Reviews

too much of an unlikable character

Overall: I'm generally more lenient on indie productions; however, Wayufilm has been making short movies for several years and they have had some that I enjoyed so I know what they are capable of. However, in this "The Star" they spent the first 20 minutes with a character who was such a jerk to another character that was a complete doormat. Then in the second part, there was a very fast mostly off screen redemption arc. We didn't get to really see their relationship develop/sweet moments. I did appreciate their frank conversation and the condom in the second part. And I understand why the NSFW scenes needed to be cut on YouTube though it made the second part feel choppy.

Aired in 2 parts for a total of about 45 minutes on Wayufilm's YouTube channel https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOA6_oQmuXGBm-k0qjRmKX3mZLev2M7do&si=ldSLP6IMp8PTcYJf

Content Warnings: bullying, manhandling, threats

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Heartwarming but also confusing

I’ll keep this review shortish but I just finished this show after dropping it midway through when it was airing.

Overall the first 60% of this show (8 episodes) is incredibly weak to the point you could literally watch episodes 1 and 2 then skip everything else until episode 9 and it would honestly improve the show. It starts of with one of the best first episodes I’ve seen in a K-Drama, pulling at your heartstrings and setting the tone for the show but then soon after the vibe completely switches and it feels like it’s a comedy all of a sudden.

There’s no meaningful plot or character development in the first half and while the plot finally gets going after episode 9 the character development does not. They did a good job showing how Kang Ho’s mom abused him growing up, something I’m sure a lot of kids can relate to, but then she does the same when he’s disabled which okay, fair enough maybe there will be a redemp….nevermind there isn’t. Both Young Soon and Kang Ho never truly have a heart to heart to reconcile the abuse which he was receiving pretty much until the end, the show even attempts to justify it as if throwing a disabled person into water every day isn’t horrifying. The trauma and mental health issues don’t get resolved and instead they move onto the “she’s terminally ill” plot to garner sympathy.

As the show went on the villagers grew on me but they were so bad the first half, random plots where they “turn” against her and some side conflicts which were so unnecessary to the actual story. This is a large part of why the first half sucked.

I think the tough part for me with this show is the title likes to imply that the mom is deeply flawed, and while they do show these flaws they try to justify them or downplay them which is where the huge issue arises. The more interesting part for me was the criminal aspect of the drama as well as Mijoo and Kang Ho’s interactions and relationship. Up until the horrible court scene at the end they actually wrote a better crime plot than 99% of crime dramas.

I gave this show a 7.5 for picking up strong in the last several episodes which is honestly the opposite of your average K-Drama. It could have been greatly improved by taking a more serious tone, similar to My Mister perhaps, and having more character development for the mother.

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Bright, Light, Humorous & Silly. (I'm enjoying it)

Ep 1: The poster & the name of the drama brought me in, I didn't think I would end up liking any part of it. Thought, it would be like Midnight Romance in Hagwon, but the first 5 mins of the episode were so hilarious. I hoped that the woman who was pestering our ML wasn't the FL but a supporting character. This just has me intrigued as in where is this going. By the end of the episode we still haven't connected the first scene to any of what's going on. It could be a future event or it could be just a dream she had in a future. Wow, what a rollercoaster of a ride. The guy we thought she was dating was actually two-timing her and when she finds out, he acts all high and mighty calling her a backup & a fake. Yup we have 1 disgusting character right here. But still, I didn't much care for how the FL was trying to go after the woman he was two-timing with instead of the two-timer. Him she was too lenient with, especially with how rude he was to her later on.

Ep 2: Lee Yoo Young, the actress portraying Kim Hong Do has such beautiful eyes. She is lovely, but this role doesn't suit her. I can picture in her in a leather jacket and pants doing something badass, not being this helpless woman. In my opinion, she was miscast, apart from few scenes her portrayal seems kinda flat. Someone like Park Bo Young would have been a better choice, she has this natural charisma that would have made the character more dimensional. Coming to the character, she should have quit working at that place a long time ago. While all workplaces have their own issues, you still need to be able to depend on just one person to back you up. Things are going all wrong for her, from her superior copying her design to her childish cringy ex trying to frame her, it was ridiculous to watch. I liked 1st episode better. The thing where she didn't even realize that he was pretending to have not seen her was just too hard to believe. While I may not have liked this episode that much, I'm going to continue watching because I still have hope for this drama.

But the drama was fun to watch.

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Its Softcore

Is it really softcore? There are some pretty... erm, suggestive scenes that I'm sure some people are looking for. I commend the actors whom are all rather good looking but I am sad that they have to do this project which is almost p**n.

The script is almost non existent, and they really wasted the beautiful sights of Japan by having much of the non acting runtime in the room itself. What I mean is that the sights of Japan are almost like a travelogue while the acting (which is erm, you know.) is mostly in that house of P. They should have leveraged on their Japan expenses by having more acting and plot within the gorgeous country of Japan.

In my opinion, they should not have used the name Kiseki which was that Taiwanese project with no link at all. I hope the 4 actors get better roles in the future, and I hope the studio gets better scriptwriters.

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Mystery solved

Iit was a great Filipino drama wherein it tackles about the different common problems in every family household. I enjoyed watching it, and I find it funny too, I am more of a Sorene fan I love their love-hate relationship. This is the kind of drama that's you will see unbelievable plot twist that you are eager to know what going to happen next. I am not satisfied with the ending of Bingling but I have to commend all the makers of this drama, you all did a very good job for entertaining us viewers.
They picked the best casting all stand out, they gave justice to every character that was given to them. The locations are perfect specially the Batanes scenes it was shot beautifully it really shows the beauty of the Philippines ?? .
For the longest time that they have given us assignment on who really is the killer of Divine no one dod suspects it not until the last 2 episodes, everyone is shocked to know who.
I can say that this drama gives a different flavor, you will laugh and cry in this series which gives us a problem on thinking mystery. It may take long but I enjoyed it. I will miss the cast the binondo family and the Tui family.

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Pretty good fantasy BL

This is one of the better BLs in the first half of 2024 and is in my list of my favourite fantasy BLs . The 6 episodes never felt rushed, the story flowed properly, and it was not encumbered by 2nd or 3rd ships. The chemistry between the young couple was great. I was genuinely surprised that I can experience chemistry from 2 persons interacting through a layer of glass (or mirror, as is in the story :p) Their acting was decent, and the twist was surprising and mindblowing.

Many people are dismayed by the ending. I can understand that, considering our current norms with regards to relationships like that. Some might even consider it as grooming. The producers also seem to have considered this, considering that they have SJ alternate between actors. There were also some instances which the story could be extended, like the dad reconciliation arc as well as the dad meets SJ part. But I suspect its more on the novel then on the artistic direction.
That said, I think in a fantasy genre, there is always an aspect of un-realism there, in this case, how someone can hold on to a love for so long? But if I were to take a flight of fancy, isn't that why you watch BL's in the first place, for rare love that is hard to achieve? That is exactly what is so Fin about it. Love that transcend time, space and universes always have that certain appeal in them.

The standout actor to me is Beck. His facial expressions are great and his acting is realistic. Sometimes I wonder if its because of a good script or if its because of his acting. I conclude that its the blessed combination of both factors.

Overall, I gave my score based on my opinion that its well paced, the story is tight, the twist was reasonably well done, and the actors have reasonable chemistry with one another.

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good for laid-back days

I picked this up right after watching When I Fly Towards You and I’m happy it shares almost the exact same feel and vibe. It’s the typical childhood friends-to-lovers story with the added spice of the uniqueness of their characters and setting. It’s steady-paced, relaxed, with just the right amount of conflict that gives it the added drama but not so much stress that I’d be tempted to drop it.

It’s so bittersweet to have it end. These shows make me want more of its kind and give me an identity crisis after because I suddenly don’t know what to do with my life after finishing it. Would recommend and would rewatch!!

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Strong performers, poor writing

The actors were amazing! I was particularly impressed by Cha Eunwoo. I didn't know he could handle intense roles like that.

The writing though, whew... To say that this show abused flashbacks is an understatement. Every episode starts with a recap, so what's the point of giving me multiple flashbacks? And there are too many empty scenes (camera panning across the room, actors staring out into the void, etc). I've skipped so many of these, some of them take up a full minute or two, and I didn't miss anything of value. The story isn't even bad at all, it was just the way it was written. Too many plot holes, red herrings, out of character decisions, etc.

There's also too much crying. I get it, it's justified and realistic, but after the 10th crying session it just lost all its impact. I skipped those, too.

Overall this show is way too soapy and could have been reduced to 8-10 episodes. Fantastic actors though!

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I just can't put my finger on what made me not make this a Ten

Liked
-For first time actors, The Acting was good
-I Liked how they were able to be together again at the end
-The Music was very good,
-They didn't add more episodes and the episodes were just right
-It was somewhat funny!

Disliked
-Won-Kyung
-The very Emotion switching episodes (some might like those type of stuff, But I don't)
-We didn't really get to Understand Dayeol's past at all, even if it's boring, we should still know more

It was good but I just can't put my finger on what made me not make this a Ten, it was very interesting and I would recommend for people that want to start watching BL'S or want to start watching Kdrama's

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What a bad ending...

While I can understand that it can be hard to accept a gay relationsship, I don't understand why the finale needed a female antagonist with the most cliché story imagable. Instead of fighting for the relationsship and a more in depth talk, the antagonist took all the screentime so there was only a "bad" ending left.
The story was quite good thus far, regardless of some hick-ups and unnecessary scenes. The chemestry and acting was very good for new actors in such a genre. So the ending did disappoint even more. Overall better than expected, there is much room for improvement for the writing, but the MLs were the highlight of this short show.

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Comparison to the webtoon

THE STORY IS EPIC, BUT PLEASE READ THE WEBTOON INSTEAD!!!
Becaud it before, I really cannot be objective about this. So you can give this drama a shot, but if you are interested in it and you also read webtoon, read rease I reather the webtoon. The drama version is not better.

For starters, I've read the webtoon first, I've been a big fan of that, . So just the fact, that I missed this drama airing and complety being unaware of it existing just states a lot about this drama.

Overall I was disappointed. I feel like the whole plot was rushed and they left out or changed lot of important parts and also my favourite scene. It looked like they had a very tight budget for the drama. From the second-teer actors, to the music or the lenght, but most importantly what irritated me the most was the way they filmed it. How to explain it...The angles and also the music didint really emphatised with what is happening o the screen. In other dramas whan some drama is happening they magnify it and make sure it leave an impact on the viewer. But her it just wasnt really happening so it just make the story look really bland.
The actors played it really well, its not supposed to be hate against them, but its just me, being let down. I had high expectations for this drama and I'm mad becouse it looks like it was made to not be the mainstream drama on purpuse.
I give this drama over all rating 9, but only because I dont want to degrading the story from the webtoon.

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A(n) Unnecessary Love

Before I talk about the best worst thing about this series, let's talk about the actual worst things.

Watching this felt like watching something that should have come out 7 years ago, with all the engineers and their gears, the hazing and the "I don't like men, I only like you stuff", and they somehow made all this and more much worse than it should have been.

Even looking past all this, it's still difficult to enjoy because one or the leads is an absolute horror of a person. Essentially what we got was one of the worst male leads to ever grace our screens. He spends more than half of the series being a rude, abrasive guy who harasses his ex girlfriend, his friends, his juniors, anything that moves and breathes. They tried to give him a redemption arc, but too little too late to the point where you're going just end it, I don't care.
Couple this with another male lead who is just.. dull. That's it, his entire personality can be summed up with one word. One is a pushover, the other is rude, you're turned off by the personalities even before we can get to the romance.

There isn't much in that aspect either, a majority of the episodes is Prot pining over Pluem, and the rest is a bunch of misunderstandings that is resolved in the final episode. All throughout, I could not understand why these two even liked each other, and the acting definitely didn't help in selling their feelings for each other. As a couple, they had a maximum of maybe thirty minutes of romantic screentime. The rest was nonsense conversations, the male lead harrassing his ex, the other male lead pining (and failing because the emotions did not come through) from a distance, and Pluem bullying Prot.

I haven't even gotten to the best part yet. The factual inaccuracy.
They've apparently known each other for seven years. They met when Pluem was a senior and Prot was in the grade below him. The story begins when they're in their fourth and third year of engineering respectively.
Do the math, and it's four years.. right?
Nope, the show insists it's 7 years.

The best, best part though. The SUBTITLES.
Horrendous. Truly bad, I had such a hard time making sense of some of those dialogues. But so funny. Not as funny as some others I've come across, but definitely made the viewing experience a bit better.

It's weird though, because secret crushes aren't a new deal, and neither was this entire story, but I kind of feel like I would have enjoyed watching something along the lines of this story. They did not make it work though, none of it worked.

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Beautiful Short Series

This is a great series with a great storyline. I would have loved that it was longer and gave more depth. The chemistry was great between the male leads and I hope they do more together. Sadly the ending was a bust for me and I hate the way it leaves you hanging and the lack of communication in the end looks off from when they talk about everything through the series. He really need to tell him about his evil friend and the threat she made. They need to be honest with each other as you can see they shine together. This was a great series with all that it gave you of the story amazing job over all, but we need the ending that they truly deserve, this is clearly unfinished and needs more. I loved this series and its storyline all the issues are very real and i loved how they handled each issue and fixed it together with communication but they deserve a better ending.

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