1
Pinoy Ares
FULLY BLOOMED
I have to commend the show for showing us that short series doesnt have to feel rushed. With 11 episodes of about 12 minutes each, the series was beautifully developed and delivered with just the right pacing.
I loved that almost all scenes (and characters) felt important with minimal fillers, sprinkled with just the right amount of cuteness, sillyness, adult kissing (and lovemaking) and a few obligatory shirtless trap scenes.
It also doesnt hurt that we got two very good looking and capable leads. Im not sure if it was intentional but the awkward acting of Jo Kyuk Joon somehow worked for his mysterious emo character, and Kang Eun Bin is like a younger Kim Min Jae, and i mean it in a good way.
On the other side, the series reminded me of the anxieties i felt while watching all other beauty transformation series that tried to deal with leaving an old life behind and trying to live with a somewhat fake beautiful identity to get acceptance - only this time, we see it from a guy's point of view. Or are we?
Cha Si Won can be played by a male or female actor without needing to change any of the script. The series was trying to say love is love and it has no gender, by emitting (or ignoring) any mention of homosexuality. However that for me was the weakness of the show - because in reality, same sex relationship isnt all rainbows and butterflies, and it could have added another layer to the love story of SiWon and Da Un. There are so many BL series nowadays who prefer to take this route and to be frank, it acts as a double edge sword that can sometimes work but sometimes can undermine serious gender issues and over romanticize the idea of an unconditional love.
The fact that they showed the mother feeling scandalized by being portrayed as a bad mother and yet has no concern about having a kid being in a same sex relationship, may prove to be a little too unrealistic and unrepresentative of the situation on the ground.
To be honest, what we have here is a shortened watery version of My ID is Gangnam Beauty.
Would i reccommend? Yes, definitely.
I loved that almost all scenes (and characters) felt important with minimal fillers, sprinkled with just the right amount of cuteness, sillyness, adult kissing (and lovemaking) and a few obligatory shirtless trap scenes.
It also doesnt hurt that we got two very good looking and capable leads. Im not sure if it was intentional but the awkward acting of Jo Kyuk Joon somehow worked for his mysterious emo character, and Kang Eun Bin is like a younger Kim Min Jae, and i mean it in a good way.
On the other side, the series reminded me of the anxieties i felt while watching all other beauty transformation series that tried to deal with leaving an old life behind and trying to live with a somewhat fake beautiful identity to get acceptance - only this time, we see it from a guy's point of view. Or are we?
Cha Si Won can be played by a male or female actor without needing to change any of the script. The series was trying to say love is love and it has no gender, by emitting (or ignoring) any mention of homosexuality. However that for me was the weakness of the show - because in reality, same sex relationship isnt all rainbows and butterflies, and it could have added another layer to the love story of SiWon and Da Un. There are so many BL series nowadays who prefer to take this route and to be frank, it acts as a double edge sword that can sometimes work but sometimes can undermine serious gender issues and over romanticize the idea of an unconditional love.
The fact that they showed the mother feeling scandalized by being portrayed as a bad mother and yet has no concern about having a kid being in a same sex relationship, may prove to be a little too unrealistic and unrepresentative of the situation on the ground.
To be honest, what we have here is a shortened watery version of My ID is Gangnam Beauty.
Would i reccommend? Yes, definitely.
Was this review helpful to you?
