The Eighth Sense (2023)

I don’t think many people understand how important the eighth sense is. This is not just a typical bl show. bringing out mental health awareness, trauma and normalising therapy from professionals. And their messages..I’ll be forever thankful for the whole team. the characters are so well portrayed, jaewon holding on to life and jihyun’s maturity is also so comforting to see.

I just also wanted to praise our Jisub for being such a good actor. Just wanted to inform you that you won my heart. Thank you so much for making jaewon came to life. Hoping to see more of your acting.



All in all the cinematography, the plot, the chemistry, the acting all I can say is wow CHEF KISS

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A decent show

The Eighth Sense is a good BL series with convincing leads exuding enough chemistry to make them likeable, wonderful portrayal of raw emotions, great representation of all kinds of people you may bump into in real life, marvelous cinematography and feel-good music but lots of things are amiss, especially the first half. I feel like this show had two different screenwriters: One for the first 5 episodes and the second for the last half, who arguably does a much better job than the former.

The first 5 episodes are just terribly paced and awfully pieced together. Sometimes stuff just happens because of... conveniences. I know fans of the shows do not like negative aspects pointed out, but literally in just the first chapter, two main characters come together after endless coincidences, not because they actively seek one another to build a relationship. Their connection is practically handed to them on the faith platter, therefore I do not feel attached to them at first. As the two main protagonists form a bond, a crack in that bond also begins to show. Normally, some sort of icebreaker are presented to reconnect the two but nope. They are just back in each other's arm for no discernible reason. It's like you blink once and you suddenly miss an entire hidden episode of reconciliation. And have I mentioned the editing? Tons of horrible cuts both in terms of visual and audio that make you want to scratch your eyes out. It's just so frustrating to suffer through them.

Luckily, the final 5 episodes are a lot more enjoyable. Somewhere in the middle, there is a well delivered breaking point and from then on, all main and most side characters are more fleshed out, the banters between them sound much more witty and sensical with the stake of emotion is at a higher level than before. Character developments are on point, even the ones considered antagonistic get their redemption arcs as well. Remember the icebreaker I talked about earlier? A new conflict is raised and so is the icebreaker. It finally presents itself to make the story and the protagonist grow in a more positive light. Camera shots are far more stable, subtle in a good way compared to the first half of the show and more importantly, no more abruptly chopped up sequences. Story progression is smoother than ever and man, does it put a smile on me.

Mental illness is one of the main focus points in the show and I'm glad the film makers handle it well. It affects the connection between the two leads and it really shows how the past would continue to rot you from inside out if you keep letting it. Speaking of leads, they are simply great in displaying passionate affection and not being afraid of any kinds of judgment from people around them. When they are together, be it basking under the sunlight by the ocean, or cuddling on bed in the dark of night, they shine really bright as a couple. I also appreciate Korean actors for actually kissing instead of lips pecking, truly persuading the audience that they are in love. The show ends on a high note, in the most realistic way possible, that they do not promise to be with one another forever like in a fairy tale, but embrace the uncertainty and still march into the future together all the while cherishing every happy moment.

All in all, one of the better Korean series I have watched so far. The cast has great potential and I hope to see them again in future projects with more refined technical aspects.

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Not your average BL

For once this BL Kdrama was unique and entertaining. It just felt like a regular show about two people falling in love and facing life together. It was nice to watch the leads falling in love and overcoming their personal obstacles. The side characters weren't annoying and added value to the overall story of the drama. You rooted for the main couple not because of the sexual tension the director built but because you genuinely felt their love for one another and how they cared for each other. It was nice to see some passionate kissing with really good cinematography. Overall if you want to watch a good BL with a story and away from the BL stereotypes I would recommend this!

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1000% WOULD RECOMMEND

HONESTLY THE FIRST BL I HAVE LOVEEEEED SOOOO MUCH!!!!
It was a really intresting story. I really liked the cliffhanger in the middle of the story.(It was soo sad it left me crying for an hour or two)
The cinematography was ON POINT. The lightning changes when a character was sad/depressed or cheerful.
The acting was very good. The chemistry was SOOOOO good.

I loved that that they showed how trauma could effect someones WHOLE life and relationships.
Especially they showed therapy and that he actually wanted help and got it. I love when shows show good sides of therapy because it could save someones life.

I would rewatch it thousands of times and honestly will.
I have recommended it to many of my friends that don't usually watch romance stuff and even they have LOVED it.

So so sooooo good I will never stop talking about it.

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definitely a must watch

**contains mild spoilers, read at ur own risk!**
note: this is a very messy, definitely biased, unedited review. i am by no means a professional writer or even a good writer at that, so forgive me for my messy train of thought and poor wording.

honestly, i don't think words will ever be able to express how i feel about this show. if i could give it more than ten stars based solely on my enjoyment and the impact it had on me, then i 100% would.
the cinematography resembles that of a film that exists solely for aesthetics, and i mean that in the best way possible. visually, it was such a nice contrast compared to other bl's, which are often bright and bold, as opposed to dark and pretty, like this one is. on top of the visuals, the story is incredibly heartbreaking. it touches on subjects such as depression, grief, trauma, suicide, and *slight* survivors guilt. each subject evokes an emotion in me that i can only describe as suffering. maybe it's because i can relate to it, or maybe it's because these topics were so well done that i couldn't help but feel what the characters were feeling. this drama reaches directly into the heart and pulls on it's strings.
despite all of this, it still manages to make a painfully sweet love story, that has a perfect balance of fluff and angst, making it feel much more real than any other drama i've watched. this drama truly goes above and beyond: no stereotypes, no cliché, just two people falling in love and saving each other. it's just real.

i really appreciate the use of music in this show. in contrast to many other kdramas, theres not much background music. in high tension, important scenes, theres almost always no added background sound. thinking about it now, i don't think there was music playing during ANY scene with dialogue, which personally, i like way better than too much background music. it makes it feel much more authentic, more vulnerable. additionally, having the turning point fold over because of a conan gray song is literally so real and the song choice was perfect for jihyun and jaewon's story. i also especially liked the song that played during the montage of their trip together, i can't lose it all by ben goldstein.

as for the story line, the reason of the -0.5 rating is because of the odd jumps and unresolved sections. most of these things are small, but i found it odd how they never talked about their very first kiss together, even if jaewon didn't remember it. it just seems like something that should've been mentioned. on top of that, they didn't talk about jaewon ghosting jihyun either. this could be blamed on the fact that jihyun understood why jaewon did that, but i feel that for complete viewership understanding, this should've been talked about or at least mentioned. because this review is based solely on my enjoyment throughout the show, i'm only removing 0.5 from the story because it didn't really affect my enjoyment of the show, just made me tilt my head a little!

i'm not going to write much about the acting, as i feel it was very well done and i was never cringing at how bad it was. i just wanted to add that i'm so impressed with oh juntaek! he absolutely killed this role and the fact that it's his very first acting gig is so impressive!

overall, i'd recommend this show to anybody and everybody. it's absolutely incredible. definitely going high on my list of favorite dramas.

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