Unironically Interesting
This is a series that you either absolutely love or hate, I don't think there could be an in-between. If you're someone who deeply cares about good writing and story-telling, this is probably not the right series for you. But if you're like me and love morally fucked characters and non-stop drama, you're going to absolutely adore this.I'll get the bad stuff out of the way first:
1. It loses its direction quite a bit because of the insane amount of side stories. I don't hate this because it's still easy enough to follow, but not all side stories are essential to the main plot. This series could've benefit from someone in the writing room saying "maybe that's enough" at one point. Because of the insane amount of side plots, they did not really have time to flesh out any of the issues fully. I know the issues of drugs, prostitution, grooming, and murder do come hand in hand a lot but it would have been heaps better if they had one topic in the spotlight the entire series rather than have each of these issues take turns being in the spotlight. It is a little bit too ambitious for its own good unfortunately.
2. Not all characters were made equal. I wish I could say that I will still remember all the characters next week, but I know that I will definitely forget at least half of them. Unfortunately, some of the characters are literal dozens. I'm not even talking about the morally black characters, those people are still memorable. I'm talking about characters like Jump, the reporter, Captain's boyfriend whose name I've already forgotten, and tons of others. Even Porsche is so uninteresting compared to his other friends. Honestly if they were going to put this many people in the series, they have to make sure that each of them are interesting at least.
3. Intentions and motives aren't very clear. I think one of the reasons that the ratings are this low is because the characters are not the easiest to connect to. It is so important to ensure that even if your main character is an absolute piece of shit, the audience can still understand why they are that way. Unfortunately I think the motives established here is just not enough for most people which alienated a huge portion of the initial audience.
4. Too many buttcheeks. I've worked in hospitals and aged care where I see ass on the daily but this series still contained way too many buttcheeks for my liking.
Now onto the good:
1. Trigger warning is very clear. This was very obviously a "watch at your own risk" series so people know what they are in for. None of the shady stuff done in the series are romanticized in any way and this actually speaks about consent in a more authentic manner compared to even the fluffiest BLs. All of the characters are morally grey at best but the series never really disguised them as anything else which I fully appreciate.
2. Touched on complex issues without downplaying the seriousness of the situation.
3. This series is genuinely interesting which is not something I can always say when it comes to thai BLs. A lot of action or darker series often fail at making me care about the action side of the series because of how much emphasis they put on the romantic storyline. The action becomes secondary and oftentimes feels like a filler in between the romance scenes. This series is different because I care about the plot as much as I care about the relationships.
4. Series is sex-positive and doesn't demonize kinks. I love that this series doesn't shy away from casual sex, kink exploration, adventurous sex even after getting in a relationship. I find that a lot of series involving casual sex often end up going into the "We're going to stick with vanilla sex now because I'm in love with you and I want to make love instead of fuck" which is hugely annoying to me. People can be in love and still have rough sex if they want to! I'm glad that this series doesn't go down that road.
5. Chemistry between actors were amazing. This doesn't only apply to the romantic couples because at one point I was kinda rooting for Zouey and Nont/Nant to get together. Their friendship is seriously so homoerotic and their tension is just so tangible.
6. Prom is so hot. I want him.
Overall, this series is definitely not for everyone but I absolutely adore this. I am wishing for a season two and I hope Zouey and Nont kiss at one point because they obviously want each other.
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Pretty Interesting and Different
The 18+ rating on this is definitely needed, as there are very adult scenes and themes, though sometimes the NC scenes weren't necessary to the plot and therefore could have been left out. Some characters got more than others for no particular reason, as well. The series almost gives off softcore porn vibes at times, just without the nudity, right down to the music, but overall it's very sex positive in the way that we see different characters who all have different relationships with sex, sometimes bad and sometimes good.The pacing was a bit slow to start, the story didn't really pick up until the 3rd or 4th episode and there's quite a few characters to keep straight at first. I thought the plot was interesting and the twin infiltrating his missing twin's friend group to find out what happened to him reminded me of the Not Me series, though obviously the plots are very different.
I liked the focus and handling of the sex work industry and how we see both good and bad come from it. i liked some of the couple dynamics a lot, particularly Puen/Aob and Prom/Nont, but some characters felt a bit under-developed to me, namely Keen, and I would have liked to have learnt more about Prom as well, though i adored him anyway. One thing i found super odd and kind of distracting was the frequent but really random use of english between characters that wasn't really intrinsic to the story or the plot, especially when none of them were fluent and everyone spoke thai natively, it was a bit jarring to have half conversations spoken in english for no reason.
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I REALLY REALLY WANTED TO LOVE IT.
Ok I heard so much about this show and yeah I just don't get it. The actual story was really good but I'm going to say 90% of the "NC" scenes could of been cut out. Don't get me wrong I love a good NC scene but most of these didn't help the move the story along and I'm sorry but how is that EVERYONE wears the same brand and color underwear. Like seriously this could just be one long Comercial for Rich underwear. I love the story and all the twist and turns but by the end of it I was getting tired of watch watching these guys grind on each other in underwear that they stuffed for no other reason but to add more NC scenes that weren't even that good. Seriously, If I was that hard up for NC I'd just go watch porn. That being said I'll probably end up watching season 2 just to figure out WTF happened. LolWas this review helpful to you?
Unusual topics are addressed in the subtext, good
short conclusion:I don't think it's as bad as many people are making it out to be. yes, it's not a masterpiece, but it's something completely different from the usual bl. The ending is extremely unsatisfying, the last shot is "to be continued". I'm curious and hope for the best.
Positive:
it depicts the different facets of sex and how people react to the different forms (stigmatisation of bdsm/masochism for example). other important topics such as the problems in the sex work industry and homophobia are also addressed. the acting ranges from good to bad, depending on the character. yes, there are a lot of sex scenes, but if you fade them out, an interesting thriller story emerges.
Negative:
I find the English sections very annoying. Why, I don't check. does the series want to come across as more international? maybe one of you can explain it to me.
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This review may contain spoilers
I'm confused by other People's Reviews?!
I'm not sure if we all watched the same Show?I agree that their sound design is off, especially in the first two episodes but I'm confused why so many people apparently think there is no plot?
There is so much going on in this Show!
Also, Sex CAN BE PLOT! Figuring out what you like or don't like, how your and your partners preferences work or not work together? That's PLOT!
Let's not forget the big picture. All the talk about Sex Work and the literal missing twin that might have been killed or trafficked?!
More for Fans of QaF than of "BL" in my Opinion because a lot of the BL Fans seems to not be able to watch anything that doesn't include a beauty filter...
Also... Showing Queer Sex on TV is not Porn... I think some people need to think hard about why explicit hetero sex in shows is totally play but queer sex automatically makes a show "porn"
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?...
Be careful while watching this, it contains sex scenes so you might want to be alone and wear earphones while , which I expected, but some of them where SO OVER THE PLACE. That is not wrong, and i didn't get into the story enough because I only watched 1 episode and a half of episode 2.i need the 500 so rest is spaces
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The Gasp I Gusped
I truly have no words. Absolutely speechless after every episode. I did not watch the trailer and quickly skimmed the synopsis but BABY nothing could have truly prepared me for what I was about to get into *insert crying emoji*. I genuinely am not able to predict what is going to happen at any given point.If you watch this just know it’s a lot of unnecessary masturbating scenes, random English dialogue thrown in and a lot of voiced over moans like I mean A LOT. There have been some good shows that have a good balance of sex scenes with and without plot but this show missed the mark with both.
Lazy writing and poor direction. The only thing that I’ve found memorable and laughable so far with this production is a Japanese voice over with a heavy THICK Thai accent *insert crying emoji*.
This biggest thing that irks me is one of the main storylines involves a twin brother trying to find out why his brother went missing. So he’s pretending to be his brother but he literally knows nothing about his brother or his lifestyle so he just looks and sounds dumb trying to get information he should know before pretending to be his missing brother. Anyways I’m actually so serious with I don’t know what’s going on and what’s the plot and it is draining me to continue this tbh.
Good luck if you watch this lol.
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1This review may contain spoilers
Poor production choices let down what could have been a gripping gritty mystery
I tried really hard to carry on watching this show.Some of the sex scenes were alright, the ones I didn't care for I just skipped or paid half attention to. A couple were great. You can tell the actors are trying their best for the most part - the director and everything else are failing them substantially.
The biggest issue I have is that the main plot line of the disappearance of Nant isnt very well written. When the investigations happen they either go nowhere (like the party?), or happen suddenly with all the motivation or reasoning for the characters chosing to follow that route of investigation completely skipped over.
I enjoy a mystery show and am left sorely disappointed by the ham handedness of the writing and production choices.
Another gripe I have and the reason the sex scenes are pretty skippable is that I don't think most of the characters actually enjoy them? It seems like the kinks were written by people with a distaste for them, who want to portray them as inherently 'wrong'.
I understand that they're trying to showcase some of the realities of sex work especially somewhere where it's criminalised, but it doesn't need up to 14 hours of sexual violence to showcase it. At that point it just feels like the reason some self-gratification being sought by the production team.
Maybe it's changed in the subsequent episodes since I dropped it but this would have been better as a 3 hour movie with way fewer couples. I'm going to continue reading spoilers for the show so I can find out what happened to Nant in the end but I'm not wasting another 7 hours of my life when I know most of it will be filler.
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Wtf..??
So, this review is probably gonna be kinda off since I only watched one episode. I don't remember the plot I only remember and know that pretty much 95% of the episode was pure sex and I was embarrassed for the characters. I really love how the actors were able to do that scenes without laughing their ass off. Of the plot I guess someone disappeared and they were supposed to figure out where he was. However the series is only there for the sex. That's not how you catch proper public, unless u wanna catch the girls fetishizing gay men. So yeah as a gay man I really hate this, I could watch better porn on other sites if I wanted to.Was this review helpful to you?
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when is 2nd season coming
Damn the cliffhanger that it left is on, I want more information on everything and everyone especially zouey and his boyfriend and his reaction in how he works out zouey was raped and that is his reason for not wanting sex with anyone. Zoey was my favourite as he seems the one that is easily hurt from others so have to be gentle with him. I was not expecting that ending with him being involved in his friend's death and him covering that from his fiends.Nont/Nant, well done honestly as his coming shook everything up exposing everyone's true nature and how he changed throughout the investigation and what it meant to him. The raw emotions were executed with perfection making me really feel for him.
First was so misunderstood by his father and as soon as he did wrong he is called out for it without him being heard. He is vulnerable and weak like everyone else but tries to hide it by constantly want power and sex.
Now everyone else I didn't see the need for them as they were confusing and irrelevant to the story especially nuth and his boyfriend
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The drama is addicted!
WOW i watched it a billion times, over and over I CANT STOP WATCHING!!the story, the acting, the nc scenes, the characters, wow thats all im saying, THE DRAMA WILL OPEN YOUR EYES TO ANOTHER WORLD, THE CLUB WORLD! (DECH HAIR IN THIS WOW) i swear if you'll start watching it you won't able to stop!
THE NC SCENES ARE BETTER THAN OTHERS IVE SEEN IN DIFFERENT DRAMAS, IN THIS IS JUST ON THE SPOT IS SO GOOD
anyways, mu review is 9.9/10 THATS IT, I LIKE IT A LOT AND IM STILL WATCHING IT NON STOP i love
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First impression
I don’t really know what to expect. This series does have a plot, what kind of surprised me, but it leaves no room for doubt.For example: I had a bad feeling about Soong and the model guy, but they could have waited with the reveal for a few episodes. Or they could keep the fact hidden that Nun has a twin. It would be a huge plot twist, findig out about that after 6 eps or so.
I‘m curious on how the series will evolve, but I do hope we get more intel on each character so that we can bond with them
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