Gray Shelter (2024)

Enjoyably Thought-Provoking

This series really explores some interesting and difficult concepts and the way it's presented original and thought-provoking, I really wish there were more BL's like this.
Overall I enjoyed it but felt there were some moments where I was confused as to whether we were in the past or present.
Perhaps for me the show was a little too short, as I felt like I really wanted to dive deeper in to the characters and their motivations or lack thereof.
I really would have also liked more to happen between Yoon Dae and Cha Soo Hyuk, and I can relate to the people who were disappointed about the lack of BL while watching it.
I thought Jang Woo Young was amazing in this, his eyes conveyed so much without him saying anything!
Lee Jae Bin was also good but after watching him in Choco Milk Shake, I really missed his smile.
I recommend this show if you like things left open to interpretation like I do, you enjoy something thought-provoking, and you are happy to watch a BL without much BL.
For me it was definitely worth watching and I would watch again.

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Wasted Potential

The story started off slow. There is so much family drama with family dynamics in this series. The step-brother turned love interest was hard to distinguish until episode 4. If you didn’t know going in that this was a BL, it would be hard to tell. Even knowing this was a BL, I still had trouble figuring out the chemistry and romance between these two. It was more of co-dependent stepbrothers with dysfunctional baggage from broken homes than they had romantic feelings for each other. Even when YoonDae kissed SooHyuk it felt like co depency than anything else.

Was SooHyuk mad at him being a failure because he is gay? Was the mistake that he found out his son liked YoonDae? Then does this mean YoonDae’s dad hope to be a the gay out of him? YoonDae isn’t interested in being in a relationship with women which is why he’s a dick to his girlfriend, right?

The ending was so unsatisfying. I really wish YoonDae had taken up SooHyuk offer to sleep together. I think they would have both discovered that they can be together for the long haul. Or maybe they did when YoonDae told SooHyuk to pretend he is still sleeping. Maybe that’s the rabbit hole they went down. They are living separately but now can pursue a relationship together without the co-dependency.

I want to like this series more but with so much left unsaid and feeling so unsatisfied. I hate the editing and direction of an otherwise good series

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Hope in misery?

If you are looking for a nice and fluffy bl, you are at the wrong place! I understand why it has such low rating, I do not agree with it but I understand! Because it is grey: misery, unhappiness, hopelessness...mention it, it's there! But it is not all black since there is a sliver of light that appears.

It is a story of two men trying to survive, just survive the onslaught of their respective families. They have known each other a few years previously when their parents married but that marriage did not last long. Something happened between the two young men at the time, as well, that created a huge rift. We never really clearly find what it was: an unwanted, unexplained kiss? The main problem are their parents: one father is an abuser, the other a criminal but still very attractive to his ex wife using their son to finance them.

The drama is too short. It touches upon a lot of issues but it does not really have the time to delve deeper into them: mainly parents abusing of their children who are desperately wanting to free themselves from their hold. So much so that the young men are exhausted, desperate and lacking energy to do anything. We are left without explanation as to how and why that kiss (?) happened between them which ruined a friendly relationship they had when they were younger! The older one feels responsible and guilty towards the younger one. Why?

The romance comes out suddenly and is heart flutteringly beautiful, chemistry soaring sky-high but unfortunately nothing is solved by the realization. The life is too difficult to bear to do anything more than just survive. The promise of happiness is too scary to believe: when you've been beaten down by life, you lose all hope. We are left with an open ending, showing us a glimmer of hope that one of them allows himself to dare to feel.

This drama is beautifully filmed, written and acted. The cinematography alongside the animated opening credits are all in shades of grey, perfectly translating the desperation and the misery the main characters feel. The music is just as good. It has been a long time since a korean BL made me feel so many emotions: rage, pity, sadness, hope, love...

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Atypical BL with stunning art

I am late to the party, so to speak.
After the series ended I did not really understand what was happening but now I binched watched the series again. So, if you don't understand it, as many reviews say, you should binch watch all five episodes again and it will make sense.
The story is sensible, the acting of the MLs stunning and the style was also great and different from the known happy BL world. You feel depressed, the angst of the characters because they did not have a nice life and they fight with their inner demons. The end is not confusing, it's a happy end, they will try. So after all the "shit" they went through, the end offers hope for both.
I wholeheartenly recommand this outstanding series, but only if you can handle a downer and you can focus the story of this series otherwise you might misunderstand.

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detail means everything

Firstly, the cast has to be decent-looking, you don't have to be a model but a least average. I can't lie the main cast slightly put me off because of their looks (I understand that don't they don't control that) only the friend was up to my standards

The story I felt was incomplete as the big theme from what I interpreted was that each of them has a difficult life they are trying to navigate the journey and gravitate towards each other as they have an understanding of each other. The was as fully developed as I wanted as there were constant times that nothing was happening.

But I learnt a lesson about the meaning of comfort from individuals and what it means for different types of people and how it can affect relationships with others

It would've been clearer if it had a marker it was a flashback as it confused me at times figuring out the timeline

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Tutto mi fa pensare che questa non vuole essere la solita commediola BL, ma qualcosa di diverso, con spunti e riflessioni più profonde, significati che vanno un po' cercati ma che puntano a lasciare un qualcosa di più di una piacevole visione. E allora, con la manciata di tempo a disposizione - meno di due ore in totale - non si percorre un'intera storia ma la si tratteggia puntando a scene fondamentali e lasciando allo spettatore il compito di ricostruire tutto il resto.
Premesso che il più delle volte ricerco delle serie spensierate - non intese come sole commedie, ma come drama chiari dove non devo arrovellarmi la testa per comprenderne il significato - devo dire che in certi casi non ho disdegnato anche film/serie più impegnative. Gray Shelter però non è riuscita a farmi seguire un filo logico, troppi i passaggi poco chiari, troppe le perplessità anche dopo aver letto altrove possibili interpretazioni. La recitazione davvero notevole, così come la musica. Non la trovo davvero una serie scadente, anzi. Credo ci sia stato davvero un gran lavoro dietro, anche nella sceneggiatura stessa. Ma davvero non fa per me. Non solo perchè probabilmente non era ciò che stavo cercando, ma perchè pur con un "taglio" diverso non è comunque riuscita trasmettermi nulla. Un buon prodotto, immagino, ma su una frequenza diversa dalla mia.

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Una persona no puede ser tu refugio, pero puedes compartir uno con ella

Gray Shelter es una de esas mágicas historias que se producen cada cierto tiempo y que, probablemente, no vaya a conseguir atraer la atención del público que se merece.

Como a muchas otras personas, mi motivación principal para verla fue que Lee Jaebin, a quien ya conocía por el papel de Choco en Choco Milk Shake, fuese uno de los actores protagonistas. Y, wow, qué importante ha sido verle en un registro completamente distinto para comprender lo gran actor que es y lo mucho que se merece que le den oportunidades para demostrar ese talento. Por su parte, Jang Wooyoung ha estado más que a la altura de lo que la serie necesitaba, ofreciéndonos una trama desgarradora de manera conjunta en un contexto que debería haber tenido una extensión mayor, pero que tiene una inmensidad de lecturas en algo más de 100 minutos.

Quizá uno de los elementos más difíciles de comprender desde una perspectiva no asiática sea cómo el concepto de familia tiene un peso tan grande que hace pivotar todo lo que sucede en el drama, como si de un tercer personaje invisible se tratase. Yoondae destruido por un padre abusivo cuyo vínculo no termina nunca de eliminar. Soohyuk superado por unos padres inmaduros que no dejan de pedirle más, como si de sanguijuelas se tratase. En esta situación, era imposible que ambos pudieran hacerse bien, aun cuando todo el desarrollo nos demuestra que lo que sienten el uno por el otro es tan grande que apenas pueden gestionarlo. Por eso Soohyuk necesita que Yoondae no dependa de él. Que sea autosuficiente y pueda aportarle algo más que la vorágine a la que ambos están acostumbrados. Porque las personas que cuidan también necesitan un espacio para poder ser vulnerables y rehacer lo que el mundo real rompe cada día.

Es especialmente significativo el simbolismo de los dos personajes contando con su propia bufanda en los momentos finales del capítulo. Porque entregarle tu bufanda a otra persona siempre implica que tú acabas pasando frío. Y, el amor, aunque tiene actos de devoción como ese, no puede ser un constante acto de entrega hacia el otro.

Y, como todo en una vida que no termina, el mañana, el nuevo amanecer, siempre viene cargado de posibilidades.

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