The Story of Bi Hyeong (2025)

folklore meets BL, but it failed to deliver.

I like a premise where fantasy/folklore is part of the story and in the beginning they did well. Till episode 4 they had an animated intro which did explain bits of the tale which played out 1000 years ago. With ep 5 this part was gone and we had to wait till ep 9 where a lot of the background was explained. This episode was the best of the series, but I felt they should have given us more background. The part of the BL was also a long time in the background and overall I think the couples lacked the chemistry needed to "sell" it to us. It got better in the later episodes but imho it was not enough. I would have liked to have seen more of the past and less in the current time.

In the finale we got a quite satisfying happy end for the main-couple, but the side-couple was just a 2 minute insert without any details or depth. Overall I felt the series lacked a constant pace, some episodes felt a bit streched and genereally I missed the focus of both folklore & BL. We also have an antagonist and with his smirk in the last scene (and with a scene before), there is even an open end for a season 2.

Production quality was very good, which felt a bit of a waste considering the script. I think the actors did lack chemistry with each other. They did kiss, the side couple landed in bed together (but we did not see what happened there), which was fine, but I never felt a longing for each other. So I'm a bit disappointed with the outcome of this series, because they have tried to do a good show, but I think the script was too weak to do so. For me it's an ok show but not a show I will watch again, except if there is a season 2 to refresh my memory. This show will not leave a lasting impression.

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