward at the same time.
Watch it without expectations and move on to next one because it won't linger in your thoughts after it gets over.
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The Story Worked ... Eventually
It's a bit difficult to imagine and chemistry between these two main characters at the beginning of this story, but give it some time, although not too much time, because the story seems a bit rushed and fast moving.Once you get into the first 30 minutes you can start to see the relationship and how it's going to work.
It's no fault of the actors. Jun Hyung & Do Hyun are very good and definitely blend together to make a cute pair on screen, but so much of a contract in the beginning makes for an uncomfortable few minutes.
At the end the story does in fact work and it makes for a good feeling drama.
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This was an okay watch, but nothing special. It wasn’t ultra-boring or hard to sit through or anything, and the premise was fairly interesting, but I think it fell flat with the chemistry and relationship development. And I thought the show’s messaging about alcohol was flawed.In terms of the overall storyline, I didn’t think the relationship development or the development of Kihoon’s views on alcohol made sense.
From the start, Kihoon agreed to serve Jiyoo food during the restaurant’s break hours, which was a rule he strictly upheld. It didn’t make sense given that he had no pre-existing relationship with Jiyoo and Jiyoo had only ever made a bad, extremely drunk impression on him.
But more than that, the turning point where Kihoon really started to like Jiyoo seemed to be when Jiyoo helped with a large party at the restaurant, but as part of that, he offered them alcohol. He did that despite knowing about Kihoon’s alcohol ban, but Kihoon wasn’t upset and actually ended up removing the alcohol ban as a result. That was totally out of character, given that he vehemently refused any type of alcohol to be served no matter how upset it made customers, and often got angry if he was challenged. He knew that alcohol would make customers happier from the start, so seeing that play out in front of him wouldn’t have been a surprise. Not enough to overcome his trauma and make him do a total 180 after strictly upholding his rules for so long, anyways.
For Kihoon to go from strictly banning alcohol in all forms to serving it in his restaurant, agreeing to partner with an alcohol company, and personally drinking alcohol, all within a span of a few weeks, just didn’t make sense. It seemed too abrupt.
And that brings me to my second point. I didn’t like that the show was about rehabbing Kihoon to be okay with alcohol instead of rehabbing or even acknowledging Jiyoo’s blatant alcoholic tendencies. Because it’s totally valid to not drink, to not want to serve alcohol, and to not want to be around alcohol, and those boundaries should be respected, not treated as unreasonable. Jiyoo was quite literally an alcoholic. He drank every day and with every meal - not just a drink or two, but actively getting shitfaced. He would show up at work hungover and smelling of alcohol. But his behavior was never acknowledged as problematic. Kihoon had trauma about his grandmother who drank daily, but in the end her drinking was framed in a positive light, with him saying that she was drinking to congratulate herself for raising him. So the show ended up normalizing alcoholism while framing sobriety as abnormal, and that didn’t sit well with me.
The chemistry was there, but died with 3 dead fish kisses and not a single proper one. The relationship only gets to the awkward beginning stage. They’ve only known each other for a few weeks by the end of the show, and haven’t even reached the “love” stage yet, so it didn’t feel like a deep everlasting HEA, which is the type of fantastical romance I prefer.
Also, the show opens with Jiyoo’s break up with his ex, which I felt was irrelevant and should have been excluded. Why unnecessarily put in ex-related stuff? I don’t even like it when they put in ex-related stuff that is relevant.
Good consent / boundaries for the most part. The only minor issue was when Jiyoo put his face really close to Kihoon’s and watched while he was passed out drunk.
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