Superior As A Film, Still Wanted To See More

I continue to have a bone to pick with Korean BL's or LGBTQ content. IT'S NOT LONG ENOUGH!!! Why dude, why you gotta dangle this stuff in front of our faces for literally 15 minute episodes!? That's not okay and it needs to change. These series are worth it! However, a slight solution to this is that they also released it in this film version. Which is 2 hours long all together, so it actually works better as the film! Totally recommend watching it this way instead of being broken up. Better flow, better overall experience.

Moving on. This didn't feel cheaply done at all. Sometimes you can tell BL's or lgbtq stories aren't done with much of a budget. This was shot nicely and has a lot of scenic shots of Seoul. The couple we get is a case of opposites attract, which is funny to watch and interesting. I liked their back and forth a lot! We see them start to bond more, where Ji Woo even starts to get protective over Seo Joon. I find it funny too that both these actors were in "Tale of the Nine Tailed", one as a supporting role and the other occasional cameo.

I liked seeing Seo Joon's struggle with losing fame. You can tell he's kinda lost, but still trying to keep up the luxurious happy persona. I wish we would've gotten even more of that to be fleshed out, because you can go so far with that alone. We got some of the drawbacks on screen of fame, but not enough! I also appreciated his characters confidence in himself. There's no question whom he's attracted to and he's not afraid of showing it. Though he will protect Ji Woo's privacy if needed, which I also appreciated seeing. Ji Woo was an interesting character. He's actually quite cruel with his words at certain parts of this series/film. To where you really feel bad for Seo Joon! However, he does it because he's so walled up emotionally and used to being alone. Literally doesn't know how to communicate with people very well, its totally understandable and he grows so much! Seeing him at the end, I felt so proud of him and happy that he finally had things to smile about in his life.

The whole plot with the controversy (like I briefly mentioned) was so Korea. Meaning that Korea specifically tends to take controversies (big or small) and run with them, potentially ruining reputations. It was done really well and when you find out the cafe owner was also a betrayer, it hurts! The price of fame is very large. I liked watching it all play out. Finally, hello last episode/end scene chemistry! Like dang lol but I wish it wasn't held off until literally the last part of this and especially during the last like 5 minutes! That whole couple exchange was so good and I was holding my breath. I think that might be the most I've seen from a Korean drama series thus far, let alone a BL concerning real sexual intimacy ("You Make Me Dance" was another one that showed more). Even if it was just some rolling around and flirtatious discussion about things. I know this probably won't get another season...but please give it another season/film! XD

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An End To An Era

All I really have to say about this is if you wanted slightly more context to the Playback film, watch this. If not and you were satisfied with that ending, this isn't completely necessary. I loved seeing these actors though in anything, so I watched it! I kinda wished we got even more context surrounding Kijimas character because he's so fascinating. But I guess if we did he wouldn't have that air of mystery to him. I liked seeing his family interacting with Kuzumi though more. Still don't like Kamoda's character though and never will lol. Dude's a creep.

I'm going to miss this series a lot, because it is done so freaking well. However, I'm super satisfied with how it ended and I hope the cast and crew continue to do really well <3

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This Took A Turn

I could tell this series was going to be an emotional one right away. Let's start off with the good. The series emotionally already started to get to me during the scene where our main character Tian reads Torfun's diary and sees everything she did with her shortened life. His expressions shows how he wants to change and not waste her heart inside of him now. Because he was wasting his life before and wants to do something greater, and fulfill Janes dreams. The musical accompaniment to the show is a much needed added emotional impact. It swells perfectly to the scenes. I also appreciate that they kept a big scar on Tian's chest, because a heart transplant is a big surgery. Maybe it wouldn't necessarily look that (for a lack of a better term) gnarly and painful, but some shows opt to go for "beautiful looking scars or minimal scar tissue" and that's not realistic at all.

I loved the interactions with the kids, kind of like "Oxygen the Series" but better. The kids have distinct personalities and I loved the developments with them. Tian's character too is trying really hard and I appreciate it. We see him in the town too trying to get in with the locals, and help them when they are being taken advantage of financially. He brought back the scale to teach to the kids! So they won't get ripped off like their parents were, omg yes full circle.
After all like the show says; "Where we feel happy, we feel like home".

So initially when Phuapha is introduced I dug him so much. Dude saved a snail, like get outta my face lol. The drunk scene with Tian touching Phupha's face was so wholesome, they had such sweet chemistry. Their relationship was starting to gear up to be one of my faves. Unfortunately that didn't happen, because of some fatal character flaws written into the plot. Which were very uncharacteristic. These were my thoughts once Tian came clean about Torfun and basically everything: "Why are you ruining it show with the village putting literally all the blame on Tian? The rangers didn't want him to tell them about Torfun's death! This is total bs and its making characters unlikable, especially Phupha!" The random question thrown in there of did Tian kill Torfun with his car was stupid too. That would've taken away all likability from his character (luckily it didn't end up that way) and made all of his actions seem not as genuine as before because they are fueled by guilt. This was just all poorly done and it kinda ruined the final half of the storyline.

I also didn't like that they framed it like Phupha is just worried about Tian's future when he tries to convince him to leave. It's Tian's choice whether to stay at the village or not and Phupha basically was not allowing that choice at all! It's really controlling and I keep asking myself why is he leaving again? Like don't tell me what to do Phupha! Sure he ends up finishing teaching school anyway, but still how it was approached was wrong. This is another perfect example of a series that narratively starts off essentially perfect and then flops so bad towards the end with poor character writing that it ruins the relationship for me. Also Tian's mom I understood at the beginning. Her son almost died and she was being overly protective. But then she began to suck at the end. Trying to tell Tian not to become a teacher because its "difficult" which doesn't make sense because so was becoming an engineer? So it was just an excuse, she just thinks its not a reputable enough job. Then when she "agrees" which she shouldn't even have to, she forces the idea of going to a fancy school in America because her friends kids couldn't get in there. Seriously screw you!

Overall, this show is fantastic at the first half and then meh at the end. It's concept is so interesting, so it's a shame parts of it ruined it for me. The last episode was stretched out too long, but once we get the wrap up it's pretty nice. Albeit kind of cliche to end with a peck-kiss on the mountain, I felt some satisfaction from the ending. Though I was highly disappointed that we got no reunion between Tian and the kids or him and Longtae! That would've been great. The after credits ending scene too was a nice addition. Also final side-note, low-key it's mad disrespectful to have a literal ad for a car at the beginning of these episodes knowing full well the story surrounds a character getting struck and hit by a car! XD

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Is The Crowning Fair?

So the first season of Kingdom (Road to Kingdom) was a lot more of an even playing field. That much was certain when going into this second season. RTK had groups that had semi-established fan bases, but nothing too crazy where they could blow each other out of the water with those votes. Kingdom didn't have this same concept, since obviously certain groups were wayyyy more popular via fan voting than others. Stray Kids was always going to win in that category no matter what, just look at their numbers! If those fan voted sections hadn't counted so much it wouldn't of felt so much like a popularity contest, but it did and it paid off I guess because they won.

To be clear, I'm not saying Stray Kids didn't deserve their win. They worked very hard and had some really solid stages! However, many MANY people watching were under the same assumption that either Ateez or The Boyz were going to win (mostly Ateez) because of how well they were doing! Stray Kids honestly didn't have the best votes among the judges, so that's why it felt so uneven. Either way though, this second season had some amazing performances come out of it! Ones that stood out for me were:

-Ateez "Wonderland" with that kraken arm, like dang that was incredible
-The Boyz doing "The Stealer" with the ballet breakdown
-The trio duet doing that IU song, beauteous harmonies
-Stray Kids doing the deadpool tribute performance
-SF9 doing Taemin's "MOVE" which was so sexy

I hope for future seasons they even out the playing field more for these groups!

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Prepare To Develop A Twitch From This Film, It Will Make Your Brain Hurt

What a fascinating twisty turny story this was about a serial killer chasing another serial killer! I had seen a clip of this film weeks ago and it immediately peaked my interest. That clip was the one of our main character Byung Soo rear ending a younger man Tae Joo with his car, then coming to find out Tae Joo has a bloody body in his trunk. That interaction was so well done and gripping I had to see the movie.

I'll start with the acting. It's great all the way around, but especially from Sol Kyung Gu (Byung Soo) and Kim Nam Gil (Tae Joo). Those two acted off of each other so well! The daughter's actor Kim Seol Hyun was good as well, but her peak didn't really happen until the revelation about her father much later on into the film. There's some really nice cinematography in this. A couple unique shots stood out to me and I loved, then some others were meh and could've been tweaked. Specifically shots within the bamboo forest. Some of those could've been so cool if done differently. Overall though, really well shot! The music score was also really gripping, especially with the use of hard drums. Definitely made the suspense cling to you.

So with that all aside, let's move onto the plot. Like I stated before, the overall plot is really interesting. A serial killer would know how to track down another serial killer! Just by the way he thinks and plans. The dementia and alzheimers definitely made for another interesting plot device to keep the story going and make it more difficult for out main character. Whom I believe could've taken down Tae Joo sooner if not for the illness weighing him down. Sometimes though, the mental aspect felt overused a tad and it made things unclear what was real for awhile. Which could be very confusing for casual viewers. However, I don't consider myself one of those so I thought the solid not knowing was a highlight of the film, because it keeps you guessing and questioning. There's a period of the film where it kind of backpedals a bit, but eventually gets you moving forward again and I quite liked that.

That last act of the film was really solid, including the revelation that Byung Soo wasn't wrong or guilty of the current crimes being committed. Which led to an amazingly choreographed fight scene in the house. Another scene that happens before this that I really liked was the friend cop lighting the cigarette only for its flame to show Tae Joo's face in the shadows. That was really cool, shocking and very horror-esque. Dude opened the pack too early, because I'm pretty sure those cigarettes were meant to be lit after capturing Byung Soo but I could be wrong?

I am aware that this film is based on a book, which now I want to read. As well as there being a directors cut with an alternate ending. I didn't like this alternate ending and think viewers should stick to the theatrical cut, since the other cut is too obvious for me and not gripping like this one. Definitely watch the film though and don't get it mixed up with Bong-Joon Ho film "Memories of Murder" completely different film! Both worth a watch though!

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Masterfully Artistic, What I Wish The "BL" Genre Had More Of

Watch this series. There's literally no reason not to. It's short (only 5 episodes), beautiful in every way possible. The story is captivating, the actors are believable, I could go on and on...so I will. During this quarantining process I've watched A LOT of dramas and BL's. From all over the world. When it comes to Thai BL's or dramas a lot of the time they are lower budget and can be very tropey. What I mean by that is they stick to a similar plot thread, that can border on or completely glorify/sugarcoat the lgbtq experience. To the point where many of them are completely unrealistic and I cannot take them seriously at all. Not that that's necessarily always a bad thing, since these are just shows after all. Some of my favorite series could potentially fall into that category! Though I always try to avoid toxicity within these shows, because that's a problem that needs to end. What I'm trying to get at though, is that other Thai BL's specifically cannot compare to art like this. Yes, I said art. I'm a film student, at heart too so I live for series or films done like this as compared to those other shows. I'll dive more into detail of why this I consider "art" comparably, but if you stop reading here just do yourself a favor and give this series love. The sequel too when it comes out! Trust me, we want more of this.

So, onto the film student side of me being fully unleashed. This series is shot differently (aka. a lot nicer) than a lot of other shows labelled "BL's". Within the first 10 minutes I could tell you that. The colours are so vibrant in this and the cinematography was very well done. There were pan shots, tracking shots, clever ways of framing scenes, wide-angles that showcased scenic moments/sets in the show. Seriously there are a lot of shots in this that I want to print and frame. Shots of gorgeous beaches, mountainous landscapes. It made me want to travel to Thailand so badly! One shot that really stuck out to me was the shot with Teh as a child acting out the play from behind the curtain. You see the shadows of the performers on the other side and it was gorgeous. Such a smart way of showing so much about a characters passion and determination, while also having just a beautiful looking shot. You can tell this was done by a crew that wanted to make something that could be potentially submitted into film festivals. It was that good. Very "Call me by your name" in nature, which is one of my top films of all time. I loved the cultural music utilized in this, since even though its a Thai BL its heavily centered around Chinese culture and language. They used piano a lot in the score too which was beautiful and again gave me "CMBYN" vibes.

Moving onto the characters and plot. Teh and Oh-aew, what a duo they were. Both characters are equally layered and nuanced, which is incredible to watch unfold. Together right off the bat the friendship is so sweet. We see Teh helping Oh out during the play with the cards. So when there's a misunderstanding and harsh words are said which leads to ending of communication for awhile, it sucks. Words can cause problems if they really cut deep and that's what happened. The screenwriters did a good job of laying breadcrumbs for us to follow as to how that fight led to problems even in their teens. Like Oh's thought process of "you'll always quit and never stick with something" making him continuously want to prove Teh wrong which made him miserable in life. Or Teh feeling inferior and letting jealousy control his life, both with Oh by trying to copy him with the instagram followers and with his older brother being the "favorite" of their mother. Great writing, really enjoyed that. So when Teh and Oh communicate again and hash it out, it hurts to see it. Seriously Oh's actor (PP/Krit) was fantastic (and very beautiful too my god), when Teh hurt him again in front of their friends you could visibly see the hurt on his face. It's not easy to show great facial-acting, but this dude did that throughout this. Teh's actor (Billkin) was of course also stellar, he broke my heart many times. We get to the beach scene where the characters finally reconcile and it was heart wrenching. This was all in the first episode and so much is packed into these that I couldn't look away. I knew this series was special then on.

So speaking about character believability again, I loved that there's initial hesitance from Oh about jumping back into a best friendship with Teh. Anybody would be after being hurt like that! The show surprised me with that, since much of the time to save time within the series they would just make up immediately. So using the tutoring as a way to establish a connection again, very smart ("Why R U" could never lol). There was this shot during the studying montage of showing the lettering book flip from the "rival" page to "intimate" page as a transition of their closeness. *chefs kisses, so freaking good. Another storytelling choice that I loved (count how many times I say love hehe) was when Oh tells Teh that he likes Bas, whom is a guy. There's no initial shock, no acting out badly. It's just natural and there's no weight to it being a "gay crush" which was refreshing. Teh is actually excited for him (at first) and its super sweet. Just chatting about their respective crushes and this is how it should be no matter sexuality or gender. Then there's Teh trying to help Oh out with said crush, oh lord when he put himself out there for Oh's sake to see if his crush liked him back. Dude...tears. Of course jealousy kicks in later on, but it was heartfelt.

Wow this is long...oh well lol. So we fast forward to the group trip. Where literally Oh is jumping between 2 guys, you better decide between them at once lol. Which leads to the hammock scene with the flowers, ah how I loved that scene. So little said, but so powerful and very intimate. What a great display of young adolescent love. There's more bonding that borders on dating, like going through the blocked off shrine again like before when Oh was running away from Teh because of the grade embarrassment. To now being together. Then the singing translation on the mountain, wtf is this show doing to my heart at this point? Wrecking it. The chemistry between the leads is so real, like I can believe they are very much into each other because it feels natural. There's no fantasy world fake feeling even in this show, not even once. So of course we have conflicts, Teh's confused feelings hold him back and that's completely understandable. He doesn't want to lose a very important friendship, but obviously he feels more for Oh than just that. I mean you wouldn't touch your friends in those ways if you didn't want them as more. That's why the scene with his "almost girlfriend" was so interesting. Because it was basically her seeing what coloured pencil he would choose to draw in the flower (a call back to Oh btw, yes I noticed the colour was the same as the flowers they had in the hammock) to see if he looked at her in the same way. So SMART. Callback after callback, such good screenwriting! Another scene that shocked me was with Oh and the bra. So self exploration is not new, sexuality and sex/gender are 2 separate things. At first I thought maybe he was deep down wanting to present or maybe even transition into a woman? Which is an important discussion on its own, but then I realized that's not what the script was going for. It was him trying to envision/ wish for Teh's approval in a way sexually. Since he had a thing with grabbing Oh's chest, which clearly bothered him. When he posted that picture of himself I literally was like "oh...baby" I was devastated for him because I knew people would see it. I felt protective of Oh's character in this series and exploration of yourself is perfectly natural, but don't try and change yourself for someone you love. You can't without being miserable and I'm glad he figured that out.

So some of the last plot points I wanted to discuss were Teh's brother. Thank you for not making him a "villian" in this. Seriously THANK YOU! He actually was the start of Teh's acceptance of himself after that talk they had. Since some of the "problems" Teh dealt with trying to live in his shadow, these other insecurities stemmed from that. So having the brother be his first person to talk to was beautiful. I always wanted to say, Bas was such a good character. Seriously, he could've been an antagonist but he definitely wasn't. He brought Oh to see Teh when he knew that's what they both needed, saying it's okay not to be ready yet when Oh didn't want to see Teh sad. Solid, really solid and I'm glad there was no animosity at the end. So finally, the ending. Phew it took awhile to get here but we made it! I thought it was 99% perfection. We got the promise of running from Teh's house to campus and then the sunset mountain (which is where the shows title comes from). We got them making up and really talking it through. We got Oh admitting he doesn't care how Teh stays in his life, he just doesn't want him to disappear again after the resignation fiasco. Then finally we get Teh saying he wants a relationship, a real one. Fantastic. The only minuscule thing I wish they would've done is end with a kiss or some type of affection. Since it felt like it was leading up to that for awhile. Sure we got the underwater scene, but I wanted one to seal the deal. I know we'll get more in the sequel, but it's just what I envisioned as the perfect ending. Either way, 99% is still damn good. Please PLEASE watch this series. It's made its way onto my top lists for LGBTQ shows and dramas, and into my heart.

P:S- Download the entire soundtrack to this series. Including the multiple versions of the title track, it's all stunning.

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A BL Series Actually Fueled My Rage, Watch And See What I Mean

I'm just going to dive into this because this series wasn't good and very forgettable. So right off the bat I could tell the acting wasn't great all around, its downright pretty bad at times but its an assembly of unknown/new actors so what are you gonna do? Most of it stemmed from the whiplash of emotions that were thrown at the viewers out of nowhere by these characters. Which was probably the screenwriters fault to be fair, but it unfortunately falls on the actors since they are presenting the material. There also was really bad cry acting in this, it was really uncomfortable to watch so there's that.

I've read a lot of people saying they enjoyed this series because it was "realistic" lol. No it's not! Meeting a random stranger at a pool, semi-saving his lie and then said stranger choosing to make out with you which starts this weird escapade of affairs is not realistic at all. What world is this!? Before getting into the major MAJOR issues I had with this show, I want to throw out there that the grandpa subplot had very little significance at all, like it went absolutely nowhere. What was that?

So what were my main issues with this series? Well for one the main cast is filled with a bunch of cheaters. I really disliked both main characters (Haiqing and Yan Fei), they both sucked that I can't even decide which I liked less. We have selfish af Haiqing who only cares about his pretentious art and infidelity , as well as ugly suit wearing Yan Fei with his monotone voice and zero willingness to commit to anything. It was like two halves of a really bland, stale and unsatisfying cookie. You'll eat it, but be really sad about it during and afterwards. So because these two characters are busy thinking they're "in love" which is dumb, I was stuck feeling really sorry for the boyfriends in the picture (Pin Jun and Jimmy). Jimmy had his own problems (many including his stylist and hair team in this show, they need to be fired!) but he still didn't deserve how Yan Fei treated him (like total disposable trash). Pinjun though...this dude deserved way WAY better than what he got and deserved zero blame put on him. The character was an angel and the only saving grace for this show. Like what the hell, these two bfs deserved more happiness than the leads!

I was kind of hoping at the end that we'd get some ironic ending of Haiqing and Yan Fei cheating on each other by the end and its karma. That would've been satisfying, but oh no we get Pinjun almost getting killed off as Haiqing continues to be comforted by Yan Fei AT THE HOSPITAL, super gross and I legitimately got pissed off watching it happen. Like I can deal with character uncertainty and exploration but this was just annoying. The story perpetuated stereotypes of lgbtq men being cheaters and I hated it. Pinjun didn't even really get a good ending, he just steps up again and is the bigger person by leaving. I wanted him to go out with a bang, but I guess not.

I also have to say, the stories pacing for what it was was pretty slow, like not much is happening throughout the show and I kind of dozed off during points. Also the best friend character was unnecessary as well? Like I thought maybe he was being set up for Pinjun but he's not? So many loose threads and please no more stock footage of clouds and god awful cuts thrown in there. It's too much to handle!

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Tint Me More!

This was really cute. So I won't lie, I mainly watched this because I'm an ACE fan. Having Jun in this is kinda a big deal! An active idol in a BL!? I thought them writing a song for "Light On Me" was huge! This took it to another level though and I'm super happy about it. Though I of course wish it was longer.

We've got older style costuming, art students, an angsty bodyguard. So many goodies! I thought Eun Ho and Lee Heon were cute. Of course this isn't anything crazy, very K-Drama esque romance. But it felt non-glamorized for what it was. As in they didn't use the BL genre just to gain profit or views. I could believe that something like this would happen. Maybe I'm just a romantic but it was enjoyable fluff!

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Thirsty Bathrobe Bois The Series

Firstly. I don't vibe with starting off this arrangement while one was drunk. I think in the BL world we've evolved a lot from that controversial narrative and this series didn't need that. I get Uea "hates" King at the beginning, but come on just have him be lonely and horny one night to start off the friends with benefits stuff. I also put "hates" in quotes because Uea "hating" King was for really dumb reasons. They say he's a player but we don't see that much and honestly for someone whose a "player" he was very quick to want to only have this FWB arrangement with Uea. There was never cheating or bad flirting or anything of the sort. So I think Uea was being too judgy at the beginning. Though the poor boys been through a lot, like damn they put his character through hell so I got over it.

One question I had throughout the series was: What is up with all the mirror shots? Like I'm not sure if they were trying to be artistic or something lol. But it didn't work and it was very distracting. Another question I had was if we were going to get a side couple. Which we didn't and that was surprising! I was fine with it because it lent more time for King and Uea. However, the sexy scenes, trauma bombing and arguments were getting kind of stale after awhile.

So the ending. What an abrupt af proposal and ending, like did they run out of filming time? It was really weird and poorly paced. Also the "setup" at the end with Jade and Tutor's character lollll was so stupid. What a lack of a role! Overall this was okay. If you want spicy scenes and thats it, just skip around the series since the plot isn't super important.

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TEARS And Then...Wha?

Initially I just thought this was a series about 2 friends who grow apart but come back together again. Much like ITSAY but with less budget. These stories make me sad already, but I was prepared for that. And then BAM! They throw in (well I should say Mean throws in) a curve ball. That makes it so much sadder! Let's get into it.

First of all Mean directing a series is awesome. I could tell he was kinda getting sick of acting in BL's. So now he's using his experience being in them to make them. We love that and overall I think he did a good job! Once the scene happens between Nut and his brothers boo about the black dot analogy, I oddly knew this series would be good. Off the bat I thought Phob was just being stubborn and dumb, which results in losing his best friend. Then he loses him AGAIN because he's moving and didn't tell anybody. So when he comes back I made a joke referring to him talking to that former classmate 4 years later. We as the viewers don't know what he disclosed so my dumb*** said "okay so he's either disclosing that he has feelings for Nut DUH or he's sick or something lMaO!" .....O_O ((I also lowkey predicted that Nut's brother wasn't just "friends" with that guy XD)

Once you find out Phob is sick with cancer, the series takes a turn and for the better. It makes everything he does make sense! Like why was he so funny about Nut becoming a doctor? Because he's sick and around doctors a lot already! So when he's looking around Nut's room at all the doctor student stuff. Ugh my heart! Why did he not want to tell people hes moving? Because its for his treatment and he doesn't think he's going to make it! I felt awful thinking he was just being dumb. Poor Phob man seriously.

The best scene hands down in this was Nut and Phob talking about his illness in the bed looking at each other. Nut asking Phob if he gets sick from his cancer, what kind it is, when did he know. Not wanting him to disappear again and then they hold each other crying and kiss. Oof it made me cry dude! That was so well done. After that we eventually find out that Phob needs to have his arm amputated if there's any chance of stopping the spread of the cancer. This is devastating and he's reluctant at first, which is totally understandable! I cannot even imagine that. As well as, it'll affect his dream of becoming of musician. This was all really interesting and I gotta give props because when its done, he really does look like an amputee. The fact that Mean plays his doctor too lol he popped up out of nowhere and jump scared me! If he was my doctor....*sigh. Prem came out of nowhere too!

Let's get into some of what I had issues with in this series. One of them being the ending. Its so abrupt and I guess it was time constraint from COVID? Which sucks, because I really hoped for a solid ending. But we get an abrupt cut after we find out Phob is doing okay 1 year later and Nut's brother and his boo are probably broken up now? We'll see I guess. Other things includes timeline stuff not adding up to the year this is supposed to be set in. Like saying "cringe" or the breaking bad shirt lol. The intro song is way too long, I skipped it every time sorry. The music overall in this (background I mean) is too much. Like let the actors act, we don't need a loud song every time there's an emotional scene. Also a doctor would never ever divulge any information about a patient over the phone unless they are okayed to do so via a proxy. So Nut wouldn't have gotten that info about the amputation like that.

Overall, a touching series but I really wish that ending wasn't what it was! Let's hope for a second season that rectifies it.

"Take care of each other's hearts" <3

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A Perfect Conclusion

First thing to say is powerful acting like holy hell. It's no surprise the great chemistry our leads have in this like before. I liked that each character is very nuanced in their own ways. We saw bits of that in the Pornographer but in this is so powerful. We get a real deep dive into Kijima's character which is exactly what I wanted! The romance aspect is messy but love it. It's not sugar coated at all and shows the issues at hand up, close and personal. So this movie isn't exactly just a romance all the way through. Much of it is the characters needing to grow separated in order to come back together. However, Kuzumi is the only person that could handle this situation. Its game over if not. So when we get that happy ending with a legit love confession FINALLY from Kijima its intense! Dude breaks down and everything! I don't wanna spoil everything in this movie though because you really have to see it for the full experience.

The ending I think is meant to be long distance again for the time being but with trust embedded now. Technically this ends in a way where it doesn't need the final added epilogue they put out. But that's nice that they did, basically a bookmark for even more context if desired! So watch everything in sequence and experience the beautiful craziness that is this series!

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This Fish Did Not Take Flight

My first thoughts going into this was that this series seemed cute, but probably won't take itself too seriously. Especially not with the brother character (Duean). I was definitely correct with this, however when the series tried to have serious parts in it that's where it fell flat. I couldn't take it seriously AT ALL, which is a problem because the show could've really done with that balance.

When concerning the comedy.The overhead voice of god or whatever tf it was is hilarious to me. So were the interactions between this disembodied voice and Duean. That was gold. However, much of Duean's solo comedic stuff wasn't really for me. I don't do gross out humor, some of his stuff was decent though.

When talking about our characters. First off, how would people think Pi is a nerd? He's too cute looking to be ostracized lol. So when he has his "glow up" I didn't see much difference tbh. I understood his insecurities though because we all deal with that. Eventually though his character got real old real quick. Like I couldn't handle him anymore. Mork is so nice to him and handsome! I hate that Pi is so mean to him at the beginning and pretty much all throughout the damn show. Boy take your wins, this dude is actually kind to you/likes you for who you are and you're lashing out. There's been no evidence he likes who you like from the start. Cut the crap! By the end I didn't really care about him or saw much development. So that was a bummer. Duean and Meen were alright. Cute moments but didn't do much for me personally.

I'm glad dude who plays Mueang is back from 1000 stars! He could've been utilized way more though, like apparently he is in the book. I would've liked to see him get a love interest or something. I like that Pi is talking to Mork and not even realizing it. I liked the equal development of each brother, screen ratio difference is nice for distinction. We love the calling out on toxic shipping irl they are so annoying but they're supposed to be. Though I would've liked to see them get more consequences for their actions. Missed opportunity. One thing that I took 100% issue with was the cultural appropriation moment. Like why? Why was that necessary? A lot of people in the comments on YouTube felt the same who are actually from that minority so the show totally messed up on that one.

Other things that were off was the pacing. It was slowwwwww and with very little payoff. Like there was so much unnecessary sh** that wasn't at least entertaining enough to keep me focused. I feel like this show had something at the beginning, but took too long to take off and once it finally did it was over. So watch this if you're really in need of a BL, but there's much better out there. I actually really wanna see Mork's actor again soon. I quite like him so here's to hoping!

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Too Many Steps

So well all agree Pat didn't deserve Jeng right? Like Jeng is extremely handsome, kind, well-dressed, can cook and rich. Pat was frustrating and annoying often. You cannot be making Jeng cry and not make me angry at you, period. Beyond that, these episodes were way too long for this plot. Like I got bored after episode 5 and this is 12 in total. I didn't mind the work related stuff, but eventually they got boring and repetitive.

I did actually quite like the story arch of Pat's ex still being in the picture, them giving it another shot and it ultimately not working out. I mean poor Put never stood a chance with someone like Jeng as an option, but the actor was paired with freaking Kao in "Lovely Writer" so I didn't feel too bad for him.

If you choose to watch this you'll probably skip through a ton like me. But the scenes that are good you'll enjoy I'm sure! Also what was the point of that side couple? Completely pointless and non-existent by the end.

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A Dish Served Best In Longer Runtimes

Many who watched this probably had similar thoughts to mine. These are like 15 min eps and they are TOO SHORT! But the production quality is still SO GOOD! Dammit Korea lol. They really need to stop with these and continue with the full length series. It clearly worked with "Light on Me" and it'll continue to work moving forward.

This series was still alright though. My first thoughts were: Okay why was him pulling him around and towards him via the belt on his apron hot AF (lol). This is cute I like the dynamic, though I have no clue how these 2 are gonna end up lovers lol. The ways that they finessed these 2 together were alright considering the lack of time to do so. They had me hooked enough to finish the series! But it made me want more and disappointed by the rush in conflict by the end. There's been better Korean BL series, even with shorter run times. However this one is somewhere in the middle.

Also Jung Woo wearing that purple floral granny hat was everything, while Do Gun be chasing him with a literal kraken. That I will keep in my heart forever

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Slow And Dull The Series

Honestly this was one of the most boring BL's I've ever seen. We started off pretty slow and it never really sped up. Not gonna lie I had to watch this sped up lol or else I would've never gotten through it. We're back in the engineering genre, which is okay I don't mind those too much. I liked seeing Lhong from TharnType in another series! Bbom was cute and a badie with the drum kit. I would say episode 3 things kinda started to happen, but lord it took too long . There was way too much unutilized time that could be developing characters or plot wasted on scenes with eating, drinking alcohol, sleeping or just a bunch of nothing. This was this series downfall and it never stood a chance.

Other things that bugged me was why there gotta be crazy BL fans or whatever in these shows!? Like know your audience,that's just stalking. As well as, Jin is kinda a user throughout the series, and just a lame character. He knows Bbom likes him and he's using him for food and transportation which isn't cool. At least by ep 5 after the kiss Jin is admitting he has some type of feelings going on but he just doesn't know what he wants to do with them. Dude hit the jackpot having Bbom in his bed all the time but is too dumb to realize it. He also gets hurt playing soccer multiple times lookin like a fool. And I didn't like that he lead on that one girl on either, she liked him and he's so not into it. At least he told her eventually but it should've been before the date

Keam and Ball seem hella cute. But again, these men need to stop leading women on in this! They also didn't really pan out at all so what a waste.Continuing on. I swear to god if I had to hear Jin say one more time that he doesn't know his own feelings Imma scream! Dude cut the crap, and then 2 seconds later he's like "I'LL DATE YOU!" Then we get cutesy stuff and then cut to them spooning half naked in bed. Wtf the whiplash. Why would anybody put up with Jin for so long? I'm honestly curious lol because he's so boring and indecisive. There's no emotional benefit to the relationship for Bbom and sure as hell isn't a physical aspect to it. So why?

Okay another thing. I don't know what kind of f***** up friends Bbom has but you don't dose someones drink EVER and what makes it worse is that they pressure him to finish it before he's about to drive. Awful AND if that's not enough they slip a condom into his pocket, implying he should "get laid" while hes going to be clearly not sober. I did not enjoy this show very much at all lol and I don't know how anyone did. The best parts of this are literally the theme song and some of the other music. As well as, Bbom as a character was good. Skip this one or just watch his scenes.

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