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Light on Me korean drama review
Completed
Light on Me
46 people found this review helpful
by jpny01
Aug 20, 2021
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 9
Overall 7.0
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 7.0
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 3.0

I liked it.

This is a cute series - if you like fluff, this is for you. I'll likely forget about it fairly quickly, as it really has very little to say - it's just a well-done production of a very standard BL story.

I'll start with the negative to end on all positives. The reason I didn't enjoy this more is that I think the main character was poorly cast - I didn't find him likeable and I don't think he was well-acted. Before anyone knifes me, Shinwoo is an even more awkward character with even greater problems expressing himself, but I'm totally in love with him. Kang Yoo Seok managed to imbue his character with layers, subtly expressing a large range of emotion. But if you scratched Lee Sae On and found out he was actually a mannequin that can talk, I wouldn't be the slightest bit surprised. This made me not really care who he ended up with - I was just resigned to him getting one of the love rivals when I was kind of hoping they'd form a thrupple with Shi Woon.

The show was also a bit too sanitized, with everything too perfect - it was a bit distancing. For example, TK was visibly plastered with white makeup - they all were, but it was worst with him.

There are a lot of positives, too - other than the main character, all the acting was great. Choe Chan Yi's DaOn was a masterpiece of placing a happy face over a struggle with inner demons - the subtle suffering under the smile was really affecting.

And while the show was a virtual checklist of BL tropes, it did avoid tropey cinematography and attempts to translate manga frames into live action. For example, there was no weird wide-eyed stare when anyone kissed, people just reacted naturally. And there wasn't that stupid triple-take whenever anyone hugged, kissed, held hands, or at any other time - that always drains the moment of emotional energy, and I was happy that was dispensed with and I was allowed to just enjoy the moment.

The story is well-laid out and coherent - we needed more context for Shinwoo's behavior, but it wasn't a big issue. I really, really needed there to be an explanation for why anyone was interested in Mr. Robot with so many superior options available, and we really could have done without the sole female character being a villainess, yet again - but I never once thought to myself "that makes no sense", and there were very few cheap and lazy excuses for drama, and the dialog was good.

I gave the story an 8 - unorignal, but well-laid-out and paced (slow, but it moved in a direction instead of meandering all over the place).

I gave the acting a 7. I thought it was a 9 for everyone else, but Lee Sae On dragged down the average, and he was the main character.

I rated the music a 7. I don't remember any of it, which is good. It did it's purpose and wasn't intrusive.

Rewatch is a 3. I can't imagine why I would ever watch this again - maybe if someone did a Shi Woon cut I would want to see that.

The "suggested overall" was 6.5, but 7 seemed more appropriate - I don't think a series should be too heavily dinged just because I don't want to watch it again.
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