Stay (2023)

promising start let down by the writing

Overall: I enjoyed the more realistic vibe, but the writing didn't work for me. Aired on Team Campy Entertainment YouTube channel. 7 episodes broken up into two parts each, each episode was about 20 minutes long.

Content Warnings: racism, beaten up off screen

What I Liked
- realistic parts (being annoyed at someone talking on the phone in the bathroom)
- funny parts, like that he wore a suit (although who wouldn't ask what the job was???)
- sweet/cute moments

Room For Improvement
- that was too harsh of a way to start a series
- too much overlap/showing old scenes between the parts and the episodes
- Andre was an unlikable character (especially in episode 6) and I didn't really like Joshua either, I didn't feel their chemistry/relationship build up
- story threads/characters dropped like the dad
- the sister exposition dump
- loud, constant background music (and mostly the same music)

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I liked it!

Despite some of the negative comments here, I'm giving this one a 10. And anyone that's followed my critiques and ratings knows that 10s are very rare for me! Here are my pros and cons:

PROS

STORY. I found the story compelling, and different from the majority of BLs out there. I found myself genuinely anticipating each week's episode, and that's something I haven't felt from a BL in quite a while.

ACTING. There were only three regular actors in the series, and I especially liked Ellis Gage as Joshua. The other two were more than creditable.

MUSIC. I really liked the OST theme song.

ENDING. After the drama of Episode 6, I expected a happy ending (as is customary in Thai BLs), where somehow everything gets wrapped up in a nice ribbon and they all live happily ever after. Very glad they didn't go that route. Joshua already being married was a real plot twist! Andre was of course very immature, but I liked how the two of them separated but kept the lines of communication open. So, while it wasn't a customary "happy ending," it was a realistic one, combined with hope for the future. Kudos to the writers.

CONS

RELATIONSHIP. I guess you could call it an "enemies to lovers" trope, except that Joshua was the only unfriendly one at first. I didn't mind the slow burn, but found it odd that Joshua was feeling that Andre might be cheating on him (he wasn't)... especially when the two of them never really got past the friends stage. They never slept together or even kissed and, frankly, that's pretty much unheard of when dealing with two gay men in their late twenties.

But I'm sticking with my 10.0 rating. Hoping to see these two in other projects.

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