Theory of Love (2019)

I yelled "WHY CAN’T YOU BOTH JUST BE HAPPY???!” at my screen many times

There are some warm and fuzzy BLs that make you laugh and giggle at your laptop for hours on end. This is not one of them. Theory of Love is a heart-wrenching excursion into unrequited same-sex love and what happens when you fall for your straight(??) best friend.

Gun really shines in Theory Of Love, showing how far he has come as an actor by capturing the nuances in a range of expressions. Gun is able to communicate an emotional intensity that can get quite overwhelming, so it’s totally understandable why a series like this might be tough to rewatch.

Disclaimer right here that I absolutely love Off and Gun. In Theory of Love, they show tremendous improvement from their performance in the Puppy Honey series, which I found to be slightly awkward.

Their onscreen chemistry has only improved with their real-life friendship: OffGun is back and they got better.

Read my full review here: https://asianblreviews.wordpress.com/2021/12/05/theory-of-love-2019/

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Wow drama ,excellent and brilliant story

Guys,I'm saying this never miss the drama its really good and wow drama i fell in love with this series, you never gonna regret.....it has friendship value and true friends stories and then one sided love story, main lead dominance over other main lead and finally be a puppy to him lol, and sad ,love confusion and hard love to over come everything its totally a pacakage with 0happy ending...great actors with great chemistry and story is awesome i can see in every scene how the feelings developed between leads.....that is what i need to see more than the bed scenes jumped by 2nd episode wow wow wow drama .........

How can they be a perfect drama like this ever again? This is my 3rd time watching this drama not bze of offgun fan or fond of series but there is no such dramas coming in 2022 why? What happened to thai themes dramas now a days I'm missing the chemistry plot between leads can't the directors see this series like how the leads developed their story and every move we could understand their feeling sorry to say this to thai directors and screen writers please do drama like these series or old bl dramas you are losing the thai theme 😥 this drama really made my day wow claps to the team i literally like offgun and this story a lot made me fall into bl again after so many shitty stories in 2022 🤮 theory of love yayyyy well done to author director and actors brilliant series love from india and pls pls pls pls do like these kind of seriss more than showing too much over intimacy or lacking story and chemistry pls pls pls i miss thai seriss now

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Another Thai series is also above average and stars Off and Gun, who are actually now a couple in real life. Another refresher is Earth. The project seems like a dime a dozen from a Thai factory, but come to think of it, it's not. It's not so fairy-tale, it's more believable, even if the director didn't let the main couple into a bigger physical or whatever you want to call it, they only play what the creators allow. I suspect Thais more and more that they are trying to impose a new kind of sexual orientation on the world, namely that a friend likes it too, but by that I don't mean that guys piss and then share it in bed at night, I hope that those who already " they screwed up" tons of these series know what I mean. In the more straightforward presentation, many comparable "products" from, for example, Taiwan or South Korea, Japan seem better, more civil, more humane...


Další z thajských seriálů je rovněž nadprůměrný a hrají v něm Off a Gun, kteří ve skutečnosti nyní tvoří pár i ve skutečném životě. Dalším osvěžením je Earth. Projekt se zdá být tuctový z thajské velkovýrobny, ale když se nad tím zamyslím, tak není. Není totiž tak pohádkový, je uvěřitelnější, i když řežisér nepustil hlavní dvojici do většího fyzična či jak to nazvat, hrají jen to, co tvůrci dovolí. Stále více podezírám Thajce, že se světu snaží naroubovat nový druh sexuální orientace, totiž že kamarád to má taky rád, ale tím nemyslím to, že se kluci picnou a pak si to v noci rozdají v posteli, doufám, že ti, kteří už "zbaštili" tuny těchto seriálů chápou, co tím míním. V tom přímočařejším podání se mi zdají mnohé srovantelné "produkty" např. z Taiwanu či Jižní Koreji, Japonska lepší, civilnější, lidštější...

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Review from the rewatching version after a couple of years

I rewatched this show again after a couple of years and I think you'll get it more whenever you get more mature. I truly can't believe that the first time I watched this show I didn't love it, here I am in 2022 while waiting for not me episodes decided to rewatch it just for fun, and I immediately regret how I felt about this show in the past, the way the story is telling each character story is just unbelievable, as I truly cried for each character in different scenes, let's talk about Khai (Off) and how amazing he portered the character, I truly hated him at first I was like he is an asshole that doesn't deserve anything but after seeing that he never truly knew what love is because of how his parents never truly took care of him or made him knew what true love , he just couldn't understand that it was real until he fell in love he become just another person or we can say he is true self that was not shown to anyone except Third (Gun), I cried for Khai on ep 11, and ep 12. Next character is Third, first I would like to thanks Gun for making so god damn emotional for multiple episodes, his acting skills are no joke like dude could just look at me and ill cry immediately for him, his story is very realistic about how people become blind by love till they get really hurt by it and stop believing in it I was shocked about how his character changed but also was happy for him to grow and learn more. The main couple are just depressed realistic story that does happened to people in real life not this dramatic but with same era. Two (White) is just the best best friend anyone could ask for, but also the way he struggled with his sexuality being Bi is amazing cause that what happened to a lot of people and that's how they find, I truly liked how he took care of Third and how he was an amazing protector for him even till the end, and how he put his friends feeling above his, I liked the way him and Un (Earth) fell in love , Un character was complicated like I really though that he liked Third but all of this he liked Two from the begging like dude please I got confused by you . Bone (Mike) story is truly all over the place, it was not my favorite story but ill say I think it happens in real life, and the way he handle it shows how of a good man he is also putting your friend above yourself is amazing he was good even thought what he did to Third in the begging was fucked up, but I am happy that he ended with agood one and had a happy ending he truly deserves it. My favorite scenes were the Café scene ep 5 where Third and Khai fought and how Bone hit him I was truly happy. Another one is the Train scene ep 11 I cried like a baby in this Scene dude. Another one is the Accident scene ep 8 and how it was the reconnect of Khai and Third friendship in a way and how in ep 9 after this scene they showed how is Khai's parents treat him ( they are not bad parents but they lack love towards him). Lastly, the last favorite scene is the whole ep 12, I liked the train and beach scenes of the friend group, and UN and Two confess scene like ahhh333 I thought I am going to die before Two finally confess by using Un favorite film like how romantic this is I was just shy laughing because of this and then Un just says I am not going anymore because I love you like I am all over heels for you mister, also the 7 things Third hate about Khai that Two gave it to Khai is just amazing, the Khai scene about what is love for him to Third this scene made me so emotional Khai's confess to Third by" for me, you're not a a movie, you are real" is just perfection, my last favorite scene in ep 12 is the iconic ending scene where Khai and Third turns to OffGun and become all lovey dovey. I am truly happy that I rewatched this series after this many ears for me not have grown a little more to understand and connect to it more, I truly wish to have a group of friends like this in the future if I ever can. I hoped you like my review and I hope you learned What Love Is For U from "Theory Of Love".

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An easy watch, but drags and becomes uninteresting at points

I can say that for the most part, this is an enjoyable watch. It’s generally easy, and I binged it in a day when I had time to kill.

The acting was really good, especially from Gun, he really stood out in his scenes. I felt really connected to his character and his emotions throughout.

The story is simple and solid enough, and the development of it and the characters is great.

However, I feel like at points the story dragged and I started to become disinterested and bored. I found myself wanting to take breaks because I didn’t really care, but also just wanting to get the series over with. I found it particularly uninteresting when it came to the Bone/Pan story, and I ended up skipping through because I genuinely didn’t care and felt like it dragged it on longer than necessary. The same goes for Two/Lynn, I just didn’t care; although, I did enjoy the Un/Two scenes, and wish there was more.

I liked the characters, though, and find their development to be really well done.

Overall, I think it’s a very good series and mostly deserves the hype, although I don’t think it lives up to expectations.

I would recommend it if you want something nice to watch to kill time. I enjoyed it, but don’t see myself ever rewatching it again, at least in the near future

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the beginning literally had me, the ending....I don't feel satisfied.

First 2 episodes of this drama reminded me of “Until we meet again”, because they made me cry like a banshee as well as these ones. I got overwhelmed emotionally, I couldn’t watch Third crying and being humiliated by Khai’s unconscious acts. Maybe, he thought that Third was a friend and he would be okay with him bringing girls home, asking him to leave because Fahsai would feel uncomfortable and etc, inasmuch as he didn’t know about Thirds feelings, but I couldn’t handle it. It doesn’t strike me as a result of a poor storyline, but I think my CNS was somehow damaged. At the end of the third episode I prayed the Lord to make Third leave Khai’s condo, because I was livid already…I had to put myself together, otherwise I would ditch the drama. Consequently, you have to be emotionally prepared to watch this.
The 4th episode cost me a mental breakdown. Seeing Third happy and, as he mentioned, “getting what a secret admirer would ask for”, and then him crying silently again just shattered my heart to pieces.The thing is, I cant put a blame on Khai, as he is young and extremely handsome, pretty charismatic, so he does whatever floats his boat, enjoys his life as best as he can…But toying with someone’s feelings, even assuming that there are none, is not a right thing to do. Furthermore, I can understand him changing girls like socks, but he is a terrible friend. If he thought that his friend was kind enough to leave him alone with his bitch, why didn’t he tell him the truth about catching a movie with a girl? He could at least do that, it wouldn’t hurt the same. In addition to this, I hate Khai for exploiting Third.
At times I have to stop an episode, because either its tedious or I need to cope with my anguish/irritation. I have this insane craving to beat Khai up. Doesn’t he feel that not only Third, but all his friends aren’t happy to see his new girlfriends every day, and they shouldn’t tag along when he has to work/have lunch with his friends. And the kiss…Shit, I barely held myself back from crashing down my laptop screen…And I can’t believe I want to go on watching this, because it’s not bad, it just depicts reality so precisely, that it hurts.
I used to think that watching Khai go through the same torments as Third went through, would satisfy me, but man, it didn’t…I can’t figure out what kind of feelings I have for this drama, but certainly they aren’t bad..I’m deluded. Is it really hard to watch because of the emotional tension, or is it just me who finds it complicated?
I felt so sorry for Khai, when he was dumped by his friends and had to wait for them at the station all day long…Khai and Third’s meeting there was so emotional, I broke down crying.

After so much spoilers, I would like to shout out to Gun…In my point of view, he is the best when it comes to crying and expressing emotions. He puts his soul in his acting and that’s why I love Gun so much. I also like that the plot is not concentrated only on the main couple, and we can see side couples developing as well. I’m watching this after “Not me” and there Gun and Off seem to be more comfortable together. Two’s feelings for Un were rushed…As far as I’m concerned they needed more screentime, and they could get it if some meaningless and irrelevant scenes were cut out.
I am not disappointed, plot execution is not questionable, but I have to admit, that I pampered higher expectations.

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One of the biggest appeals for me while watching Theory of Love was the nuanced portrayal its two leads. I've noticed a common criticism in many reviews is that they hated Khai in the first half of the show but, personally, I thought he was incredibly likable. He was a little inconsiderate at times, but I still felt that he genuinely cared about his friends. He just had some selfish character traits that he needed to work on, and it was fun seeing a flawed character become a better version of himself as we shift into his perspective.

I love the shift in perspective from Third to Khai as the series progressed. I think that was a very smart storytelling decision to make the friends-to-lovers execution believable. Third's unrequited love arc was heart-wrenching and relatable. Usually, when characters make dumb decisions in dramas, like trusting untrustworthy characters, it's executed in such a cookie-cutter and naive way. But in TOL, Third really internalizes how often he expects more from Khai, only to be disappointed every single time. But Khai is very charming and always seems genuine, so I never really got annoyed with Third's decisions.

Even though the show never dragged for me, I think that objectively, it should have trimmed some fat. It could have easily been 8 to 10 episodes instead of 12. Or, at the very least, we should have gotten a different story arc for the last 3-4 episodes. All 12 episodes should not have been dedicated to the romantic pursuit. The subplots probably could have used more substance too. Two's subplot was fine, I just didn't think that he had that much chemistry with Un. And honestly, I never really knew where or when his feelings for Un started to develop. I actually had no idea that there was even a romance between them until halfway through the show. Whether it was intentional or not, it was poorly executed. Bone's storyline had a great resolution, imo, but the overall plot was meatless. His entire storyline could have easily been told in three episodes. I also didn't care for the cliched last-minute girlfriend. *Because there's no such thing as a happy ending without an unnecessary and shoehorned romance*

My gripes with the side plots aren't dealbreakers. I never actively disliked much at all about the show while watching it. I think Theory of Love is a strong contender for noteworthy BLs and criminally overlooked in the discourse of Thai BLs.

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Starts stressful, ends good

Damn, I LOVE how they made a poster for each episode and did it like a parallel to other romance movies, but still kept it iconic to the characters, instead of just copying the entire poster/scene. This is so frickin creative, damn. ❗️✨

Now for the story: I hated Khai in the beginning and really hoped they wouldn’t get together. Ignore the fact that Third loves him; Khai & Third were apparently best friends, but Khai treated him like a piece of shia. Can you even call that friendship? And then when Khai knew about Third’s feelings and played with his emotions like that... I just wanted to slap him. And the slaps of his previous girlfriends are not even enough for that.

But OffGun are amazing actors, especially Off, who made me like Khai in the end. If I were Third, I probably wouldn’t have forgiven Khai, but I did appreciate his efforts...

The fact that Gun cried in every episode tho felt a bit unnecessary at some point. I get that Gun won the awards of crying, but still, too much is too much.

I came for OffGun, but ended up shipping another gay couple, haha. I’m sad they didn’t get a kiss; I’d actually watch a series with them again.

Overall, the first 6 episodes stressed me out so much, that if I ever re-watch the series, I’ll skip these.

And please give a huge applause to Two (& Bone) for being the best friends anyone can only wish for: 👏

-25.11.21

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Its not for the people who can't see toxic relationships. It screams toxic right from the start

Okay, um this might not be very great but this is the first review I'm writing, and for a reason.

Theory of Love, I had high expectations and this one disappointed me everywhere. The story? I personally hated it. I mean when I read the plot, I thought oh maybe this will be a good one but I personally feel that the story could have been written much, much better. Honestly, if I could I would give the story a 0 out of 10 but apparently, that doesn't work so I gave it the least i could.

The acting was fine, Gun's (Third) acting was great, I could feel the emotions and I felt like crying. His crying-in-the-shower scenes were one of the most iconic things for me. However, even his acting skills were not enough for me to continue watching this.

What I saw in this drama were a toxic relationship and a toxic friendship. Let's start with the friendships because that's where the story starts from. The one thing that really stood out was how Third and Khai would make plans and then Khai would always find an excuse (ahem, girls) to cancel and bail on Third. It was purely toxic. Do you see it? That's not how a friendship is supposed to be. If you make plans, you rarely cancel, not rarely go through with it.

Now, I know, Thai BL's most of them are very toxic, but I think this was the most toxicity I saw in one place together, it took the cake. Apart from the friendship, in the last episode, when Khai was trying to win Third over, his public "proposal" was not cool. To me, it felt like forcing Third into accepting him. Of course, he could have rejected him but I'm sorry, that was very much a big no. Especially when Third rejected Khai multiple times in the same episode.

Also, Third said Khai did not know how to love. I agree with that. So Khai decided to know about love by watching films. And that... was again a big no. See, love is not something you'll learn about from watching movies. Of course, you'll see various types of forms of expressions and what people in love do, and how you get to that point. BUT you don't learn how to love, what exactly love is. Because you feel it and understand it. Or at least that is what I believe. But here that's exactly what they showed, learning how to love from movies. It was another thing screaming a no for me.

All I can say is that after seeing the big no's coming at me, I did not like watching this. I forced myself to watch this, I read a comment while I was watching this and it said something like this, "I'm rewatching this and I still don't understand why Third fell in love with Khai" and I agree, I couldn't either. I did not see any redemption points or any good qualities which would make him love Khai.

I started this drama in September and binged the first 11 episodes. But I could not continue after that. I was done with theory of love by the 11th episode and I didn't watch after that until almost 3 months later, in December. I actually breezed through the 12th episode because it was not something I could watch, I only watched it because I didn't want to put it on the dropped list after watching 11 episodes.

I'm sure many people liked it but for someone like me who hates seeing toxic relationships, this was just some bad writing. I'm skipping on a lot of details because honestly I don't remember much and I don't want to. Of course, the friendship between the others wasn't toxic (or at least I think so at the time of writing this) but it's still very low on the list for me. It wasn't what I expected and I'm clearly not a fan. I wouldn't recommend watching this for the story. If you're feeling sad and you want to feel worse then maybe yeah, watch it. Gun's acting will make you feel sad right from the first episode. There was nothing else that made me stick, and I did run away from this until I saw it in my currently watching list.

But personally, I don't see why it got such high ratings and the "best BL of all times" or just "best BL" title. No, it's not the best bl. there are better ones out there, even I know this and I'm just a newbie in this world of BL's. If you want really to watch a bl that feels worth it then you could try out Bad Buddy or maybe Don't Say No (not the best but definitely a much better one out there) or Love in the Air (Sky and Prapai's part). KinnPorsche was also toxic but I could stand watching it.

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Overhated

Honestly, for being a thai bl from 2019 from gmmtv, it was wayy better than I expected.

Pretty much all of the characters were well written and the actors acted their roles exceptionally well, especially Off and Gun. The storyline progression and the conflict actually made sense unlike some of the bls I've watched. I actually think this is written better than some of the recent gmmtv bls.

The first half of the series is kinda painful to watch but it's so worth it because of Khai's redemption arc in the second half of the series. The storyline and the directing are really good if we compare it to some of the other bls from that time like 2gether and tharntype. And its actually funny most of the times. Though the funniest part of this series has to be from Two's speech in ep12 where he said that he was from Thailand AND EVERYONE CLAPPED!? That was the most unintentionaly funny scene I've ever seen. I know my sence of humor is broken.

I feel like people didn't give this a fair chance because of all the crying that Third did in the first 5-6eps because of Khai. I suggest if anyone's gonna watch this series, watch it with an open mind. Yes, their friendship was toxic and Khai himself was very toxic but he changed. And its not a case of 'Third's love magically fixed him' but more of a his love for third and his respect for him made him want to be a better person and genuinely change his ways and behavior to become a better version of himself. But of course no one can change completely overnight and neither did Khai so it did lead to a few problems later on. But he learned to deal with it properly especially in the special ep. And that is why their relationship is so beautiful and real.

I do firmly believe that this series deserves a higher rating than 7.9. It's not the best but it is definitely one of the best of it's kind. This side characters were also nice (except a few things here and there but i mostly didn't pay much attention to their storyline so idc). Overall, you're definitely gonna love this if you're a romcom fan cause this really makes you feel all kinds of emotions in the course of 12 ep (+special ep).

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SOMEBODY CALL 911

Watching Off-Gun in Not Me has led me watched this drama because their chemistry is one of my favorites. But I hate to say this, their roles here are disaster. Also, the plots from episode 1-10 are a total mess.

How can the first half of the entire series revolve around Third's love blindness? I saw myself annoyed and frustrated on his character. Yes, I know that "Love HURTS" but know your worth, bro. Should I get frustrated also on Khai's a**hole character? I have enough on the main characters.

Cooling myself down, I admire Two's character the most. He is a supportive friend that I want to have in my life. Luckily, he learns from Un's advice. Why can't Third learn it too? Oh, I guess this is what the writer/s intended to show; a love starting from friends to lovers (Third-Khai), a new-found love (Two), and a love that accepts another's love (Bone).

Episodes 11-12 are the best episodes in this series. Although I hate how disastrous and toxic the main character's situations in episodes 1-10 is, but I felt too much happiness and love on how things cleared up and ended.

This is Thai drama so expect a high rating in acting/cast. The only flaw is the parent of Khai. Like wtf???? Don't you have an inch of care from your son???

Music is decent. No negative thoughts regarding this.

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Not a must-watch but my time isn't wasted while watching this decent series.

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an overall good show

I decided to write a review after forcing to watch myself for a second time. I kind of run through all the epsidoes becuz i wanted to know if they managed to keep the quality till the end and they do. So i will rewatch the entire thing to appreciate more but i can write a preview with my current knowledge.

The cinematography
It is good actually. The shots are actually well done and i can see they put a lot of effort in this one.

Acting
gun acting is really good and i can see he can pull off into mood for the drama. I prefer more experience actors pls @/gmmtv

The plot
The very first gmmtv show that makes me want to read the original novel. I have tried a couple gmmtv shows and a lot of them felt like superficial shows with comedic purposes and characters not acting according to their age. I am not saying the characters here are perfect but they do make it work and they act like university students and i appreciate the film reference part, can say that the author referenced the movies for the couples in this. AND I LOVE IT.
cons
The very classical "got hurt and the other one takes care" genre is kind of old but i guess i can let it slide since there are worse genres in bl cinema aka "fangirls running around the gay couple".

The ost
Is nice but i need to rewatch it to fully appreciate it

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