너의 시선이 머무는 곳에 epi 1-2 review

We’ve been dying for this show to come out ever since @blworld1 on Instagram shared it on their story. A Korean BL drama?!?! Like HELLLLOOOOO, we knew we were ready for our two worlds to collide. And now it is finally here so we are going to give our thoughts every week about the two episodes airing that week.

We couldn’t even wait until it was fully subtitled that’s how excited we were! We also found this was a great way for us to practice the skills we learn and try and teach here on the site. We re-watched with subtitles a little while later to confirm what we believed to be said and we were pleasantly surprised that we were able to grasp close to 75-80% of the show. Now let’s get into the good stuff.

WARNING: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT! If you don’t want to know before you watch then pause on reading, watch, and then come back to us so we can have a full-on discussion.

1화 (huwa-chapter/episode):  안 좋은 버릇  (an jueun boreut – bad habits)

The first episode had similarities to most shows. Characters were introduced, their roles to the story identified, and what we need to know for us to proceed with the rest of the show was learned. We understood from the trailers that the relationship between 한 내 주 (they call him Han TAE Joo in the romanization but his name tag read내 주) is a wealthy heir to a large company while 강 국 (Kang Gook) is his not so well off bodyguard. What we didn’t know from the trailer was that 내 주 is supposed to keep his identity unknown to the world and 강 국 is there to protect not only the secret but also 내 주.

That doesn’t go so well as in the first two minutes of the show 내 주 get’s into a fight because he keeps stealing this other dude’s girlfriends and then brags to the bully that he is the son of the president of the super big company. To be fair, if three of your girlfriends are seeking comfort somewhere else…take a look at yourself bruh.

As the episode proceeds, we find that 내 주’s father is, to put it bluntly, a dick. Like all rich parents in K-dramas are. He takes out his anger on 강 국 instead of his own son, hinting about ‘a habit’ his son has. Now this bit confused us. What habit is he talking about? Fighting? Girls? Or, does his father assume and/or know his son is gay?

To us 내 주 doesn’t seem to know he’s gay, or at least plays a very naive boy who is unsure where his feelings lie. Like he calls 강 국 “자기야” (jagiya- honey/darling). 강 국 on the other hand seems to wear his sexually frustrated feelings on his sleeve however much he tries to push his feelings aside.

For real if 강 국looked at us the way he looks at 내 주, nsfw things would have already been happening. It is evident from the second he comes on the screen that his feelings for 내 주 are not simply bodyguard and friend.

As 강 국 gives 내 주 first aid in their shared apartment (the rich father put them in a small, ‘average’ liveable space to keep up the mediocre appearance to the rest of the world) they start to rough house making quips and jokes about each other and their fighting techniques. And then that sexual tension that 강 국 so easily portrays comes to hit us head on when 내 주 plays with his earlobe. Rendering 강 국 useless and also hella turned on.

At the end of the episode, the bully who clearly has girl issues comes to apologize and 내 주 chooses to befriend the kid joking it will make it easier to not steal his girlfriends. But then he goes to grab the boys earlobe and 강 국 is not having it.

OUR FAV SCENE: When they go to grab a bite to eat and the woman who owns the shop asked if 강 국 is the attacker and 내 주 is the defense. (Essentially seme/uke top/bottom) Basically this woman is us in 20-30 years and that’s why we loved this scene.

Our cutest scene: When 강 국is taking care of 내 주 and내 주 gets all adorable saying he doesn’t want to go to England (which his father threatened him with) and starts rubbing himself on 강 국 like a little puppy. The actor does give us puppy dog vibes to begin with, so this just solidified his little doggy look.

Our least fav scene: We know this sounds messed up, but any scene with the girl, who we can tell is going to be the strain in the boys’ relationship, is just not for us. She just rubs us the wrong way. I mean she walks into her first scene a legit sneezes loudly not covering her mouth or anything. We outright cringed. Like hello, pandemic? And for real…it’s just basic manners and hygiene. #sorrynotsorry

2 화 : 동등한 관계 (dungdoonghan gwangae – equal partnership/relationship)

Now here is where the story starts to get interesting. And by interesting we do mean the plot thickens, but we also mean the tension builds even more between 강 국 and 내 주. After the incident with 내 주 grabbing the bully’s ear and 강 국 not having it, our two lead boys decide to have a sparring match to prove who really is the better fighter. And now all the fun juicy stuff our ‘hard stan’ BL hearts love takes front stage. 강 국 takes off his shirt to reveal a very sexy back (yeah no abs, we were a crushed but don’t worry we’re on the mend) and 내 주 even compliments his handsome frame. Who wouldn’t?! Boy has a nice backside.

We come to find our that내 주 gave that annoying girl, who honestly we don’t even know if we got her name or not…we don’t care, 강 국’s real phone number! UGH! The nerve of him. 강 국 is not impressed and doesn’t get why 내 주 had to step in and make that move for him. As they begin to spar, (this is where our hearts started to mend) we were trying to hold back our squeals at their heavy breathing, groans, and moans. It was a struggle. And not to mention they seemed to actually have some solid moves.

강 국’s phone keeps blowing up, (GIRL can you get the freakin picture?! He isn’t interested) and while distracted내 주 starts touching 강 국’s bare chest. *Cue the hallelujah chorus on this one* But to cover up the fact he was most likely enjoying the touch, 강 국 puts the hand in a back bend that ends up injuring our rich boy lead’s wrist.

Oh what a shame. NOT! Now our lovely 내 주 needs help doing the most basic of things. “Like what?” you maybe asking yourself. Oh…ya know…cooking…cleaning…showering.

Our bodies hit the floor, our souls were sent to outer space, and then the episode ended, our souls sky rocket back into our bodies, which sat up from the floor and proceed to punch our TV screens for doing us dirty like that.

OUR FAV SCENE: The sparring scene. Do we really need to explain ourselves? Pretty sure we did above.

Our cutest scene: The shower scene. It isn’t a sexual scene at all, like one might think from us freaking out over it. The way 강 국 takes care of 내 주 is sweet. The way he tenderly moves the shampooed hair from 내 주’s ears and softly scrubs at the boys scalp… let’s say our hearts pitter pattered. It was such a soft and gentle moment.

Our least favorite scene: Once again, any scene with this girl just…ugh. Her mother, who is our spirit animal, says to not interfere with the boys relationship. SHE CAN TELL THEY HAVE A RELATIONSHIP, and yet her daughter is like, “nah, they aren’t like that. I’m gonna pursue this dude who gave me a fake number, totally on accident, because he def likes me.” Beesh BYE!

If you want to watch the show yourself and see everything we talked about and more, the show is airing on Viki. Check it out. So far we have not been disappointed and neither will you. If you want to chat about the show feel free to reach out to us on Instagram (@koreanfromcontext) or Twitter (@koreanfrmcntxt). We would love to hear if you’ve started the show and what you think!