Watched Aug 14, 2024
There’s something incredibly heartwarming and wholesome about this show. While it’s ostensibly a gay male dating reality show, it really seems much more about the various journeys gay men take to and through those relationships. At no point did I think any of these men were a match for another, but that’s also very life. The framing of the show is refreshing to American eyes, and simultaneously disconcerting. The reunion episode, in particular, seemed to betray the zone of comfort I prefer in reality television. The hosts seemed to just be fans of the show and there was no actual processing of the unresolved information from the main episodes. In fact, the interview style left a sour taste in my mouth. It felt voyeuristic in a way that I could ignore during the main episodes, but could not at the point of a more “real” episode. Ultimately, is representation for the majority gaze worth it? I don’t really think so. But I would probably watch another season, so what do I know? Justice for Taeheon!
