Very Angsty, But Ultimately a Good Story
My thoughts on this show are very mixed, though overall I did enjoy my experience watching it. I did fly through it— it was very good at making you want to watch the next episode immediately— but I wouldn't say I loved it the way I've loved shows in the past.To start, I wasn't the biggest fan of all the angst. It was very frustrating to watch Third like Khai, to get heartbroken over him, and then to cry over and over and over. I will admit, that first scene where he stalks into the bathroom, slaps on the shower, and just sobs was hilarious and a total mood— but it got old very fast. Plus, Khai was so unlikable during the first half or so of the show that I couldn't understand why Third liked him, which made it hard to care about it heart being broken again and again.
I felt like the show got a lot better around the midpoint, when the "secret" is revealed and the roles are switched— Third gets over Khai and Khai realizes he has feelings for Third. I appreciated the hoops Khai had to jump through to to earn Third's love back— he'd been so shitty to Third, so it was nice to see him have to work to have the right to be with him.
The definite highlight of this show was that train station scene. That hit me so hard, and was the only time I really cared for Khai. It's probably the only scene I would want to ever rewatch, to be honest.
The actors were all really good, and I liked the various subplots that played out throughout the show. I especially liked Two and his whole story— plus, he was just a really good friend to Third and I appreciated it a lot.
Overall, I'm happy I ended up watching this! It may not be a new favorite, but it was a good time.
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Amazing story
I've watched a few Thai BL dramas, and I have to say, this one made me binge it until the end. The characters, the acting, the stories... they go together so well that it makes you want to continue watching. The build up of all the characters' stories is done beautifully and made me feel like nothing was rushed or seemed too cliche. Sometimes you want to tell the characters "just tell the truth!" but those moments will add to the stories. I also loved the actors that act as Bone, Two, Third and Khai. I really loved this drama, and I would recommend it to anyone!Was this review helpful to you?
It surprised me unexpectedly.
Story -To be honest in first half the series disappointed me with Khai's character but in other half the character development is surprisingly amazing. I thought of dropping this ngl but ended up finishing it and that's the best decision ever I made. The chemistry of the leads was damn good.Acting - Ok acting is the main reason I continued watching this. Gun's acting is phenomenal, every emotion potrayed by him was perfect. No doubt he's one of the best actors I've seen. Off's acting was also pretty good but since start I'd had attatchment with Gun's character 'Third' so gotta be bias on this one. The other actors also did an amazing job. Acting of every actor was the main element that kept me captivated to this show.
Music - Music was pleasant enough for me.
Rewatch value - I hardly rewatch any drama but value is 10 for me bacause again I would love to see few scenes of Gun's where he just shook my soul with his acting.
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Satisfying but has some hiccups
There are some pacing and story issues, but overall this was a pretty satisfying watch — as expected, the Flipped trope is great.I might be one of the few people who didn't get too annoyed with the first six episodes. Sure, Khai was kinda terrible and it was a lot of repetitive crying from Third, but you could feel the story building towards Third's breaking point and the reversal of roles, and that was good enough. In fact, I think the two-part style works really well, with the first half being from Third's perspective and the second half being from Khai's.
With that being said, I still think there were some weird pacing issues. While I liked the two-part style itself, the transition between them was a little fast, and I also do think the back-end of both sections were a little dragged out, before just jumping to the next plot too fast. There's not really a strong main plot going on behind the romance either, so I don't get a really good sense of how much time is passing.
I also didn't care about some of the side plots, particularly Bone's. Two's story got better over time and it definitely paid off at the end, especially because he was such a good character even on his own.
The bromance throughout the show was actually one of its strengths. Some of the best moments came when characters were talking to each other about their struggles and heartbreaks and I wish we'd seen more of it, because I often felt like characters were dealing with issues in silos.
As someone who rates with my brain, 6.5 is what I would consider average, but I do have a soft spot for this show and for what it might bring to any viewers who've ever been trapped in unrequited love. And all the film references also made my movie buff heart very happy.
And finally, as a little heads up I also do want to mention that there are some nonconsensual kisses in here, in case anyone reading doesn't want to see that.
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Prepare to be frustrated
Part of me wishes I'd seen this before Not Me because I loved that series and Off and Gun were so great in it. On the other hand, I hate to compare series to each other, especially when they aren't even remotely similar. But I went into this series knowing they were both great actors and excited to see what they did earlier on.I know practically everyone is saying it but it's true... this series is frustrating as hell. Seriously, I don't understand why Third was so infatuated with Khai. From the moment they met, Khai didn't hide his selfish nature or his usage of Third to handle his dirty work without so much as a "thank you." It's hard to believe that someone would be so in love with that kind of person but let's suspend our belief for a moment. (or, in this case, 11 out of 12 episodes.)
Even the moments that were supposed to be considered "sweet" were cringeworthy. "Having you here has made my life so much easier.." Is that supposed to be romantic? Third certainly thinks so. Then, halfway through, they basically switch roles and we're supposed to feel sorry for Khai while thinking Third is actually capable of not feeling anything? Then the big fight at the end, Third actually asks, "Why didn't you tell me?" regarding the kiss with Ching Ching when he spent that whole time cutting Khai off. I just wanted Khai to say, "I was trying to but you were shouting at me and throwing shit at me and wouldn't give me a chance to get two words in!"
And yet, somehow, I found I could not stop watching.. which I'm still trying to figure out how they did it. I mean, the acting was great, even if they were working with a bad plot.
I do like how every episode is the title of a movie and the episode poster is a recreation of said movie poster. There were other artistic touches that stood out to me that were neat, like how most flashbacks began with a film reel.
The only side characters I really cared about were Two, Un and Shane. There was nothing wrong with everyone else, per say, but I could take or leave them.
Overall, it's not the best series I've seen but it was still enough to keep me watching and entertained, even if it was in a frustrated state.
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Amazing Acting!
I'm surprised by the quality of acting, given that the actors are relatively young. I can feel the emotions that the main lead are feeling, which is amazing, especially since a lot of BL tend to cast new actors where sometimes the acting can be cringey.Its a slow burn and there are times I was so frustrated by the male lead, but as it progresses, it gets really good.
What keeps me going is the acting, really. And boy, it gets really sweet and cute eventually.
I'm glad I give this a chance!
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sorry for my english
soo this drama is def for people who likes angst. if you dont like sad bls this is def not for you. honestly, this series was acually good. i liked the character development. im a type of person who likes watching things that makes me sad. the chemistry between actors was good, i watched this bc of my fav actor: gun. he acted really well here. the side couples where also nice. but is it worth to watch?imo it is. the plot was entertaining.i was mad at khai for the whole series. i like the thing that for the half of the series we were seeing third's pov and then khai's so we could see what they both feel. but lets be honest if i was third i would have left khai a long ago. the fact that he stayed with him after all these awful things he has done shows ow much he loved him. third do not deserve khai and its a fact. i think everyone were hating on khai here. there was even a moment where i stopped shipping them and wanted third to break their friendship. also there was a moment when third became more sassy and rude towards khai and this is what we all wanted. it was satisfying to watch khai getting the pain that third was feeling for the whole series. we kind of waited long for them to get together.
i do recommend this and imo its worth to watch bc the whole set up seemed expensive and characters were well written :)
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I loved it
Me personally I don't know why people hate on this series like what but let's get into it I like how it just state the plot without leaving it out I think that's what I liked most that it was really straight forward and I loved the first episode it was funny how third explained his crush on khai and doing all of the movie/show reviews all at once and I love how khai is noted as a bad boy and how it's not just not on them and on the other couples and problems and love the special episode love itWas this review helpful to you?
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If frustration were a drama ...just NO.
Okay, I don't even know where to start with this one to be honest. After reading a few reviews here I watched this drama with an open mind and high expectations, but here I am again feeling frustrated lolThis is just my simple opinion.....but I truly can't understand why people are rating so high! There are people that had the audacity to say this is "by far the best BL drama" lol WHYYYYY? OH GOD OF BLs, WHYYYYY? All jokes aside, people have different tastes, and that's that.
Here come the spoilers!!!
Third is a whiny college kid that is secretly (but not really) in love with his best friend for 3 years! For the first 6 episodes of the drama he cries no less than 3 times per episode lol to be fair, his love interest Khai is a horrible friend and person....think about a toxic guy that only knows how to manipulates people's feelings and only think about himself. Yeah....what a great male lead for a romance drama lol
I was so angry with the whole idea of someone to be in love with a guy with zero redeeming qualities or moments. Khai literally proves himself to be an asshole over and over again and we all know it (so does the characters btw)! The drama keeps using the excuse that he's "dumb" and didn't realize Third likes him (*sigh**eyeroll*), but come on! That man is a garbage fire lol
Their friends aren't great either! Two tries to help Third get Khai even after he treats Thirs like trash and does terrible things to him.....really? Who in their right mind would encourage a friend to do that? Khai treats everyone like they're disposable, even friends. In the second half of the drama Bone proves himself to be a little it of an ass and helps Khai to fool Third. 3 years of friendship and that's how they treat him? WOW. Trash.
As soon as Third finally decides to move on OF COURSE Khai is now madly in love with him lololol come on...the writers didn't even make an effort there. The same thing happens to the second "couple" (if you can call them that) Two and Un. Two spent YEARS in love with his high school friend (a girl) and as soon as he declares his love for her he also has feelings for Un lololol COME ONNNNNN!
Anyway, this review was longer than I expected to be but here it is. Is just a bunch of red flags every couple of minutes spread out in 12 episodes. I've watched worse shows, believe me....but this one just pissed me of because there was ZERO chemistry, ZERO appeal, ZERO redeeming qualities about the main characters. So, yeah. Not worth the watch. I'm now annoyed lololol
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Good but underdeveloped romance
I really enjoyed this series. The cast was wonderful and production value solid. I think there was such good chemistry in the gangster friend group. I don't rewatch shows but for those who do, this wouldn't be a bad rewatch. My only issue, and pretty big one imo, is that the writers didn't develop Third and Khai's romantic relationship enough. Their friend relationship and the negative aspects of it were told well. I understood why they were friends. But I only understood why they should crossover to being more because GunOff have naturally good onscreen chemistry. But they weren't given enough solid romance to build the in-story romantic chemistry. So by the last episode, I felt underwhelmed by them as a couple. If they had incorporated more sexual tension/romantic chemistry into the story, it would have made Khai and Third's relationship better developed.Was this review helpful to you?
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Pack your shit and Leave
The amount of times I screamed, "PACK YOUR SHIT AND LEAVE" at my tv while watching this is uncountable. The beginning half of the show is frankly, infuriating. I don't know if it speaks to the acting or the hook of the script that kept me going, but something did, and I did end up feeling pretty rewarded by the end so Kudos. Still, lord, the beginning hurt.I don't know if it hit me more because I have been in that world of unrequited love for a friend. Lost years of my life over it. So, while the beginning made me want to tear my hair out, it was eventually very redeemable, and honestly a bit cathartic.
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BL Romance from various unrequited loves perspectives: frustration level is high!
The drama is centred on a friends-to-lovers trope with a lot of pining. I found quite interesting the fact that the story was shown from the unrequited loves perspectives for the several storylines. It is quite nice to see the romance from the point of view of the unloved/pining character without knowing the inner thoughts of the recipient of those intentions.Unfortunately, this narrative choice is not enough to make the story great. The script is indeed deeply flawed as it is impossible at first to support the hero acting as a doormat and to understand why he likes the other main lead who is really treating him quite bad in their friendship and is full of red flags.
Women characters and development are another weak point of the series. Most of the women are either seen as crazy or as disposables to be used and thrown afterwards. A couple of them intervene in side romances: those relationship are overall cute but quite transparent and uninspired.
The first half of the show is really painful and unbalanced in terms of developing the relationships. Despite all of this the series is terribly addictive: it frustrates you as you find yourself wanting to knock some sense into the main leads but at the same time you are really curious to see how they are going to be together. The second half of the show is much better story-wise thanks to the flip in the dynamic of the main duo.
There was some real good acting in this series: I found the performance of the main actors (Gun and Off) particularly nice. Their chemistry together was shining and they carried the numerous emotional scenes. They were not helped at all by the scenario which was making the characters quite antipathic or annoying...and still they managed to emote and provide some saving grace to the show.
The soundtrack was ok but not really standing out, as well as the production which was rather average with some real cringe moments. Product placement was (as it is often the case in the BL Thai dramas) super present and repetitive ad nauseam.
I would recommend this to people loving the main actors Gun and Off and more specifically their pairing. Be aware that this show can induce a high level of frustration for the viewer because of the annoying behaviours of the main protagonists.
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