My Sweet Dear (2021)

A Dish Served Best In Longer Runtimes

Many who watched this probably had similar thoughts to mine. These are like 15 min eps and they are TOO SHORT! But the production quality is still SO GOOD! Dammit Korea lol. They really need to stop with these and continue with the full length series. It clearly worked with "Light on Me" and it'll continue to work moving forward.

This series was still alright though. My first thoughts were: Okay why was him pulling him around and towards him via the belt on his apron hot AF (lol). This is cute I like the dynamic, though I have no clue how these 2 are gonna end up lovers lol. The ways that they finessed these 2 together were alright considering the lack of time to do so. They had me hooked enough to finish the series! But it made me want more and disappointed by the rush in conflict by the end. There's been better Korean BL series, even with shorter run times. However this one is somewhere in the middle.

Also Jung Woo wearing that purple floral granny hat was everything, while Do Gun be chasing him with a literal kraken. That I will keep in my heart forever

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What a disappointment.

The good: Jang Eui Soo's eyes. Jang Eui Soo shirtless. That's about it.

The bad: The writing is terrible. The "plot" makes no sense, the villain has no motivation and suffers no consquences at all - in fact she's thanked by her victim for her perfidy. I can't even really sum up what the story is because there wasn't any.

There were a few cute moments, but I didn't really feel the commitment of the actors, or any real chemistry. Everything was flat and it was an actual chore to get through the last episode. Example: why was the music box playing "O Tannenbaum", a German Christmas carol? I realize there are probably not a lot of music boxes shaped like ferris wheels (incidentally, how did they operate the real one in that spooky-ass abandoned amusement park?), but just dub in something that makes more sense, like the Bach prelude they played a couple of times.

Korea came in strong with Where Your Eyes Linger, and each successive BL has been a step weaker. After this I'm afraid to watch the next...

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Cute, simple and fun

Korea has be dropping a plethora of shows this year compared to other years. My sweet dear of course being victim to short episode runtimes but able to get the message and cuteness to the audience.

Leading actor we've seen before in other projects such as where your eyes linger and a brief moment in mr heart. He played the charisma and layed back character very well and his co star which has also been in bigger shows as really sold the uptight but lovely chef that people would swoon over.

I think this drama served its purpose and didnt do too much. People have aired how much they disliked a certain character cause of the way he acted and came off. But thats just how most guys like him act eventually they get better and plus they do too much in over criticising a show thats just meant to be fun and cute nothing extra.

If you want to pass the time and watch something cute i'd suggest this.

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Just average

The story is so random. They didn't explain anything about the characters' back story. So we don't understand why things were happening in that way. There are many plot holes in this drama. This show is just a BL without a concrete story. Having said that, it is even difficult to say it is a BL drama. I didn't feel any chemistry between the two actors. They just look like friends rather than a couple.

As in other Korea BL, the production us good, the actors are hot, the acting is okay and the music is fine. This is just an ordinary show with two hot male leads. That's all.

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Not bad but comes off as an extended music video

This drama honestly felt like an extended music video or a short fan service project. I mean there were at least 3 slow-motion scenes in almost every episode!
The characters and the plot felt extremely flat with little to no development. I guess this could be attributed to the limited screen time. Though, I sincerely hope Korean production companies would start ordering BLs with at least 45 minutes per episode because this format just won't it anymore considering the expanding fanbase, rise in demand for quality content, and level of competition from other countries.
Other than that, the drama had a decent soundtrack with one of the leads, played by Jang Eui Soo, even lending his voice for one of the tracks. The acting was pretty decent as well, nothing great or bad, pretty stoic expressions from the other male lead most of the time, but that could just be his character.
Overall, I would say it was an 'okay' drama; nothing too bad or great.

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I feel sorry for the actors....

The actors do their best and they are the rediming part of the drama especially Jang Eui So, they are cute and obviusly trying their best for the story, but how Korean can manage to make such short episodes repetetive and boring with flashback is beyond me. The story is passable and mostly coherent, if you completely ignore the fact that the background of a michelin star restaurant and its personel is utterly unbelievable from start to end which at least for me is a turn off, especially when the story is centered on said restaurant and dynamics. All in all this is a sloppy producition that counts more on alluring us BL fans with handsome guys and a bit of cheesy romance than trying to create a honest drama that has something to tell.
But it's mostly my fault for giving a chance to every new short Korean BL hoping they are better than the prevuous ones and getting disappointed everytime.

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not what was advertised

I feel like there were many more cons than there were pros when it came to watching this show.

The pro? the acting was passable...mostly.

the con(s)? almost everything else? the writing and plot were weak and made absolutely zero sense at times. the 'conflict' of the story came out of nowhere and it made absolutely no sense and resolved almost instantly with no communication or whatever between the leads. I also found the chemistry to be lacking between the leads and how they 'fell in love' was so unrealistic and a case of what you would call instant-love which in some stories is fine if it's written well....which it was not in this case.

it was a mess of a show that desperately needed reworking of the script and the chemistry with the leads because none of it meshed well or worked.

overall, I would not recommend this if you're looking for a good BL to watch there are muuuuuch better ones out there.

4/10

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OK !! JUST OK

I watched this show cause I was a really big fan of Jang Eui Soo and his performance in where your eyes linger... I prefer him with the shorter hair btw... but this show just left me feeling nothing to be honest... it was OK.. just OK ... and come on we are in 2021... if you guys are doing BL's still with just hugs and hand holding.... we need to find actors who really want to do BL roles and be intimate.... the US/British LGBT industry I've never seen the amount of hugs and pat heads in romances EVER that I have seen since watching Asian BL... maybe it's a custom thing or just the actors not willing to go into the deep end but once again the show was OK.. JUST OK

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They had such a good premise for what?

THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS AND A BIG RANT SO HEADS UP!


I literally cannot believe this drama ended the way it did. It has a nice premise- was it the most innovative thing ever? No, definitely not. But it was good enough for a few episodes of a well written show.


MAIN CHARACTERS:
I personally enjoyed the chemistry between the two, even though I know a lot of reviewers don't agree.
It wasn't electrifying or overly dramatic but that atmosphere between the two seemed mellow and soft and that's good enough
for me. Eye contact was there.

Now onto the characters themselves: very 1D
There is not really any depth. I get the episodes are short but if you cannot give your main characters good motivations to do what they do then what's the point of the drama in general? Especially Jungwoo. So much talk about his past yet nothing concrete ever. It's so vague it's hard to feel anything for him or his story.
We don't even really know why he cooks in the end. 'Starving' is a big word, but he does nothing that gives us a sense of him actually coming from a poor background.
And he is a terrible person, straight up cruel.

(I don't understand how we're supposed to feel happy for them when they finally go out when a scene before we saw him signing a contract that would get his boyfriend fired. And he knew that and did it anyway.
Like I don't... Why? I didn't feel anything but hatred and sadness for Gun because that was always looming in the back of my head.)

In general: They're cute but bland.


THE SET AND PREMISE:
Now onto the set, a kitchen and a few other sets as expected. I think they should have gone more out on connecting the 'trips' to the dishes they were cooking and less to something Dogun just said- would have worked wonders for the plot and would have connected the characters better while also making them seem less 1D.
Why this ingredient? Why here? What's so special about it? What does that have to say about the character?

They talk about the dishes and the tasting quite often but we don't get the sense that they're really important to the characters. Well except 'I need to make this dish'. Which in itself doesn't mean anything.
Dogun does stuff to find ingredients but we never see any dish really 'getting together' so we automatically don't really care or feel any importance towards the receipt.


TECHNICAL STUFF:
The camera angles are nice, the colours are fine too. I'm personally not a big fan of overly soft lenses or filters so I found the general lighting okay but nothing special. It works for the show.


OTHER CHARACTERS:
The waiter is my spirit animal, that's all I will say and I'll protect him at all costs COME AT ME.
Jaehoon is fine too. I appreciate them having a few minor characters that are at least a little developed.
Laura... Now Laura is a character that could have been interesting if she wouldn't have been made up as the obvious mean villain. I don't see her as a calculated women or business thinking boss of a restaurant. She's just... Stereotypical and meant to be hated, which I definitely do. So they succeed I guess. I think they tried to give her a short redemption at the end but I couldn't care less. She did nothing to deserve it.


THE ENDING: (SPOILERS)
Muddled. I think that's a good word of describing it.
It doesn't make any sense to me either.
Jungwoo starts working as the head chef in the restaurant where he got Dogun willingly fired, knowing that only one of them could work there. And immediately after knowing what he did went on a date with him where they made their relationship official.

That's honestly so narcissistic I don't think I need to elaborate.

They fight but only for two minutes, before any emotional tension can even be reached it's already over.
Then they make up. They just do- no... No real explanation. They missed each other I guess. Maybe it's Stockholm syndrome in Doguns case?

They do the tasting- knowing how it would end, Dogun participated- despite also knowing that. And he leaves and it's suddenly fine now. It just... Happens. Everything just happens. It's all very passive on the characters part.
And Laura gets what she wants with no consequences. She gets rewarded even, because Jungwoo stays. Why? I don't know either.

It's... Terrible. I don't know how else to describe it. It's without a doubt the worst ending the writers could have possibly come up with.
There are so many amazing alternatives but no.


In general the series started sweet, went through okay and crashed itself within the last two episodes.


Thank you for reading kind stranger, I hope you enjoyed my review :)

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Let’s get Choppy with K-Drama Clichés

I was genuinely excited to binge watch this short bl k-drama. This initial interest, however, quickly shifted to a lack thereof. I felt that some scenes were not handled properly and were presented rough/choppy (how did they escape the locked freezer?; how did they ride a ferris wheel with no workers anywhere to be seen?) Sadly, my confusion was the only constant during this late-midnight binge watch session. I’ll admit that were definitely some cutesy moments between the two leads, but the chemistry just wasn’t as convincing as other bl dramas. Perhaps it was due in part to the various plot holes that seemed to further my confusion and frustration with certain characters and scenes. Although the parallel that the two share at the end of the final episode was totally adorable, I did wish we got to see a tad bit more intimacy between the two (a kiss or prolonged eye contact would have suffice). Overall, I was fairly tired when I watched this and felt a whirlwind of emotions wash over me as I tried to gauge my levels of disdain for this drama with noticeable plot holes. Do proceed with caution and fair amount of patience if or when you decide to watch this bl drama.

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