This review may contain spoilers
Mixed But Ultimately Disappointing Bag
A very mixed and disappointing bag. Let me start with the good.
1. I LOVED the acting. The main actors are absolutely lovely, both in their roles and out. Picked from relative obscurity, this show could not have found two more perfect people to play these roles. And I find myself enjoying watching their promo videos and fan videos of them far more than the actual drama.
2. The intimacy between the main characters. And no, I don’t just mean the sex. In fact, although I know everybody loves the honey scene, sploshing is just not my kink. And neither is wet clothing. Sensory nightmares for me. What I mean is the interactions between the main characters as they navigate and build their relationship, especially when it’s just them alone.
3. The music. There was one Korean song in particular that I actually added to my playlist, it was so pretty. I also liked the use of classical-style instrumental music. Much better than some of the computerized synth music they use in other dramas.
Now let’s talk about the in between.
1. The cinematography. I loved the way they used lighting in this, and some of the close ups and the creative shots are gorgeous. But there was also some weird shaky cam work that I didn’t enjoy, and also some weird framing that tipped over my line into unnecessarily abstract/artsy. But that’s likely just a personal preference.
2. Like I said, the NC scenes. Excellent intimacy and acting in them, but a couple sensory nightmares.
And the bad.
1. I don’t watch dramas to be devastated or melancholy. I have never understood why people enjoy this. Life is hard and sad and stressful enough without making myself sadder with the media I consume. This show, while there were some truly lovely, bright moments, was overall so saccharinely melancholy that it made me feel just generally icky. The biggest example of this is the episode near-ish the end where Akin spends nearly 30 whole minutes of it crying over the death of his grandmother. Yes, it’s very sad to lose someone so close to you. A real person would likely spend far more time crying and grieving. But this is a show. He reads the last letter he wrote to her and cries the whole time, then he reads her last letter to him and cries, then dreams about her and cries, and cries and cries… It’s so drawn out, I couldn’t even feel anything after a while. I just ended up skimming it. I shouldn’t feel like I need to skim through such pivotal moments for the characters.
2. Jin was honestly a bit of a creep. Like, I understand watching through the body of someone’s work in order to better learn your craft from them, but while that’s what he claimed to be doing, it came across more like he was digitally stalking Akin while also kind of forcing his presence on him irl and trying to better his craft so that he could be more “on his level” and thus be with him. His only character trait seemed to be being obsessed with Akin, which didn’t sit well with me. I don’t even know if he actually likes acting since it seemed like he’d probably be fine with giving it up if it meant he could be with Akin.
3. This is a little random and nitpicky, but I really despised Jin’s hair. It was in his eyes more than 90% of the time, which not only bothers me in a “isn’t that poking him in the eyes???” way, but it also means that Smart’s acting was impeded by his hair. Emotion is partly in the eyes, so if we can’t see his eyes, we lose access to some of his emotions. So this did not help the issue I had with feeling like his character did not have much personality other than being obsessed with Akin.
4. Why the heck would anybody with as much good sense and acting chops as Akin try to dramatically throw himself off a building just because he lost a “sexiest man of the year” award? I understood what they were going for. They were trying to show that Akin is getting older and getting passed over for the next big, upcoming, young star, and he’s feeling old and thrown away by the industry he loves and has staked his career, his life, and his self-worth on. But really, “sexiest man of the year”? I can see a major acting award doing this, but like, I didn’t see Akin as being that shallow before this…
5. Apart from all my personal feelings about the characters, the tone, and etc., the biggest nail in the coffin for me with this show is the sexual assault that was treated like a character cheated, except don’t worry because he didn’t… There is a situation where Akin gets stumblingly, passing out drunk around another actor he’s in a play with, and this actor takes him back to his place and tries to have sex with him. Akin is IN NO WAY ABLE TO CONSENT TO ANY OF THIS. Eventually, Akin starts mumbling Jin’s name and the other guy decides not to have sex with him and instead leaves hickies all over his body just to mess with him. Akin wakes up the next morning, thinks he cheated on Jin, and breaks up with him over it. Eventually, Jin gets a recording of the actor saying he didn’t ACTUALLY have sex with him, and all is well again. BUT EVEN IF AKIN DID HAVE SEX WITH THAT ACTOR, IT WOULD NOT BE CHEATING. IT WOULD BE RAPE. Because, like I said, HE VERY MUCH COULD NOT CONSENT. As it is, leaving hickies all over a passed out person’s body is definitely some flavor of sexual assault. But the show NEVER treats this like a rape situation, instead treating it like a cheating situation, and that’s just messed up.
So. While there were some bright, lovely moments in this show, there were also so many things that I just really did not enjoy and one major stain on the quality of this show that means I can’t get behind it. But I truly do wish these actors well and will follow their works in the future.
1. I LOVED the acting. The main actors are absolutely lovely, both in their roles and out. Picked from relative obscurity, this show could not have found two more perfect people to play these roles. And I find myself enjoying watching their promo videos and fan videos of them far more than the actual drama.
2. The intimacy between the main characters. And no, I don’t just mean the sex. In fact, although I know everybody loves the honey scene, sploshing is just not my kink. And neither is wet clothing. Sensory nightmares for me. What I mean is the interactions between the main characters as they navigate and build their relationship, especially when it’s just them alone.
3. The music. There was one Korean song in particular that I actually added to my playlist, it was so pretty. I also liked the use of classical-style instrumental music. Much better than some of the computerized synth music they use in other dramas.
Now let’s talk about the in between.
1. The cinematography. I loved the way they used lighting in this, and some of the close ups and the creative shots are gorgeous. But there was also some weird shaky cam work that I didn’t enjoy, and also some weird framing that tipped over my line into unnecessarily abstract/artsy. But that’s likely just a personal preference.
2. Like I said, the NC scenes. Excellent intimacy and acting in them, but a couple sensory nightmares.
And the bad.
1. I don’t watch dramas to be devastated or melancholy. I have never understood why people enjoy this. Life is hard and sad and stressful enough without making myself sadder with the media I consume. This show, while there were some truly lovely, bright moments, was overall so saccharinely melancholy that it made me feel just generally icky. The biggest example of this is the episode near-ish the end where Akin spends nearly 30 whole minutes of it crying over the death of his grandmother. Yes, it’s very sad to lose someone so close to you. A real person would likely spend far more time crying and grieving. But this is a show. He reads the last letter he wrote to her and cries the whole time, then he reads her last letter to him and cries, then dreams about her and cries, and cries and cries… It’s so drawn out, I couldn’t even feel anything after a while. I just ended up skimming it. I shouldn’t feel like I need to skim through such pivotal moments for the characters.
2. Jin was honestly a bit of a creep. Like, I understand watching through the body of someone’s work in order to better learn your craft from them, but while that’s what he claimed to be doing, it came across more like he was digitally stalking Akin while also kind of forcing his presence on him irl and trying to better his craft so that he could be more “on his level” and thus be with him. His only character trait seemed to be being obsessed with Akin, which didn’t sit well with me. I don’t even know if he actually likes acting since it seemed like he’d probably be fine with giving it up if it meant he could be with Akin.
3. This is a little random and nitpicky, but I really despised Jin’s hair. It was in his eyes more than 90% of the time, which not only bothers me in a “isn’t that poking him in the eyes???” way, but it also means that Smart’s acting was impeded by his hair. Emotion is partly in the eyes, so if we can’t see his eyes, we lose access to some of his emotions. So this did not help the issue I had with feeling like his character did not have much personality other than being obsessed with Akin.
4. Why the heck would anybody with as much good sense and acting chops as Akin try to dramatically throw himself off a building just because he lost a “sexiest man of the year” award? I understood what they were going for. They were trying to show that Akin is getting older and getting passed over for the next big, upcoming, young star, and he’s feeling old and thrown away by the industry he loves and has staked his career, his life, and his self-worth on. But really, “sexiest man of the year”? I can see a major acting award doing this, but like, I didn’t see Akin as being that shallow before this…
5. Apart from all my personal feelings about the characters, the tone, and etc., the biggest nail in the coffin for me with this show is the sexual assault that was treated like a character cheated, except don’t worry because he didn’t… There is a situation where Akin gets stumblingly, passing out drunk around another actor he’s in a play with, and this actor takes him back to his place and tries to have sex with him. Akin is IN NO WAY ABLE TO CONSENT TO ANY OF THIS. Eventually, Akin starts mumbling Jin’s name and the other guy decides not to have sex with him and instead leaves hickies all over his body just to mess with him. Akin wakes up the next morning, thinks he cheated on Jin, and breaks up with him over it. Eventually, Jin gets a recording of the actor saying he didn’t ACTUALLY have sex with him, and all is well again. BUT EVEN IF AKIN DID HAVE SEX WITH THAT ACTOR, IT WOULD NOT BE CHEATING. IT WOULD BE RAPE. Because, like I said, HE VERY MUCH COULD NOT CONSENT. As it is, leaving hickies all over a passed out person’s body is definitely some flavor of sexual assault. But the show NEVER treats this like a rape situation, instead treating it like a cheating situation, and that’s just messed up.
So. While there were some bright, lovely moments in this show, there were also so many things that I just really did not enjoy and one major stain on the quality of this show that means I can’t get behind it. But I truly do wish these actors well and will follow their works in the future.
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