jeoneungd

When friendship is no name

This episode stopped feeling like a BL drama and began feeling like I was reliving my own high school years. My best friend was the school president…the confident one who protected the nerdy me from bullies and taught me how to smoke, drink, and cut classes. He was so protective that whenever he wasn’t around, my world felt empty. Then, during summer vacation before our senior year, that friendship crossed an invisible line and we became lovers. Watching Eun ho and Do-l hyeon brought back the intensity, confusion, and tenderness of that summer.Perhaps that is why Do hyeon’s refusal to put a name to his feelings affected me so deeply. Eun ho is not merely the boy he loves. He is his best friend, his family, his refuge, and the person around whom his entire world has been built. How do you label someone who has already become everything? The quiet classroom moments…Eun ho sleeping on his shoulder, hands finding each other, and a gentle kiss on the head…that really felt even more intimate than a confession. Yi hyeon is also doing exactly what a third wheel should do, forcing Do hyeon’s hidden jealousy and possessiveness into the open. He is not creating feelings that weren’t there…he is exposing feelings that have been buried for years. Even Eun ho’s resistance feels less like rejection and more like fear. He knows that once they cross that boundary, they may never be able to return to the safety of being friends The scene with the fingers was more provocative than an actual NC scene. The love was always there, the question is how does it show itself beyond the constraints of friendship. The drama that ensues when the line is crossed…

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Somewhere…someone…in time

The trope of time travel is nothing new, but creating a convincing love story across time can be a writer’s nightmare. For me, the bar was set by Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour’s Somewhere in Time…a tragic yet beautiful romance carried by an unforgettable soundtrack and the mystery of an old photograph.I Feel You Linger in the Air enters through a similar doorway: an old house, an old photograph, and an inexplicable feeling connecting the present to the past. What first draws me to a great script is its premise…the “what if” that persuades my pragmatic mind to suspend disbelief. Then come the editing, production, and the director’s ability to draw genuine emotions from the actors. From its opening episode, this series already understands that atmosphere is not merely decoration…it is part of the story.Time-travel romances rarely promise happy endings. Love may transcend time, but two people from different eras are like oil and water…destined to touch, yet unable to remain together. That is what makes writing such a story so difficult. But in the hands of a gifted writer, impossibility becomes beautiful, and pain becomes proof that the love existed at all. Time may carry the person away…but somehow, you still feel them lingering in the air.Thanks to the discussions of @Lynnea and @NLE, I was introduced to this series.

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The idea of love, planted during the summer of you

As the series end nears, here’s my thoughts of episode 11. The “summer” is not merely a season…it is an emotional time capsule, preserving Chiharu and Wataru as the boys they once were. Their separation allowed that memory to grow into something almost sacred, but absence can make us long for the idea of someone rather than the person they have become. Wataru must now decide whether he truly loves Chiharu in the present or is still chasing the boy who disappeared, while Chiharu remains trapped by guilt and afraid that he no longer deserves that love.The fork in the road represents more than choosing whether to stay together…it is the choice between continuing to live inside that remembered summer or finally stepping into the present. The keychain suggests that love, like anything entrusted to us, can be cherished, misplaced, or lost. And Wataru’s fall makes emotional pain physical…perhaps reminding us that sometimes we must allow ourselves to hurt before we can stand again and move forward.This is a story about love, but not necessarily a traditional love story. It asks a more difficult question…when we finally meet the person we have carried in our hearts for years, can we love who they are now, or were we only in love with the memory of who they once were? The finale may lead them apart or bring them together, but either ending can work if they finally choose with honesty rather than longing or guilt.

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Getting back on the fence…it’s a balancing act

After falling off the fence in Episode 2 and remaining somewhere on the ground through Episode 3, I think NOUR may finally be handing me a ladder…although I’m not quite ready to climb all the way back up. I can certainly relate to James itching to get closer to Ken and finally have something resembling romance. But apparently Ken’s idea of a romantic date is a cup of coffee over a cadaver during a forensic examination. Really? It immediately brought me back to my anatomy classes in pre-med school. Surrounded by cadavers and that unmistakable smell of formaldehyde, I can assure you…romance was the last thing on my mind.But perhaps there is something revealing about Ken in that moment. Here is a man who has lived for more than 200 years, has spent much of that existence wanting to die, and seems far more comfortable around death than intimacy. James, meanwhile, is almost the opposite. He is impatient, physical and increasingly determined to break through Ken’s walls. For the first time, I’m beginning to understand what the writers may be trying to do with these two polar opposites.Unfortunately, understanding it and feeling it are still two different things.Meanwhile, Jin and Chita continue quietly becoming the relationship I find more interesting. Their intimacy feels less manufactured and more organic, but there is something underneath all that tenderness that makes me uneasy. Perhaps I’m reading too much into it, but I sense darkness looming…and I have a feeling their relationship may eventually carry much of the emotional weight of this story.Then we arrive at that final scene.James pushes himself onto Ken almost as if he needs to prove the intensity of his desire. Ken initially resists, then notices the blood on James’ lips…and suddenly everything changes. Desire? Hunger? Instinct? Perhaps all three. Conceptually, I understand what the writers are trying to suggest. But once again, the execution left me scratching my head though I feel James knows at this point when he backed off. In broad daylight? At the bend of a road? Beside a temple? Really?This has been my recurring problem with NOUR. The series has interesting ideas, but sometimes seems so determined to create a moment that it forgets to ask whether the circumstances surrounding that moment make sense. Chemistry cannot simply be created by romantic music, beautiful scenery or physical intimacy. The audience needs to understand why these two people are being drawn toward each other.Still, Episode 4 gave me something the previous two episodes struggled to provide…movement. Ken’s emotional walls are beginning to crack, James’ attraction is becoming more consequential, and Jin and Chita are quietly pulling me deeper into their story.So yes, NOUR…you finally brought me a ladder.Unfortunately, after that scene beside the temple, I checked the ladder first to make sure all the steps were there

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Good enough but missing the wow factor

After Episode 9, I’m really struggling with Mr. Kill. I wanted to like this series because the premise had so much potential…an artist whose drawings eerily mirror the work of a serial killer should have made for a dark, intelligent psychological thriller. Instead, the writing keeps asking me to suspend not only disbelief, but sometimes common sense.The acting isn’t helping either. Dew, whom I know can act, isn’t convincing me as this constantly vulnerable and almost helpless character. Tee, as the tired and increasingly frustrated police officer, and Off, as the manipulative newscaster, should bring tension and intensity to the story…but neither performance makes me fully believe the character. Dew fares better, but overall the performances often feel like actors playing their roles rather than people actually living them. Even the supporting characters feel fragmented…much like the storyline itself.Nine episodes in, the mystery should be tightening its grip on me. Instead, I find myself questioning the writing more than questioning who the killer is. A thriller can mislead me, surprise me and even make me believe the unbelievable…but it first has to create a world believable enough for me to get lost in it.GMMTV…please do better. You had a killer premise here. I’m still waiting for the series to actually kill it.

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Downhill

Finally…a few embers that might actually ignite some fireworks after six episodes. At least they still have another six episodes to build the romance, deepen the drama, and strengthen their chemistry…oh, wait…what? There are only ten episodes?Oh, GMMTV…you’re trying to imitate the tighter Japanese format, but your scriptwriting formula and choppy editing remain the same. Beyond a collection of cute, easily marketable moments, when do you plan to develop these characters and give us a romance worth investing in…instead of merely preparing the next fan-meeting ship? Domundi does a much better job developing its characters, especially in romantic BLs. And what exactly is going on with hormonal Sun? He behaves as though he’s experiencing his monthly…you know what.

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True North just went South

When does Dan finally go away? He’s becoming that recurring nightmare that refuses to end, while L’Jane, instead of defending P’Jane, continues dancing merrily down Pollyanna Lane. But as one door is slammed shut on this family, another finally opens. Sometimes it really is in our darkest moments that we begin to see the light. Jet finally finds redemption, stops blaming P’Jane, and begins taking responsibility for his own life.Perhaps that is what Episode 10 is really about. Reaching your dreams doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll find happiness, while those whose dreams seem unreachable sometimes discover happiness where they least expected it. Which brings me back to P’Jane. What exactly is L’Jane’s hold on him? Why remain so obsessed with someone who clearly does not reciprocate his love? At some point, this stops looking like love and starts looking like possession.Rejection is one of our most difficult experiences because it strikes deeply at the ego and our sense of self-worth. Meanwhile, L’Jane seems determined to remain in that safe zone where he believes he can avoid hurting anyone’s feelings, only to discover that his inability to make difficult choices is hurting everyone, including himself.For a moment, Episode 10 made me believe the writers were finally ready to turn this sob story around. Maybe L’Jane would stop carrying everyone else’s burdens long enough to recognize what has been standing in front of him all along. Perhaps he would finally find his true north and discover that happiness was never about the destination, but knowing which direction to follow.But of course, we can’t have that. C’mon scriptwriters! The old “I forgot everything except the moment before I met you” storyline? This is the trope you get when ten stoned writers are sitting around a table, completely out of ideas, until somebody suddenly whispers, “Who are you?” Brilliant! Let’s erase ten episodes of character development and reset the entire storyboard. What a letdown.

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Foolish heart, hear me calling!

Episode 2 wastes no time introducing a third wheel and unlike our leads, he is openly gay and knows exactly what he wants. The hot-dog scene, with its not so subtle phallic imagery, was both ridiculous and hilarious. The question now is what will Eun-ho do? Will he follow his “foolish heart,” as Steve Perry might warn, while his best friend Do-hyeon continues struggling to suppress his own desires?The series is certainly not shy about using provocative NC scenes to pull viewers into the chemistry and sexual tension between its leads. I’m already invested in what appears to be a childhood friendship slowly becoming something more. I only hope the love triangle intensifies that journey instead of diluting or distracting from it. It’s only Episode 2, but this summer is already getting very hot.

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