BLISS RATING: ★★★+
“You own the rights to your own truth.” – Quote from Mr. Heart
Cute story but a bit unconnected. It is an adorable story between a young student Shangha (Se-Jin Lee), and Jin Won (Suengho Cheon). Both guys are so adorable and cute and exude such charm on the screen that they could probably just recite a telephone book and I would watch them. They honestly did a great job with a somewhat messy script and a bit of an incoherent story. It is not that the acting is bad; it is not. The story is unfocused and messy. It starts out so well and incredibly charming.
Shangha is a rather in your face want-to-be ‘pacemaker’ to a runner who he is obviously enamored with. (Honestly, I had no idea what a pacemaker was and had to look up the term). Shangha is so endearing and bubbly that he could easier charm flees off a dog. Jin Won is a bit of an arrogant person who treats people like they are expendable. (It sure would be nice to have one of these stories where the rich spoiled kid is not an arrogant cretin).
But of course, Shangha charms him into submission, and they slowly get to know each other and become close. Shangha’s back story is very profound and is honestly the highlight of the series. You can see the raw emotions in him from telling his story. When he bows to Jin Won thanking him for making him smile and saving him, it was quite moving. But in this process, Shangha needs to pay off the family debts to a loan shark (which I cannot figure out why since he was a child when the debt were incurred). So, he delivers milk every morning to individuals and thus the great fixation on milk begins and so does his love for running. From here the story gets a bit confusing. It is obvious to anyone around them that they like each other and are attracted to each other. Yet, we must go through the silliness of ‘no, not me’ kind of scenarios. When you hug someone while sleeping with a person not your own room, and kiss them, and tie their shoes, and help his bruised areola, (you must watch the series to understand this reference) then I think you have gone beyond the ‘no, not me’ stage in your relationship.
The story worsens with the introduction of the loan sharks and suddenly the money needs to be paid back (although he has been paying it back by delivering milk for years but why now is all the money due is so unclear). To pay off the loan, he must win the marathon over Jin Won and is threatened with harming him if he does not. Hmmm. Maybe we can have an adult conversation here, please? Why all the subterfuge? Can you simply not talk to Jin Won? Or seek help in other ways? Instead, you do what they tell you to do and win and then run off?
Shangha realized the error of his ways (naturally) and returns. Jin Won seems worried when Shangha is missing. But when they meet again to finally discuss what is happening to them, what does Jin Won do first? He punches him in the face! Hard! I appreciate that he is angry and upset and perhaps offended for not talking about this but is that what you really do?!
Why there is such a need to resort to physical abuse when it comes to two men resolving anger or frustration issues is too much. It lost me and upset me deeply that you would physically abuse the one you love. You did not know where he was or what happened to him. Maybe hug him first to show you are relieved he is all right and maybe THEN slap him on the shoulder for not letting you know why??! (These series have got to stop using physical violence as a means to start or stop a conversation or to get some point across). This series could have been an endearing sweet story about two guys simply falling in love for the first time without all the unnecessary drama and violence. We all understand anger issues and even hurt feelings but to resort to hitting just seems so wrong to me and sends a bad and unhealthy message.
This is even more evident in the fact that the supporting roles were all lending themselves to enhancing this relationship. Hyo Ri (Shin Ae Moon) is a physical therapy assistant to Jin Won and is not a love interest (yea!). She is the smartest one in this series because she obviously sees what is going on and offers some wise counsel to Jin Won but of course to no avail. The coach, named Bong (Jang Young Woo), is a silly side kick who at times seems a bit inept at being a coach. The loan shark and henchmen were just plain silly and superfluous. They are slapping Shangha around for more money at one point and at the end they are tearfully waving goodbye to him (huh?)
Who really S.T.O.L.E. the series? These two actors are so good and have such chemistry together and obviously have a connection to each other. Both their performances were charming and endearing. They easily walked us through their emotional connections with understanding. Kudos to both these actors.
This series just missed the mark completely which is unfortunate. I loved the two main actors and the first part of the story. Just make the story about their relationship. A simply sweet story of grappling with unknown feelings of love would have been perfect for them. They both portrayed an obvious unsureness in developing feelings for each other let alone a relationship and when they had the opportunity to show that, it was charming, witty, and just plain fun to watch. It does not have to be complicated. The fact that they used the same code to enter each other’s room was endearing, funny, and warm. Do that! Make this story fun! The end scene when they went out on a date was priceless. Both looked like classic dorks and totally inexperienced at dating. That was charming and wonderful! Do more of that! Not every relationship needs to have conflict or things that could tear about a budding connection.
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