This review may contain spoilers
Boring as hell ...
How can such a short series be so boring? Strongberry is not back with a solid BL. The finale was split in two parts, just a cash grab because it added only 7 Minutes more to episode 12/1... What a waste of money. They even did not complete the story of the side couple. So this series has only 12 episodes where the second one is extended to around 23 minutes.So overall, while the actors are cute to handsome, they were as good as the script let them. The story started with a nice premise but it got boring fast, because there was not much character development for a long time. The also added the kinda "bad" woman for too long imho. I don't like people medling in other peoples affair. Especially bad for the side couple, they are "floating" in the air and we don't know if they did get together or not. At a positive note, they did really kiss :)
So this is a medicore show which did not kept me interested past the 6th episode. For a KBL it's quite disappointing, but after "The Idol" it's an slight improvment.
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3Cuteness can't save everything!
This one had the hallmark fake dating trope and it got off to a pretty good start, but it lost its footing in the middle and it was only partly redeemable in the end.The leads Yuha and Min U, had this awkward but cute chemistry that just worked. They weren’t over the top or too intense. Min U is the overthinker, always trying to keep things under control but clearly unsure of what he is doing half the time. Yuha also doesn't fall far from the tree either. He comes off as confident and charming, but he has his own battles to fight. It was fun watching these two emotionally stunted adults fake date their way and try to act unbothered while slowly unraveling.
But somewhere along the way, it got a little messy. Maybe it was the short runtime or just 1 episode per week that made it seem a bit incoherent or the fact that they tried to squeeze in too many tropes and unnecessary drama. Instead of exploring the characters more, the story leaned on tired cliches like throwing in a random female character to cause drama. We really don't need this in 2025 and especially when runtime is already pretty limited.
The second couple, Taeha and Jaemin had potential but didn’t get enough screen time to make their relationship feel believable. They were cute but it all felt rushed and surface level. It was all "blink and you will miss it" romance. I see them more as close friends or even if it was romantic, it was more from Jaemin's side.
On that note, I wasn’t a fan of Taeha’s character. He came off as manipulative and the whole "I did it out of love" excuse didn’t sit right with me at all. In my head if someone is like family to you, you just don’t lie to them and mess with their life in order to protect them, considering that person is an ADULT. The way it was glossed over and hugged out left a sour taste in my mouth.
Also there were too many beauty filters on actors faces. They were already handsome and charming, the plastic doll finish wasn't needed.
Overall, I did enjoy the first half, which makes me a little disappointed. It’s one of those "too many cooks and tropes destroys the soup" situation where everything is in there, but nothing gets enough time to shine.
That said, it’s still a light and a short watch. I would recommend it if you like fake dating tropes and aren’t looking for anything too deep. It’s fine for a one-time watch.
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Bored out of my mind
This was so boring, I couldn't bring myself to complete this. The acting in this is so flat like especially the main couple aren't expressive at all, most of the time their face expression was just none existent. The dialog is also boring and the obsession from Taeha is just weird. I think the idea about the plot itself isn't bad but it was executed bad. Stiff acting, directing was boring, no chemistry, just overall not a good bl in my opinion.I'm not sure what else to say to this, I personally wouldn't recommend this but everyones taste is different and some people might enjoy it (which is obviously completely fine) regardless I wanted to share my thoughts because I haven't seen such a low review for this kdrama but who knows maybe someone can relate to my review 😊
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Sweetheart Services – A Light, Heartwarming BL
What an adorable Korean BL! Watching Sweetheart Services over 12 weeks was pure joy—after a stressful day at work, this series made my Thursday nights brighter. 🌸All four male leads are stunning—handsome, cute, and with great chemistry. Their acting felt natural, and every scene was a treat to watch.
We didn’t get a kiss until Episode 12, but wow… the finale spoiled us with two amazing kisses. The sound effects alone were such a turn-on—it felt worth the long wait. 😏
This series leans into my favorite trope: fake dating that slowly turns into real love. Watching their feelings grow episode by episode was so satisfying.
Overall, Sweetheart Services is light, fun, and non-toxic—the perfect stress-free BL with jealousy, soft romance, and a sweet happy ending. Highly recommend if you want a weekly serotonin boost. 💕
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This review may contain spoilers
Sweetheart Service? My Heart’s Still Waiting for a Refund
I went into this series with high hopes, but I was in for a disappointment. Now, you might be wondering why I even bothered finishing this series. Honestly, I have no idea either. Each episode was so short that I thought maybe something interesting would happen, but nope. Nothing much.This series had the potential to be great, but after episode 7, it went downhill so fast that I need to call a mechanic to fix it. The plot completely faded after that point, and I honestly felt like I was watching a totally different series altogether.
The premise started off promising: Min U hires Yu Ha to be his fake boyfriend, feeling pressured to marry. Naturally, a contract relationship blossoms into something real. Sounds cute, right? But unfortunately, the story lost its focus, and there was no clear direction in the second half of the series. It became a mess.
The Plot: After the initial setup, things just went off the rails. The series introduced unnecessary side plots that didn’t tie into the main story at all. One of the most pointless was a minor female colleague who asked Min U to pretend to be her fake boyfriend to help her get rid of her ex. Why? Because it made Min U jealous—but that didn’t save it from feeling like filler that added nothing meaningful to the main narrative.
The Leads: Screen time for the main leads decreased dramatically in the second half, making it hard to stay connected with them. And when they were on screen, there was no chemistry. I couldn’t feel any of their emotions or what they were trying to portray. The acting was below average, to say the least.
The Second Couple: What was even the point of them? Their screen time was minimal, and they had absolutely zero chemistry. It felt like the director had no idea what to do with them.
Yu Ha’s Relationship with His Brother: The show became overly focused on this subplot when we all tuned in for the romance. The second half felt more like a sibling drama than a love story.
All in all, this series was poorly executed. Chemistry? Nonexistent. Plot? Not plotting. I wouldn’t recommend this series. It was a wasted opportunity. My tea didn’t even spill; it was that dull.
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STRONGBERRY BACK AT IT AGAIN???
right now this is good, let’s hope it keeps being good but strongberry always delivers some good BLs. I love everything about this series right now- only 1 episode and its doing its thing, might be asking me why the hell am I leaving a review right? because I got hopes for this shit.. I’m gonna continue watching and hope this be a REMANING GOOD DRAMA 🤞(let’s just hope my hope never fails)
anyways the acting is good, the visuals are also is giving, the series is going well, also it has 12 episodes which is also great.
so far everything is going smooth let’s hope my review don’t go down. 😂
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not bad but also not good
this is one of series that has a good start so the first eps were good, later on it starts to drag and they involved a clichey issue, the "lets include a woman villain trying to get between the two" and dont forget this show airs one ep per week with a screentime of 20 mins, what im saying the schedule doesnt help to easy up the audience frustration but they also include a frustrating, overdone and forced issue to create some drama which make people more frustratedoverall:
plot not good
actors look cute:Min U is adorable and its the reason why i continued watching
it probably would feel better for future audience as they can bing watch the whole show in one day rather than getting frustrated waiting then they get more frustrated by the events that happen in the show
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This review may contain spoilers
Sleeping Aid
This series allowed me to sleep with my eyes wide open. The monotone and bland expressions from Yooha and Minwoo had me zoned out. The conversations so calm and sedated caused me to wonder if they were programmed robots. It wasn't the worst I've seen but it sure could replace the use of sedatives.The premise of the plot is fine. Doing odd jobs to become independent and not rely on your close brother. I was ready for scenarios that would entertain and would give an outright laugh or two. It started with good intentions but fell into a lull after a while. This was not from the lines being verbalized but more from the overall delivery. Hushed. I expected the introvert Jaemin to be this way but not Minwoo and Yooha who supposed to carry the series.
Taeha, with his detachment issues, while understood was a little too much at times. Why didn't he want his brother to become self sufficient and have a life apart from his? To the point of disappearing to see the outcome. Shouldn't this be the goal of any person in a parental role? Odd. Though I will say Myeongcheol aced this role as well as Hyunkwon as Jaemin. Visually Taeha and Yooha felt more natural together than Yooha and Minwoo. Suyeon, sly manipulative determined, delivered. Seeing a female in this role is beyond overdone. A welcome change would have been a male manager using Yooha as a level up to his abusive boyfriend without catching feelings.
Strongberry has created beautiful series before and I will keep looking.
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This review may contain spoilers
This started strong, but kind of fell flat as it went on. There’s a lot of things that didn’t really work for me in terms of relationship development for all the characters involved.For the main couple, we know that Minwoo likes Yooha and we can see the progression of his feelings developing. It makes sense that Minwoo likes Yooha. He’s this clean, pristine, closed-off person, and Yooha brings something new and dynamic to his life. He cares and shows an interest in Minwoo that no one else ever has. But what exactly does Minwoo provide to Yooha? There’s not a lot of character development for Minwoo - he’s clean, pristine, and closed-off all the way to the end, except for maybe giving a few more closed-lip smiles. He’s not emotionally forthcoming, and we never see him do anything genuinely nice or caring for Yooha. The only thing he ever did was go looking for Yooha’s brother when he went missing, but after he found him, he didn’t even tell Yooha that he did. Instead, Yooha found out where he was when his brother’s co-conspirator came clean of her own volition. It’s a small thing, but that scene where Minwoo accidentally makes a coffee for Yooha with salt instead of sugar but then doubles down that it was on purpose and Yooha feels pressured into drinking the whole thing…I can’t help but feel like that could have been a pivotal scene where Minwoo could have shown a caring side by admitting he was wrong and fixing it. As it is, I don’t feel we ever got a pivotal moment. I never really got when Yooha fell for Minwoo or why.
The relationship build up started off well, though. The fake dating and Minwoo falling for Yooha were good. When Minwoo kisses Yooha and freaks out, apologizing and telling Yooha that he should have maintained the contractual terms of their relationship, that conflict should have been the focal turning point of their relationship. Instead, they don’t talk for days, Yooha terminates the contract to fake date someone else offering more money to save his brother’s bar, and they don’t really talk again until the end of the show. Minwoo turns up drunk, finds out Yooha’s brother is missing, locates said brother but does nothing with that information, then the brother returns home by himself, Minwoo confesses, and they live happily ever after. They don’t get together until midway through the final episode. The pacing just felt off. With all that time apart, I didn’t feel a proper emotional connection between them, and with them getting together so late, I felt the relationship was too new to feel stable enough for a true HEA.
Yooha and Taeha’s relationship didn’t make sense to me, from start to end. We’re told they’re “brothers,” but they’re not biologically related. And the way that Taeha acts, I can’t help but feel he has feelings for Yooha. He was so obsessively dependent on Yooha. He wanted Yooha with him by his side forever, and when Yooha wanted independence and left home, he went as far as faking his disappearance and the threat of the bar being auctioned off because he wanted Yooha to come running to him for help. Instead, Yooha was able to manage on his own, and Taeha fell apart even more. I don’t think it’s normal to be so emotionally dependent on your brother, or to have such a volatile reaction to the idea of him fake dating someone. Or to touch him, or caress his face, hair, or hand in that way. It was genuinely weird. Yooha and Taeha have matching “family” rings, except their family is just the two of them so it came across more like couple rings. I wanted Yooha to take his off already, but the show was going with the premise that these two have a normal brotherly relationship, so the rings stayed.
And the side couple should not have happened at all. Jaemin had feelings for Taeha for the entire show, but Taeha never once even noticed him beyond a bar employee. In the final episode, Taeha is crying over Yooha and saying he doesn’t know how he can live without him and Jaemin is comforting him, and then Taeha suddenly kisses Jaemin. It didn’t feel like a couple getting together or finally revealing feelings for each other. It was a man hopelessly in love with someone who would never love him back (in my mind anyways, the show thinks they’re brothers), crying over him, and then he kisses the closest person he can latch onto. All he’s doing there, brotherly feelings or not, is shifting his obsession to someone else. He never even noticed Jaemin before, let alone developed genuine feelings for him. He kisses Jaemin, pulls away and apologizes, and after Jaemin processes, he kisses Taeha. Except Taeha looked like he massively regretted that first kiss and didn’t want the second. So all in all, a messy, non-romantic situation and they would have been better off leaving both of them single.
Also, Suyeon made zero sense to me. I don’t know why she was let off scot free like she did nothing wrong at the end. She was Minwoo’s boss and she was in a relationship with a man that didn’t want to marry her. She finds out Yooha is only fake dating Minwoo and decides to hire him herself so that she can make her boyfriend jealous. Except I don’t know what she was trying to accomplish, because she breaks it off with him and when he shows up at the same cafe she’s at with Yooha, Yooha is confrontational, saying that he’s her boyfriend and he needs to leave her alone. I thought the goal was to make him jealous, not to get him to leave her alone, so that made no sense to me.
And then she claims that her ex is harassing her so she wants to hire Yooha longterm. I don’t know if that claim was true or not, but we never hear of it again and she turns out to be a serial liar, so I’m assuming it wasn’t. But to get Yooha to agree to that, she first lies to Yooha’s brother saying she’s Minwoo’s fiancee under the premise that both of them have been wronged and Yooha / Minwoo need to return back to where they belong. So they decide that the brother will disappear and they’ll fake the bar being put up for auction. The brother wanted Yooha to run to him when he’s in trouble, and Suyeon wanted to offer financial support for the bar to convince Yooha to fake date her. So Yooha agrees and ends the contract with Minwoo to fake date her.
Except she changes the terms, saying that she likes him and since she’s offering so much financial support, he should give some of himself to her too. That was really messed up, given the financial power dynamic and the fact that she made the money conditional on his reciprocation. Eventually Yooha breaks the contract with her, but then she’s suddenly portrayed as the good guy, because she lets him keep the money, tells him the truth about his brother’s whereabouts, and lets him cleanly cut ties, no drama. And in the end, but Minwoo and Yooha end up working under her. Like what? No consequences whatsoever?
Consent / boundary issues: Suyeon essentially coerces Yooha into putting forth something real even though their relationship is supposed to be entirely fake by making the money he needs to save his brother’s bar conditional on it. While it’s not necessarily romanticized, it’s also not properly acknowledged either, and Suyeon never faces any consequences. In the finale, Taeha surprise kisses Jaemin without giving him the opportunity to consent. Then when Jaemin processes, he kisses Taeha except Taeha looks like he regretted kissing Jaemin and didn’t want that second kiss.
Kisses: For the main couple, there’s a lip press kiss midway through the series, and 2 LONG intense kisses in the finale. For the side couple, there’s two wide-eyed lip presses in the finale (one kisses the other while they’re staring wide-eyed, and then that one kisses the first while they’re staring wide-eyed).
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A bit boring
This was a very slow drama, after a few episodes it became a bit boring. The story was ok, but the execution was quite boring.Acting was ok, but not great, all the characters were quite emotionless.
The visuals were ok, i can't remember anything of music.
There was not much chemistry between the main couple, luckily ep. 12 finaly had some good kisses and emotions.
The second couple had no chemistry at all, they just felt akward.
You can watch it, but don't expect too much of it.
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It's cute
It's a Korean Bl's so it's going to be all about the feels and drama. It's good for a light feel good show you can watch in one day. I'm not usually a fan of Korean BL'S but I came back every week. I would have like to see more of the side couple but hey it is what it is.Why do they make a character minimum for these reviews! 🤬
♥️♥️♥️♥️ ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️ ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️ ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️ ♥️♥️♥️♥️ ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️ ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️ ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️ ♥️ Seriously! Still 64 to go. Why! I'm not writing a book just a review ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️
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Got kinda bored at ep. 8; might go back later....
I haven't and won't be going back. It wasn't terrible, and I could finish it if I wanted to, but I really don't. Like I said, I got bored, but not just that, I also got busy, and nothing was compelling me to say I HAD to go back and finish this drama like other Strongberry works have in the past. Like other people have mentioned, it wasn't one of Strongberry's best. The plot could've been fine for this work, but the casting and pacing really threw it off for me.Was this review helpful to you?
