Tender, Romantic, Beautiful
It is a ‘feel good’ series filled perhaps with the usual basic twists and turns but the overall story is just so well told. Sure, it has a lot of problems with the production, but I honestly bought into the story because I thought the series went into new directions. There is a very good reason for this series to be called Oxygen and you have to experience it to understand how meaningful it really is. Sure, there are flaws in this series. The main characters perhaps play their roles way more passively than they should have but for me it just worked. Some parts were miscast such as Solo’s dad. The story could have been tightened up more and less emphasis on characters that were superfluous. But the backstory of Gui and Solo were so engaging that it made it worthwhile to watch and enjoy. My full review of this very good and entertaining series is at ppbongi.medium.com. You can leave reply there if you want - either positive or negative.Was this review helpful to you?
1st episodes are important people!
This drama is definitely worse than what the rating is given is my honest opinion. Overall, this drama was just another drama in the rush of BL dramas. I read the first half of the novel and although the original novel wasn't anything special, it was just a sweet story, the drama destroyed it. So. Bad.First episode, 2 minutes in and I was already grossed out at how bad the editing and script-writing was. They started off with a phone-call between the main character and his friend and for some reason added some weird and useless scenes. Added no detail or emotion at all. What were they even trying to do? People don't realize but 1st episodes are so important to let the audience know what the drama is about and why they should stay. I wanted to close the video as soon as the opening started. After the opening, they started somewhere later into the story, only to flashback 5 minutes later. Like??? Such horrible directing and script-writing. I only continued this drama because I had literally nothing to do when I was neglecting my schooling.
The actors were decent. Their character didn't have much depth so I don't know what they could've worked with there. I'd say out of the main couple, the male lead was the worse actor of the two. His scenes when he acted angry were so... off and he's just eye candy to be honest. But he can get better, maybe he's just not that experienced. The couple were cute at times though, when the shots were pretty decent.
The only thing I liked was the music which is one (1) song. Were there even other songs? I feel like I heard the same song a thousands times in the drama.
Overall, skip this drama. Go watch some other BL dramas. Or just watch this when you don't have anything to do.
Was this review helpful to you?
Simple, yet adorable
I didn't read the reviews before watching the series and I'm glad I didn't. Some of them are quite discouraging and I'm not sure whether I'd watch it with the same enthusiastic feeling I had.Story starts off at the perfect pace. Some shows take a little too long (to my liking) before something finally starts happening and before we can see some scenes with a little physical contact or even some tension between the characters.
I found interesting the choice of personalities the main couple has - for the first time I saw a series where the characters have kind of similar personality and it was interesting to observe.
The most important aspect for me about the series is the feeling it gives me. If it made my heart flutter, the show succeeded. Is this a case of Oxygen? Yes! :)
For sure - it's nothing innovative, you can witness some typical stereotypes commonly used in BL series BUT it doesn't ruin the whole experience and it's still very adorable. Would recommend :)
Was this review helpful to you?
Could have been great :(
Okay, I persevered until episode 10 so I think I can safely say this is a miss for me. It's such a pity because the lead couple are really sweet and have good chemistry. Even the second couple were moderately interesting so I invested some time waiting for the show to save itself. We have lots of tropes that we love here, with some twists that could have really made it stand out. We have a tall, handsome, rich and talented seme paired with a super nice boy-next-door kind of uke with a heart of gold. A nice change in the trope dynamic is that despite being gentle, the uke is older and does take the lead in many situations - he knows how to train his seme! :P In contrast, Seme Solo is younger but the more dominant of the pair (or is he?) - he comes across as broody and aloof to everyone else but in reality there are two introverts here who discover a lovely, gentle relationship (think 1000 stars and UWMA vibes). So there was a lot to like to begin with.Unfortunately that's pretty much all there is going for Oxygen. The story line was super mediocre and let the actors down. The third pair were either annoying or boring - you can basically skip through all their bits and not miss anything in the show, really. Do we really need another female character in a BL show who is a super annoying shipper?! I think we can count on one hand the nice and interesting female characters in Thai BL, so many of them are trashy and mainly there for makeup product placement. What a poor representation of women in general.
But really, hands down the worst part about this show is the music. Considering Solo and Kao are both music students and the actors themselves seem to have genuine musical skills, this was such a waste. Apart from a handful of times they sing the OST(which is not a bad song and they do a pretty good job of it), there are no real musical moments in this show. But worse than that, the underscore is downright bizarre, all over the show and inappropriate. We got strangely comical music happening in serious moments, and tense music happening in scenes where nothing actually happens. Honestly, if you don't have a budget for a good composer, the least you can do is make the score as unnoticeable as possible. What they ended up doing was the total opposite, and the music ruined the vibe in so many places and coloured the scenes in truly incongruous ways.
Okay, rant over. I hope Nut and Petch get the chance to be casted in something better - they deserve so much more than this.
Was this review helpful to you?
Did I really finish that?
Why did I watch this until the end? I don't know...I just finished to re-watch another Thai series: Project S SOS Skate (my favorite Thai series) and I choose to begin Oxygen and what a disappointment.
- The series doesn't have any original point of view. I just had the impression to watch a soap-opera. I'm kind of mean , I watched some episode of soap-opera which conveyed more emotions.
- The casting was really strange , many actors didn't really fit their roles. And the acting didn't really help.
- Cringe, Cringe, Cringe ...
Maybe I'm too strict with my notation but I'm tired of the emptiness of this kind of BL series.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
For A Series Called "Oxygen" It Didn't Take Away My Breath Once
Don't get me wrong this is a cute series starting off, but even right of the bat it's kind of slow. Then it got even slower and holy crap it was dragginggggg at parts. It put me in this dream-like state whenever I watched it, which sometimes was nice because it's a pretty chill show but other times I almost fell asleep. Solo and Gui were really all I cared about in this, their relationship and their storylines respectively. The actors didn't give me many major chemistry vibes, but they were okay. Solo (played by Nut) was actually the most interesting character throughout. If he wasn't in this I would've dropped the series pretty quickly, he also was the best actor when it came to emotional scenes. Though he was stiff during most of the rest. Kao and Phu were...huh? I honestly don't understand what the point was with them. Just to fill up space I guess? But literally nothing ever happens and it was super cringe. I'm sure some fans will love the cutesy (kinda aegyo) stuff for them, but it's not my style. I need more than fluff to like characters and couples.Khim and the doctor I absolutely hated. That storyline was so stupid with her kinda trying to force a sexuality on him and then him falling for her? Wtf was that about? Then everyone was falling for him and he kept lying to get her. Dumb, really dumb. I literally ended up skipping all of their scenes I couldn't stand it. So like I said before, it didn't feel like much was ever happening in the show so I didn't understand it. Then all of a sudden why is Solo's dad literally the godfather? What the hell is going on with locking your child away with no food. Literally go to jail. By the end the dad didn't even get in trouble for doing any of that. He literally was gifted a new adopted child? Who the hell would give this man another kid to terrorize and psychologically damage!? What even did this show want to be?
So basically for me the only saving graces of this show were; Solo's storyline, a few scenes between him and Gui that were cute, the big Mama stuff was pretty interesting with the kids and the theme song of the show. That's about it. I would skip this one, or skip around it HEAVILY to certain scenes worth watching.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Phu and Kao saved the show
For me this drama was just alright... The story of the two main leads started quite great, but I lost interest midway through. For some reason, their story was getting too predictable and more the drama was progressing, their complicity was still unnoticeable. Some of the actors were a little "stiff" and awkward at times but nothing dramatic. The biggest disappointment here was the side story of the doctors, the fujoshi girl and her brother. This weird square love (because I seriously don't know what else you can call this thing that was going on here) was more a headache than anything else. Completely useless and I think they should have give more screen time to Phu and Kao story instead of feeding us this weird and confused love square. Phu and Kao literally saved the show for me. They completely had my attention. Their characters was interesting and their romance was so adorable that I was always craving for more. I wish they would make a spin off for Phu and Kao story. If they make a season 2, I will only watch it for the both of them. I wont deny that there was a few cute moment between Solo and Gui, but sadly not enough for me to watch a second season of these two as main leads.So in general, the plot was predictable and annoying (except Phu and Kao story) and I would strongly recommend to skip all the parts of the side characters (the doctors, fujoshi girl and her brother) if you ever want to watch this drama.
(The theme song is fairly good and quite catchy)
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
You are my milk Man
On the finale episode of “You are my Milk Man”, Milk Man delivers milk to his master and finally yells at him in gas station. Gui who has given up his dreams for his “ Solo” dream - to make Solo the best human n best business man ever is rightfully upset when Solo wants to leave it all and run away.Solo then realizes that Gui has given up his dream because his Ice father “gently threatened” Gui and put then him in Admin department so that he can train to be a secretary for his son!
Solo wants to learn music, so atleast secretary should have some business sense. So best to make Gui (who is dreamless n in pain after his adoptive moms death) study MBA n learn business n then support his super rich boyfriend.
I mean, so logical ... Gui, an orphan can never reach Solo’s level of success, so best to just manage Solo n stand behind him while being a supportive mom , boyfriend, business adviser and Milk Man! Behind every successful man, there’s a ______? It’s Gui! Gui has to be behind Solo!
Father Billionaire Ice who is squint eyed lacks any warmth but Jay assured us all that it’s there. When we think Mr Ice is looking at ghosts on walls while Solo is talking about his life plan, Jay actually knows that he’s looking into Solos heart n not ghosts ! So when he plans to adopt Moon, how can one not be over joyed that he will have another chance to see if he can produce another model child like Solo n give him the same love Solo always grew up with. I’m sure Jay will interpret this love for us soon.
Also, stellar acting by the leads ... I hope Covid doesn’t cancel Oscars this year! If does get cancelled ... we know that Hollywood is being threatened by Solo and Gui’s acting.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
I enjoyed it
I can understand why some people didn’t like this as much. The relationship of the main cp didn’t follow a typical BL format. There’s no guessing, tug of war etc. But that’s exactly what the title is, Oxygen. You don’t have to play games with oxygen, you just naturally depend on it and can’t live without it. What I don’t like is actually the last part when they tried to make a drama out of it, going back to the old lakorn format; taking out the freshness and replaced it with cliche. Also wish they could talk about the relationship between the father and his assistant. Overall, if you fast forward the siblings/doctors part, it’s watchable BL.Was this review helpful to you?
It could have been 10/10....
Even then.... ITS WORTH WATCHING FOR SOLO AND GUI!I love their dynamics. It isn't a very typical "top vs bottom" scenario you see in school BL. They both take initiatives to take care of each other, not just one being the "female who needs help or being spoiled"
It's quite evenly spread out between them two, hence I find it really healthy relationship for them, with no toxicity.
Yet, it isn't shallow. They face real life issues that go beyond the typical "homophoic parents story". I wouldn't say much to avoid spoiler, but there are scenes that really are healing and touching, especially one where they are in farm with kids.
A well balanced storyline that has good mixture of school vs work, fantasy vs reality, yet really sweet and cute couple at same time!
Do I even need to mention how cute Solo is?! lol
I'd rated the show 10/10 if this show is only about them! But since, I pretty much skipped the rest of the story (as I find the rest of couples less interesting to follow), I am rating this 8/8.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
The series is a fun story.
I liked the series a lot, it has so many levels of emotion and character development. The leads are great together. I adore both couples. Sol and Guitar have great chemistry and make you smile at the tender moments. Kao and Phu are so cute and funny together especially calling him bunny. The cast takes you on a roller coaster of emotions, showing great depth of character growth. Going from college life to adulthood. Could have done without the jerk Dad making trouble. The last storyline was not needed and should have ending at episode 10, but I get it, I was not a fan of the ending drama. The friends were a nice added bonus to help things flow. I adore Jay the secretary, he helped a lot. A good fun series to enjoy with a overall sweet ending.Was this review helpful to you?
They delivered what has been promised.
I've read both novels (Oxygen and Nitrogen) way before the series so I was pretty excited to watch it. I hate to wait for an episode, so I deliberately waited until it was over. But meanwhile I've been reading some comments and reviews that worried me... stupid thing to do. There is absolutely nothing to worry about.Taking into account that they merged both novels in one drama, all the staff did a good job. Obviously you can't have all and every scene from the novel, but they gave us more than enough.
Long review but I wanted it to be detailed so people who haven't read the novel can decide whether to give it a try or not.
STORY:
All what needed to be shown, has been shown. Some scene suffered minor changes, I believe due to the fact that it includes part of Nitrogen as well, but it was well delivered.
This drama tells the story of two people with their own baggage that find a supportive shoulder in each other. The romance is fast and there are no roller-coasters in their relationship. I will be more specific with the leads Solo and Gui, since it seems to be what people complain the most and I don't understand the reasons to be honest.
Solo and Gui are as inexpressive and calm as in the novel. Their relationship develops fast and doesn't have big changes. They added more drama in the series but that was something that I've expected already. Anyway the "new drama" is nothing big, so makes no difference for me.
The Solo in the drama also has his poker face, his need of attention, his possessiveness, and his hatred towards Jay and his father.
The Gui in the drama also has a kind-hearted soul, a will to help everyone, a need to take care of others, and a tendency to keep it all for himself.
People complained about how boring, dull, and inexpressive are the leads but you have to understand that SoloGui are exactly like that in the novel. That's why I recommend people to read the story before watching the drama to avoid their expectations being ruined. This is not your typical "Together With Me" or "TharnType" kind of plot. Forget about the girls causing trouble for the couple, the misunderstandings, the fights, and yada, yada, yada. I must admit that their relationship is somehow toxic too (since Solo is super possessive and Gui says yes to whatever Solo asks), but the character development that happens in the end (in both the series and the novel) makes it less worrisome. It's a calm, almost boring, romance. Expect tenderness, sweetness, and understanding (and some jealousy from Solo here and there, but that's how he is). Don't expect break ups and fights, that's nowhere to be seen.
Phu and Kao have the same owner-rabbit relationship as in the novel, and I loved every second of it. I honestly prefer Nitrogen over Oxygen, and it happened the same with the series. I like SoloGui, but PhuKao definitely stole the show for me (some "My Engineer" feelings. I liked the leads but RamKing was the best of it).
I expect a second season, this time with Nitrogen as the title and PhuKao as the leads. They clearly left their story with no closure, and the important things from Nitrogen weren't added in Oxygen. So it's quite obvious that they are planning to do a second season if everything goes well with the first one. Hopefully we will have it soon!
I don't have much to add about the third couple. The doctors, Khim, and Khem's story ISN'T part of the novel. Not sure why they added that, maybe to fill the drama with some scenes in order to not show all PhuKao's story, but you can skip their parts if you want to. The third couple has NO effect to the real story.
Then they added a couple other things that aren't part of the novel. There is a scene where Solo is drugged and almost raped. As always, thai dramas seem to forget that this type of things are a crime and the perpetrator should be punished. In the novel the problem is way less serious, but a drama needs drama.
In the series Solo has a fiancee while in the novel is introduced as the fiancee of Solo's father. Once again they needed to add some drama since SoloGui's story is basically drama-free in the novel. I would have preferred the original plot of Linda but it didn't bother me that much anyway.
ACTING:
Good job from all the cast that played a character from the novel. For some of them, Oxygen is their first official work but they did good. I'm happy with both the cast election and the execution. I felt it was a copy-paste. There were obviously some things that could have been better, but still they were able to bring to life their novel characters. I remember Houzini (the girl who translated the novels with Chesshire's permission) leaving her cute comments at the end of the chapters about how fit the actors were for the roles. They all are new faces to me so I didn't know if she was right or not back then, but now I have to agree with her. Solo, Gui, Kao and Phu were portrayed in a loyal way by the actors and that just makes the drama better.
I also loved how they didn't change the appearance of Solo's fahter. Solo was born when his father was 16/18, so he isn't even 40 yet. He is a young actor that looks young, but his father is indeed young. He also did a good job portraying his character. I'm a little disappointed with Jay. Not for the actor's job, but the fact that his appearance is completely different. Where is the blonde foreigner? The actor was clearly thai and brunette hahaha! But once again that doesn't affect the story so who cares.
MUSIC:
I liked how they added the musical parts of the novel in the drama. The chorus of the main theme gets stuck in my head every episode, and the background music that they use for the different scenes convey the vibe of it.
OVERALL & REWATCH:
If you have read the novels, then I believe you will like it. It's exactly as it's written. Some scenes missing, some details that aren't fully explained, but in a general way everything is covered. The cast did a good job something that always helps.
I would definitely rewatch it before the release of Nitrogen. Hoping for the announcement of the second season to be as soon as possible!
Was this review helpful to you?
