**Strongberry quality**

South Korea is the country of BL miniseries, some of which often deliver well-told stories within less than an hour. The short duration, the setting often reduced to just one apartment or a secluded part of a bar, and the small number of characters are due to limited budgets. Among the production companies working like this – Sukfilm, True Film, and Seek Media, to name just a few – Strongberry has always stood out as the runtime of their series is a little longer, allowing their stories to be more complex, the settings and cinematography more diversified.

“Choco Milk Shake“ was a wonderful fairy tale, “Blossom Campus“ an extraordinary college series, and “Sweetheart Service“ the story of young professionals trying to find their place in society. In all these series, Strongberry cast young, talented actors, many of whom used their work with this company as their entry into an acting career.

“Check in to you“ is a typical Strongberry production that lives up to the company’s reputation as a maker of creative BL content. It is a “body-swap“ plot, and I admit I was skeptical when I read this, because most body-swap BL series have been disappointing. The very first episode made me curious, though, because it was so funny that it made me laugh out loud. But I soon realized that this wasn’t going to be pure comedy, but the exciting story of two young men from not just different, but opposite worlds who are tied together by an accident that made them swap their bodies has some important messages for viewers.

Cha Do-gyeong (Hwang Dong-hee) is the CEO of a real estate corporation owned by his mother, who raised him to become a cold-hearted, profit-driven, if not greedy businessman. He is sent to a beautiful seaside resort in order to sell the place to build a more profitable establishment in its location. Yoon Ji-o (Kim Dong-won), the manager of the resort, is a romantic individual who quit his job in a big Seoul corporation after feeling the magic of the place on the sea. He is devastated when he notices that Cha Do-gyeong has come to destroy his dream of a peaceful life in what he considers as his paradise.

A short-cut caused by a hairdryer that falls on the wet ground of the bathroom affects both young men, which they only realize the next morning, when Ji-o feels like he has grown over night, whereas Do-gyeong complains about his loss of muscle. Of course they try to find a way to return into their own bodies, referring to stories they have read somewhere. But neither exposing themselves to another electric shock nor a kiss helps, so they have to accept that for the time being they have to live in the other’s body.

As they want nobody to notice what has happened, they play each other’s roles – the nice and easygoing resort manager turns into the cold capitalist and vice versa, creating some very funny scenes. The staff of the resort as well as Do-gyeong’s assistant (Song Won-jeob) are puzzled as they can sense something’s wrong with the persons they thought they knew so well.

For the two young men, however, the unexpected and unusual situation has a huge impact on how they see themselves and each other. Ji-o experiences the pressure Do-gyeong is under when he has to answer Do-gyeong’s mother’s calls, who urges her son to sell the resort and reminds him of the reason of his being, i.e. making profit in whatever circumstances, neglecting the interests of other people. Do-gyeong, on the other hand, starts to understand what the resort and the peaceful place on the sea means to Ji-o.

As this is a BL series, and “opposites attract“ is one of the major BL topics (or tropes), the young men slowly, but surely fall for each other. But in contrast to many BL plots, their love is not just an affair driven by romantic feelings. It is rather the consequence of seeing the world through the yes of the other, which makes both of them appreciate each other, but also helps them reflect on their own lives.

Their love is sealed with a deep kiss on the beach with a romantic sunset, which miraculously, though not completely unexpected by BL experts, makes them return to their original bodies. This time the kiss works, in contrast to the fake kiss at the beginning of the story, because it expresses true feelings. The young men have returned to their own bodies, but they are not the persons they used to be. The unique experience of seeing the world through someone else’s eyes and of understanding the other’s background is the basis for a relationship that may be a lot deeper and more honest than most relationships that are based on simple romance or whatever.

This is what sets “Check in to you“ apart from other body-swap series: it isn’t just another fantasy, fairy tale story, but it is the Strongberry version of such stories. It conveys a deeper meaning as it teaches viewers to listen to their neighbors’ wishes, to try to understand where they are coming from, in a word, it teaches empathy, and all this without becoming preachy at all. Well, it’s Strongberry.

The writing (Tim Tae-wook) is on point, as it allows the viewer to get to know the protagonists, their respective backgrounds and their character development intimately, and all this in only one hour, which is something other body-swap BL series do not achieve in 12 full episodes.

The series also provides a wonderful opportunity for the lead actors to display their skills as they have to play completely opposing roles, and on top of this, make their characters’ development appear natural and credible. Both Hwang Dong-hee, an experienced actor of 35, and Kim Dong-won, 27, who also played a support role in “A Shoulder to Cry on“, are absolutely up to their tasks, Song Won-jeob, who plays the assistant, and who played a remarkable support role in “Match Play“, displays sensitive understanding of his boss, whereas Song Ji-un personifies the icecold businesswoman and Do-gyeong’s dominant mother terrifyingly fierce.

The directing of Tim Tae-wook is good, and he found some nice shots, be it in the garden of the resort or on the beach. The great cast seems to have made his job quite easy, too, although it is never easy to motivate actors to perform at their best level, but Tae-wook has achieved exactly this.

The soundtrack is minimalistic – most scenes are mere dialog, without any orchestral sound distracting from the spoken words. But whenever there is background music, it is sensitive and contributes to the atmosphere of the respective scenes.

There is only one thing I have to complain about. Waiting 7 days for an episode of merely 10 minutes doesn’t make much sense, as it will make you forget and miss some details.

I remember I wrote in a comment on one of the earliest Strongberry series “It’s Strongberry, so it’s quality“, and I know that many BL lovers expect more from this company than they would from most others. This must be quite a challenge for a small company, and it is quite a miracle that Strongberry almost never disappoints viewers’ high expectations.

Please watch “Check in to you“, if you haven’t already done that, and I guarantee you won’t be disappointed. But even if you have watched it, I would advise you to binge-watch the whole series – it takes only an hour, and you’ll be surprised to notice some very fine scenes the meaning of which you missed when you watched it on a weekly basis.