Is this technically a gay show? Even after getting through the whole thing, that's still kind of tricky to answer. There's never any physical intimacy shown between the two leads, not even a single kiss. What it gives you instead is something that goes way deeper than that. It traces an emotional bond that spans a full decade between two guys who are both dealing with their own baggage, and what they share basically amounts to being soulmates. The story moves across Japan, South Korea, and Berlin. Honestly, whether people want to call what they have a romantic relationship or not doesn't really matter to me. A relationship doesn't need a label like boyfriends attached to it to actually mean something. And closeness doesn't need to be physical to feel genuine. What this show captures is something quieter but way more powerful, a bond rooted in understanding, respect, and just showing up for each other. Across eight episodes, each running 35 to 45 minutes, this is one...
Seung Jun is a vocal coach and also sings at weddings. But he has a very shy personality and takes medicine to manage his anxiety. He only has one closest friend who lives in the same building as him and possibly also has a one-sided crush at him. During one of these weddings, Seung Jun meets pianist Jae Hyun, who owns a coffee shop and only plays the piano for fun. Jae Hyun is one of this outgoing personalities who invites Seung Jun to come out for meal with the group. Jae Hyun wants to be close to him and be friends, but Seung's anxiety doesn't allow him to do that. He confides in his best friend that this new guys makes his heart beat but he can't forget what happened with him. We are then told that 5 years ago, Seung Jun was a wannabe idol and was doing good and approached by a young CEO who made him fall in love with him. But he was also a player, fooling around with other band members. Later he undermined Seung Jun's confidence and sabotaged his career. The young singer was left with little self-esteem, and since then he has been in this situation. Eventually with the help of Jae Hyun , he is slowly able to overcome that and the two start to fall in love. But the evil returns, throwing Seung Jun's life once again in turmoil and he asks him and Jae Hyun both to just leave him alone since he cant deal with all that. Story shifts one year later, where we see that Seung Jun has worked on himself and is starting to record songs and music. After his first single is out, inspired by his life story and love for Jae Hyun, he meets him again and the two start where they left off.
Look, I like the fact that we had a flawed lead. He has trauma from a. Taxi relationship that has badly impacted his self-confidence. The show doesn't spoon feed us, but its I not hard to relate to a young boy, who has never had a family, he gets love from someone, he puts down his rail guards only to be cheated on by and his skills being completely undermined. Anyone's confidence can get shaken up. So I was able to relate to the situation, his new love and how and why does Seung Jun hesitate for anyone to come close to him. Unfortunately, on not a positive note, a lot of narrative is a bit dry. The emotional depth is lacking in many scenes even though you do see sparks here and there. For example there is this scene when Seung Jun is so frustrated that his toxic ex is back in his life and Jae Hyun tries to stand by him, he totally rebukes him saying that he is just the same and he is making his life miserable. Jae Hyun quietly just walks away after that scene. Somehow I thought that scene was very powerful and shows what kind of individuals these two were. In fact, that one scene gives us an idea of Je Hyun's true feelings and respect for Seung. Unfortunately all we get after that is a one year jump. The series doesn't take time and focus on trying to build a romance. It would not be easy for anyone from a traumatic previous relationship to start trusting anyone new and this could have been a brilliant theme on its own. If the makes had focused on that, I can see this show becoming memorable. Instead, they rely on regular process where they bring in the ex , trying to won back the person and lets audience see the impact. As actors and character Seung Jun is written very well, but we hardly get to know about Jae Hyun. We are literally told nothing about him and why is he all over Seung. His motivations and intentions are never clear, even though you know he is the nice guy. Also can we please stop making the good best friend character also being secretly in love. Why can't folks let friends be friends? We would have loved to see how Seung Jun eventually overcomes his anxiety and comes to become this popular singer. Now that would hav been interesting to see rather than a basket one year jump. Having said all this and despite its many flaws, I somehow still enjoyed watching this tiny little series. It doesn't stretch unnecessarily but sadly it also fails to execute at multiple levels. Still, far better than other crazy stuff being belted out there. (6/10)
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