This review may contain spoilers
Boy Next World: A Beautiful Disaster (Without the Beautiful Part)
If you ever wanted to watch a drama that promised a compelling concept but then ran in the complete opposite direction, here it is. Boy Next World dangled the exciting idea of parallel universes and fate before our eyes, only to promptly forget about it and instead serve us a stalker romance disguised as a love story.At its core, this drama had the potential to be something unique in the BL genre. A multiverse premise? Mind reading? The idea of love transcending dimensions? It should have been thrilling. But what we got instead was a show that played a game of "What Are We Even Doing?" for 10 episodes. The script had no idea what direction to take, the pacing was a disaster, and by the end, it felt like even the writers had given up.
Cir Needs a Restraining Order, Not a Love Story
Let’s be honest—Cir was not a romantic lead. He was a walking red flag. This man spent years obsessing over Phu, collecting information on his entire life, and then gaslit him into believing they were meant to be. His excuse? “I’m from a parallel universe.” Bruh, no.
And what’s worse? The drama treats it like a swoon-worthy romance. Instead of addressing how deeply disturbing it was that Cir literally stalked Phu into falling for him, the show expected us to root for them. Phu, despite being given every possible reason to run, simply shrugs it off like “Oh well, guess I’m in love now.” How? HOW?
It doesn’t help that Phu was written with all the personality of a slightly damp sponge. He spent most of the series being confused, running away, coming back, then getting confused again. He had no real agency, no depth, and made it painfully obvious that his only purpose was to be a passive love interest to Cir’s chaos.
A Plot So Inconsistent It Might Be From a Parallel Universe Itself
For a drama built around alternate realities, Boy Next World sure hated explaining its own concept. Was Cir actually from another world, or was he just a delusional stalker? Episodes couldn’t decide, flipping back and forth between “Yes, this is a sci-fi romance” and “Nope, this is just a psychological horror about an obsessive man and his oblivious crush.”
To make things worse, the few moments where they actually tried to explore the sci-fi aspect were so rushed and underdeveloped that they barely made sense. Mind reading? Barely explained. The alternate Cir? Contradicted itself. The weird glowing white room? Who knows. By the finale, the drama had twisted itself into such a mess that even the characters seemed exhausted trying to make sense of it.
And don’t even get me started on Cir’s mother—the evil corporate matriarch who spent the entire series being an over-the-top villain just for the sake of it. Her character was so cartoonishly bad that she felt like she belonged in another show entirely.
Acting? Chemistry? Editing? A Complete Mess.
The chemistry between Boss and Noeul was one of the only things holding this disaster together, but even that couldn’t fully compensate for the train wreck of a script. Their intimate scenes were well done, but a few spicy moments can’t fix a fundamentally broken romance.
Acting-wise, Boss did his best with the material he was given, but Noeul? It was like watching someone copy and paste his performance from Love in the Air and hope nobody noticed. His delivery was stiff, his expressions rarely matched the tone of the scene, and any emotional depth felt completely forced. At this point, it’s clear that he hasn’t grown as an actor.
On top of all that, the editing was a disaster. Scenes dragged on way too long, important moments were rushed, and characters repeated the same dialogue so much that it felt like they were stalling for time.
Final Thoughts: A Show That Should Have Stayed in Another Universe
There are bad dramas, and then there are dramas that actively waste your time. Boy Next World is the latter. It had all the ingredients for something great—an ambitious premise, a talented cast, and a chance to tell a story that was different from the usual BL formula. Instead, it gave us 10 episodes of nonsense, a romance that was more disturbing than endearing, and a plot that was allergic to making sense.
Watch this only if you enjoy suffering, because that’s all you’ll get.
Final Score: 1/10
Story: 1.0 (For having an idea and then immediately discarding it)
Acting: 3.0 (Boss tried, but he was carrying this mess alone)
Music: 3.0 (Not offensive, but forgettable)
Rewatch Value: 1.0 (Once is already too much)
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so much emotion
Asian dramas have so much raw, real emotions they really make you feel it unlike american tv shows where it feels empty most of the time. My name is no exception it's a short limited series but it's so good and even though it has it's predictable moments there are some plot twist that shock you. The fight scenes are pretty epic as well they pull no punches and you can really feel like it's a painful process to actually produce these scenes.Just when you think the show is wrapping up and you think it's going in one direction BAM! it goes in the completely different direction it's a wild ride.
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From an American POV
This is a touching and heartfelt drama it has everything you want in a drama series... personal trauma, growth out of despair, and an overall all story arc that plays beautifully and perfectly to the very end where it all wraps up in a perfect little bow. (no spoilers) but it had a very satisfying ending IMO.the stories that were told during the season were relevant and heartbreaking at times I needed to wipe my eyes on more than one occassion there were also a couple feel good episodes as well.
Being new to KDrama it's a great show for anyone to start watching korean dramas.
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Great Series!
Throughout the series it didn't really lag. the story moved forward through the phases and covered the story arc pretty well. I didn't care much for the Do-Sik storyline it felt out of place and irrelevant to the overall big picture his place would of beeen good without his "family history".As the series wraps up it's great how they give each character a fitting end to their part.
With the finale having a satisfying ending.
HeartBeat was shown via the VideoBrother Drama Club a group of us get together online and watch one series usually 2-3 days a week and chat during the stream Join us by finding us we are not hard to find.
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This review may contain spoilers
What no?! that's your mother!
There was no satisfying end to Alice I'm thinking it's one of those shows that mess with your mind to the end then pulls it all together and it all make sense and worth it in the end I was wrong I'm actually quite disturbed by the ending I mean it wouldn't have been so bad if they just cut out that last highly suggestive incestuous scene. don't even get me started on the space-time conflicts within the show it's like no! time doesn't work like that what are you doing?!if your future self travels to the past and kills your past self HOW DOES FUTURE SELF EXIST?! it gave me a headache just trying to wrap my head around all the nonsense going on I kept watching because I was wanting it all to make sense eventually it never did.
like someone else said I'd like to go back in time and tell myself not to waste 16+ hours of my life on this series!
lessons learned.
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