1
1Washed up and empty!
I hate to be this person, but what did I just watch and why did I continue watching ?!I binged all 10 episodes and it simply doesn't work. When I read the synopsis I was expecting tension, push and pull between the two contrasting personalities and all the basics that usually come with a contract relationship trope. But I got NONE. I repeat none.
Calling this a story might be generous. The nature of their relationship demands and justify NC scenes but at the cost of the whole story? If I remove those from each episode, we will barely have a minute or two left. And honestly, I didn't find them appealing too.
Both the characters were less “written” and more “present". They spent most of their screen time staring into the void, as if hoping a personality or a line of decent dialogue might eventually appear. It didn’t.
I fail to understand this choice because if you are working with such a painfully short runtime, wasting it on hollow pauses and meaningless moments is just weak writing. Instead it could have used those minutes to build tension, give some depth to the characters, or just something more.
Coming to the chemistry between them, somehow it didn't work for me but it wasn't the worst part about the drama.
I have seen both the actors in Sweetheart service, and I didn't dislike it to this extent. I hope they choose and get better projects in future.
Again, I wasn't expecting this to be a masterpiece and I understand low budget restrictions so I won't nitpick on the visuals and sound effects but honestly, this isn't worth your time even though it's barely an hour.
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When you don't have a clue about BDSM, don't include it in your story at all...
What could have been a nice production was a failure... If you don't have a vision of the story, don't tell it, when you include specific sexual practices then learn about it and don't include laughable scenes. And because they had no vision the series does not have flow, it's choppy mess from the beginning to the end.I would not deny that the couple does have chemistry especially in the end, but the story is half assed and ruins this series. We know that you can tell a good stories in short episodes but they couldn't. Even when they kiss well, in this case sex does not sell.
So, this is a huge disappointment and should be skipped.
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Empty trainwreck
Nothing worked with this.Budget? What budget ?
Dialog? Cringe at best.
Editing? Atrocious.
Story? What story ?
OST? Painful.
Cast? Mmmmm...at least they somewhat committed (even if poorly) ?
I have no idea on why I completed this series given how bad it was...I did not even have the slightest hope that it would get better...And it certainly did not. Not going to lie, it was somewhat entertaining to witness how bad a drama can be and on so many levels.
I would not recommend this to people. It is a trashy show which consists in 10 minutes episodes loosely bound together by an almost completely nonexistent "plot" (if you can even call it that).
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makes no sense
It is like they filmed a series, took out all of the "sexy" (I use that term very loosely) scenes and then made this series with the scenes they pulled out. I am not even sure what they were trying to go for with this series. Episode one is basically the entire story and every episode afterward has nothing to add. This is not a series to watch if you want an actual story. This isn't even a series to watch if you just want NC scenes.The narration and sound overlay is horrid and takes away from the music which is honestly the best part of the show.Was this review helpful to you?
10 minutes equals eternity
..at least in this drama. Do yourself a favor and increase the watching speed,if you absolutely want to watch this.What we get:
- a lot of very moist kisses, at least from one of the actors. The other party prefers to not move any facial muscle.
- a lot of screams,racked with pain, especially in the first episodes, and without any visible reason for it.
- almost every movement between the actors from every possible angle, which leads to looooong moments of unbuttoning the very first button
- a lot of zooming in bushes
- soliloquis
- incoherent scenes following each other, leading to a lot of confusion (did they cut the plot out?)
- very soft music, almost not hearable
What we don't get:
- Tension: Basically nowhere; no arc of suspense, no red line, no sexual tension.
- the explanation for the message displayed on a smartphone somewhere in the middle saying one of them will marry
- a proper explanation for anything
- the tagged themes such as BDSM/Lust.
What would have been nice:
- less cut-off scenes
- a coherent script with a plot
- an acting teacher for kissing scenes; alternatively cancelling all intimate scenes
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What did I just watch?
This has to be the worst BL I’ve ever watched. I’m not a quitter so I couldn’t drop it plus I kind of had to see just how bad it could continue to be. I like the actors, but this series had no plot and the editing was absolutely horrendous. The fact that it was also only 10 minutes long left no room for story. There was a lot of kissing and normally I wouldn’t be bothered by this, but the kissing itself was awful. You have one who is practically eating the other’s face and the other is just taking it with no lip movement at all. It’s how I would imagine kissing a dead fish. I’d like those 100 minutes back. So disappointing after seeing Sweetheart Service.Was this review helpful to you?
I started this thinking it was To My Shore. Complete brain fog on my part.
You know.. Tide.. Shore.. I made a mistake.
Only figured it out halfway through.
But I also figured it couldn't be that bad.
I knew it would be completely different, but maybe not bad.
It was bad.
The first thing - there's no actual story. The entire series is an hour and 40 minutes, and of those, 50 minutes are the two leads making out. The other 50 is one of leads giving us pointless monologues. It starts off as a contract relationship between the two of them and then divulges into utter stupidity from there on.
The acting is bad too. Which is both fair considering there's no story and really unfair to us because why can't we get something good?
There were a lot of NC scenes.. probably too many. I cannot tell if they were any good because the sheer volume somehow melded them into one full scene that felt like a replay of a single one every two minutes. I also don't know if the leads had chemistry because
1) Bad story
2) Bad acting
A complete mess. But I was glued to it nonetheless because.. I don't know. I didn't have fun but it was pretty fun? Luckily it's very short and can be watched very quickly.
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Tide of Grunts (hope the actors get a better script next time)
Overall: I didn't expect them to do a safe, sane, consensual BDSM series (which would be amazing to finally see), but I was hoping to at least be entertained (I wasn't). 10 episodes about 10 minutes each. Aired on the app Shortime (my invite link is https://playground.shortime.app/en/invite/NKNIWI - the code is NKNIWI (those are all capital letters, that's the capital letter i) and it should get you a bonus); GagaOOLala https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/5972/tide-of-love-2025 (not in Korea) and SEEKmeda for channel members https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwfmKArt9EtWOQm5LiWg9mKzvMpkpPCHe&si=ZRyYUHDRbQjrlHHh and iQIYI https://www.iq.com/play/tide-of-love-episode-1-24f4ukbxh0g?lang=en_usWhat I Liked
- visuals
Room For Improvement
- started with a voice over exposition dump (continued voicing of inner thoughts)
- it wasn't enjoyable to watch 1 person being scared/reluctant in the "BDSM" scenes
- it made no sense in episode 2 that a character had plenty of money but continue when he doesn't seem to enjoy it, what was his motivation for staying? and then in episode 3 he was suddenly in love but disgusted during their NC scenes???
- I normally give indie productions a pass with editing/production value but SEEKMedia had extra time after they sold it to streaming platforms and needed to work on the editing which was terrible (sounds didn't match visuals, bad transitions, continuity errors like buttons that magically re-buttoned themselves)
- the grunting was bad (but almost so bad it was funny)
- did the writers not understand why BDSM can be sexy?, nearly waterboarding multiple times was not sexy, having a person write the other person's name multiple times was not sexy
- their kissing energy didn't match at all, one guy was sucking the other guy's face off whereas that guy didn't want to open his mouth or move any part of his face
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The worst of the worst
Very very disappointing. I waited so long for this with high expectations and this is what I have to watch?1. The audio sucks. Almost all the dialogues are dubbed. Dubbing is fine, but the dubbing in this drama does not match with the video. In some scenes, the background sounds are leaking which makes the dubbing sound smaller. Very sloppy and messy. Even the music I think is really bad. It does not match with the overall situation.
2. Weak story plot. I’m so confused with this one, as literally nothing happened in the drama. The plot has no depth at all, very surface level, and also no progression. It’s all just a montage of them doing the thing, and then going to school, and then doing it again, and then cook, and then doing it again. Like what the fuck am I watching? There’s no progression at all with their story. They just suddenly fell in love with each other wtf.
3. Weak worldbuilding. This one is just funny for me. Did anyone realize that the art class our MC go to only has 2 students and no teacher? LMAO. I also realized on one scene, it was suppose to be night time, but there are sunlight coming in from the window. ?????? wtf.
4. This drama is filled with NC scenes so you would think that AT LEAST the NC scenes would be good right? Nope. Not even the slightest good. I do have to give it to them because yes their NC scenes are crazier than other korean bl dramas. However, that doesn’t mean that it’s good. The NC scenes look sloppy and messy af. A lot of repeated actions in one scene, where it could just end quick but nope they have to elongate it which makes the scene flop. I also think they put too much of these scenes. They should’ve lessen the NC scenes and make more ‘normal’ romantic scenes so at least the plot have more depth.
5. Can’t even be sad for the MC when the mom’s health got worse. Yes duh because we don’t even get to see the mom. How am I suppose to feel sad when there’s nothing to be sad of?
Dare I say it, there is nothing to like from this drama✋😬🤚. Oh maybe there is one thing. The actors are very good-looking and their acting is not the best, but not that bad. So, this one is a whooping 1/10 for me. Sorry.
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The Great Unbuttoning (and magical rebuttoning)
Ah 'Tide of Love', where my favourite part is Jaehun's thumb ring. [Also known as 'Don't Tell Mum I Became A Rentboy', 'The Great Unbuttoning', and 'Fun Tips For Raising Houseplants'.] Never has a show promised so much and delivered so little (other than the enjoyment of making fun of it).This is BDSM for people who have almost zero knowledge of BDSM.
After the first few episodes I might just have been watching it for the thumb ring - by the final episode it felt like they really figured out that the thumb ring was the star of the show 💛
We all love bread... but seriously, please do some grocery shopping before someone gets scurvy.
At least we get a happy ending for grunt boy and thumb ring accessory.
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When you think it couldn't get worse.
I think what was shocking for me was how mind numbing this was for a Korean bl. The mls could not save what could be described as the most horrible script ever. They also needed to feel comfortable in the roles which was apparent they weren't. Loud smacking kisses are supposed to convey passion? The direction, pacing, dialogue, body language needs serious work. BDSM? More like a cringy take on the subject. The whipping scene. Why? What? I have seen Jae Hun / Jung act much better than this. Hae Jun / Kim is on par with what he previously did, so I wasn't expecting any better. Why was this stretched to 10 ep when clearly there wasn't enough material? Just poses and voice overs and staged acting. No real flow or rhythm. Truly disappointed.Was this review helpful to you?
A Bold and Steamy Step for Korean BL
Tide of Love is our first Korean BL that leans into BDSM and while it is not as explicit as Thai or Japanese BLs, I still really enjoyed it. I already love both main leads from Sweetheart Service and Myeong continues to impress me with every role. He is tall, handsome and incredibly attractive which makes every scene with him even more captivating.The kiss scenes and the erotic moments are definitely the highlights. They are intimate, well shot and full of chemistry.
My only criticisms are the very weak plot and the editing issues. Some scenes feel mismatched with the audio and the pacing suffers because each episode is only around ten minutes. I wish it were longer because the potential is there.
Despite its flaws, Tide of Love is still a fun, hot and refreshing BL to watch and a bold step for Korean BL content.
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