Ambitious project, maybe too ambitious.
This is exactly the type of a story that requires a longer format. It's not even about complexity, but rather the type of a storytelling - building it on the small hints about the connections and past events, the lasting feeling of familiarity between the characters that the audience cannot grasp at first. Slow buildup is not something you can achieve with less than 115 minutes or runtime.
I can clearly see the production team did their best, but some things cannot be overcome just by trying hard. Here’s the thing, I am not sure I would truly understand the whole plot if I was not checking out comments from people who read the webtoon. Especially Denis’ part of it, which also seemed to be made far more simple and passive? There was simply not enough time to present his side of the story and explain his feelings and motivations.
That’s about Denis, what about the other mains?
Dong Baek is such a stock character, the best of the NPCs. Rarely speaks when others argue about him right next to him, mostly interacting with people if they interact with him first. He acted the way the plot needed him to act, no matter if it made sense or not.
Yu Dam could have had far more depth and I wish we could see more… desperation and sadness? Taking into consideration his story, dude was way too chill about everything. Again, I do believe it was caused by the short runtime.
It does not mean I disliked everything about the show. I enjoyed the chemistry between the leads, I actually enjoyed how annoying Denis was and strangely he was my favorite character. I liked the production quality and the soundtrack. I loved the ending - truly. The conclusion and last few scenes were probably my favorite part.
Overall, a great concept that should have been kept on the shelf till the BL industry got bigger and more profitable, so they could do the story justice with enough support.
I can clearly see the production team did their best, but some things cannot be overcome just by trying hard. Here’s the thing, I am not sure I would truly understand the whole plot if I was not checking out comments from people who read the webtoon. Especially Denis’ part of it, which also seemed to be made far more simple and passive? There was simply not enough time to present his side of the story and explain his feelings and motivations.
That’s about Denis, what about the other mains?
Dong Baek is such a stock character, the best of the NPCs. Rarely speaks when others argue about him right next to him, mostly interacting with people if they interact with him first. He acted the way the plot needed him to act, no matter if it made sense or not.
Yu Dam could have had far more depth and I wish we could see more… desperation and sadness? Taking into consideration his story, dude was way too chill about everything. Again, I do believe it was caused by the short runtime.
It does not mean I disliked everything about the show. I enjoyed the chemistry between the leads, I actually enjoyed how annoying Denis was and strangely he was my favorite character. I liked the production quality and the soundtrack. I loved the ending - truly. The conclusion and last few scenes were probably my favorite part.
Overall, a great concept that should have been kept on the shelf till the BL industry got bigger and more profitable, so they could do the story justice with enough support.
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