Set your expectations. Yes, the show has flaws. But NO, that doesn't make it bad.
If you go to a restaurant and just order a salad, you can't expect it to fill you up like a full meal would. If you buy a pair of gold earrings for $5, you can't expect it to be made of real gold.
I watched this knowing that the total run time would be around an hour (MDL said it had 6 10-min. eps), so I didn't expect the story to be fleshed out in the same way as in shows with longer run times. Most BLs deemed worth watching by netizens are typically 10-12 episodes long (sometimes longer!), with each episode running for about an hour (again, sometimes longer!), which means that I'd need a whole day in order to binge watch one series. Since I have a life outside of BLs 😅, I would sometimes end up speeding through the longer shows and just stopping for scenes that I find interesting.
Awakening the Steppe gave me the scenes that I'd usually stop for --- the initial context, the sweet moments between the MLs, the conflict, and the resolution --- without the need to speed watch, and it has the added bonus of being visually appealing (the actors, the scenery, the lighting --- I could rewatch this on mute and still derive satisfaction from it 😆). That said, I DO have a few complaints:
- I have no issues with how quickly the MLs seemed to develop feelings for each other. I actually know people IRL who've fallen harder faster 😅. But I do wish that they'd given us a better buildup leading to the emotional payoff. Even a short montage of daily interactions showing an increasing tension between the MLs would have worked, and it would've helped me understand how much time had already passed within the story without adding too much to the show's run time.
- I have a dog and 2 cats, so I can understand the conflict, but I feel like the dialogue didn't expound on it well enough, so it might feel superficial to those who can't relate to the heartbreak of losing a fur baby.
- If in earlier episodes Wang Chen Rui's acting had hinted at a hidden agenda, that conflict might have felt less like it was coming out of left field.
- The introduction of the Mom did nothing to move the story forward. Yes, it just took up 2 mins., but those 2 mins. could've been used to patch up some of the gaps in the story.
No, this won't go down in history as one of the great BL shows of our time. Yes, the writing could use some improvement. But no, I wouldn't consider it as bad either, especially since it didn't have the audacity to waste an entire day of my life (hi again Flirt Milk 😠).
I watched this knowing that the total run time would be around an hour (MDL said it had 6 10-min. eps), so I didn't expect the story to be fleshed out in the same way as in shows with longer run times. Most BLs deemed worth watching by netizens are typically 10-12 episodes long (sometimes longer!), with each episode running for about an hour (again, sometimes longer!), which means that I'd need a whole day in order to binge watch one series. Since I have a life outside of BLs 😅, I would sometimes end up speeding through the longer shows and just stopping for scenes that I find interesting.
Awakening the Steppe gave me the scenes that I'd usually stop for --- the initial context, the sweet moments between the MLs, the conflict, and the resolution --- without the need to speed watch, and it has the added bonus of being visually appealing (the actors, the scenery, the lighting --- I could rewatch this on mute and still derive satisfaction from it 😆). That said, I DO have a few complaints:
- I have no issues with how quickly the MLs seemed to develop feelings for each other. I actually know people IRL who've fallen harder faster 😅. But I do wish that they'd given us a better buildup leading to the emotional payoff. Even a short montage of daily interactions showing an increasing tension between the MLs would have worked, and it would've helped me understand how much time had already passed within the story without adding too much to the show's run time.
- I have a dog and 2 cats, so I can understand the conflict, but I feel like the dialogue didn't expound on it well enough, so it might feel superficial to those who can't relate to the heartbreak of losing a fur baby.
- If in earlier episodes Wang Chen Rui's acting had hinted at a hidden agenda, that conflict might have felt less like it was coming out of left field.
- The introduction of the Mom did nothing to move the story forward. Yes, it just took up 2 mins., but those 2 mins. could've been used to patch up some of the gaps in the story.
No, this won't go down in history as one of the great BL shows of our time. Yes, the writing could use some improvement. But no, I wouldn't consider it as bad either, especially since it didn't have the audacity to waste an entire day of my life (hi again Flirt Milk 😠).
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