Individual Circumstances (2023)

want to see the actors in something else

Overall: ep 7 and 8 were better but it was too little too late. There were 8 episodes about 15 minutes each, aired on Viki and GagaOOLala (depending on your country)

Content Warnings: harassment

What I Liked
- funny moments
- how the director Ha Yeon Woo was prepared/put some thought into his plan
- the fan service of Ha Yeon Woo's body
- production value (including the scenic shots)

Room For Improvement
- for a jerk protagonist and a sweetheart to work in a romance, the jerk needs to have a REALLY good reason why they are a jerk and the jerk phase can't last very long. Unfortunately the explanation in episode 7 just wasn't good enough for me and the jerk phase lasted way too long.
- didn't feel chemistry between the protagonists
- the writer was a huge jerk to his manager and it made me mad (wish the writer was nice to others but then only angry at the director when he showed up)
- needed a little bit more of an indicator when they switched from present to past and then back to present again, some choppy moments
- very slow paced,
- dead fish lip presses

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Missing... something.

Oh, man, how do I even describe this?

I went into this with no expectations and I think that helped my enjoyment of it. I was curious as to the main characters' backstories and why they were the way they are now, and that kept me watching. I actually did enjoy watching this and kept wondering what Yeon Woo would do next to woo (no pun intended) Woo Jae.

However, I do think this show ran into a few classic K-BL problems. The plot, while enough to keep me interested, wasn't the most satisfying. Yeon Woo did everything to get Woo Jae back, but Woo Jae honestly didn't do too much to reciprocate. I wonder if we'd had more of their past (where it was implied Woo Jae was the... pursuer for lack of a better word, though not in the traditional sense) it might have been better, but I'm not sure it would be. I felt like it was missing one of those "I realized I messed up and am now going to run to him" scenes.

Second, the actors were very much lacking chemistry. It wasn't super noticeable in earlier scenes, but towards the end where they were meant to be closer romantically, I felt like they were just actors trying to act in a BL instead of the characters who missed the other and wanted to be with their partner. The kisses were the stereotypical dead fish kiss and I very much got a "let's press our lips together because the script says it but no homo" vibe. I could easily see them as friends but struggled to see them as a couple. I am begging K-BLs to do chemistry workshops, please.

While I do think this show ran into a low-budget, low-episode-count problem, I also feel like the plot was all over the place and didn't do the best it could have. We got hints of their earlier relationship, we got hints of their current relationship changing, but unfortunately it wasn't fleshed out enough either way to give us any satisfaction.

It's a fun, fast binge for those who are looking to kill time, but I recommend you lower those expectations and just go with the flow for this one.

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