‘Light on Me’ is a BL Drama That Took Me By Surprise in the Best Way Possible | Korean Drama Review

I’m not sure if I mentioned this in previous blog posts, but I’m a sucker for Korean dramas. However, at the moment, I’m trying to be selective with the dramas I watch for two reasons: they take up a lot of time and they’re so predictable. Well, the dramas I’ve seen so far are predictable. They all have a love triangle between two guys and one girl, an evil mother, someone that gets framed for murder and comes back for revenge, people stabbing each other in the back, and women that wear way too much pastel clothing. Like seriously, why can’t there be a Korean girl rocking blue jeans and a black Def Leppard shirt?

Well, the drama I’m going to talk about today is a little different. It’s a BL drama titled Light on Me (2021); “BL” stands for “Boys’ Love.” Yes, you’ve heard it correctly, it’s a love story between two guys. I came across it by accident too, which was through a YouTube compilation video of the two main leads. I heard Light on Me had good reviews, and I was sick and tired of watching the same love stories between a guy and girl repeatedly, so I thought, why not? Thankfully, it did not disappoint me and was actually better than I expected it to be.

Light on Me is about an 18-year-old high school student named Woo Tae-kyung, a loner, who joins his school’s student council, so that he could make some friends. Tae-kyung gets involved in a love triangle with Shin Da-on, the president of the council, and Noh Shin-woo, the vice president of the council. Other characters include Namgoong Shi-won, the head of volunteer work for the council; Seo Haet-bit (Mr. Seo), a friendly teacher that offers the gang advice whenever they need it; and Lee So-hee, a female friend of Da-on’s. There are 16 episodes total and each episode is around 20-30 minutes. I finished the drama in one night and watched it again the next night. 

Light on Me is a slow burner; in fact, the main ship takes a while to get together. But, I like that because the drama establishes the friendship between the two main leads before pairing them up romantically. Also, the slow burner format allows viewers to get to know the characters better and see things from their perspective. Minus So-hee, who I wanted to throw off the Empire State Building throughout most of the series; the characters are charming, likable, and have special qualities that make them unique. Light on Me is simply an innocent high school drama about finding love and friendship. 

Tae-kyung is very shy, reserved, and doesn’t know how to fit in with his peers. But, through his interactions with Shin-woo, Da-on, and Namgoong, he gains more confidence in himself and finally finds a place to belong. What I love about these characters is that there’s more than what meets the eye. Da-on, for example, looks like the perfect student who’s popular, gets exceptional grades, and is essentially a people pleaser. However, because of his good-natured behavior, he tends to put others’ needs above his own and lets people take advantage of him. 

Shin-woo has a cold and aloof personality, and has trouble opening up to people. But, his tough persona is just a defense mechanism for him because he’s scared of getting hurt. Namgoong is funny, outgoing, and has a comic relief quality to him. But, he’s also wise, offering his friends advice whenever they’re in trouble. He’s very loyal to his friends and he defends the people he cares about at all costs.

I thought the love triangle was nicely done. The writers really tried to deceive viewers into thinking that Tae-kyung and Da-on were going to end up together. Even the drama’s trailer made it seem like they were going to end up together. For the first nine episodes, that was the direction Light on Me was going for. But then, it shifts gears and allows Shin-woo to take over, revealing that he actually cared about Tae-kyung all along. 

Da-on and Shin-woo are quite different from each other, and despite Da-on welcoming Tae-kyung with open arms initially and treating him with kindness, I felt no romantic chemistry between the two. Maybe it’s because Da-on is a little older than Tae-kyung, but I saw them more as brothers, rather than a couple. Da-on is a good person and he means well, but the way he led Tae-kyung on, despite not being ready to come out of the closet yet, was very rude of him. They had a close relationship in the beginning; So-hee noticed that, as well. But, after Tae-kyung confessed his feelings for Da-on and a scandalous photo of the two holding hands got leaked to the public, Da-on’s true colors began to show.

When things got tough, Da-on ran away. Because he’s a people pleaser, he spent too much time focusing on what his peers wanted, rather than what he wanted. He wanted to be with Tae-kyung, but he never had the guts to tell him that until it was too late. After the photo got leaked and rumors about him being gay spread all over school, Da-on abandoned Tae-kyung for a short while, making Tae-kyung feel like the whole situation was his fault. 

That’s why looks can be deceiving; when Tae-kyung least expected it, Shin-woo was there for him. In episode 10, it was revealed that Shin-woo wanted to be friends with Tae-kyung first, because he admired Tae-kyung’s honesty. Unfortunately, after making a bad first impression on him, Shin-woo gave up on trying to be Tae-kyung’s friend. Up until that point, we were led to thinking that Tae-kyung and Shin-woo’s first encounter was in the first episode of the series, when Tae-kyung accidentally poked Shin-woo’s butt with a dildo, however, it wasn’t. I gotta say, I really like what the writers did with their relationship. 

In the beginning, Shin-woo held a grudge on Tae-kyung because of the dildo incident. They started getting along briefly after Tae-kyung saved Shin-woo from his former bullies. But in episode four, after seeing Da-on and Tae-kyung at the library looking all lovey dovey at each other, Shin-woo got jealous and went back to his old ways. Tae-kyung then got fed up with his behavior and told Shin-woo to make more of an effort to be nicer to him and he’ll do the same for him.

Starting with episode six, Shin-woo is nicer to Tae-kyung, showing a more kind and gentle side to him, and for the audience, it’s really sad seeing Shin-woo deal with his feelings for Tae-kyung because unrequited love sucks. Every time Da-on and Tae-kyung were together, Shin-woo got his heart broken. While there was always chemistry between the two, Shin-woo and Tae-kyung’s relationship never took off until episode 12, when Tae-kyung spends the night at Shin-woo’s apartment and they have a heart-to-heart conversation. By that point, it was obvious that Shin-woo was the right choice for Tae-kyung, considering all the things he did for him. This dude even sang a silly song at karaoke to cheer up Tae-kyung, after he was dumped by Da-on. 

One of my favorite scenes in the series occurs at the end of episode 13, where Tae-kyung reads all of the text messages he received from Shin-woo. Then, he asks Shin-woo if he thinks about him all the time, to which he responds with, “Yesterday, today, and probably tomorrow, I’ll continue thinking about you.” It’s a compelling scene and a defining moment for Tae-kyung’s relationship with Shin-woo. Talk about development for these two, and Shin-woo was great because he stood by Tae-kyung’s side during both the good and bad moments. He was there for Tae-kyung when he was in a really dark place. 

Besides leading Tae-kyung on when he wasn’t ready to come out yet, the thing that really irritated me about Da-on was when he told Tae-kyung that he liked him and wanted to start over with him, even after Tae-kyung just said he wanted to reciprocate Shin-woo’s feelings for him (this occurred during the beginning of episode 15). Da-on had the freaking nerve to try to steal Tae-kyung away from Shin-woo, despite giving Shin-woo permission to go after Tae-kyung, in episode 12. Oh man, episode 15 was frustrating because it ended with Tae-kyung supposedly rejecting Shin-woo. But thankfully, in the final episode, Tae-kyung picked Shin-woo and they officially became a couple. Da-on accepted his defeat and decided to move on from Tae-kyung.

There’s a really great scene in the last episode of the series, where Tae-kyung and Shin-woo are holding hands as they’re walking to school, not even worrying about what the other students are saying about them. Instead of hiding their relationship to avoid homophobia and judgements that may come their way, they choose to show off their relationship proudly. After what he went through with Da-on, Tae-kyung needed someone who wasn’t ashamed of him and Shin-woo gave that to him.

Maybe it’s because I’ve never seen a great BL drama before Light on Me, but I really enjoyed this drama and personally, it’s the best Korean drama I’ve seen in a long time. The love story between Tae-kyung and Shin-woo is very real and honest, the characters are relatable, there are memorable quotes, and there are a lot of humorous and sarcastic moments in this drama. I had no expectations for Light on Me, but it was a breath of fresh air. It wasn’t one of those intense dramas where someone goes to jail for murder; it was heartfelt and sincere. Even the characters I didn’t like, So-hee and Da-on, redeemed themselves in the end. As mentioned before, So-hee was awful throughout most of the series, so that’s saying a lot. Not going to lie, the actor that plays Shin-woo, Kang Yoo-seok, reminds me of Jimin from BTS, which fascinates and freaks me out at the same time. 

Speaking of the actors, they all did a great job. Personally, Shin-woo stole the show with his kindness and innocence that made people root for him. I remember Yoo-seok from Once Again (2020), where he had a much smaller role, so I never got to see what he was like as an actor. From his mannerisms, his dialogues, his facial expressions, Yoo-seok really captured the vibe of Shin-woo. He also had great chemistry with Lee Sae-on, the actor that plays Tae-kyung, which made their scenes together even more memorable. 

What’s interesting about Sae-on is that he’s more lively and outgoing than Tae-kyung, which I never would’ve known about. I guess it goes to show how talented Sae-on is as an actor. Go Woo-jin was another standout to me because I freaking loved Namgoong. With a flick of a switch, he can go from crazy and insane, to smart and thoughtful. Even if he wasn’t hilarious, I still would’ve loved him because Namgoong is a good person. Besides, he also played a role in getting Tae-kyung and Shin-woo together, since he was essentially the matchmaker of the group. 

Despite the cliffhanger with Mr. Seo, I really enjoyed Light on Me. I believe that it’s a step in the right direction because it means that the world is becoming more accepting of the LGBTQ community, especially in South Korea. I hope other dramas will follow in their footsteps and writers will continue to write groundbreaking love stories that move viewers in different ways. It doesn’t matter who you love, as long as you’re not hurting anyone. 

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Lana