the age gap between the leads is the exact same as the one between my own father and I. down to the years. I wish c-dramas cast their shows more appropriately tbh.
kinda liking this theme of mafia bls taking off in Thailand, it's really adding masculinity back into mxm relationships that thai dramas have been lacking to touch on
okay so im just starting this series and it literally just dawned on me.... wtf do they even MEAN "pure-blooded human"... like what the hell are the rest of us then
ITSAY, IPYTM, Grey Rainbow, HIStory3: MODC, Semantic Error, Heroin: Addicted, Like Love & Sequels, His: What Is…
no I totally agree about the cliches and tropes being highly overused in bl to the point where it's kinda sickening but honestly I didnt cringe that much in this series (maybe once when hayeon was drunk because i can't handle aegyo) which is a huge win to me tbh and I also really agree that this story could've seriously been expanded and added upon to create an almost on par soul searching story with Goblin (a genderbent goblin.. interesting). but for the actor of hayeon, I didn't notice too many occ takes for him tbh. to be fair though, I've never seen him in anything else so who knows what his peak can look like to compare to tbh. all in all though, this series had me invested enough to comment; this drama along with a few other sk bl releases are giving me some real hope for great future releases!
ITSAY, IPYTM, Grey Rainbow, HIStory3: MODC, Semantic Error, Heroin: Addicted, Like Love & Sequels, His: What Is…
I've seen all the bls you listed, and while they're all great and some even iconic, they all lack maturity. also, I'd like to focus more on sk bls specifically. sure, this bl wasn't able to escape some tropes in scenes. however, this bl touched on some extremely important topics that I haven't seen in any bl touch on, or atleast as well as this one did:
1) Prejudice against gay people. - consistently in the beginning of the drama, yeonseok had a distasteful reaction to the prospect of gay people. he cringes at the topic, is visibly uncomfortable, and says dealing comments about them (to which, sinbi calls him out for). - we dont often see this in sk, they rarely ever touch on this topic of social or societal acceptance and usually take a more teenage liberal rebellion approach (the "i love you and we can change the minds of the world!" cliche is broken when yeonseok agrees to hide his relationship at work for the sake of his partners comfort and workplace acceptance (often mentioning that the ceo was the father of his partner and would not be accepting)).
2) Taking responsibility (is the beginning to a healthy relationship!) - in the beginning of the series, yeonseok is angry with silbi for not telling him that hayeon is a man. later he gets angry that she didn't tell him that hayeons sister is doppelganger. she responds by telling him that it didn't matter if she had told him, it would've all lead to the same emotional outcome. - later, yeonseok was forced to take responisibility after kissing hayeon by realizing it was never something to apologize over. this allowed for a mature and concise understanding of eachother take place. the outcome of this fight being that yeonseok learns to only apologize for things he should feel guilty for. like not telling hayeon the truth in the last few episodes, not for kissing boys. - that "fight", mixed with silbis advice is probably the reason yeonseok didn't seek hayeon in the last episode to apologize. he had learned his lesson with apologies and realized that apologies wont fix anything. an apology would only lead to the same emotional outcome. (character development!)
These two things are seldom in bls, and are even more scarce in sk as a whole (kdrama and bls), and it was super refreshing to see it in this drama! I could go on for days how much of an impression this bl left on me tbh
the scriptwriting for this is seriously ahead of the game. no bl drama has done this well in all marks; story,…
also, in deep contrast with some other reviews of this bl, the kissing scenes had a hell of a lot of chemistry. want to see a bad sk take on a bl kiss? watch color rush. but this? chefs kiss.
the scriptwriting for this is seriously ahead of the game. no bl drama has done this well in all marks; story, quality, casting, etc. it's all felt and looked really well done and I can honestly see this drama being a figure head for future bl releases in sk
is no one going to point out how toru, a 20y.o was hitting on and dated a "minor"? doesnt matter that in reality…
the minimum legal age of consent in Japan is as low as 13 years in age... not saying I agree with it, but it's not illegal; just morally and visually uncomfortable
I'm one of those really emotional people who need to wait until after a drama ends to see if it's a sad ending before I start watching it. So, I really was going to do the same with this even though I'm a huge fan of both main leads, but jtbc releasing 3 episodes already and the uproar of support (and definitely criticism) really makes me want to start it already tbh
Did you see ZZS said I love too or Am I imaginating ?
it could've been eluded to that, but personally I don't think that's the case since zzs dad was executed by prince jin, not dying in the comfort of another it seems
폐: illness / syndrome
sure, this bl wasn't able to escape some tropes in scenes. however, this bl touched on some extremely important topics that I haven't seen in any bl touch on, or atleast as well as this one did:
1) Prejudice against gay people.
- consistently in the beginning of the drama, yeonseok had a distasteful reaction to the prospect of gay people. he cringes at the topic, is visibly uncomfortable, and says dealing comments about them (to which, sinbi calls him out for).
- we dont often see this in sk, they rarely ever touch on this topic of social or societal acceptance and usually take a more teenage liberal rebellion approach (the "i love you and we can change the minds of the world!" cliche is broken when yeonseok agrees to hide his relationship at work for the sake of his partners comfort and workplace acceptance (often mentioning that the ceo was the father of his partner and would not be accepting)).
2) Taking responsibility (is the beginning to a healthy relationship!)
- in the beginning of the series, yeonseok is angry with silbi for not telling him that hayeon is a man. later he gets angry that she didn't tell him that hayeons sister is doppelganger. she responds by telling him that it didn't matter if she had told him, it would've all lead to the same emotional outcome.
- later, yeonseok was forced to take responisibility after kissing hayeon by realizing it was never something to apologize over. this allowed for a mature and concise understanding of eachother take place. the outcome of this fight being that yeonseok learns to only apologize for things he should feel guilty for. like not telling hayeon the truth in the last few episodes, not for kissing boys.
- that "fight", mixed with silbis advice is probably the reason yeonseok didn't seek hayeon in the last episode to apologize. he had learned his lesson with apologies and realized that apologies wont fix anything. an apology would only lead to the same emotional outcome. (character development!)
These two things are seldom in bls, and are even more scarce in sk as a whole (kdrama and bls), and it was super refreshing to see it in this drama! I could go on for days how much of an impression this bl left on me tbh