Lackluster at best

The story should have been good. It had an interesting plot with both modern and period piece storylines, but it just failed to reach anything close to memorable or romantic. The ML was an arrogant prick who treated his FL like crap and then expected her to love him. The actor himself, though I’ve seen him in other things and he was not as bad, was seriously terrible in this. He constantly looked like he wanted to cover his nose and walk around without letting any lesser individuals look at him. Maybe they thought having a guy who looked arrogant play the part of an arrogant character would make it easy to act out but it ended up looking stiff and somewhat forced. The FL couldn’t work up an expression other than blankly staring to save her life AND the script called for her to be so stupidly in love that she was happy to be called disgusting or a monster, as long as the ML (who called her those things to her face and behind her back) was the one to say it. At what point is she supposed to stand up for herself and tell him he’s a piece of garbage and doesn’t deserve her heart? Because if she had done that, it would have been the first bit of actual intelligence she ever showed. The second ML was not much better character-wise, but at least he was a better actor. Also the switch from modern to period piece to modern again was clumsy at best. I mean, honestly, they could have done that twenty different ways that would have been better. Sorry but bad acting along with complete character fails made this series nearly ridiculous. There were a few bright moments, when we saw the vampires and humans comes to an understanding and become friends, and we could almost see something worthwhile about the show, but then it failed on so many other levels that the message got lost. What to say about the music? Well, it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great. One song was kind of catchy. It felt like an anime theme song. The rest, despite the singing ability of the actors, were simply lacking. For me, the music was forgettable. This is actual the fifth time I’ve tried to finish this show and I finally succeeded. I would watch a few episodes, get bored, forget about it, be reminded and try again. Seriously, 5 attempts to get through 12 episodes over a two year period. So it just wasn’t enough to hold my attention or make me care about the characters. In fact, the only scene I found touching was the one where the FL sacrificed her life for the ML, and what was most touching about that was that she killed herself for someone who hated what she was. I don’t think he would have saved her if the situations were reversed. He was always either cowardly, conceited, or hateful. Not a good character choice for a ML. Are we supposed to swoon just because he’s handsome? Sorry, not on the likely. Overall, this series lacked sense, sophistication, and substance, but it attempted to have style (if you count having a gorgeous cast, though most of them can’t act, as style). IMO, not a keeper. Will not watch again. Kind of wish I’d never bothered to finish it.

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Too disjointed and a big disappointment

I don't know what to say about this. It's four episodes of confusion and complete idiocy. I hear there is another series that goes further with this and maybe I will be able to dredge up enough emotion to care. Without spoilers I can tell you it was too short to really see any character development and too disjointed to make sense. The OST was decent, but nothing extraordinary. I haven't seen the actors in anything else, but honestly they were the only parts of this story that was worthwhile. I don't know how they were able to portray emotion so well despite the lack of actual love story. The actors for Mark and Vee were so good despite a disappointing story. Overall, not really worth the time it took to watch it.

With spoilers: STOP here if you don't want to know what happens in the story! Mark and Vee hook up after Mark apparently realizes that his unrequited love is with someone else and he gets drunk. Vee holds out for about 3 seconds against Mark's drunk kissing and then gives in and takes advantage. Next morning you realize that Vee's got a long time girlfriend (Ploy) that he is supposedly in love with and she lives next door to Mark. Oh yes, he's a great boyfriend. Not really a big deal if he cheats though, since she is doing the same. Then begins a series of disjointed scenes in which we are made to understand that Ploy and Vee may or may not have broken up while Vee and Mark may or may not have begun a relationship. As a true selfish cheater, Vee goes right back to Ploy and breaks Mark's heart. Mark may or may not have moved on with someone else while Vee cried his heart out as all cheaters should. Then wonder of confusing wonders, they appear to get back together after Vee makes some vague excuses and promises he will love Mark only. Cue the happy ending. Except I don't really feel like Vee cares about Mark more than he cares about himself. Mark seems like a doormat who lets his boyfriend walk all over him and then pouts when his boyfriend continues to cheat but forgives because he has no self esteem. It's believable in that aspect, I've seen that often enough in real life, but I don't love those relationships, I hate them. So I can't support the couple and they are the entirety of the series. BIG disappointment. If there was more story or scenes of Mark and Vee or some kind of character development where we could believe that Vee changed, it might be worthwhile. But if wishes were horses, beggars would ride.

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Not in front of my salad

Though I thought the acting was good and the story line was decent, this show sends a bad message. I did not like that Type was such a jerk to gay people as a whole because he was molested by a man. While it makes sense, it just shows that Type lacked awareness of his own feelings. He should have seen a therapist and learned to deal with his traumatic past rather than taking out his anger on an entire community of people who have no blame for what happened to him.

There were other faults too. A boy who was molested as a child is not going to fall in love with someone else who molests him, even if he is gay. Type would not have given in to Tharn and if he did, it would be because he thinks he is worthless and does not deserve to be happy so it's good enough to be with someone who hurts and degrades him. That is not exactly the kind of love relationship I want to see. The hate to love trope in this is strong and definitely not worthwhile. Type never trusts Tharn and doesn't ever treat him well. Actually, the entire relationship makes no sense.

Also, Tharn has a deep-seated fear of being left. At least, that is what we see from his behavior. This apparently comes from the fact that Lhong keeps making sure he gets dumped by every past lover. In the end, rather than let Tharn in on the plan to out Lhong, they had Type treat him horribly and then come back later and explain. What would have changed if they had told Tharn from the beginning? Tharn would not have cried and begged. They could have worked it out together. However it seems the writer wanted to perpetuate the bad to worse relationship tropes in this series.

The couple do not grow and face things together. They face things separately and purposefully hurt each other. Type is controlling and abusive: and by abusive I mean emotionally because he treats Tharn like a sex toy who is only worthwhile as long as he does what Type wants and he actually slaps Tharn when Tharn is kissed by someone else. Tharn doesn't initiate it and doesn't perpetuate it, but Type slaps him rather than the guy who tried to kiss him without his consent. How does that make sense? It doesn't, but nothing in this series makes sense.

As much as I love the effort that the actors gave and the great chemistry they had on screen, the entire series is offensive from the first episode to the last. There are actually so many things wrong in this series that it's hard to name them all. I really appreciate the actors, and I'd love to see them in another series, but could we please get a better writer this time?

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Nice effort, but disappointing

I honestly don’t know where to start. There were so many possibilities and they just fell flat or were completely ignored. Maybe I should talk pros and cons? Pros: Ummmm … the actors were good looking. The second couple had awesome chemistry. The music wasn’t bad. Cons: Storylines that were opened and not developed and conflicts that were ignored rather than dealt with. Overall disappointing and would not watch again.

In more detail (warning, spoilers ahead): The first couple (Johnny and Hai Yi). They did not have much chemistry and the acting was off. As far as the plot with this couple — it had a lot of potential but failed to go anywhere. Johnny came from the past and fast forwarded to the future to meet Hai Yi. Exciting possibilities here that were completely undeveloped. The only thing it was used for later was a plot device that might keep the couple apart. Because obviously Johnny wants to go back to his time to take care of his grandma. But she died and Hai Yi knew it and kept this from Johnny for no reason until Johnny attempted to go back to the past and Hai Yi told him. Why conceal this fact except to have a reason for Hai Yi to stop Johnny? Why not tell him as soon as you found out so your boyfriend could properly mourn her? Anyway, there’s no point to the time travel part of the story and it doesn’t appear to affect any other part of the story. So it’s pointless.

For the second couple we at least have some solid chemistry but I had a problem with a couple of major things. First, Vincent and Wynn are just starting their relationship when Vincent appears to be doing something morally ambiguous at best and downright sneaky and wrong at worst. Wynn calls him out on this behavior and plainly says they can’t be together if Vincent is the bad guy. Makes sense. Vincent is not actually the bad guy and is just pretending in order to help Hai Yi. Now, that isn’t bad by itself but the way they handled and then ignored these issues is weird and angsty for no reason. When Wynn questioned his lover about his behavior, rather than taking him into his confidence, Vincent ignored his concerns. When he saw his boyfriend was conflicted, rather than trying to show he wasn’t morally bankrupt, Vincent asked his new assistant to pretend they were now dating in order to make Wynn hate him. And while all of this was going on, other sources are telling Wynn that he needs to trust his lover. Why? Did they have a long standing relationship based on trust and mutual understanding? No, in fact their relationship was very new. So they in no way had enough relationship development to justify Wynn trusting Vincent implicitly. Nor did Vincent give him any reason to do so, he actually did the opposite by giving Wynn multiple reasons not to trust him. I can only assume that this was supposed to make it seem like these two really suffered in order to be together and to give them a conflict. But it felt manufactured and when Wynn finds out the truth, he doesn’t get angry and tell Vincent that he should have just told him the truth. Instead he begs forgiveness for not believing in him and they immediately jump into bed together. So there was a conflict but rather than deal with it appropriately they decided to just ignore the real issue and have a sexy scene and oh “I love you” how cute. Sorry, that annoys me. Why ignore the conflict you created?

Lastly, there is a real disparity in both relationships and it is discussed, and again, ignored. Wynn and Johnny are friends and while Wynn is bemoaning the fact that his boyfriend purposefully mislead him, he notes that it sucks to be dating your boss because they are the boss at work and the boss in the relationship. Rather than dealing with this in a reasonable mature way (like having a conversation with your lover and telling him that he cannot be the boss in the relationship that it has to be a full partnership), Wynn is advised by Johnny to just live with it because there is nothing they can do. Well for one, that mature conversation could take place where rules are set or, if that doesn’t work, you could break up because you don’t need to have a boss at home … anyway — just saying, brought up a conflict and ignored it. Twice. No further discussion needed apparently.

I would also like to discuss the obvious grooming going on the second relationship. Vincent is older than Wynn by I’m guessing at least 10 years based on the information in the story. Vincent is the boss, knows Wynn in a slightly stalker way, and then hires him as his assistant. Then he begins grooming his victim. Vincent (the boss) brings Wynn into his office and gives him lunch, eats with him, makes special time for him, treats him well, etc. So basically the guy in a position of authority going out of his way to approach his subordinate and in no time at all, he and the subordinate are dating. Not saying it was purposeful grooming, but since the characters themselves bring up the fact that Vincent is the boss at work and still the boss in their relationship, I think the comparison to grooming is valid.

While I can’t say the story was completely pointless, There was nothing about this series that stood out and nothing about the relationships that made the characters or romance feel special or worthy of a series devoted to them. I was disappointed overall. Would not watch again.

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Confusing and frustrating.

Short summary first: Mum (played by Ohm) goes to sleep one night in his apartment and wakes up in a parallel world where he “meets” Dew (played by Fluke). For Dew, they’ve meet several times but for Mum it’s the first. Each night Mum goes back to that world for an hour and 5 minutes. And each night time reverses for Dew, until ultimately Dew doesn’t know Mum at all. If you are expecting some kind of reasoning behind this or magical spell, none is forthcoming. Why and how don’t ever get explained, but that’s the basic plot.

So in the parallel worlds Mum and Dew live in the same apartment, just one world has Mum in a green room and the parallel has Dew in a purple room. So Mum from the green world keeps showing up to meet and eventually fall in love with Dew from the purple room. All the while trying to stop the person who killed Dew on their first meeting. (Time reverses.)

The acting is good. The plot had a lot of potential, but that is pretty much where the good things end. The writers seemed to have made up the story with no idea how to end it and no thought on explaining things. You can wing it with some things, but a plot this convoluted is definitely not in the winging it category. Nothing was resolved in the end, even the end had more than one ending (in the same world, or possible another parallel world that also doesn’t get explained). They also don’t follow their own rules — for example, Dew is not supposed to know things that happened earlier because he is supposed to be going back in time, but in several instances, he “remembers” things that for him haven’t happened yet. The ending didn’t discuss what happened to the Dew of the purple world at all, that is just left open. There were so many things that didn’t make sense and the ending was almost worse. I can’t say I hated it, there was really so much potential here, but I didn’t really like it either. If confusing storyline and incomplete endings are okay for you … this might be your cup of tea.

As for the secondary couple, they had nothing to do with the parallel world and it seemed like they should have just had a story of their own instead of adding small bits and pieces to this story which made it feel kind of out of place. They were cute together and had a reasonable little side story that could have been drawn out and given more time. Instead it was kind of thrown in to this whole other story while not giving it the attention it deserved and adding nothing to the overall plot.

Okay so this is where there will be spoilers! Lots of spoilers, so don’t read if you don’t want to know! Dew of the purple world meets Mum of the green world and they have sex. For Dew, he’s been seeing Mum for a while now, but he’s also dating Mum’s sister Mint. He doesn’t love Mint, but the woman is persistent and jealous. He also doesn’t know Mum is Mint’s brother. However, for Mum it was their first meeting. I just think it’s weird that a man who has always been attracted to women wakes up one day and finds himself seeing a handsome young man in his room and they have sex within the first two minutes. Like maybe 10 words were exchanged. Then after the sex, Dew is shot and killed by a masked gunman. The next few times Mum goes to the purple world, they realize that Dew is going back in time while Mum is still moving forward, so every time the two meet, Mum remembers everything but those things haven’t happened yet in Dew’s timeline. The writers screwed that up though, cause after that was discussed, Dew is talking to his gf Mint and she asks him if he’s cheating and he has a flashback to sex with Mum (so yes, he’s a cheater and he’s also remembering things that supposedly haven’t happened for him yet). Mum of the green world eventually figures out that his alter ego from the purple world kills Dew of the purple world. Purple Mum blames Dew when something bad happens to his sister, which is why he kills Dew. Green Mum goes once again to purple Dew but this Dew has never seen him before (time reversing for Dew still) and after about a 1 minute “who the heck are you and why are you in my room?” Mum and Dew have sex again. Why the writers didn’t have Dew flashback to the sex that happened on the day Dew would remember, I will never understand. After this sex, green Mum warns purple Dew about being killed and Dew makes an effort to protect Mint and save himself from being killed by purple Mum by asking someone else to take care of her. (Yes apparently when your gf is in danger, it’s best to foist her off on someone else.) Purple Mint gets angry at this treatment (shocking, I know) and they have an argument and Mint is about to be hit by a car — which is probably would have been what causes purple Mum to decide to kill Dew — instead, Dew saves her and gets hit himself. The end. Really. Purple parallel world stops at this point for green Mum. He can’t go back. Neither can we. For those of us watching the show, there is no conclusion. That is just left hanging. We have no idea, but I think purple Dew must have died. So green Mum saved his lover from being killed by his parallel self, but didn’t save his lover from death.

Then the Dew of the green world who had never met Mum at all before, somehow falls in love with Mum from reading his diary (after dating Mum’s sister Mint, in the green world, for who knows how long — but long enough to start dating and get engaged — it kind of skips over that part). So the timeline seems to be that Mum meets the Dew of his own world and has already fallen in love but Dew has never met Mum. Then he arranges Dew’s birthday party at his sister’s request (it was probably a few days later) and then at the party Mint asks Dew to be her boyfriend (again) and he finally agrees. They date for some length of time which we don’t see while Mum nurses his broken heart and Dew and Mint get engaged. Mint and Dew break up and in one ending, Mum is able to live happily ever after with his Dew. In the other ending, things are left open and even more confusing in a sad way. Honestly, after all this time reversal and magical jumping between parallel worlds, I expected something a little more — well just more. There was no explanation of why it happened or how it happened. Green Mum never seemed to figure out or care what happened to purple Dew. Green Dew fell in love with Mum from reading his diary all while dating Mum’s sister. The sister is in love with Dew and asks him to get together multiple times over the years but miraculously after they break up she has no problem with Mum dating her ex boyfriend. It’s like her whole personality changed. I don’t get how the writers planned this to end, because everything was just confusing and frustrating. It was a very unsatisfying ending. I would have watched a full twelve episodes more if they promised to explain any of it or make it the least bit relatable. Anyway, not my favorite show and so far my least favorite OhmFluke (and that is saying a lot considering their Close Friends series). Unfortunately, wouldn’t recommend.

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Really well done and fascinating plot.

I really enjoyed this series. It was a romance, but a romance with a deep plot and emotional storyline. It had all the romance and drama you could ask for, and also some wonderful lighthearted moments., striking just the right balance. The actors were so good. From first to last, they all did so well and I was really impressed. I would not say that the two male leads have wonderful chemistry together, but it wasn't bad. With the music and their acting skills, it was fairly realistic, it just didn't jump off the screen feeling like they were meant for each other. Still worthwhile romance.
The relationships (family, friends, romantic) are complex and very well thought out. The plot was also very interesting and I thought it was such a good story to tell. The music was good. I recognized one particular song that they played a lot at the romantic parts as one I often hear in Thai BL and I enjoyed it. Because there are so many valuable plot points, I believe this series has a high rewatch value. I don't want to give any spoilers in this review, so I'll just leave it with: highly recommended.

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Adorable but predictable.

I couldn't give the story an extremely high rating because it's pretty average and predictable, however, the whole show is adorable and feel-good, so I went for above average because I find that kind of show enjoyable. The acting was very good for what it was, but again, not an extremely complicated and emotionally charged drama. It's just cute, so even if the characters don't have to actually do much besides eat and smile, it's okay with me. The music was whatever, it didn't detract and was kind of cute. I think they put more effort into the cooking scenes than the rest of the plot, but again, that was okay with me because I enjoyed it. However, I was hungry the whole time! I would recommend watching this while eating delicious take out so you won't feel left out. Some times I laughed about the funny moments. I also laughed about the way they overacted the eating scenes. Everybody would take bigger bites with big smiles and huge eyes while their mouths were already full of food. We get it, you love the food. It tastes amazing. So silly. Still, I loved it, because it's simple and adorable. I would watch it again anytime I just want a simple love story with a light hearted story line. I gave a higher overall than it really deserved, because I like this kind of simple show. Warning: don't watch when hungry!!!

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Sweet, predictable, but sometimes too annoying.

The acting was good. The main leads had decent chemistry and the story was funny and cute. Fairly predictable, but that doesn't really put me off. The OST was okay, I liked one song in particular. The second and third couples were good as well. The main couple, an actress and a doctor, it was all good minus one thing. The actress is supposed to be this cute and playful girl who is kind and sweet overall, but honestly, she could more likely be described as cunning and flirty as well as airheaded. While it didn't bother me in the long view, some times it was hard to believe a normal man who was smart and warmhearted wouldn't be frustrated that she's mature and kind one minute and childish and petty the next.
The second couple, the actress's manager and the doctor's best friend who is also a doctor. To me, this one was more annoying. They had okay chemistry but a lot of dramas have this habit of having the man chase after a woman that doesn't like him and go so far that he could be called a stalker, but we're supposed to cheer when she falls in love with him anyway? Don't they realize that most of the time, when a girl says no she actually means no? Stop writing the story with a girl who seems to really dislike the man but eventually falls in love with him even though he makes her so uncomfortable that she literally would rather move out of her apartment than live near him.
Third couple, this one was cute and had a reasonable amount of development considering how little screen time they had. They are the main doctor's little sister and the actress's friend who is a famous musician. I was happy to see them get together because I actually liked the musician and wanted him to be happy. Although, honestly in the first part of the show, the sister is the most annoying little brat I have ever seen. How she goes from childish, petty, scheming, and a screetching banshee of a crybaby to a cute and agreeable girl with a mature and caring attitude, I just can't figure out. To be honest, the only parts of the show I fast forwarded were the parts in the beginning when she talked or did her screetching cry. I wanted to smack her and tell her to shut up because she was hurting my ears. She overacted it to the point of being a nuisance.
The rewatch factor is pretty high if you like a simple story with a cute and happy ending. Just skip past the annoying sister until midway through the season and you'll be fine. Overall, a really enjoyable show with happy endings all around.

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Confused

Did I watch a shortened version wherein the rest of the story is told but I somehow missed all the details and just saw a highlight reel? I am so confused. MLs are good looking and have chemisty, but the story of how they fell in love and how they stayed together or fell apart just isn't there. Nothing is there. In what appears to be a momentary flashback we see the ML Yeong-Woo (YW) crying and 2nd ML Yi Bin (YB) consoling him a little. I think they were dating but broke up because YB wasn't in love. Back to the time of the story and YW falls in love (within a few days) of meeting Ki Jin (KJ -- who is the man YB is currently in love with, but remains friend zoned). KJ appears to be an aspiring fashion designer. YB is a famous model. YW is a deliveryman who fits KJ's ideal of the model for his brand. They meet in a bad way, somehow fall in love (no story, just bam, mission accomplished) and YW becomes KJ's model while YB feels left out. Then somehow it seems that KJ is offered an opportunity to go to New York to make his name in fashion, but only if he goes with YB. He says no, but somehow YW hears that he is going to go with YB, believes he is being dumped, and they separate (without story, no talking about it, just bam again, mission accomplished). YB goes to NY by himself. KJ continues his dream by opening his own studio. YW goes back to being a deliveryman and part time model. Now we are going to fast forward to the end... a year later, deliveryman YW delivers food to his past lover KJ. KJ apologizing but they never really talk and somehow get back together or maybe just kiss. Ends with YB and YW modeling together and sitting down to share drinks in which YB says he went to NY by himself and YW and KJ are running back to each other. That appears to be the end. But I still don't know what happened. Did KJ go to NY but just by himself? If not, why apologize? Why didn't they talk it out? Why don't they even speak to each other for a year? Just ghost each other over a misunderstanding and get back together out of nowhere? The music was whatever, but honestly with such a confusing story, even a great OST could only have taken it so far. Since it makes no sense, I can't see there would be any value in watching it more than once. I would just end up confused and wonder why I bothered again. The actors were fine, they did well pretending emotions out of thin air and no plot, but still, nothing can save a story that doesn't actually have any story. If there is another version of this story where you actually have the whole story with reasonable English subtitles, please let me know. Otherwise I will persist in believing that this halfway attempt was somehow meant to be the entirety of this ridiculous series.

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Impossible but still interesting.

Basically, the show is very interesting. It has an overall plot that you can follow and makes sense, but the premise is totally impossible. Still, the acting is superb. The characters felt real and I really enjoyed it. However, trying to make the pieces fit when the premise is so unbelievably ridiculous is a little hard to do. OST was whatever, I didnt love or hate, but it didn't distract, so it's good. Would watch again, but must suspend my disbelief in order to enjoy it.

With spoilers: The premise of the show is that the ML of the show was somehow able to have surgery that altered his physical appearance so he now looks like a foreign man who had passed away in the hospital where the ML was recovering. He and his lover (2nd ML) having been nearly killed by a criminal group and his lover now believing he is dead, the ML wants to go back to right wrongs and uses surgery to further this end. The plastic surgery isn't impossible, but this level of plastic surgery is improbable if not impossible. For example, the ML went from being taller and having more narrow shoulders to shorter with wider shoulders (based on my perception, since they were never actually in the same scene together). Also skin color over his whole body changed from darker to lighter. His teeth, jaw shape, and eyes changed. His hair changed. His tone of voice changed. His body type and his face changed. He was unrecognizable, not just from a face point of view but even the way he walked and held himself. So the premise that he was able to get plastic surgery and return to stop the criminal group and see his lover again is just too ridiculous. If they had wanted it to be more believable, they should have at least picked actors who had some overall similarities. Because you start out watching the ML looking so completely different from his original self, it's hard to imagine that he is the same person. The 2nd ML somehow was able to figure it out though, which makes no sense, but they based it on other things besides physical appearance. An emotional connection, i guess. Once you have figured out that the ML is supposed to be the same man as the 2nd ML was dating before, you might feel a little cheated. Like they just thought I was so stupid that I would accept all of these changes as being not only possible but easy to accomplish? It's kind of insulting the intelligence of their audience. If you can live through that annoyance, and as I said before, suspend your disbelief with the amount of physical change that had to be done to make this even possible, you will probably enjoy the show. I rated it fairly well, because I think it was interesting, even if it was pretty much impossible outside of a fantasy series.

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Good series, better than expected

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.

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Another Hate to Love Trope

I almost could not watch the first two episodes of this series. I'm not okay with bullying and the fact that the writers had the audacity to have the victim of bullying fall in love with the person who bullied him and purposefully without even caring about the other person, attempted to ruin his life. I mean, later he was like, "I didn't know it was that important to you," but is that supposed to make it okay? That's the lamest excuse I've ever heard and still not an actual apology. In real life, hate to love does not exist because people don't fall in love with people who are cruel, thoughtless, and selfish from the very beginning. Yes, you might find out they are that way later, but if they treat you like crap from the get go, you don't value that relationship or that person. That just isn't reality. Someone will definitely say, "it's fiction" but the reason we write stories, read stories, make movies and view movies is because we want to relate to those characters. If you can't relate to the characters, you won't care what happens to them and won't care about their story. You can't believe in a love that is built on this kind of stupidity.

I was finally able to start watching it without skipping over half the scenes by episode 3. The actors were fairly believable and the music was okay. Korean BLs tend to be very hands off and that's okay, but despite their decent chemistry, I had a hard time finding many reasons to like the bully ML. From the beginning to the end, he wasn't someone I liked. I had sympathy for him for about 2 minutes, but he was such a jerk and often hateful, so my sympathy didn't extend far. The other ML was much more likable, but since I didn't like his romantic partner, it was kind of wasted. To be honest, he had just as much on screen chemistry with his rival archer as he did with the bully. That would have been a relationship I would prefer for them to develop. Two people who are supposed to be rivals but respect each other and fall in love while still having to compete against each other would be a much better story than the hate to love trope that is way too predicatible and unbelieveable. The story of them actually falling in love and getting together got kind of thrown in at the end. Like, two years later we meet again and decide to wait for each other to be ready, then two years later we're sort of in a relationship, but it's more like best friends. Why ask a bunch of questions about your boyfriend at the end? Haven't they been supposedly trying to work things out to be together for the past two years and just now they decide to ask what the other likes? Why not spend some time on those two years rather than just skipping it and leaving us wondering why they stayed around for two years when neither of them seems to have developed closer feelings to the other over all that time?

Despite all the negativity that I feel towards the actual couple, there were some good moments. Mostly the themes of coming to terms with your sexuality, learning how to love and forgive yourself, and finding your way in the world. I don't want to ruin the actualy good messages, because they are pretty much the only redeeming quality of this series. I wouldn't watch it again, but it wasn't a complete waste of time.

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Not the best Two Moons

I should start out by saying that the original Two Moons was my first ever BL, so I am a little skewed in favor of the original cast, with that said, even from an objective point of view, this was not the best Two Moons. From the top, the story wasn't bad. It was a continuation of the original Two Moons cast but add in Lom and Tatch. The story wasn't terrible, just cliche. The actors weren't terrible, just well, inexperienced. It does bother me that the actors didn't match the physical types of the characters from the story. I think Yo was actually taller than Pha or around the same height and build. I'm not saying that they should always perfectly follow the orginial, because you should base it on acting ability, but if we're basing this on acting ability solely without considering the physical characteristics at all, they should at least have gotten more experienced actors and worked a little on chemistry. Speaking of, there was no chemistry at all between MingKit, PhaYo, or ForthBeam. At least the TatchLom pairing did have chemistry, so they did an okay job with that. By the way, since Lom is supposed to be Pha's cousin, why did Tatch get the arrogant prick gene? His beginning treatment of Lom was so much like Pha's treatment of Wayo from the first season that I felt like he was possessed by the ghost of Pha past. Luckily he changed faster than Pha did, so you at least had a believable reason for Lom to start liking him. The music was nothing special. Not bad, not good. Rewatch value is low, because to me the story didn't stand out.

I can't talk about Two Moons without comparing it to the books, which I read (a translation on Wattpad by permission of the original author, but they did a good job before it got taken down and moved to a new site). Going by the books, the 3rd series was well ... I don't know how to describe it. Off. Crazy, Wrong. Taking a different direction. Oh well, you catch my drift. It was not what was in the book, BUT we did get to see the scene with Pha testing Yo and then proposing (which grates on my nerves to this day, like I seriously wish that book was never written). As in the book, Pha treats Yo badly, hurts his feelings and ignores him, then says if you can handle this and still love me you passed my test and we can get married. In this series, we get a much better response from Yo, where he tells Pha that he can handle all the times they can't be together because of work but he doesn't want to feel like Pha doesn't care about him. Then Pha apologizes (still half heartedly in my opinion, because Pha will always be the most arrogant prick ever) and proposes. So at least the writers in the series knew that ending with Pha being a complete d**k was not the way to go for that part of the series. The scenes between PhaYo, MingKit, and ForthBeam all seemed a little forced and weird. Like, where were they intending to go with this? Just ruin the relationships between all the characters, put them back together again as if nothing happened and call it a day? What was the point? We should have all just stuck with Season 1 and been happy. So overall, not a waste of time, but if you're a big fan of Two Moons, you will probably be disappointed.

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Not sure if I liked this or hated it.

My reactions on this show are so confusing. First, let's start with the plot. Oh, wait, no plot. Yep, again with the story built around the sex scenes and not much else. Next, acting. Well, the actor who played Kamol had no expression pretty much the whole series. Not once. Angry, sad, in love, all one expression ... blank. The actor who played Kim was slightly better, but his reactions varied from sulking to sad to clueless with little in between. He was adorable though, so that saved him from total idiocy. [UPDATE: Since I've written this review I've seen several interviews with Yoon and Ton (the main actors) and found that they both have normal expressions and can smile and behave like other people. This leads me to believe that the director asked for the specific expressions (or lack thereof) that were made during this series. So this appears to be the fault of the director and not the actors themselves.] The music was nothing. Like the only thing I remember about it was that they played creepy music during the sex scenes. Is that supposed to be sexy? I have doubts about the competency of this director. Rewatch value: if you like the sex scenes, you can skim back and watch those again, but I wasn't that impressed. Overall, I gave this show a higher value than it deserved because I was impressed with Kamol's absolute dedication and adoration for Kim. Since it was based on a one night stand and somehow he was able to maintain that intensity of love over the course of learning about Kim's personality, I actually felt like the actors deserved props for that. Like Kamol's strangely blank expression was somehow able to at least show an intensity and his actions spoke volumes. So while I wouldn't say this show was good, I wouldn't say it was worthless.

Now about the relationships: this will contain some spoilers. For the first relationship, that is technically over when the series starts: Day and Kim! Wow, that's disgusting. Day is a prick and his love for Itt doesn't make him less of a selfish jerk. I would use other words if I didn't think there were some cursing rules on this website. Anyway, Day and Kim apparently close since high school and dating. But Day never cared about Kim and over time, trying to stay in a relationship with someone he didn't love lead him to treat Kim badly and feel resentment. Then when Day finally met someone else, he dumped Kim like trash. I mean, why not end the relationship as soon as Day realised he didn't love Kim, which was obviously before he met someone he did love? There is no reasoning there except for pure selfishness. Day couldn't let Kim go to find his own happiness until Day found someone else, so he kept Kim hanging on even though he treated him badly and resented him. So you hope for better with Kim's next relationship, but honestly, I don't think Day deserved better. Though he ended up with someone who loved him and treated him well, you could tell that even Itt felt jealous and unsure about Day at the beginning of the series. That's what happens when you string people along, neither your old lover nor your new lover can fully trust you.

Now for the main relationship between Kim and Kamol. Despite the fact that I said Kamol's intensity of love for Kim was cool to watch, this relationship started out as nothing but toxic. After a one night stand, Kamol was possessive, assuming, stalking, and demanding. Like he thought Kim was his property. Why Kim ultimately went with him still leaves me scratching my head in confusion. I can only assume that was Kim's low self-esteem was making that decision, which was what his toxic relationship with Day did to him. Also, though Kamol says he loves Kim and he's trying to protect him, his selfishness is also in evidence because the safest thing for Kim would actually be not having a relationship with a mafia boss whose job puts them in danger. If Kamol really loved Kim more than he loved himself, he would have let Kim go free in the beginning. So intensity doesn't dictate levels of actual love. Their relationship remains pretty toxic throughout the season, with Kim continuing to treat Kamol as though he doesn't care about him (very passive aggressive) and Kamol continuing to treat Kim like property until nearly the end. Then for some reason that escapes me, they both confess their strong love for each other. It was a little confusing why Kim kept making the choices that led him back to Kamol and why Kamol kept loving Kim with no logic or reason, but okay. There was an annoyance over the past relationship between Kim and Day. When Kamol found out, rather than talking to his lover, he did this whole ignore and hurt scenario that only caused confusion and heartbreak. It made no sense, but I guess they had to throw in some reason for Kim and Danil to get kidnapped together. Then when they come out of that situation, Kamol doesn't apologize to Kim for hurting him or even mention his mistake. In fact, Day explains that Kamol just wanted to make sure that Day never hurt Kim again. So why treat Kim like a piece of trash and why did that take so long? Again, plot device that they threw in to make a reason for the kidnapping situation and then never addressed. That really left a bad taste in my mouth. At the end, they did seem to love each other and there was a nearly invisible amount of character development that made it almost believable. So the relationships aren't totally toxic, or at least don't end up that way. Which is probably why the Kamol/Kim relationship makes me think it wasn't a waste of run time. Still not something I loved or would watch again, but not a complete waste of time.

Final note: With regard to the BDSM relationship between Kamol and Kim. I find the handling of this subject to be irresponsible and reprehensible. BDSM does not mean that one partner gets consent to do whatever he wants to the other partner without regard to that person's comfort or well being. While they took the time to show that Kamol got consent, the whole idea that Kamol was like "you're not allowed to run away no matter how much it hurts" is just absurd. Both partners would actually discuss and set boundaries, they might even have a safe word so that each partner can have an enjoyable and safe experience. It isn't just a no-holds barred, I'm going to beat you until you cry and try to run away scenario. They do what they both want to do and feel comfortable with, it's not that one sided. The way the writer casually spreads misinformation through books and the production company then glorifies it in their TV series just shows how little they know and how low they are willing to sink in the pursuit of money. They have absolutely no respect for the work they do. In that regard, they should all be ashamed of themselves.

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Less problematic and more adorable

After the success of the first Cutie Pie, I worried that a second season would be more of the same (misunderstandings and imbalance of power in their relationship) but Kuea and Lian were adorable and equal in this short 4 episode season. They handle difficulties as a couple and make decisions together. They worry for and rely on each other and they talk to each other. It was such a huge step up from the last season in terms of relationship credibility that I was astonished. It didn’t go outside the bounds of just preparing for their wedding and Kuea’s job choice, but it really was a huge step up from where we left their relationship last time. The couple was still absolutely adorable and with the change in their relationship to a point of what appears to be equality and respect, I would say this is one of the best 4 BL episodes I have seen.

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