It is the practice of some BL watchers, primarily I suspect from English speaking western countries, to criticise BLs for what they’re not, rather than watch them for what they are, preferring BLs to be “made to order”; the reaction to “A Shoulder To Cry On” has a lot of this, in my opinion.

The clue is in the title (in Korean, literally “Comfort the Boy”). “A Shoulder To Cry On” is a part-BL because it tells part of the story of Da Yeol (played by Kim Jae Hwan) and Tae Hyun’s (played by Shin Ye Chan) relationship; the ending leads us to feel there is more to come as they develop as a couple. But for now, the story in front of us, is a gradual coming together of two high schoolers who have never been in love, have never had sex, and who are not sure of their future paths. The upside is that by becoming each other’s companion, they gradually work out what’s important for them on their path to adulthood. They end up being each other’s “shoulder to cry on”, a major stepping stone between friendship and lover.

Da Yeol’s world is centred on his sport of archery; success for him is the touchstone of his daily life. Tae Hyun, on the other hand, specialises in bad boy behaviour to give expression to his sense of low self-worth. In a key scene early in Ep. 1, Tae Hyun sneaks into the school infirmary with Won Kyung (mischievously played by Oh Joo Seok) who offers to demonstrate gay flirting or foreplay; but while there, in a scene notable for its delicate romanticism of soft music and slow-mo billowing curtain screen, he glimpses Da Yeol for the first time. The spark between the boys is immediate if uncertain.

In a recurrent theme that plays out in various ways in BLs, both boys come from single parent homes, raising questions of how children are affected by not growing up in a two parent home. Da Yeol treats his widower father with a kindly affection for his enthusiastic if simple prescriptions for happiness, while Tae Hyun, keenly aware of his adoption status, roils internally at his alienation from parent and place. What each boy lacks in their makeup, they find inadvertently along the bumpy road of their interactions, at first bristling with conflict & misunderstanding, but then followed by a curiosity in each other and a growing familiarity to an eventual fondness for the bond of friendship even though these may not yet be ties that will be life long.

Production values are of the usual high standard from Korean series; the leads, in their acting debuts here, give good performances over the arc of their emotional journeys - another tribute if one were needed (it’s not) to the quality of the Kpop training system which teaches aspirant teenage idols skills in modelling, dancing, speaking, public appearances, personal health and attire, as well as acting and singing.

The supporting players are uniformly good, but mention should be made of the actor playing Da Yeol’s father (uncredited in English on Viki, MyDramalist, IMDB, Wikipedia) whose unflinching affection for his son reminds of those parents whose love for their children is unending and overflowing: and Jo Ooh Seok, as the jealous Won Kyung (a rarity in BLs of a villainous gay character), who follows Tae Hyun around like a predator savouring its prey.

The music is good although the OST on Spotify includes only OMEGA X’s tracks.