“You learn through hurting.”

The trope-filled Korean BL Love Mate starring Cho Hyun Min as love-shy team leader Seo Yi Jun and Cho Han Gyeol as the persistent new employee Ha Ram has come to an end. And with it, it brings an unexpected slew of emotions I was not expecting to feel.

From the beginning, Love Mate made me laugh by exploring a bevy of romantic tropes, from opposites attract to hate-to-love to a second chance romance and more. All smashed together to create a fun, warm ride that was unexpectedly realistic despite the trope-heavy presentation.

But it was the conclusion that stood out for me.

While I wish there were an extra two episodes tacked onto the series to fully round out how truly powerful this ending is, I was impressed by where Love Mate ultimately took me. Rather than offering up the typical jealous misunderstanding with a rushed ending, Love Mate surprised me by doing the opposite.

Despite the pain that Ha Ram experiences over Yi Jun’s troubled feelings, he endures. Ha Ram never misunderstands the situation with Yi Jun’s ex. Instead, he realizes that Yi Jun never fully worked through the fears his ex-boyfriend left him with, which left Yi Jun questioning everything.

Ha Ram stands by Yi Jun through the pain, offering love through understanding. No one wants to hurt, but pain is one of life’s greatest teachers. I find that each time my heart has broken, each time I’ve reopened it, it’s bigger and stronger than it was before.

And that’s a much more powerful message than I was initially expecting from Love Mate.

In my first impression of this drama, I mentioned that there were hints of something more profound.

And it delivers on the sincerity.

From the hidden vulnerabilities to the philophobia to the trope-filled laughs, Love Mate took a sometimes warm, sometimes sad journey to a fulfilling ending, even as I wished for more.

It left me feeling good. Relationships aren’t always built on happy moments. Sometimes they’re built on pain, on the reality that people tend to spend more time being their partner’s shoulder to cry on than they do being overwhelmingly happy.

For a romantic comedy that pulls from many of the stand-out tropes the romance genre has become famous for while also being profound, check out Love Mate now on Gagaoolala and Viki.

Rating- 4 out of 5