I expected more, but it wasn't bad.

Honestly, I feel like the production value could have been way better, I could literally hear the poor sound editing in many episodes. But the technical stuff aside, in terms of the story, maybe more episodes would have been a good idea to flesh out the plot properly because it fell short, and it seemed a bit rushed. The acting was awkward and stiff in several places, MaxTul have a lot of natural chemistry for sure, every fan of theirs knows that, but in this show it felt like they were trying too hard to have chemistry instead of just doing what they do. Could have been all the pressure or just iffy directing. Many scenes also felt out of place (or, due to the low number of episodes, underdeveloped in the over all plot) But still, MaxTul carried this one home anyway, even with the super cheesy ending, I enjoyed it, it wasn't amazing, but it's not bad.

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Walks the line of 'No Hetero Explanation' with a Balancing Pole called Hǎo Péngyǒu (好朋友)

Nice show, the pacing (considering it covered 2 years in 24 eps) is actually great and if you're not expecting some over the top drama fest or action and you're settling in for a fun, funny, easy to watch, high school slice of life, then you'll enjoy this a lot.

THE GOOD:
- The acting flowed. Sometimes there were some highly cheesy friendship and character personality moments reminiscent of early PG13 Japanese animes, but they played out well enough.
- Likeable characters ALL around, shit, even that d*ck Gu Fei turned out to be alright once he got his crazy in check.
- Good humor, it's funny all the way, and cute too.
- Production costs hold up for all scenes, from the school, to their houses to where they hang out.
- The school theme doesn't drown out the characters, even though it's a huge part of the plot, well done.
- Nice OST music, catchy (albeit over used in too many scenes, as many Cn dramas do with their music)
- The actors are not teens but fuck me, I wouldn't have known they were in their twenties if I hadn't looked it up. Good casting.
- Side characters and couples didn't overwhelm the story either.
- A variety of things happen in this, all quite entertaining moment to moment.
- Consistently enjoyable from start to finish.
- The AI subs don't actually suck.
- Dusha is obvs the typical female no-homo buffer between Jinzhan and Yushu, but she's harmless and likeable.
- If someone REALLY wants to ignore the obvious censored BL coded scenes in this show, they can do so by slathering on a nice layer of Hǎo Péngyǒu to appease their no-homo needs. They're teens after all, so that somehow makes Jinzhan and Yushu's 'friendship' completely understandable. (in Asia? I'm not Asian, I don't know if teenage male friends are really like this in Asia, if so, let me know kay?)

Nothing BAD or UGLY.

The HIGHLIGHTS:
- Jinzhan! aka OUDOUDOU! What a great character, such a dilly, sweet kid.
- Jinzhao! Jinzhan's brother is just such a vibe and a mood all at once, the kind of sibling who'd be exhausting and embarrassing but great to grow up with.

9 (because all high school dramas test my attention span on some level)

I recc it for a one time watch for sure, two times if this genre is up your alley!

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Personal side note:

Maybe it's just cause I'm western, but as with other forced bromance Chinese dramas, the way these MLs interact ain't how male best friends behave with each other as far as I have ever known or experienced.
But anyhow, in an ideal BL world, censorship in Cn would finally drop and we'd get sequels to so many forced bromances. This would be one if them, I'd hope, because I'd really enjoy watching a college based series of these two figuring out that they're not just friends.

I do think this series got away with A LOT more physical touch between the ML's than other 'bromances' because firstly, being teens in high school apparently means it's friendship for two boys to be so close and touchy, and secondly, this show isn't well known, hence not drawing too much attention to it which has proven to be a problem with shows like Justice in the Dark (pulled off air), The Spirealm (pulled off air but rebroadcast outside of China) and Blue Canvas of Youthful Days (pulled off air but rebroadcast outside of China) so it didn't garner a lot of attention and over trigger the censors. Thirdly, they obviously DID cut some scenes between the MLs to get this broadcast, it's obvious (and regrettable) and fourthly, they chased every other close moment between the MLs with Hǎo Péngyǒu' and an extra character showing up like their broadcasting rights depended on it...oh wait.

Hehe.

But ya'll, of all the moments in the show, in the end and in my opinion, there is no hetero explanation for ep 24 @ 26.14 to 26.23, as well as how YuShu's looking at Jinzhan at 28.00. No friend I've ever known acted that way around me ? and if they had, shit would have been AWKWARD, unless, well, you know, someone's into it.

Ah well, fight me.

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REAL TALK

FINALLY got to watch this. China has had this movie on lockdown like it's some kind of national treasure. Yeesh.

Anyway, Real Talk, this is a legitimately entertaining movie to watch.
The beginning was a little rushed to get characters introduced, and it was about as predictable as one expects an underdog movie plot to be. Some dance moves were also exaggerated for cinematic flare, BUT those minor things did not take away from it being an entertaining movie.

It was well acted and fun and funny and emotional and heartfelt. I liked the cast and characters, and I don't just mean all of the familiar dancers, I mean his mother, uncle, love interest and various coworkers. All of them were likeable. I also like Jiang Long (I saw him for the first time in Luoyang and then briefly in Under The Skin) and I considered watching The Future Handbook, but it's unsubbed. It was nice to see him here, he's a very emotive actor. I would watch him more if he's cast in shows that appeal to my taste.

On a fan note, about Wang Yibo, imo, this movie is the best thing he has done since TU. I've watched the stuff he's done from before and after TU, and aside from Hidden Blade (which was good), the shows and films he's done have been very MEH. Just grazing above an average level of enjoyment and in some cases not even making it. One and Only was engaging and it held my attention to the point where I rewatched a few scenes and laughed a lot.

I would recc this. Not just for dance fans, but also for people who like a plain and simple underdog story.

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It really is more about Being a Hero than Being a Friend

So, over all this is actually a good show. That's an objective opinion based purely on the plot and acting. But the write up for the show is NOT accurate, since it makes it sound like it's about Chen Yu and Wu Zhengfeng, 'childhood friends', working together through some personal hang ups and misunderstandings as well as all the drug dealing mess to solve their issues and a case, but the show barely focused on them.

Basically, this show is about drug dealers and cops, in general. There are many characters doing many things and CY and WZF are barely a side story for 80% of the show. So if you're looking for a story about the MLs friendship struggles/moments with the cop/drug drama on the side, this show will not deliver, it's the opposite way around. It will however, tell an interesting story about some local cops and drugs dealers with some bad history and it has some good scenes and interesting developments.
Let's start with...

THE GOOD;
- As I mentioned, the acting is good for everyone here, but especially amongst the drug dealer/addict casting imo. Most of the characters don't behave all that predictably either, which is good in any show about suspense and crime. For example, at first we get the impression Hao Dong is very calm and dangerous, but as the show goes on, we see he's actually quite a mess and he loses his cool and composure quite hysterically. Quite a few characters had interesting behaviour as the show went on, ranging from serious to mildly amusing, to confusing.
- I like Lan AnRan as a female character in a cop show, I think she should have had more of a presence in the show.
- Good budget for this.
- Entertaining over all, albeit with a slow start.

THE (mildly) BAD;
- The show has a really slow start. I actually watched until episode six the first time, and then shelved it for months before I picked it up again. The show really only gets going in faster pacing around episode 20 or 21, which is not a good thing for someone who doesn't have the patience for a slow build story.
- Some of the dialogue scenes are waaaay too drawn out.
- Chen Yu's character is basically a clown (and comes across as a less than adept cop) for more than half of this show. I actually had no idea how he missed some things, was surprised by how no one noticed him tailing/following them, and why he did a lot of things he was doing. Also, his superiors and even WZF made him look like an idiot a lot of the time, but not out-rightly. Sort of like, they think he can't handle anything, so they leave him running around without a clue, making him look like a twat. I found this both funny and frustrating. But when he finally caught on, it was much better.
- Chen Yu and Wu ZhengFeng barely seem like friends, let alone good friends. They hardly seemed to give a shit about what the other was feeling or suffering for the most part, but then in the final episodes when they finally get on the same page, it seemed forced how they were suddenly all BFF's and gung-ho about protecting each other like it was a competition. LOL.
- Yang Yi being shot the way it happened was not well directed imo, because the way he tried to arrest Yang XingQuan didn't follow any logical police safety procedure (trying to grab his hands and cuff him from the front??) or proper training. An actual struggle between them or YXQ just shooting Yang Yi before he even got close enough would have felt more organic.

There was nothing UGLY in this drama, so I'll move on to...
THE HIGHLIGHTS;
- Chen Xiao as Wu ZhengFeng was good casting I think. He looked both shady and oddly innocent, which suited the character he was playing.
- When Chen Yu was pretending to be a drug dealer the first and second time, those were highly entertaining moments, once again making me want to watch WY play the role of a bad guy.

A one time watch for this is fine, if you can make it through twenty episodes of slow build.

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No doubt, one for the BL (LGBTQ+) books.

It may just be my opinion, but I've always felt there is a difference between BL shows and LGBTQ+ representative shows, and I feel like The Eighth Sense dipped into both genres, but definitely, and successfully, crossed the finish line in the latter.

It's been compared to SKAM in comments by many people, myself included, and as a fan of SKAM (multi), I can agree that 8th Sense resonates and has many parallels with it, but this show stands alone as well and had the grace to finish in a way that was satisfying as an ending, and yet leaves it open for a second season (if we should ever be so lucky).

As usual, I'll begin with the;

THE GOOD
- This show's story has RANGE, but not in that way where screen time is wasted taking us down deviating extra unnecessary character exploration which distracts from the point and causes frustration. Rather, we see many sides to many characters, and they all have a part to play toward the main story, but in a very succinct and definitive way, which adds perspective to the realistically unflowery plot; because life isn't all unicorns and cotton candy. However, the story remains focused on the developments and up and down romance of the leads, while also touching on the human condition and how difficult it can be to deal with and navigate and make sense of people, life and social norms. Even at the end of the last episode, we see the difference in temperament and personality between the entire group, but especially the two leads.

- The filming style is very much to my personal taste, and I'm not just talking about the use of angles, cuts and LUT, but the way the story is told in a way that keeps the viewer guessing about Jae Won and the state of his various relationships with the people around him. I also really appreciate the lack of suffocating music, in this show there is music where it should be, not all over the place, and the music is suitable. Additionally, there is also no obnoxiously, eye rolling and drawn out stares or lean ins between the two leads.

- I have zero complaints about the acting and certainly no complaints about the ML's chemistry with one another.

- The theme of surfing was utilized well, in that the show did not revolve around it, but instead we discovered Jae Won loves the ocean because it calms him, and the surfing theme was also used as a major plot device to develop the relationship between Jae Won and Ji Hyun. Very well executed in only 10 eps.

- This show has complicated but healthy conflict resolution relative to the circumstances, realistic problems between friends and non-friends, believable awkward, ugly, confusing and sad moments between people. Even the fact that Jae Won forgives Tae Hyung for the bullshit he pulled is believable, because people often struggle to cut bad people out of their lives, especially when they feel insecure about their own personalities, worth and feelings. And Jae Won's depression and hints of PTSD throughout was portrayed well without trying to overdo it, they introduced it with some mystery, and then even when it became clearer, it remained subtle but relevant. In fact, in all scenarios, I feel we saw and learned as much as we needed too to follow the story.

Honestly, I could say more, but really, the overall show was just fantastic in my opinion.

So there is no BAD or UGLY, but I will say;
People like Tae Hyung and Eun Ji are trash people, from the start they were jealous, rude, disrespectful, condescending, bitchy and self absorbed. Eventually Tae Hyung even became malicious in actively intending to get Jae Won suspended, and Eun Ji was revealed to be a flat out liar, clinging to Jae Won while blatantly lying about effing around on him just because she thought he didn't know. She was not sorry for being shitty, she was only sorry she was caught. Trash people my dudes. This show may depict the truth of how hard it is to shake them off, but honestly, trash people should be tossed out with the non-recyclables.

HIGHLIGHTS;
Jae Won and Ji Hyun's kiss in the ocean, a great depiction of how they were just looking for a reason to close that final distance between them.

Jae Won nervously joking when asking if Ji Hyun's boss would do something inappropriate to him.

JP and YW hooking up. I did not see that coming ?


The Eighth Sense is something I would definitely recc watching, it's up there for me with SKAM (Norway/Belgium/France/DRUCK), Young Royals, Sense8, HIStory; Make Our Days Count, and Not Me in terms of shows that manage to touch on different issues and situations while still incorporating LGBTQ+ and great love stories that are well depicted.
I have no complaints about this show.

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It gets there, slowly. The payoff is not bad.

In a word, I'd say this show is [entertaining].

I don't usually bother to watch Asian romance dramas because they're a dime-a-dozen imo. There's always a pretty standard cutout/copy/paste idea for female leads in Asian dramas because of the intent to keep the women portrayed as 'pure' or 'likeable' so the ML's will inevitably fall for them, which makes the genre fall flat for me. There's nothing interesting or original about basic mould characters like that. Ngl, this show did have many of those same issues, but it also managed to avoid some, which made it less frustrating to sit through.
But let's begin with;

THE GOOD;
- The ML (Ji-Sung)'s acting is an entertaining, visual and physically expressive pleasure to watch from start to finish. He took his roles and really went for it in each one. You can tell he was enjoying the challenge and he met it head on and aced it.
- While the FL didn't win me over in any major way, she wasn't aggravating and by the end, I was supportive of the ML and FL getting together, which is usually the whole point of a romance drama, right? So they achieved that.
- ML and FL lead chemistry seemed fine too, wasn't weird or forced. More on the sweet awkward side.
- The ML's secondary love interest was not that bad, they didn't make her totally shit. I actually kind of liked her.
- The acting of the whole cast passes muster for sure.
- The plot was actually convoluted and confusing, but not in a bad way. I actually had to rethink a few things, which I wasn't expecting.
- The show has a nice visual aesthetic, very easy on the eyes. The scenes and sets are modern and clean but not too unnatural and not too bright, with a good wardrobe department outfitting everyone suitably and the make up on the men and women isn't overdone either.
- Even though the crux of this show seems to be a cheesy childhood love turned adult romance, there was plenty else going on that it didn't make it eye rolling.
- It's funny. I always appreciate any show that can deliver some humor.
- The personalities are all quite interesting and are mostly well fleshed out.

THE BAD
- As Yo Na says, the FL is LOUD (loud, loud). Randomly and often unnecessarily. Also, the way she cries is very, uh, for lack of a better word, I'd say, unnattractive. It's like how a kid cries when they can't get their way, so they'll just burst into tears and stand or sit and openly, loudly cry and sniff and cry and scrunch their face up. That's how she cries. Maybe they cast her to cry like that because they thought it was cute? It's not cute. This made it very hard to feel bad for her in those moments.
- The music is not bad to listen to, except when it's played six times in an hour long episode and very loudly for very long during every single 'moment' the characters are having. Whether it's good or bad, the music just plays and plays and plays and NO. Editor, please pick your moments. 9 out of 10 emotional scenes were stifled by the music playing. Again, it made it hard for me to feel bad for the ML and FL during their emotional struggles and successes.
- The show has way too many episodes and a lot (I MEAN A LOT) of time is taken up by drawn out looks, exaggerated lean ins and flashback after flashback after flashback and more flashbacks. Again, editors, pick your moments. Shoving a flashback scene of a sad moment in my face ten times in each episodes means by the time you actually bring the plot home, that scene is an eyesore and I'm itching to SKIP chunks of the never ending musical flashback montage.
- In contrast, the last two episodes feel too rushed.
- Honestly, Ri On falling fall Ri Jin makes more sense than Shin Se Gi falling for her. Ri On spent almost everyday of his life with her knowing they weren't related and developing feelings all the way into adulthood, while Shin Se Gi spent a few months playing with her as kids and never got over it. I'm not a fan of 'childhood love' in general, it's weird and feels dumb, and that particular angle in this show was no exception. But at least they made up for this by making Cha Do Hyun grow to like and then love her at a more gradual pace.
- Cha Do Hyun's father not being weak and emaciated after being in a coma for 21 years was a total fail.

THE UGLY
- Episode 18 had the dumbest most nonsensical scene I've seen in a long time. The scene where Shin Se Gi drives with Ri Jin to the warehouse to see Alex and then not only does he accept her saying she'll go in, but the fact that she offers such a stupid thing is just ridiculous. The writers were obviously trying too hard to set up another 'Shin Se Gi is a badass but also a lovesick simp/Ri Jin has the power to call Do Hyun out on command' moment, which, fine, whatever, but it was too forced and unnatural in this scene to do something so plainly stupid. It would have made more sense for her to 'command' Shin Se Gi to stay put WITH HER while they both waited for Ahn to show up, then she could have gone in with Ahn if she wanted Shin Se Gi to stay outside, not go in by herself like what idiot girl would suggest such a stupid thing??? She's not a cop or trained to do something like that. Ugh. I was already 18 eps in though, or I swear, if it'd happened earlier I might have bailed. That's just bad form on the writers' part. Don't try so hard to create hardships bonding moments between your leads, there's a lot to be said for organically developed scenarios. That was not one of them. It was like Shin Se Gi lost his balls and brain in three seconds flat letting her go in there alone.

OVERALL

It's not a bad watch in the end. It's actually fun and entertaining if you have the patience for so many long eps in this genre. I won't ever watch it again though, because it's exhaustively long and I wasn't invested tbh. I didn't actually catch any feels for the characters even after so many episodes which is not a winning feature of a drama. So, you know, watch it once for the heck of it, or if you like long drawn out slow build cheesy romances that you know will have a happy ending, or if you really like Ji Sung.

HIGHLIGHTS:
- Shin Se Gi dramatically saying "If you won't have me, don't touch me." and pushing Ri Jin's hands off him like a diva. What a character! xD
- Ri On meeting an actual woman named Yo Na and being traumatized enough to run away .
- Cha Do Hyun's grandmother finally smiling at him.
- Shin Se Gi and Yo Na are very memorable characters throughout.

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Not as bad or as good as it could have been!

I'll start by saying I haven't read the original, I've only read what was mentioned about it in the comments here, so my judgement is based solely on the show. Here we go;

THE GOOD:
MAIN ACTORS:
YAI - I noticed there's a lot of commentary against Yai, but I actually think he was the best actor in this show. He wasn't too over the top when he was happy or when he was crying, in general, his range of emotion didn't seem too extra. I also liked that when he was hot, he was hot, and when he was cold, he was cold, and when he decided with finality to be with Mangkorn, he didn't waver. He wasn't wishy washy or moon eyed or overly confused, and he wasn't annoying to me at all. He didn't even second guess himself about Nine, he was like 'Yo, no.' and that was that. I personally think that was great. Additionally, he is actually pretty adorable looks-wise. The rest of the cast was likeable too, I have no hard objection to anyone. Some of the casual interactions felt a bit stiff but nothing so bad it made the show unwatchable.
MANGKORN - He was fine. I didn't get any 'Big Dragon' vibes from him, but he was fine.

VISUALLY - It was nice. Easy on the eyes. But Asian dramas generally go in for that 'perfect' look on their actors all the time. I've accepted that, even if it's very unrealistic and looks silly sometimes. I'm also not a fan of the disjointed cuts during the sex scenes, because scenes that go from a bedroom to a bar to a bedroom again, or a table to a window to the floor and back to the table, it doesn't flow too well, but it also didn't particularly hurt the visual aesthetic they were going for.

THE BAD:
STORY: It's only a little bad, insofar as there are too many unnecessary dialogue scenes dragged out waaaaay too long, too many silences and a time lapse that smacks you in the face out of nowhere at one point. The last episode dealt far better with the time lapse, not sure what happened before that with the writers. Also, because of the short amount of episodes, I also think they could have skipped things like Yai's BDSM kink (because ultimately it didn't make much of an appearance anyway), and also the skateboarding thing was, well, why? Relevance? I dunno, for all that it had a use in the story, it could have a mentioned in a conversation and it would have been the same imo. And showing Yai and Mangkorn as seemingly womanizing, bad boys, and then Mangkorn breaking out a Dom vibe on Yai randomly, only to make it turn out to have no place in the story over all. Just, basically, there was a lot of 'but why did you include that' moments. I can only assume that it had something to do with the source material? I actually have no idea, it just seemed pointless.
But I didn't dislike the overall story. Yai and MangKorn communicate quite well (albeit very slowly), especially after they get over their initial speed bumps, and I think that was enjoyable.

THE UGLY:
DUH, the opening rapey vibe. Ugh. It's never gonna' be sexy to try to drug and then rape and/or assault and blackmail someone, and then write that they end up together. If they were changing the story (according to what comments suggested) they should have just gone ahead and changed that too. Like they did in 'Together with Me', they avoided all the 'ugh' from the original. Something less vile would have been for Yai to maybe get Mangkorn drunk and then set him up in an embarrassing situation. It's still a hostile start to a relationship, but at least it's nothing gross or illegal. This trope, for me, is never gonna' fly. Also the hitting each other for no really good reason, could skip that.

HIGHLIGHT:
I loved the scene in ep 5 when Mangkorn's mother walks in on them eating the snack together. That was probably my fave moment in this show. Sometimes writers miss the fact that the small intimate or cute touches and moments between pairings can carry a lot of weight in making a couple seem 'in love'.

Over all looking forward to Season 2. Hoping for less tropes and a smoother flow and much more established relationship vibes and scenes from Mangkorn and Yai.

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It's a TEN from me.

I gave this a straight up 10 across the board because I have zero complaints.

The actors were all enjoyable in their roles and the characters were all likeable. The music wasn't overpowering. The build up was paced evenly considering the short length of the show and episodes. The story and dialogue were good, simple, but was executed well and the scenes weren't trying too hard, the scenario wasn't exaggerated and the production value is easy on the eyes. Over all, really very pleasant to watch.

Moreover, the pairing have actors who were comfortable with each other, seemed natural and had good chemistry and the pairing's dynamic was quirky, awkward, playful, teasing and funny, yet healthy (nice for change, these BL series often have very unhealthy dynamics) and it was sweet. I appreciated the simple communication between the pairing and I think a season 2 would be great, but even as it is, it was very enjoyable.

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It was like watching a Taiwanese SKAM!

I really enjoyed this. Really. If anyone has watched the male/male SKAM series (any of them), you'll know what I mean when you watch this. Except this was longer and involved way more detail and characters and side plots all in one, but it covered many issues for young male/male couples just as SKAM does, while telling a great story and really drawing in the viewer, inciting emotions on relatable or interesting scenarios and topics. And the acting of the cast was fantastic!

I personally wasn't too bummed about the way it ended, as I didn't actually like Yu Xi-Gu. I felt like the actor didn't line up with what the character was supposed to be and so he came across a bit flat to me, I didn't get the feeling he was really properly present as a character next to Xiang Hao-Ting, who was impossible not to notice (as a character and regarding the actor who played him). But that's just personal opinion on a single character, the actual ending was still very good (in a sad way). I've heard some negative things mentioned about plagiarism of this story or something, but I'm not going to let that affect my view of this series.

It really is very good, with a very organic flow and great cast chemistry. Very easy on the tropes, and when they do come up, they're not too eye-rolling and cringey. Xiang Hao-Ting is a fantastic main character, very hetero/masculine but not shy to openly and dramatically fangirl over Yu Shi-Gu, it was honestly pretty adorable.

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What a waste, it could have been so good, but it wasn't...

I tried, I really did. I literally watched 32 episodes of this and it was pretty hard to keep going.

This is basically just a sappy adolescent feeling love story superficially wrapped in a weak plot. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's nice to look at on the surface, but as you go on, you start to realize that there is just no suspense or actual point. Zhou Fei has training wheels on most of the time and sometimes just plainly seems to not know wtf is going on, but suddenly becomes a fighting genius randomly. She's like Goku, 90% dumb, 10% badass when it counts. And Xie Yun is supposed to be so damn smart and capable, but he does plenty of redundant dumbsh** too.

There is no hardship for these main characters, Zhou Fei is going to be victorious no matter how dubious the situation seems, so don't hold your breath. And certainly don't worry about Xie Yun, because no matter how dire his fatally poisoned situation appears, he's not going to die either, in fact, I started to feel like he wasn't even in any real danger early on.
One minute there's no cure or poison strong enough to counter what he's been poisoned with, and then one episode later they're off to find the poison that can counter what he's poisoned with. And does Zhou Fei find this contradiction of information (ie. plot hole) important enough to ask questions about? Nope, she's just gonna' go get the thing, it's not as if anything about it had to make sense to her. ?

Literally all the time they point out that he's very badly poisoned, they tell you this so many (many, many) times, it's the most poisonous poison to ever poison. But you know, it's only going to almost kill him every time he does something he shouldn't because if he did the poison will kill him...eh. But it doesn't, it only almost does, over and over, almost. Can't be that bad then, seeing as how he released the seal for the poison to (very prematurely and pointlessly) try to get involved in a fight in which he made about 10% difference to the over all out come of. And all for love, guys.

So yeah, it's just a very, very drawn out love story with no reason to worry about any one, because nothing really bad actually happens.

All that said, the acting wasn't bad, just the writing and plot. Too inconsistent, no suspense and sometimes pointless side stories, it's kind of like watching a lame anime where you stick around just for the attractive scenery. I mean, their outfits (especially Xie Yun's) were really great, so stylish and great colours too. Visually, in terms of character appearances, very nice job. But that's not enough to carry a show. I think the biggest issue for me was that I was looking forward to this show and was disappointed. They should have just advertised it as a love story with a little bit of fighting drama, so that what's on the label matches what's inside; as it was, I was only intrigued by this intriguing drama for about ten episodes.

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The Rating for this should be minimum 8.7 and don't let MDL'S bullsh*t tell you otherwise!

DO NOT SLEEP ON THIS SHOW!
If you like the genre (for the love of common sense remember to READ THE TAGS people) and if you are not 'shipping' obsessed and unable to look beyond actors you like and BL love story tropes...basically, if you like a show that isn't simply a commonplace BL, then this is MUST WATCH. Don't let the rating and the abysmal comment section scare you off either, this show SERVED and THE ENDING HIT JUST FUCKING RIGHT.

When you first watch it, that first ep, you're gonna see the NC scenes and feel like it seems forced and a lot like they're trying too hard to push the BL and sex stuff for the sake of views. RIGHT AND WRONG.
RIGHT about it feeling forced, because they did dump the 'bl sex clickbait' in the first ep for real, but
WRONG because they do it for A GOOD REASON. It's not because they were baiting fans, it's because they wanted to clear up the superfluous romance shipping shit quickly in order to MOVE ON from it. And boy oh boy, did they ever, seeing as how for the rest of the show the shipping stuff gets sidelined and completely trumped and in the end, this show DELIVERED and the ships sinking was all apart of the fun!

THE GOOD/GREAT
- First and foremost, THE ACTING. This is some of the best, if not the absolute best, actual acting I've seen in a Thai BL. I didn't know any of these actors and I honestly don't gaf where they acted before because this is the show from which I will remember their faces. If you watch this and you don't appreciate how well these actors did, this show is WASTED on you.
- The PLOT, from start to finish the amount of intriguing questions and speculation and ideas this show's plot raised was just fantastic. The comment section here quickly turned to a 'mess' because of the conflicting opinions and theories and I'll be honest, if you pay attention to the comments made by non-ship focused users, some of the conversations were really interesting! And yet, even with ALL the speculation, we were all still wrapped up waiting to see what twist was coming next. THAT is good writing, THAT is how you hook your audience.
- NON and TAN/NEW. I mean, these two. The casting of them as brothers??? GOLD. The best part was WE DON'T SEE IT COMING. We pretty much all suspected New was either Tan or White but it still HIT with so much weight when it finally unraveled and the escalation right up until the end was such a sweet, sweet pay off.
- The FLASHBACK scenes and the DRUGGED SCENES revealing their individual guilt, are prime story material in this. Wow. Just. So. On. Point and so well depicted.
- THE HORROR/GORE AESTHETICS AND CINEMATOGRAPHY are all on point!
- The order of DEATH and DOOM. I'ma tell ya'll the truth, for a hot second I was nauseous at the idea of Phi and Jin making it out and ending up together happily, it was so ICK. And I would have deducted a full point if that had been the true ending of this because Jin is trash, like all his friends. Tee appeared to be suffering, well deserved, but Jin walking away when even his internal guilt revealed how shallow he was? I was about to be MAD AF. LOL. But NAH. They didn't do us so dirty! They didn't close this show with some shipping nonsense, they really hinted at it though, just to fuck with us a little more, and then said 'NOPE, IN YOUR DREAMS.' Literally! Because I reckon Jin is the one imagining that sad, pathetic happy ending for himself ?

- MY THEORY: The fake out 'happy ending' is Jin's POV. I think he's likely comatose (possibly induced to stop him from anymore self harm) because Jin's face when Phi ran back into the cabin, did ya'll see that split second expression on his face? Man looked wide eyed and gone! Phi went back in and he took a bottle to the head, and even if he did manage to shoot New, who's to say that what 'happened' next wasn't Phi's injured addled brain trying to sort his shit out, give him hope. I don't think he necessarily got up after shooting New. I don't think he saved Tee before New had strangled him and then New died bleeding out and Jin, Jin is the only survivor, JUST LIKE THE SCRIPT, but he's totally fucked up in the head! And maybe he lost it completely because he went in there and saw everyone dead. SEE what I mean ya'll, the show is done and I'm still over here speculating!!

THE BA...wait, NAH!
- I ain't even mad about that 'unnecessary' sex scene between Phi and Jin, because after that fantastic ending ep it's revealed to us just how wrapped up in the idea of 'love' and 'sex' Jin was. Imo, every scene in this show served a purpose of revealing things about the characters to us, and that sex scene was the only scene I couldn't place until the final ep when I found that that scene explains Jin's level of 'love and sex' focus. First he became romantically invested in Non, who never even showed much interest in him, and then he got mad seeing Non sleeping with someone who wasn't him. That's extreme. Then came along Phi, who did show interest and even slept with him and also said nice words to him and seemed so sincere. I think Jin was really affected by how he felt for Phi, especially after sleeping together. And we've seen that all he needs is a little push to go from 0-100, whether it's for revenge or falling for Phi again. Also, I think that scene was meant to show more insight into Jin's perspective of sex. How he seems himself during sex. Because some of his hallucinations in the final ep matched the viewpoints of the sex scene with Phi. Raises questions. Makes him more layered in a way, a little more interesting. But still very ick.

Okay, now THE BAD:
- The people who watched this for the ships and the actors they 'stan' and could not see beyond it. Yeesh. Just...yeesh.

THE HIGHLIGHT
-The overall QUALITY of a BL slipping so smoothly into a horror/suspense story needs to be appreciated.
- ? THE AMBIGUOUS CONCLUSION ? it wasn't exactly what I expected, but in a way, it was even better!!

People might say 'what about White?' and the old dude who got decapitated, but in reality, irl plenty of people die in bad situations due to being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and this is exactly what happened to them. The situation was bigger than them. New wasn't interested in screwing up his revenge for two people he didn't even know. He is beyond guilt (aside from what he felt about Non) and in the end, he got his revenge, they were collateral and he died 'fairly' in the process.

So, yeah, this show is ABSOLUTELY worth the watch, so long as you like the genre. Props to everyone who put work into this because they did an outstanding thing here and I hope this show gets some more exposure outside of just the BL fandom because it deserves a better and broader audience, people who can really appreciate it. It's a horror/gore/suspense thriller with LGBTQ+ characters if you ask me, and labeling it a BL (as the status of BL currently stands) is not enough.
I would definitely recc this!!

PS: Watch the final ep to the end, post credits, the funny bts they show were somehow just the perfect contrasting cherry on top!

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This show is basically walking into a BL restaurant and ordering...

...an extra LARGE pizza with a thick but LIGHT crust, lots of EXTRA CHEESE and a WHOLE PACK of RAINBOW coloured SKITTLES sprinkled on top and served with a SWEET SYRUPY milkshake to help you easily swallow every mouthful.
That is, it should have been awful to make it through 12 whole episodes and yet IT WASN'T.

There is so much gay, and so many gay, and so much cheesiness and so much dorkiness. Really, what a bunch of absolute dorks. They're adorable and stupid and entertaining and extra and amusing, all of them. And there are no trash family members or friends and everyone is NORMAL-ish, even the NPCs.

And there are some one-liners. Like;
'they're screaming so loud, I thought they were being attacked by Zombies'
and
'who would think you're hot, you look funny just standing still'
and
'you're not that smart, using your brain won't help you much'.

Delivered in context, these random lines had me snorting FR.

This show beat its own shortcomings really, I don't even care about the little issues with budget, cut scenes or overacting or when the actors clearly wanted to laugh during a scene, because I was smiling and chuckling and almost laughing in every episode at the overall delivery and vibe of this show.

Have a slice of this pizza. eat the whole pizza guys. I'd recc it.

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It's not a BL, it's a pre-relationship story, but it's a good story worth a one time watch

I wouldn't recommend it as a BL, I classify it as pre-BL because they did not actually move beyond being friends until the last few minutes of the show, not even through anything being implied or in subtext, as intended in Cn BLs. They were actually, genuinely just friends for 12 episodes then they confessed and it ended. Still, I would recommend it as a one time watch for anyone who likes a well written story tackling something different in a life drama series.

I had my hope for episode 11, however the ending was just okay. It's another J (not really BL) that I can't give a 10, not even a 9 really, just an 8, and basically just because it was a good production, well written with an interesting story and good acting, but I can't rate it a 10 because it wasn't actually a BL and that's a false lead I don't appreciate.

GOOD:
- Acting
- Casting
- Production Value
- OST
- Writing
- Pacing

BAD:
- It's in the wrong genre, this is not a BL. If you watch it with the wrong expectations, you'll be disappointed, if you watch it as a story about a disability with two guys who end up admitting their feelings for each other in the last 5 minutes of the show, you'll be better prepared.
- Feels like false advertising.

There is no UGLY in this, I don't regret watching it.

HIGHLIGHT:
- Kobayashi Toranosuke, quite a gem of an actor.

---

Side Note:
From my personal perspective a 'BL' like this -with no actual BL- is made for two reasons-
1. New actors need a show in which they can depict their acting range so they can get better and more main roles in the future
2. They need a show that will make them popular and well known, fast

A BL series these days is the fastest track to achieve that for young male actors, however the downside of this is usually that the actors don't want to do BL or be associated with it long term, so the show barely scrapes by being a BL at all, just toes the line, as it were, which is what has happened here. Another example of this was Star Struck (except that show was not well written at all). I could be wrong, but when I see a good production like this with 'BL' slapped on it when there is basically no BL in it at all, there is no other explanation I can think of. The people behind it are just trying to jump on the fast track BL band wagon. Which, blah.

Even so, as a standalone show it was entertaining and I am glad to have discovered Kobayashi as an actor, it's the first time I've found a Japanese actor likable, talented and attractive since Kenichi Matsuyama so many years ago. I will move on from this very quickly though. It failed to leave a lasting impression. They had one shot in the final ep to have an emotional impact on the BL viewers in ep 12, but even the hug after the confession didn't land well at all.

If they make a sequel they might redeem the first season. Here's hoping.

8/10

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