BL Series That Fall Flat: Inconsistent Characterizations

Semantic Error

It is very difficult for humans not to make comparisons. Semantic Error and Cherry Blossoms in Winter, which apparently came out the same year, come in for comparisons. Both are excellent. Neither needs to be compared to the other since they tell different stories in different ways. 

Cherry Blossoms After Winter

However...I have since encountered a few Korean BL dramas that seem to be trading on or attempting to replicate Semantic Error and Cherry Blossoms...and they are simply not as good. 

Part of the reason is the storyline, the lack of a strong underlying plot. But the larger reason, I would maintain, is the lack of consistency within the characters. 

What makes Semantic Error and Cherry Blossoms so remarkable is that the characters are entirely consistent. 

That is, in Semantic Error, Chu Sang Woo doesn't stop being detail-oriented and obsessively literal the moment he falls in love (or begins to).

Hence the amusing scene where he requires that Jang Jae Young clean out the office before they commence work. In fact, he insists on regular deadlines even after the men are practically dating. Right up to the final scene, he comes up with rules, such as when he instructs his lover, "Don't touch my stuff." 

Jang Jae Young doesn't lose his mischievousness. He knows precisely what he has signed up for with his lover and finds the behavior charming and easily managed. 

In Cherry Blossoms, Sae Hae Bom, though somewhat naive and far less aggressive than Jo Tae Seong, who protected him in high school, has the steadier personality. In the long run, he is the less high-maintenance member of the couple, which makes perfect sense in terms of the episodes' consistent characterizations. Haebom is able to address the mother's concerns, which the fretting Taeseong didn't believe entirely possible.

Series which have potential yet fall somewhat flat almost always have lost their characters' distinctiveness. Once the dating/relationship begins, characters who were previously snarky or bemused or assertive or talkative or confused or high-maintenance or insouciant or kind of nutty or inappropriate or logical or aloof or hyperactive or didactic or clear-headed or questioning or belligerent or worried or intensely independent become...sweet and nice and bashful and self-doubting and properly romantic.

 *Sigh.* 

It is as if the writers are trying to achieve in the writing what should be left up to the viewers--the writers really, really want viewers to know the relationship is a success rather than viewers making that deduction on their own--rather like fantasy writers who behave as if throwing an elf, a dwarf, a knight, and a wizard together on a quest instantly creates interest and excitement. 

Yup--the Cherry Magic characters remain 

consistent--no matter how odd!

Characters with consistent characterizations will evoke sweet and delighted reactions: lovers of romance want to see romance between different kinds of people. That's the whole point of romance!  

Show us. Don't tell us.