Korean dramas and music were not my things. I can like certain beats and rhythm. I can like the execution of plots. I wouldn't put myself in a spot where I would know Korean knowledge beyond what I gleaned from the Korean idol industry.
I think this drama title is appropriate.
Just as a warning. I only saw clips such as the above video series detailing the homosexual love story with families' reactions. I only saw the clips and watched the first and the coming-out episodes. I'm actually in the second episode because Kdramas takes over an hour each episode.
Think of this drama as more of a family slice-of-life. There's no backstabbing, misunderstandings to a ridiculous degree, and soap opera drama. Even one of my favorites My Love From Another Star had an additional drama of a murder mystery with the main girl framed for murder. Thankfully, the girl's character development began in full-force, beginning to sell her stuff and rebuilding her career despite people calling her a murderer. She's not the murderer, by the way; that would be the current boyfriend of the girl she had a feud with. What's worse was that girl was pregnant.
I'm getting off-topic.
The family did get into tiffs, justified, or not. Regardless, they were close and genial to outsiders. Even to their would-be in-laws and outsiders. This is a family that sticks to their guns unless moved by reason. The grandmother took awhile for her to accept her ex-husband living with her. Technically, the two never divorced and she was still counted among the multiple wives.
Each family member was not perfect. They had their own individual issues like insecurities and stuff like that. Their decisions might seem selfish as sometimes the show painted it like that. Nobody was in the right when the family spilled out hurtful words. Although both had legit reasons for their behavior, none of them were painted in the wrong. There were lots of guilt-tripping though on the parents' end. Yes, even the homophobic mother who was pushing her son to break up with Tae Sub and come back to 'normality'. Her callousness of homosexuality was still there because that was still painted as wrong and still wrong. Even the homophobic uncle was almost kicked out if it weren't for the fact the guy was doing better. They do hurt each other and apologize for their mistakes.
I heard this series had been extended so plotlines were resolved but dragged on. The extension might be a detriment. It will just end up getting filler/padding to storylines that would already be finished in its original fifty.
Tae Sub's previous girlfriend was nice enough and Japanese too. Now, Japan is just as conservative as Korea. And the two nations still have a fractured relationship. I will not deny Japan's war crimes. Like many people, I want them to admit their faults in the wars. It would lead to a healing process that the world desperately needs. Germany was doing everything possible to say sorry including revealing people in the pro-Nazi movement and blowing up Nazi monuments. I would not deny the artists are just as capable of faults. I don't want to be consumed by hate and cynicism and disillusioned with life. Anyway, seeing a Japanese person albeit an immigrant treated with respect in-universe was good. Despite the hostilities, there are people who are trying to move forward. I just hoped to God that countries who had not yet admitted to their crimes come forward, apologize, and do everything in their power to make it up to their ancestor's victims. Yes, it's not just Japan in this factor, there's also Turkey who was much worse in this.
Not because of any complaints I got but I cringe that Tae Sub actually caught two people's eyes and an unwitting love triangle. He only goes out with Chae Young for a beard. He likes her but never quite attracted to her sexually. Now we were explicitly given that Tae Sub and Kyung Soo were gay. How about bisexual? However, there is also the fact they were beards and Kyung Soo stated as much he likes his ex-wife and loves his child, he felt like living a lie, making him gay.
I get the issue with the homophobia atmosphere and the familial support. I love Mae Jin so much. Her relationship with Tae Sub was more moving than the actual sweet relationship between Tae Sub and Kyung Soo.
Speaking of, this relationship just from the few scenes I seen on youtube alone was sweet. No kissing, just off-screen lovemaking and macking. Thankfully, it's a positive portrayal of an LGBT relationship and interactions with an open-minded family. Even the homophobic uncle got over it because he loves his family that much. Yes, there was no actual depictions of sex or on-screen kissing - I'm pretty sure the Koreans were not in the place to see it, unlike the Americans. LiB was made for a Korean audience just as much as MF was made for an American audience. That is the first thing you need to understand if you want to review a foreign piece of media.
Speaking of Modern Family, we didn't get gay kiss scenes for a while. In Korea, onscreen LGBT kisses would not be good for the public. Like they were getting better but not that fast. I don't think people would get the level of blase with LGBT yet. Japan had an issue with sexualizing LGBT relationships but at least they acknowledge they exist however bad the depiction goes. Certain, there are LGBT individuals who do have sex and all kinds of sex just like heterosexuals. Like it's fine for them to have sex. And it's fine to ship two fictional guys together; I don't ever think that shipping would ever go away. EVER. The problem with modern-day shipping is that canon material must be there for it to be shipping. Uh, no! There are ships for people who barely knew each other in-universe and others that are completely inanimate. Shipping two guys together are normal. Trying to take away shipping is like trying to take away food from another. Shipping is supposed to be fun, not activism. As long as you keep away from harassing and pushing it down people's throats, then it's all good.
The topic of homosexuality was that they were born with it. I honestly don't care if LGBTQ+ was born with it or not. Seriously why even debate where it came from? Why even debate on love? It's not like they can explain the twin gene or something like that.
Sure we got similar issues like a homophobic relative with a generally accepting family. However, these homophobic chose to do the right thing. These series both primarily focused on familial issues albeit in their cultural domains.
The other characters in the family had their own character arcs like the daughters and the uncles, not just the eldest son who was a closeted homosexual and trying to be a good son for society and family. Some of them romantics like the second son who was wooing his mom's assistant. A young mother's insecurities came to light as she struggled so much in her married life, keeping her husband on a short leash in the hopes of no divorcing because her mother divorced and her father never visited her.
I get the guy's reasoning to hide his homosexuality and his relationship even if it will cause great pain to their families and the society's view on them. The guys even had beards before they came out of the closet. I totally get Kyung Soo's previous relationship because that was what some closeted people did too; I totally get it. I heard stories. The relationship was handled tastefully, even the homophobia going on both families. I'm pretty sure there will be homophobia despite general acceptance. People can learn to get over it or not, taking longer or never.
From what I heard, Tae Sub's ex-girlfriend was homophobic - she blamed him too! - but quickly became support for him. SHE was able to get over it and it's nice to see that she wasn't too cruel or harsh on someone she knew now who couldn't love her back.
It's very bad since there was a possibility of Bury Your Gays had the story not written the acceptance of the Yangs towards the KyungTae coupling. The two planned to commit suicide if their families did not accept them. Tae Sub explicitly stated his intention towards his stepmom for god's sake.
Kyung Soo's actor is definitely handsome. I have to say that. Also, I found the brother CEO's love interest good-looking as hell. Also, Chae Young's actress is cute. They were the people who I find the most physically attractive of the lot. Perhaps add the silver fox of the brother CEO too.
On a side note, there is a bit of an abortion argument in this. I'm not even going to touch this because as much as I am pro-choice, I am stepping away from this with a major distance between me. I am not equipped to talk about this delicately, no matter how much research I took. Especially in a foreign country too. So I am not talking about this delicate topic.
Not every episode ends with a character tripping. Sometimes, they'll trip within the episode rather than at the end. The person is usually the one who has bad luck in that episode.
And this post was released during Pride Month too.
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