The Eighth Sense (2023)

Excellent Execution of a K-BL

Gosh, so many Korean BLs are surprising me this year with their quality, their production value, their longevity, and their importance. I won't say all of them have, but the majority of them that I've enjoyed have, and this one is not shy of it. The Eighth Sense is gorgeous, it's truly a beautiful piece of art from the bucket of K-BLs we've gotten this year, and I'm proud of the story it committed to telling and the clear and concise ending to a perfect drama.

Let's Dive In.

Now, because I saw that this series had so much hype and popularity around it, including that it's much more dense and intricate than others, I will be very nit-picky, just an FYI. But I'll start with what I really liked.

The setup of everything was just absolute perfection. What I love most is such a natural introduction of the characters in their natural habitat that doesn't feel awkward or forced. And the chemistry, urgh, the chemistry is breathtaking. I love slow burn, I love tension, I love strangers to friends to lovers. Now this was probably the fastest slow burn I've seen (and a complicated one), but nonetheless, I yearned for them to be together and I got that and that's all I wanted.

I can say without a doubt that all the side characters played an important role in this series and weren't just added-in characters to take up screen time. They helped move the story along, get our leads together, and did so also having their own personal character growth. Aeri, Joonpyo, Yoonwon, and even smaller characters like Bitna were so involved with the overall objective of the show that it all flowed smoothly.

Urgh, again, just so much good chemistry, so much good physical contact, so many beautiful moments. The writers did an incredible job showing the details of their relationship, but did an even better job at diving below surface levels to give our mains actual motives and objectives and obstacles and development. My favorite of them obviously being Jaewon who's so friendly yet facading all of it with hidden trauma that we see him actively working through with the therapist. I immediately loved his portrayal of being the shoulder his friends can lean on and that the surf club can trust, to seeing him in therapy and his eyes weaken and even his posture exhausted. Jihyun is the only one who's able to see through it when they get closer, and you can see Jaewon change and grow with the way he smiles as they interact or make eye contact. And I loved all of it. Down to the very end, actually, especially the end because I definitely needed power bottom Jiyun's energy and he gave just that. (the writers are HELL for giving us that "let's-put-on-our-surfing-suits" scene! the sensuality of it all, like I was literally biting my nails it was so fucking good)

Conan gray music?????? 1000000/10 already. And even besides that, I love the soundtrack in TES. It was hippy and happy-go-lucky and feel-good music, not the typical ballads I'm used to hearing in K-BLs and I loved it.

Okay, so moving on to what I'm choosing to be nit-picky about. Eunji. I get it. She was here to play the evil ex-girlfriend who wants her boyfriend back and will do anything to get him back no matter who she hurts. Okay cool. Except, I didn't hate her, I only felt sorry for her. But my problem with this character is not her actions, but that none of her actions had a genuine motive other than the repetitive ones I'm used to seeing. This K-BL is deep, it's complex, is complicated, and yet they only scrape the surface of her character and I hate it. Really? The only reason she's bitchy is because she wants Jaewon back? It's just too simple for me. I almost wish that Jaewon maybe did something to her, or maybe we see her backstory as to why she tried so hard to get him back, family matters maybe, or something deeper than that. It just looks lazy and tacky to me for her not to have some more complexity to her overall objective. And then try to throw a redemption arc on us? No, thank you.

While I love Jihyun and Jaewon, there is so much from their relationship that showcases it won't last very long and I mean communication. It all starts at the beginning when Jaewon kisses Jihyun on the beach, and then from there on we don't get an explanation as to why or Jihyun never asks, and it's aggravating. They move past it and go through a little conflict, then almost kiss, go through some more complicated feelings, then get intimate on a beach, some more deeper conflict, and boom , it's fixed with a kiss. I wish we heard more from Jaewon, cause we see so much of Jihyun trying, but for Jaweon it is up to him and it's his decision on whether or not to avoid Jihyun or just one day decide he wants Jihyun and runs to him. To me, that's not fair to Jihyun that communication is only gifted through Jaewon's decision. Then they get together and all of the conversations they desperately needed to have were pushed aside for lovey-dovey dialogue. Jihyun doesn't know that Jaewon suffers from depression, which I'm sure he gathered, but I would've loved a conversation with Jaewon explaining it to him. Just the little things that you can detect in a relationship and know that it'll potentially be the couple's downfall.

Something really nit-picky, but in episode 2 or 3, Jaewon and Yoonwon go to a bar and there's a non-Korean bartender who asks Yoonwon her order in English and she answers in Korean, and he looks confused and says, "Sorry?" in which Jaewon had to order for them in English (great English btw). But my problem is that if you're going to work in Korea, especially in a bar/restaurant, then knowing enough to get by seems important. I just hate how confused he looked at someone speaking Korean to him when he works in a Korean bar in Korea.

Ratings:

Story: 8/10 - Amazing. Truly. I was entertained episode by episode, and didn't want to miss a single line of dialogue. some nit-picky things that don't give the overall score of the series higher than an 8 for me, but nonetheless, really really good.

Acting: 9/10 - Really great acting. Some great character depth from Jisub (Jaewon). Jihyun was a tad lackluster going against Jaweon, but still really good.

Music: 10/10 - Conan freaking Gray!! nothing else to say!

Recommendation Value: 7.5/10 - the only reason the score is not high is that this series does have a sense of sadness to it even though it's not a tragedy, so I personally wouldn't recommend it to everybody unless they want something deep and complex and kind of sad. but it's highly recommended for anyone wanting something intricate as it is!

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Too serious, I don't get the hype

I decided to watch this because it just finished airing and it was getting a lot of 10/10 reviews, but I have to say I think it's overrated.

What I liked:
- Higher budget than most BLs
- Good acting
- Good ending

What I didn't like:
- The drama felt a bit forced
- No humour at all, takes itself way too seriously
- Most characters felt two-dimensional
- A lot of filler, some episodes felt too long
- Editing was a bit weird, music randomly stopping, etc.

I think overall, it felt a bit too serious. Not bad, but not my cup of tea.

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Opinião impopular

(Não tem nenhum main spoiler, só citação breve de algumas cenas e umas coisas óbvias)
Minha intenção a princípio era dar no máximo quatro estrelas pra este aqui, mas devo dizer que os últimos dois episódios mudaram bastante minha concepção sobre o BL, o suficiente pra nota aumentar, mas não o bastante pra minha review ser 100% positiva.
Eu gostei sim, mas definitivamente não é tudo isso, eu acredito que uma das coisas mais frequentes em obras de romance é a falta de comunicação, e me irrita muitíssimo, quando toda a construção da narrativa faz esse estresse valer a pena é um assunto diferente, mas isso não acontece aqui, pelo menos não aos meus olhos.
Desde o começo da história vemos que o interesse romântico do protagonista tem diversos problemas e conflitos, e eles são retratados na sua mais realista forma, é por isso que incomoda tanto, várias pessoas conseguem se identificar com ele, acompanhamos as ações que ele toma e entendemos de onde elas vem, mas mesmo assim, uma coisa não anula a outra, você pode sentir empatia pelo que aquela pessoa está passando, mas NINGUÉM deveria se sentir na obrigação de correr atrás da dondoca até ele perceber em sua mais tardia glória que ta agindo da forma errada, e voltar atrás com uma "desculpa" meia boca, e não me entendam mal, a cena com a música DIVINA do Conan foi linda, foi exatamente por isso que minha nota aumentou, mas não me fez esquecer em nenhum momento tudo que o protagonista passou nessa história de ter empatia.
Em suma, as coisas foram muito arrastadas, e apesar da cena de reconciliação ser linda, o ambiente depois dela passa a impressão de que nenhuma desculpa apropriada realmente foi dada e que tudo voltou ao normal mais facilmente do que deveria, com o número de episódios que tem e o tempo de duração deles daria pra fazer esse final ser bem melhor, e isso tirou MUITO o peso de todo esse arco do afastamento deles.

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A Story About Freedom

I must say I was a bit skeptical about this. With the amount of dramas recently getting 40 minutes to 1 hour long runs each episode who struggled to maintain a storyline cohesive and engaging, you do get a little aprehensive. The Eighth Sense shows up and tells you that, yes, the episodes are long, but you are going to be so enthralled you will be begging for more. I mean it. I felt like time simply slipped through my hands every single time I watched this show. How did it manage to go by so fast?

The Eighth Sense is one of those projects that stand out because of how clear it is that it's a labor of love. It is a thrilling and passionate story of pain, drama, romance, yearning, and a deep and beautiful portrayal of serious and important themes like trauma, mental health and so much more.

But most of all it is a story about freedom. We follow two characters who yearn for it. Jaewon, who struggles to forgive himself and move on from past traumas, which in turn makes him take cover and shut himself off from the world and Jihyun, who struggled how expansive the world in front of him could be and struggled to break free from his own fear. The characters are full of depth, multifaceted, and most of all, HUMAN.

Combine that with oustanding acting not only from the main couple, who can communicate such raw emotion and chemistry with each other without even speaking a word, but side characters as well (Yes, I am looking at you Lee Mira as Yoonwon), an incredible and unique OST (Which, by the way, introduced me to the incredible korean band Wetter, which i've been listening to everyday for the past 5 weeks) and a superb work from the directors, who brought a distinct storytelling method and editing style to the korean BL industry.

Ok, I know I'm doing too much praising this show, but seriously! It's completed deserved.
Now I'm going to get a little personal here and tell of the impact this show can have on a person. As someone who's on an ongoing battle with mental illness and who's recently went off meds (Yay! Victory) this January after years of feeling numb and not like herself, I was, for a very long time, pretty apathetic and not exactly connected to the whole spectrum of human emotion due to some long term side effects.

Now, when I tell you, this effing show. Because of this effing show, for the first time in so long I felt literally everything rush back to me at once. I went through the whole emotion wheel, spectrum, 5 stages of grief, EVERYTHING. I finally felt like a functional human being, but also a complete MESS. Werner du Plessis and Inu Baek, I'm coming for you!
This show is a must watch, even if you don't care about the genre. I'll say it again, great acting, great sountrack, great use of symbolism, great directors.

Also, it's about surfing as well.

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Best BL korea ever made

I have so many things to talk about this masterpiece. This was so real. Everything was so well put together and REAL. I just finished watching it and went running to write a review because it deserves all the appreciation. First: IT LASTED. 40 minute long episodes for a korean BL? They finally did it and I am so happy. Second: The actors were great. Not only they were cute and handsome but their acting was impecable, since there was a lot of emotions and I got really involved. Third: It was so well written. I loved how everything the boys did was so natural and realistic. The way they protrayed depression, trauma and therapy made me really, really satisfied. I loved how patient Ji Hyun was with Jae Won, someone who suffered so much and was trying to deal with his emotions and protect others. About the soundtrack: I thought the songs were fine, I guess it went well with the surfing theme. But when they played Conan Gray I cried soooo hard.
Something very common in BLs is that women are often just there to be the ex or the girl who will be heartbroken. This one portrays women in all kinds of ways, making them very nice and supportive friends and I couldn't be more happy with Ji Hyun's friends in general.
I also liked a lot how even though some characters were completely disgusting the whole show (and I don't forgive them yet) they were able to have a fresh start in the ending. They suck but they seem to be willing to try and change. It's part of our reality to change and not be the villain forever.

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Emotional fun series

This series was a lot of fun. The two leads are good. I wish there was a little better chemistry between them I do have to say, because there are moments that feel off.
I enjoy the freshman Ji Hyun being inexperienced but yet smart. The one downside to him was there are moments that he is very pushy and over doing it. I felt he lack showing true emotion and the chemistry at times was off putting. Ji Hyun's two friends and (boss restaurant owner), were a lot of fun and so supportive. The club leader and the therapist for Jae Won are amazing characters and bring hope to someone that feels hopeless. Wish we had more side characters like them. To be honest the evil ex Eun ji was not even needed for the story and felt she has no real purpose. I do have to say a lot of the club members are horrible and toxic but sadly there are people like them that exist. The overall story is great it has depth and development and growth. It was a great series but The downside was that there were a lot of parts where you knew there was a missing story or a missing link to help you understand the story better. I wish they did a better job of piecing together each episode I would have liked to see when he ended up in the hospital from the accident and Jae Won being with him there or the back history of things. In ending the series was really good in telling the story but lacked real conclusion and episode connections. Felt rushed by the end sadly. I wasn't the biggest fan of how they ended it with trying to find closure for the ex girlfriend or the troublemaker friend I felt like it was not needed and a waste. P. S. The actor and character of Jae Won is amazing in this series with all the emotion he displayed.

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La découverte de l’amour et de liens d’amitié qui seront les racines d’une vie d’adulte.

Je vais commencer par dire que le genre BL ne m’attire pas, non que les amours homosexuelles me dérangent, mais dans les quelques uns que j’ai vus, le plus souvent l’intrigue pauvre et la psychologie maigre ne servent que de prétextes à des scènes d’un érotisme soft.
Mais pas ici ! Les deux héros ont une vraie personnalité, qui se découvre petit à petit, laissant entrevoir une enfance difficile, un deuil ineffaçable et la charge mentale d’un héritage à assumer obligatoirement pour Jae Won, qui sera bien moins solide qu’on ne l’aurait supposé, face à l’apparition inattendue d’un amour qui bouleverse tout. Quant à Ji Hyun, au contraire, cet amour va éclairer sa vie, lui permettre de s’affirmer, car il comprend tout de suite par intuition puis par raisonnement l’importance capitale pour lui de ce sentiment. Il l’assume sans se poser de questions oiseuses, et ne se laisse pas démonter par la réaction de fuite de Jae Won. Contrairement à ce qu’on aurait pu croire, c’est le plus jeune, le plus innocent qui va donner à l’autre la force de s’assumer.
Le réalisateur a eu la grande intelligence de placer la rencontre initiale et l’étincelle amoureuse dans le cadre de la mer, dont nul n’ignore la charge érotique symbolique, et qui en plus donne de très belles images, sans oublier le bruit envoûtant des vagues ! Ce n’est pas gratuit non plus que Ji Hyun découvre aussi le mondé de l’université, sa liberté, son ouverture, qui donne un cadre idéal à un épanouissement personnel. La réalisation est délicate, nous permet d’entrer sans brutalité dans le cœur et l’esprit des protagonistes. Les rôles secondaires sont bien écrits les personnages féminins ne sont pas des silhouettes insipides de faire-valoir mais sont réelles, particulièrement l’amie Ae Ri et la chef du club de surf. C’est une équipe de débutants, j’espère qu’on les reverra !
Bon jusque là, on se dirige vers un rama parfait ! Mais la perfection n’est pas de ce monde et je relève deux défauts à mes yeux :
- Une abondance de très gros plans, assez obscurs, qui rendent les scènes d’amour un peu trop indéchiffrables (ou alors c’est ma cataracte débutante ! ^_^)
- Et la fin m’a déçue, car en un épisode tout devient je ne dirais pas « rose bonbon » mais doré comme un couchant de carte postale ! Tous les problèmes si bien évoqués ont disparu, et la vie semble tout à coup d’une extrême simplicité ! J’aurais aimé (et je crois que c’est la première fois que je dis ça !) au moins deux épisodes de plus, avec la présence du père de Jae Won, de la famille de Ji Hyun, une réaction de l’environnement un peu moins bisounours que celle qu’on nous donne.
Ces deux (petits) défauts n’empêchent que ce soit un très bon drama dans le genre BL, pour la bonne raison que ça a failli ne pas en être un, de BL, mais simplement un drama sur la jeunesse, la découverte de l’amour et de liens d’amitié qui seront les racines d’une vie d’adulte.

Je le conseille fortement !
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Love it

Just finished exam and not sure what to watched and happened to came across this by accident and boy was I in for a surprise. This series is reaaaally niiiice. The Storyline, The slow burn up. I love it. Am actually at episode 6 and I went back to rewatch all the others and come back to 6 🤣🤣. So far it have me hooked. First time watching these guys and they haven't disappointed . After an finished going to see what else they came down it . Take my little advice and go check it out for yourself, you won't be disappointed just my . opinion completed and a rewatch for me its that goood

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A real explosion of emotions, a true masterpiece

I don't even have the words to express how much this series made my heart beat, stumble, fall, shiver,... The production is obviously amazing, and the work in each scene is phenomenal. The colors, the sceneries, the dialogues, the acting, everything took its own place and made it beautiful. It's heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time a real piece of moving art. The actors gave so much depth to their characters, the storyline served them well. This is truly a masterpiece and one of the best series I have ever seen.

I also have to talk about the last scene of episode 9, a work of art, one of my favorite songs from my favorite artist perfectly depicting their relationship and the way they evolved together. The music did serve perfectly the intent and I won't exaggerate to say it was the best bl moment I've seen on screen.

Overall this was everything I could search for in a piece of art, a real, raw love story with heavy subjects but with a line of healing. There are so many things to say about the details and how the whole series was thought that a review might be too short to talk about everything.
I would like to thank everyone who worked on this amazing series and encourage anyone reading this review to watch it because it really deserves a lot of support.

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The Five Senses Aren't Everything

This drama is quite simply beautiful in pretty much every way possible. The cinematography, the story, the characters, the acting, all of it comes together to create something truly enchanting. It's authenticity is breathtaking. It tells a story that is real and raw, touching on subjects that many BLs and Asian dramas in general avoid. The Eighth Sense is honestly the best BL drama I've seen in a while and it is well worth the time to watch it.

The story is amazing for all it's simplicity. This is not a big and bold drama filled with pomp and drama. It is wonderfully subtle and realistic. Every part of it feels natural, organic. It's well paced and the delivery is exceptional. Yes, it's a romance, but it's also about two people helping and healing each other. Jae Won gives Ji Hyun the courage to step outside his comfort zone and Ji Hyun helps Jae Won begin to heal from the trauma of his past. And I appreciated that it didn't feel like the pair of them getting together magically fixed everything for Jae Won. It felt like a combination of his therapist's and Ji Hyun's boss's words that finally got through to him and helped him take that first step forward. Sure, Ji Hyun is there to help and support him, but he also has to put in the work himself to continue to heal.

While the first few episodes focus more on Ji Hyun and his growth as he learns to step out of his shell and begin to interact with other people and the world around him, the latter part of the drama focuses on Jae Won as he begins to face the trauma from his past and take steps to move forward. Both characters experience huge amounts of growth in a very short time and it's done so well. They grow both together and separately. And that's part of what was so great. Instead of the pair of them existing in their own world surrounded by barely there supporting characters, they had a life outside of each other. In fact, I think they had more scenes with their friends than they did with each other. But I loved that because it added depth and meaning to both them and the supporting characters who are so often only there to move the plot forward. Here though they're fully developed characters and amazing ones at that.

The acting was fantastic all around. Im Ji Sub and Oh Jun Taek were nearly flawless in their roles. Their chemistry was just so natural and believable. The supporting actors were equally fantastic. Lee Mi Ra and Seo Ji An as Yoon Won and Ae Ri respectively were both fun and insightful as the male leads' friends. I really loved the relationship they had with the two of them and the way that Yoon Won and Jae Won supported and loved each other. Lee Mi Ra and Im Ji Sub just had a very natural chemistry that was great to watch. Jung Seo In was fabulous as Ji Hyun's boss. She was equal parts funny and the deliverer of sage advice. I loved her. Park Hae In as Eun Ji and Jang Young Joon as Tae Hyung were believably villainous. I couldn't stand either character, so kudos to their acting prowess.

One of my absolute favorite things about this drama was how mental health was addressed. The fact that we actually got to see Jae Won going to therapy, the knowledge that he was taking medication for his mental health, and that he even admitted himself that he had depression was huge. Most Asian dramas downplay mental health issues or just ignore them completely. That it was so openly addressed and delved into was gratifying and I hope more dramas do the same.

The cinematography was truly stunning. It had a very stylistic feel to it that I appreciated as well as the fact that it was maintained pretty much throughout. My only complaint was that some of the night scenes were a bit too dark which made it difficult to tell what was going on. That may have also been a stylistic choice but it wasn't one that I felt worked well.

I loved the music. It all worked very well with the drama and felt like actual effort was put in to finding songs that fit with what was going on and they really did enhance the mood for those scenes.

I did have a few things that prevented me from giving this a perfect 10. The main one was the "twist" in Episode 7. I don't know if it was a subbing issue or if it was deliberate, but either way, I really don't like having my emotions played with and that's exactly what it felt like they were doing. It seemed like they went for shock value and then jumped out and yelled, "Psych!" It really killed the mood for me and made me question why I had started this drama. The other part was the handling of Eun Ji and Tae Hyung. Both were terrible, manipulative people, so the fact that they got a happyish ending didn't sit quite well for me. Considering the way mental health was addressed, I feel like dealing with the two of them could have been a good continuation of that because Jae Won did not need such toxic people in his life, particularly Tae Hyung. I would have preferred to see something where they cleared the air between them, but Jae Won made it clear that he could no longer have Tae Hyung in his life. Actions have consequences and I don't feel like either character really experienced any kind of meaningful consequence.

I truly cannot recommend this drama enough, particularly to people who enjoy dramas that are more than just the romance. With a meaningful story and characters, you really have nothing to lose.

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Not your usual happy kind of bl series ,touches important topics like depression

Words aren't enough to express how much I loved this series ,the trailer itself caught my eye so I was very much excited to watch the series .What I loved the most about this drama was that it was realistic and not some happy fictional story .The cast were perfect ,they played their characters so well ,it's like the characters were made for them . Being in love while dealing with depression isn't easy at all ,I was totally screaming when Jaewon came back to senses and went in search of Jihyun . I could relate to his avoiding tendencies after that kiss happened between him and Jihyun . The gazes that both of them shared ,the details were small but enough to catch our eyes and it just gave me butterflies . I wasn't expecting such a passionate kissing scene between them ,it didn't feel like they were acting ,hats off to the team of The eight sense .Not only they have us scene that dealt with depression, to let us know a glimpse of it .

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