Interoception is the sensory system that helps us assess internal feelings. And increasingly, it's being recognized as the 8th sense along with sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, balance and movement in space (vestibular sense) and body position and sensations in the muscles and joints (proprioceptive sense) .

Word to the wise: do not watch the super hyped show just after they'd finished airing! All those rave reviews will have you expect an extraordinary watch and you risk to be disappointed because while looking for the brilliance, all you'll notice will be the flaws!

And this drama has a loadfull of flaws. Unfortunately!

I started watching it yesterday but before that, I checked the reviews without reading them : I only looked at the rates and it was scary! Out of 71 reviews that had been published until yesterday, only two had rates below 9.5 (8 & 8.5 to be exact!). So of course I expected to have my mind blown away. Well did but not the way I expected !

The plot is standard trope filled university bl romance: two guys meet, click, get together, split up because of a misunderstanding, there is the obligatory mean ex, suffer for an episode then get together and we have an episode full of fluff! THE END I have to give it to them though, they went a bit deeper with mental health issues and the consequences thereof but still...

While I was watching the first few episodes, there was a nagging feeling in the back of my head of déjà vu but I only realized why towards the ending: everything about the aesthetics here screams of Bleuming: same dulled colours (everything is in shades of blue and grey), silhouettes, shadows and a lot of night shots! The only colour you see is in the opening credits which I found rather original (though again, the first design image which is supposed to be a wave looks more like a snake!EDIT It is actually a sign for infinity...). Coupled with some iffy editing, and I had to check if I was not watching the wrong drama! It was pretty but depressing....

The music did not help the mood: it was totally discordant (wrong notes played apparently) and uncomfortable. They were probably going for such impression on viewers so that was a success. The music got better and smoother as the drama progresses, ending the episode 9 with a great song by Conan Grey "The Story". The ending of that episode was perfect so imagine my surprise and confusion when I discovered there was another episode, which turned to be completely useless and totally unrealistic fluff! They pulled the same stunt in Bed Friend ruining a perfectly good angst filled story.

Another thing that was wrong with this drama is that it reminded of of a lot of korean webcomics. I do not think it was based on one though, but all the characters come straight out of a shounen ai manhwa! Starting with the main couple (both actors are excellent) but their pairing and chemistry did not convince me: one is rich manly "top" and the other one is poor slightly build "bottom" eventually putting his head on the other one's shoulder and practically purring and all I could see are so many comics with such a scene. I actually did not like them dumbing down Ji Hyun after they finally started dating but, on the other hand, doesn't that usually happens to FL as soon as they fall in love they become incompetent to string two words together? Both actors were relatively at ease with each other but they sorely lacked chemistry. There were some interesting dreamy sequences of the main couple just walking side by side....Beautiful! The whole escapade to the seaside, playing in the sea was breathtaking as well. On the other hand both characters were good guy to a fault, never a wrong or mean word to anyone: always kind and polite. At one point Jae Won's "best friend" eaten by jealousy and envy, does everything in his power to ruin his life over a stupid incident! Guess what: he is forgiven, no hard feelings! Those two are just too good to be true! I guess I am just an incurable cynic, I do not believe in the fundamental goodness in everyone! I know I am not so...

What puts this BL a cut above the other korean ones, is the natural skinship between the leads. Just like in Blueming! But very seldom seen in KBLs...

The one serious issue they tried depicting are the long term effects of PTSD Jae Won suffers from. It was interesting to see his sessions with his psychiatrist, though the first time we see her in ep1: I found her rather weird. But then, a few episodes later she was talking about not knowing whether to go to her suicidal patients funerals or not. That's when my alarm bells rang! Is that really important? How about asking yourself why you did not manage to stop your patients from committing suicide? The general advice is: if you are feeling down(sad, depressed, suicidal!), talk to a professional. And I know even a professional cannot save everyone, it is sad but true. But shouldn't that incite them to question their methods and try to learn from that case in order to know better the next time they come upon a similar case? The way Jae Won deals with his feeling and his trauma is THE eighth sense!

The cast of secondary characters were a mixed lot, mostly awful people starting with the two MC's best friends who have no filter or boundaries and NEVER accept no for an answer. And of course there was the usual bitchy and mean ex who, of course again, tried her damnedest to ruin her ex's new relationship. Fortunately, Ji Hyun would not take any of her nonsense seriously which is never the case in dramas so it was refreshing to see it here! These three useless and awful characters got too much screen time (well they needed to fill up 10x40min episodes!!!). The whole drama and this group of students looked very much as if it came out of one of Playlist Global's web drama: the acting was on the same unconvincing level!

And of course the ending is pure cringeworthy fluff where everyone is forgiven and they all ride into the sunset and live happily ever after! Bah hambug!😉 written by Mr Scrooge