The Director Who Buys me Dinner (2022)

Just . . . Bad.

I wanted to like this. I really did. At first I told myself: It's not bad. But not good.

But . . . It was just bad.

I could tell the actors were trying to work with what they were given, but it was like you could almost see it behind their eyes that they wished they could say some lines differently.

And it wasn't just the performances that were lacking, the camerawork could be downright ugly, the important plotpoints of the story felt like they were thrown in at random times, the pacing was off, and the dialogue made me feel like I was in a hamster wheel!

Side Note: Why did Dennis even exist as a character?

Me trying to see the positives:

The concept had promise, the ending wasn't too bad, and sometimes the MLs had legitimate chemistry.

This is a skip my friends. Go watch The New Employee instead. I know you've been thinking about it. Just go!

Leia Mais

One of those dramas that full of plot holes, but somehow watchable.

Plot's premise was intriguing, but there's almost no answer of anything. Dinner part was forgotten after episode 2 and the other character felt unnecessary.
I think the problem was the duration. There's no enough time to properly tell the story. Probably because the recaps, they spent too much time on that.
The acting was fine, even though there's some scenes where they looked awkward. I didn't like any of the OST (for now). The cinematography was good.

Overall
I won't recommend it to anyone. But if you're going to watch it anyway... Don't try to find the logic, just go with the flow and maybe you'll liked it.

Leia Mais

A bitter sweet ending

It broke my heart to see the director, Min Yu Dam, cried after Seol Dong Baek was stabbed by Dennis. His tears, his plead to God, his desperation and his love for Seol Dong Baek, all came pouring out from him. You cannot help but cry with him.

It would have been great if they had given the story more depth and let it flow smoothly. I have read the comic so it kind of help to understand the drama better. 10 episodes were much too short given much time was wasted at the start of each episode to show what had transpired in the previous one. And each episode itself is merely 15 to 20 minutes.

It was a bitter sweet ending and I can understand the frustration some felt after all Min Yu Dam had waited for 300 years to find Seol Dong Baek. However, nearing the end, Min Yu Dam asked if they have met before and the way Seol Dong Baek smiled when he agreed to have dinner with him, indicates to me that it was going to be a new beginning for both of them. As such, it was in a way, a happy ending.

I enjoyed it thoroughly though it was quite rushed through, perhaps due to budget constraint.

Nonetheless, I still recommended it because Park Young Woon's acting was really worth the watch.

Leia Mais

Sweetness overload!

I wish that the drama was longer because it was really good and very sweet. I enjoyed the couple. I enjoyed the storyline, and I even enjoyed the ending. Right now my heart is full and I have the biggest smile on my face. I truly just love these two actors together and they’re chemistry was great.

It’s a short watch, so I really encourage you to check it out. You won’t regret it definitely I wish the show would be remade to be a longer drama maybe a producer somewhere else will pick it up in Thailand or Taiwan or somewhere and a create this, because it was truly a beautiful story.

Leia Mais

Must have been on drugs when writing this drama

If I meet a stranger and they tell me that I must date them or I will die, I would probably start looking for the nearest exit. When they tell me that they are 300 years old and have been waiting for me to come back, I would probably pick up the phone and call the nearest mental hospital.
Seol decides to keep working for his new boss who is batshit crazy, he even goes out for dinner with him later. Very few questions are asked by Seol, but Seol is slightly retarded and believes everything he is told ( which isn't much ) and then starts dating his new boss.
Denis the popstar who also has mental problems takes an interest in Seol , they do say birds of a feather flock together, so all the loons together makes sense. Denis is very problematic but Seol doesn't seem to notice but then the lights are on dim most of the time.
Min Yu, the very old, crazy boss/boyfriend who waited 300 years for Seol to come back to him, also doesn't seem to mind leaving Seol with oddball Denis, but then he doesn't seem to mind leaving him a lot of the time.
Maybe it is just me but if I waited 300 years for someone to come back to me, I would probably clear my calendar and spend all my time with him.
It turns out that Seol is the son of God ( I didn't think God made mistakes ) and because Min Yu gave him a name it caused a big problem and got him killed. I don't know why Min Yu is still alive after 300 years or why Seol came back, who's Denis or why anyone allowed this drama to be made. Maybe they had a competition on who could write the worst BL drama, this is top ten for sure.

Leia Mais

Love that transcends time.

I’d never watched a show with such short episodes before and it took me a couple episodes to get used to it. The cast was wonderful. I think they made great casting choices. When I saw the actor that played Denis I thought it was Changbin from Stray Kids they look very similar. :)

This show was everything I needed right now. I laughed and cried. I will absolutely binge this show again. I hope they have another season, but if they don’t I’m fine with this ending too. <3 I would love to know more about Denis and his role in the story so I’d be open to a spin-off too.

Leia Mais

Not that Bad

TDWBMD was pretty decent. It had its moments, but for the most part, I was fucking with it. I think its only problem is that it's too short so the plot kind of falls on itself and doesn't correlate a hundred percent with what it's trying to be. But nonetheless, it was an okay watch, not very memorable, but I was entertained for the moment and that's all that matters.

Let's Dive In.

The series is pretty short, so the story is rushed perse, but something's kind of off. I really started to enjoy the series the closer we got to the end because it packed in a lot more than the beginning did. The romance feels a little dead between the MLs, it picks up in some parts, but it's not the best. I really stayed for the plot cause that's what intrigued me the most -- especially Denis. The only thing about denis is that we don't get a proper explanation as to who he was, or who he was being controlled by. We can connect the dots to see, but I'm not entirely sure if we're correct. They might've set that up on purpose for a season 2, which, in my rare cases, I'd be happy to see.

The ending was left ambiguous, so it works out if there's to be a second season. I want to see what happens to Denis since some of the people who read the manhwa said he plays a major part in why Dongbeak doesn't die.

Rating:

Story: 7/10 - Decent The plot is intriguing which is why I was kept entertained. Some holes here and there, and I'm not all that interested in the romance part of this.

Acting; 8.5/10 - Youngwoon is hot, but his acting is only okay. It might've been cause he has to play this stoic boss person, but his acting doesn't connect for me. On the other hand, Jeongwoo did an excellent job.

Music: 6/10 - I wasn't paying attention to it.

Recommendation Value: 5.5/10 - Personally, there are better K-BLs to recommend, so this wouldn't be first on my list. But it's pretty good, just really short which is its downfall.

Leia Mais

Tropes: fated mates, reincarnation, PNR, office romance, boss/employee, kill the gay

A new employee whose director claims to have lived 300 years and insists that they have to date (eat, hug & kiss) if baby doesn't want to die. Office, fated mates, and that’s kinda my jam.

It has a lot of Japanese elements to it not the least of which is the office setting, but also the personality of the uke character. Is every character in this show slightly insane? Yes. Is every actor in this show slightly too pretty for my emotional well-being? Also, yes.

I did not expect Korea to go there with the lipstick mark AND an actually gay idol. What alternate reality are we currently living in? Oh. Right. One where they kill the gays. Of course it is. No HEA.

Featuring a gorgeous & stellar cast, TDWBMD should have utilized them less for melodrama and more for chemistry. This BL is a unique twist on an office romance if NOT a unique twist on a doomed red thread trope, resulting in it feeling less than the sum of its parts and ultimately unsatisfying. Possibly this had to do with the fact that this was one of those KBLs where I felt how very short it was the whole time, like I was missing something constantly, in every episode.

Worth watching for some but seriously flawed.

Leia Mais

A good idea, but not enough time to execute it

This bl surprised me a little, I hadn't read the synopsis and I thought the story would only be about a CEO who is obsessed with his secretary, however the story turned out to be a story about past lives, involving mystery and fantasy, which I liked it, because I love stories that involve these elements, however, despite the story seeming to have a good script, the lack of time hindered the progress of the story.

If the episodes had at least 15 minutes more and weren't recapitulating past events all the time, maybe the story would have a better development, because in fact, the most important events and the most surprising revelations only happen in the last 4 episodes, not leaving space for the story to explain certain events and have a less rushed course.

Another problem in this bl was the couple's lack of chemistry at times, the actors' performance is good, especially if you compare it with the performance of certain actors in Thai bls, however I felt a lack of chemistry between the couple, especially in the kissing scenes, sometimes it seemed that the two were being forced to kiss.

The ending was very rushed and despite being a happy ending, I didn't like how things happened, nor how some events and facts were left without explanation.

In conclusion, I think this is a good drama to pass the time, but I think if you want to see a drama with a really good story, you'd better watch other Korean BLscouple, especially in the kissing scenes, sometimes it seemed that the two were being forced to kiss.

Leia Mais

Great cast, missed potential

With the development and increased attention + interest in gay kdramas, this series has the potential to be re-visited with a more passionate producer and studio. The lack of a good budget is evident in things like bad takes, missed editing, bad audio, and the lack of imagination or care to actually get the story across to viewers.

A lot of things within the storyline were abandoned or completely skipped. From the curse, their dinner agreement, and even Dennis himself. A viewer can eventually deduce some aspects of the story yet it leaves far too much room for development.

I hope this can get picked up by a better studio in the future and maybe give this cast the true opportunity to make a great series.

Leia Mais

Leaves you wanting a bit more

One thing I love about Korean BLs is that they break out of the norm of how queer love stories should look like and make it much more than just acceptance or coming out or anything stereotypical attached to queer cinema.

"The Director Who Buys Me Dinner" also does something similar. It takes a storyline filled with fantasy and angst and adds queer characters into the mix. Imagine "The Tale of Nine Tailed" with MLM leads in it.

But despite this you are left with wanting much more. Knowing the fact that the production value of BL dramas in Korea is much lesser compared to mainstream ones, this is kind of expected. But with a short span of episodes and with a taut storyline it is possible to be done. Something like Semantic Error also came out of a very long Webtoon adaptation so why not expect the same from this too?

Nonetheless, this is fun to watch. The adorable factor of the series sticks around and the acting also does justice to it ( maybe next time kiss a little bit more erm passionately, the love didn't feel emanating from those kisses ). Watch it for a fun ride and for a relaxing watch.

Leia Mais

Another fairy tale romance - why do I love them?

Adored it. I hoped for a happy ending but realised quite early on that we were doomed to a sad ending. I was not able to work out what the happy ending could possibly be.
From Tomorrow to Again Life to Reborn Rich and many other shows there seems to be a growing interest in stories involving relived lives. Nine-tailed Fox dramas are now almost a genre in themselves. Unrequited love and unhappy endings to love affairs in previous lives are clearly good material for writers of romance drama.
Strange how the BL format lends itself to the telling of such fairy tales. Consequently. we are beginning to see more and more such shows. So clearly the real attraction of BL is fairy tale romance!
Not sure what that says about my motivation for watching is. I suppose I really should have been aware that this is the real attraction for BL among the core audience. Is it also the moral issues that much of BL raises are so glossed over.

Leia Mais