Papa & Daddy (2021)

More than just the simple BL it appears to be

Story:
Wow, although I know that there have been various BL series where the couple adopt a son, this series took that theme to another level. I think it’s important that this is a Taiwanese series as Taiwan is the first and so far only (not counting Israel) Asian country to legalise same sex marriage and allow partial adoption for same sex couples. This series deals with some serious and prevalent issues that unfortunately many LGBT couples still face to this day, including homophobia, child bullying, and adoption as prime examples of this. It’s clear both Jerry and Damian don’t have supportive parents due to the simple fact that they are hiding their marriage and adoption from their families, and in episode 2 and 3 I understood why that was when watching Jerry’s mum. I’m honestly really happy to see LGBT dramas portray such realistic aspects of gay relationships, such as societal pressure and trying to come to a consensus with something both Jerry and Damian can agree on (in this case it’s having children). I love the fact that they dug deep into Kai’s confusion with having 2 dads instead of a mum and a dad, because it really shows the heteronormative society we live in where children are expected to have a mum and dad despite this fact not affecting anyone else except the family. Episode 5 was by far my favourite because it does such an amazing job to present the fear of coming out, especially to conservative parents which I’ve definitely had a lot of experience with. It was so heartwarming that their love could be accepted and I nearly cried at the final scene. Unfortunately episode 6 was when everything went downhill and they left it with a cliffhanger which will cause a lot of drama if a second season is made. I’m hoping that people uploading episodes illegally won’t affect the production from season 2, because I really need to know what’s going to happen now.

Acting/Cast:
—Melvin Sia as “Damian”- Melvin was such a great, natural actor. He has fantastic expression management and his acting is so natural and realistic, which I’m not surprised about knowing he’s already won several awards for his acting prior to this series. His interactions with his “son” and with Mike are so natural I could hardly believe this was the first drama where he played a gay character.
—Mike Lin as “Jerry”- Jerry is another amazing actor whose acting has such a natural feel to it and really draws you in. Jerry is definitely a very relatable character who just wants to travel the world and has such high aspirations yet, with a supportive partner, is still able to settle down while doing whatever he wants. In episode 5 he did an amazing job portraying the fears that those in the LGBT community still face to this day when coming out to close family members and friends. With Melvin I wasn’t surprised to see he was already a successful actor, but I was shocked that Mike is still so new to the industry, having only acted in 1 other series and 2 movies prior to this. Despite being so new he did an amazing job and I really hope to see him in future series too.

Music:
Other than the opening and ending there is nothing particularly memorable about it.

Overall:
A definite 9.5/10 for me. This may only be a short series, but despite its length there is a very strong portrayal of a married gay couple and their adoption, versus how those around them and society as a whole reacts to these connections. It’s definitely worth a watch but I would recommend avoiding the last episode until news of season 2 is officially announced, otherwise it’s going to be a very inconsequential watch.

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Please, more of this

I just have watched the 5th episode (for me, the best one so far) and I am sad that there is only one episode left. I could watch this all day and night because THIS is true. It is not one more of an unrealistic BL-story.
Do not get me wrong, I like a good romantic BL. But this show is so much closer to the real life of a gay couple! This is a fact that often bothers me, that 99% of the BL series our there are not about gay relationships but only exist to please a certain kind of viewers: women who ship the actors even in their private life, regardless if they are real or not.
This show really "get's to the point": the stuggle about having a child as a gay couple, the acceptance of the queer friend group, but not the family (although episode 5 made me burst in applause for the dad, BEST DAD EVER!), the "need" to hide in front of the mom's at kindergarden - and the actors are absolutely believable, they work amazing with each other.
I would love to see more of these series, where it is not about "Am I gay? No, I only love this paritcular boy *blabla*" or engineering students falling in love with each other while women are hysterically screaming in the background. Show us how it is to live in a gay / lesbian / queer relationship, only "true" shows like this will lead to a bigger acceptance in real life! THIS creates real support, not stupid character / actor - shipping.

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Almost perfect, but no

Papa and Daddy was a short, LGBTQ+ series about two gay men with a son conceived through surrogacy. Here are my pros and cons:

PROS

THE STORY. This is a story that needs to be told, and the writers did a great job with this one.

ACTING. No complaints!

REAL LIFE SITUATIONS. I liked the pride parade, the circle of supportive gay friends, the hiding, the coming out... all realistic issues for gay couples with children.

CONS

SLOW PACING. Some of the scenes were a bit draggy and boring.

THE ENDING, THE ENDING, THE ENDING. It's a stupid idea for any series to end a season with a cliffhanger, but especially for a BL/LGBTQ+ series, as Season 2 often has a way of not happening. Turns out Damian has a teenage son and Jerry is just finding out. And the producers have announced that Season 2 will likely not be happening. SHAME ON THEM.

It's the reason my score is as low as it is. Even if they do have a Season 2, ending with a cliffhanger isn't cool. Cliffhangers suck.

What would have been 9.0 from me is now 7.0.

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I NEED MORE!!

This is such a breathe of fresh air after getting exposed to the oversaturated confused, indenial and such BL series genre's out there.

It was a take of how same-sex couple deal with various things on their life as they fight to conquer the norm to provide better understanding to their son.

It does have some departments where it's lacking at, but I just love how they emphasized and tackle the most important matters and that what made this drama a cut above the rest.

Story - 10, This type of BL Genre hasn't really been shown to the public's eye that much and does made this piece very interesting and eye-catching. The story itself is good and has captured necessary topics that should've been discussed and highlighted on how same-sex couple deal and struggle to achieve acceptance and understanding.

Acting/Cast - 10, IF i can give 1000 then so be it. I'm labeling this as the BL series with the most kissing scenes that felt so natural you can't help but get drawn to them and feel jealous.Hahaha The Actors & Actresses were excellent and was able to portray their own character the way it should be.

Music - 8, Honestly I'm just so excited to watch the series that i'm doing skips with the intro and outro. ? But the rest of the filler sounds & music were properly assigned I must say since it never bothered me one bit. Sorry about this crappy part of my review. Lol

Rewatch Value - 10, This story just deserves as many rewatch as it could get. Probably will rewatch it once the Season 2 comes out... Hopefully!! /Cross fingers/

Overall - 10, A very worthy story i would recommend to anybody simply because it is that good. It addressed so much concerns and share its own take of values and this made this series super special and unique.

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AMAZING

Wow I was really reluctant to start this drama, mainly because I thought this was going to turn out like the one of those drastic BL where the parents were not going to accept and we were going to have a whole blackmail drama session, well I am glad i watched it and extremely mad at the ending, wish they would hurry up with 2 already!!

Okay onto the review, well firstly it was really good and I loved the two main leads and how they challenged themselves to go against the norm of raising a child, I can imagine the difficulty that may have encountered along the way. Do not get me wrong, I like a good romantic BL. But this show is so much closer to the real life of a gay couple! This is a fact that often bothers me, that 99% of the BL series our there are not about gay relationships but only exist to please a certain kind of viewers: women who ship the actors even in their private life, regardless if they are real or not. This show really "get's to the point": the struggle about having a child as a gay couple, the acceptance of the queer friend group, but not the family (although episode 5 made me burst in applause for the dad, BEST DAD EVER!), the "need" to hide in front of the mom's at kindergarten - and the actors are absolutely believable, they work amazing with each other. I especially loved how supportive he was with his partner, as was always willing to let me handle his parents in his own way, but was there to comfort him, or when he was stressed out about the other mothers etc... whereas in the past the partner would be pressured to come out and admit who there were, however, I do think 6 years into the relationship with a 4 year old kid he should have made a little difference, I did feel for Damián when Jerry had to go on those blind dates (chuckle).

My only Con with this is that it ended with such a cliff hanger (shock)

Overall this is a dam good drama and i feel its done real life form, so hats off for that. Cant wait for 2

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Episode 6

I hate the fact that this ended on such a cliff hanger. I’m not sure if Jerry will forgive Damien for not telling him he has another son. Really like this show and hope they continue. Or at least finish the season so we know what happens. I knew something like this was gonna happen but how do you go 4 years into a relationship and never mention your kid or go visit him. I have enjoyed all the other episodes and would love to see more backstory. I don’t really know what else I can say about this show it’s fun to watch and I think it has great actors. And the actor who plays Damien really knows how to cry to make you feel sorry for him. But this kid he has kinda feels like he came out of nowhere. And they are just introducing him for more drama. Hopefully Jetty doesn’t stay mad at him too long. And hey at least Kia is getting a big brother out of it.

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Realistic

So for starters this has been on my PTWL for awhile and once it was completed I went straight to binge watch. Everything about this is so heartfelt. There's not much illogical or unethical dramatics which makes it refreshing. There's chemistry between the MCs which (everyone can agree) is something of great importance in a BL series. I would recommend to a new BL fan and definitely shout it to the world because it's real in all the right ways! This series tackles some of the most important things gays have to experience and it's so beautifully done.
I need a S2 like... YESTERDAY lmao
Enjoy...

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A hot mess but the good kind

It's really good but I will say it's a mess tbh. They avoid problems like the plague. They got married and had a kid but they never told Jerry's parents about it. For 6 fucking years??? Also Damain never told Jerry about his son for 6 fucking years and he has the audacity to say that he never had the chance? Bitch it was 6 fucking years. Also they never showed,how Damain convinced jerry to have kids and get married,so that suck. Also they made me confused,wheather things were happening in the past,present or future. Since there was no indication. But ehh,despite the flaws it's a good drama. Gold acting, kinda realistic situation and it's nice to see representation of the LGBTQ+ community and it's not only a bl.

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Cute, but...

This is not a very long review since not a lot of things stand out. These are my opinions.

Things I liked: (1) The social aspect of it is really important, showing that gay parents are just as good as straight parents. (2) Cute and entertaining.

Things I didn't like as much: (1) The acting, especially on episode 3. It was so cringe watching them act in public; (2) Why do they say these English sentences literally from nowhere? I have never spoken English like that with people I know; (3) There was an episode they were having lunch and after eating they played "never have I ever", they were literally talking about having outdoor sex when the kids were at a table literally next to them. (4) The show kinda felt like a Thai bl show where, in a group of 6 or more, every one of them turns gay, every character that was related to the main couple is gay, I think it would be more realistic/empowering if at least one of the couples were a straight one.

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I do not understand the high rating reviews

This review contains a lot of spoilers. Do not read this if you plan to watch the drama

I see this happen with many bl dramas on this website. All the reviews are giving the drama a 10, and the youtube drama channels recommend the drama saying that it's one of the best dramas of the year, but once you actually start watching the drama it's just nowhere near as good as they are saying it is. People are saying that the actors' chemistry is so great. While I still don't have a clear view of the definition of good onscreen chemistry, I usually say that the chemistry is good when it doesn't feel like the actors are acting but rather that they are actually in love. I did not feel this way with these actors. There was little interaction like what real couples do. For example, in the scene where they were at a restaurant and Jerry had apparently prepared a special night for their anniversary. Usually, when this happens in a "good" romance drama I get butterflies because one of the partners has prepared a romantic gesture to show much they love the other person but there wasn't really anything of that. Jerry had made a reservation for the restaurant and apparently also for a hotel room and that made Damian cry, that's literally all we got from the scene. There isn't any chit chat that you'd expect from a couple on a date. Damian cries, can't believe that Jerry prepared all this ("all this" is pretty big for just a call for a reservation) and then they go to the hotel room and that's it. We as viewers barely get anything to see from their relationship. They've been supposedly together for 6 years but it feels like they are still in the phase of getting to know each other seeing as Damian didn't recognize Jerry's mother when she standing at the door.

Loose ends
Another thing that I have noticed about bl dramas is that they have one main story and a lot of side stories that are in some way related to the main story, but if you pay good attention you'll notice that some of the side stories don't get a proper ending. For example, the side story where you see how Damian and Jerry met 6 years ago. They meet in the middle of the day for an interview, they start flirting a bit but then Damian has another appointment so Jerry has to leave and when night falls Jerry turns out to be waiting for Damian and then they kiss and get a room and do their thing. Really quick, if only it worked like that in real life. But that's not what bothered me the most from that episode. It's what came after that, they go to a wedding of Damian's friends. Jerry finds out during the wedding that Damian wants to start a family and has his whole life planned out but Jerry isn't ready for that. This makes sense because they've barely known each other for a week. What truly bothers me is that right before the end of the episode Jerry says he wants to break up with Damian because he's not ready for that but in the later episodes it's never mentioned again. A cliffhanger with nothing on the other side. Did they really break up? Did they reunite somewhere in those 6 years, they must have because now they have a kid??? I actually had to go back wondering if I had missed something, checking if the number of episodes was right just to find out that it was lazy/bad writing.

Kai
I love kids and I love watching kids interact with their parents, but the child who played this character felt a bit too young to do the job properly. It was like he had no clue what he was doing but was brought to the casting by daddy/mommy because daddy/mommy wanted their little angel to be a big star. Also, why was it so hard to explain to the child why he didn't have a mom? I know there was a need for conflict but even that didn't get a proper end. One of the parents found out that Kai had two fathers, then there was a conflict which made Jerry and Damian call the teacher to ask if she could explain the situation. At the end of that same episode, the teacher said "Alright I'll discuss it with the parents and the children but for some reason a few episodes later Jerry was stressing once again about coming out to the same parents who supposedly had already heard it from the teacher. I wanted to watch this drama because I thought I'd see a loving family overcoming whatever got in their way but all I saw was some idiot parents who failed horribly at raising their child and were more worried about how others viewed them than how their kid was feeling and what was going through the head of the kid.

There is no arguing about taste.
I know that some people really enjoy dramas like this and that what I like might differ from others but come on guys. You can't give a drama a 10 for a review when it has this many flaws. If we want good quality bl dramas then we have to stop giving dramas like these such high ratings. This is why all those starting actors choose to play in bl dramas to quickly gain fame. We as viewers shouldn't be so easy on them because they have such a pretty face or a nice body. We should demand good storylines with acting skills that can make you melt

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First of all, I really want to say: “That was a bad way to end a series!” :@

The story of 2 men raising children is nothing new actually, but this series manages to pack it up pretty well.

Although in the journey there are many things that are not really important to be exposed too long, coupled with cinematography that seem immature. Make this series looks like a “short time project” with minimal costs.

However, a pleasant soundtrack is one of the positive thing about this series.

In Indonesian:
Sebuah cara yang buruk untuk mengakhiri sebuah serial.

Cerita tentang 2 orang pria yang membesarkan anak bukanlah hal yang baru, akan tetapi series ini berhasil mengemasnya dengan cukup baik.

Walaupun dalam perjalanannya banyak hal-hal yang sebenarnya tidak begitu penting untuk bisa diexpose terlalu panjang, ditambah dengan pengambilan gambar yang terkesan tidak matang. Membuat series ini nampak seperti sebuah project saja dengan minimnya biaya.

Namun, soundtrack yang begitu enak didengar menjadi satu hal positif dari series ini.

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Deals with serious themes in a lighthearted way

The story isn't exactly very strong in this series, as the events are somewhat disjointed. Despite being cute and lighthearted, it deals with serious themes like coming out (or how not coming out could affect a gay couple's relationship), the public's attitude towards gay people and gay marriage, and how gay couples with children have to deal with the possible discrimination their children might encounter in school.

Some of the scenarios are clichéd--the way Jerry and Damian try to hide their relationship from Jerry's mother, for instance. And yet, there is sensitivity in the scenes. Damian doesn't pressure Jerry to come out to his parents (unlike so many characters in BL series), but Jerry's reluctance to come out to his parents inevitably strains their relationship. When Jerry's father eventually finds out about Jerry and Damian, his doesn't clearly accept or reject them. The father is not someone who is used to accepting homosexual relationships, but he understands that society has changed and acceptance is becoming mainstream. If nothing else, this highlights the importance of equal rights. If even the law does not recognize the rights of traditionally marginalized groups, then some people will forever be stuck in their antiquated views.

Although the conflicts are quite quickly resolved in the episodes, the series can be quite moving. We see how much something as simple as not being rejected by others can mean to a gay person. The series is filled with good intentions and positive messages. But this is also how it becomes weaker. In many ways, it is like a well-made and rather interesting educational video, but how about its artistic merits? The attempts to bring in themes and send a message seem a tad too deliberate, and there is little attempt at plot development or more nuanced characterization, so the series could have been better in many ways.

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