Realistic yet comforting. Beautifully told.

Initially watching the trailer, I thought this series is going to be all hell, drama, angst, and pain. But I couldn't be more wrong.
The whole series was just 8-ep short. If anything I wish it were longer, at least give us 12 eps :( And yet within those 8ep, Moonlight Chicken told complete, satisfying, and beautiful stories about its cast.
However, my favorite thing about the series is how well its conflicts were paced. Yes, this series touched on many difficult situations and the reality of life, many problems and dramas, and yet it did well in pacing the aftermath and resolution to comfort these problems. I've watched way too many shows where a small moment of jealousy or misunderstanding got dragged through countless eps and dramatized to become the main conflict of the series. It is not the case in MLC.
Moreover, each character in the series was made with a nice amount of depth and dimensions. They have their stories, flaws, and personality. All well fleshed-out in my opinion.
So to sum up, I think MLC is like a comforting spot amidst your busy life. You watch them struggle and you watch them heal. It is a very beautiful and meaningful show, please watch it!

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Forgettable...

The series is... very forgettable. I'm writing this not to be mean or exaggerate in any way, I've watched this show very recently, watched another, and then already forgot abt SIMM's existence.
There's nothing extraordinary about it. I'm the type of person who would scream and swoon for fluff (so I really don't need anything mind-blowingly dramatic to keep a series replaying in my brain). And yet nothing much was retained in my mind after I finished the series. The plot is pretty much the usual with misunderstood protags who just have 0 communication skills. So you know how that goes. Like I remember the 1st 50 seconds when Dao got rejected and Kluen said to 'have a good trip' and then the rest is just mush. The end. The acting is OK I think?? Music isn't WOW (especially when I watch MSP afterward it's just day and night).
But truly, it is mediocre and I just kinda forgot about this show.

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Bland and stiff. Very red-flag-y and uncomfortable to watch

To be honest I think I have quite a low standard/high tolerance for the problematic/dramatic BL tropes especially since many of them end up being my guilty pleasure. So for this show to get so uncomfortable to watch, it's an accumulation of multiple factors.
TLDR: Nothing. This entire show make me feel nothing but some tired moments and some very uncomfortable moments. Acting is stiff, the plot is unclear, using toxic and problematic events to add drama without and clear story flow. Chemistry? Who, where?

- The acting is very static and emotionless. Even if you look at Rak as a naive, innocent, and a-bit slow type of character, it's quite hard to deny that his acting is so bland and flavorless. I really feel like the actors in this show didn't have enough time to study their characters, do workshops, and train their acting because the execution is so terrible and boring. Of course, their talents might be varied to some degree, but considering Rak's actor (who's the main protagonist of this show) is quite weak in his acting, it's hard to salvage from that. Consequently, a sad moment doesn't feel sad, a dramatic moment didn't feel dramatic. Even when they try to attack or push someone away you can't even feel the tension. Everything was weak and slow. And I guess camera work could partly be the culprit but all and all you can just feel that they were reading from a memorized script and not acting. Sadly bland.
- Plot just kind of ambushes you left and right with red flags. Especially ep3. I couldn't even bring myself to finish ep3, it seems like problematic story tropes (including mental illness and assault-y stuff) just got tossed into the plot out of nowhere to add drama. As said above I'm someone who usually doesn't take BL as 'actual IRL stuff' and can easily indulge in the fantasy of it all if it at least has some build-up or a comprehensible plot to it. But hahaha going through the first 2 halves of Dinosaur Love only got me UHHHHH and then more UHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Whatever's going on with Mek and Kram like... excuse me??? It was so uncomfortable and unbearable.
- It's not even funny. I think the side characters were written up only for gag purposing but they're not even funny. Both script and execution of it were unimpressive. The portrayal of the 'feminine' gay character as a laughing stock and zero depth is so overused now, but if they can even pull off a 'classic' character trope idk what they're capable of doing. If you want a good execution of this character archetype who's comical, and fun-loving but also has his own story, plot, moments, and depth, I would recommend watching Step by Step (character Chot).
- Finally, chemistry. You thought I would've put this higher on the list because it's such an important thing but I'm writing it down here because honestly... I just kinda forgot about it while watching. If there was any moment of chemistry between the two leads it was either very brief or barely there.
So yes, this is me, giving up on this series. I was only checking out UltimateTroop/Dinosaur Love because I ran out of things to watch. But tbh after ep3 I don't think I'll ever revisit this channel in the foreseeable future.

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