Good potential but missed the mark...
I felt like the story had potential, but it was held back by several reasons. Overall the acting was average. The writing felt a little lazy. There were a lot of chance encounters that conveniently happened, and the same goes for misunderstandings, especially the one in episode 4 which felt unrealistic and manufactured just to create a misunderstanding to stretch out the story. My biggest disappointment was touching of the lips and calling it kissing. It was barely acceptable back in 2022... But it's 2026 and there have been a lot of Korean BLs that have had real kissing scenes. If an actor is going to act in a BL series then he needs to commit to the kissing scenes. It should be viewed the same way as playing a heterosexual relationship role. It's Korea, so heavy, passionate kissing isn't the norm even in mainstream shows, but barely touching the lips together isn't acceptable anymore.Was this review helpful to you?
Good But Not Great…
I think we are way past this point with Korean BL, but I guess I was wrong.This isn’t a bad watch, but there’s so much that the story (acting) could do better. The actors’ acting isn’t reaching me at all, and I know it’s still too early to judge what their chemistry would be like.
I don’t particularly dislike the storyline, it’s okay, but the execution is a bit mehhhh in my opinion.
If it were say, 2020 or 2021 or even 2022 and we got a KBL like this, I would have been too excited that we at least even got something, but this is 2026, and we expect better than what this is giving so far.
Should you watch it? Yeah, well, if you feel like it
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This review may contain spoilers
it's fine for what it is
Overall: an okay way to spend 2 hours. Episodes are about 15 minutes each. Aired on iQIYI https://www.iq.com/album/play-me-2026-223c45wlxrp?lang=en_us and Viu (Thailand).Content Warnings: past death, near suicide (can start episode 1 at 2 min to skip), past abusive parent with injury/blood, non/dub con kiss, not con picture taking
Watch Suggestions (to cut out content warnings and cliches)
- episode 1 start at 2 min and skip 7:55-8:10
- episode 2 you're on your own
- episode 3 watch 3-6:50 and 9:35-13:45
- episode 4 watch 9-end
- episode 5 watch 3:30-10
- episode 6 watch 2-11
- episode 7 watch 1:30-3:10
- episode 8 watch 2:10-end
What I Liked
- visuals
- easy to understand premise
Room For Improvement
- a 2 minute conversation would have solved a misunderstanding that led to years long ghosting
- several coincidental meetings, a horn at a certain time
- love rival
- comedy sound effects didn't maket things funny
- noble idiot trope
- side couple shoehorned in
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Beautiful cinematography
Though it was a simple story, i really liked this drama.The cinematography is beautiful and it has beautiful visuals and music, the actors both sang beautiful in the last episode.
The actors did a great job, i really like the acting of both mains. They are both very likable.
The mains have amazing chemistry, the kisses were mostly just lips touching but in ep. 6 we got a decent enough kiss.
I really don't understand the negative reviews, i enjoyed it a lot!
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This review may contain spoilers
It had it's flaws but was beautiful
This one was a really sweet and cute watch. Although people kept complaining about the kiss. I really don't think the kiss scenes were bad. The actors had great chemistry and the kiss scenes were fine for a KBL. Let's not be pervs and expect Thai BL kinda kiss everywhere🙄. But yeah for some reason the moment they kiss the camera angles start going all weird and fast making the whole scene look weird compared to the whole drama.This couple kinda reminds me of kristsingto and ohmnanon cz there wasn't any typical seme uke indication here. From the height I Hyeon seemed like the seme but action wise jae on seemed like the seme... i am kinda leaning towards Jae on being the seme ngl. So yeah this is my 1st time seeing this in a KBL. Usually they make it obvious.
They also made sure to add real ost for this series eventhough it's a short drama which I've not seen before in short dramas. Usually they just have random bgm
The reason for a 9 is cz i felt lot of things were kinda left unanswered. Like why was the new actor working with the lawyer? What would happen when I Hyeon knows what the lawyer tried to do? How does the 2nd couple's relationship progress etc.. probably season 2???? Idk
But yeah i liked it
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hmm kinda boring ngl
tem uma premissa interessante mas a mornice dos atores em momentos de intimidade me entristeceu um pouco. genuinamente não consigo entender qual desses cantores que vão pra atuar para ficar igual uma porta durante toda série.sobre a narrativa da história tem elementos interessantes, principalmente nessa questão de ser uma história que começa no passado e vai seguindo até o presente. gostaria que tivessem explorado os sentimentos dos personagens de forma verbal e entre eles mas considerando que a química nao era muito boa talvez foi melhor assim
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This review may contain spoilers
Digendong Hongseok
Jujur, kalau bukan karena Hongseok, apa "hook" dari series ini yang bisa digaungkan??.Pakai aktor bekas idol dari mantan grup terkenal > ngasih storyline yang sangat MID > berharap dapet rating tinggi. Terlalu template. Well, at least mereka ga pakai elemen yang AI-generated.. even kalau ada pun, berarti jumlahnya sangat sedikit dan directornya pintar membalutnya sampai aku ga ngeuh kalau misal beneran ada. Miris ih jaman sekarang series bisa masuk kategori "Decent" kalau minim ditemukan AI-generated. Padahal ada banyak komposisi lain yang bisa dipertimbangkan. Salah satu drama yang menggunakan banyak elemen AI tapi masih bisa aku maafkan itu cuman The Prosecutor's Proposal, itupun mereka storyline nya sangat matang dan kita beneran terbawa ke dunia mereka. Sedangkan series Play Me?? cerita savvvmmmpaahhh!.
Outcome yang director harapkan tuh apasihhhh??? greget aku. Konflik masa lalu dari kedua MC ga terlalu di-solve dengan baik. Terus banyak side c yg mengganggu kek si hyung yg controlling bgt tu. ujung2nya dia kalah cuman karena omongan nya si MC? kalo gitu ddari awal ngapain ngehire orang yang dirancang buat menghancurkan karirnya karakter yang diperanin sama Hongseok?? yang bener aja lah, ini arahnya kemana sih??
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Falta mais desenvolvimento
O BL é em resumo gostosinho de assistir, mas não que prega e te deixo ansioso para um próximo episódio. Faltou desenvolvimento, tempo de tela sabe. Por isso a nota, eles possuem tanta química e não tiveram tempo para evidenciar mais. O casal secundário faltou sabe, não tinha enredo e foi exposto um possível envolvimento no final, mas sem trabalhar nada sobre. E o que aconteceu na viagem, o espião ao respondeu por nada e não foi mostrado o que aconteceu, simplesmente ele acorda com o braço machucado.Was this review helpful to you?
