Cute, But Not Much Else

As far as GL miniseries go, this one was cute and fun to watch (with plenty of kisses to make my heart happy). The characters were sweet and there was very little conflict, which can be nice to see. I'm not always a fan of miniseries, but this one did a good job in my opinion.

But honestly, there was no real substance here. The characters were all one-note, and I found it hard to care about the relationship when it a.) moved so fast, and b.) there was nothing else in the show at all. Nothing in the characters' lives outside their relationship, and an almost comical amount of people just appearing onscreen because there was no world outside whatever was on screen at a time.

I'm glad we got this show, and I would recommend it for anyone looking for a quick, cute show to watch-- but I'm hoping that one day we will have plenty of GLs that are better than this.

Read More

It Had Its Moments

I think, overall, my main issue with this show was that what I thought it was going to be, based off the trailers and such, was not what it actually was. Was it a bad show? No, definitely not. Was it an important show? Yes, absolutely! Was it what I wanted it to be?

No.

I loved the premise of the show— a boy pretending to be his twin brother and joining a gang to find out what happened to him, and then ultimately falling for the gang member his brother hates the most. But the premise got lost quickly in the political lectures and long-winded justifications for the gang's actions, and although I think the love story was done well, I don't think the rest of it really was.

Black and White get, maybe, three meaningful scenes together throughout the whole show. In the end, their mystical twin connection was a pointless addition to the show to— what? Give the parents a reason to pull a "Parent Trap" and separate them for years? Hell, half the time after Black woke up he was just gone, doing stuff off-screen that we never got to see. In the end, his whole character was practically unnecessary. Just a means to an end to get White into the gang. White seems to forget quite often why he was even there, and just allowed himself to get swept into the gang's plots without actually doing anything to figure out who hurt Black. In the end, he doesn't even figure out who did it! He has to be told, because he literally just stopped trying.

I can see what they wanted to do with this show— the messages they wanted to get across and, in general, what they wanted to say about the current political climate in Thailand. But, especially in the first half of the show, it felt so heavy-handed and spoon-fed to the audience. Half the episodes were us listening to law students debate rule of law or the gang explaining why their country's justice system sucks. What they were saying was important, but it clogged the story down so much and was honestly quite boring. It picked up around the midpoint-ish (more like episode 9 or 10), when there was actually plot instead of long-winded lectures every five minutes. There were many other ways I think they could have formulated scenes to show us what they wanted us to know without just telling us outright, and I wish they'd tried more to do that.

I also disliked how much time was spent on justifying the gang's missions and the work they were trying to do. I get it, they wanted us to root for the gang and to see them as vigilantes who are trying to take down the bad guys and do good, rather than seeing them as criminals. To be quite honest, the trailer (especially the initial one) made it look more like illegal gang activities than activism, and I wanted that more. I was ready to root for some anti-heroes, so the justifications felt boring and unneeded to me.

I do feel like the ending wrapped up too easily, and again had them just writing off Black and White not really caring at all (???), but ultimately the last four or five episodes of the show were much better than the rest.

Acting-wise, though, this show was AMAZING! Every actor in this show impressed me at some point. Gun— of course we knew he would kill at this, but the duality between White and Black was so perfect and insane to see. Especially in the (few) scenes with both of them, it was so distinct on who was who. Beautiful job. First, as well, knocked it right out of the park. He's always been a showstopping actor in my opinion, but he really just shined in this role. (Also his chemistry with Fluke??? Unmatched.) Off did a really good job in his role as Sean— I went in not knowing how I'd feel about him in this type of role, but he really delivered!

I will say, I do think I'm in the minority when it comes to my opinion of the show. If you're thinking of watching the show, I'd say probably just go for it and keep more of an open mind than I was able to as I watched.

Read More

A Good Foundation

So... you want to get into Pete and Kao's story but don't know where to start? That was exactly my dilemma! A quick Google search told me that this three-part compilation by GMMTV was all you really needed in order to continue onto Dark Blue Kiss, the sequel series. I do think it accomplished what it meant to do, as most of the reviews on the full series (Kiss Me Again) claim to have just skipped to the Pete/Kao scenes anyway. But that doesn't mean it was smooth sailing.

The first half of this mini-series was rough for me to watch. It literally does what it claims to— it just shows the scenes with Pete and Kao. That's it. And with so much of the show and overall storyline cut out, there is really no tangible plot to follow. The animosity between the two of them, without any context, was boring at best and annoying at worst. Also— there were SO many fight scenes??? And it felt like they were one right after the other, so repetitive and boring, but that was mostly because this compilation doesn't show the scenes that happen in between. Still, it got to be a bit much.

I did end up enjoying the second half much more, especially once the jealousy and actual feelings emerged. I don't totally love the characters yet, but I'm looking forward to watching a full series about them!

Ultimately, this is probably the best way to give a viewer the background so they can jump into the next show, but I'm really hoping Dark Blue Kiss is miles better than this was.

Read More

A Waste of Time

Honestly, this show was a huge letdown for me all around. The production value was great, the acting was overall pretty good, but the story? The relationships? A big, hot mess that never truly got solved by the end.

We can start with the positives. I liked the actors (for the most part— to be honest, New's crying scenes felt inauthentic at times), and the chemistry between the couples was pretty good. Not mind-blowing by any means, but enough for me to buy that they were actually attracted to each other. I loved pretty much all of the friendships, as well! Kuea and Kon-Diao were great best friends, and actually supported each other equally in a way I feel I hardly ever see in fiction. I also really enjoyed all of Kuea's school friends— they were hilarious and so much fun to watch on screen. And honestly, Syn and Nuer's little side relationship was the best-executed plotline in the whole show. The last positive was Foei, who was a side character that stole the scene every time he showed up; I enjoyed the comedy he brought immensely.

And now, the negatives. For starters, a lot of the storyline and plot felt very, very nonsensical. The arranged marriage aspect felt very forced, because there didn't seem to be an actual reason for Lian and Kuea to be arranged to be married. It was like the writers wanted to make us see that they were really in love and not actually being forced into marriage, even though that's the whole point of an arranged marriage plotline. There was also so much weirdness around how Lian and Kuea had known each other since Kuea was a baby, and yet at some point (we never find out when, because why would they ever give us any answers??) Kuea starts acting like a "perfect little doll" and hiding who he actually is. But it's also pointless because the viewer learns early on that Lian knows everything Kuea is trying to hide from him— so what is the point of Kuea hiding it? Why don't they ever just communicate about anything ever?

And that's not even starting on the mess that is the Yi/Diao plotline. Somehow, that one makes even less sense than Lian and Kuea's, since Yi and Diao aren't even together prior to the start of the show! It's weirdly written where it's made to look like Kuea and Diao are in the same situation of pining for their fiances while they think the Hias don't actually love them back, and yet it's not until way into the show that we find out that Yi and Diao aren't anything like that. And pretty much nothing about them and their situation is ever explained, presumably because the writers want to do a sequel series surrounding them.

In the end, the only way to enjoy this show is to just not think about anything and enjoy each scene for what it is rather than as it should be as part of an overall narrative. I wouldn't recommend watching it, as pretty much every other drama I've watched thus far has a more cohesive storyline with relationships that actually make sense.

Read More

Dropped the Ball

This show started off decent and honestly just went downhill from there. The first half or so was fine-- the acting isn't great throughout, but it's forgivable enough-- but once they actually got to the beauty pageant, it got so muddled and confused.

It was like the writers didn't know what story they were trying to tell, and in trying to tell a lot of things in a short amount of time they ended up telling us essentially nothing. There was a lot of focus on side characters that didn't matter and not enough focus on the ones who did, there wasn't a lot showing the actual beauty pageant or anything other than catty behavior that didn't really do much for the story. The timeline started to skip forwards and back, and we seemingly skipped over some important parts of Meena and Cherine's story. All in all, none of this felt cohesive. Many scenes just felt cobbled together, and often it felt like the writers forgot they were writing a romance. It was very clear that this was just a cash grab to capitalize on the Engfa and Charlotte's fans, and really there wasn't even an attempt to make it anything else.

Honestly, my rating should be lower, but it hurts my heart to rate one of the few GLs out there so low. Actually, I really wouldn't have stuck through this if it weren't a GL, or if it wasn't such slim-pickings when it comes to GL. It really wasn't worth my time-- honestly I wish I had just dropped it.

I would suggest people just skip this one and wait for 23.5 or Be Mine the series to air.

Read More

Total Sci-Fi Goodness!

While a lot of comments seem to be dissatisfied with this show, I thought it was really fun! I think they could have done a bit more with Erng's newfound abilities and the mystery surrounding her before that was all explained, but on the whole this show was funny, heartfelt, full of sci-fi goodness, and just a really good time.

The acting was really solid, too! Nanon, of course, is a star and was able to affect me greatly with the most minute expressions. He was a great lead and brought a lot of charisma to a role that could have easily been insufferable. Namtan was a phenomenal actress as well, and really held her own against Nanon! Sing and Drake were funny sidekick characters (as per usual for them), but this show gave both of them a little extra when it came to their characters, allowing them to be more than just the funny best friends. It was really nice to see.

This show was fun and interesting, and honestly it was really different than most of the dramas I've seen. I had a really good time, and I would recommend this to just about anyone!

Read More

Did We Really Need This?

This was... fine.

Honestly, I don't know what else to say about it. It was underwhelming, though I wouldn't call it bad. It's just-- the show is one of my all-time favorites, and this just did not hold up. I didn't feel the chemistry I felt in the show, and it just couldn't get me to /care/. There really wasn't a story it was trying to tell-- it was so slice-of-life, just following Adachi and Kurosawa's relationship after the show ended. Nothing particularly exciting happened, and honestly this was nothing we couldn't have gotten from fanfiction (and done better, too!).

The only scene that really stuck out to me was the scene with Adachi's family. The rest of them... weren't anything special.

So, yeah. This was fine, but did we really need this? Was the show not enough?

Read More

It Just Didn't Click

I'll start by saying I'm First's BIGGEST fan, and honestly if he wasn't the lead in this I probably would have dropped it long ago. Hell, I might not have even watched it in the first place if not for him. And First definitely did not disappoint! He gave this role his all and played a very complex character BEAUTIFULLY. Honestly, all of the acting in this show was great and pretty much the best thing this show had going for it.

For much of the show, though, the story just didn't click for me. The chemistry and the plot just... couldn't hold my interest. I can't say there was no chemistry between First and Khaotung, but I didn't feel it. I can't say the plot (before episode 10 or so) wasn't good, but I could never get myself to care about what was happening. If First hadn't been the lead, I probably would have stopped watching— not because it was /bad/ per se, but just because I didn't /care/.

I did have a lot of issues with the last few episodes (namely episode 11), but on the whole the show was alright. It just really didn't work for me, personally.

Read More

One of the Most Delightful Shows I’ve Seen!

This show is such a delight to watch— so campy, over the top, and hilarious, while also being romantic and touching all at the same time. It also did a great job balancing all the different and complex relationships within the show— from Yingying and Noina’s friendship which Yingying puts above all else, to Yingying and Pang’s sisterly relationship, their mothers’ complicated love triangle, and more. It’s definitely a show that’s focused on the romance, but there’s so much more going on.

I adored all of the characters in the show, and I thought the acting was phenomenal. The girls in particular stood out to me. Baifern as Yingying was hilarious, heartfelt, and so easy to care for. I also adored Mild as Noina, though that seems to be an unpopular opinion. I thought Noina was so cute and funny, if a bit whiny. Mild also killed some of the more emotional scenes towards the end (same with Baifern— god, I was in tears!!). And Ployphat as Wisa was so amazing— Ployphat played her perfectly! I couldn’t stand Wisa throughout the majority of the show, though her antics were so over the top and hilarious to watch, and yet there were soft points where I did end up feeling for her. She’s definitely a character you love to hate, and it was done very well.

The writing as a whole was really well done! The characters were all distinctive, and we got to see different sides of them throughout the show. I also liked the amount of symbolism and foreshadowing used in the show— specifically the scene with the puppet show. It perfectly mirrored the romantic arc of the show and was a cool touch. I thought they did a really good job of developing Yingying’s relationship with Korn, as well, especially when they mirrored it with Noina’s attempts to woo him. Noina tries to show Korn she’s good with kids, we see Yingying actually being good with kids. Noina tries to force “chance” encounters, Yingying actually bumps into Korn by accident. Etc, etc. It clearly showed who would actually be a good fit for Korn without shoving it down our throats.

And on the flip side, we can see early on that Noina will actually work better with Pat, especially given the fact that she never acts like herself in front of Korn and yet is so easily herself with Pat. He’s truly the better option for her, as he falls for her without her even trying. Similarly to how Korn falls for Yingying even without her trying. The relationships were all very well done— believable and romantic.

I don’t have any complaints about this show, really. It’s been such a joy to watch it every week, and honestly I’m so sad it’s finally reached its end. I will definitely be revisiting this story in the future.

Read More

Absolutely Best Drama Out There!!

Everything about this show was just shining and wonderful the whole way through. If anyone needs a BL recommendation, or honestly a drama recommendation in general, this is the show I would shove in their face and make them watch. I want everyone in the world to watch this show and love Pran and Pat as much as I do.

The cast in this show was absolutely top-notch, and I genuinely have no complaints about anyone in this show. Nanon, who plays Pran, is one of GMMTV's best actors at the moment. He can convey so much emotion in a single glance, and he just brightens up the room every time he comes on screen. And Ohm, who plays Pat, is so great at the sweet-couple-romance stuff and the emotional stuff. Every show he's been in, he's made me cry. I can't think of better actors to play Pran and Pat.

The other actors were great, too! Love and Milk both now have a fan in me, and I'm really interested to see Jimmy's show that comes out this year. As far as supporting cast goes (and as much as Jimmy and Drake's characters pissed me off during the show), they were wonderful.

The overall plot was really well done, as well! I've said it once and I'll say it again— I'm such a sucker for pining! And this show had it in spades. As Pa says within the show, "if you want to know if they like you... look to the eyes. The eyes don't lie." And every time Pran looked at Pat, or Pat looked at Pran, I felt my heart about to burst with the pining going on. The actual bet that the show advertises doesn't come into play until well into the show, but even that part got me so good!

The plot is great, but really this show is about the characters, and never have I cared about characters in a drama as much as I care about everyone in this show. The romance was impeccable (Nanon and Ohm have chemistry for days, and god I want them to do another show together) and even the side romance stole my heart right away!

Watch this show. I beg of you— watch this show and then come rave to me about it, because you will love it!

Read More

So Much Fun to Watch!

As soon as I saw the original trailer for this show, I knew it was either going to be fantastic or horrible. And I am thrilled to report that it was fantastic!!

Everything about it was so much fun and so engaging to watch. The plot may not be terribly original, but it's still a fun story line to follow. I particularly loved Cake and her home life a lot, Her mom was present and supportive, and quite funny with her fangirl tendencies towards Ton! And Now— gah, I loved her so much! I loved how she ensured Cake was smart about birth control and such, and then she was SO READY to fight anyone who was mean to her friend. She was a great support character, and her little side romance with Dol was an adorable enemies-to-lovers moment.

Acting-wise, this felt pretty solid! No one really blew me out of the water, but I enjoyed everyone's performances. I thought Jane and Pong worked well as a couple in this— there were definitely a couple moments where I was swooning! I thought the development from basically strangers to awkward strangers to actually falling for each other was done nicely, and I really liked that there was even discussion between Cake and Ton about whether him "taking responsibility" for impregnating her necessarily had to equal love and marriage. While obviously this is a romance and we knew where it was headed, it was nice and felt very modern of them to not immediately decide that pregnancy had to equal them getting married.

The thing I was most hesitant about in the show was, of course, the age gap. Now don't get me wrong— I can get behind a good age gap romance! But there's a thin line between pointing out the twenty-year gap between the two of them and making it feel creepy and, like, paternal. And I thought the show handled it well. There were light-hearted jabs at how much older Ton was than Cake (her calling him 'old man', for one), but he never felt like a pseudo-father in her life or that he was using his age as power over her.

And honestly, I don't really have any big complaints about this one! It's a fun ride, and I'm glad I had the chance to watch it.

Read More

A Good, Solid Show

This story was really good and really sweet, and honestly I did like it better than its companion show, Star in My Mind. The story was light and fun, and while I would have liked the side characters to be a bit more fleshed out, I had a great time watching.

Mek, of course, was amazing in this show. I think I love him even more than I did before, and I need to see a million more shows with him as the lead! He's handsome and charming, and he has great comedic timing for the funny bits in the show. He was wonderful at making me love and root for Fah, even when Fah wasn't always making the right choice. The other actors in the show were great, too (loved seeing Toptap and Prigkhing!!), but Mek definitely shined above the rest.

The story, overall, was really nice, too. I liked watching Fah and his friends adjust to life in the village and come to appreciate all the village had to offer. Fah and Prince's back and forth was adorable and so fun to watch, and I loved watching them fall for each other.

My main complaint with this show is something I also complained about in Star in My Mind: the plethora of love rivals. It felt like, with both shows, they didn't bother with any other means of conflict besides love rivals! Both shows had four (4) people in love/interested in the same person! And I'm sorry, Prince and Dao were not hot or interesting enough to warrant so much attention.

None of the love rivals in Sky were even really developed well, either. They each came and went quickly, lasting as an obstacle for a couple episodes before the next one took over. Personally, I think love rivals being the driving conflict between a ship is boring enough as it is, but to do it three times in an eight-episode show was too much.

My other (much more minor but still enough to knock this show a half star) complaint was the final episode. It felt very jarring and different than the rest of the series, and it just was... weird. I won't say more because of spoilers, but while the Happily Ever After was nice and satisfying, I didn't enjoy the majority of the final episode.

All in all, this is one I would recommend people give a try! You don't need to watch Star in My Mind to watch it (though the many mini-scenes with Dao and Kluen might be odd if you haven't), and I think it's a sweet story worth the watch.

Read More

It Could've Been So Good!!

I have such mixed feelings about this show, if I'm being perfectly honest. From the start, I was /so excited/ based on the premise. I'm such a sucker for parallel universe stories, and for me the highlight of this entire show was how they played with the parallel universe aspect. "Qooqle" and "Headbook", Third from Theory of Love showing up, Tay and Godji having normal jobs, etc. That was all so much fun and everything I wanted from a show set in a parallel universe! So, the premise was there— but the plot was so, so lacking.

The biggest disappointment for me was the fact that the majority of the plot did not, in fact, center around Talay and Puen trying to find their portkeys and go home. Periodically, that was brought up, but largely the show focused on them simply living Tess and Tun's lives for almost two years. Much of the time, the plot felt to be more about Friend Credits making their movies than trying to get home from the parallel universe! It felt like the story, as well as the characters, often forgot that Talay and Puen were /not/ Tess and Tun. It was frustrating at times, especially when there were a few good moments here and there that could have pulled the show back into focus. And the romance became hard to buy after a while, considering how long Puen hid who he truly was from Talay— by the ninth episode, Talay was still saying he hardly knew who Puen was, and it was true! How can I believe in their love and romance when, after a /year/, Talay doesn't know the basic things about Puen? When he only finds out Puen's real name in the second to last episode?

As for the acting, I didn't feel particularly wowed by Jimmy and Sea. I wouldn't say they were bad, but I never really felt for their characters over the course of the story. Hell, when the confession scene finally came around, all I could muster was a meek, "Cool". I can't say how much of that was the script's fault or the actors, but I'm willing to bet it's a mixture of the two. As far as side characters, the only one who really stood out was Neo, whose character was named Up. Neo is a fantastic actor and I'm so glad to see him getting roles— I sincerely hope he gets a lead soon!

There's so much more I could complain about in this show, and very little more I could compliment. There was so much potential for this to be such an interesting and unique story, but it fell so, so flat. It was entertaining enough to keep me watching each week, and the parallel universe aspect was done well, but the plot and the romance were just not what they should have been.

Read More

In the end, this show was only okay for me. Writing-wise, it was pretty weak. The actors were good, but they weren't given much chance to shine with the script they were given. I know a lot of people had problems with Chimon and Perth's chemistry, but I thought they could have been much better if they were in a better show.  

The plot kept flip flopping where it was intense for a few episodes, and then we had five episodes of pure fluff, and then the intensity came back for two episodes. It wasn't consistent, and it left the show feeling like it was lacking.

Still, I was happy that Chimon finally got a chance to be a lead in a non-ensemble show. And I thought Papang was incredible, and really he could be a leading man all on his own. I would happily watch a show starring him and Pepper as leads!

I'm not mad I watched it, but honestly I wouldn't recommend it unless you really love the actors or feel the need to watch every BL. As much as I love the actors, this one was pretty skippable.

Read More