The Korean BL Drama That’s Been Long Overdue: Where Your Eyes Linger - Review
As South Korea becomes more notorious and infamous for giving its BL Dramas the “reality check”, it’s always a must to every BL fans to ask first if the show will have a happy or sad ending. Its latest offering, Where Your Eyes Linger, was no exception to this wariness of the fans. But it’s also an exception to this exception, as it easily became the best BL series for the first half of 2020, and the best in a while since the magnificent HIStory’s Make Our Days Count.
Its plot is as genuine, pure, and innocent as it gets with “master x slave/best friends” trope between the main characters Kang Gook and Han Tae Joo. It wasn’t trying to have an inventive story. It was an ordinary plot for a BL story and a romance story in general, which as ridiculous as it may sound but still not going overboard and becoming too offensive. Fortunately, it didn’t compromise its heart to pander on the fandom’s creepy obsession on excessive skinship as if that’s the only way on making ships sail. It didn’t even use whatever plot device one could think of just to stir some conflict that isn’t necessary for both characters’ growth. The story had a vision and it knew how to make it to its destination.
The writing of characters of Kang Gook and Han Tae Joo has been ensured to give justice and more to the vision of the plot. Their character development were not as disjointed as what usual BL stories give. The plot allowed us to see how both characters gradually reacted on different circumstances that seamlessly and subsequently allowed the audiences as well to feel for the two of them and not just because that’s what they were supposed to feel as dictated to us viewers.
The casting of actors, especially Jang Eui Soo and Han Gi Chan, is a delectable treat for everyone who’s been wanting to see idols to appear in a Korean BL. The better treat is that they absolutely gave justice to what Kang Gook and Han Tae Joo demanded for most of their scenes, together and on their own.
For an eight-episode series with most episodes having probably around 10-minute duration, Where Your Eyes Linger managed to present a compelling and honest romance between two young men in the most straightforward storytelling. It definitely benefited from its short episodes which wouldn’t afford them to fit in some filler scenes unnecessary for the development of its story.
Where Your Eyes Linger, however, was shining the best with its production. Despite how When Your Eyes Linger is obviously low-budgeted compared to your typical kdramas, it’s hardly noticeable as it lived up as to how korean dramas are done. The cinematography is impeccable, as clearly shown on how every camerawork for every scene is utilized to evoke emotions beautifully.
Unsurprisingly for a Korean drama series, the OST of Where Your Eyes Linger worked perfectly to further pull strings on every viewers heart and make the story worked. Unlike typical BL series where background music were used because it just felt like music had to be on that scene, in Where Your Eyes Linger, these music simultaneously played as if our lives really do have soundtracks.
Overall, Where Your Eyes Linger delivered all the cohesion, straightforwardness, authenticity, and honesty that most BL series often compromised to sell their show. All its advantages and disadvantages in the game were used on their favor to create this romantic journey every Korean drama is known for.
Where Your Eyes Linger was in that peculiar position where everyone is expecting for it not to deliver but at the same time is expected to finally shake things up in Korean BL. It’s far from doing the latter, let’s be real. However, it didn’t need to try to be an edgier trailblazer of Korean BL. It just needed to be the Koreas BL drama that everyone has long hoped to be, and it did.
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