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Cute, but disappointing and kind of messy
Okay. This is going to be a chaotic review - it's 2am right now and I just watched the entire series at once.First off: this isn't a bad series. It's entertaining, it can be funny at times, and it's visually pleasing. With that, here's what I liked and what I didn't, in further detail.
Good:
- Both actors are incredibly good looking, especially the younger one. It might seem shallow, but to me it's one of the factors that can save or kill a series. Even when I felt like dropping the series, I kept watching because of them.
- They're also decent at acting. I skipped most of the emotional scenes (more on that later), but from what I saw, they did an okay job.
- Good chemistry! Even if I had my doubts about their dynamic, their interactions as friends were really cute and engaging.
Bad:
- This is a VERY korean series. What I mean is, it has aaall the cliché scenes, the slo-mo, the cheesy music, the 20-second long stares, the awkward dialogue. With other series it doesn't bother me as much, but this one really irked me sometimes.
- The plot. It's a mess. There are time jumps, serious family trauma that it's impossible to address properly within 7 episodes, an attempt at a motivational message about passion, and goals in life (key word being 'attempt'), a crazy aunt, a jealous friend, and I'm probably forgetting stuff. As I said, it's way past my bedtime lol
- No kiss. At all. Which I wouldn't mind if they hadn't teased it SO much - they were constantly referencing the fact that they hadn't kissed yet, but were quick to add that 'they would eventually'. Guess what, they didn't. And I'm sitting here wondering if I just watched three hours and a half of a bromance. Seriously, not even 2gether did this.
- The main lead was a bully at the beginning. Point blank, end of discussion. I hated him. I tolerated him later on, because it was that or resenting him for the rest of the series. You're telling me I'm supposed to like him, after he framed a complete stranger for s*xual assault and almost got him expelled? Was it that hard to make up an excuse as to why he was on top of him? (maybe just literally telling the f-ing truth?? He TRIPPED) Also, messing with his bow and arrows and keeping his keychain and not returning it?
Idk, not even the halo effect could save his character for me. As pretty as the actor is, his character is a jerk until the end of the series.
I would re-watch their scenes together as friends. Not much else. I'm not fond of drama (especially not this kind of drama, where people are dying and there's a baby involved and just no), so I didn't particularly enjoy that. Other than that, though, the series is quite entertaining.
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you wont regret watching this
It's a shorter drama than others, but you dont get the feeling that it's too short or flimsy... The story and characters - a misunderstood bully falling for his victim - are incredibly nuanced and the illusion of life is there. I liked almost every bit of the drama. Of course, the young actors are such cuties. Totally a fun ride.The last episode though is weird... I'm not sure what the director was thinking, but i guess he/she tried to make love not a sexual thing, and loving same gender not a sexual matter, but a matter of the heart - which is not realistic, but perhaps idealistic - in a wrong way i'd say. I personally refuse to buy this idea that many BL dramas are trying to promote, that any straight person can fall in love with someone regardless of gender... It's so not true, acting against your biological instinct will never make you happy!
Otherwise a very good drama.
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Not Worth It
This BL contains a lot of common tropes in the said genre: The 'Troubled' MC (TML) gets entangled with the other 'Bad Boy' MC, they form a connection, and the rest is history.Regardless if there were no kissing or what not, and the 'psychological' issue not being portrayed well to establish a more cohesive story, the story starting of at bullying and the inconsistent attitude of the TML to resolve the issue early on, it was actually all downhill from there.
The cast was 'ok', the music was also 'ok', but thank goodness this series was only short because whatever justification others provide on the bullying at the start, there wasn't really much story.
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I understand why many people could think that the ending leaves a bittersweet aftertaste or that there isn’t enough romance. But II think that very often in real life is not always easy to understand the feeling towards another person (especially for a traumatized person as Taehyun) and even if you do understand your feelings, having a real relationship is even harder. I think the moment where Taehyun says that he doesn’t know if he likes Da Yeol but he needs him is very touching.
What I also like is that the story doesn’t focus only on the relationship but it puts a lot of attention on the single characters managing to give a good idea of their personalities, their way of thinking, their struggles and their feelings. The actors were very good too, they made a good job of representing their characters and they have great chemistry.
On the other side the main (maybe only) problem of the series is that there isn’t even a little kiss and at some point it becomes totally ridiculous not to kiss. I don’t refer to the high school period where they aren’t in a relationship (I found nothing strange about the lack of romance there) but to the last episode. I mean, the conversation, the chemistry, the fluff was good, but you cannot create so many intimate situations and not make them kiss because it looks forced, weird and ridiculous. If you don’t intend on making them kiss (obviously because the actors can’t since they are two idols… of the same group….) then invent something different for the last episode because it was a pity after so many nearly perfect episodes.
Besides the ridiculous last episode, I don’t think the lack of romance is an issue because the story is more about the development of the two boys both and of their sweet and deep relationship that (whether if it becomes romantic later on or not) gives them comfort, understanding and help them discovering themselves.
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its a great series
i personaly really like this series and it was good. enemies to lovers is my fav trope and it was a very good series. i liked it alot and ot is my top 1 of all series that i have watched. i really like yechan ( taehyun ) and his character. the ending was a little dosapointing but its okay since it was pretty cute. i liked jaehans ( da-yeol ) personaly but my fav character was taehyun. da yeol was a good person and i understand why he didnt accept him near the end since taehyun already rejected himWas this review helpful to you?
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it’s fine to enjoy media that isn’t revolutionary
Overall i really enjoyed it. It was a short watch, about 3 and 1/2 hours total. And it was entertaining. it’s not the best most revolutionary piece of queer media to ever exist and it’s not pushing boundaries it’s just relatively simple love story.They never kiss, which is fine, and they also never officially say they’re together and that’s also okay. I really like their relationship and the mutual understanding that they have about their love for eachother. Not all things have to be explained through spoken exposition, we the audience are supposed understand the subtext.
I didn’t expect to enjoy it so much. i am not a fan of queer media with homophobia. as a queer person myself, i am painfully aware of homophobia so i don’t want to experience it vicariously through characters.
the time skips at the end were a bit confusing but that’s probably my biggest complaint.
Anyways i genuinely enjoyed it, i recommend it if you just want smth to casually enjoy and wanna turn off ur brain for 3 hours.
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Very very nice drama.
Few to none nonsense.
Few to none illogical stuffs.
Almost followed the novel`s plot. Of course there were a few changes because of the censorship but nonetheless almost all important elements are there.
Nice effects, perfect choice of cast. I love the chemistry of Kim Jaehan and Shin Yechan. Those subtle glance and metaphor. Aside from those, the story itself is perfect. It makes you feel sorry for Taehyun at the same times to Dayeol but despite those, still have morals.
Masterpiece.
Worth watching.
Recommended
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Lost my interest
I ´loved’ watching it despite it not having any kiss because love isn’t all about kiss etc…The biggest thinh I disliked was the other bullying his later on interest and even when the other would tell him what he did to him (ruining his name, stealing away something valuable to him, mocking him) : bullying, he wouldn’t apologize. Not sincerely… And he would keep going on with that like…
Because that’s actually a huge red flag to be dragging someone's else name in the mud just for fun. I hate this character so much because he might have a trauma but as someone said in the comments on viki "that's a reason not a justification" to what he is doing.
At the beginning, I was stunned by the fact that the whole school (especially the teachers, the nurse and even the archer really mean coach) were calling him out for getting caught apparently having something going on with another guy like it was something really bad. They didn’t even bother to hear out from his point of view…Very lame.
The archer’s father is so swear ! I wish him all the best ?❤️!
Also how how can writers turn bullies to lovers atp ??? With all what have happened between them ? and so smoothly ?. I know the same occurs with ´straight’ romances but even that got me so annoyed. I don’t stand this trope and will never ! And people saying otherwise and attacking the others that have other opinions should mature because nobody should ´enjoy’ watching someone getting bullied (here I’m not talking about those who liked the series or whatsoever just those who cant stand other people having different opinions).
Then I feel kinda bad for the bully (tae hyeon?) thinking about how nobody actually cared about him when he went missing for like 3 days. Even his three closest friends and especially that one other bully who is supposed to be his best friend didn’t check on him and just assumed he was doing well because ´they were used to him going missing for a few days’. Then even the school went to asking if one of his classmate could check on him as if school didn’t normally have their students address and phone number…?
EDIT : dropping this at ep 3 (4min into it) because I’ve just lost my interest in it 😭
No memorable OST BUT the acting and the cast IS SO good OMG !!!
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A drama I’ll never forget
I literally love this drama so much because nowadays school BL drama are actually having worse plots and have zero chemistry while A shoulder to cry on actually covers all of that. I actually saw this drama when it first came out, but didn’t finish it until now and I’m pretty disappointed that I never finished it until now because it was so good. I am also a fan of Omega X and have met the actor of both Tae Hyun and Da Yeol in real life. This drama feels pretty real to me because of how both of the ML story’s are told in both point of views. Da Yeol’s whole life story is about him being a really good at archery to the point he even made it to the championships, but the sad part is that it was revealed that he actually has no interest in archery it that he’s been playing for so long to the point that he lost interest, but still plays it because he has nothing else left to do since he dedicated his whole life to archery. Tae Hyun’s story actually broke me, since he deals with both PTSD and depression since he doesn’t have parents he was put in an orphanage, but didn’t really talk he did end up getting picked up by a couple that doesn’t have any kids. One day his “mom” got pregnant, but you know when the baby comes he’s gonna be forgotten about and no one will care for him so one day while his aunt was watching him, he ran away to a park and once his “mom” came home she started to look everywhere for him, but once she found him they got into a car accident. Which caused the mom to not have a baby anymore so she became depressed that she LITERALLY jumped in front of her own child. So now Tae Hyun has to deal with the rath of his aunt blaming him for the death of his mom. To the point that she even came to the school to yell at him and that’s when Da Yeol found out but heard that he murdered so he became scared of Tae Hyun to the point Tae Hyun couldn’t deal with it anymore that he tried to d!e by hitting a pot at his head. But luckily Da Yeol helped him out after that. Which then started their chemistry with each other, what I love is that Da Yeol literally quit archery for the reason being is that he has something else that he has interest in and wants to dedicate everything to and Tae Hyun realizing that he can’t live without Da Yeol in his life because he became so important to him. What I really love is the last line which isn’t too accurate but it’s “If one day we fall apart again just come find me because you will always be a shoulder for me to cry on” I literally almost started to bawl my eyes out because that line is one the best last lines I have ever heard. I literally feel bad for whoever is reading this because it’s so long and I basically said the whole plot, but it proves that A shoulder to cry on is such a good drama. I really recommend this drama so much because it was really good and I didn’t regret watching it.Was this review helpful to you?
Hated it from the first 5 mins.. Sexual Assault is not a joke.
Stop making characters who objectively suck and expecting us to sit through a drama about them.I hate episode so much it made my stomach turn. Not only did the lie and say the ML attacked them sexually, which is a serious crime, they could have jeopardized all the ML’s hard work with archery over the years.
The writers should be ashamed of themselves to create something like this. Sexual assault is a big issue and minimizing that is so upsetting.
But I really shouldn’t be surprised seeing how South Korea minimizes sexual assault cases in real life. How disgusting of those writers. Shame on them!
In the future, I plan to avoid any drama written by these people or that has the 2ML acting in it. This whole experience has really triggered me.
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Don't read the synopsis on the details page! it spoils the first episode!
I have been waiting so long for this show to start airing. I didn't read the synopsis of the series so when I say I was surprised when I watched the first episode boy is that an understatement. I thought that it would be the stereotypical troupe where one character is broken and the other character gets magically thrown into said broken characters life and they heal together but that is not what the first episode is about. I like that the first episode is nothing like I had imagined. The first episode is attention grabbing , and let's us quickly feel a connection and develop a fondness for the 1st lead (Archer) I can't wait to see the development of the relationship between the two main characters from their first meeting. I also pray that our 2nd lead (class president) has good character development later in the show. The class president is cheeky, and cunning but he is a jerk and gets on my nerves I know that's kind of the whole point but like the 1st lead I want to throw a good punch in the direction of the 2nd leads smile.Was this review helpful to you?
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tak mělo to své mouchy
Bylo to fajn až na to jak si omlátil květináč o hlavu, což jaki nechápu jak si dokázal tak okrvit čelo.Tomu dlouhovlasýmu bych ten květináč o tu hlavu ale klidně hodila. co se sere do toho kdo koho má rad. jen žárlil, ze jeho nikdo rad nemá no. blbecek.
Můžete mi pak vysvětlit, když bylo o dva roky později, tak proč oba vypadali ještě mladší než na ty střední omg.
Ten špatný odstín rtenky v některých částech.
no a jako kde v ty poslední epizodě vzali ty bundy a ty další pyžama? jakoby to bylo v ceně? a jak si poznali kartacky, když byly oba kartacky stejný? no mám hodne otázek a málo odpovědi.
Jinak to bylo fajn. Oddechovka.
Herci jakoby z nich nejsou zrovna oskarový, ale šlo to.
Děj byl docela dobrý, takový basic s tím, že se zas umíralo a že zas měl někdo deprese, ze ten dotyčný zemřel kvůli němu. To už je takové klišé tady v tom všem.
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