The Way You Shine (2023)

Great acting albeit with a clichd soapie plot

I was excited to watch this as I like both the main leads from different dramas (especially FF from History2 a BL)

Trigger Warnings: Suicide, Abortion

What they did well:
- Casting - top notch. You were behind the MC and really hated the others
- OST - sweet
- Kissing scenes - both Puff and FF are expert kissers
- I found myself wanting to watch the next episode
- The food porn - I was craving cake by the end of it.

What wasn't so good:
- The plot is ok but there are so many coincidences you would think it was based in a village not a city. Like there are literally only 4 families in this whole show
- The majority of the women are really unlikeable. From the mums to the 2nd FL to the sister Xia Anni they were problematic.
- Stalking seems to be normalised behaviour. No means No
- They resolved some issues quickly such as trauma and others were left with holes (e.g. the debt). Maybe they're saving it for the last 2 episodes but I doubt they could fill that many.
* 1 thing I didn't like is that the villains were noticeably darker skinned, highlighting a continued issue with the Asian media.

Overall a decent binge watch over the weekend and if you like that soapie style then definitely worthy of a watch.

I'll come back after the ending but that's it for now. Enjoy!

Post ep 24: Nothing to add except the mum stuff was resolved a little too easily. There was a lot of emotion at the end and it was well acted. The OST did the mOST with the paino and string instruments but, at this stage I would expect nothing less. I'm just glad they didn't give us amnesia in the last episode as with all of the cliches it could have gone there.

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