Complete Waste of Time
I hate to give such a terrible review to any Korean BL, but this one was terrible.100 minutes is plenty of time to tell a story - there are very few films that are longer than that. But it's a problem when you try to tell a 1,000 minute story in 100 minutes and so you film 100 of those 1,000 minutes, but apparently randomly selected.
It's perfectly OK to hint at backstory without fleshing it out, like the relationship between Yi Bin and Ki Jin - that was fine. It only takes a few seconds to set the stage & show us Yeong Woo's life - that was fine too. But what is the story that was being told? I have no idea, because it was entirely skipped and no context provided. Did Ki Jin break up with Yeong Wu? Ghost him? Give his job to Yi Bin? Flee the country for several years? Or did only a week or two pass? Yi Bin more or less says that everything we thought was happening didn't happen, so where was Ki Jin for the last few episodes, and why was he suddenly behaving like an old woman instead of a puckish young designer?
If Ki Jin broke up with Yeong Woo, that might have been a nice scene to see. If there was a big fashion show (which appeared to be the climax to which this was building), I can understand it not being shown due to cost, but we could at least have seen the aftermath. Likewise, in Nobleman Ryu's Wedding, we didn't need to see the actual wedding - people complained about that, but do you really expect them to produce a Joseon-era noble wedding? That would blow the annual budget of a small nation.
The production quality of this was very average, and perhaps below. There are lots of sound mistakes, and the acting is mediocre - the two mains are good enough to enjoy, but uninspiring. The best that can be said is that the kisses looked pretty good, not the usual rubber lip-touch.
My best guess is that they filmed a lot more but the acting or production quality was too poor to put in the final cut and they didn't have money or time for reshoots. Either that or the director's dog ate the script and they had to dig whatever scraps of it that they could out of its poop.
I would stay away from this one.
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whoever decided on the pacing should be left behind and cut... jk not jk
production: i don't think the production looks low budget at all. even if it is, i didn't mind it and thought it was fitting for the storyline they had in mind.story: this is where they messed up. the plot can be engaging but the screenplay is the worst. the pacing is terrible, i don't know what's happening, and the end was clearly rushed. they could build the relationship more and tell the backstories much more but i ended but not satisfied... they need to invest on better screenplays because this is not it.
acting: the other two actors were good for bl standards, the actors that played yeong woo and yi bin. the other one that played ki jin is clearly a rookie and it showed especially on the "emotional" scene. but the acting didn't bother me it's the pacing that ruined this show for me. kudos on the kissing scene tho! they did a great job and it's not a dead fish kiss. like that's how you do a kissing scene!
ost: the ost is so good. i keep repeating the "wish upon the stars", it's a top 3 bl ost of all time for me
rewatch value: i won't be rewatching the whole show maybe some scenes like their date scene and the kissing scenes.. because that's the only good parts like why would i rewatch a show that has a terrible pacing.
overall: so much potential but they dropped the ball so hard... like the first few episodes are good but then they cannot make stories that feel fleshed out and not rushed. i feel like at this point, kbl need to focus on the story, because that's the reason some of us are watching. the kissing scene saved this bl for me, otherwise, it would've gotten an even lower score.
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You'll have to complete the story yourself (EDITED)
This drama is all over the place. Now that is a big word for this type of a drama. I know that being an 8 episode drama with screen time of 15 minutes max, there isn't enough time for the story to develop properly, plus the budget is pretty low so they did what they could. You have to put the missing pieces from each episode to make sense, because there is too much time jumping between scenes. It's not that bad but its noticeable in each episode. The story it self ain't that bad but its nothing special too. The actors were alright and the acting wasn't that bad, but sometimes was cringey to watch. I'd like to see them in another project. The ost wasn't mind blowing. But for a low budget, quick and easy drama, I'll have to give it a pass.Was this review helpful to you?
If you like puzzles
I understood that Korean BLs lacked sponsors and budgets and one can only encourage the efforts made in the last year or two.However, the lack of budget does not mean that you have to shoot scenes and edit them randomly and rely on the viewer's cerebral agility to piece together the story.
Ah, there is some cutting in Behind Cut. So much so that we waste a lot of energy trying to glue the pieces together and fill in the holes in the story (without thread or needle!).
Too bad because the beginning is clean and rather promising. The actors are rather beautiful and talented. The universe (fashion and couture) is rather original.
And then that's it.
What a pity....
At least, it's not a dead fish kiss (sigh).
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Many scenes are CUT BEHIND.
I watched this drama because the early episodes were interesting. But later this drama doesn't meet my expectation. The presentation is quite confusing and story is not well developed. The actors' acting is just okay. I understand this is the low budget Korean BL drama. Like many other dramas of this kind, the story is incomplete. The director and the crew left a lot of work for the audience to put a lot of effort to get a full understanding of what was going on. There are many plot holes and time gaps between scenes and this makes the viewers feel like many scenes were cut behind. I think Korean BL dramas need to develop more. I wish they get support and create a good quality BL drama in the future.Was this review helpful to you?
It ends like the relationship begins : in a brutal way
At first I was expecting something great, because the universe of the series is very cute : the cool jobs, the music, the three nice actors, even the chemistry between the MLs is great...BUT. It was a disappointment as the story is REALLY chaotic.
- scenes are missing, especially for the construction of the relationship between the MLs
- nothing is clearly explained, as for the past relations of some characters (YW and YB) : you'll have to guess
- sometimes there are time jumps, but they don't clearly warn, so try to follow !
- some scenes are just useless, like a whole episode of non communication and sadness out of nowhere (aka ep 7...)
Overall : just watch it for the "cute moments out of nowhere" but don't expect something else magical
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Despite the popular opinion, I thought this was great!
I am so glad that I decided to give this a chance despite all the negative reviews. I was so close to not watching it because everybody said it was bad. However, after binging it all, I thought that it was great! A point often brought up in reviews is that it's edited poorly and that the story has too many holes, but I don't necessarily agree (more on that later).I liked the story a lot. One of my most hated traits in BLs is love triangles, but it was done very well in this show. Especially because Yeong-woo and Yi-bin also knew each other previously. Way too many K-BLs are too vague in describing how their characters fall for each other, however, in Behind Cut the suddenness of their relationship made sense. It was a cute story about a model and a designer falling for each other and the hindrances they meet because of the fashion industry. Also, shout out to Yeong-woo's dad, we need more supportive parents in BLs.
The acting in this drama was SO GOOD compared to the limited acting experience of the cast. Especially Eom Se Ung and Choo Suk Young, god were they amazing. You could tell occasionally that Bum Jun is a rookie, but the way he was able to handle the emotional scenes was awesome. And THE KISSES! This has to be the most natural-looking kiss that has ever been filmed in a Korean BL drama.
Production-wise, it didn't look cheap either. The filming was generally great and the locations were varied. The only thing I occasionally disliked was the sound mixing, but it was only really when they filmed outdoor scenes (because of cars, the wind, etc.) I also really liked the OST, but the theme song was a little overplayed. The reason most people disliked this drama was because of the editing. I admit that it should have been edited better, but it wasn't that bad and there weren't nearly as many plot holes as people made it seem like there were. Even though (very) few things you had to piece together yourself, it wasn't very hard to understand what was going on.
For the first time in a long while, I want to watch the Director's Cut for this drama. I enjoyed this show a lot, and I hope you won't get too scared by all the negative reviews.
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This review may contain spoilers
..?
I felt like I was a Charlie Brown character and the entire time I was watching this, they only spoke in, "Wah wah woh wah wah," language. This was weird to me because the premise is pretty interesting, except its execution was unsatisfactory; actually, the entire series was just a big tumbleweed going across the road. Where is it going? And where did it come from?Let's Dive In.
I'm surprised I'm only just now hearing about this series that ended earlier this year, but I had only heard of it because of my Korean BL endeavor on Viki, and I came across this series (it was also advertised IMMENSELY in the Oh Boarding House series, along with TWY). The story is about an ambitious fashion designer whose incidental run-in with a delivery worker causes them to interact and eventually, said fashion designer hires the young stud to be his leading model. But of course, it wouldn't be a Korean drama without adding a random ass third wheel into the equation (I don't call it a love triangle unless the lead also romantically likes the third option). for once I didn't get second lead syndrome, mostly because I was trying to keep up with what was going on.
What I did like: Love the father-son dynamic. It was the highlight of the entire series, just seeing a healthy familial relationship that wasn't full of toxic masculinity or an overbearing parent. Just a dude and his dad who had deep and important conversations with one another, while they both had an inside joke about the missing mom. I loved it. I want to see more of this in BLs. Let's get rid of the sorrowful dads and bring in more Yeong Woo's dads.
The production was pretty nice. Nothing outstanding, but definitely a lot better than the story it was trying to tell. The music was also something I could come around to appreciate.
It didn't hurt that the main leads were beautiful. Especially Se Ung who legit, and no pun intended, looked like he walked out of a Calvin Klein catalog. I wouldn't be surprised if they asked a model agency for their prettiest male with decent acting skills.
What I didn't like: I didn't necessarily hate the storyline, except, it didn't make any sense. There were parts where I swear the editor forgot to add in an entire plot. I couldn't feel for Yi Bin mostly because I didn't understand his sob story, or why in particular it had anything to do with the plot. The conflict is just super messy too, and not all that comprehensible. One minute they're crying, and the next, everything is fine? And it's happily ever after? Different, very different.
Some parts were kind of boring. You would think in a series that only had a 15-minute run time for 8 episodes, it would follow along with a plot cause it wouldn't have much time to sway, but there were times I had to FF to get through some very tedious talking scenes. Not good for a series that ran for less than about 2 hours.
The connection between the leads is just not there. Sure, Yeong Woo has very soft eyes and a bright smile, and Ki Jin has this attitude that is pretty radiant, but nothing about this pair screams, "Omg, what a beautiful romance". If anything, they got boring towards the end. They had one decent kiss (the first one kind of chaste) and yes, seeing two beautiful men pretending to be in love never hurts, but god, can it be mind-numbing.
Ratings:
Story: 5 - What story? If you can read the synopsis and guess what happens next, then 9 out of 10, you're correct. On top of being not a good story, it's annoyingly predictable. I'm giving 3 stars to the father-son dynamic and 2 towards Se Ung's abs.
Acting: 8.5. - The only part that didn't pretty much suck. Everyone could use improvement, but nothing too severely bad. The dad was by far my favorite.
Music: 8.5 - I really enjoyed the music. Another great aspect of the series.
Rewatch value: 1 - No. No further explanation is needed.
Give this series a shot if you want to, but don't worry, you're not missing out on much. I can only recommend this cause Se Ung's body is really something else, and I think others should be able to enjoy it as well.
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Behind Cut, hmmm more or like add Behind the Scenes for completing the story.
The story like any other Korean BL series(except a few) starts with the hate-to-love plot. Given the budget and the 14 minutes per episode time frame, it limits the continuity and the flow in the story, but they took it to next level. The series revolves around incomplete love triangles, mundane kisses, and story that the viewer has to put together to get the story. In my opinion Ep. 8 doesn't make any sense. The poor guy gave his best in trying modeling for the first time and the designer just cancels the show as anything. Omg, this is so disheartening. K-dramas are known for their story, like the deliverance of the stories are so good that they don't even need a second season. No hate just positive criticism as the plot of the story was actually good and interesting. Anyways I hope they do a good job next time.Was this review helpful to you?
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Watch if you want to waste your precious time on something completely useless.
First off, the relationship of the characters develops so fast. So fast, that you don't even know how they came to love each other at first. They tried to add in some spice by adding a love triangle which was absolutely badly portrayed with the SML just being overly toxic and stupid.The first five episodes were, Wow. I don't know what happened that they decided to completely ruin the end and give us a messed up story. Them getting separated, then suddenly meeting again after a span of two years & then dating again. If you are going for this breakup-reconciliation concept, why not just portray it nicely even though the drama is short? They didn't even talk to each other and just separated?! What's the point if you just add a concept and want the viewers to be understanding since its just a short drama? Just don't include it then.
The OSTs of the drama weren't that good too, making it even more boring. They weren't able to set a correct mood. The lightings, the aesthetics, all done wrong. Even if the plot's not good, the mood makes us like it sometimes. But here, none was the case. The acting was pretty decent so nothing to complain on that.
The 8eps became a waste of time because of the last few eps, otherwise it can be given a try! :)
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Poor writing ruin pretty much everything.
Actors are really cute and put an effort in it, so i hate to give such a low vote, but alas, the script is so poorly done and totally ridiculous in various part that i kept cringing while watching. I understand that for such a production they probably thought that the environment in which the plot develops is not that important but seriously there is a limit to what can be credible and what is so off mark that makes it impossible to even try to be captured by the story itself.The plot itself is simple and could have been enjoyable if it was half dcently written but like this is a total miss.
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Left Behind The Plot
Overall: I think the editor was a knife so that's why it's choppy (excuse my bad joke lol). They really needed to cut down on the characters and tighten up the plot. I wish they had done a love at first sight instead of enemies to lovers and/or eliminated the love triangle because there just wasn't time to fully develop these. Watched on Viki.Content Warnings: non con touching of his face (he was asleep/basically asleep?)
What I Liked:
- the intro song is upbeat and fun
- the intro itself, glad they kept it short since the episodes are short
- there was some nice chemistry between the designer and new model, would like to see these actors in something with an actual plot
- the supportive dad
Room For Improvement
- missing plot/choppy, what exactly was the contest at the beginning? Why does the designer have blood on his hands? What exactly was the relationship between the old model and the new model? What caused the scene that we saw on the stairs in the flashback? What is the significance of that ring? How did the designer and old model end up living together? Why does the designer ghost the new model in episode 7? Is the new model's mom dead? Did the designer actually not go to New York and then just didn't contact his lover for 1 year???? Ahhhhh!!!!!
- odd things, people don't wait that long to say sorry, who touches a stranger's shirt like that? the short clip after the credits of the first episode but it wasn't a preview? he didn't recognize him from the day before, they looked at each other a long time...
- non realistic things, should have had the designs fall into water because they didn't really look very damaged, it goes from total daytime to night in 1 minute
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