Plus & Minus (2022)

The camera angle shots look too realistic for unrealistic scenes

This series has a fantastic storyline matched with decent relationship development and great main leads' background profile. This series kinda brings back my memories while I was watching Extraordinary Attorney Woo (Korean drama in the same Law-firm setting). The only difference is that the cases in EAW have a more detailed case-to-case scenarios. What I like in Plus & Minus is that they used the cases to have a more in-depth understanding of love. Also, I was super late and surprised that Taiwan accepts same-sex marriage. I really appreciated the last episode especially when the H3:MODC main couple appeared as guests.

The only misstep in the plots is Fu Li Kung's heartbreaking decision. Like wtf??? How can you come up with that? Can't you feel his happiness at all? Other than that, I enjoyed watching this series. The good-mood soundtracks are really catchy. Also, the fake kissing scenes looked way too good that your eyes will deceive you romantically. The appeal of the main leads is average only but they have a sweet chemistry.

Very watchable. I was surprised that it has only 7.6 overall rating. Deserves a little bit higher rating. Not as solid as my top favorites but I like it a lot. It sits at the upper half of my watched BL dramas (you can check my list at my profile for reference. as of now, it's top 23 out of 88).

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Plus or a Minus

As expected, a relationship goes through a rollercoaster of ups and downs but the show remains rather predictable at most turns with family and relationship drama. I would say that the first half of the series was more watchable than the second half, where the conflict proved to be silly and frustrating.
Until it wasn't. First, the secondary couple looked like it might be interesting at first, but it was a dreary slog, with very dull acting and an uninteresting story.

It definitely lacked chemistry and spiciness the scenes they create make the viewers lose interest, from exciting to boring, it lacks drama...

Overall it is a + - to watch this drama..

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Strong beginning, now slow burn...

I had high hopes for yet another Taiwanese BL series...HiStory, We Best Love...and I am not sure how I feel about this series. The story about two lawyers, a shy laundromat owner and a bar tender, with a yet unexplained sad bar owner had great potential...but it starts to look like an adaptation of Thai tropes, including the "deer cought in the head lights" kiss...the actors are good, the chemistry is undeniable, the story is about mature, working adults, but it slowed down too much to hold my interest. I have no intention to drop the series, I still really like it, but I sincerely hope for the next episodes to pick up speed.

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Mid af

I have no idea how I sat through nine episodes of the most uninteresting show I’ve ever watched. I also have no idea how anyone can rate this show higher than a 3. We’ve seen this trope 9 million times, and the writers didn’t even try to add anything new to at least make the show special. The main couple had 0 chemistry and the second couple were so fawking boring, it was a pain to watch them on screen. The music kinda pissed me off a lil as well, but that’s just my personal preference. All in all, this show was too mid for y’all to be raving about it the way you are.

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Lack of spiciness!!!

Although this series is ongoing I will give my review now.
So the story is about two lawyers who have been together since childhood and will soon fall in love. This series also depicts real-life situations in divorce, such as small fights between couples, domestic violence, etc., and their life revolves around divorce lawyers, friends,s and being a couple.
The second couple is a bartender and a laundromat owner (a divorced man with a daughter). their story will revolve between them and the daughter.
throughout the released episode I sense awkwardness between the couples, especially the second lead. The chemistry is not that strong but still the visual supports their chemistry.

Why lack of spiciness????
The story is exciting but the scenes they create make the viewers lose interest, from exciting to boring, it lacks drama...

With 3 upcoming episodes, let's hope that we can see improvement in the story.
P.S- I love the cameo of "Belove in house: Ido"

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Strange and boring

The two ML's are both very good looking, one looks a bit like a vampire, but other than that he was still good eye candy. I can't think of anything else good to say about this drama, it is just boring!
Nothing really happens, it is just a very predictable and generic BL drama that as been made many times before but better.
The other couples storyline was even more stupid than the ML's, when they all went camping together I started to lose the will to live so I decided to drop the drama before I got a rope and a chair.
I already know how it will end because its just a regurgitated storyline on a smaller budget with worse actors

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Mostly Minuses, But Not The Worst

Another story ruined by the irritating "I spoke to your family and now we cant be together" plot. "Its for your own good" plotlines rarely come across as anything but supremely irritating and this was no exception. I was okay with this show up until that point, then I began aggresively skipping and turned it up to 2x speed. I didn't even finish the episode before I had to accept that I really was too disenchanted to be bothered with the rest of the show. So, let's talk:

This show is slow. The plot is thin-- not spider silk thin, but it's not going to make you feel much. There is a gargantuan amount of fluff but with no plot to support it, it feels.....it's just missing something. I was suspicious of Yuki for almost seven episodes just because he decided he was in love out of nowhere. I was constantly looking for the additional plot in every situation only to find that it is always a matter of what you see is what you get. It is as deep as a tablespoon.

The main couple was cute up until the bullshit. The tension of "will they, wont they," was resolved in less than an episode, but the amount of emotion they resolved it with made it seem like theyd been apart for at least three (and they really should have been), so it felt a bit bizzare. I liked the side couple a decent amount despite the utter lack of....anything behind their relationship, but then they also got hit with the trope-mobile and had a misunderstanding three minutes of conversation and a five minute walk could fix. I'm being harsh, but these characters are all, presumably, close to or over 30. This shit would barely strike me as acceptable with college kids, I dont really have the tolerance for it at their ages.

The best part of this series was the cameo from Be Loved In House, and I dropped that series too, so make of that what you will. I am surprisingly disappointed with this series, most likely because the reviews implied it was much more put together. Which is why I normally ignore the reviews, but I suppose I hadn't been burned by them in awhile and forgot. There is a correct way to do slice of life and this was not it. The pacing is eclectic-- relationship things are rushed, but the surrounding plot (or lack thereof) is glacial. Characters lose or gain traits to better accommodate random conflict.

I had some good things to say about this, so I'll get to that and then wash my hands of this mess. I am always a staunch advocate for relationship building. Plus & Minus does a good job of showing the platonic bond between the main couple. They use key moments and habitual behaviors to show the weight of the years between them instead of a quick montage and, as a proud hater of montages, I really liked that.

The sets were always appealing to the eye, which matters very, very little to me, but I did notice it. I enjoyed the little things the main couple did for each other. A lot of BL make it seems like getting together is the happy ever after, or just have no idea what to do with a couple once they are together. This is not necessarily an exception, but they did cute little things for each other, and that, specifically, was nice to see.

Outside of that, nothing else stood out particularly much, definitely not enough to be worth mentioning so I guess thats it, bye.

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It was hard to watch

It started okay, I liked the main couple, the concept of plus and minus... they are cute together. The thing is: the kisses are really bad. They ugly kiss everytime, like, they open their mouths very widely before even touching lips. It breaks the romantic moments for me, sorry. Not to mention that the secondary couple doesn't match AT ALL, the long hair guy is so cool and pretty and his boyfriend is so awkward and BORING. I mean they could match with this features if they had at least some chemistry but they don't. I hate this couple and their kisses also suck. There's this female character that I really liked but they found a way of making her annoying too so I gave up. I didn't mean to be this harsh when I decided to write about this, but just remembering it makes me uncomfortable lol. The songs are terrible too lmaooo i hate every song in this series.

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So Much Unnecessary Drama

This drama had a lot of potential. The premise, while not groundbreaking, seemed solid. There was a level of interest with the characters being in semi-unique professions: the lead pair as divorce lawyers and the secondary couple as a bartender and laundromat owner respectively. Appearances were refreshingly deceiving in some cases, the character you never thought would be a kick ass fighter actually was. The acting, while not spectacular, was relatively okay considering most of the cast didn't have a ton of experience. And what it seemed like and what I hoped for when the lead couple got together relatively early on was for the rest of the series to focus on them as they settle into their relationship and figure out how to be a couple after having been friends for basically their entire lives. It would have been so delightfully refreshing. Instead, the story gets bogged down with unnecessary angst and an even more unnecessary and contrived break up.

Dramatic break ups are not unusual in any series and while I think its an overused trope, if done well, I don't mind. The break up here though was just so poorly done and so completely nonsensical. Ze Shou's father comes upon he and Li Gong together and isn't instantly supportive. To be perfectly fair, his estranged wife is in the hospital dying from cancer, so I honestly can't blame him for not skipping around in circles and throwing glitter in the air. Li Gong goes to visit him without Ze Shou and then later breaks up with Ze Shou. The impression given by that meeting is that Ze Shou's father was so against them being together that Li Gong felt the need to break up with Ze Shou so he can find happiness with a woman only to later find out that Ze Shou's father didn't really have a problem with their relationship and Li Gong basically acted on his own and everything got massively blown out of proportion. By the time both guys got their heads screwed on straight, I had pretty much lost interest and frankly didn't care much if they got together or not.

The second couple was kind of cute and I was invested in them at first, but I never felt like there was much depth to their relationship and I eventually just kind of tapped out. Their attraction to each other just seemed very surface level, and I needed more to really get why they fell in love with each other. I will say it was refreshing to see someone more ordinary looking like Ying Ze end up with someone like Yuki. It seems like most of the time in BL's most of the men are equally gorgeous. The discrepancy here gave some credence to the idea that their love isn't just based on physical appearance. I just wish more time had been devoted to their developing relationship as I think it could have been a really great addition. I also found the fight they had to be more realistic and less contrived. While Ying Ze's devotion to his job was a tad odd to the point he kept clothing that hadn't been picked up in 10+ years, based on his personality, I could get behind his anger at Yuki for getting rid of those clothes a little more. I think it was blown out of proportion and he stayed angry way longer than was necessary, but it worked better than the lead couple's break up.

The chemistry between all the couples was lacking for me. The more intimate scenes just fell flat for me. The actors were obviously committed, but I just didn't feel a spark.

I would have really liked if this drama had used its women better. I'm used to BL dramas using their female characters as props but this drama in particular did them dirty. The male leads go to great lengths to get rid of the women they've been set up on blind dates with and while I get its meant to be funny, I also can't help but feel bad for those women. But I feel like the real injustice is done to Xue Ching, Ze Shou's sister, and Nikita. Xue Ching essentially serves as her brother's punching bag. He doesn't really let her get a word in edgewise and constantly shuts her down. She seemed like she could have been a fun and interesting character so I was disappointed she didn't get a chance to shine. Nikita started out as the cool, unruffled bar manager. I really liked her and her insights and the way she just seemed to observe everyone. She kind of came across as that bartender who'll really listen to you and give you solid advice. And then they went and had her like Li Gong and just ruined her. Those scenes just seemed so completely out of character and also out of the blue. As with a lot of this drama, it felt very contrived.

The less said about the music the better, especially the opening song. It just did not do it for me.

There are a couple of positives in addition to the negatives. I really enjoyed seeing the characters in their work environments. It added an extra dimension to their characters and was genuinely interesting, particularly the law aspect. Ze Shou and Li Gong quoting law to each other was a fun addition towards the beginning of the drama and I wish they'd continued it throughout. Seeing them working as lawyers and working with their clients was a unique addition and one that I appreciated. The cinematography was overall pretty good, and there were a number of well done shots. Honestly though, the highlight of this drama for me was seeing Aaron Lai and Hank Wang from Be Loved in House: I Do. That is one of my absolute favorite dramas and I was so happy to see them again.

This drama could have been decent if it had stopped around Episode 8, things just started to go downhill afterward before completely imploding. It kind of redeems itself in the end, but not enough to warrant ever watching it again. Its short enough that you can pretty easily binge watch it which is what I did. The relatively short length is the only reason I stuck with it to the end. Its decent enough to warrant watching at least once, just be prepared for the train wreck that is Episodes 9-11.

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