BLISS RATING: ★★★★+
“If I’m tired of people and sick of relationships…it’s better to just disappear. That is my way of enduring.” – Quote from Checkered Shirt Season 2
Frankly, this is a hard series to describe. Enjoying Season One for its creativeness and freshness, this took that original story to a whole new level. In my review of the initial narrative, I said that the box had been opened and wondered how it would be closed. Well, close it they did. But how they choreographed the closure is where the flaws surface. The story begins to fold onto itself prematurely. Subsequently, it did not flow very well throughout, mainly due to the way the series was edited. The story became too choppy and felt more like we were watching snippets or snapshots of scenes rather than a flow to a story. Simply put, it just did not connect well or consistently.
Having said that, if you liked the first season, you will undoubtedly like the second as it matures the protagonists and solidifies their relationship. It takes their connection of just discerning each other from just a romantic twinkle in their eye to who they are now as adults. It forthrightly becomes a sad story based upon the proverbial and quintessential centerpiece of miscommunication. That is the universal bane of almost all BLs. Not only is that getting to be a wearisome and tiresome theme that is repeated over-and-over, but it is also not rational or necessarily convincing. Frankly, that is almost an exclusive excuse for BL series only. And it is so overused, especially in these very short-run series.
Even with all these caveats, I still ardently enjoyed this series. Mainly due to the solid performances of the protagonists and the supporting roles. Plus, admittedly, the arc of the story is so entertaining. These actors took their roles and seasoned the characters, matured them, and gave them fervent personalities. That is quite an accomplishment.
There are a lot of back-and-forth scenes that admittedly can be a bit hard to follow and could have been tightened up to make the story flow better. But when Jungwoo (Choi Dongho) and Hangyeol (Jeon Yubin) are reunited again, we, as observants, can see in their faces and body movements all the pain and heartache both had been through in their 5-year absence from one another. The anger, hurt, and pent-up emotions were released and through straightforward information, each learned what happened to the other during that lengthy pause. What we also grasp is that the love they had did not diminish; in fact, it only nurtured and grew. And intensified. And we got to see all of that unfold. I thought it was magical.
Who really S.T.O.L.E. this series? Lee Donghun as Jaesoeob did. Not so much for acting, although he is good, but for his role as a pivotal character. Being the close and best friend to Jungwoo, he is like a brother to him. Here is an individual who could have been instrumental in helping Hangyeol understand what had happened to Jungwoo more clearly but chose not too because of his thinking he knew what was best for Jungwoo. While he may have ‘wanted’ to support his friend’s decision to be with Hangyeoal, he just could not fully bring himself to embrace their relationship as normal. Therefore, he chose NOT to be forthcoming with Hangyeol. And perhaps, always regretted that decision. We do see him beginning to evolve his thinking after 5 years, but the burden of responsibility as to what happened between them does fall on his shoulders. So, he becomes a pivotal character to this series, even if he is a minor one. The pieces to this sad puzzle begin to be filled-in quickly when we learn what he did.
There is a lot to unpack in this short series that is just about an hour and a half in total. But I can watch Jeon Yubin and Choi Dongho all day long. These two are simply mesmerizing when they are on screen. From season one to now, they have honed in on who their characters were and gave them life and made them feel real. When they kissed and touched each other, it seemed genuine, sincere, and intimate; a rare combination for a South Korean BL. These two fit together like they belonged alongside each other. The imagery was that each was lonely and lost without the other and could not accept anyone else except the other. And that opportunity was gone.
I was actually surprised as to how deep that sentiment was conveyed. I felt as if each fully intended to go through life without anyone else because they had lost the love of their lives 5 years earlier. That is remarkable to be able to get that strong of a sensation from a series that is frankly not all that intensely developed. Uniquely, these actors put the effort forth to make it feel like Hangyeol and Jungwoo really did belong together. I am glad they found each other.
Overall, this is an emotionally intense series and is as satisfying as Season One. Even more so because it now felt complete.
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