This review may contain spoilers
Necessary yet Mostly Aimless & Long-winded
1. Intro
I have always believed that realistic (usually sad) stories are necessary. While they may not always be a joyful/exhilarating experience, they are important to open our eyes to the experiences of others to give us more perspective and empathy. However, I felt that this story was unnecessarily long. I don't think the point it tried to make was worth the eight 50-minute long episodes. It was completely exhausting and it could have been done in a movie or a shorter series length.
2. Story
Aimless. That was what I thought of the story as a whole. It introduced elements that didn't really go anywhere and didn't really influence much. The most striking to me was his mother, her health, death, and her sending Yeong away. Of course send him away would have effects on him, but it was never shown. He was, in many ways, untraumatized by the event. Her death barely affected him at all. The story just moved on to the next romantic interest. Why bother showing her at all? I'm really just bothered by the lack of cause and effect by much of the story.
I do, however, appreciated that the story had different arcs, that we were following his life as he moved through it. It wasn't just, "will he get the guy?" Of course, this wasn't a BL like many have said. It's a gay romance. More of just a drama if you ask me, but semantics. I like that we were shown his romance to the three earlier guys instead of just one guy like the BL's do. However, he doesn't really learn anything from each one unlike the story likes to imply. He is still the same unlikeable person he was. The only real time we see anything close to any realization is by the end when he said all he wanted was love and even that was an unclear, falsely poignant mess. The story tries so desperately to be deep when it really is just aimless, which irritated me.
Yes, a story doesn't necessarily have to involve deep (or obviously stated) growth in the same way the adventure genre tends to do, but the MC still has to go somewhere and his last lines felt far too late. It really did feel like eight 50-minute episodes were far too long to string the viewers along for a flat conclusion. Mind you, I liked that Gyu Ho did not return in his life to neatly tie everything in a pretty bow. I think stories where the romance does not succeed is as important as the ones that do succeed especially when the relationship/s are so obliviously toxic.
I think Yeong's effectivity as the MC whose central theme in uncertainty of one's self and one's goals is fine. He certainly showed how much of an "uncheerable" person he was because of his countless self-sabotage and lack of growth, but the story failed him. I feel like the story having more cohesion (the story elements showing more of its causes and effects on him) and not just "this is his life and we are watching it unfold" could have ended in a more satisfying resolution---him realizing how unsure he was about what he wanted in life.
3. Acting
The actors were good. They were believable. They didn't feel like friends who were just goofing around like some other shows.
4. Music
Nothing much to comment. It was fine.
5. Rewatch value
It's fine to watch once as it was a drag and well the main theme wasn't really expressed well enough.
6. Overall
To sum it up, the story could have been better if the story elements (MC's experiences) in previous episodes actually affected his actions later. It did not so it all felt pointless. And if the main theme was more reinforced by the story and was realized earlier (in a shorter format) it could have been better. It all just felt too flat. He realized he was unsure of his life. Ok.
I have always believed that realistic (usually sad) stories are necessary. While they may not always be a joyful/exhilarating experience, they are important to open our eyes to the experiences of others to give us more perspective and empathy. However, I felt that this story was unnecessarily long. I don't think the point it tried to make was worth the eight 50-minute long episodes. It was completely exhausting and it could have been done in a movie or a shorter series length.
2. Story
Aimless. That was what I thought of the story as a whole. It introduced elements that didn't really go anywhere and didn't really influence much. The most striking to me was his mother, her health, death, and her sending Yeong away. Of course send him away would have effects on him, but it was never shown. He was, in many ways, untraumatized by the event. Her death barely affected him at all. The story just moved on to the next romantic interest. Why bother showing her at all? I'm really just bothered by the lack of cause and effect by much of the story.
I do, however, appreciated that the story had different arcs, that we were following his life as he moved through it. It wasn't just, "will he get the guy?" Of course, this wasn't a BL like many have said. It's a gay romance. More of just a drama if you ask me, but semantics. I like that we were shown his romance to the three earlier guys instead of just one guy like the BL's do. However, he doesn't really learn anything from each one unlike the story likes to imply. He is still the same unlikeable person he was. The only real time we see anything close to any realization is by the end when he said all he wanted was love and even that was an unclear, falsely poignant mess. The story tries so desperately to be deep when it really is just aimless, which irritated me.
Yes, a story doesn't necessarily have to involve deep (or obviously stated) growth in the same way the adventure genre tends to do, but the MC still has to go somewhere and his last lines felt far too late. It really did feel like eight 50-minute episodes were far too long to string the viewers along for a flat conclusion. Mind you, I liked that Gyu Ho did not return in his life to neatly tie everything in a pretty bow. I think stories where the romance does not succeed is as important as the ones that do succeed especially when the relationship/s are so obliviously toxic.
I think Yeong's effectivity as the MC whose central theme in uncertainty of one's self and one's goals is fine. He certainly showed how much of an "uncheerable" person he was because of his countless self-sabotage and lack of growth, but the story failed him. I feel like the story having more cohesion (the story elements showing more of its causes and effects on him) and not just "this is his life and we are watching it unfold" could have ended in a more satisfying resolution---him realizing how unsure he was about what he wanted in life.
3. Acting
The actors were good. They were believable. They didn't feel like friends who were just goofing around like some other shows.
4. Music
Nothing much to comment. It was fine.
5. Rewatch value
It's fine to watch once as it was a drag and well the main theme wasn't really expressed well enough.
6. Overall
To sum it up, the story could have been better if the story elements (MC's experiences) in previous episodes actually affected his actions later. It did not so it all felt pointless. And if the main theme was more reinforced by the story and was realized earlier (in a shorter format) it could have been better. It all just felt too flat. He realized he was unsure of his life. Ok.
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