To be honest, I expected this series to follow in the footsteps of KinnPorche with lots of sex scenes and very little of anything else, but I was pleasantly surprised. First off, it has an actual plot, or at least a story that goes beyond the simple friends with benefits/romance. The characters faced some real issues and on the whole, it was well done. The actors were really good with the exception of one. Net and James were adorable and had amazing chemistry while the villains were easy to hate (which is the way it should be). The supporting cast was good, with one minor exception. Is it just me or does the actor who played Jade (I think his nickname is Yim) seem like he is way overacting pretty much all the time? Like his head bobs forward and he seems way too excited about bringing his friend a coffee. I'm not trying to disparage, because I thought what he did in Cutie Pie was good, so I'm guessing that was a directorial choice and as far as I'm concerned, it wasn't a good one. Other than that, though, all the actors were so good. Also, just want to point out that Mark is so good looking -- would love to see him in more shows. (Realizes that was slightly too much fangirl. Clears throat awkwardly. Back to the review!) Music was pretty good and I actually thought the addition of the "meows" during the kitten scene was so sexy. I really did enjoy their main theme song as well, though I don't care as much about the OST as others might. For me, the rewatch value was high. I thought the show really set itself above the others by actually having a relatable story and a decent romance at the the same time.

Now on to the spoilers! (Which means, if you don't want spoilers, don't continue reading.) The story involved a lot of trauma for Uea and I really felt that James did an amazing job of making those emotions feel real. The child actor who played young Uea was also simply amazing. Having the grace to act that out at that age shows that he has a lot of talent. I think that showing that Uea was still dealing with the trauma long after the event was realistic. So many writers want to move on from the trauma so that the story can develop without it, but in actuality, if you've experienced this kind of thing, you know that it stays with you forever and informs your choices and becomes part of your self. That isn't always a bad thing, sometimes it makes you so much stronger, but it does inform who you become and falling in love with someone, no matter how good that person is, does not automatically erase all the bad things that have ever happened in your life. So I was grateful that this was treated with more realism than you often find in a romance. The way Uea continues to have relationships with people who hurt him is a reflection of reality as well. Many people who have been abused might become abusers or continue to chose partners who abuse them. I don't like it, but it's the truth. Then on top of that, Uea also met with more trauma at work with his new boss. While I don't fault the writers for adding more trauma (since it is a tv series and if nothing ever happened in the series, no one would watch it), but I did have one problem with King at this point. Uea is taken into the office by Krit and almost raped, but when he gets away, he has to deal with King shaming him for his behavior. As if he had a choice and could have said, I refuse to go to your office, boss. The mom did the same thing (victim shaming Uea when his stepfather sexually assaulted him) but when she does it she's the villain and when King does it, how are we supposed to feel? I honestly wanted to hit him and I really wouldn't have blamed Uea if he never spoke to King again after that. Then it got weird when Uea apologized to King. I don't understand why King wasn't the one apologizing as he was the one in the wrong. So that was one little problem I found with the writer's handling of this issue.

Also technically, though no one ever talks about it, Uea was also drunk the first time he had sex with King. Really, King took advantage of him, which could be considered rape. It was weird, because they even brought up a similar situation later. King finds Uea flirting with some guy at the beach bar and takes him back to their room. He doesn't have sex with him, because he's too drunk. Then the next day, he asks Uea for a reward and Uea says that not taking advantage of him when he's drunk is how it should be. So why wasn't that brought up after their first time together? Just a question. I'm going to just be personally annoyed by that and not try to call it rape, but I wish writers would stop using that trope unless both the participants are drunk. Then it seems less like one taking advantage of the other and more like a mistake they both made.

They also touched on mental health, because Uea seems to be taking a medication for depression. At least that's the conclusion I came to based on the subtitles. I love that they put that in this show. I mean what person who goes through that amount of trauma in his life and doesn't need therapy? I'm glad more writers are including mental health as a real issue without giving it a stigma and making it seem like a failure of the person who needs help.

There were some problems with things being disjointed and/or not being sure how much time has elapsed since the last scene. Especially at the beginning. Like why did Uea seem to hate King so much? Why not just be annoyed at having a playboy flirt with you and then leave it at that? Instead, for what seems like no reason, Uea really dislikes King and behaves that way. Also, I would have liked to see a little more development with King. It seems like he likes Uea a lot, more than just flirting but he knows that Uea doesn't like him. But there is no back story. When they start with the bed friend idea, it seems to me that King was thrilled because he already really like Uea and wanted to be with him, but knew that Uea wouldn't date him because he was a playboy so he uses the idea of friends with benefits to get closer to the guy he likes. Is that just me? Anyway, I think we needed a little more in the beginning to set that up better.

The NSFW scenes were good. Thankfully, they were not the entirety of the show and if you don't enjoy them, you can skip them pretty much entirely without missing anything. I think it's great that they included them, but they weren't the main point. Overall, the show was terrfic and because the character interactions and overall plot was interesting and emotional, there is a high rewatch value.

Lastly, this doesn't effect anything with the show, but does anyone else think it's weird that when you look up the cast, Tutor and Yim are both listed just after Net and James, but Tutor wasn't in the show at all except the very last minute of the very last episode? He had one line! I mean, why list him so prominently when he was basically not in the show at all? Sorry, just asking.