Something is Not Right – The Fragile Line Between Friendship and Love

Adapted from the webtoon Who Can Define Popularity? by Tak Bon, the Korean BL drama Something is Not Right brings together Choi Min Ho as Do Ba U, Jung Je Hyeon as Ji Hun, and Ji Min Seo as Jung Ha Min in a story that is as much about unspoken truths as it is about learning to listen. At its core, it’s a tale of missed chances, fragile longing, and the delicate thread that binds two friends who don’t quite know how to cross that final line.

The story opens with a slow burn that’s both familiar and arresting. Ji Hun and Do Ba U have been friends for years, tethered by a bond that neither has been brave enough to define. When Ba U’s quiet, unspoken love for Ji Hun becomes too much to bear, he tries to sever their connection, forcing Ji Hun into a corner he wasn’t ready to face. It’s tender. It’s awkward. And it’s the perfect kind of messy.

Much of the drama is anchored in this push and pull, a sort of dance where neither partner knows the right steps. Ji Hun, afraid of losing a friendship he’s depended on, struggles to move forward out of fear of losing Ba U, despite harboring feelings of his own. Ba U, in contrast, is painfully aware of his own emotions, hiding them in plain sight, guarded and fragile. The show plays with this tension in its early episodes, giving space for their uncertainty to breathe, even if it sometimes borders on frustrating. There are moments when you want to shake them both, to force their eyes open to what’s painfully obvious.

And then there’s Jung Ha Min—a character I never expected to root for so fiercely. His introduction is like a gust of fresh air through the slow tension between Ji Hun and Ba U. Confident, a little arrogant, but deeply intuitive, Ha Min never quite becomes the third corner of a love triangle, but he lingers there, just enough to stir things up. He’s the kind of character that steals scenes without even trying, and I found myself wishing for more of his story. I wouldn’t be mad if he got his own BL spinoff. There’s too much charisma there to let go to waste.

Where Something is Not Right really shines is in its exploration of unrequited love, the kind that lingers. The series doesn’t flinch away from that ache; instead, it leans into it, letting the audience sit with it. But while I appreciated the depth of that pain, I do wish the back-and-forth hadn’t stretched quite as long as it did. At some point, the weight of their silence and the constant near-misses became a bit wearying, especially when the answers were right there, just out of reach. But then there’d be a soft moment that was enough to pull me back in. Enough to remind me why I kept rooting for them.

The side characters, too, are a surprising strength. Ba U’s scenes with his female coworker (and her side GL storyline) feel genuine and lived-in, grounding the more dramatic beats of Ji Hun and Ba U’s constant push and pull with moments of simple, heartfelt connection. It’s those small, seemingly inconsequential interactions that make the world of Something is Not Right feel more real.

For all its quiet yearning and hesitant steps forward, Something is Not Right is exactly what its title suggests: things are messy, tangled, and achingly unresolved, until they aren’t. When love finally finds its voice, it’s satisfying in a way that feels earned after the frustration.

If you’re looking for a series that simmers, that lets its characters sit with their longing and stumble toward each other with all the awkward grace of real life, then Something is Not Right is worth your time. It’s a friends-to-lovers story that knows the value of waiting, even if sometimes, it makes you wait a little too long.

Catch Something is Not Right now on Viki.

Rating- 4 out of 5