BLISS RATING: ★★★★★
“A night where everything is heard without saying a word.” – Quote from Delivered The Series
Brilliant! A word that is often overused. The word has many, many different meanings. Clever, intelligent, astute, and scholarly are just some of the defining terms one could use to describe this series. It is a wonderment to behold, if you allow yourself to experience its pedagogy. This series will not be for everyone. Of that I can assure you.
Yoonoh (Kim Hangeul) is a 30 something incredibly introverted freelance designer with his whole world essentially consisting mostly of his immediate surroundings. Quiet, reserved, cautious, and obviously lonely but does little to overcome any of these discordant traits. Yoonoh looks sad. He almost seems fated to be alone and, in a sense, accepts his isolated lifestyle. One day, he gets a package delivered by Taein (Lee Jaesung), a courier who is about the same age as Yoonoh. Perhaps it is in the way he delivered the package that is compelling – personable, friendly, and hospitable. Taein is quite talkative but becomes more compelling as he undertakes his conversations on an intellectually stimulating keystone. Although Yoonoh is very cautious, he allows Taein to enter his intellectual orbit through his words. As more packages arrive, the two begin to colloquy, with each not just sharing their inner most thoughts but also looking forward to seeing each other.
This series starts and ends with an intellectual bond. The two of them begin confabulations to present to one another who they are. As they deliberate, their walls break down and what we see is an organic attraction that leads to a physical intimacy not nurtured on an emotional level but purely an intellectual one.
The storyline is breathtaking and the dialogue between the two is smart, witty, stimulating, although not always easily understood. Or I should say, perhaps not easily translated into English. Obviously, what they said to each other in Korean touched them more deeply and profoundly than we could possibly understand. All we can see is their journey to loving one another on a different level than we are used to.
These guys are just two ordinary individuals who met. They are not your typical or traditional BL archetypes. They are us. Two very lonely young men whose presence stimulated their minds before it stimulated their bodies. What we are watching is a marriage of mind and body in tandem. Simple. Basic. Passionate. Love that covers and encompasses each of them and both of them. We see their fears, we see their doubts, we see them even mistrust their own ecstasies because for them it all seems unreal. What is beautiful is that they give voice to all of it. Almost as if they were characters in a book solving a mystery where the only way to solve their issues was to openly and honestly muse over every single detail. And that is what they did.
Who really S.T.O.L.E. this series? Lee Jaesung as Taein and Kim Hangeul as Yoonoh did. Two men in their 30s who have spent years waiting in vain to meet someone compatible. Somehow, they seem to know they found their partner. Their intimacy is off the charts, and their kissing scenes are beyond passionate. They are ardently erotic. We get to see their individual personalities through their words. Each portrayed their distinguished characters with such fine-tuned finesse that we completely understood each of their natures because they told us who they were. When they were scared, we saw it in their eyes and in their movements. When they loved, we saw that in the subtle, gentle closeness of their movements.
Shockingly, this entire series is only about one hour long and yet we assimilate so much in that one hour. We get to discover through intellect, passion, and complete honesty two ordinary men fall deeply in love, with their whole existence now being just the two of them. They defined love with simplicity and honesty.
What this series does is rip off the band aid of phoniness and pretentious BLs by presenting love only in terms of regarding two people. If you are familiar with “Who Is Afraid Of Virginia Wolf?”, then you will appreciate this story. That story is about reality vs illusion. So is this story. But in this case, can it be one with happiness in a world where all they have known is unhappiness? Both have feared being happy. Now, they have a chance at it.
This is a brilliant screenplay with disquiet acting, mostly completed in subtle and serene ways. To be sure, the translations are a bit hard to follow, but you will get it if you allow yourself to be open to the message of love that is not painted with broad colorful strokes but with gentle, touching words, perhaps really only understand by the two of them. Yet, after all, is that not what love is? Simply between two people?
This series will end up on my Apotheosis list for this year because it is THAT good. I doubt many of you may agree. However, sometimes less is more and better. And to see a love story from a picture of words rather than emotions is exhilarative and galvanic. This is just a paragon.
This is not colorful, theatrical, or splashy but it is one of the most honest and sincere BLs for 2025. For serious lovers of BL only.
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