hae-cheol

Cute and Confusing

I didn't watch the series first but there were a LOT of plot holes. I'm usually not a stickler for plot logic but there were several gaping plot holes and it wasn't the English translation like it often is.

This is a story about a boy who was somehow abandoned as a young child, then found and raised -solo- by a middle schooler. He feels overly indebted to his adoptive hyung/parent, and is working several part time jobs to become financially independent. There seems to be some hint that his hyung harbors romantic(?) feelings(?) and maybe that's why he's being so aggressive about wanting to become independent? He becomes a boyfriend for hire and there is like 10% chemistry. But the actors are both cuties and very awkward. Then his boyfriend-employer's boss wants in on the deal and also hires him as a boyfriend to make her actual boyfriend jealous. Actual boyfriend goes off the rails breaks up with boyfriend-employer's boss and starts stalking her. So in response, she goes to the hyung's bar and apparently talks him into disappearing (?) so that boyfriend-for-hire has to run the bar alone (?) and also become dependant on her, as well as break up with the original boyfriend-employer. Time passes and boyfriend-for-hire randomly (?) finds his hyung at a park, and they sort of (?) reconcile (?) and then boyfriend-for-hire and boyfriend-employer randomly (?) meet at a bus stop and reconcile with kisses. Then boyfriend-for-reals-now pitches an app idea to his real boyfriend and his ex-girlfriend-employer/his boyfriend's boss. and she gets really flirty and intense but approves the sales pitch.

This was a meh, the actors were all cuties and there was no overarching negativity. It wasn't particularly funny. Just kinda cute. The story made no sense at the end.

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Quick and Cute

Others have stated this but the summary listed on this page is not exactly accurate. This is one of the fastest KBLs I've watched, each episode is probably around 10 minutes long after you cut out the 3 minute recap the 1.5 minute intro song and the 6 minute end credit.

This story is about a forbidden romance during the Joseon era, with one of the MLs being cursed to stay the same age until he falls in love with the current reincarnation of the other ML (who has no memory of his past life). If he does not fall in love within the unexplained and undetermined time allowance, the other ML dies and the first ML has to start over again.

The story has a lot of potential to be deep and intricate, but there are a LOT of gaps. Side characters have what seems like important dialogue but the story never gets deep enough for the viewer to connect the plotlines. This story has a strong tell instead of show component.

Dennis (side character) was the best actor, he was able to show a lot of pain and emotion, although we aren't ever sure exactly why and how it ties into the overarching story. The two main leads were a bit wooden considering the situation, but it wasn't horrible. They had good chemistry with each other.

Overall, in a paranormal story I would expect a deeper plot and more world building and we didn't get either. It's mostly a boss-employee office romance that is kind of predestined, with some time travel flashbacks that are way too brief and then just straight dialogue to explain the plot.

Other than the boss-employee power dynamic, there wasn't any negativity or toxicity. It was cute, especially the younger ML. But it wasn't cute enough IMHO to be considered fluffy. There are a few emotionally intense scenes and one scene with physical violence but the story isn't really deep enough to really suck you into it. I didnt read the source material though so maybe if I had, I would have been more engaged.

Either way if you're looking for a light and quick BL romance with a happy but kind of ambiguous ending, try it out!

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Amazingly Terrible

At first this was like a soapy train wreck that I saw as an ad on social media. I tried to find it online but could only find the $20/or pay per episode version on some one-off streaming site. I ended up finding a decent uploaded version on DMotion, and I'm glad I didnt pay $20. For me, these silly soapy romances are the same as watching things like Snakes on a Plane or The Meg; so bad they're entertaining. I dont watch them all the time, but the levity is nice once in awhile!

The verticle format was really well done and I did really love song during the FL's concert. But very over the top soapy, silly drama, and I've been watching some heavier stuff lately, so I was in the perfect mood for this kind of silly today.

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Painful to watch

I love legal dramas and medical dramas and So Ji-Seob is one of my favorite actors, so I thought this was gonna be a 10/10 to me. I could not get through the first 2 episodes. The medical content was not accurate nor logical. In the very first episode, for example, someone in the courtroom RANDOMLY goes into anaphalactic shock and collapses in the middle of the room. The first thing they said was that his heart stopped and to get the AED. Okay, no. They do CPR incorrectly and are messing around with the AED not working properly. Then, the doctor-lawyer comes in with his magical medical bag filled with items that can only be possessed by physicians with medical licenses (which his had been revoked for a retaliation reason that would have been caught by an ethics review committee, like licenses aren't being revoked willy-nilly out there). He takes out of his bag a premeasured injection, possibly adrenaline/epinephrine and gives it to him in the neck(!!?? absolutely not, and if he was doing it to restart his heart, that is not really appropriate for this setting). He then gets out a trach kit, opens the sterile packaging and then has someone poor a liquid (isopropyl alcohol maybe?) on it before giving the guy a trach before waiting for the epi to start working.

There was so much obviously wrong with this and future events that I couldn't stop getting irritated. The background music was overly dramatic for what was happening and their OR was like a mess. Someone in there slipping all over the blood on the floor like slip-resistant shoes aren't mandatory.

Anyway, I still love So Ji-seob Oppa but this show wasn't for me.

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Red Pill / Blue Pill

A great comparison in the film referring to The Matrix's Red Pill/Blue Pill choice. Does one choose to stay in a happy fantasy or choose to face unpleasant reality?

The Trunk (트렁크) is a 2024 8-episode drama with each episode being an hour long. This drama features middle-aged leads who are mostly Xennials with Seo Hyun Jin (1985), Gong Yoo (1979), Jung Yun Ha (1986) and firmly millennial Cho I Geon (1992).

This drama is directed by Kim Kyu Tae, who also directed dramas like It's Okay That's Love (2014), Moon River Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo (2016) and Live (2018) and based on the book "The Trunk," written by Kim Ryu Ryung (and adapted to film by Park Eun Young), who also wrote Elegant Lies (2014) and Punch (2011).

The Trunk is brooding and introspective. There are elements of mystery, although sometimes foreshadowing is overdone. Most events are predictable, but there are a few good surprises. The chemistry between characters is muted, and that fits the vibe of the show. This is an adult-rated show with drugs, smoking, nudity (woman's breasts, man's buttocks, soft sex scenes), suicide, blood and violence. It ends with a hopeful, positive note.

~~Plot
This is a story about Han Jeongwon (ML) and Lee Seoyeon (2FL), a toxic couple, and their journey of separation as well as No Inji and Yun Jio's independent trauma resolution.

In a manipulative effort to confirm Jeongwon's dedication, Seoyeon divorces him and employs a spouse-for-hire contractor to test Jeongwon. Broken by extensive childhood trauma and emotional manipulation from Seoyeon, Jeongwon experiences nightmares, depression and self-medicating with unknown drugs he receives from Seoyeon. He holds that he still loves Seoyeon but goes along with her spouse-for-hire plan with her promise that if he lasts one year, she will reconcile with him.

No Inji (FL) has been plagued by guilt since her youth. She feels that she inflicts bad luck on those she loves and takes up marriage contracting to feel less lonely in her life. Her marriage contract with Jeongwon is her 5th marriage, but she still holds on to her first love, whose life, she believes, was destroyed by her. She also navigates the unwanted attention of Um Taeseong, her violent stalker of the last 5 years.

In spite of their age difference, Yun Jio (2ML) truly loves Seoyeon. He is willing to put forth the devotion and affection that she seeks, but her intent is finding ways to control Jeongwon.

Simultaneously, we watch snippets of the future unfold as detectives recover a luxury brand luggage trunk from a lake and then a body. They work to untangle the means, motive and opportunity from the primary characters to bring justice to the victim.

~~Technical
I watched this on Hulu, and there were several times where the screen cuts were overlong, but that could have been Hulu's editing for potential commercial breaks. The camera work and audio was stable. I liked the use of focus/out-of-focus when the actors are in the same scene, which contributed to the characters' themes of self-absorption.

The settings were grand and impersonal, which fit the theme of the show. The lake setting was beautiful in nearly every shot, especially with the fog. The cinematography was underutilized for me and the could have provided more mystery or foreshadowing.

The English captioning was sufficient. I had one pet peeve were some times that Korean "No" was written as "Uh, No" and I'm not sure why. There were 2 or 3 times that the captioning had more written than I had time to read and I had to go back. There were also a few confusing conversation translations that didn't quite make it understandable in English, but the context made up for that in those situations. It was direct as possible, and anything that might be lost in translation was reiterated later.

~~Recommendation - 9.5/10
I really enjoyed watching this. I watched it in one sitting. There were a few parts that were skippable, all non-dialogue.

It is deep, but I never felt overly sympathetic to the characters. I did not cry or feel like anything was terribly unfair or unrealistic. The actors were all great for me, although everything had kind of a muted, drugged feeling, which I feel was part of the story. My favorite character was Um Taeseong. Kim Dong Won's acting was the best of everyone. Then again, I often have a thing for unhinged but believable characters. There was never any comedy, a few times I cracked a smile but even the humor felt a bit bleak.

The story felt cohesive, although the additional storyline with Jeongwon's best friend felt out of place and under developed. There could have been more backstory Inji's family, there were a lot of things unsaid. Seoyeon had no history other than being obsessed with Jeongwon, but sometimes that's enough explanation. The ending was hopeful, although not quite complete. It allows the viewer to decide on the final ending.

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