• AIR DAY: Thursday
• AIRED: March 2022 
• AIRING CHANNEL: iQiyi

Blueming is a South Korean BL (Boys Love) Drama released on iQiYi App. It is adapted from the webtoon ‘Who Can Define Popularity?’ by Tak Bon. The story is about Siwon Cha by Kang Eun Bin and Dawoon who are film majors. It’s about their love story and conflicts in the world.

Plot

Siwon is a film major who is confident in his beauty until he meets Dawoon who is considered handsome by their classmates and the teachers in the university. Naturally, Siwon gets annoyed by Dawoon’s smiling face and confesses his insecurities which made Dawoon fall in love with Siwon as he was the first one to talk about his thoughts on his face.

SPOILER ALERT!!

Review

The drama starts with Siwon entering his new life in the film major department where he eventually becomes the leader since he is considered good-looking. He himself considers handsome and has confidence in his beauty. But we can actually understand Siwon’s nature as in his childhood he use to be called a gorilla and thought he had to be flawless not to be looked down on. That motto continued even when he grew up which kept him going. But after he met Daun who didn’t attend the orientation his confidence goes into the gutter as Daun already had a manly voice and was considered handsome by every teacher in the university.

When the teams were considered to be divided the teachers would team Siwon and Dawoon leaders even their classmates think that there are fated to be like this. This made Siwon think that Dawoon looks down on him and wants to compete with him, Siwon confesses these feelings when he got drunk and told Dawoon how narcissistic he is. This interaction let both of them play tom and jerry and let Siwon becomes warry of Dawoon whenever he was near him. After this incident, there were many scenes that questioned Dawoon’s interest in Siwon. In one scene where Siwon gets paint over his shirt and had to shower Dawoon reaches for him inside and rubs his ears for him. In another scene when Dawoon brings hot coffee for Siwon after his shower and cold coffee for his friends.

When Dawoon kisses Siwon by getting his hand in the middle of the kiss on the forehead we know Dawoon’s feelings are more than Siwon’s imagination. On the other hand, Siwon is still unknown to his feelings as he asked him to stop laughing because he goes blank whenever he laughs. Unknowingly Siwon spends the whole day with Dawoon on his birthday and the only thing that Dawoon asked in return was to be in his life more. Eventually, they start getting close.

Like every drama, conflicts between them arise when Siwon applies to an exhibition competition where he wins the first prize but this made him angry as he got to know that Dawoon’s parents are the ones who are behind the production of the exhibition. This made his senior question the production company. The rumored photo started to spread once Siwon got popular this reminded Siwon of the world where he lives and only cares about you once you get recognition. Dawoon tries to comfort him but the plate was already broken.

Their relationship takes a turn when Siwon wholeheartedly talks about his insecurities to Dawoon. They did have many conflicts but they learned if they stayed together everything would feel less intimidating. His scenario at the exhibition was considered good and the production company approved the filmmaking of his autobiographic story. When he stresses about the film-making Dawoon takes Siwon on a trip where they enjoy good food and the beach. Siwon wanted to know about Dawoon’s life because he never talks about himself. When he approached, Dawoon kissed Siwon at the beach when he knew their feelings were mutual. Siwon never understood what Dawoon liked in him he asks this question when they had their first night of sex on the trip which was led by the kiss they had on the beach.

While they were having lunch with Dawoon’s mom after the movie was released. Siwon got to know the secret to why he won the first prize. Dawoon was the one who talked about it to his mother. Dawoon thought what he was doing was thoughtful of him for Siwon. Even when he came to apologize he didn’t say anything more than he was sorry which made Siwon think about how can he stay with a person who behaves like this. Dawoon finally experienced how neglecting he was. He thought his feelings made him do all those things because he wanted to be perfect for Siwon. His pride made him not be honest with anyone. Siwon understood where his feelings were coming from. They lived happily ever after knowing this was just starting of their lives where they will learn about each other every single day to stay forever.

Writer’s Thoughts

Fun facts in episode 2 Dawoon never told the taxi driver where they wanted to go but he dropped them off at Dawoon’s house. Looking at Siwon’s family situation rather than having fruits on the table, the table was filled with protein shake powders which showed his behavior same goes for Dawoon nature his parents never paid any attention to him which was the main cause of the fighting. The beach kiss was seriously the most beautiful scene I have seen in a BL drama till now. Even the sex scene was beautifully shot just the silhouette of them starting getting physical to next day morning talking about embarrassing things that happened in past. There were few scenes where we got to see the lesbian interest in Siwon’s sister and Siwon’s friend which was totally not necessary as they didn’t show any progress in them or the future. I think BL makers should stop doing this as it’s not necessary to have another couple if there are going to show about them in between the main couple’s conflicts.

When I first started this drama I thought the whole story is about Lookism/appearance-related. But there were few lines that were good enough to mention. 

‘Although lookism and appearance-oriented views should be eliminated, as long as humans exist on earth, the concept will last forever is the first line at the start of the drama.

You can watch the trailer down below: