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!