devineyah

a perfect series

my heart aches after this one. literal perfection. i love the characters and this story so much. i’m torn between running it back to get to watch the happier episodes again or not so that i don’t have to feel the heartbreak again. i’ve been watching a lot of kdramas recently and this is the only one that i’ve straight up binged. even ruined my sleep schedule for this one. i literally couldn’t stop watching.

h a t e d Pi O’s mom but that’s probably a testament to the actress EATING her role up.

i went into it knowing only the premise of two different types of prodigies and could not have expected all this. i heard the bl vs bromance debate when considering watching this too and i lie heavily on the bl side (though i see why *some* people argue against it). but no one could ever convince me that this level of intensity is just friends… there were clear bl vibes in the early days and then again after they’ve made up plus the ending was just the cherry on top. even though i know it was probably made to be less explicitly bl vibes for the screen adaptation, i kinda love that it is so obviously bl even without romantic or sexual plot throughout. it was nice to focus on the story and their relationship without the will they won’t they or the type of drama that romance kdramas tend to center. id even go as far to say that the intensity of their relationship transcends both the bl and “just friends” on screen tropes, which is why this ambiguity and intensity really shines.

i’ve watched many song kang projects (followed navillera with this one) and even though i actually enjoy his romance performances (not without critique), i actually agree with what many have said about him really taking it to the next level in non-romance focused dramas. i feel like i’ve seen a lot of range from him between nevertheless, my demon, navillera, and now 4h2s. i don’t mind his more stoic or uncaring personality in the projects he takes especially having seen these latter two which to me read as very much feeling. i really applaud not just song kang but so many of the actors i’ve seen in these dramas for giving a huge range of emotions. i love that so many of these dramas include crying, which the actors are either brilliant at or the production is just hiding fake crying super well. i suspect the former, which is very impressive.

i will definitely look into lee jun-young’s catalogue after this because i adored him as choi jeong-yo. also these two have chemistry off the charts!! on and off screen! they’re clearly great actors and their good relationship of screen must add a lot to their on-screen chemistry.

i could go on but i wont. 10/10

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