maplecottoncandy

Oh brother...
The gap in acting abilities is so so apparent when Cha Eunwoo goes head to head against all these top tier actors. He barely moves his face and keeps the same monotone whereas the rest of the cast is giving it their all. I felt it strongly during ep 3 when he was having that conversation with Bae Nara. His delivery during that scene was so emotionless and mechanical while Bae Nara was there absolutely serving.
Cha Eunwoo isn't a bad actor, but he has no strengths. His performance is bland and makes me feel nothing. His pretty face is his only saving grace, really.
Just a random thought I had while watching. That aside, the series is pretty interesting so far.

Soul Mate was pushed so much by Netflix for being a queer story so obviously the majority of people tuning in are coming with certain expectations. The show simply failed to deliver what was promised and I think that's a very valid ground for being disappointed. Imagine if a thriller was marketed as romcom, and the audience watches it waiting for the comedy to hit, only to be constantly kept at the edge of their seat instead of something light-hearted. It would've attracted the right audience and spared itself the criticism had it only been advertised correctly as a thriller instead of trying to appease a different niche & failing to deliver and that's exactly what this drama does. Most ppl didn't come here looking for a tragic end to a platonic friendship. They were drawn in by the troubled characters and wanted to know how they'd get together in spite of their adversities and help eo heal. Sharing the love they craved and becoming the pillar for eo, which they did do to some extent but not in the sense it was promised, there weren't many heartwarming scenes that made your stomach swoop or heart skip a beat, if at all. It's like being told there's a warm fireplace waiting for you inside a house down the street when you're walking in the bitter cold, only to find out that it's an electric one that only mimics the colors of the flames but none of it's warmth.

So sure, the director might've showed everything he wanted to, but he failed to direct it towards the right audience.

Fyi, it literally says "Gay romance" in the tags so yes, it is false marketing. This is coming from someone that does not care for kisses to show romantic attraction. The MLs just didn't have enough chemistry together to do that tag any justice, and if they didn't intend to portray a gay relationship, then that shouldn't have been a tag or in the synopsis by the director in the first place.

sjdkfsdljfks aww thank you, I'm glad I could be of help 💗
Fr, I don't know what has all these ppl so pressed, I was just stating things for what they were, I wasn't even being all that biased (I think).

Well I was being objective about the show and gave it an 8/10 after evaluating it for what it offered, despite what was promised so I'm not sure why you're even targeting me specifically. And obviously, if you market something to a certain audience, they are going in expecting to be delivered what was marketed. It's kind of like opening a pizza place but only serving burgers. The customers that come in are obviously going to be disappointed at the false marketing and even if they choose to stay and try out the food, no matter how good it is, they won't enjoy it fully since they were not in the mood for burgers. It's simple really.
And I feel like this show is on the fence, trying to be a BL but also something else while delivering neither. If the MLs' relationship wasn't the driving force behind this whole thing, what was? There's literally no plot other than them getting caught up with eo so excuse us for hoping for a semblance of romance lol.

Anyhow, I'm done talking about this show, you can say whatever you want, I won't be replying to you anymore.

Dude, we know it's not a Bl either, we watched it, no one's claiming it to be 😭
We just feel a bit cheated since it was marketed as a queer show. Netflix set the expectations as it being a BL, they baited us all to watch it.
Ofc I know that platonic soulmates exist as well but the main reason so many ppl are disappointed is bc of how the show was promoted! We went in expecting a queer romance, not a tragic sob-fest where one of the MLs has a terminal illness and they never get to be happy.

And no lol, we will not be putting our expectations and disappointments aside when we've literally been waiting for this show for YEARS. Review sites like MDL exist exactly for that reason. We're not here to glaze over the show, we're allowed to give our opinions on the good AND the bad in a show as we like. If you have a different opinion, write your own review, good for you, but you can't be policing other people on how they're allowed to interpret media or what to feel towards a show. You're just being annoying.

Good call. I mean there's really no enticing aspect to this show that I could sell to you other than the MLs being eye-candy and the cinematography is nice. The story's a bit disjointed and pointless at times so it becomes hard to follow. I guess my expectations were just too high :(

Lmao, I even imagined how beautiful and tender of a scene it would be when they'd hold hands for the first time (spoiler: they don't) or how hesitant and clumsy their first kiss would be since neither of them would be aware of the shape of their want, figuring it out in real time with eo. But alas, we were robbed.

I'd recommend 10 Dance instead. That movie is spectacular! Left me wanting so much more 😩

There were so many opportunities to show the chemistry between the MLs but the director took none. There were no lingering gazes, or touches, or even a flicker of want in any of their eyes, they just looked super platonic throughout the show. The only way we even know they like eo is that they keep sticking together (which can also be considered as just friends) and cohabitate, otherwise there's no indication of their feelings.

The story was super sad, there were so many tragedies and yes they were there for eo, but I think it was in a very superficial way. The characters didn't have many meaningful conversations to show us their connection or chemistry and didn't really make us root for them. The yearning was also super rushed, basically non-existent, when it's an essential part of queer shows. If they can't be together, you have to show us how they're suffering because of that distance! You can't just handwave it and expect the audience to fill in the gaps.

Overall, I think the story had potential and could've been explored more. The drama as of now felt rushed and a bit shallow so it falls flat, essentially failing to connect the audience deeply to the characters. But it's not bad either. Just a tad bit disappointing since you see how it could've been better. It's super depressing though, I'll give it that. If you're in the mood for suffering, watch this show.

Season two when 😩

I'm only halfway through episode 2 but omg, this SLAPS. Never before has a drama left me with my jaw on the floor right from the beginning and kept it that way for majority of the runtime.
I had my doubts before watching since the first season was so good, but this season is so much better and stronger. We've got even more cunning and brutal villains but also a strong backup. The payoff for all the buildup scenes has been really rewarding. OOF. This is why I love action thrillers 😩
Peak action scenes, good comedy and insane intellect pulls. The actors are so good at portraying their characters and the plot is fucking mind-bogglingly good. I am wooed incoherent. K, gonna go back to watching now.

Banger after banger omg

What was that Weak Hero Class 2 ass ending 😭
They should've at least hugged or kissed again 💔

The irony of me not having watched either of those sdfkjsdflks
A real shame how actual gems end up getting buried because people keep falsely promoting shiny rocks as jewels 💔

I have tried picking this show up numerous times after it got released since it has such good reviews but for some reason, I just cannot get past the first 2-3 episodes. It drags on too long, and I couldn't help being bored. Idk if I can ever finish this :/
The first time I'm having this much trouble completing a series after trying so hard to get into it.

The story is quite enjoyable but there have also been a few plotholes and inconsistencies that lower the satisfaction a little bit. The leads' chemistry is outstanding as always, love them together 😩

I knew from the instance we saw the lighting in Hye Seong's room that it would be a setup for a kiss. The golden light filtering in from the window was far too perfect to be wasted sdkfjsdjlfks
Can't wait for the episode next week!

Season 2 when 😩

omg is that Jihoon in ur pfp 😭💗
I love that man sm. Weak hero class supremacy 🙏

Omg another dinosaur 😭🫂 (I watched it while it was airing too)
Still holding out hope that us ancestors get to watch this soon 🕯️

Dude, idk, I was really rooting for Goeun for the longest time but then as she kept dragging things out and not really expressing who she was set on, it started to get kind of tiring. I honestly, saw Sungmin being her final choice kind of coming because of how much attention she still kept giving him despite the sometimes questionable ways he treater her (isolating her from others, clinging to her for hours, controlling her feelings and telling her not to talk on her paradise date like???).

She's got weird taste. That's all I'm gonna say.

Okay, so after much thinking, I have come to these conclusions:
- Mina Sue is going to paradise with Seung Il cause she's been curious about him since day one and vice versa. Seung Il already made it clear to Min Ji that he was going to take the chance to go to paradise with Mina Sue so she'll be hurt but not completely surprised. I do think Seung Il is quite emotionally intelligent and since he said earlier that he wants a partner that's like a friend, he won't be too impressed with Mina Sue's over the top pick me vibe and fake persona (completely opposite to what he imagined.) He just needs to resolve his curiosity this once to be sure that Min Ji is the fit for him. And if I wanna be more delusional, I'd even say that he wouldn't be able to stop thinking about Min Ji on the date, as in what she would like, what she would do and how much fun they'd have if they came here together. There's going to be no changing his mind after this, he's going to go all in on Min Ji once he comes back cause Mina is just too fickle and fake. So yeah. Seung Il X Mina Sue this time but the endgame is Seung Il X Min Ji.

- Hee Sun and Su Bin will be going together. Absolutely deserved. My girl needs to get out of that hell hole for once. I'm iffy about Su Bin cause so far he'd been pretty shallow with Hee Sun, let's see if paradise changes his mind about her. I hope they're endgame.

- Joo Young and Hyun Jae are going together. Girl's been really curious about his job ever since she heard him speak three languages at the campfire lol. They're so adorable together. I personally really like Jae Jin X Joo Young cause of how deeply he thinks about Joo Young and how "connected" they felt on their paradise date. I mean he even brought a souvenir back for her from his date in paradise with another girl, that's so sweet like 😭

- Go Eun will probably make good on her promise and choose Hyun Woo for paradise this time around. From the trailer, we see that she has another date with I Geon in paradise so idk if that'll come this time around or next. Anyhow, I don't like this I Geon guy, he's too overbearing. He's the one that made that fuckass comment "we have to kiss then," like eughhh 🤮
I'm hoping for Go Eun X Hyun Woo endgame 🙏