BLISS RATING: ★★★★
“As the ocean is never full of water, so is the heart never full of love.” – WeDreamoTravel.com
This is a very soft almost imperceptible BL series that will certainly not win any awards but has a charm and quiet force about it. Yes, its subject matter is standard and a bit formulaic, but I found the characters surprisingly relatable. Almost envious too.
A rather downtrodden individual appears in a small seaside town and is wanting to sell food. In this case udon. He is met and castigated by a local individual, Go So Young (Han Seo Ui) who tells him he can not do that and proceeds to manipulate him into renting an unused restaurant that her family owns. His name is Han Ba Da (Han Gi-chan). Go So Young (Han Seo Ui) is only trying to obtain quick money in the off season and free food of course. Ba Do becomes an inadvertent pawn for Go So Young and in taking her someplace, accidentally hits Tommy (Holland) with his car.
An unlikely friendship develops which eventually leads to romance. What made this story interesting is that these two characters are both running away from their pasts and in order to move on from that they need to deal with those issues from that past. Ba Da is running away from something that happened to him in his previous relationship from both a personal level and professional one. He is a very good chef and has honed in on making udon from his family and formal training. While Tommy is running away from his past because of previous failures in wanting to pursue his musical dreams. In essence they both teach each other and allow each other to see that each of their dreams is worth pursuing and the necessity to follow their own paths.
Their relationship does not move mountains but that does not make it any less intense. When Ba Da becomes so focused on his craft and himself, and dismisses Tommy, he realizes afterwards the mistake he made and searches for him. Again, none of this is done with great fanfare or hosannas coming from heaven. It is an ordinary story of two people falling in love, each wanting something for themselves that they need to do and pursue and hopefully their paths will cross again in the future. In the meantime, is their love for one another strong enough to sustain them during this time of discovery.
Who really S.T.O.L.E. this series? Honestly, it is challenging to dislike this series. It is played with such gentleness; it is hard to see things through a negative lens. They are flawed individuals. Uncompromising to a degree but with one constant in that they do love each other. The love is not expressed in dramatic or theatrical ways. It is more so in the way they look at each other and how each recognizes the strengths in the other. And it was their time for each of them to pursue their strengths individually. I liked Holland as Tommy because he seems to have internalized the part a bit more. Being out and admittedly gay gives him a bit more depth to the role. He does play Tommy very laid back and his whole demeanor is that way. In an odd way, his facial expressions and eyes while having a sadness about them also has a feeling of looking forward. Holland’s face and eyes were so piercing and displayed so many feelings. Both these actors did that very well and what could have been very maudlin scenes never were. There were wistful scenes but never melancholic and always had a sense of honesty about them as they represented who these two individuals were.
What hindered this series are two things. It was too short, for one. We only saw passages of who these two were and never got a sense of what made these two tick. Both had interesting backgrounds, but only superficially did we get to understand what that meant to them. And two, it lacked emotional intensity. In order to fully believe these two, we needed to see them more vulnerable, intense, and passionate. We only got glimpses of that. I wanted and needed more.
The editing made this story feel choppy and not smooth. Highlights of their careers were merely mentioned We needed a greater connection between them as their individual careers blossomed. Both grew and matured in their thinking and understanding. We needed to see more of that road they traveled.
This is a likeable series, certainly not deep, but is perhaps quintessential in what happens in real life. We got to see two people fall in love because each other brought out the best in the other and gave each of them the strength, courage, and fortitude to pursue their own dreams again. But they realized what they needed was each other. And that was fun to watch.
Leave a Reply