Since this drama has little tp no 18+ intimate moments and not even 13+ moment, I felt very comfortable but the tension between them remained which didn't let me feel the lack of intimacy. The lead characters have such a good chemistry that I could watch them all day. I loved their friendship individual as well as relationship growth. I loved how they helped each other.
TBH I couldn't believe when I learned they are rookie actors and this was their first ever drama. Both of them debuted together. I wish to se more of them together and more dramas like this.
Thank you Yechan and Jaehan. I started stanning OMEGA X too . Guys please give Omega X a look and you will love them. They are all so talented and fun. I could understand how the lead characters despite being a rookie and having quite an age difference had so much good chemistry.
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A Very Good Starter For New BL Fans + Bestest Soft BL
This is one of the bestest Korean BL I have ever watched and I highly think this would be a great BL for new BL fans too.Why did I state so? The storyline was very great, sweet and sometimes, funny too! It is soft and light, so it is fun to watch how they two went from enemy to lovers in their own unique ways.
I very recommend this BL for those who dislike a BL that is too cheesy because this one just take it easy. Many people said it is more to bromance than a romance but still, it is very great and fun to watch and to scream at it.
Need I to remind you guys to get ready some tissues because there are certain parts that literally broke my heart and I was burst into crying.
So overall, I really love this BL and hoping for more acting and romance if they ever planned to release a new season, because one is not enough, I want more. Fun fact, this is the fastest BL I have ever finished watching, which was under 24 hours — enough to prove how I love this BL so much.
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Another quality Korean BL
It is the practice of some BL watchers, primarily I suspect from English speaking western countries, to criticise BLs for what they’re not, rather than watch them for what they are, preferring BLs to be “made to order”; the reaction to “A Shoulder To Cry On” has a lot of this, in my opinion.The clue is in the title (in Korean, literally “Comfort the Boy”). “A Shoulder To Cry On” is a part-BL because it tells part of the story of Da Yeol (played by Kim Jae Hwan) and Tae Hyun’s (played by Shin Ye Chan) relationship; the ending leads us to feel there is more to come as they develop as a couple. But for now, the story in front of us, is a gradual coming together of two high schoolers who have never been in love, have never had sex, and who are not sure of their future paths. The upside is that by becoming each other’s companion, they gradually work out what’s important for them on their path to adulthood. They end up being each other’s “shoulder to cry on”, a major stepping stone between friendship and lover.
Da Yeol’s world is centred on his sport of archery; success for him is the touchstone of his daily life. Tae Hyun, on the other hand, specialises in bad boy behaviour to give expression to his sense of low self-worth. In a key scene early in Ep. 1, Tae Hyun sneaks into the school infirmary with Won Kyung (mischievously played by Oh Joo Seok) who offers to demonstrate gay flirting or foreplay; but while there, in a scene notable for its delicate romanticism of soft music and slow-mo billowing curtain screen, he glimpses Da Yeol for the first time. The spark between the boys is immediate if uncertain.
In a recurrent theme that plays out in various ways in BLs, both boys come from single parent homes, raising questions of how children are affected by not growing up in a two parent home. Da Yeol treats his widower father with a kindly affection for his enthusiastic if simple prescriptions for happiness, while Tae Hyun, keenly aware of his adoption status, roils internally at his alienation from parent and place. What each boy lacks in their makeup, they find inadvertently along the bumpy road of their interactions, at first bristling with conflict & misunderstanding, but then followed by a curiosity in each other and a growing familiarity to an eventual fondness for the bond of friendship even though these may not yet be ties that will be life long.
Production values are of the usual high standard from Korean series; the leads, in their acting debuts here, give good performances over the arc of their emotional journeys - another tribute if one were needed (it’s not) to the quality of the Kpop training system which teaches aspirant teenage idols skills in modelling, dancing, speaking, public appearances, personal health and attire, as well as acting and singing.
The supporting players are uniformly good, but mention should be made of the actor playing Da Yeol’s father (uncredited in English on Viki, MyDramalist, IMDB, Wikipedia) whose unflinching affection for his son reminds of those parents whose love for their children is unending and overflowing: and Jo Ooh Seok, as the jealous Won Kyung (a rarity in BLs of a villainous gay character), who follows Tae Hyun around like a predator savouring its prey.
The music is good although the OST on Spotify includes only OMEGA X’s tracks.
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Like a small cup of nice lemonade in the summer
Very light love story, it has some cute moments, very cute guys, but nothing deeper really.I think it could have been somewhat more with some more events happening, there weren't much structure to put the characters into situations.
Also I absolutely hate time skips and at the end this show throws a "2 years later" at you... TWICE! omg...
It's still nice to watch, but don't expect a lot.
Huge thumbs up for the camerawork though, they had some very nice shots of the faces I think.
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Are dramatic beach montages all they can do?
They sort of had me in the beginning, but it gradually got worse as the story progressed. It got boring, and the plot is kinda shit.This might be a matter of genre and target audience, but I think that the time they spent running at the beach and playing with water, should have been spent developing the characters and their stories on a deeper level.
It would have also been better if they leaned more towards the psychological part of the story, but they rushed it, and even completely brushed it off in some cases, where they could have dug deeper into it.
Jo Taehyun is such an interesting character, with a traumatising past that still haunts him in the present, and yet it feels like his story was cut short. An example is the flower pot scene. They could have made a bigger deal out of the incident, or even dramatized it.
The plot had potential, but a lot of things were simply executed badly in this series.
And would it kill them to show a little skinship? Okay, they spend the final episode going on a trip together, after yet another time skip. And if I’m not mistaken, they are now a couple. So why are they avoiding physical contact, and acting like they despise the thought of touching each other? Is this a matter unfortunate chemistry, or bad directing?
Cinematography was basic and nothing special, and so was the OST. Would not watch it again.
It felt like the creators left a huge stuffed luggage unpacked, and that really bothered me.
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More Complex Story Than Realized
This is a more deeply complex story than is initially projected. At first glance, it felt too laid back and gets lost ironically in the shortness of its story. Much ends up being interpretative. There is nothing romantic about this series. It is not a BL in the classic sense of the term. I had an epiphany and suddenly I understood their commitment to each other. The two of them found contentment with each other. They are happy with each other. Since both are complimenting each other and both find solace and a kind of ‘love’ in each other, it is a relationship like no other. Not understood by us and perhaps should not be.Was this review helpful to you?
I wanted to really like this series a lot.
Geez, I wanted to really like this series a lot. I kept thinking that the story is developing something, so I waited for something to happen, and it seems like what happens is usually a bridge to another development. Even the ending is a waiting game.Also, I feel like there were a couple of things that happened that cross the line. Placing something in a drink could be a criminal offense. Even if its soy sauce.
I say I wanted to like this series because of the childhood trauma that Jos Tae experienced. A worthy undertaking for a series to do. I really am going to take issue with the Hickey scene cop-out and the lack of one decent kiss. Kids in high school and college kiss. Even same sex kids. Please don't insult your audience anymore if you (the producers directors etc.) decide to do another BL project.
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The ending was bad the rest I liked
I really enjoyed the first 6 episodes of the series, but when the time skip happened in the last episode it ruined it for me, the ending didn’t seem to explain anything or give an conclusion it was more confusing than anything. It’s a shame as I enjoyed the rest of the series apart from the ending. The time skip also didn’t seem to add anything to the story just a way of avoiding the characters actually confronting the issue.Was this review helpful to you?
Empezó mal, terminó meh...
Sinceramente esperé algo mejor de este drama, pasan muchas situaciones que podemos ver en el día a día. Situaciones que realmente necesitan una mejor manera de ser llevados, por ejemplo el bullying del principio me pareció fatal.Y ni hablar de la parte psicológica!
(No justifiquen tratar feo a las personas por algo que sucedió en el pasado! Vayan al psicólogo por favor!)
El "amigo" de Tae Hyun se me hizo insufrible, realmente no me gustó este personaje para nada, que ser más desagradable!
La relación de los protagonistas no me terminó de gustar, van descubriendo sus sentimientos pero no saben como expresarlos correctamente.
Hasta el final, se puede decir que hay un avance en ellos 2, pero ya es tarde, me gustaron más los últimos 2 episodios que los 5 anteriores.
La duración de los episodios está decente, pocos bl pasan de los 20 minutos. Pero sí se necesitaban más episodios para desarrollar mejor la relación, 10 episodios hubieran estado mejor!
Para ser su primer drama, la actuación está bien.
Y SPOILER..
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un Bl sin beso!!!!!! Lo siento mucho pero por eso le tengo que quitar otro punto!
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Fluffy and cute
March 29, 2023A shoulder to cry on is definitely a great improvement from the last few failed kbls that has been released.
Before watching the endings, I have been seeing comments about it. To be honest, I prepared myself for the worst but the ending was pretty decent in my opinion. I feel like people tend to equate Thai BLs with Korean BLs, but they aren't the same thing...
Anyhow, A Shoulder To Cry On does have some plot issues that could have been better though I must say, given the lack of budget and such. This drama is pretty substantial in the terms of how they were able to deliver the dialogue, scenery, and etc.
I found the romance to be cute which is still good. It's not steamy like other people have commented but I do want to remind people that you are watching a tv series that is rom-com type and not an erotica.
Still a solid show imo and I will definitely be back on rewatching it!
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It could have ended with episode 6
They could have a nice student romantic drama if only they ended with episode 6. The whole ep 7 was too tense and overall just too much (based on the fact that each episode went through important matters of life if I put it like this). It could have been poignant to explore more serious topics, but there were just several missteps. I liked how they ended the series in ep 6 and 7th ep was just a plus.I would make the whole last episode as a special one, maybe a little bit longer, but I definitely wouldn't end a series with it.
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Was cute!
I did genuinely enjoy this show- I thought the plot was decent and I loved the acting! The only issue that genuinely made me kinda iffy on the show was the time skip. It’s just my personal preference but I really do hate when shows do that so when I saw that „2 years later text“ it 100% knocked me from a 8 to a 7.I decided to make it a 7.5 in the end because even though I did wish they didn’t do a time skip (even did it twice ㅠㅠ) I feel like they they got back together pretty quickly- which also could be said for the opposite argument- why time skip if they are just gonna get right back together? I hope you get what I mean 😅
But yeah it was a cute show- had me crying a few times but also had me questioning why everyone was doing what they were doing at times as well (like when Tae hyun called after he hit his head with the pot like he was dying but it literally was just a scratch???)
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