Unfollow – Series Review & Episode Guide

Hamin is a shy university student with a huge crush on Taejun, the popular guy in his study group. One night, Hamin is at home scrolling through social media. Naturally, he ends up lurking on Taejun's profile. While browsing through the photos, Hamin hits the wrong button. Suddenly, he's following Taejun's account! In a panic, Hamin quickly unfollows him. Taejun notices what happened. He sends a message asking why Hamin followed him… and then immediately unfollowed. Apparently, that hurt his feelings.

Hamin is mortified, so he ignores the message. The next day at their study group, he couldn't focus at all. Every time Hamin makes eye contact with Taejun, he gets embarrassed all over again. The other students are there to act as a buffer, so the two of them never end up alone. When the session ends, the group invites everyone out for drinks. Hamin immediately makes an excuse and bolts for the exit. Taejun runs after Hamin and stops him. He still wants to talk about that unanswered DM. Hamin left him on read, which is rude enough. On top of that, he got unfollowed. Taejun repeats that it really hurt his feelings.

Hamin and Taejun have a chat. Taejun pulls out his phone and opens his social media profile. He scrolls through it, one photo at a time. He shows Hamin each picture, asking whether he likes it. Hamin is flustered. He explains what happened last night was just an accidental click. Taejun laughs as he holds out his phone. Taejun tells Hamin that if he wants to look at his photos, he doesn't need to snoop around. He can look at them openly. Taejun asks Hamin to follow him again. Taejun will follow back and check out his photos too. They can become mutuals!

That evening, Hamin and Taejun meet up with the rest of their study group at a bar. A classmate tries to pressure Hamin into drinking alcohol instead of a Sprite. Taejun notices Hamin seems uneasy and steps in. He offers to take the shot, saving Hamin from the awkward moment. Hamin is grateful. Afterward, the two of them walk home together. Hamin suddenly realizes he left his iPad. He heads back to the bar and finds it, but the bar is now empty. As they stand alone together, the mood shifts. Taejun uses this opportunity to make a move. He leans in for a kiss…

Based on its premise, I assumed Unfollow would be a lighthearted BL drama. Oops! I hit the wrong button and accidentally followed the hot guy from my study group! Ahh! I made it worse by unfollowing him, and now he noticed me! At first, the situation seemed funny. I expected to see some playful banter… Maybe a little cute flirting… Instead, their relationship is so awkward! Most of the scenes are just Taejun making Hamin feel embarrassed or uncomfortable. The vibe between them isn't romantic at all.

When Hamin followed and unfollowed Taejun, it was supposed to be a funny little accident. However, Taejun reacted to it in such a weird way. He sits Hamin down and interrogates him over every single picture. Did you like this one!? But we didn't even know each other back then! Umm… what are you doing? Hamin already looks like he wants to crawl into a hole and disappear. Does Taejun really need to make it worse? If he was just chill about it, their relationship could've started on a better note. A simple "Haha, let's follow each other!" is all he needed to say. Instead, Taejun chooses to be annoying.

Taejun rubbed me the wrong way from the start, but then he got worse. So much worse. For some reason, he starts talking to Hamin like a jilted boyfriend. "If you keep making me sad, you'll have to be punished!" WTF!? Excuse me??? "Don't even think of running away!" Why does he sound like a serial killer holding someone captive in his basement!? Keep in mind, Hamin and Taejun aren't even in a relationship at this point. They barely know each other. Taejun is getting possessive over a guy who's practically a stranger. Major red flag! His behaviour gives me the ick!

At the start, Hamin feels embarrassed around Taejun. In the middle, he keeps avoiding Taejun and denying his feelings for him. Even near the end, Hamin gets into an argument with Taejun. And yeah, I agree with Hamin for calling him out. Taejun does suck. But at what point in the story do we see this couple getting closer? The only time is when they kiss during a random moment. For the rest of the series, these two barely bond with each other. Where's the relationship development? Where's the chemistry? Their romantic connection is just not there.

I like Hamin's actor (Kim Joo Young), who does well in the emotional moments. While I hate Taejun's character, I'm gonna blame it on the writing and not the actor himself (Jang Hwan Seok). Their kissing scenes are fine, but I'm just not invested in this couple. The story has given me no reason to care about their relationship. To set the ambiance, the series adds jazzy music to some scenes, even during Taejun's "You'll be punished!" line. His remark feels weird, but the soundtrack pretends it's a light romantic moment. The mismatch is jarring and really breaks my immersion.

At 20 minutes long, there's barely enough time to develop a love story with any depth. Usually, most BL dramas this length come and go without leaving an impression. You watch 'em, you forget 'em. But this series? In just a short time, it has created a main character that I hate and a romance that is a total turn-off. Twenty minutes! This speedrun is kind of impressive in the worst way possible. As I finished the final scene, all I could do was side-eye the SUKFILM studio. Keep churning out low-effort BL slop like this, and the fans are gonna be the ones unfollowing you.