Almost perfect

Going into this, I thought that this would just be a light fun watch. Oh how I was proven so wrong.

Let me start with the character Bai lang and his growth, which I considered to be the main storyline of the show. Initially, I thought that his fear of dentists was some sort of a recurring joke, but the depth and severity soon started to reveal itself. Seeing his pain and trauma was something so painful to watch, and I absolutely loved the delivery of his backstory, especially the scene with him as a younger child. I got chills every time he started going into a panic attack, the scene with him in the car and Xun an driving was so well executed. Everything perfectly explained his reaction to certain things and the environment around him, including his willingness to not commit to relationships. His fear was so realistic and moving, being so beautifully portrayed. Watching bai lang’s journey of struggle and growth is so heartwarming.

Xun an too is a wonderful character, and even though his depth and growth is more subtle, it is shown well. His backstory with his senior makes me feel sad, but we get to see him grow out of his introverted and workaholic shell to take care of Bai lang, truly showcasing the power of love.

The other side characters are also written well, each one in particular sharing their own struggles and burdens. My favorite was his sisters, which showed how she had to bear the weight of taking care of bai lang from such a young age and hence being overprotective of him.

The pacing is done well, allowing characters to instinctively move at a steady pace, without forcing them to make actions to make the story unfold quicker or be too slow. The best part about this show honestly is how realistic and genuine the characters are, and the setting, music, editing and environments all allow them to exist naturally.

But even so, I have some gripes about it…....particularly towards the side characters and the final act.

While I thought that the problems and hurdles present were enough, the show felt too insecure of itself and felt the need to have more. The second to last episode should have been quiet and calm as it was after the climax, but instead the writers shoved in more drama. Watching Xun an getting beat up from his dad just for Bai lang did not send the meaningful and sweet it did about struggling for love. It honestly pains me to see that shows like these feel the need to normalize such behaviors from parents because it is the stereotypical and traditional Asian parent-children relationships. Xun an shouldn't have needed to endure physical abuse from his dad just to be accepted by his family. I hate both his parents for allowing that cruelty to occur and I hate it even more that they were painted in a 'nice' light, like they still care about Xun an. The abusive father and doormat mother were seriously the worst parts of these series, I never want to see them ever again.

Going to a less worse part, SCREENTIME. I don't understand why the writers even bothered to set up the other three couples if they were not confident to give them enough screen time to develop. Alex and RJ while interesting characters, barely had any screen time (the age gap between them made me uncomfortable so I was never invested in them anyway but still). Don't even get me started on Ren min and Big A. Putting the sister and Qi ran is honestly is so ironic and ridiculous when both of them solidified that idea of confidence and love they received currently was enough for them. The last two episodes genuinely left such a sour taste in my mouth. It was so surprising and disappointing to see such a downfall after a brilliant first two acts.

But honestly, those don’t stop this from being a fantastic show. The characters are wonderful and the main romance is so beautiful, it really makes it all worth it. Definitely would recommend to anyone looking for a good romance show to pick up!

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Its perfect, but is it really?

Honestly, if I was writing this review when I first watched it I would've 100% given it a 10/10. But now as I rewatch it, I honestly have a lot of problems with this show. Don't get me wrong its still one of my favorite kbls but I can't ignore its flaws.

THE POSITIVES:
chemistry:
This is probably what attracted a majority of people to watch the show. The way han ji woo's and seo joon's relationship develops is natural and well done. The scenes with them as a couple are super cute and adorable. They way they interact and flow together is amazing and we can genuinely feel their love for each other.

acting:
This is honestly one of the kbls with the best acting, woohyun and kangmin are amazing actors and they way they portrayed their characters was done really well (I do feel like woohyun's delivery in some of his lines felt weak and tame and just sounded bored, I'm not sure if this is because of the acting or directing tho). I want to also highlight all the other actors jaehyun, jae yeong, jin kwon and han ji won, they all did amazing jobs as side characters and really pulled their weight. ( + special shout out to the last scene- the kiss wasn't stiff or bland, it turned out to be super amazing).

THE NEGATIVES:
dialogue:
A majority (and I MEAN LIKE 80%) of seo joon's dialouge was really crappy. Honestly, it felt like he was just saying the most random shit ever at the most random times (like what in the world was that unprompted depressing backstory about his parents leaving him in italy??) and ji woo just pretends he never hears any of that. maybe its mistranslation but some of his lines don't even make any grammatical sense? (like its just a bunch of words placed together omg). Also there was a some scene where this random white girl came up and just starts speaking english?? and also hyung ki's random english scene- i still dont understand its purpose.

story:
don't even get me started on the story, i have way to many gripes with it. i tried rewatching the show and i literally could not even stand to watch the scenes without the main couple (except for some funny scenes with pilhyun and ho min) because the story is just so nonsensical?? like hear me out. it starts of interesting kang seo joon is a top actor who gets into some drama and hence has to stay over at han ji woo's place. But like this exact drama is never explained?? throughout the whole show they are so vague with it and i kept thinking, there's gonna be one big reveal about what it is but it never comes? Yoon seul literally tells seo joon she'll reveal his "secret" if he doesn't tell the truth but there was never any secret?? Why did seo joon hesitate so much to show the cctv footage if he never even did anything wrong?? Also, the final villian reveal kinda turned out lame. I like how you could see hyung ki naturally spiral and his situation get worse but the fact that seo joon just paid him money to deal with it was kind underwhelming, i guess it was still realistic though, people cant just suddenly become better and money is just to solution to everything lmao. also a very plothole filled show (kang seo joon's trauma, why han ji woo is so closed off, and especially the scene where han ji woo was going back home from confronting the kid for throwing rocks and there's a green shoe and ominous music. i thot that was definitely going to be the main villian but it was just thrown in there and forgotten about??)

Final thoughts:
It feels like there are a lot of flaws with this show (and there are) but it doesn't make it fully unwatchable. seeing the romance between the two main characters definitely feels like a treat but its hard to overlook the problems when u rewatch it. I'm glad this show got a season 2 because it definitely feels incomplete, there are a lot more plot holes to fill up and i hope the second season will work on and improve these flaws.

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was a good fun time... but felt like missed potential

You make me dance is one of the best kbls out there, the only reason it being the best is because there's not many options to choose from here. I liked the characters and their chemistry and I thought it worked really well. The plot felt evenly paced, excluding the dramatic plot line in the last episode. But the only problem I have here is with the dynamic between the two characters. There constantly feels like there's a power imbalance between the two characters. Just think about the emotional burden of a debt collector on your back constantly... loan sharks are terrifying LMAO. What I feel like they could've done was focus more on Jin Hong Seok reconnecting with his piano roots and rediscovering his dream through song shi on. That way they both could've grown and gone through character development together. Instead of making him a loan shark, they could have made him be in some sort of low paying job such as a cashier which still honestly represents Hong seok's broken dreams.
This could have been such a motivational and inspiring love story between a passionate guy who encourages the other to follow his dreams.

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One of the best bls

I don't usually write reviews but for a show this amazing I really have no choice other than to do it. This show is amazing from top to bottom I love the acting, directing, script, delivery, editing and filming. The music hits so well and is accompanied by these beautiful and amazing shots. I love Karl and Vlad, I think that they are great characters the way the fall in love to the conflict is expressed in an amazing way and done so right. Also I have to mention something that took me by surprise and that was the humor. There was no funny background soundtrack that they usually play, no awkward moments to make me cringe and feel second handed embarrassment. The humor is so funny and casual. They way jokes are delivered are so natural and its so entertaining seeing characters interacting with each other. Most of all there are no fan service moments. Their love feels so real and genuine it is insane. But the main part of what captured this show is the dialogue, every single line has so much weight laced on to it. There are so many beautiful quotes you can pick from this show and understand their meaning so easily. I'm sorry if my review is a bit all over the place, I just want to put across the fact that this show is an absolute gem and deserves all the love and attention it receives.

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did not live up to my expectations

when i first heard of lovely writer on twitter, i saw a lot of people talking about how it tackled the bl industry issues and so i was interested. the first episode started off really good and so did the second.. but then from then on i felt it was starting to drag off. The pacing is extremely slow and characters don't have much dialogue, its mostly them just doing things that really don't matter. i really liked how in the first few episodes they tackled issues such as unfair casting and how non consensual scenes are romanticized but later on it just felt like nothing was happening. Gene and Nubsib's relationships seems very stereotypical, with a flirty person doing things to make the "smaller" one more nervous. There's no plot to go off and it ends up being very boring to watch.


For a series that attempts to tackle popular tropes, it fails to notice the tropes its following.

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