This review may contain spoilers
Patience, Yearning, and Longing
The relationship between Do Ba U and Ji Hun is messy and long-winded, yet enduring like Do Ba U's love for Ji Hun.
The story where love is not delayed because of malice, it has to be delayed by something. While I normally hate miscommunication as a plot device, here it feels meaningful, even necessary. After all, two people who have been friends from kindergarten, and only one of them realises early on that what he feels is more than friendship, it is a recipe for miscommunication. The beauty lies in how the story drops hints about the mutual feelings throughout, even though we see it mostly from Do Ba U's perspective, as an unrequited love.
While many think that Do Ba U is selfish or insecure, they miss the point of what a long period of alternating between hope and disappointment can do to you. Do Ba U come across as a real human being when he is indecisive: Does he want to confess his love or not? Does he want to protect their friendship or not? Underneath it all, he wants the miracle—he wants a happy ending with Ji Hun.
Ji Hun goes from being clueless and clingy to second-guessing, after Do Ba U says that he no longer feels happy about spending time with Ji Hun. Ji Hu has his moments, when he lies about being sick to get Do Ba U's attention and steals Do Ba U's diary to understand what is going on. It humanises him.
Jung Ha Min's notion of a happy ending shifts from Do Ba U receiving his unrequited love to Do Ba U moving on from it and finding someone more suitable for him. Jung Ha Min enters the story thinking very little of unrequited love. He wants to research the alien concept, but leaves the story with an understanding of what it is to be in unrequited love. He does not play the rival, interloper, or a tragic second lead who lashes out. Jung Ha Min's heartbreak isn't explosive, it's quiet, inward and poetic. It is a deep exhale of someone who loved carefully and let go gracefully.
Check the list for similar shows: https://kisskh.at/list/4J5Bdkx3
The story where love is not delayed because of malice, it has to be delayed by something. While I normally hate miscommunication as a plot device, here it feels meaningful, even necessary. After all, two people who have been friends from kindergarten, and only one of them realises early on that what he feels is more than friendship, it is a recipe for miscommunication. The beauty lies in how the story drops hints about the mutual feelings throughout, even though we see it mostly from Do Ba U's perspective, as an unrequited love.
While many think that Do Ba U is selfish or insecure, they miss the point of what a long period of alternating between hope and disappointment can do to you. Do Ba U come across as a real human being when he is indecisive: Does he want to confess his love or not? Does he want to protect their friendship or not? Underneath it all, he wants the miracle—he wants a happy ending with Ji Hun.
Ji Hun goes from being clueless and clingy to second-guessing, after Do Ba U says that he no longer feels happy about spending time with Ji Hun. Ji Hu has his moments, when he lies about being sick to get Do Ba U's attention and steals Do Ba U's diary to understand what is going on. It humanises him.
Jung Ha Min's notion of a happy ending shifts from Do Ba U receiving his unrequited love to Do Ba U moving on from it and finding someone more suitable for him. Jung Ha Min enters the story thinking very little of unrequited love. He wants to research the alien concept, but leaves the story with an understanding of what it is to be in unrequited love. He does not play the rival, interloper, or a tragic second lead who lashes out. Jung Ha Min's heartbreak isn't explosive, it's quiet, inward and poetic. It is a deep exhale of someone who loved carefully and let go gracefully.
Check the list for similar shows: https://kisskh.at/list/4J5Bdkx3
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