This review may contain spoilers
Suspended disbelief for the sake of a kiss
In film theory there is a term called “the willful suspension of disbelief”…it is required of the audience so you can believe that the actors you are seeing on screen are believable and their story is real.. Just like a 300 year-old vampire (Kim Jun Ho) is willing to forego life as a human because he has instantly fallen in love with a high-school boy (Choi Min Hyun) and refuses to suck his pure blood for the sake of immortality. Thus is the plot line of Kissable Lips, the latest Korean BL offering.
The plot is simple enough and the boys are lovely to look at with just the right amount of yearning and angst (a requirement for a good BL). However there are some very odd aspects to this drama, the logic around killing humans (isn’t that what vampires do?), a principal who really serves no real purpose and why does the “bad vampire” have red eyes as opposed to the protagonists blue eyes? And the ending…..
I did check that this review was a SPOILER … why Jun Ho have to die with no real reason or purpose? the death scene was agonizing to watch not because it was sad, but because it was dumb. He could have force fed him instead of whimpering like a baby. I did not get it. There seemed to be no reason for the death or even the relationship. I felt frustrated. It was unsatisfying.
I also disliked the music, it seemed to be really loud and took away from the death scene making it even more clichéd.
Kissing? Yes! Even more than you would expect from a Korean BL. There is a positive trend occurring in this regard which is nice to see. Korean BLs use to be about lingering looks and tight closed mouth kisses lol. They are are finally becoming somewhat more realistic.
Overall…not bad a bad series but not great. I cannot wait until the day when Korea will produce a truly epic 16 episode BL series. Until then Kissable Lips, Cherry Blossoms After Winter, Semantic Error, Tinted With You….it is. Enjoy!
The plot is simple enough and the boys are lovely to look at with just the right amount of yearning and angst (a requirement for a good BL). However there are some very odd aspects to this drama, the logic around killing humans (isn’t that what vampires do?), a principal who really serves no real purpose and why does the “bad vampire” have red eyes as opposed to the protagonists blue eyes? And the ending…..
I did check that this review was a SPOILER … why Jun Ho have to die with no real reason or purpose? the death scene was agonizing to watch not because it was sad, but because it was dumb. He could have force fed him instead of whimpering like a baby. I did not get it. There seemed to be no reason for the death or even the relationship. I felt frustrated. It was unsatisfying.
I also disliked the music, it seemed to be really loud and took away from the death scene making it even more clichéd.
Kissing? Yes! Even more than you would expect from a Korean BL. There is a positive trend occurring in this regard which is nice to see. Korean BLs use to be about lingering looks and tight closed mouth kisses lol. They are are finally becoming somewhat more realistic.
Overall…not bad a bad series but not great. I cannot wait until the day when Korea will produce a truly epic 16 episode BL series. Until then Kissable Lips, Cherry Blossoms After Winter, Semantic Error, Tinted With You….it is. Enjoy!
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