8.5/10. Really nice series with good acting and nice cinematography. I appreciate they tackle the subject of mental illness quite realistically. I liked it very much but not enough to unsee its flaws. - The Skam references were too much for me, especially in ep10. I've seen and appreciated all Skam adaptations cause I knew there were adaptation from the OG (of course with some artistic licence). But since The Eight Sense wasn't promoted as such, it rubbed me the wrong way. - It was nice seeing the MCs being lovey dovey in the final. However, I dislike when subplots are resolved too neatly and the bad guys are forgiven. IRL bitches and backstabbing friends don't always apologize and you don't remain friends with them. - The end lacks catharsis. They spent a lot of time establishing how difficult it was for JW to heal (10 years of therapy IIRC) and that JH's accident made him relapse into high depression but they don't show us enough his mindset evolution, how he overcome it: within 10min onscreen he went from a depressive man to a smiling guy ready to start a relationship with someone he ghosted for weeks. - I'm still wondering why we had to put up with an evil ex-girlfriend. It is cliché and adds nothing to the plot: if you remove her, the storyline doesn't collapse. The whole cheating plot could have been told by a support character or by JW himself, or the ex-gf could have shown up for 1 or 2 episodes. We didn't need her shenanigans for 10 episodes. - Finally, why did they dumb down JH in order to give a shining moment to his girl friend? I mean, your crush has been avoiding you for weeks after you almost died before him and you don't even think for one minute why he's doing that? You don't think that it might be connected to his past trauma that he told you about the day you almost drowned? Your friends have to spell it out for you?! Nah, JH seemed like a smart and sensible guy, I couldn't believe they wrote this scene. I understand they wanted to show the MC has supportive friends but come on, this whole long scene was baffling.
Tbh I'm not in love with this series as much as I wanted to but I can say it's a great show. I really like how realistic is the depiction of mental illness. Many people deal with their traumas in a subdued way, not overdramatic like we sometimes see in drama or movies. Moreover JW's actions are comprehensible and consistent until now. The series clearly lays out the events that shaped his reasoning and behaviour. There's no confusion about JW's motives. And that is really important for me in order to root for a main character *side eyes at TMS2... I cannot pass judgment on JW cause his reaction to the mess he thinks he created is so real, you'll know if you had learnt psychology or if you were curious about the subject.
OMG the KISS in upcoming episode is mindfuckingboggling. It is raw and intense, and will make you forget the angst…
"Perks of having a foreigner co-director, if it was a Korean, kiss would have been "conservative". Directing wise, what Werner du Plessis brought on the table is the european filming style. Other kbls had great kisses (Blueming, Our Dating Sim, Long Time No See) and the directors are korean, not foreigners. Let's not pretend it hasn't been done before.
Too many overlong scenes. In fact all scenes with Pat and his friends or his coworkers were dragging for no reason. For example, the whole scene at the bar with Pat and Jaab left me puzzled. Ben did a good job for a newbie, I didn't get any cringe moment. And his scenes with Daddy Jeng were cute! Over all, a solid first episode tough I expected better.
Dropping it at ep.18. The story started to drag too much around ep. 13. I really like Detective Luo but Weng Jie is pissing me of. He's supposed to be smart but he keeps making dumb decisions.
I’m on e7 but why did he follow Wonyoung to Seoul. Feels like major lack of boundaries and a whole lotta attachment…
Yeah that was strange, and I think it was the point: to show TaeJoon's attachment issues. Because of his past, he's not trusting and doesn't accept new people in his life. Now that he's in love with WonYoung we can see he's all in, he wears his heart on his sleeve, and he's overprotective cause he fears abandonment.
"... it feels more like a k-drama than a bl" What's the difference? Nudity? BLs are more a sensibility than a…
Yep, you're totally right. From the start I said this bl is a kdrama with 2 gays lol. The formula is a basic 2000's kdrama but an effective one so I'm not complaining.
Ep. 8 was quite intense. I could understand each character's actions: WonYoung's stupidity though I would have confessed sooner, TeaJoon's inflexible decision... I was afraid WonYoung would act like a poor wounded damsel waiting for someone to convince TaeJoon to give him a chance, so I was pleased when he got stubborn and proclaimed to TaeJoon he would regain his trust and love.
I really like ULS but the directing is getting bad. Ep. 7 and 8 were mostly close-up of each character talking. While I understand close-up is important in filmaking, I believe it should be used suitably. As it is, it gives off weird and amateurish vibes. I'd rather have medium shots to see everyone's reaction and body movements during the scene.
This series is so good! Typical kdrama production full of clichés but with male leads lol. It's sweet and endearing. They really built up the tension and WonYoung's confession right. I didn't even care about the dead fish kiss, I was too busy giggling and clapping.
A masterpiece! I don't use that word lightly but I have no other words for ODS. Everything was perfect: - A simple and well executed story with no unecessary drama and misunderstanding. Every minute was wisely used. Proving once again that a series can do great with a short runtime. - Endearing characters with coherent reasoning and understandable actions. Healthy and mature enough to communicate their feelings. KiTae is now one of my favorite characters cause I stan a ML who can be confident, playful AND vulnerable with his lover. I'd love to see more MLs express concerns about their relationship and cry in front of their bf. - Adult characters acting like adults when it comes to skinship! They were not afraid of showing affection regularly and with no hesitation. And the kisses were great: natural and not over the top like in some series *side glance to Cutie Pie* - Natural chemistry! It really felt like they were bestfriends in highschool and loved each other. When they got together, it was like they never separated. No awkwardness at all.
I can say without hesitation that ODS took the place of TMS as my favorite Kbl.
I'm relishing these longer episode runtimes. And I'm mesmerized by the styling of Yoon Tae Joon. Dude is literally…
"Dude is literally floating through every scene in his expensive wardrobe oozing past hurt and distrust." --> This!! He's so dreamy. He gives me Patrick Swayze's vibes. I've been so infatuated with him and his black clothes for decades :-)
I am surprised some viewers feel the main couple lack chemistry. Like are we watching the same drama? They are…
I think too many people mistake chemistry with sexual tension. Imo there are different types of chemistry (sexual chemistry, cute & warm chemistry, emotional chemistry...). Not every couple need to have sexual chemistry like KinnPorsche.
The reason I find his acting annoying af is for the very reasons you describe NOT finding it as annoying af? Who…
Oh, I agree with you. I'm not a fan of candy girl, I often drop series because of this trope. But as I said I believe the directing is also at fault. I think he's not a bad actor (he's not overdoing it, he just lacks sincerity in some situations) so I'm guessing it's how they told him to play the character. Cause I've noticed he's more real during soft scenes with his co-star: he conveys his interest, shyness and confusion correctly. And then it's back to faking cause the character doesn't give him room to do more (the "little, faux-energetic skip, baby-step running thing" you mentioned). Anyway, I've not seen his other works, so maybe I'm totally wrong about this.
I'm not seeing what's wrong with GongChan's acting. Imo the issue lies with the character and the directing. Won Young is a candy girl : wide eyes, naive, cheerful, hardworking... We've seen this character in every kdrama since forever, and it's always been acted this way (no nuance) so I don't see why it's now a problem when a guy is doing it. I'm not saying GongChan is great, but he's doing good, he emotes correctly and he's not stiff so it works for me.
1 
- The Skam references were too much for me, especially in ep10. I've seen and appreciated all Skam adaptations cause I knew there were adaptation from the OG (of course with some artistic licence). But since The Eight Sense wasn't promoted as such, it rubbed me the wrong way.
- It was nice seeing the MCs being lovey dovey in the final. However, I dislike when subplots are resolved too neatly and the bad guys are forgiven. IRL bitches and backstabbing friends don't always apologize and you don't remain friends with them.
- The end lacks catharsis. They spent a lot of time establishing how difficult it was for JW to heal (10 years of therapy IIRC) and that JH's accident made him relapse into high depression but they don't show us enough his mindset evolution, how he overcome it: within 10min onscreen he went from a depressive man to a smiling guy ready to start a relationship with someone he ghosted for weeks.
- I'm still wondering why we had to put up with an evil ex-girlfriend. It is cliché and adds nothing to the plot: if you remove her, the storyline doesn't collapse. The whole cheating plot could have been told by a support character or by JW himself, or the ex-gf could have shown up for 1 or 2 episodes. We didn't need her shenanigans for 10 episodes.
- Finally, why did they dumb down JH in order to give a shining moment to his girl friend? I mean, your crush has been avoiding you for weeks after you almost died before him and you don't even think for one minute why he's doing that? You don't think that it might be connected to his past trauma that he told you about the day you almost drowned? Your friends have to spell it out for you?! Nah, JH seemed like a smart and sensible guy, I couldn't believe they wrote this scene. I understand they wanted to show the MC has supportive friends but come on, this whole long scene was baffling.
I cannot pass judgment on JW cause his reaction to the mess he thinks he created is so real, you'll know if you had learnt psychology or if you were curious about the subject.
Directing wise, what Werner du Plessis brought on the table is the european filming style. Other kbls had great kisses (Blueming, Our Dating Sim, Long Time No See) and the directors are korean, not foreigners. Let's not pretend it hasn't been done before.
Ben did a good job for a newbie, I didn't get any cringe moment. And his scenes with Daddy Jeng were cute!
Over all, a solid first episode tough I expected better.
I really like Detective Luo but Weng Jie is pissing me of. He's supposed to be smart but he keeps making dumb decisions.
I really like ULS but the directing is getting bad. Ep. 7 and 8 were mostly close-up of each character talking. While I understand close-up is important in filmaking, I believe it should be used suitably. As it is, it gives off weird and amateurish vibes. I'd rather have medium shots to see everyone's reaction and body movements during the scene.
But don't expect more kisses in the series cause it's a kbl after all...
- A simple and well executed story with no unecessary drama and misunderstanding. Every minute was wisely used. Proving once again that a series can do great with a short runtime.
- Endearing characters with coherent reasoning and understandable actions. Healthy and mature enough to communicate their feelings. KiTae is now one of my favorite characters cause I stan a ML who can be confident, playful AND vulnerable with his lover. I'd love to see more MLs express concerns about their relationship and cry in front of their bf.
- Adult characters acting like adults when it comes to skinship! They were not afraid of showing affection regularly and with no hesitation. And the kisses were great: natural and not over the top like in some series *side glance to Cutie Pie*
- Natural chemistry! It really felt like they were bestfriends in highschool and loved each other. When they got together, it was like they never separated. No awkwardness at all.
I can say without hesitation that ODS took the place of TMS as my favorite Kbl.
Anyway, I've not seen his other works, so maybe I'm totally wrong about this.
On another note, DongHee was so pretty in ep4!