notyourmalyshka

My Stand-In was a very good drama. A lot of people told me that the male lead was a red flag, that he was a bad person, and that he did terrible things. They used big statements like how he destroyed someone's career and made it sound extremely serious.

As someone who reads reviews before watching a drama, I expected something much worse. The way people described it made it seem like there were heinous actions and extreme wrongdoing. But honestly, that was not my experience at all.

I think you can only truly judge a drama after watching it yourself. You cannot reduce an entire story or character to a keyword like "red flag" and expect that to tell the whole story. Everyone has their own perception. Because of those reviews, I judged this drama heavily and decided I was not going to watch it. Now that I have watched it, I can confidently say that it was actually very good.

One thing I especially appreciated was the groveling. In many dramas, there is little to no groveling at all. Characters make mistakes, say a quick sorry, and move on. They simply kiss and make up, which is a common trope in BL dramas. It is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is rare to see genuine remorse handled well.

Here, the male lead truly suffered for his mistakes. He was sorry, he cried, and he desperately tried to make things right. Yes, he did Joe dirty, but the story never ignored that. The emotional payoff was satisfying because of how much regret and effort went into earning forgiveness.

The pacing was good, the story kept me engaged, and considering it was made by the producers behind Top Form and their company, it turned out to be a solid drama overall.

I would definitely recommend watching it for yourself instead of relying solely on online reviews. Many people dismiss it because of things they have heard about the main character, but I do not think that gives a fair picture of the drama. It has strong emotional moments, good angst, and one of the better portrayals of groveling that I have seen.