I Don't Understand All the Hate for this Drama : (

Okay, so I've never written a review for a drama on here because I have my own set-up for this kind of thing, but I feel like I have to for this drama because of the ridiculously low rating it has on here.

I don't typically rely on the rating system on here to determine what I watch because I know that viewers' opinions on a drama can vary and there are some aspects of a drama that I happen to like that others don't. So, I didn't look up this drama prior to watching it - but I happened to look it up to try and find out if the actress for Soyong was someone I recognized (she wasn't, but no biggie), and saw that the rating on this was in the 7's. I was a little taken aback because the other dramas that I've watched have never been rated below an 8; it made me wonder if there was something seriously wrong with the acting, chemistry, pacing, or general cinematography. I then scrolled down to the comments to see what all the hubbub was about and saw people pretty much bashing the fact that 1. there was no kiss in the drama, 2. that the lack of skinship in the show made people want to label this as a bromance and 3. that it overall was boring. While I don't particularly care about kissing and bed scenes in dramas (they're a nice addition, but certainly not necessary) I was a little worried about the bromance comments. I've seen bromance dramas in the past (typically those from China because the censorship laws are a little finicky) and know that, for those, you have to read beyond the lines for the fact that the characters have more than just platonic feelings for one another. So, I was then feeling a little wary about whether this was going to be something I wanted to watch as I was looking for an actual romance drama and it seemed like people didn't particularly like it. Despite those comments, I decided to continue watching since I was still only on the 1st episode and hadn't gotten a feel for it yet. As I watched, I found myself getting sucked into the drama (by this, I mean actively reacting to what was happening on screen) and itching to get to the next episode so that I could see how Daeyol and Taehyun's story would pan out. I kept waiting for the "sucky" parts of the drama to come on, but it never got there. What exactly sucked about it?

I thought the plot of the drama was really interesting - it's not just about two high school boys growing feelings for one another, but about two people with complex insecurities trying to navigate past the preconceived notions they have on how they should be traversing their everyday lives. For Taehyun it was forgiving himself regarding the accident with his mother and getting past his abandonment issues; for Dayeol it was letting himself find something he was actually passionate about and not just doing because he was good at it.

The acting was really, really great - I was surprised that this is the first time either of the leads has been in a drama because they really blew it out of the water. There were a lot of emotional scenes in this drama - whether through anger, grief, or acceptance - and it never felt stale or off. I especially liked that they could actually cry because there's nothing that takes me out of a drama more than when they pull a crying face but no actual tears come out.

The chemistry was so freaking clearly there. I didn't know that these boys were part of a K-pop group together, so I'm sure the bond that they built in their careers helped with the naturalness of their on-screen relationship.

There was very clear and evident pining and romance happening on my screen. Sure, there wasn't a kiss on the lips or holding hands, but you could clearly tell that the two characters were romantically interested in one another. There wasn't a need for all of the more explicitly laid out romance to be shown to you - the stares, small smiles across the room, the light brushes of shoulders whenever they'd sit together, and just the general happiness on their faces whenever they were with each other painted a very clear picture to me that these two were clearly in love with one another (if not, at the very least, clearly infatuated). I'm also seeing some people say that it didn't feel like the two were in a relationship/working towards a relationship because they weren't constantly touching one another. I don't know if it's because I'm one of those people who doesn't equate physical affection with how someone feels about a person, but it just didn't seem like that to me. On top of that, the entire last episode was full of them being close - literally laying in each other's lap, resting their head against one another, touching each other's face, Taehyun hugging Dayeol's waist whenever he was drying his hair and Dayeol literally kissed Taehyun on the ear at the end. It made me feel like people checked out before the end because they didn't get a kiss elsewhere in the drama ;-;

I, unlike most on here it seems, didn't even hate the ending of the show. People are saying that it felt rushed - I'm assuming because of the time skips (not gonna lie, the 2 years on top of 2 years kinda threw me off) but to me it felt like their story didn't need all the extra fluff on how they rekindled their feelings for one another following Dayeol leaving in the middle of high school. I think the main focus of this drama was to show their journey through high school as they developed their feelings - not really what things would have been like as they grew into adults. It was clear that both boys still had feelings for one another after they entered university, so there wasn't really a need to get too into depth on how they would have reconciled after their sad departure. Would it have been nice to see a little of the exposition in their university years where they re-enter each other's lives and become friends again to lovers? Yeah, of course, it would have been - but it didn't ruin this drama for me. The last episode was cute, it felt like a small glimpse into what their life is like following them getting into a relationship. It was a nice close to it, honestly.

Overall, I just really really enjoyed it. I don't understand why it's 1. not gotten more attention and 2. surrounded by so much negativity.

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