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If you saw 'Blue Boys' you can skip this one: you won't miss anything new
On May 12, 2024, he published a review in MDL in which he praised the South Korean miniseries 'Blue Boys' (블루보이즈/Beulru Boijeu).
In this series, Kim Nam Yi (Lee Hoo Rim) and Choi Jae Min are two young workers in the publishing industry, one of them rich and the other who needs the job to be able to survive day to day. In a heteronormative, conservative and patriarchal society like South Korea, both are forced to hide their romantic relationship.
In the aforementioned review I stated: "After overcoming conflicts and misunderstandings, the love and happiness of Nam Yi and Jae Min can only be defeated by a single monster: the fear that South Koreans experience of being exposed as homosexuals, the fear of being excluded and discriminated against. So Ri (Lee Soo Ha), a girl jealous of Jae Min for not having been able to conquer Nam Yi, will be in charge of inoculating Jae Min with the poison: "If a man dates another man and there are rumors about that, can you continue working in the company as if nothing had happened?". Nam Yi wouldn't have these problems because he comes from a wealthy family, but..."what would happen to you?” So Ri will remind him. In this way, the happy ending expected by everyone does not arrive. "Reality prevails".
I remember a second season had to be filmed so that Jae Min and Nam Yi could eat partridges.
Someone will surely wonder why I'm talking about this series.
Because precisely in 'Two Some Boys' we have an identical story, copy and tracing.
I imagine the creators meeting to "brainstorm" (yes, to get them right) and from there the idea arose, pardon the redundancy, that the cast, the name of the characters and the industry in the film would have to be changed that these develop. Add some more unimportant detail, add one or two new characters, and then mix the ingredients with two or three bottles of soju in a gigantic blender and... serve in a huge cocktail shaker, we have a new series.
Luckily for the public, we were favored by adding new characters, being able to enjoy the performance of Kim Yo Ho, protagonist of the BL series 'Only for Fans' (2024), and one of the season's participants 3 of "His Man", the first dating reality show for men in South Korea, and who plays the Idol trainee in 'Two Some Boys' in episode 1.
On this occasion, we have the couple in love, made up of Lee Su Ho and Kang Min. Everything seems to go so wrong in the filming process, that while the character of Lee Su Ho is played by actor Shin Joon Hyung (known for to play Uncle's junior in episode 9 of the South Korean series 'Choco Milk Shake' (2022), the character of Kang Min must be played by two actors: Kim Bit ('My Idol', 2024) in the first three episodes, and then Ki Myoung Je ('Love Is Right', 2022), who will replace him from the fourth to the sixth and last episode.
This change of protagonist further deepens the breakdown of the miniseries. Through a vague explanation the public will learn that Kim Bit had to leave filming due to personal matters. A low-budget production wouldn't have the luxury of restarting a shoot with replacement Ki Myoung Je from the beginning.
Despite the applause that the production team should receive for facing a disruption with this decision, the substitute does not feel comfortable being a "designated hitter", to use a term used in a very popular sport in South Korea, such as baseball is.
The logical comparisons between the substitute and the original actor (the latter much more charismatic, in my opinion) leave those who arrive at the last minute to take on an already established character in a bad position.
By having to accept that the new Kang Min is the same character, but with a different actor, it breaks expectations and the emotional journey. If the series was saved until then by the chemistry between Shin Joon Hyung and Kim Bit, the new couple does not have a single drop of that special connection that must occur between two actors in front of the cameras and should transfer to the screen.
Its story, poorly written and short, does not allow it to explore its themes or characters in a meaningful way, leaving us with a superficial and weak plot.
It will no longer be in the publishing industry, but in the entertainment industry, since one of the boys dreams of being idols, while the other has already debuted.
A timely flashback takes us to a happy relationship between the two protagonists, with a playful kiss and happy interactions in which there is no shortage of laughter. Although the romantic content is superficial, it represents a promising atmosphere, which is helped by the chemistry between the protagonists.
We then find out that Su Ho broke up with Kang Min for some reason unknown to him, but now they are caught in a bitter feud.
At this moment, while Kang Min comes to declare that he would prefer to leave the industry before working with his former partner again, he offers a mysterious conflict that awakens the public's interest in the reason that led them to distance themselves.
After meeting again, the hidden truth of why the two lovers became estranged came to light. After clearing up the misunderstanding, Su Ho and Kang Min were finally able to find their way back to each other and renew their broken romance.
However, it is disappointing how after so much intrigue and accumulation of tensions, the central conflict is resolved with just a few sentences between the manager and the two boys.
This is exactly where the negative character intervenes, who is now called Min Jeong, but his actions remind me of So Ri, because full of jealousy and meanness, he will tell Kang Min almost verbatim the same words said by So Ri to Jae Min in ' Blue Boys': "I heard that you and Su Ho are preparing for a unity group. I'm trying to tell you to leave the unity group (...). I was the one who reported you in the past about your relationship with Su Ho to the executive representative of the company. That was me. That means I can report you this time too. My father recently received a quick promotion at a broadcasting station. Well, if you make a good decision I won't report you..."
Let us conclude by saying that both series have only three spaces as the dramatic epicenter: the young people's bedroom, the publisher's office in one example or the ballroom in the other, and the cafeteria, which cannot be missed as it is the place where the girl threatens boy.
I understand that the objective of the series, as in 'Blue Boys', is to denounce the discrimination that exists in South Korea against LGBTIQ+ people, but they could have been much more original. Don't you think?
And as if the creators heard the criticism and were going to correct the plagiarism, or at least not having been original, in the final two episodes they ignore everything narrated so far, and the series introduces a trope many times before addressed with greater depth and emotional impact in BL series, by incorporating a parallel story of a young man and his drunk and abusive father with whom he has to deal.
I allow myself spoilers to explain my point of view.
In this series, Kim Nam Yi (Lee Hoo Rim) and Choi Jae Min are two young workers in the publishing industry, one of them rich and the other who needs the job to be able to survive day to day. In a heteronormative, conservative and patriarchal society like South Korea, both are forced to hide their romantic relationship.
In the aforementioned review I stated: "After overcoming conflicts and misunderstandings, the love and happiness of Nam Yi and Jae Min can only be defeated by a single monster: the fear that South Koreans experience of being exposed as homosexuals, the fear of being excluded and discriminated against. So Ri (Lee Soo Ha), a girl jealous of Jae Min for not having been able to conquer Nam Yi, will be in charge of inoculating Jae Min with the poison: "If a man dates another man and there are rumors about that, can you continue working in the company as if nothing had happened?". Nam Yi wouldn't have these problems because he comes from a wealthy family, but..."what would happen to you?” So Ri will remind him. In this way, the happy ending expected by everyone does not arrive. "Reality prevails".
I remember a second season had to be filmed so that Jae Min and Nam Yi could eat partridges.
Someone will surely wonder why I'm talking about this series.
Because precisely in 'Two Some Boys' we have an identical story, copy and tracing.
I imagine the creators meeting to "brainstorm" (yes, to get them right) and from there the idea arose, pardon the redundancy, that the cast, the name of the characters and the industry in the film would have to be changed that these develop. Add some more unimportant detail, add one or two new characters, and then mix the ingredients with two or three bottles of soju in a gigantic blender and... serve in a huge cocktail shaker, we have a new series.
Luckily for the public, we were favored by adding new characters, being able to enjoy the performance of Kim Yo Ho, protagonist of the BL series 'Only for Fans' (2024), and one of the season's participants 3 of "His Man", the first dating reality show for men in South Korea, and who plays the Idol trainee in 'Two Some Boys' in episode 1.
On this occasion, we have the couple in love, made up of Lee Su Ho and Kang Min. Everything seems to go so wrong in the filming process, that while the character of Lee Su Ho is played by actor Shin Joon Hyung (known for to play Uncle's junior in episode 9 of the South Korean series 'Choco Milk Shake' (2022), the character of Kang Min must be played by two actors: Kim Bit ('My Idol', 2024) in the first three episodes, and then Ki Myoung Je ('Love Is Right', 2022), who will replace him from the fourth to the sixth and last episode.
This change of protagonist further deepens the breakdown of the miniseries. Through a vague explanation the public will learn that Kim Bit had to leave filming due to personal matters. A low-budget production wouldn't have the luxury of restarting a shoot with replacement Ki Myoung Je from the beginning.
Despite the applause that the production team should receive for facing a disruption with this decision, the substitute does not feel comfortable being a "designated hitter", to use a term used in a very popular sport in South Korea, such as baseball is.
The logical comparisons between the substitute and the original actor (the latter much more charismatic, in my opinion) leave those who arrive at the last minute to take on an already established character in a bad position.
By having to accept that the new Kang Min is the same character, but with a different actor, it breaks expectations and the emotional journey. If the series was saved until then by the chemistry between Shin Joon Hyung and Kim Bit, the new couple does not have a single drop of that special connection that must occur between two actors in front of the cameras and should transfer to the screen.
Its story, poorly written and short, does not allow it to explore its themes or characters in a meaningful way, leaving us with a superficial and weak plot.
It will no longer be in the publishing industry, but in the entertainment industry, since one of the boys dreams of being idols, while the other has already debuted.
A timely flashback takes us to a happy relationship between the two protagonists, with a playful kiss and happy interactions in which there is no shortage of laughter. Although the romantic content is superficial, it represents a promising atmosphere, which is helped by the chemistry between the protagonists.
We then find out that Su Ho broke up with Kang Min for some reason unknown to him, but now they are caught in a bitter feud.
At this moment, while Kang Min comes to declare that he would prefer to leave the industry before working with his former partner again, he offers a mysterious conflict that awakens the public's interest in the reason that led them to distance themselves.
After meeting again, the hidden truth of why the two lovers became estranged came to light. After clearing up the misunderstanding, Su Ho and Kang Min were finally able to find their way back to each other and renew their broken romance.
However, it is disappointing how after so much intrigue and accumulation of tensions, the central conflict is resolved with just a few sentences between the manager and the two boys.
This is exactly where the negative character intervenes, who is now called Min Jeong, but his actions remind me of So Ri, because full of jealousy and meanness, he will tell Kang Min almost verbatim the same words said by So Ri to Jae Min in ' Blue Boys': "I heard that you and Su Ho are preparing for a unity group. I'm trying to tell you to leave the unity group (...). I was the one who reported you in the past about your relationship with Su Ho to the executive representative of the company. That was me. That means I can report you this time too. My father recently received a quick promotion at a broadcasting station. Well, if you make a good decision I won't report you..."
Let us conclude by saying that both series have only three spaces as the dramatic epicenter: the young people's bedroom, the publisher's office in one example or the ballroom in the other, and the cafeteria, which cannot be missed as it is the place where the girl threatens boy.
I understand that the objective of the series, as in 'Blue Boys', is to denounce the discrimination that exists in South Korea against LGBTIQ+ people, but they could have been much more original. Don't you think?
And as if the creators heard the criticism and were going to correct the plagiarism, or at least not having been original, in the final two episodes they ignore everything narrated so far, and the series introduces a trope many times before addressed with greater depth and emotional impact in BL series, by incorporating a parallel story of a young man and his drunk and abusive father with whom he has to deal.
I allow myself spoilers to explain my point of view.
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