The Prosecutor's Proposal

Korean BL Just Raised the Bar With This Crime Thriller Masterpiece

My most anticipated Korean BL of 2026 has finally arrived, and it exceeded every expectation I had.

The moment I found out it was directed by the same director behind Secret Relationships, The Time of Fever and The Director Who Buys Me Dinner, my expectations instantly skyrocketed. After watching it, I can confidently say this might be the director's strongest work yet.

What immediately sets this series apart is how boldly it breaks away from the familiar formula of Korean BLs. We've seen school romances, office romances, slice of life stories, and melodramas countless times. A full fledged mystery crime thriller with a BL romance at its core is something we've been waiting for, and this drama delivers from its very first scene.

The story follows two men whose lives were shattered by a murder fifteen years ago. One grew up as the victim's son, while the other carried the lifelong stigma of being the killer's son. Years later, fate brings them back together as a prosecutor and an investigator, forcing them to confront corruption, buried secrets, and the truth behind the case that destroyed both of their families. The premise alone is gripping, but it's the execution that elevates this drama into something truly exceptional.

Si Woo as Chae Ha and Do Gun as Tae Seon completely embody their characters. Every emotion feels authentic, every confrontation believable, and every silence speaks volumes. Their chemistry is magnetic. Despite the heavy crime focused narrative, the emotional tension between them is never overshadowed. Every shared glance, conversation, and confrontation carries incredible weight.

I'm already obsessed with the "the son of the man who killed your father becomes your lover" trope. Tae Seon's hatred toward Chae Ha isn't simple anger. It's years of grief, resentment, and unresolved pain. That emotional distance makes every interaction between them even more compelling. The slow burning tension keeps building with every episode, making even the smallest moments feel emotionally explosive.

I also appreciate that the drama doesn't rely on fluffy romance to keep viewers invested. Instead, it embraces a darker, colder, and far more mature tone. Every emotional breakthrough feels earned because it's surrounded by so much pain, conflict, and restraint.

The production quality is phenomenal. The cinematography is sleek and cinematic, the pacing never drags, and the suspense constantly keeps you guessing. The mystery is engaging enough to satisfy crime thriller fans, while the romance simmers beneath the surface, creating a perfect balance between plot progression and emotional development.

Visually, the entire cast looks incredible, but the soundtrack deserves just as much praise. The music amplifies every moment of tension, heartbreak, and anticipation, making each episode feel more like a high budget film than a typical web drama.

One thing that genuinely surprised me is how well this series balances an outstanding story with mature, emotionally significant intimate scenes. It's incredibly rare to find a BL that excels at both.

The ending of Episode 2 completely caught me off guard.
Tae Seon grabs Chae Ha by the neck, forces a kiss on him, bites his lip until it bleeds, then kisses him again. It isn't framed as romantic or passionate. It feels violent, conflicted, and emotionally devastating.

Considering Tae Seon believes Chae Ha's father murdered his own father, you'd expect him to lash out with violence, harsh words, or abuse the authority he holds over Chae Ha. Instead, their confrontation becomes something far more psychologically complicated. The kiss isn't born from love. It's driven by rage, grief, obsession, and years of buried emotions that neither of them knows how to process.

I've honestly never seen a scene executed quite like this in a Korean BL. It was disturbing, emotionally volatile, and unforgettable. Rather than romanticizing the moment, the series presents it as two deeply broken people colliding under impossible circumstances. That complexity made it even more compelling.

Then came Episode 4.
I genuinely didn't think the emotional intensity could climb any higher, but somehow it did.

Although Chae Ha initiates the kiss, the moment Tae Seon responds, the emotional balance shifts completely. Every movement feels desperate, hesitant, and painfully vulnerable. What begins as a kiss quickly transforms into an emotional confrontation where longing, fear, guilt, and suppressed feelings all collide.

The moment Tae Seon covers Chae Ha's eyes while whispering, 'Don't look at me. I don't want to see your face', absolutely shattered me. That single line reveals everything he's been trying to bury. The guilt, the hatred, the desire, and the fear of confronting his own emotions.

Their intimacy isn't portrayed as simple romance or physical attraction. It's messy, conflicted, heartbreaking, and emotionally overwhelming. Every touch feels loaded with years of unresolved trauma, making the scene unforgettable not because of its explicitness, but because of its emotional weight.

Beyond the romance, I love how the drama explores wrongful accusations, generational trauma, corruption, justice, redemption, and the devastating consequences of past decisions. These themes give the story genuine depth and make it feel far more mature than the average BL.

If you're a fan of mystery thrillers, prosecutors, investigators, crime solving duos, enemies to lovers romance, and BLs where the plot is just as compelling as the romance, this series deserves to be at the top of your watchlist.

My only small critique is the ending. The beach scene with the sunset and waves looked like AI/CGI, and I wish we had more screen time of them being together. Hopefully we'll get a Season 2 or at least a special episode because I definitely wasn't ready to say goodbye to these two. That said, this is only a very minor issue and it doesn't affect my overall rating at all. I absolutely loved this series from start to finish!

Only a handful of Korean BLs have truly managed to blend compelling storytelling, layered characters, breathtaking cinematography, and emotionally powerful romance into one complete package. This series is already proving that it belongs among the very best.

For me, The Prosecutor’s Proposal is not just my favorite Korean BL of 2026 so far. It's already shaping up to become one of the best Korean BLs ever made.

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Fast-paced crime drama with a sizzling Love/Hate romance

Subjective Gut Rating: 8.25

I’m so glad to see Korean BLs coming back with a good drama like “The Prosecutor’s Proposal”. I’ve always found KBLs do really well with the darker and angstier themes. As a low-budget mini drama, this is a well-produced one. It’s not perfect and still suffers from being too short, but it doesn’t have the usual flaws of a small production - looking cheap & bad acting.

I really appreciate this is a serious drama without the occasional over-the-top comedy that messes with the overall feel of it. I also really like that the crime investigation is the focus and romance is just a part of the plot. What’s best is that “The Prosecutor’s Proposal” does not look cheap. Though there aren’t any fancy sets, the overall cinematography feels like a regular long-form drama.

The main romance is definitely the talk of the town. The leads have excellent chemistry even during the crime investigation when they are in a supervisor/supervisee relationship. Of course, the love-hate relationship and the red flag-ness of Ju Tae Seon are the icing on the cake. The sexual tension is palpitating. I just want them to kiss and devour each other, which they did. LOL The emotions going into the NC scenes are delicious and sizzling. The NC scenes themselves are sexy and passionate, but they are way too short especially after such a great build up. If I have to pick on the romance, it’s that everything is too fast-paced. The transition from hate to love happens too fast. For a short drama, there’s no luxury of time to let their romance slowly develop, and give us more push-and-pull tension.

The overall acting is solid. Kim Yoon Sik shines as Prosecutor Ju. His manic behavior changed so rapidly. Although he’s not a newbie to the industry, he doesn’t really have that many dramas under his belt either. His more unpredictable behavior contrasted well with Park Si Woo’s more introverted and quiet acting. I’m glad Investigator Lee Chae Ha is not a pushover either. He might be on the quiet side, but will stand up for himself when needed. Park Si Woo performed quite well. The rest of the supporting cast also did a pretty good job.

The crime investigation takes up the majority of the time, as it should be. The general plot is interesting enough. However, since this is such a short drama, it doesn’t have enough time to fully write really intricate storylines. There are some actions done by the villains that make me scratch my head, especially towards the last few episodes when we’re about to find out who the murderers are. The writing could have been better. If this is a regular big budget drama, I might criticize this a little more.

Overall, “The Prosecutor’s Proposal” is a fast-paced, engaging crime investigation drama with a juicy and sizzling romance. Its weakness is the lack of time to develop the romance well, and to give us a more tightly written crime drama. But I applaud its ability to give us a sizzling romance (except the last episode when it feels a little cringey), a well-acted drama that doesn’t look cheap. Given this is a low budget drama with adjusted expectations, I am rounding up my 8.25 to a 8.5.


Drama Completed: 7/23/2026 Review #705

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a rushed finale... at least one episode too short

First of all, that is not your 08/15 BL, if it's a BL at all. The romance is not the focus of the story at all, it happens on the side. We have the prosecutor who is quite the psychopath, but in the end figuring out that he is human after all. And then we have an investigator who was elevated by the prosecutor because he his the son of the suspected murderer of this dad.

This is a proper criminial case, not like "Dare You to Death" where the culprit was clear after epsisode 3, more sophisticated and much more intense. And this case makes sense. Of course we see one of the culprits in episode 1 but it was over in a flash, so it is hard to remember it at all. One negative of that is the first forced kiss, but in the context of the story I got the feeling that the investigator had eyes on him from the beginning.

The only de-rating for me was the finale. First our lovely investigator has a backstory as a police officer, but he was not able to self defend himself properly neither against the culprit nor against the culprits son which was strange. The whole reveal of the culprits son feeled very rushed and that the son turned into a maniac was also a bit off putting imho. While I don't care about the use of AI/CGI in the intro, it was a big negative in the finale on the beach. Yes it costs money to film that properly but to film it at a green screen and put the beach in, was a lazy approach, besides being kitschy as hell because they made the colors quite unnatural, the scene does not fit the vibe of the show. Also negative for the korean viewers is the fact, that Wavve cut the NC-scenes a lot. WTF is wrong with them? They put a gay dating show and now a bi dating show on air, but are too afraid to put the whole NC-scene on the air? That's really stupid.

Our MLs were stellar imho. They did a superb job into bringing their characters to life. Production quality was quite high and there is really nothing to complain about except what I already wrote. The OST was also very nice. But because of the things I pointed out, it's not a masterpiece. It would have taken a bit more time, a bit more depth, To have extended all episodes to at least 30 minutes would have been a good idea but due to the huge cast and extras I guess they run into budget issues, so they had to limit runtime which was not a good decision for the series as a whole. At least I can say, Korea can bring good queer content on the screen and not all of them are only 8 minutes per episode. If you have not watched it, you can without fears of wasting your time.

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How about we get miserable together? That's my proposal to you!

This drama stands out as a compelling and intense BL that defies the typical cookie-cutter K-BL genre expectations. Far from a conventional love story, it dug deeper into the dark, more complex facets of relationships, marked by toxicity, possessiveness, and highly flawed characters. The raw and unfiltered chemistry of the MLs truly baffled me with their portrayal of intense scenes, which created a gripping narrative that hooked me with its emotional tension and psychological depth.

The power dynamics of Taeson and Chaeha and their chemistry was electrifying! When I started binging, their first meeting did seem memorable to me, but they continued to grow on me in a way that I was unable to move on from how much of a strong presence they hold, especially Taeson. He's curt and emotionless outside, but inside he holds a firing fuel of revenge. He couldn't be emotional as his job required him to be ruthless, but Chaeha's very first introduction shook his core again because both of them hold a special secret that can either break or hold them together. Taeson was like that type of person who would want to own his own person; in a way he could emotionally, mentally and physically dominate just to satisfy his anger. As compared to him, Chaeha had a very submissive, pushover/doormat character with a frail and delicate physique. He was frail and didn't really physically defend himself in any situation, rather got cursed and hurt a lot. A perfect toy for Taeson.

The production quality is remarkably better but very low budgeted. Full of AI scenes that made me roll my eyes. But the storytelling with a polished visual style complimented the intense performances of all the characters. The MLs were awesome but the psycho lady, her lover and their product...the actors delivered grounded, nuanced portrayals that brought authenticity to their conflicted roles. It made the characters' struggles and passions feel palpably real. No wonder I got goosebumps whenever they were on-screen.

What makes this drama particularly intriguing was its willingness to explore uncomfortable themes and imperfect love. It did mentally challenge me to engage with the messy yet pitiful realities of human connection rather than idealized romance, unlike other shallow BLs out there. This bold approach in itself is praiseworthy


But surely and obviously it was not without flaws.
-As I mentioned earlier, persistent usage of AI in the kdrama industry is bothering me. The scene at the end was odd and obvious AI edited. It looked so fake.
-Chaeha's character is too dumb and sloppy for a ex-police officer and current investigator.
-I could easily guess the killer. That was sloppy.
-ending was sooo sudden and rushed. Felt like they ended abruptly.

What I absolutely loved other than the MLs was the OSTs! Three songs, all of them are bop! How can this be possible?! I love love love them. They set the mood for intense and suspenseful scenes, which indeed elevated the rating for me. The OSTs get a +1 rating from me.

In summary, "The Prosecutor's Proposal" is a must-watch for those seeking a BL series that pushes boundaries, offering a dark, emotionally charged experience that lingers long after the credits roll.

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Great story that lacked time

I love queer romance AND I love crime dramas, so obviously I was looking forward to this one. While I really enjoyed the crime aspects, and I found the characters to be super interesting, I do think that this show REALLY would have benefitted from a few more episodes or longer episodes. There were a few aspects of the show that I think really needed more time and more attention to really stick - and I know that a lot of people loved this for the romance aspects, I even feel like parts of their relationship needed more time to flesh out.

Lee Chaeha is suddenly selected to work alongside a top prosecutor Ju Taeseon despite his lack of seniority at work. Taeseon is known to be strict and hard to work with, but Chaeha is determined to do a good job considering how much he respects Taeseon. Taeseon hates no one more than the people that defend other's bad actions - and since Chaeha is the son of a murderer who once defended his father, this hatred extends to his new coworker. As the two work together to investigate a recent murder, Taeseon is also trying to make Chaeha's life miserable; Chaeha is determined to prove that he's worth keeping on the team.

This show starts off with Taeseon HATING Chaeha. Say what you want about the sex scenes early on, but they are not at all romantic - Taeseon's entire goal is to humiliate Chaeha and make Chaeha feel like he is beneath Taeseon. However, as Taeseon learns more about Chaeha, these desires to make the man miserable start to turn into something else. As a viewer, I felt like we did not get nearly enough time to watch Taeseon's feelings for Chaeha change. To go from wanting to squash Chaeha like a bug beneath his foot to loving him simply cannot happen as fast as flipping a switch. It seemed like Taeseon saw one other person be mean to Chaeha and decided he liked him. I also thought that Chaeha was a bit too cool with this, especially considering the whole employee x boss dynamic they had going on, but he even calls himself a freak so I guess I can move on from that. Between the odd pacing on Taeseon's feelings, and the rushed ending to the case they're solving, I thought that this show needed at least another two episodes to actually wrap up. The last ten minutes of the finale genuinely had me looking up if this was the last episode or not, because it felt like there was wayyyy too much for them to do in those ten minutes (and there was!). The ending wasn't very satisfying because we didn't get to see the full progression of the relationship or the case. Still, it was a fun watch with a few good twists in it - I just really wish they had the time to explore the characters and the case a bit more to make it feel whole.

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could have been a dimond but it became a charcoal.

actually, when i started watching the series, i thought it would be a classic korean bl, but it wasn't. it progressed perfectly until episode 8. there were no gaps in the cases; they handled everything accurately. my suspicions were justified because the character named song was very tense when he saw tak. there was a general lack of emotion in the series, but this wasn't related to the main characters. while the series told the stories of many people and ruined many lives, it was a bit bad that they only showed us the monstrous sides of the characters. it killed the emotion in the series, frankly. as i said, it was perfect up to episode 8, and i was eagerly awaiting the finale, but they wrapped it up too quickly again. if you're going to finish it in the last two episodes, at least make them longer. the episodes were short, and it continued with a great lack of emotion. therefore, because the ending was so quickly tied up, the love between the main characters didn't evoke any feeling.

and what was that final scene? the characters came from darkness, blood, and brutality, and you filmed a scene with bright, nonsensical lines; it just didn't work. the main actors' acting was very good. i hope they'll have a better-scripted series to work on together.

P.S. the actor playing taeson is a friend of lee know from skz. lee know might be sad that he couldn't be an open boykisser but he is probably proud of his friend.

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a genuine deep disappointment.

when i say i have been feral to watch this show. i mean i have been figuratively foaming at the mouth, shaking in my boots, fiending to watch this goddamn show for weeks because of the intimate scenes. i must have rewatched the first intimate scene in chaeha's bedroom and the kiss at his office desk around thirty times. i deliberately enabled my self-control and did not watch them both more because i did not want to ruin them for when i actually watched the series.

i just finished it and i am saddened to say that you can legitimately see how rushed this series was. i have never even consumed the original piece of work and it is still evident that they RAN to climax this show. the leads were excellent but the pacing was not good. also, i have noticed that BL have a problem with timelines. they need to be explicit with timeskips and time periods as they are not obvious at all. from the discovery of the russian dealer to the second to last episode, three months had past. who would know that? it is relevant because the leads would then be presumed to either have not engaged intimately at all or were building rapport the audience did not get to witness. the former then makes things like saying, "i love you", at the end make more sense.

the story was also kind of convoluted but more importantly, things did not conclude seamlessly. who actually was the son of the director + the chief prosecutor? it wasn't the scapegoat at the end. so.. what? we just never see the casino director again and the made-to-be suspected son gyuho just goes about his business. again, what? how about absolving chaeha's father? did that go into the toilet? there were also some strange goofs that i noticed as well like at the vending machine and when chaeha was assaulted.

after typing all this, i would honestly rate this piece of work lower but i like the leads a lot and think they did well with the material.

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Pain

When you measure your week starting on a Thursday, you know you're hooked. When you spend the entire episode listening to every syllable dropping from his lips, you know who is the star. When you immediately want to do a complete re-watch to see if you missed a beat, you know it deserves the praise it received.

Chaeha, the clueless assistant and Ju, the bitter prosecutor, gave a rewarding story. Each week little variables were revealed to bring to light the mystery of their shared past. Ju's initial disdain replaced with protective love. The gradual change believable by the end. Chaeha remaining innocently clueless, with no survival instincts whatsoever, struggles to stay one step ahead of the mole.

I'm going to pretend that Chaeha in the final episode got Song to pause while killing him to give him his life story as it was part of a plan. I'm going to pretend love conquers all as the man that he slept with, who kept everything hidden, is easily accepted back into his arms after crying brokenly one night and two days of fever after. I'm going to pretend that after receiving the call at the last minute to visit the office late at night, he thought his miniature frame was invincible and he simply forgot to call Ju. Yup, I'm good at pretending.

Moving on, Chaeha and Ju's first nc captured the raw anger, bitterness and hunger he felt for him. Still in that moment, the cruelty was accepted as Chaeha was already deep into him.

Plot was good not great. It did keep a momentum that delivered but aforementioned issues were it's weaknesses. Song never looked trustworthy so easily outed as the son. As much as you love someone, there would be residual bitterness from their initial meeting and the duplicity before he accepts him back. Three days and Chaeha was back by his side. Tak used as an obvious eye rolling ploy to make it happen. Chaeha body always seemed to get in the way of a knife, and yet, with the body structure that clearly missed meals, always seems to survive with a smile. Ju is not harmed.

What Ju is, is the star. His role, facial nuances and sarcasm kept the series going. His emotional breakdowns, razor tongue and critical mind secured the series rating. Actor Yoon Sik, delivered. This is not to say Si Woo didn't do well, but dimmed next to him.

The ending? Hmmmm. That’s another no for me. Was it to signify that all the darkness was over and they were over the brutality in bed and it was all sunshine and happiness. Let alone Ju watching the news on his phone. No.

Suggestion: How about Ju is sitting in a bar waiting, the news comes on, he glances at it and looks back in time to see Chaeha enter. He goes to meet him and they exit onto the street while continuing to banter in their usual way. He throws in - lets have a date and Chaeha gives his usual stunned, but this time, flippant answer. Making the prosecutor work for it. They continue chatting as they proceed to the next crime scene. It's called continuity. Some directors should try it instead of that blindingly obvious too sweet ending. That's not the type of couple they are.

Probably, I needed more action scenes for it to really sizzle for me but overall it was a good watch.

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The unsolvable case of whatever it is that the author wanted

(⁠╭⁠☞⁠•́⁠⍛⁠•̀⁠)⁠╭⁠☞ Disclaimer :
This review might contain spoilers, it's solely based on my personal feelings and opinions and highly influenced by them, it's not meant to encourage/discourage anyone from watching so feel free to agree/disagree with it.

Well, this isn't exactly how I expected my return to writing reviews to be but I'm a little glad it is. In all honesty I wasn't planning on watching this series, mainly because I have a mile long plan-to-watch list that has been shoved time and time again to the back of the drawer, but if anyone has happened upon any of my older reviews, you'd know I'm a sucker for the crime/thriller genre, regardless of how I feel about the intimate touchy feely scenes, suspense is one of my many addictions so I couldn't refuse this one, so now after all this pointless rambling and without any further ado, let's get on with the actual review:

Plot/story :
I hate to be the one to say it but this is this series' weakest aspect, don't get me wrong, the premise of it is highly intriguing and the potential this had was off the charts, but I can't help but find the inconsistencies in the writing very.... well, inconsistent. I'm unfamiliar with the author but it really feels like they don't have much experience in writing crime, however, if it's their first attempt in this genre, I would say it's an ok start.
The case was one of the weirdest written plots I've seen in a while, nothing about its proceedings or how it was handled made sense, it genuinely felt like children playing in an escape room rather than an actual case where corruption blurs the lines between truth and lies, evidence was being collected like Pokémon cards, the "villain" felt like an afterthought, Chaeha and Taesan's past being quite vague was also a little irritating, them supposedly being sex partners while having slept with each other only twice was a bit of a hmmm moment for me, and many many other things that I low-key forgot because I unfortunately lost my notes on the episodes, but nonetheless I digress.
My review might make it seem like I didn't really enjoy the show, but I can assure you that I very much did, definitely not my favourite series to date but I feel like if you take the plot as it is and just surrender your brain to the story and its nonsense, these inconsistencies wouldn't bother you too much, now, is this the most well thought out plot you'll ever find? No, but is it interesting enough to keep you coming back? Absolutely, and while I did side eye the minor oddities here and there, I wouldn't say it's that terrible, matter of fact, I kinda like the way this ended, because while some might point out the way it was rushed so we could reach that famous happy ending for our 2 miserable leads, the ending surprisingly was left open, yes you heard that right, this ending was not obviously or explicitly happy, the way it was filmed and Chaeha's internal monologue didn't exactly give off "happy ending", and the scene at the end was filmed and framed in a rather "ethereal" way, so while some may argue it's a happy ending, I interpreted it as rather tragic, it genuinely felt like Chaeha died and that scene was basically his wish playing out for us, so I'm a little surprised and slightly amused with the ending.


Acting :
Here comes the star of the show with its slight shortcomings, the acting.
The actors did very well, and our 2 MLs were honestly good, but I wouldn't say they were particularly amazing, especially Park Si Woo who at times turned the deer-caught-in-headlights expression to the max even when it was uncalled for and at some scenes felt like he was fighting every fiber of his being to say the next line, but other than that they did quite well, even the minor characters were decent.
I have no comments on the MLs' chemistry because they genuinely did well, I didn't perceive any awkwardness from either actors and their intimate scenes were very well done, so yeah, no complaints form me on their pairing.

Music/Ost :
K-BLs did it yet again with the BGM, I've rarely if ever had anything to say about the music in Korean shows because they genuinely know how to give you a solid playlist, so overall, very good BGM.

Production :
Honestly the production was decent, and while the opening with its AI-y elements had me side eyeing it a little, I can't say it was a deal breaker for me, the camera-work was good and the sets were neat, nothing too awe-inspiring but definitely done with effort.

So yeah, these are my 2 cents on this series, my review might come off as very disjointed but that's because it's quite early in the morning, I haven't slept yet, and I'm very much out of practice here, especially considering I accidentally deleted the actual notes I had stored on my notes app on this series while trying to look for them, but yeah, you'll probably get my general thoughts on this K-BL from this "review", I'm sure the rest of the reviewers will have more articulated thoughts to add to the general consensus on this series, so I would recommend checking their reviews out for more input and opinions, otherwise, the series genuinely would get a recommendation from me if you have a little free time on your hand and are looking for something fun and slightly dark to enjoy, definitely a good show to pass the time.

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Low-key masochist/sadist, high-key chemistry.

There are dramas that you feel are too short, but you also saw enough to be satisfied, And then there are dramas like this one - when it's too short and you need to see more. Sure, they did best they could with the limited time they had, but this plot and dynamic deserve more.

Cannot believe we are finally slowly getting Korean BLs with proper plots and new settings. Was the case extremely simple and predictable? Yes. But it’s better this way. There is nothing worse than a complex story forced into a short format - it never delivers. Smart productions know their limits and try to present the best version of what’s possible. BLs are a sub-genre of romance and you do not watch romance for the plot, you watch it for the relationship and the chemistry. Of course having an interesting plot is always a good thing which separates mediocre romance from great romance, but the plot is not the core of the project. So yeah, I am not mad about how simple the story was here. It worked and that’s what matters.

To the more important aspect - the relationship between Lee Chae Ha and Ju Tae Seon. Would I want to swim in the sea of angst delivered by the set up a little bit more, before we move on to mutual positive feelings? Yes. Pinning, angst, contradicting feelings a character has that make them frustrated to the core - I could eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I just love when characters are so sure of what they are feeling and what drives their actions, to then get all confused when love hits them in the face. But I also understand, yet again, that there was a limited time to show the progression from enemies to lovers and for good balance, you just cannot focus too much on just one phase of that dynamic.

The angry angst era was iconic, the confusion and suppressed care was iconic, the desperate love was iconic. These two truly worked well together. I actually like how cliche they felt - Lee Chae Ha had no backbone for most of the drama and Ju Tae Seon was borderline psycho. If you ask me they are low-key masochists and sadists and that’s how I view their dynamics. Sometimes the aggressive beginnings in dramas make me feel uncomfortable, but here it just worked, because I did feel like Lee Chae Ha was into it.

On that note, the office scene. If you saw the drama you know exactly what scene I am talking about. Hot damn. Masterpiece. Thank you.

For the villains. One, the glorious O Ja Hyeon is presented as one from the beginning and more are hiding in the shadows, but are also rather obvious by episode 2. For O Ja Hyeon - loved to hate her. That one scene where she spilled all the tea was amazing. What a performance from Seo Han Gyeol. She stole that moment completely. I kind of wished she had even more presence in the drama. The other two villains were… fine? I think they missed an opportunity for a plot twist here, and went with the safer option.

Performances were mostly good. There were a few more intense scenes where I was not completely convinced by Park Si Woo’s performance. The issue could yet again be the length of the show. Sometimes both the characters and viewers should sit on the emotions a little bit longer, but pressed for time, the drama had to move on with the dialogues a bit too quickly.

I liked the production and the soundtrack. I like how the lighting and the music matched the intensity of some scenes. I always appreciate the good use of light and shadows. Also, go listen to Marionette, it’s a great song!
I am not going to talk about the intro - I just kept skipping it.

Overall, a pleasant surprise. It was a lot better than what I expected in all areas - plot, dynamics, acting, production.

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So it goes

OK, I'm gonna be understanding and still critical. I can't help but feel that the last few minutes of the ending just showed what had been on my mind while watching it most of the time. This presented itself—in the words of many people—as a high- or even standard-quality mainstream/Netflix series, while there were such obvious fuck-ups that it just wasn't (though 90% of the time they were well hidden).

We'd all probably prefer almost any setting over the main leads standing in the middle of nowhere with some fucked-up computer-generated thing in the background, but at the same time, I can't help thinking that this is the result of everyone forcing everyone to avoid ambiguity and uncertainty by expressing everything explicitly. And because no one—or rather, most of us—doesn't even know what to do with that, they opt for a boring, explicit confession of love by the boring sea. Everything has to be dripping with romance, even if it doesn't excuse the main lead's previous behaviour at all or make anything easier for anyone; it just looks saccharine.

I think it truly was a highly above-average series, but if you want to make it exceptional, you need to:

a) Cut the AI/CGI sea thing altogether, along with the confession. Do something normal and in character for Tae.

b) No strange, idiotic moments like this: revelation – 2 minutes of nothing – then Ju Tae Seon childishly jumps to cover Chae's ears to "unhear" what was told ages ago. At some moments, Chae's overly submissive behaviour was just tiring. He's not only submissive, but also highly intelligent and observant, so... do something with it, please? We love emancipated submissives too, you know?

c) Pay more attention to the pacing at the END and the BEGGINING. If you keep it up in the middle, that's a great bonus, but yeah... well.

We are far more forgiving of poor production quality than of poor creative choices.

Aside from these complaints: good job with this one. Hope you get even better with the next three projects. Can't wait.

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