Remember Me (2022)

Unwatchable

This is the dullest BL I've seen - it's unwatchable. I just dropped it after Ep 3, which was almost entirely people messaging each other with a couple of phone calls thrown in, and it was entirely people telling each other they passed their college entraince exams. Riveting.

This is incompetently made. The camera work is good, but the editing is miserable. First of all, there are ways to quickly communicate the characters' excitement about going to college other than each character calling every other character to tell them they passed. The music editing is even worse. The background music is way too loud, and it's the same single bar of pizzicato strings downloaded for free played over and over. There's a scene where someone calls someone who's standing outside a club (to tell him he passed his entrance exams), and every time the perspective shifts to club boy, the same chord from the club track is played - it's so awfully edited it's astonishing.

Title and Man from The Yearbook are quite good, but nobody else stands out - I know what First and Ja look like because I punished myself for my sins by watching Don't Say No, but I honestly can't recognize anyone else from ep to ep. Well, I guess Mean, but he's unrecognizable because his "hair" keeps changing radically and tragically.

I honestly can't understand how anyone can get through this before falling into a coma. Well, I suppose the loud music might keep your brain from shutting down, but the metal spike you shove into your ear to make it stop will have the same effect.

Run away.

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10 because I've got more than I expected

It's not a typical BLdrama but still I'm not disappointed - I'm enchanted by this series. I was born in the 1980s, so first of all, drama was a time machine for me, it was a travel to time of fun, friendship, contacting others through letters or a landline phone, which not everyone had. I remembered the first internet cafes, the first instant messengers, oh my! Secondly, Remember Me is a sensitive, delicate picture of a family, its problems, dramas and its power to go though them. An image of the love of parents for their children, children for their parents. It is also a living, subjective portrait of a friendship, relationship that lasts from childhood to adulthood with all ups and downs. I appreciate how the creators showed the characters' maturation, their choices and their consequences. The stories I liked the most was the stories of Nan, Champ and Name. Their behavior, choices, mistakes and at the end how they managed to change and find themselves, how they have matured, were very close to real life. Em completed the Name's story, I liked him, he was like the ray od sunshine in every scene. The story of Gun and Golf seems to me too idyllic, plain, obvious and therefore untrue, and this, apart from these tragic wigs, is the only minus for me. I am impressed, I liked it a lot, i'm recalling ..... Today I talked via Messenger with my childhood friend, we now live in different countries, but we still have great contact, we are still the same as 3 decades back, two best friends from school bench. I love this drama.

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Slice of life drama

I loved this drama. It had a nostalgic and comfortable atmosphere that I enjoyed sitting in with each episode.. They really tried to give all the characters screen time and their stories were told completely which i liked but the down side was that with so few episodes and so many supporting characters and stories to be told i struggled to fully connect with them. I loved that there were different family dynamics portrayed, different family types and their experiences . I also enjoyed seeing how our mains grew as individuals and all possessed some trouble or another that was relatable. There wasn't much focus on relationships but there was just enough focus for me to remain invested in their stories and also relate to what they went through. The overall story concept was actually a good one. I struggled with the time hops, they worked well in story telling but at times I didn’t know where we were in the time line and finally the story of Chompu and Nak- not many shows really showcase disability, their hardships and how society often writes them off or ostracise them (especially poorer countries). All in all a nice emotional roller coaster life drama

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Impressive acting, good series

This review is going to contain only mild spoilers. I'll try to keep it more of a synopsis rather than a retelling of the story.

This series follows a group of friends as they navigate childhood, school, friendships, loves, and losses. I am totally in love with their friendship as a group, because they are so close and never leave anyone behind. But also, most of them aren't so dependent on each other that they can't make new friends or make their own way in the world. The one who is totally dependent is Name, because of his trauma-induced disability, but Em is so patient and kind with Name, which has both good and bad results prior to Name deciding to take steps to help himself. Champ has his own dependencies to navigate and distances himself from others , stunting his own emotional growth temporarily.

Gun and Naknan have their own stories as well. Gun hides behind letters, texts, and emails, and watches his his pen-pal from afar until they finally meet. Even then, his fear of rejection causes him to keep his identity secret, but this prevents his relationship with Golf from moving forward. Naknan, on the other hand, pushes his newfound love to accept that he accepts her, even though she isn't a part of his playboy lifestyle.

The stories told in this series are good. They are slices of life, love, and family. The series has a tendency to drag in some places, but the acting is phenomenal from everyone in the series. I usually have a problem with the "adults" in a drama like this. They are usually seasoned actors, so you would think that they wouldn't be the problem, but I have found that they, for whatever reason, have the most stilted lines/acting. But in this series, the mains, the parents/adults, and the kids were all really good, and I appreciate that.

Quick rant: I have to agree with every other comment that the wigs are distracting. It is obvious that Mean was wearing a wig (and if 'we' are wrong about that, and they actually colored and styled his hair that way?? OMG horrible!). I'm not sure if Ja's hair was real or not, but it's the same style he used in 'Until We Meet Again' so, although I think it looked much more realistic than Mean's, it probably was a hairpiece as well, as it was never styled any differently than a messy ponytail. (Which, honestly, I kinda liked, but I'm all for man-buns and ponytails, so forgive me.)

I am disappointed that we never got to see Champ become involved in any type of relationship. There was a hint of a possible attraction at the end of the series, but I was really cheering for him to find someone. Champ's story, unfortunately, was part of the slower parts of the show, which does Title a discredit as an actor. He played his parts well, but there were too many instances where the audience gazed at Champ as he brooded or cried, when the writers could have used that time to create more story for him instead of leaving him disconnected from the world. I understand that that was the point...to show that he was disconnected and stuck in his head. But we got the point after the first 15 seconds or so of each of that type of scene, and it kind of made me want to shake him out of his depression and tell him to be more grateful. He was so busy working hard to live up to his grandpa's expectations that he didn't realize that his grandpa wasn't the source of those expectations, and he failed to understand his grandpa's message completely.

This was a good drama, and I'm glad to have watched it. I will admit that I had to drop it temporarily because the first few episodes were building background, and it was going too slow for me. But I'm glad I picked it up again. The friends and the families were all supportive and made this, all in all, a feel-good show, and I love to see happy endings. There is enough open-endedness for there to be another season, but I don't think that's going to happen, so we have to use our imaginations for that.

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Elective Mutism? and not Selective Mutism

I watched this movie in order to see how the production company will be presenting the disorder of Mutism. Upon watching all 14 episodes, it seems apparent to me that the disorder of the character of Name is Elective Mutism and not Selective Mutism. Although Elective Mutism is an outdated term, the story seemed to be based on the basic definition of Elective Mutism ("refusal to speak in 'almost all' social situations, despite normal ability to do so"). During childhood, according to the story, Name witnessed the death of his father and somehow blamed it on his mother. As a result, he refused to talk, and basically communicates via Sign Laguage and other medium, e.g. sticky notes, MSN chat. It was not clear to me, if Name refused to talk (as a choice) because of fear, or because of his rebellious behavior against his mother. In contrast, selective mutism's basic definiton is the failure to speak in specific situations and is strongly associated with social anxiety disorder.

Maybe I am missing something here, but I do welcome any Speech-Language Pathologists, who can also share his/her own thoughts about Psychogenic Mutism. My own BL Film, OSMOSIS The Series, digs deep into Selective Mutism as a result of another type of childhood trauma. Basically, I aligned it from the experience of a guest at the Oprah Winfrey Show, and therefore I presented it as a social anxiety disorder.

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The only bad thing about this show is the wigs

Remember Me will bring about waves of nostalgia, especially for those who grew up in the era of MSN – painful hours of waiting for someone to come online and feeling your stomach lurch when they reply. This show brought a silly grin to my face for sure.

It’s also about friendships. Family. And transitions in life.

But to me, the true marvel about Remember Me is also how it shows the evolution of relationships across a wide time horizon.

High school friends that you thought would be around forever tend to slink away into the background. (But with some luck they'll come back into your lives.) Family that you can count on, even if you can't agree with the choices they've made.

This show is about the transition into college life and adulthood. And some parts will get uncomfortable. But with the vicissitudes of life, there will be pain, but there will also be joy.

We rarely see characters with disabilities or disorders in mainstream BLs, but Remember Me really went out of their way to embrace greater diversity. And that's something I really appreciated as well.

My full review here: https://asianblreviews.wordpress.com/2023/01/09/remember-me-2022-thai-bl/

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Original story.

This drama have truly original and beautiful story. It shows struggles many of us had during growing up and that life is not just unicorns and rainbows. It's shows more realistic side of life. Also the fact that they were able to show years passing in such a great way even thinking about changing phones or apps they were using. Great idea. It is a BL but I didn't feel that intense romantic mood between actors. They could work a little bit more on music and showing how each character came to an understanding of their feelings for each other. I felt that it was not that well presented from perspective of every character. If not for that then I would consider this series one of the best.

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Best Thai drama

I started watching it thinking it maybe a BL drama but considering the plot and timeline the writers set, BL was unknown in that era. Being a queer wasnt a trend nor was it considered normal (as somewhat acceptable like it is now). The plot beautifully blossoms from childhood to the teens to adult life! Each character has been sketched by the writer in a unique way that even supporting cast is as important as the leads. The five leads are fantabulous in emoting, acting and expressions! The best BL I must say! If ur an old schooler of romance, you will love it and especially if u belong to the 90s-2000s era, u will just go swoon over each element that was the highlight of that era - for instance, mediums of communication to commonly used attire and objects u possessed in the same timeline. You will definitely be transported to your childhood every minute and end up teary and emotional too. A beautiful joyride of emotions, please do not miss this beautiful drama. Hell lot of family values and importance of friendship here.

Spoiler: it is not the typical BL you will expect to watch.

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remember me

remember me is such old classic bl for me ... soo pure and awesome . I wasn't soo intrested in the show but i decided to give it a try . i love the fact that it portrays the youth and the high school romance in a non cringey way , plus the aesthetic is just cheff's kiss ? sooo good and just like a beautiful poem . seeing first and ja in a series like this really shows the potential of their acting. I also am falling for the second lead couple ... love the fact that even though name is mute and don't wanna talk the other character (sorry still don't remember names) never lefts him out and makke him included in every way possible form the starting . the way the show started was soooo beautiful ? and they gave a full on detailed view of there childhood and that's the base eventually. it gives me butterfliesssssss thinking about how the old generation used to communicate with letters and when emails started it was another trend . like waiting for someone u love to have that sweet reply , u can't have access to computers 247 . it just makes too much sense . I am really impressed and Hoping alot from this show ????

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A MASTERPIECE

What a journey! It felt both healing and nostalgic. Being myself born in early '90s it was like I relived my childhood up to the adulthood. Internet, computers, the first mobile phones, MSN... what a era! Too bad that this show is so underestimate but it was kinda predictable since this is a very unconventional BL: the slow burn romantic relationships, zero presence of spicy scenes or too dramatic events and the time very large time setting that spans from elementary to the adulthood. And yet I really loved it because they portrayed all the kinds of problems we have to face during the process of growing so amazingly not only friendships and love problems but also the process to become independent while you still need the support of your family or more deeper matters such as anxiety and disability. To me this show is a masterpiece and should deserve more attention. Totally recommended!

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Hermosamente superadora pero insoportablemente larga

Esta serie sigue la historia personal de cinco chicos desde la niñez a la adultez, por lo que si, es lógico que sea una serie larga, pero lo malo es que durante toda su historia se mantienen las mismas problematicas, no tiene dinámica y se vuelve aburrido ver el paso de los años y tan pocas diferencias, lo que también la vuelve demasiado sufrida por la postergación de soluciones. Aún así, las temáticas que aborda son de lo más interesantes, sensibles pero tomadas con total delicadeza y respetando las personalidades de los personajes (coherentes con su historia personal) es emocionante, y como mencioné, muy superadora, cada cual te deja una enseñanza y una sensación reconfortante aunque después de demasiado drama.
Las parejas fueron demasiado dulces y románticas, igual de largas, pero con toques muy lindos y disfrutables, en especial la pareja de Name y Em que me robo el corazón.
La producción me gustó, visualmente fue muy prolija y el elenco logro transmitirme mucho, es una serie muy linda y está bien lograda, pero con 10 capítulos ya hubiera sobrado para transmitir toda su belleza y no terminar aburriendo.

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