Star Struck (2023)

More like a glimmer rather than being starstruck

I've said it before and I'll say it again: This should have been a movie. Or, at least, been released all at once. The cut-off of many episodes felt unsatisfying and, overall, just got in the way of the flow of the story.

Also, it seemed like scenes were missing, and I'm sure a longer runtime would have added more depth to it . . . However--strangely--I'm not mad about it.

Maybe it's the indie vibes and solid acting that won me over and made me see past its flaws.

Just about Zuho: I do have to bring up how great it was to have him, being the fairly famous K-Pop Idol he is, actually speak out against the hate he was getting for acting in a BL, and not just that, but openly voice his support, love, and respect for the LGBT+ community in his response.

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Pining at its finest

Korean BL’s have either been a hit or a miss these days. This drama isn’t dry at all, in all honesty it is pretty good. I’m not going to rave about Zuho being in it, or how that isn’t a a bad thing etc. I’ve done that in the comments and everyone has their own opinion on that. My opinion is to give this show a chance and enjoy it. I like Zuho and Sf9 a lot, how could I at least not find this entertaining.

Luckily for me this drama is more than entertaining. It has great moments of chemistry that by the first few minutes where the two leads are in high school and the story is set up, you can pinpoint right away that one clearly and so desperately pines for the other. That is all credit to the actors, both of them, but for Han Joon’s character specifically. He bit hit tongue twice.. looks like that can only be directed so far. He took that intuition and fully went with it, so that is a reason for me to buy into this chemistry if the setup didn’t already do that.

Childhood friends to lovers can be cheap. But Han Joon’s and Yoo Jae’s bond is different with them both being guys. There isn’t that attraction that people will assume is thee because they are the opposite sex, so that’s why I find it interesting. You have Han Joon liking Yoo Jae but knowing it most likely won’t be reciprocated. The moments of his conflicts with expressing his feelings and being upset about that are brief, but the actor knows the characters feelings that you don’t need to much explanation on that. I’m sure there would be if the drama was longer… which is where things seem to be so easily solved if this drama were.

It’s a stunning show with how it’s not super high budget, the music is calm and the ending ost is really upbeat and I like it. Some editing is off, but I’m just glad a show I’ve been waiting for is finally here. I’m glad that the actors are into their roles and aren’t shying away. Zuho I give so much respect for this. He clearly knows his character well also and is versatile with the many emotions his character has to pull off here. Jealousy, attachments, stress, anger.. love love love to see it

My only gripe is this show needs to be longer. It’s only because the endless potential I see with the all so interesting story. On the surface it’s childhood friends with one liking the other. But there’s a whole lot more. Both of the friends have similarities with being poor, they have unfortunate circumstances and adversities that they have calmed and healed with by being so close. I wish to see those internal struggles outside more, specifically with both of their home lives.. but this drama isn’t long enough to have all that without it being choppy. So the attempt that is going to be made will push through for me, but it could be better if fully fleshed out. There is so much to fit with so little time, but it is really interesting to watch nonetheless.

The acting is really good for the leads. The chemistry is there and has my heart pumping from looks alone. The cinematography shines at moments and other times it is just the drama moving along. So this drama is harmless.. and it could become a complete bucket of cold water over the heads of people who doubt it if it comes through with the chemistry that the actors have- but will the production let them?

Unfortunately not. The last handful of episodes unfortunately are rushed and packed with so many things that there isn’t enough time for. The jump from dating and being together is a bit off.. only because there is only so much affection that was allowed to pass through. In a broader version I can only dream about this would’ve been a 10/10. For what it stands for though it was pretty good. Not perfect at all honestly. It had a lot of gaps I had to fill in with the editing and cuts just because it simply isn’t long enough. Lots of potential, too much potential that it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

I enjoyed the chemistry but wished it would’ve been pushed further. It would’ve shown them and their difference from being just friends to being a couple better. It would make more sense for it- but again it was just a lot of potential. Potential is a good thing, for the whole show though it was underwhelming but not horrible. I’d binge in a day if I watched it again.

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62 days in - no signs of true romantic affection.

If you saw the show, you know what I mean. If you did not see, you can vaguely get what I mean. Can’t believe I’m saying it, but it would be so much better if it was not a BL.

Let’s start with some positives. I truly loved how everything here was rather selfish, even when they tried to do things for the other person. Good intentions are not always enough, and expecting gratitude just for the effort, when the result is not preferable is again - egocentric. And I loved it.

While the story might have been lackluster, the characters were actually well written and really consistent. No weird change of behaviors because the scene needed it, no quick character development that removed all the flaws and made the leads saints. Both the leads were frustrating (one more than the other), but they also made sense in their behavior - I might have been mad, but I understood where their behavior came from.

Sadly, the plot did not present the same level of cohesiveness. The first two episodes were great in terms of pacing - proper set up and characters’ introduction. Nothing felt rushed, and that’s what killed the show. Taking the sweet time in the first half forced the director to cram all the important plotlines in the last two episodes - just the highlights of a story, nothing gets truly resolved nor developed.

I don’t want to talk about chemistry. It was great when they were friends, but it stayed “friendly” till the end of the show. 2gether hi5 had more romance behind it, than whatever they tried to do there. I loved the low-key angst and the confusion that came from not realized jealousy, but all that buildup led to nothing.

The acting was decent, but got worse the closer to each other the characters got. The editing was fine, but got worse the closer to the end we’ve got. The directing was nice, but got worse each episode. You get what I mean - all went downhill real fast.

Overall, as much as I enjoyed the first 4 episodes, I truly disliked the next 4. Last two? I was just laughing. Conflicts came out of nowhere, none of the characters actually talked about the events and issues, as if they did not exist. We skipped through so much, it was all meaningless by the end.

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Loved the first 6 episodes, but sadly the last 2 kind of ruined it for me..

This series started off so well, but sadly the last couple episodes just ruined it for me.
One thing that bothered me is that while I can definitely see Yoojae's jealousy, I don't think they did enough to show that he had real romantic feelings for Hanjoon. I do feel like he did, but maybe just didnt understand fully his feelings for his friend. They didnt show that in the series well though. Which made the ending jump to dating weird to me. It mostly felt like he was dating Hanjoon in order to not loose him. I dont believe that, but its kind of how it came across.
I wish they had showed the moments after the kiss scene and showed Yoojae have this moment of realization afterwards.. That small moment, along with the jealousy he'd already been feeling, would have added so much.
Speaking of the kiss.. I'm not one to really care about kiss scenes, if a series is good I like it regardless if there is one or not. However, I really dislike angled kiss scenes. I would rather see a flat kiss than an angled one, thats just my opinion. These two do have great chemisty and the storyline was good so it doesn't bother me to much, but it still annoyed me.
I could have easily overlooked that though because again, to me, kiss scenes to do not make or break a series. What annoyed me the most was the last two episodes. I'm sorry, it was rushed and terrible in my opinion. The fact that it went from Hanjoon avoiding Yoojae, to not very long later them talking and deciding to date, then the cute basketball/jealousy scene, like a half a minute montage, and now they've been dating 100 days... seriously 🙄
We barely even got to see them act together as boyfriends.. The last 5 minutes of 9 and most of 10 were mostly for drama that had barely been set up in the first place.
Overall I liked this series, but the ending fell flat for me. Sadly it fell victim to what other kbl's have.. Not enough runtime. I feel like if this series had been given 40 minute episodes it could've been so much better!

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Complete waste of time

This actually started out fairly well, despite the usual BL setting - it had a bit more grit, like people actually took public transportation instead of driving an obscene luxury car. It did a decent job of portraying unrequited longing.

But then a confession happened and the whole thing fell to pieces. There is nothing lazier and less satifying to watch than a story based on implausible misunderstanding. This silliness took me out of the slice-of-like atmosphere that had been set up and plopped me into a terribly written and edited slice of Swiss cheese. Once the manufactured drama is resolved, we skip around for 100 days into a relationship totally devoid of any hint of romantic chemistry or romance at all, other than a 100-day anniversary dinner which was going to go wrong in a totally predictable way.

The acting is uneven. Kim In Sung has some charm as Han Joon, but Zuho... well, he tried.

This would have worked much better if it weren't a BL - Han Joon could still be in love with Yoo Jae, but it would have been interesting if it really were unrequited love - but given Yoo Jae's family issues, he might have really needed Han Joon and found a way to make their friendship work - because they did have decent friend chemistry.

The first 4 eps were good, the next two got me a bit worried, and the final two were a real chore to get through. I really can't recomment this - it's forgetable and I doubt I'll even remember it in a few months, except for the lingering feeling of frustration.

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could have been amazing

Overall: this had a slice of life vibe with two realistically flawed life long friends. Unfortunately, it fell into the trap of many KBLs before it, too broad of a plot and not enough runtime. 8 episodes about 20 minutes each, aired on iQIYI and GagaOOLala (depending on your country).

Content Warnings: hit/slap

What I Liked
- acting/chemistry
- sweet moments
- few funny moments like arguing over who pays
- realistic home lives and stress
- showed students studying for entrance exams
- avoided a cliche plot point towards the end but it was weird they didn't show the confrontation at all

Room For Improvement
- this is one of the few romances where I did not want the leads to end up together, did he kiss him only because he wanted to keep him in his life? Did he actually romantically love him at all? I wish they had had a conversation about this. Instead they are suddenly dating for 62 then 100 days. And that ending reminded me of 2gether...
- like many KBL, this suffered from a lack of runtime, scenes jumped from one to another and the flashbacks didn't help, some scenes were too short and were not well connected
- that awful camera blocked kiss
- needed to differentiate flashbacks more, they really should have gotten rid of them and just told the story in a linear fashion
- the cliche wannabe girlfriend but also that he gave her very mixed signals though he even says he rejected her (he didn't really...), later on he says that's how he is (so kind of a jerk), which is fine but now I'm nervous he'll be a jerk to his boyfriend in the future because they didn't show any character growth
- wanted the star struck to be explained sooner than episode 4

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Who edited this? I wanna talk.

Oh, boy. Where do I even start?

First, let's talk about the acting. The actors, especially Kim In Sung, were pretty good at acting out their emotions. However, the chemistry between the two main leads (especially on Zuho's side -- sorry Zuho), was not the best, which unfortunately is not surprising in a K-BL, especially one with an idol. However, I don't know if that was truly the acting or if it was the editing, writing, and/or directing that left me feeling this way, since we didn't actually get to see much of their relationship develop due to the weird scene jumps.

As for the plot, it had so much potential. Had the story been told in a linear fashion (without flashbacks) or had a better way of telling us what date it was (so we could better keep track of when something happened), it might have been better. But because it was edited in a way that made it seem like essential scenes had been cut, it just left me with whiplash whenever we cut to another scene without any resolution for the past one. (One big example, and a spoiler, is when Yoo Jae tells Han Joon they should date. Han Joon doesn't even reply before we cut to them dating for 62 days. Like, what?? How?? When?? Please give me more information about how they got to this point!) I would have loved to see the conversations that resulted in the events we saw. Seeing them talk, while it might not have been incredibly important to moving the plot forward, would have allowed us to feel the characters get closer and their relationship deepen. But instead, we got plot points directly cut to plot points, with no time to breathe or understand how we got there. They set up so much, especially with the family problems, only for them to be completely ignored at the end. What happened to Han Joon's mom? It felt as though they used her mostly as a plot point to cause some last-minute drama and then boom! Nothing after that.

Ultimately, I think this suffered from what most K-BLs suffer from, and that's too little episodes. Yes, the actors could have had chemistry readings or workshops (I say this a lot for K-BLs, don't I?), but in the end I just think the biggest issue was the runtime. Had this series had a longer runtime, they could have let the characters and situations be fleshed out more and given us scenes that better explained why certain characters acted the way they did. Instead, we got strange cuts that led us to situations where we were left wondering how the characters got there.

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Acting was great, but it was all downhill from there.

First off, I want to say that Zuho was AMAZING for speaking in support of the LGBTQ+ community when he recieved criticism for taking this role. What an icon.

Secondly - the acting in this was really good! I was surprised that Kim In Sung (Han Joon) was a rookie. He emotes so well, especially with his expressions. In such a short time frame he really made me fall in love with that character, and his voice is very comforting.

Unfortunately, that's about where the good points stop. Zuho, though he did GREAT at selling this character, played a total asshole that was damn near impossible to like or empathize with. Yoo Jae was red flag city - jealous, spiteful, intentionally hurtful. The scenes with the chocolates mortally wounded me!!! I honestly hoped up until the last two episodes that Han Joon would realize he deserved better, which imo would have been a better ending.

Aside from one of the main characters being a total douche, there just wasn't enough time for this story to be fully baked. Even cutting it as a movie instead of into episodes would have helped with the flow. It just felt like there was more to be told that we didn't get to see, like chunks were missing. And I feel like if we had seen those, it would have made for a much better drama in the end.

That being said, I hope to see Zuho and Kim In Sung in more dramas, that are hopefully a bit more fleshed out.

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Just okay cliche' KBL

I mean, if they are going to to do a BL drama, real kiss must be expected ! because for me as a BL fan, that is the highlight and the sense of the love stories of each BL , I mean not as a whole but , it has a huge factor , coz you what I am saying ?
This BL has many Cliche' parts that is why my rating is low, and I think they should have not added things that make this drama heavy, like Yoo Jae having a parents about to separate and Han Joon being his mother sick and needs a surgery, those were really depressing for someone who is a college student ! and what I think is They did not even justified adding it in the end, like even knowing every problems they have, they just focused on each other, and those problems did not made sense at all in the story for a short period of time!
What I like is the couple themselves, they have somehow a chemistry and did good job in acting and I love the OST it is romantic ..
all in all just good, I still felt the story and the acting, I just wished they did not out unnecessary events that made it heavy and should have just focused on the bestfriends love story.
I don't think I would re watch it tho.

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Waste of time

No Romance,no storyline, no plot,no character development..the drama has nothing except Actor's visual..director knows little girls would eat whatever they serve bcz they are starving..specially choppy Edits is so irritating..what's the point of making this i still wondering..Atleast they could have show some chemistry & emotions for each others..I Don't know i am not bl watcher bcz bls tend to be really cheap quality.. I got my hope high after the eighth sense it’s my bad..after getting teasers synopsis i thought this drama would be emotion impulse based but this has nothing in it

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Surprisingly Good!

I didn’t have high expectation for this when I saw the trailer and the fact that there are amazing bls lately that set the bar high enough (The Eight Sense, Our Dating Sim then the OGs Semantice Error, Light on me and Where your eyes linger) these are my basis for this review.

But also at the same time, I’ve already seen the other BLs too (everything you can think of, I’m not gonna name them anymore to be fair) and they didn’t make it on my top list.

Surprisingly, I couldn’t consider this as one of those mediocre bl attempts. But it’s also not making my top list too (so far since it’s still ongoing). Like it’s in between. It’s almost there but we all know almost is never enough lol. There’s SO MUCH POTENTIAL. The actors and the story. But since we’re only 2 eps away. I don’t think it’d make it on my top list. Unless they put out a Season 2.

Really, they should’ve at least extended the length for every episode if they can’t add more than 8 eps. The story is really interesting, the background of each role, the characteristic of each roles, their story together, the jealousy, the hold backs, the potential 2nd leads, etc. It’s just sad that it’s on fast pace. They’ve thought amazing conflicts and little yet effect plot twists, but they had to squeeze in everyhting, all these great ideas into 8 eps.

Their chemistry was already there. They’re both giving Alpha auras, which makes it more interesting. We just need more depth and attachment to their characters, which may need longer eps or additional eps.

The music, i think that’s something they could’ve highlighted too. They should take advantage of choosing/producing the right songs to use, I was too focused on the visual I couldn’t remember any tone for any OST. Except Zuho’s rap. But yeah, OST will definitely add more to the series.

It’s still a good one to watch. I’d still recommend it. I feel like they can do a lot better if they make a 2nd season.

EDIT: I’ve completed it. It feels like they gotta have a 2nd season. And if they do, they gotta make it up for the chemistry we didn’t fully get on this season. The potential is really there. The back story they have is something they can continue to the next season. And more of their relationship and affection. If they will have a Season 2, then I’ll be excited about it!

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