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Refreshingly Realistic Characters in a Character-Driven Story

This is my first review, but I felt I really needed to explain why this series is worth your time. Please give it a chance if anything I write about resonates with you below :)

SPOILER-FREE PORTION OF REVIEW :

PROS : You should watch this series if you are craving these items :

- realistic character portrayals (flaws, fears, trauma responses, etc.)
- healthy communication (unless it makes sense for a character’s struggle with expressing themselves due to past trauma)
- no over-the-top acting usually typical of GMMTV shows
- minimal sound effect usage beyond the few comedic beats
- JoongDunk & AouBoom’s acting is phenomenal and natural with incredible chemistry
- emotional intimacy over tons of NC scenes (there are definitely some hot kissing scenes, don’t worry, but the majority of the intimacy in this series comes from the emotional moments between characters or simple natural touches)
- a female supporting character that ISN’T the villain
- lack of a “true” villain character (except for one person, iykyk) - if we dislike a character, it’s usually because we don’t understand a character fully yet.
- character development that makes sense (mistake —> accountability —> apology —> honesty —> growth)
- character-driven story vs. plot-driven (the plot points take a back seat to the characters' relationships and personal growth)

I realize this series isn’t for everyone and that is perfectly fine, but if you are tired of overdramatic plot-lines with a frustrating lack of communication and overly-animated characters, I’d give this one a shot. Sure, there are things I’d change and there will always be critiques, but please don’t ignore this one because of the rating/reviews. It’s simple, yes, but it’s refreshingly realistic and grounded.

PRODUCTION --
The cinematography is GORGEOUS; it’s soft and dreamy, very cinematic and simple but beautiful. Pair that with a refreshing lack of sound effects and properly (but sparingly) placed music cues, and this show had me glued to the screen. Even the background music feels dreamy and relaxed. I'm happy they didn't over exhaust the GMMTV music library with the same music choices we hear over and over again. and used music that didn't overpower the emotional tone during JokeZo talks. Even the music for the NC scene was refreshingly intimate.

ACTING --
Everyone’s acting is refreshingly well-restrained. Don’t get me wrong, I love comedic relief as much as the next person, but I didn’t realize how much I was craving a soft drama storyline with natural comedy that doesn’t make them feel like over-the-top caricatures of normal people backed by sound effects.

MAY CONTAIN LOOSE SPOILERS BELOW :

DUNK (as Zo) --
After binge-watching all of JoongDunk’s projects, I feel I can credibly say that I think this is Dunk’s best-acted role. Style, from The Heart Killers was wonderfully chaotic and I’ll always love him for it, but Dunk feels so natural as Zo that I sometimes forgot he was acting. Many people don’t understand Dunk’s acting style or they expect him to be high-energy like many GMMTV leads. And when he doesn’t they blame his acting. But as someone who is OBSESSED with eye-acting and micro-expressions, I thoroughly appreciate Dunk’s acting, especially as Zo. He’s written as a character that is relatively closed-off when it comes to expressing his feelings and overthinks many situations. Maybe it's because I relate so heavily to Zo, but I was genuinely feeling everything he felt throughout the series: his anxiety with whether to trust his head or his heart first, needing time to understand his own emotions (end then not even trusting them fully when it adds something good to his life), never feeling like he lives up to standards he places on himself, being stuck in his head while blaming himself for everyone else's emotions, etc.
Dunk did wonderful playing this normal but complex character - perfect casting in my opinion.

STORY --
The dialogue doesn’t feel forced, the characters feel like genuinely real people, and the importance of good communication feels incredibly natural. After finishing the series, I can confidently say that I this series (in my opinion) is one of the most relatable and honest BL's I've seen so far. Every character is written so well; they don't feel like characters made to fill a quota for a specific plot, but like normal people with realistic character arcs, fears, and trauma responses. They structured the story to encourage us, the audience, to make snap judgements when a character made a questionable decision and then later, when they were ready, would reveal a truth that would help us understand their actions.

For example: while I would have loved for them to touch on Joke's family dynamic earlier in the series, it makes complete sense that we would only learn about it in the final episode. The writers set everything up perfectly for his character so that when we discover his family dynamic, we have an ""Ah-ha!"" moment. All of a sudden, everything made sense to me: Joke's need to help Zo feel appreciated (because Joke didn't in his own family), encouraging Zo to feel his emotions fully (while neglecting his own), and clinging hard to his relationships (for fear of losing the people closest to him). Even his ability to read emotions so well is a common trait of people who grow up in emotionally-closed-off households.

THIS is how you write realistic characters. This is how it is in real life relationships: we don't ever have all the information on those around us, we all have our limits, and nothing is black and white. These characters are so special to me because they weren't perfect. They made mistakes, sought forgiveness, and grew.

I've seen many reviews calling this series boring or lacking in plot, but honestly, I felt it was pretty much perfect. Maybe it's just where I'm at in my life, seeking comfort in knowing there are people in the world that also struggle with overthinking, masking emotions, and just wanting to make their loved ones proud, but I believe if more people approached this series with a more open mind and an empathetic heart, they'd get a lot out of it.

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I've never been happier that I was wrong about a series

Needless to say, if you choose to approach this series with a lens focused on 'what-you-see-is-what-you-get' characters with a plot-driven narrative, take a step back and adjust before continuing on. This series isn't intense, overdramatic, or overly romanticized. It's an extremely 'human' story with flawed characters learning to navigate life together.

Before I get into more detail, I'm going to be honest - this one was actually pretty difficult for me to get into at first. I'm not the biggest fan of the trope where one character, seemingly childish by nature, is obsessed or a fan of the stoic unemotional one. Admittedly, I assumed that these characters were ONLY that - 2-dimensional and used as devices to play up the comedy and nothing more. However, with everyone raving about it, I decided to rewatch the first few episodes along with a few reactors I adore to get additional perspectives. As more episodes came out, I found myself pleasantly surprised by the characters' natural growth towards each other within their relationship. And as we learned more about the characters, I began to see that the "hollow" personalities I judged them for were, in fact, deep reflections of their inner wounds and anxieties. What I thought was going to be mindless slop ended up be subject to one of my favorite character studies this year.

QIN'S TRAUMA --

Okay, here's where my headspace was at the start - I have become so desensitized to the BL-series trope where they make it known Episode 1 that the main character, typically the 'sunshine' character has trauma, and that inadvertently leads the emotionally-stoic character to begin to have feelings for them. So I just assumed that Duang was going to be the character with the trauma. However, the writers and Por did such a great job at naturally sprinkling in little hints of Qin's trauma affecting his everyday life, that I almost didn't even notice. Once we witnessed his first 'flashback', I paused the episode and found myself rethinking everything I thought I knew about his character. I remember saying out loud "Ohhhhh. Wait. This makes sense. I was so wrong."

I'm not sure if other people also felt this way, but I feel like the writers intentionally had us learn about Qin's traumas and fears whenever Duang learned about them: naturally and honestly. Childhood trauma seeps into our everyday life, subconsciously controlling every decision, confrontation, and defense mechanism we have. Even though we didn't know exactly what Qin experienced until later in the series, it allowed us into his mind for a split second as he experienced a trigger. This completely changed how I looked at Qin's character in the following episodes. I analyzed everything he did through the lens of someone deeply wounded and deeply guarded. Por did such a great job portraying the layers of a character that cannot express how he feels to those around him - you can even see Qin's physical response to wanting to tell Duang how he feels but is too deeply afraid to feel anything at all to tell him. It was such a phenomenal and accurate depiction of trauma in the everyday life. Well done writers and well done Por.

DUANG --

I also assumed this character was 2-dimensional going into the series. I'm so happy I was wrong. Duang is one of the best examples of trope-diversion where the 'sunshine' character is NOT a naive/innocent damsel in distress needing protection, but instead is so emotionally grounded that he provides the security needed for Qin to open up. Yes, Duang may feel everything 10x more than everyone else and may come across immature (which, I admit, I judged him unfairly to be early on), when, in fact, he's the most emotionally intelligent character on the show. While his crush on Qin started out semi-obsessive, it turned into care and the desire to take care of him. Duang, while often over-the-top around Qin, understood the importance of restraint and when to hold back to allow Qin room to express himself as well. Some of my favorite moments were when Duang could tell when Qin needed someone soft spoken and calm to listen to him and create a safe space for him to feel emotions he wasn't comfortable with expressing yet. He anticipates Qin's needs and meets him where he's at rather than expecting him to fulfill some idea of what a perfect boyfriend should be.

Watching the last few episodes, I found myself tearing up at the sheer care and patience they have for each other, and I'm honestly in awe at how much Duang helped Qin become a better version of himself. It's incredibly heartwarming and makes their relationship 100% believable.

And I need to applaud TeeTee for a sec (since a lot of this review is focused on Por); he did an AMAZING job at showing these two sides of Duang while still making it feel like both are Duang, which is hard to do. I think the trick that he really leaned into was to make Duang so unbelievably earnest that it makes EVERY aspect of his personality that much more believable. I don't think many actors could pull off a character with equal parts stimming chaos and equal parts emotionally calming.

QIN'S PARENTS --

Okay, touchy subject here that many may not agree with, but I think these are some of the most realistic parents portrayed in a BL so far. Let me explain. I feel like in BL's parents are either amazing, perfect, and kind parents OR unsupportive or emotionally/physically abusive. Here, they're loving, but human. We can tell they love Qin, but they also have deep-rooted guilt and a LOT of shame surrounding what happened to Qin as a child, ultimately leading to Qin's emotional neglect. While I don’t agree with their choices, I get it. Sometimes, out of fear and shame, we hide traumatic memories in an effort to not feel them again or hurt the ones we love. HOWEVER, this only strengthens whatever pain the affected parties feel. Even the scene where Qin finally confronts his parents felt so accurate. They didn't get it at first, and you could see the instinctive push-back they had towards Qin calling them out. Their deflection was out of a place of deep shame. But it wasn't until he broke down in front of them that they finally allowed themselves to see how they affected him. I both hated and absolutely loved that scene. So while I hate that they took this route to protect themselves first, I get it. They're human and flawed.

I was lucky enough to have parents that emphasized communication above everything else. But even though I never doubted their love for me, they also made mistakes that I still see the side effects of in my everyday life. Parents are living for the first time, too. They're going to do things wrong and hopefully, when confronted, they'll see how they need to improve to better the lives of those around them. I really appreciate how the writers took their time for us to see both the love and the neglect the parents displayed and how that affected Qin.

It was heartbreaking and refreshing and raw; utterly human.

CLOSING THOUGHTS --

Needless to say, I went on a journey with this one. I went into it with previous pre-conceived understandings of what I judged as a typical BL show, and I came out with a gentle appreciation for humanity, flaws and all. I'm so glad I was wrong. Was it an out-of-this-world, astounding series? Probably not. Was the plot a thrilling adventure with plot twists around every corner? Not at all. It was simply a story of a group of people navigating life together while learning about each other and themselves along the way. Like the director himself stated, this series, much like humanity, is "not the best, but still good." We aren't perfect, but we try. And that's good enough for me.

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