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KAVO

So Cal USA

KAVO

So Cal USA
Light on Me korean drama review
Completed
Light on Me
0 people found this review helpful
by KAVO
Apr 2, 2022
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 8.0
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 10.0
Music 10.0
Rewatch Value 6.0
This review may contain spoilers

Engaging story smolders but never bursts into flame

This is a beautiful story and the production values are top notch. The characters and actors are appealing and the 16 episodes never felt padded just to fill time, yet "Light on Me" sort of smolders but never bursts into flame as a bromance. This may be a cultural thing, because this seems to be common to the Korean BL dramas when compared to the gold standard of Thailand. The plot is your basic love triangle. Woo Tae Kyung, who has always been a loner, makes his first friend in Shin Da On, which evolves into a romantic interest. Meanwhile, Noh Shin Woo has fallen in love with Woo Tae Kyung at first sight, but he is sort of invisible to our hero for the first half of the drama. In fact, they are enemies for the first half due to the fact that Noh Shin Woo is forcing himself not to get attached to Tae. The series peaks at mid-point when Tae and Shin Woo have a sleepover, but Tae falls asleep on Shin Woo's shoulder -- that's as bromantic as it gets. Shin Da On rejects Tae for reasons that are not exactly clear -- it's suggested he's from a prominent family where a same sex relationship would impair his career or disappoint his parents. There's a scandal at school about a rather innocuous picture of two guys with hands outstretched, as if shaking hands. Certainly a photo that tame could be written off as hand shaking -- the boys were 3 feet apart. The central plot of Tae realizing that Noh Shin Woo has been there all the time, sort of in the background, never quite delivers the impact it should after 16 episodes. We finally get a kiss at the end, but even that is far too subtle -- and, frankly, too late in the drama. That should have occurred about episode 13 with more romantic scenes taking us to the conclusion. Meanwhile, the storyline for Shin Da On feels unresolved.. So, as much as I loved this drama, I'm left feeling a bit underwhelmed. The real oddity here is why was the first episode incorporates graphic gay sexual references (apparently visual aids for a high school sex education class) but the rest of the drama is strictly a G-rated, almost asexual story about ordinary friendship.
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