Drama Digest
The Best Story is a mini-series that follows Best, a boy who perpetually flounders at everything he sets his hands on has an oxymoron for a name. Best falls for Dew, the most attractive boy in his class, and resorts to wistfully watching the latter. He never tries to confess, even though he has his friends Ray and Bright as his wingmen. One day, however, things start changing when Best becomes acquainted with two of Dew’s best friends. Will Best be able to get close to Dew, or will things fall apart entirely?
The Feel-Good Part
At first glance, The Best Story looks like any other cutesy middle-school drama with tons of puppy love and innocent dreams of love. However, this series has more to it than that. The Best Story showcases the phases of developing a crush on someone and falling in love with them, all in three episodes. It does an incredible job at dealing with the portrayal of how having a crush and the hopelessness that comes with it. The storyline is bittersweet and capable of driving you to the edge of breaking down. It does an excellent job at representing the homophobia prominently present in Asian countries. Another admirable thing about this drama is the casting. The actors look like students and not middle-aged men in school uniforms. The show also has a good production value and camerawork, as well as a beautiful OST.
The Disappointing Factor
The drama relies on a lot of clichés, making the show predictable. The storyline does not bring anything new to the table. The three-episode length also seems too short to do justice to the character arcs, and the ending seems a little sudden. The writing could have been stronger in a few parts as well.
In-Depth Analysis
The Best Story does a commendable job of condensing the entire story into a three-episode limit. The screenplay is well written, and it covers the themes of homophobia – both public and internalized, the pains and the futility of first loves and self-acceptance. The characters are all multi-dimensional, and none of the characters is human manifestations of one single personality trait.
Although there are many flaws in this, the good attributes overshadow the bad ones.
Star Power
War delivers incredible performance and you are bound to feel your eyes turn glassy because of the emotionally charged performance he delivers. He is easily the star of the show.
Overall Opinion
This is a beautiful watch and should be on everyone’s list of things you need to see.
