BLISS RATING: ★★★★
“The broken will always be able to love harder than most. Once you’ve been in the dark, you learn to appreciate everything that shines” – The Mental Health Minute – Twitter
This series deserves a big shout out and kudos for tackling a sensitive and rarely discussed topic in general let alone one in a BL. It did a commendable job of bringing to light and making it a center of attention. And that is the topic of mental illness. Living in the United States, I know what the stigma of any type of mental health diagnosis having is like. We are NOT an accepting nor open society and I can only assume neither is South Korea. Having worked in this field and also having had years ago a diagnosis of Clinical Depression, I related all too well to its struggle and felt it deeply.
This is a beautifully unique story about a reclusive singing coach and a part-time wedding singer named Seung Jun (Lee Dong Won). At one of his wedding performances, he meets the new piano accompanist named Song Jae Hyun (Byun Sung Tae). Almost instantly there seems to be an attraction to each other with Jae Hyun instantly smitten. Although, he finds Seung Jun irresistible Seung Jun is elusive and has barriers around him. Yet, he begins to pursue him and slowly breaks down his defenses a bit. However, what Jae Hyun does not know is how high and deep those walls are around Seung Jun really are. Jae Hyun does notice his oddities and quirkiness, like wearing sunglasses when performing, and deduces that something in his past has hurt him deeply.
Seung Jun is a victim. A victim of emotional, psychological, and perhaps coerced sexual abuse. His former lover convinced him that he alone is the only one that can make him a star and successful and made himself the center of his world. And if that falters, it is Seung Jun’s fault that this has happened. He cajoles, humiliates, uses, emotionally abuses, and therefore controls to the point he surrenders to him.
In other words, he brainwashes Seung Jun and therefore victimizes him. To a degree he ‘owns’ him and thus orchestrates his physical and emotional souls. It becomes very difficult to break away from such a codependent arrangement, especially with little to no help or support and no outside group to turn to.
Even worse for gay individuals. When he does, he is nearly alone except for a friend who supports him emotionally and Seung Jun seeks emotional support through therapy and medication. He is finally in a better place when he meets Jae Hyun. Seung Jun even begins to smile and enjoy the small pleasures of life. His recovery is at best fragile and tentative.
Unfortunately, his former lover, Kim Joo Won (Kim Kyu Jong) works his way back into Seung Jun’s life and nearly kidnaps him. Fortuitously, Seung Jun is in a better place to fend off his advancements, but he is still emotionally vulnerable. While Jae Hyun rescues him, Seung Jun’s is so traumatized that he projects all his fears onto both of them and begs to be left alone. Which of course is exactly what is needed and is exactly what Jae Hun gives him – space.
After a year, and a lot of intensely working on himself, Seung Jun is becoming successful in his musical career and is beginning to think beyond his surroundings, about what he has given up, and what has happened to Jae Hyun. As luck would have it, they are able to reconnect with perhaps a hopeful outcome for both.
Who really S.T.O.L.E. this series? The acting in this series is good but does not go deep as the episodes are very short. This is an intensely emotionally charged series and as such needed time to reflect a deeper level of feelings or at least display a deeper level of feelings. While some of that was present, it did not get strong enough. Ironically, the strongest emotions embarked upon came from Kim Kyu Jong as Joo Won as the antagonist. He had a sinister look about him and with his cold piercing eyes, he looked intimidating. He had a kind of personality that could draw you into him and once he had you hooked could find your vulnerabilities and weaknesses and use them against you. He had such an abusive personality, that fully enveloped you and, in a sense, controlled you. Charming in the beginning to lure you into the fold, once there, he almost indoctrinated you. Kim Kyu Jong whole feel about him was so pernicious.
My concern of this series is not of the subject matter but of its production. This was told more like a novella which gave the viewer only bits of substance to be satisfied with. We got to see miniaturized versions of the personifications of who they were. We know people are in pain but ironically, we do not see or feel that pain. What pain we saw was mostly superficial and told only in prose rather than in feelings. The only genuine pain we saw is when Seung Jun says to Jae Hyun that he is like Kim Joo Won in that both made his life difficult, and he demands to be left alone. That was real, honest, raw, and so meaningful in the moment.
This series needed more of those to make it impactful. We saw incidents of people and their reactions but little in terms of process. Seung Jun’s pain we ‘see’ but most of it only after the fact. We do not see Jae Hyun’s pain at all; yet we know he had to have been crushed and devastated.
I applaud this series and the production company for its efforts to tackle the issue of such magnitude. Kudos for the effort. But to do so requires complete effort and one of greater concentration. One strictly focusing on one outcome. Dealing with abuse, bullying, and victimization and its consequences of mental illnesses requires a deeper understanding of the psyche of the subject matter and the person.
To explore that in just about 2 hours or so leaves the viewer feeling empty or feeling like they missed something in between or if you know nothing about abuse, or victimization, or mental illness feeling disjointed from reality. There was just too much territory to cover to try and make sense of what was happening and to try and find a common thread to connect all of it together.
In other words, this series needed more time. Time for us to see and, more importantly, feel who these characters were.
Again, I sound like a broken record but a public notice at the end of the credits listing numbers of hotlines for physical, sexual, or other types of abuse may prove to be lifesaving, even if for just one. Consider the life or lives it could save.
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