A unique holiday gift
What is Christmas without a BL? A grey and dreary experienceReleased during the festive season, the BL family could congregate at home and snuggle by the ubiquitous fireplace, with a cup of hot chocolate in hand, to savor this hidden gem, irrespective of any religious themes it possesses
From the onset, religious themes carry enormous symbolic angst
Two men, connected by a red string of fate that stretches or tangles, but never breaks, are cursed to reincarnate. The transformative power of gay love holds the key to their emancipation
The notion of religious or spiritual dogma, with its implication of a malevolent entity lurking in the shadows, evokes within me a sense of foreboding. But if we shift our attention to the men themselves, we find it amusing to ponder the possibilities and intricacies of their amorous journey
If we judge the cinematography on its own merits, we find the visual reinforcement of love to play an important role in our sympathy towards the men. The producers proved to be people well trained in showing, more than telling
Let us give the producers and actors a big round of applause!
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This review may contain spoilers
Half-Cooked, Dont Eat
A hard pass, unless someone buys you dinner to watch it. The plot synopsis here in MDL is a little bit different from the actual story, in the series Yu Dam has lived for 300 years and Dong Baek was in fact a man in his first iteration. And no, they dont die, only Dong Baek is bound to die.The format for Korean BLs are just too short to be properly appreciated. I just dont understand why they cant just increase the episode runtime to better tell the story.
There is an ambitious premise hidden somewhere. It is a fantasy romance and yes, they were trying to do something different from other BL by telling a unique love story that spans hundred of years. It reminded me of another Korean BL "First Love Again". However, just like that series, this story looks good on paper but has failed in execution. What we got are 10 16-minute episodes that spends the first 2 and a half minute recapping and showing the opening credits and another minute and a half end credits. The problem is there is just not enough story in the 12 minute remaining time for me to chew upon. There wasnt enough to savour the characters, it wasnt even enough to taste their chemistry.
The title says The Director Who Buys Me Dinner, but after the first 2 episodes the dinner between Director Min Yu Dam and Soel Dong Baek stopped. I would have loved to see it every episode like some sort of closing credit.
The fantasy side also wasnt fully explained, there wasnt any proper explanation about how the curse happened, or how the director lived for hundreds of years? Do we even really consider living a long life a curse? Did he meet any previous Dong Baek aside from the first and the current one? Who was that who possessed Dong Baek? Was the curse lifted by the end of the story or if he is still aware that he is or was immortal? Did he just suddenly also forget about his long life? What happens to Dong Baek at the end?
Also, whats the point of the Denis character?
What's sad is you can actually see the making of a good series under all the ingredients they were trying to shove in your mouth. If they just spent a little more time baking the story, and maybe just adding a little more sugary sweetness it would have been great.
I used to like short series but after a few duds i am starting to hate the format. It is very evident that in this series , the short runtime worked against their favor. Open ended stories are good way to end stories but here it just felt lazy.
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needed more runtime to better develop the plot and characters
Overall: I liked the unique premise but it felt rushed. I think they should have cut out Dennis' character if they didn't have the budget for a longer runtime. Aired on iQIYI.Content Warnings: attempted violence/murder, murder*, bullying, shove, dub/non con touching, past violence, past death, mental health struggles, power imbalance with boss/employee dynamic
What I Liked
- made me laugh several times like trying to drink but not holding anything
- I appreciate how different that first scene was from pretty much every other BL
- chemistry between the leads
- cute moments
- interesting premise
- was happy it was m/m in the past
Room For Improvement
- there just wasn't enough screen time to fully explain the plot, an example is why/when did Min Yu Dam's feelings change? or in the past, a line says they've been meeting at a certain spot but the audience has only seen them just meet, what exactly was/is the relationship between Min Yu Dam and Dennis (in the past and present)?
- Min Yu Dam has had that much time and he comes up with that stupid approach?!? why wouldn't he meet him as a friendly university classmate, there's never any explanation and it doesn't make sense
- the dead fish lip press kisses and even the 1 that wasn't still wasn't a good kiss
- in episode 2 they should have continued the flashing lights/noise thru that scene to show it was an ongoing problem and then put things back to normal once Min Yu Dam did what he did
- a 2 minute recap is too long for episodes that are under 15 minutes
- *this is a kind of murder but I won't be too spoilery
The Ending
- I actually didn't mind it as I didn't love that he forced him to be his secretary and go on dates with him however, this needed to be 16 episodes 1 hour each and what we saw took up the first 6-8 episodes and then they continued the story for the second half, otherwise it kind of ruins everything else before it
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HOW COULD YOU
I NEVER SIGNED UP FOR THAT ENDING.The only thing I accept is that they won't be cursed anymore when getting back in a relationship. BUT DAMN.
Also we didn't find out anything else about Denis in the last episode.
The whole series reminded me a lot of "First Love Again" which is another Korean drama.
I must say, knowing it's korean, I didn't expect too much, but that ending was really unfulfilling ? Idk how to feel about it.
There's definitely enough space for a whole season 2, or at least some special episodes.
The series, overall, is pretty good. I liked the costumes, the actors, the acting and even the plot.
A rewatch might have a value is you skip the last episode, just so you could see them together
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A total waste of time
There's a caveat to the title above: if you like stories where nothing is ever explained and nobody's motivations make any sense, you will absoluetely LOVE this series.First of all, how is getting to live for 400 years as a beautiful 20-something a "curse"? That sounds pretty f@$&ing good to me. So if I witness a murder, I get to be young forever? Sign me up.
In the first episode, a lot of very intriguing plot threads are set up, centering on a mysterious director and his fascination for a new employee at his media firm. By the end of the episode, you're hooked and want more.
It's a trick.
You never find out anything. There's a curse, OK. But who cursed them, why, what the curse is, and how it's lifted are never revealed. Not even slightly. There is never an explanation for why the main pair were cursed. The only thing they did is fall in love with each other. Is the message of the story that God hates homosexuals? Because that's the only motivation you can get out of what we see. What is he purpose of Dennis other than as a plot device in the last episode? What did the director do to him? Why is he so f@$&ed up? Is he part of the curse? Who the f@$& is he?
A lot of the run time of the series has the characters running in circles in a repetitive and formulaic pattern of the uke resisting the seme, and in this case it's inexcusable, as instead of running the same tiresome plot point over and over the story could have been advanced and questions answered.
If felt like the writer came up with an idea, never bothered to flesh it out or think it through, then came up against needing an ending so just pushed the "reset" button, making the entire series totally pointless. The ending made no sense - so if they aren't around each other they'll die, and the only way to lift the curse is to die. OK. Great. If that's not the case, why doesn't Dong Baek get sick when he's away from the diretor after the reset? For that matter, how did Dong Baek get through his entire life before meeting the director without dying? Maybe there's a reason, but we sure as f@$& never get it.
The chemistry between the leads is fairly minimal and the kissing would be too chaste even if the characters were 6 years old. I've seen BLs where there's a meter between the pairs' bodies when they kiss, but the actor playing Dong Baek must have gymnastic experience because he manages TWO meters. This series represents everything that's wrong with KBL. A nonsensical story, way too much time wasted on the uke acting like a twelve-year-old Victorian-era virgin, too many cliches and tropes, bad writing, rubber kisses, and actors who obviously think it's icky to touch each other. (To be fair, that could be the directing.)
This is well-filmed, with shots that support the story - the edit when Dong Baek faints on the set and sees the director but it's actually Dennis is superbly done, and the music has it's moments - but the soundtrack indicating passion is not the same as the actors showing passion.
I liked this series a lot for the first couple of episodes, but unfortunately it devolved into a boring, pointless, lazy mess.
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Ambitious project, maybe too ambitious.
This is exactly the type of a story that requires a longer format. It's not even about complexity, but rather the type of a storytelling - building it on the small hints about the connections and past events, the lasting feeling of familiarity between the characters that the audience cannot grasp at first. Slow buildup is not something you can achieve with less than 115 minutes or runtime.I can clearly see the production team did their best, but some things cannot be overcome just by trying hard. Here’s the thing, I am not sure I would truly understand the whole plot if I was not checking out comments from people who read the webtoon. Especially Denis’ part of it, which also seemed to be made far more simple and passive? There was simply not enough time to present his side of the story and explain his feelings and motivations.
That’s about Denis, what about the other mains?
Dong Baek is such a stock character, the best of the NPCs. Rarely speaks when others argue about him right next to him, mostly interacting with people if they interact with him first. He acted the way the plot needed him to act, no matter if it made sense or not.
Yu Dam could have had far more depth and I wish we could see more… desperation and sadness? Taking into consideration his story, dude was way too chill about everything. Again, I do believe it was caused by the short runtime.
It does not mean I disliked everything about the show. I enjoyed the chemistry between the leads, I actually enjoyed how annoying Denis was and strangely he was my favorite character. I liked the production quality and the soundtrack. I loved the ending - truly. The conclusion and last few scenes were probably my favorite part.
Overall, a great concept that should have been kept on the shelf till the BL industry got bigger and more profitable, so they could do the story justice with enough support.
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Just another too short Korean BL with too harsh reviews
The main reason I am writing this review is because I saw too many comments by many users who are really not happy with the ending. I am more than happy with the ending, I would end it even „worse“ if it was up to me, just because I have this unhealthy love for tragedy. My favorite BL is Make or days count, so you got the picture.This is an average Korean BL, nothing that extravagant, nothing that bad. I kinda dived into it once it started and I liked where it was going, did not expect much I just loved the flow. It worked for me.
I loved
• Chemistry
• Aesthetics
• Story
I disliked
• Too short to develop characters, romance or anything really
• I feel that story was not told entirely (Denis)
This drama has serious potential for 2nd season but if you ask me (but after checking the comments I do not think that will happen), I am very happy with cute lingering ending. I love to let my imagination run wild.
Park Jeong Woo did an amazing job, especially in the last scene. I am no expert in acting but I believed him.
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Yeah, I know the bad points of this series: too short, not so good execution, somehow the chemistry is not giving, lazy writing and that recap in every episode is so annoying. But why did came up with an 8.5 rate?
Why I really like in this series is the music. Yes, the MUSIC. The songs they came up with every scene, and the opening song is too good not to talk about. And also I give them points for they have something different from other bls by telling a unique love story but yes it should have been better, but they tried yeah. we're getting there...
On the other hand, I will really eat this up if they continue the light, cute , sweet storyline but it wasn't like I was expecting. Still the cast acted it good. (Oh all of them are visuals!)
Yeah, the kbl formula and its short runtime is getting tiresome, and this is the last show I will be considerate because I really love the music lol. <3
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1Just . . . Bad.
I wanted to like this. I really did. At first I told myself: It's not bad. But not good.But . . . It was just bad.
I could tell the actors were trying to work with what they were given, but it was like you could almost see it behind their eyes that they wished they could say some lines differently.
And it wasn't just the performances that were lacking, the camerawork could be downright ugly, the important plotpoints of the story felt like they were thrown in at random times, the pacing was off, and the dialogue made me feel like I was in a hamster wheel!
Side Note: Why did Dennis even exist as a character?
Me trying to see the positives:
The concept had promise, the ending wasn't too bad, and sometimes the MLs had legitimate chemistry.
This is a skip my friends. Go watch The New Employee instead. I know you've been thinking about it. Just go!
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Plot's premise was intriguing, but there's almost no answer of anything. Dinner part was forgotten after episode 2 and the other character felt unnecessary.
I think the problem was the duration. There's no enough time to properly tell the story. Probably because the recaps, they spent too much time on that.
The acting was fine, even though there's some scenes where they looked awkward. I didn't like any of the OST (for now). The cinematography was good.
Overall
I won't recommend it to anyone. But if you're going to watch it anyway... Don't try to find the logic, just go with the flow and maybe you'll liked it.
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A bitter sweet ending
It broke my heart to see the director, Min Yu Dam, cried after Seol Dong Baek was stabbed by Dennis. His tears, his plead to God, his desperation and his love for Seol Dong Baek, all came pouring out from him. You cannot help but cry with him.It would have been great if they had given the story more depth and let it flow smoothly. I have read the comic so it kind of help to understand the drama better. 10 episodes were much too short given much time was wasted at the start of each episode to show what had transpired in the previous one. And each episode itself is merely 15 to 20 minutes.
It was a bitter sweet ending and I can understand the frustration some felt after all Min Yu Dam had waited for 300 years to find Seol Dong Baek. However, nearing the end, Min Yu Dam asked if they have met before and the way Seol Dong Baek smiled when he agreed to have dinner with him, indicates to me that it was going to be a new beginning for both of them. As such, it was in a way, a happy ending.
I enjoyed it thoroughly though it was quite rushed through, perhaps due to budget constraint.
Nonetheless, I still recommended it because Park Young Woon's acting was really worth the watch.
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Sweetness overload!
I wish that the drama was longer because it was really good and very sweet. I enjoyed the couple. I enjoyed the storyline, and I even enjoyed the ending. Right now my heart is full and I have the biggest smile on my face. I truly just love these two actors together and they’re chemistry was great.It’s a short watch, so I really encourage you to check it out. You won’t regret it definitely I wish the show would be remade to be a longer drama maybe a producer somewhere else will pick it up in Thailand or Taiwan or somewhere and a create this, because it was truly a beautiful story.
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