Hemomo

I'm sure it's just a coincidence I realized I was trans like a month after this aired

Gets 1 extra star for the Maryland mention. Could not for the life of me empathize with the female lead for not wanting to be a beautiful man forever and was very confused by how upsetting it was for her. Pretty early on I felt like her male version was significantly more interesting and engaging than her as a female, though this likely has a lot to do with what a great performance Junghoo was putting on. The boyfriend refusing to set a single boundary with the 2nd female lead was infuriating. I swear to god, that woman activated my fight or flight every time she was on screen.
Disappointed by the lack of boykissing. 9 stars for acting is mostly just for Junghoo. If you also found it incredibly annoying she stays a woman at the end, consider unpacking that

Read More

Cute premise, uncomfortable execution

Contains slight spoilers. The premise sounded genuinely adorable, and at first it kind of was. The first couple episodes focus a lot on food and how the FL gets super hangry but always calms down after eating. FL and ML meet after he, a food delivery guy, leaves a note for her about where to get good bibimbap. ML is the ultimate golden retriever who seems like he's just genuinely really excited to share Korean food with someone and it's honestly kind of sweet. Sadly, though, it doesn't last. After the first couple episodes they never mention FL's hangry-ness again, so it just feels like a waste of time when the characters we spent time getting to know don't feel like they stuck around. The story becomes less about food and more about FL stressing over things that really don't warrant stressing over. It's kind of frustrating to watch this FL flounder and flip-flop over the most minor things when she has the most perfect man in the world throwing himself at her over and over again. There comes a point where ML makes a comment to her that he didn't want to be led on anymore, and I honestly found myself rooting for him in that moment. Of course he caved the second FL said she was interested in him, so it didn't feel earned at all. None of this even considers the uncomfortably fetishistic portrayal of the ML. Again, the first few episodes kept it under control, where he had insane golden retriever vibes but still seemed human enough- if a bit overly childish. Very quickly ML devolves into a near brainless NPC that thinks nothing but "gwiyeowo" and "yeppeo" over and over and over and OVER AGAIN. I understand wanting to keep the korean simple so that the viewer could get a general sense of what he was thinking, but it was so unnatural. ML feels more like a pet or a satirical caricature than a human man and it just isn't fun to watch. The whole time I was watching I kept thinking that whatever they were paying that guy, it wasn't nearly enough.

Read More