Do You Have Feelings For Me?

Top 10 K-drama Actors: Honorable Mention 2 Moon Woo Jin

The main reason why he’s not in my top 10 is because we have yet to see him flourish to his full potential, but I’ve known since The Beauty Inside that’s this kid is one of the most talented actors I’m going to see in my life.

We all know that if he’s listed in a tv show, there’s going to be some tragic past subplot and I can guarantee you, you will cry. That child can cry from his heart and make you cry along with him. And if he isn’t crying, his facial expressions and the way he tells the story will!

Just  to list a couple of his works:

The Beauty Inside: Where he had to act like a grown up actress trapped in a child’s body. Hilarious and a great showcase of his talent.

What’s wrong with Secretary Kim? Where he portrayed the tragic past of  Lee Young-joon (Grown up version portrayed by Park Seo Joon)

Psycho but it’s okay: Honestly, if you haven’t cried in at least one of the flashbacks or the combination of Moon Woo Jin’s acting with Kim Soo Hyun’s, you have my respect.

Come and Hug Me: Once again, playing the child version of the main lead, with an amazing performance. We also get the well known flashback combo of Moon Woo Jin (child) and  Nam Da Reum (teen, btw, I should probably give him an honorable mention of his own, I actually considered putting the combo as an honorable mention). 

This particular combo is also seen in What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim, and pretty much any k-drama where the main lead has a tragic past that is well explored. Nam Da reum also has a bright future ahead of him as he’s headed into adulthood, and I hope I can see him in a lead role soon enough.

Some of y’all think that holding hands and sharing a bed is immediately romantic, and this is why people cannot differentiate between romantic, platonic, and familial forms of love.

But of course..

that finale was perfect.

i don't think any other drama has handled a love triangle as healthy and softly as light on me did. how each character grew and did what they said they were going to do: change for the better.

how the two "rivals" still managed to keep being friends and not hold their "grudges" or whatever against each other. still just vibing, like friends should.

HOW SHINWOO AND TAEKYUNG STILL MANAGED TO BE BOTH CUTE, AWKWARD AND STILL BICKERING LIKE THE FIRST TIME???? the only thing that changed was them now being allowed to be disgustingly cute as boyfriends WITH SO MUCH HANDHOLDING and not caring what other say.

light on me really did that with the budget that they had, twice a week, 16 eps and 20min run time. one of the best series of 2021. don't even try to change my mind.

The longer it takes, the better love is. Like us, right?

Riam is right here, my dear Kwan.

BAD BUDDY (2021-2022) | insp by @miscellar

honestly speaking bad buddy is like....a slap to even western queer representation. im not even kidding. as someone from a queerphobic country, who got introduced to their first queer character at 14 through nico di angelo, who had to deal with queer identity being used for queerbait through stories like sherlock, who knew of the dumpster fire of queerbait that was supernatural, who rarely ever saw sapphic rep, who found shadowhunters and malec but the awkwardness in all those initial seasons (i wont talk about the books cause...yeah)

bad buddy is like a cure to all of that. this asian show did what western shows are so cowardly to do, unless they want to make it a pat on their back or showcase themself as revolutionary. no, bad buddy gave us a queer romance, told us love is genuinely blind to gender, told hs that sometimes girls do only like girls and nothing will change that, told us that queer people aren't a one in a thousand occurance. queer people exist everywhere, we just don't have the same stages and same spotlights to live out our love like non-queer people.

and bad buddy is what we'd get if we did. the family fued would've been a credible issue even if it was a girl and a guy. and thats why bad buddy feels so special.

this is recompence for suffering through awkward western queer rep, for always having to watch traumatic coming outs as if you can't have a love story without them, for suffering some disgustingly fetishistic pieces of media, for always having to read between the lines, the subtext, for having to make do with blurry lines and deal with "oh nah theyre just friends, you people can't let people of the same gender be friends without wanting a romance".

bad buddy showed that a girl and a guy could be good, even best friends without being in love with each other and still cheat the other. it showed that a guy who once liked a girl could definitely have feelings for a guy and accept them both as part of him. it showed that girls do have their niche set of problems navigating sapphic relationships (felt you there pa). it shows that queer or not, family can still be traumatic, as it has been. it showed that a coming out scene can be "i like a girl" / "oh cool okay" over bowls of noodles.

this is actually what we've ever wanted. we love normally, go through normal conflits, have friends, talk about stuff everyone else does. our sexuality or identity isn't our whole personality. we do music, play sports, slack off or do well at school, have rivalries.

and i gotta thank this show for giving me that.

“it’s like we were living a double life until graduation.”