AbsoluteBL
chronic traveller
This review may contain spoilers
an extremely uneven historical bromance, soap opera, fake identity, hidden secrets, cross dressing
from WATCHA (Light On Me) historical web drama starring idol Youngjae of B.A.P. Adaptation is based on the webtoon Spring of Crush by Noh Myung Hee. Plot: Hye Seong lives disguised as a woman because he seeks to flee the country, until one day a Geum Seong discovers his secret and falls in love with him.
It started out very Korean historical comedy, much more so than the historical KBLs we’ve had so far (Tinted with You, Nobleman Ryu’s Wedding). It is, unfortunately, also largely over acted, there is a lot of scenery chewing going on. The cross dressing is definitely played for laughs and there is a Cindefella elemen. Bad wig warning. There’s a lot of voice over thoughts, people explaining what is going on to the viewer (we KNOW), and also talking to themselves as exposition. None of this is good. It’s a big cast and high production values for such a crappy script: quite the soap opera, everything but identical twins was trotted out: amnesia, secret identity, lost noble heritage.
This story reminds me a little of those girl disguised as a boy host club shows we got from Japan for a while – same kind of comedy that is a little beyond my ken. At ep 7 it finally got good as the boys developed a genuine friendship. The snake thing was odd though. To be fair there’s a lot of odd in the show.
“Knives and money are gender neutral.” is my ne fav quote.
It had a largely suitably tragic ending (including an Untamed call back) for all the bad characters and some of the good ones. Of course I liked the psychopath second lead best - apparently my second lead syndrome extends to COMPLETELY INSANE.
In the end, this drama was all over the place with uneven acting, narrative, and focus (sometimes it wanted to be a slapstick comedy, sometimes a depressing drama) which meant no one, actors or viewers, took anyone or anything seriously.... AND it’s a bromance. I was left wondering is SalHyung is now code for “they were roommates” in Kdrama historicals but otherwise largely apathetic and unimpressed. Korea, we now know you can do better. Watch Tinted With You or Nobleman Ryu’s Wedding instead: 3/10 not recommended, I don’t know what I’m watching, and neither does it.
It started out very Korean historical comedy, much more so than the historical KBLs we’ve had so far (Tinted with You, Nobleman Ryu’s Wedding). It is, unfortunately, also largely over acted, there is a lot of scenery chewing going on. The cross dressing is definitely played for laughs and there is a Cindefella elemen. Bad wig warning. There’s a lot of voice over thoughts, people explaining what is going on to the viewer (we KNOW), and also talking to themselves as exposition. None of this is good. It’s a big cast and high production values for such a crappy script: quite the soap opera, everything but identical twins was trotted out: amnesia, secret identity, lost noble heritage.
This story reminds me a little of those girl disguised as a boy host club shows we got from Japan for a while – same kind of comedy that is a little beyond my ken. At ep 7 it finally got good as the boys developed a genuine friendship. The snake thing was odd though. To be fair there’s a lot of odd in the show.
“Knives and money are gender neutral.” is my ne fav quote.
It had a largely suitably tragic ending (including an Untamed call back) for all the bad characters and some of the good ones. Of course I liked the psychopath second lead best - apparently my second lead syndrome extends to COMPLETELY INSANE.
In the end, this drama was all over the place with uneven acting, narrative, and focus (sometimes it wanted to be a slapstick comedy, sometimes a depressing drama) which meant no one, actors or viewers, took anyone or anything seriously.... AND it’s a bromance. I was left wondering is SalHyung is now code for “they were roommates” in Kdrama historicals but otherwise largely apathetic and unimpressed. Korea, we now know you can do better. Watch Tinted With You or Nobleman Ryu’s Wedding instead: 3/10 not recommended, I don’t know what I’m watching, and neither does it.
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