Secret Crush on You (2022)

I just watched this show three times in the span of one week.

With how problematic this show is, I like it more than I should.
To be clear, I think Saint and everyone he worked with did a marvelous job. Especially for his first time as a producer. It was probably really hard. It's always hard doing things you've never done. But Saint has a lot of experience as a BL actor. He knows what people like to see. And I think he's probably sick of some of the same tropes that we as the audience are, which might be why he picked this story to turn into a drama. I think this story is actually very unique. It's about a stalker who is actually not insane. My personal evaluation of Toh is that...he could be worse. He could definitely be better, and I really wish he was, but he could be much worse.

When we think of stalkers we imagine a person who follows their target around, spying on them. Someone who hurts anyone who gets close to them. Peeping toms. Insane people who kidnap the person they're obsessed with and r*pe them. Send dead things in packages to their significant other.

The difference is that yes, Toh is creepy, but he's only harming himself by doing what he does. He won't hurt Nuea or anyone he gets close to. So in my opinion, his feelings for Nuea are less of an obsession than what you might see from a typical stalker, because he does love and care for Nuea. He's willing to stay away from him even though he wants to be close. He's also aware that what he does (collecting things) is weird. He feels bad about it, but he doesn't seem to be able to help it. I would argue that it's a mental illness, in the same way that hoarding is, where you know it's bad for you, but you can't help it. You know you should throw that thing away. But something won't let you.

I'm not justifying his behavior. There is something seriously wrong with a person who digs through the trash for a soda can that was only touched for less than a second, who collects crabs, tangerines, a pig's head, a bandaid wrapper, a pillowcase and popsicle sticks and then vaccuum seals all those things and keeps them in boxes. Who has a whole wall covered in pictures of his obsession. Who cares more about getting a picture of someone kissing him than the fact that it actually happened.

To be honest the series should have ended with Toh seeing a specialist or something and getting help for his problem, and throwing all that weird shit in the garbage. I actually think it would have been funny if Nuea had secretly done the same thing. I mean he's as freaky as Toh so it would not have surprised me.

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Good Bl Series.

5/10

Negative:

1. Sadly less Kiss and every time there was a nice kissing scene it ended quickly and another scene came on. very annoying! i wanted to watch longer. Every Time the same Problem.
2. Not much was shown of kao and sky kissing.
3. Prao
4. Kong
5. Peach and Waiwai, prao was very annoying where both came to Nuea and Sky and flirted with them..(in the pub).... i was surprised why nuea and sky didn't fight back ....because they are both taken.

Positive:

1. The Maincouple is so cute, sweet and natural.
2. Nuea.
3. The Natural and beautiful Love of NueaxToh.
4. Tohs Friends was very funny.
5. I liked the last Ep. (Especially the Scenes of NueaxToh)

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Cringy Drama with Some Good Messages

Plot Summary: Toh and his geeky group of friends (Khaojao, Daisy, and Som) belong to a tightknit group of friends who like to obsess and stalk their love interests, with the goal of secretly collecting items of their love interests, while keeping their distance. They take this laissez-faire attitude to their secret crushes by stating that they must always enjoy from afar but must never get fully involved or fully fall for their crushes because they could never be worthy of their crush's love until one day, Toh decides to make a move on his crush, Neua. This action to act on his feelings sets in motion the plot where the group is now thrust into the world of their seniors. Each member is then paired with a senior. The second main characters of this drama are Khaojao, Toh's best friend, and Sky, Neua's best friend, who also end up together. The two groups of friends deal with the challenges of not only being in same sex relationships, but the negative perception that the most popular group of kids fall in love with the geekiest group of kids. In the end, every character shows growth in accepting themselves in their new roles.

Pros: I actually think that the messages that this drama tries to portray were quite positive. I liked that a central message to the drama was to learn to accept yourself and that everyone deserves love no matter who they are. Each character goes through this evolution of sorts where they have to learn to accept themselves and not give a fuck about what society is saying about them. I think that it's a great central theme to the story.

I loved Som's character so much. The fact that she always stood as a voice of reason to her queer friends was beautiful. She was the GOAT in the drama making sure that her besties.

There was a lot of sex scenes. It almost seemed pornographic at times. If you're into sex scenes, this drama has plenty of it. LoL.

Cons: The acting can be quite cringy throughout the whole series. This was the first acting job for some of the actors and it did show--especially Sky. Toh's character is purposely cringy, but sometimes it was just too much. Other times I had second-hand embarrassment.

I felt that some characters didn't have focus in their interpretation. A good example was the scene where Neua discovers that Toh has been collecting all these things from his interactions with Neua and has all these secret pictures. Essentially, he discovers that Toh is a stalker. He has all these emotions, but in this moment he cried because he was afraid that Toh would leave him someday, and then Toh cries and says no, it's because I feel like you're gonna leave me...was a bit awkward. I didn't feel like either emotions felt genuine for the characters. And then, in bed Neua was always a bit perverted with his talking. Like his voice changed, and he became this dom suddenly, when his character tended to always want to please Toh. I don't know if I'm explaining it perfectly. But basically it felt out of character. In the bedroom he was this controlling dom, but in the relationship itself he was very subservient to Toh and practically did everything Toh wanted to do. It made for these weird scenes.

Overall: If you can get past the cringy acting, and amateur acting, it's an okay drama. Definitely not one you're going to miss if you don't watch.

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What The Heck Is This?

This show caused me a physical pain due to the second hand embarrassment. It might have been a somewhat not-so-bad idea for a plot, but the overall atmosphere of the show is hirendous.

I have to admitt, however, that the music in this was actually quite good.

My three stars for acting might be too little, because the actors did a decent job. BUT. The main characters are sooo annoying and embarrassing, that I could not make myself give it a better rating.

I loved the second couple tho!!!

In conclusion, it has it's moments but I wouldn't watch it again, not even for hundred alpacas.

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Exhausting main, delightful support

There seems to be a large category of BL dramas where the main couple are very boring and the best part of the show are the side couples and support characters. This is absolutely one of those. The actors all do a great job; I do not care for Nuea and Toh's story. Toh is so irritating and unwell that is makes the whole thing boring. I would LOVE a nonsense, low stakes, lots of cutesy scenes for most BL dramas that I've seen, but I skipped over huge chunks of this because I don't care about the main story I should be focused on.

Sky and Pao are where it's at. While the whole show is a wild exaggeration (affection) this courtship felt a little more real to me. A better message about body image and accepting love.

I liked when Nuea's cool friends would hang out with Toh's outcast friends. It was just fun people being nice and learning about each other.

Daisy and Som spin off series, please. Give Daisy a lead role and Som a proper romance story. Let the girls have fun too!

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WATCH THIS FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING BL. The. Best.

This is your sign to watch this series. One of the best BL series I’ve seen. I know that sounds like a huge compliment, but this series deserves it.

Technical:

Acting- a fckin 10/10
Writing- 10/10
Directing- 10/10
Cinematography- 10/10
Sounds- a crispy 10/10. You’ll need earphones for the kissing scenes. You’ll fckn ascend, man. Levitate.
Story- 12/10. I know it starts off a bit off and cringe even with the great acting, but it serves a purpose. They did it on purpose, and you’ll understand why in the later parts. It’s mindblowing.
Conflict & Resolution: the best. 13/10. They gave it all.
Plot- 1573646/10. I know the setting being in a university is very, very cliche. But it’s done on purpose. Believe me. It’ll all make sense later in the series.

Non-technical:

Conflict- you know how a drama is heavy while being very feel-good and light at the same time? This is that series. It’s laced with relatable and timely issues, while being one of the funniest and most romantic series. I dont know what else i wanna look for.

Representation- 16494726/10. Daisy? Toh? Khao? They’re all of us in ways you never knew. You’ll feel represented by one of them, and all of them at the same time. Phenomenal.

Smex- 13/10. The kiss scenes are enough to melt me to utter goo. The nsfw scenes are incredible as well.

Dynamics- one of the best pairings and friend group I’ve ever seen. Toh’s friend group is hilarious as all hell, and very relatable. Nuea’s are all so hot it’s ridiculous. But let’s talk about the pairings.

Pair dynamics- 153747936385736793/10. Perfect. Green flag tops who care for you, assure you, reassure you, and then reassure you some more, hype you up, build you up, and then support you all the way? Who. Doesn’t. Want. That. I’ll. cut . Your. Throat. You. Fckin. Liar.

All the ‘tops’ here are iconic. Nuea, Sky and Intouch. *Chef’s Kiss*.

Lastly, my love for this series? 16384739479374747364647474%

I can’t get this series out of my head. It’s crazy.

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Sadly not for me

Persevered to episode 5 but sadly found Toh to be too unbelievable. Actually preferred the story of Sky and Jao. I know lots out there love this series but sadly this isn’t one for me. After the last few that I’ve watched using recommendations on here I was sadly disappointed. Found some of the scenes toe curlingly cringey. Didn’t enjoy the storyline and for me know one in this day and age acts like Toh. Apologies to anyone that did enjoy the series but this is my honest opinion. Billy and Seng may be good in other series but this one does them no favours I’m afraid. I’ll try some of their others but this sadly hasn’t put them high on my list of ones to watch. 😢

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I'm not sure how to feel about this ....

SOOOOoooo .... Um. I'm just going to be completely honest when it comes to how I feel about this series (so far). I have watched up to episode 5 and idk .. something made me want to read the reviews because I genuinely wanted to know what people thought (and there were a lot of mixed reactions). Most of the comments I saw were positive, but the negative ones were really REALLY negative .. So here are my thoughts. *Beware it's fairly long*
Like I said before, I stopped at episode 5. After reading the reviews and seeing how people were praising the series I thought "Okay well maybe I should have a glance at episode 6 just to see if it will make any difference on how I'm feeling" and it really did not. I couldn't get pass the first few minutes.
Tbh I like Toh. I love his cute smile, and I also love the way he blushes and squirms whenever Nuea does or says anything attractive (because inner me completely understands how he feels as I'm quite introverted and shy as well so I also blush easily haha). Those parts of him seem so pure and innocent. It really just feels like watching someone who is overly excited, not just because his crush is paying attention to him, but if you really think about it, most of the things that are happening to Toh (from a romantic point of view) are most likely first time experiences which makes it a bit more personal, special and intimate. I completely understand what they're trying to portray here ( just because you're quirky, shy, introverted, nerdy etc. doesn't mean that someone who is more popular and charming cannot develop genuine feelings for you) which isn't a bad message to send to the audience as this can definitely give persons who can relate to Toh's personality a sense of courage or self-esteem ... *HOWEVER*....................... There is a VERY thin line between having a crush on someone and being completely obsessed to the point where you're shoving crab in your backpack (and literally everything else that your crush BREATHES ON) simply because "it would be a waste" to get rid of it. It's a bit too much. THOSE parts of Toh make me feel genuinely concerned about him and his mental health. The photos of Nuea all over his room were already a bit too much (although not "uncommon" to some degree). It's like watching a sasaeng obsess over and stalk their kpop crush at every given opportunity ( watching their schedules, calling them, hacking their accounts, showing up at their hotel rooms etc.) and STILL rooting for them to get together while knowing that it's COMPLETELY wrong JUST BECAUSE it's a bl. I understand that it's not AS EXTREME as that but it feels as though it won't be long before it gets to that point based on how Toh is behaving (e.g. him trying to sneak into Nuea's shower to take photos of him).
It feels as though Nuea has SOME sort of idea about how obsessed Toh is but only to a certain degree. Let's be honest. If you genuinely fell for someone and found out later that they're COMPLETELY obsessed with you in an unhealthy way, would you still entertain them? I personally would feel creeped out and probably even a bit scared. I would still try to help them though especially if I cared about them as a person because this just isn't right. It's making people who would actually DO this kind of stuff in real life think that it's okay when it's NOT... "Oh this must mean that there is a chance that my crush will fall for me if I stalk him like this, it's fate !" Girl NO.
Another thing that is REALLYY bugging me is related to Nuea. Every time that I see his scenes with Toh my first thought is "wait .. doesn't he have a GIRLFRIEND?" Like mentally I just can't move on from it. We only saw her a handful of times in episode one and two ( I think) but really .. why is he entertaining Toh this heavily in the first place when he clearly has something going on with Prao?? I just can't help but feel uncomfortable about the fact that he's technically openly cheating. Like I get that Nuea's sister doesn't seem to fancy Prao THAT MUCH, but it reallyyy seems like Prao is putting in the effort to be liked. Just because someone is overly pretty and cares about makeup and skincare doesn't mean that they're automatically a bad person and it DEFINITELY doesn't mean that you should cheat on them (I'm not sure if she will do anything terrible yet or not because again I stopped at ep 5 but for now these are my thoughts about her). I HATE this narrative in bls where an original relationship is "ruined" just because it's a bl, or a girl is dumped just because their bf's love interest has all of a sudden changed on some "I'm not into boys but I'm into you" type stuff. Like yes Toh is the main character BUT just because he sulks a few times about Prao being around doesn't mean that she should just be kicked to the curve??
Last thing that annoys me is Toh's friend group. Sometimes it just feels soo over the top and annoying. His friends are sooo aware about Toh's unhealthy obsession and instead of helping him or giving genuine advice they just .. aid him? Sometimes Daisy and Som annoy me so much (although Daisy's outfits omgg 😍) but yeah, they say stuff at times where you can tell that it might have actually offended Toh's feelings and they still carry on and on when you can visibly see how annoyed Toh feels after. They also crowd him SO MUCH like yes I understand you want to know everything that's going on but give the boy some space please 😭😭 its interesting because although Toh, Daisy and Som's personality seem so similar, there's a reason why you can obviously tell that Toh is much MUCH closer to KhaoJoa (it feels as though they can tell each other anything and they're ALWAYS there for each other but not in an overly annoying way). Also, I kinda like KhaoJoa's and Sky's love interest. Although it's the basic storyline of the guy who's shy and lowkey has a crush but won't admit it so they "push the crush away" while hoping that the crush wouldn't actually leave (which the crush ofc never does).,ATLEAST KhaoJoa is level headed in the sense that he's not stalking Sky or being overly obsessive (and vice versa). I also noticed a slight love interest between Kongkwan and Fon in the 1st ep but so far there hasn't been much else about them. That's all I have to say for now. I'll probably give ep 6 - 7 one more chance.

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Interesting plot.... Some cringe moments

The like the plot of the series and the story. Most of the characters are really good and gives you a good feeling. Toh and Jao gives me mixed feelings. Especially Toh, yes his character is relatable, nerdy and shy but his stalking behavior makes me uncomfortable and it's cringey. Actually is putting me off this series. I'm just hoping the following episodes will show a more confident, mature Toh rather than more constant stalking. Jao on the other hand is too stiff and unbending. I would have given up already. Obviously this is not the actors fault but it's the story. Well back to the show now.

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give it a chance

i tried so hard, but i sincerely could not make myself finish this.

but with that said? really, seriously, give this a shot. try to stick with it at least through 3 episodes and maybe you'll start to see the appeal of it, like i did!

it didn't make me immune to feeling intense second hand embarrassment for the characters but...it's kinda a part of this show's weird charm. It's deliberately over the top, it's silly, it's CAMP. I still couldn't take it enough to finish it though lol,,, I hope I can someday.

the friendships in this are so heartwarming and 100% what convinced me to keep watching near the beginning. they're so silly but THERE for each other, they're each other's support systems, their ride or die, and it's so so so adorable and sweet to see. as a queer person, who doesn't want a silly queer group of friends who you Know will always be there for you through thick or thin? they made me feel emotional about as much as i cringed over the show, which is a feat.

i think it's too silly and camp to fully call a soft and sweet show, but that doesn't mean it's Not soft or sweet either. It's just soft, sweet, AND silly. maybe it's not for you, (it kinda wasn't for me, i'm just never gonna entirely vibe with this type of humor, personally), but it's genuinely a show worth giving a shot. there's a heart underneath all of that camp and cringe you might fall in love with.

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ENOUGH is ENOUGH

Okay.... I get it now

Secret crush on you is actually a nice series.. I must say i really love the scenery of the school and Oh my god! The uniforms are cute.. Now speaking of cute Nuea is so cute, hot and actually a good actor, i hope he get another bl soon. Now to Toh🤔umm... I'm not trying to discriminate or anything but i kinda have problems about him

Why does he smile like that, he shouldn't do that, it makes him look creepy, weird and not cute
I won't say he shouldn't have been casted to be the main role buuuuut it tempting, to be honest, I've kinda had the thought that jao should have been Toh and Toh to be Jao. The series would have been great and good to rewatch. It just Toh that putting everyone off, I KNOW THAT WHAT EVERYONE IS THINKING 🤔🤔🤔😏

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lol

Before I get into it I will talk about one, and probably my only true one, PRO: the subtitles are great. Even though it was wasted on this show, it wasn't actually wasted because this should be the standard! Every show should put this level of dedication and care into subtitling/translating if they want to reach a wider audience. Even if they hadn't included the extra information to help us understand the cultural elements, the grammar, syntax, ordering, and timing were all correct.It was really amazing. So seriously good for them. Subtitles and good translations are extremely important, so thank you!

That being said...

It's about an “ugly” duckling (Toh) who’s in love with this popular dude (Nuea). Their respective (sort of adorable) friend groups are the supporting cast. He and his pals have rules regarding hidden crushes and like to cry about it a lot. That’s the bare bones; however, the unpopular one is not so much in love as he is…a fan who collects his idol’s things. Except no that’s not right either…oh right he’s a stalker–like one of the alternative titles for the show suggests. A passive aggressive one at that.

When I first wrote my review I saw it a lot less of a detriment to the show and, although I do not believe this dummy to be a threat, thinking back on the difficulties that built up during the course of me watching makes it seem as bad as it is. It isn’t so much that he does what he does but how it plays out (or doesn’t, really) within the show and Toh’s skewed approach to life.

Anyway, everything works out for him and his friends. You know, cause they’re fucking ugly I guess and rules don’t apply when you’re ugly (?) and weird (?).

Probably because of the very human need to defend the things we like without it seeming like we ourselves exhibit this behavior there seems to be a tendency, if one doesn’t acknowledge the ver weird behavior even if they still like it, to say it’s not that bad or justify it. It’s so incredibly unhealthy for Toh himself and those surrounding him and it shows that he lacks respect for the person he claims to love. Unlike in another drama with a similar underlying premise, which never ever tried to convince the viewer, and therefore no one had to jump through hoops to convince others and themselves, this show goes out of its way to essentially guarantee that.

And, because this is a mindless story parading as something different (I guess), he gets everything he wants. Wild cos he was really collecting this other boy’s food, his tissues, his photos, his literal drinks and cups. Had a whole-ass wall of photos dedicated to this jawn and a cardboard fucking cutout of him. Just absurd and at first it’s funny but it. Goes. Nowhere. Stops being funny when the try attempts (poorly) to be serious and we’re still reeling from shit that was happening before.


Seng’s acting is not that great and I don’t know if it’s him per se or the script and production. I’ve only seen him in WHY R U? (which…is a show) and he was cute there but he didn’t do much. Here? The mic packs, the fucking heavy-ass breathing, the smiling constantly. I don’t buy completely that an actor can only work with what’s given so I’m gonna say he should work on it. I don’t understand what ANY of that was and it affects the character heavily.

Everyone else was fine. Looknam and Billy were the best here but I think the older cast members are around my age and that’s a long time so they’re going to do better. Most times.

At first, I disagreed that the main couple didn’t have chemistry though I know I noticed that it’s mostly Billy, the way he looks at his co-star, the way he moves, he’s good at the natural intimacy and sensuality which same. Jk but I think he’s the reason why I did find this couple interesting.



Toh isn't really a real human and, unfortunately, neither is Jao (second lead with a love line that I do not care about and is cringe). Toh BARELY has a literal voice and I appreciate that they are artists/photographers but what else is there to him? (Nothing). Despite the actors/them both being neither ugly nor fat respectively, the show tries hard to convince us that this is the case. Jao is obviously not the ideal weight for asian beauty standards, skewing on very thin or jacked, I guess but it’s still just ridiculous and who the fuck wants to relate to that? Especially a fat person. Toh /was/ ugly but that’s because I hated his fucking face because he made those dumb fuckin’ faces but he’s not actually ugly OBVIOUSLY.

At first the friendships are fun but then, when you realize no one can mind their goddamn business, it gets annoying. They do everything in public for some reason, they pressure each other into doing things they don’t want to do, and they (well Toh’s friend group) cry a lot. More importantly, because Toh consistently doesn’t change and does batshit crazy things like stealing the food Nuea touched, they don’t do aaaaanything remotely constructive when approaching Toh’s stupid habit that defines his boring life for some reason. They give sad looks (because they know it is fucking insane!) but don’t DO anything???????

Instead of being so concerned with Toh and his habits through looks and more funny comments they could explain /why/ it's a) fucking weird b) unhealthy c) sad to him (since I guess he doesn’t get it). That being said, the friendships are the best part and it made me happy to see them be able to come out of their shells. As much as I have to criticize, having that type of experience in college can really change your life and help you grow. When you have new experiences and get to expand your social circle you become more confident, mature, more content. Unfortunately it’s clouded by the fact that Toh never changes and Jao also is a whiny lil bitch (but I would be too if people didn’t leave me alone which they do not) or has no fuckin spine.

While I appreciate that they have these couples subverting certain expectations—since I know that many people get frustrated at the purported hegemony of masc4masc stuff or misreading of heteronormativity as co-opted by the genre instead of inherent to it—they actually don’t really? I think the problem is we put ourselves and these people into boxes so we expect all these relationships to turn out one way or follow a certain code.

It still gets limited and follows the same exact codes as everything else. There’s no imagination! And when there is it’s barely explored like with Daisy. Also I fail to see how this doesn’t follow the very same structure of superimposing active/passive (male/female) onto the subjects. Again, when they had an actual opening they didn’t take it.

Why are some of the gender rules so rigid? Why not show and exploit that more? Though a character like Nuea is more playful and sensitive he still takes on [x] role because of course he does.

The show is too long as well. But that’s just me. I know many don't mind since it's a soothing show and it can be cute. At first I thought I could power through but I just couldn’t do anymore; it went nowhere and got progressively more ridiculous and frustrating. There was so much dead space, filler, awkward acting. They had $ tho I guess.

Frankly, this show is not very entertaining or good and I don’t believe that a lot of people don’t like it because the characters are (SUPPOSEDLY*) ugly, effeminate, or both. Nor do I think it’s okay to justify the poor quality of the work itself or Toh’s behavior—the inciting incident—because they are part of those aforementioned groups (very loosely defined due to humans being complex). On top of that, just because other shows do worse or other people excuse things like the nasty behavior (all) dramas love because the men are supposedly hot or masculine? Doesn’t make it okay, or even palatable for whatever went on here.


The logic goes: something that is typical and visibly harmful/not socially conscious gets redressed, and, if it looks marginally different, becomes seen as a social net positive making it hard to see what could be underneath. I’m not sure it does what people thinks it does and I think there’s an assumption that BL is not, like anything involving men, following some nightmare patriarchal male imagination logic. But it does, it is, it will because it has to. Without actually putting effort into new ideas and a new story this remains the case. I have yet to see how it's a subversion, transgression, or truly different in terms of production, content, and in terms of 'commentary'.

Additionally the reviews are overwhelmingly positive, the ratings as well, and the current rating on the show is more than generous so when I see people try to give reasons why others may not like the show—subsequently projecting what they think other people's blockages are due to prejudice—I don’t get it. Who are these people? There’s so little critique or dissent here so I simply don’t understand the jump to those conclusions. It could just be a not good show; this review’s my argument for why it’s not.

*looknam is hot af

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