A Shoulder to Cry On (2023)

Few BL series give me such a feel for the characters

This series seems to be rather under-appreciated. In terms of plot, it is not the very best, but it is pretty good. In the last two episodes, there could perhaps be more scenes showing how Da Yeol and Tae Hyun become a couple. However, I think there feelings towards each other are pretty clear even if not spelt out directly. Da Yeol is the one who is quite frank (to himself) about his own feelings for Tae Hyun, from the early episodes where he finds himself paying attention to Tae Hyun. Tae Hyun, on the other hand, is confused--not so much (I believe) because of gay panic like in some series but really because he has psychological issues related from the time he was a child. He is afraid of being loved as the adoptive mother who loved him came to harm, and he does not dare to love others out of fear that what he treasures will be lost.

Tae Hyun's feelings for Da Yeol are shown fairly early when he looks somewhat jealous when he sees Da Yeol walking with a female classmate.. While some viewers wish to know how Tae Hyun comes to realise that he is really in love with Da Yeol, the answer seems quite clear to me: almost immediately after he tells Da Yeol to stop liking him. He wants to make up with Da Yeol but is unsuccessful even on Da Yeol's last day of school because he still needs time to overcome his issues. With Da Yeol gone, he realises how much he really wants to be with Da Yeol. Tae Hyun misses Da Yeol, but it is only two years later that he gets a chance to see Da Yeol again when Da Yeol gets drunk with a mutual friend.

The first time jump of two years occurs near the end of Episode 6. The second one occurs at the start of Episode 7, and we can infer that the two guys have been in a relationship since their last meeting. Episode 7 adds practically nothing to the story, but it is so full of sweetness that I can overlook it.

I love the way the series is moving without being sappy. As a coming-of-age series, it portrays the young people's lives without exaggeration. Whether it is Da Yeol's archery rival, Tae Hyun's ambiguously jealous friend or the female classmate who is carrying a torch for Da Yeol, Some may find issue with how Tae Hyun sets Da Yeol up, claiming that Da Yeol is sexually harassing him. The relative lack of action on the part of the school in response to such a serious allegation may also be questionable (although it might well be a veiled critique of society). the emotions and relationships are interestingly nuanced.

The series may not be every BL fan's cup of tea, but if I can judge it by how much it manages to make me care about whether the main characters end up together, it ranks quite high.

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This series has a special place in my heart!

When I first watched it I was just binging all episodes and loved it. It was an emotional rollercoaster.
I loved the atmosphere, the chemistry between the protagonists and the acting.

I would like to say something I have to get off my chest:
I don´t think I have a problem with the non-kissing part. I rather have a problem with the storyline that leads to the relationship they have in the last 2 episodes. I read some comments about the possibility with them being asexual. If that is the case I wish they would have potrayed this kind of sexual orientation (or more so non-sexual orientation) different. Without them communicating their needs and talk about their feelings their behaviour come off weird and unnatural. At least that is what I felt especially in Episode 7.
For that reason I was really disappointed in the ending. It had so much potential. I just needed to see how they realise and confess their feelings for each other. That could have been perfectly done in episode 6. Episode 7 was not necessary at all. As a result the non-kissing thing would have never been such a big topic because without more time jumps the ending would have been them confessing their feelings for eachother for the first time. There is no need for a kiss in this early stage of their romantic relationship. (In case they are not asexual).

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Edit: After typing my review, I found the review from Zelme and I pretty much agree to their opinion too, so feel free to check it out, because they put things differently into words and I feel like they did well. :D

https://mydramalist.com/profile/9837639/review/267273

Well... We have a bunch of eye candy, decent acting, a catchy OST and a story that's not that bad. I was pretty committed, liked the characters, and some moments were really sparkling... but the last two episodes were just pure nonsense.

We have 2 time jumps of 2 years each, and while I liked the first jump and understood why they would write it, the second time jump of another 2 years took me even more out of the story. They were suddenly together, apparently for a long time, and behaved even more awkwardly than at school, which made no sense.

So everything feels far too rushed because important milestones are simply not shown (confession, come together).

Apart from the fact that kisses are constantly teased, there are never any. No couple behaves like this, especially if they felt so comfortable with skinship before. I already knew there was no kiss (that's why I stopped watching the show the first time), but people who don't know must have been massively annoyed by it.

Until the last episode, the series was a good 8.5 for me, but this hiccup at the end - being awkward/uncomfortable, even though the two were very close to each other at school, including skinship, doesn't make sense to me and therefore depresses the series to 6. My frustration scala just exploded. I've rated A Breeze of Love also a 6 and plotwise I found A Shoulder to Cry On way more interesting and fun to watch, but oh boy, this last episode really killed my mood.

With one less time jump and without that regression in terms of their closeness, plus a fleshed out confession and how they eventually come together, the series would probably have stayed at 8 or 8.5.

Especially the last episode is frustrating. It feels like I wasted a little bit of my time. Not because there is no kiss, but because their behavior is actually quite unpleasant with each other, all of a sudden - because... while they were going to school, they were so comfortable with each other! Ugh! I just don't understand why they decided to write the characters like this, because theres no logical reason for this, omg.

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I Don't Understand All the Hate for this Drama : (

Okay, so I've never written a review for a drama on here because I have my own set-up for this kind of thing, but I feel like I have to for this drama because of the ridiculously low rating it has on here.

I don't typically rely on the rating system on here to determine what I watch because I know that viewers' opinions on a drama can vary and there are some aspects of a drama that I happen to like that others don't. So, I didn't look up this drama prior to watching it - but I happened to look it up to try and find out if the actress for Soyong was someone I recognized (she wasn't, but no biggie), and saw that the rating on this was in the 7's. I was a little taken aback because the other dramas that I've watched have never been rated below an 8; it made me wonder if there was something seriously wrong with the acting, chemistry, pacing, or general cinematography. I then scrolled down to the comments to see what all the hubbub was about and saw people pretty much bashing the fact that 1. there was no kiss in the drama, 2. that the lack of skinship in the show made people want to label this as a bromance and 3. that it overall was boring. While I don't particularly care about kissing and bed scenes in dramas (they're a nice addition, but certainly not necessary) I was a little worried about the bromance comments. I've seen bromance dramas in the past (typically those from China because the censorship laws are a little finicky) and know that, for those, you have to read beyond the lines for the fact that the characters have more than just platonic feelings for one another. So, I was then feeling a little wary about whether this was going to be something I wanted to watch as I was looking for an actual romance drama and it seemed like people didn't particularly like it. Despite those comments, I decided to continue watching since I was still only on the 1st episode and hadn't gotten a feel for it yet. As I watched, I found myself getting sucked into the drama (by this, I mean actively reacting to what was happening on screen) and itching to get to the next episode so that I could see how Daeyol and Taehyun's story would pan out. I kept waiting for the "sucky" parts of the drama to come on, but it never got there. What exactly sucked about it?

I thought the plot of the drama was really interesting - it's not just about two high school boys growing feelings for one another, but about two people with complex insecurities trying to navigate past the preconceived notions they have on how they should be traversing their everyday lives. For Taehyun it was forgiving himself regarding the accident with his mother and getting past his abandonment issues; for Dayeol it was letting himself find something he was actually passionate about and not just doing because he was good at it.

The acting was really, really great - I was surprised that this is the first time either of the leads has been in a drama because they really blew it out of the water. There were a lot of emotional scenes in this drama - whether through anger, grief, or acceptance - and it never felt stale or off. I especially liked that they could actually cry because there's nothing that takes me out of a drama more than when they pull a crying face but no actual tears come out.

The chemistry was so freaking clearly there. I didn't know that these boys were part of a K-pop group together, so I'm sure the bond that they built in their careers helped with the naturalness of their on-screen relationship.

There was very clear and evident pining and romance happening on my screen. Sure, there wasn't a kiss on the lips or holding hands, but you could clearly tell that the two characters were romantically interested in one another. There wasn't a need for all of the more explicitly laid out romance to be shown to you - the stares, small smiles across the room, the light brushes of shoulders whenever they'd sit together, and just the general happiness on their faces whenever they were with each other painted a very clear picture to me that these two were clearly in love with one another (if not, at the very least, clearly infatuated). I'm also seeing some people say that it didn't feel like the two were in a relationship/working towards a relationship because they weren't constantly touching one another. I don't know if it's because I'm one of those people who doesn't equate physical affection with how someone feels about a person, but it just didn't seem like that to me. On top of that, the entire last episode was full of them being close - literally laying in each other's lap, resting their head against one another, touching each other's face, Taehyun hugging Dayeol's waist whenever he was drying his hair and Dayeol literally kissed Taehyun on the ear at the end. It made me feel like people checked out before the end because they didn't get a kiss elsewhere in the drama ;-;

I, unlike most on here it seems, didn't even hate the ending of the show. People are saying that it felt rushed - I'm assuming because of the time skips (not gonna lie, the 2 years on top of 2 years kinda threw me off) but to me it felt like their story didn't need all the extra fluff on how they rekindled their feelings for one another following Dayeol leaving in the middle of high school. I think the main focus of this drama was to show their journey through high school as they developed their feelings - not really what things would have been like as they grew into adults. It was clear that both boys still had feelings for one another after they entered university, so there wasn't really a need to get too into depth on how they would have reconciled after their sad departure. Would it have been nice to see a little of the exposition in their university years where they re-enter each other's lives and become friends again to lovers? Yeah, of course, it would have been - but it didn't ruin this drama for me. The last episode was cute, it felt like a small glimpse into what their life is like following them getting into a relationship. It was a nice close to it, honestly.

Overall, I just really really enjoyed it. I don't understand why it's 1. not gotten more attention and 2. surrounded by so much negativity.

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Wasted opportunity

The series was highly anticipated compared to many other KBL series like this already has quite a number of supporters prior to release. However, the series did not live up to expectations. "A shoulder to cry on" also did not make sense because they lost the plot midway. Finale was boring because the series had no climax hence the "happy" ending did not really make any emotional impact to the viewers. The time jumps were unnecessary too.

Wasted opportunity because this series had 30-minute runtime per episode yet they failed to deliver – I can name quite a few other series with half the runtime period that delivered a more complex and detailed storyline.

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The plot was quite interesting. It was adorable. It had the chance to be longer. I feel like it came to a closure a little quick in the last eps. I didnt like the time skips to random scenes so much. I could've preferred to see more of their relationship progress. How they came to the conclusion of being together. And how the other character unlocked eventually emotionally his self and felt at ease and comfortable to show his affection. At least to watch some more steps of the character development and the establishment of the love part. I didn't mind of getting no kiss scene. I won't lie though, ofc i wouldn't complain if there was one. Overall i enjoyed it a lot.

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They did this while being idols in the same band.

Exactly. Both of them are in the same band and they’ve been through a lot. If you know them (omega X) you know about it. I know people have been complaining about the lack of kisses, but please think about it: it’s not the fact that they’re both idols it’s the fact that they’re both in the same band, it’s not the same. And this is actually huge for the kpop industry. I don’t understand some comments saying this is queerbaiting, you guys dont know what that is if you think this is QB lmao.
It is not only implied that they like each other (later love and date each other) but they SAY IT. Have we seen the same series????
You wanted a kiss? well im so sorry, i wanted a kiss too but maybe you should know the background story of the actors and their situation ?. Maknae and leader, guys. Just enjoy it or go ???

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Refreshing and honest, do not overlook this one!

I see reviews saying this show queerbaited, but I encourage everyone to look up the definition of that word and know that it is an incorrect assessment {and those saying that are probably watching for the wrong reasons}. Maybe they don't kiss, but their togetherness is undeniable and cute. Do not let other reviews deter you from watching and enjoying this series. I promise it is worth it.

This series climbed its way into my heart in a way that left me feeling touched, because of the overall storyline for both boys. I see a lot of reviews of people who are upset at the lack of an onscreen kiss, but in this instance, I think it makes sense. The lack of this onscreen kiss does not take away from the beautiful relationship that Dayeol and Taehyun were able to carve out. And based on Taehyun's past and his trauma, I believe he needed the extra time to navigate being in love with Dayeol.

It would have been great to see more of what happened during their time apart, but the result is that they finally came together when they were both ready. I think this series excels in storytelling; it was so nice to have the long eps for a kbl. I hope they veer more into this territory. As far as the acting, I think it was incredible. Both of the boys from Omega X, who acted in this series at one of the most difficult times in their life (as we would later come to find), rose to the challenge and did so beautifully. I hope both venture into the acting field again, as I would love to see more from them.

As far as A Shoulder to Cry On as a whole, it is an instant hit in my book and I will keep it in my top 5 kbls going forward.

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Better than most

This could be better could be worse. The acting is really good for first time actors. The ending was lack luster to say the least but I also didn’t have much expectations. Yes there doesn’t need to be a kiss to show intimacy. Yes when they filmed this the actors were going through a lot with their label. Yes they’re idols. Yes we get this. Objectively speaking people are still allowed to be disappointed about not even a classic dead fish kdrama kiss. The drama was still good. Aside from this drama people need to stop using this is a kbl as an excuse for lack of or terrible kiss scenes. Stop saying “go watch a Thai bl for that” then using “kbls focus on love development blah blah blah.” One you’re insinuating that Thai bls only have good kissing and nothing more. You clearly haven’t just been watching good dramas to begin with. There are plenty of kbls that have good kiss scenes out there. Anyways rant over the drama was good.

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A Very Good Series with Decent Story. Watch It!

Brief Impressions:
Beautiful, Mesmerising, Cute

Review:

When I watched the trailer of this series, I was smitten by the beauty of the lead characters and decided to watch it on priority. And I was not disappointed.

Not only are the characters beautiful, but the cinematography is stunningly beautiful as well. I can probably enjoy watching this series even without the sound and subtitles- just to allow the elegance and freshness of the scenes to sink in.

And just to clarify- even the ambient sounds are pleasing, and enhance the overall experience.

The romantic experience is also quite nice. I love the fact that you can sense how much the lead characters adore each other just through their facial and nonverbal expressions. The development and acceptance of their feelings happens gradually, as they understand and open-up to each other.

One issue that left me dissatisfied was the lack of clarity and conviction in the final confession (one of the characters is half-asleep), and also the fact that it happened after a really really long time, when there was no solid reason for this delay.

Barring this last issue, and some initial rubbish in the name of 'pranks' that made me cringe a bit, I enjoyed watching the series and recommend that you too should go ahead and watch it without any second thoughts.

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