You simply cannot compare

I always find it interesting when people cannot objectively review a series or a movie because of previous bias or rumors they read somewhere. When "2Moons" ended everyone fell in love with Kimmon and Copter and some of the other actors in that series. Then, when it was announced that a sequel was coming but with a completely new cast, people went crazy because they couldn't understand how the company was managing its actors. But, "2Moons2" aired, with all new actors and then people fell in love with Earth (playing Wayo) and the steamy scenes between Pavel and Dome (playing Forth and Beam) were also incredibly popular (just go to Youtube and you'll find A LOT of reaction videos on that). So, the world didn't end because the cast of "2Moons" was completely replaced, right?

All this preamble is to say a similar thing about Color Rush S1 and S2... you simply cannot compare both just because the character of Go Yoo-han is not present in season 2, and here is why...

1. The acting of Yoo-jun (playing Choi Yeon-woo) remains as one of the solid points of both seasons. In the first season he deals with the fact that he is a mono, his mother is also a mono but is missing, and he finds new friends and also finds Yoo-han who is also his probe. He experiences the rush of being able to see colors and also the disappointment of losing that ability after the decoloring effect begins. In season 2, he goes from the uncertainty of his mother still being missing, to the dread of witnessing Yoo-han's kidnapping, to the potential of uncovering all the illegal activities the Gray Scale/Woksun/Nerve Candy people (led by a mono that goes by the nickname of "Monowife"), to dealing with his new feelings towards Kim Se-hyun, to finally finding out his mother did die but being rather calm about it.
While I think some of his facial expressions still need a bit of work, his eyes do manage to express a lot of the feelings Yeon-woo goes though in both seasons while showing the calm but decided character that Yeon-woo needs to be.

2. The acting of VIXX's Han Sang-hyuk (playing Kim Se-hyun) was also a nice surprise as he never doubted or was hesitant about acting in a BL story (according to an interview he gave) and showed a very strong character that goes from befriending Yeon-woo, to trying to help his sister improve her condition as a mono and not be bullied by others, to mourning her death, to seeking revenge while protecting Yeon-woo, to confessing his feelings for him despite knowing he might never get a chance if Yoo-han returns. Sang-hyuk was able to mix some serious tones in his acting with some comedic moments, like in ep. 8 when he daydreams he is kissing Yeon-woo.
The chemistry between him and Yoo-jun was quite strong as they acted like a married couple in some parts (like when Se-hyun moves in with Yoo-jun) or like Sherlock Holmes & Watson when discovering the truth about the Lapis Lazuli tea, the Lapizata pill, and the illegal probe surgery or like Batman & Robin in the action scenes in the final episode.

3. The storyline had a bit more action. Season 1 was a slow-burner in many things because we needed time to process the mono-probe world, the introduction of each character, Yeon-woo's mother being a mono and also missing, Yeon-woo's aunt being a reporter trying to uncover the truth and find her sister, and then also go through the color rushes that Yoo-han made Yeon-woo feel along with all their interactions.
But, season 2 had nothing of that as we already knew the mono-probe situation and Yeon-woo's familial situation. A bit of a complain is that a lot of the action happened way too fast and we jumped from scene to scene without proper time to digest what just happened. Further, several things like a) Yoo-han's kidnapping, b) the introduction of Se-hyun as "someone who wanted to get close to Yeon-woo but couldn't because he was always glued to Yoo-han", c) Se-hyun's sister life as a mono and her part in the secret society, d) the secret society of monos trying to see colors through drugs and illegal surgeries, and e) Se-hyun's being a mono himself but being able to deal with it in secret, were not completely explained/introduced and then not fully developed... so in most parts, we need to either remember things that happened or were said in season 1 or figure out by ourselves how the characters get to the point we see in that particular scene. And also, do they never go to school? Not much happens inside their classroom this time and the secondary roles of Yeon-woo's friends are relegated to a few scenes here and there.

The only truth about this series is that Hur Hyun-jun (the actor who played Go Yoo-han in S1) was not present in S2 and honestly, I'm not sure that his absence made much of a difference. Sure, we heard the name "Go Yoo-han" many times during season 2 because of him being kidnapped and Yeon-woo's wish to find him... but at no point I felt like, "geez, it would be great to have Hyun-jun acting here". There are many rumors about Hyun-jun's exclusion from season 2... rumors about him not being happy about his first major role happening in a BL story, rumors about the production crew/staff being unhappy about his "lack of professionalism", rumors about the production company being unhappy about his "lack of acting skills", and rumors that this was all planned along because of the storyline/plot that season 2 was going to have. Whatever the real reason is, the only real fact is that Hyun-jun was not part of season 2 but comparing both seasons or how Hyun-jun would have acted instead of Sang-hyuk ends up being a useless and ridiculous exercise because, you simply cannot compare.

The storyline (especially the after credits scene in episode 8) sets up the series for a third season with Monowife going into Yoo-han's hospital room and telling him to wake up as Yeon-woo "needs him" and him opening his eyes. Could we have a third season with Yoo-han coming back and now having a love triangle if Yeon-woo and Se-hyun remain in the series as well? Could we have a third season that explores Monowife's connection with Yoo-han? Could we have a third season with a whole new plot twist?
Who knows! But it sure is more exciting to think about all these options than waste time lamenting the absence of Hyun-jun or complaining about what this season could have been like if he acted in it, don't you think?

Read More

Confusing mess

OK, my reviews of Thai BL series are starting to sound so repetitive, but once again, series like "Top Secret Together" show how small companies really face a lot of issues when creating any type of story, not just BL. Low budgets, inexperienced actors, poor directing, confusing writing/plots, nothing original in the storyline, among other things, caused this series to be well below standards and nearly forgettable.

First, let's set the main characters...
Simai, Phob and MaiEak are friends who study together and have to finish an internship at a non-descript company. Phob is in love with MaiEak but he is oblivious to it. Simai meets Lukmo who is his supervisor and immediately likes him and tries to make him open up as Lukmo is super uptight and annoyed with the extroverted Simai.
Nampu and Copy are two university students. Copy is in the engineering faculty and I'm not sure where Nampu studies but he visits Copy at, yes, you guessed it, a copy shop he runs with his father and openly tells him he likes him and starts flirting with him despite Copy resisting all the time worried about what his father might think.
Plawaan plays basketball and wants to attend a competition hoping to be selected. In all this long process he is followed by a high school student named Suea (at least from what I assumed from his school uniform in episode 15) who motivates him and helps him train even if he misses classes (making his mother angry). However, Plawaan runs into Top, a rival, who wants to play a game and whoever loses will actually quit basketball. Plawaan loses and he is depressed but Suea is there to make him feel better.
Both and Newyear act nearly as themselves, both are a real life couple and here take roles as café owners who act like parents to all the younger characters who come to the café and give them advice.

Ok, those are the characters... now the confusing mess that was the plot, especially for the main couple and the MaiEak, Phob, Namo love triangle.
Oh boy, where to start?! I'll separate it according to each couple or it might get even more confusing.
Simai starts falling for Lukmo despite his cold demeanor and constant rejections. Lukmo starts opening up and warming up to Simai. They spend time together at work and also in Simai's house because Simai's mother loves Lukmo. Then, Simai's father arrives as he was working abroad and recognizes Lukmo as Kao, his biological son from a previous marriage (plot mess #1). Simai is mad because now that Lukmo is his half-brother he can't date him (plot mess #2... I will never understand Asian BLs that are obsessed with half-brothers or stepbrothers being in love as we've seen in "History 2: Crossing the Line" and "History 4: Close to You" from Taiwan; "Brothers", "My Bromance", "My Bromance 2: 5 Years Later" and "Love by Chance" from Thailand; and the cancelled "Addicted" from China). Lukmo/Kao is mad at him because Simai's father abandoned him and his mother for Simai's mother, then his mother died later due to cancer so he was all alone (plot mess #3). The father opposes to Simai and Lukmo being together (as usual in some Thai BLs) but then, suddenly, appears in Lukmo's office to tell him that is ok to date Simai because Simai is not his biological son (plot mess #4) so they are not really half-brothers only stepbrothers. Simai always thinks he is Lukmo's half-brother because the father forbids Lukmo from telling Simai the truth as "he is too sensitive to handle it" (plot mess #5). Then, Simai tells Lukmo he is going abroad with the father, leaving Lukmo all alone again for no apparent or valid reason (plot mess #6). They say goodbye in episode 15, Simai tries to kiss Lukmo but he rejects him and then falls asleep in 2 seconds. Then, near the end of the episode, Simai appears in his office but I still can't tell if he is real or if Lukmo is hallucinating (plot mess #7) because Simai has a different hairstyle in episode 14, he leaves as we hear an airplane in episode 15 and suddenly shows up at the office with his old hairstyle in the last part of episode 15 without any indication that some time has passed... we get a hint because Lukmo has a new hairstyle in that scene but in the behind-the-scenes we hear one of the assistants tell Kanok (who plays Simai) that he doesn't even appear on the scene as he is at the door frame so Mix (who plays Lukmo) can focus on something for the camera to shoot, so more plot mess.

The other main characters have Phob deeply in love with MaiEak and MaiEak being an idiot who can't recognize Phob's feelings and only uses Phob to do most his work during the internship and almost everywhere else in reality. In the middle episodes, Phob confesses his feelings for MaiEak only to be rejected which causes a change in Phob who becomes more distant as he is angry at MaiEak. Then, around episode 10 (I think), a younger guy named Namo visits the café and sees Phob and immediately likes him and tries to chat with him. This is when MaiEak gets jealous and begins to change which then becomes yet another storyline/plot mess when he tries to interfere in what is developing as a Phob-Namo relationship. All of a sudden, he confesses his feelings for Phob and tries to stop him from seeing Namo. He even tells Simai that he let Phob do most of the things for him because he wanted to see if he was special to Phob... I mean, what? after he confessed his love, you still make him do things for you? MaiEak has to be one of the most arrogant and selfish characters I've seen in a Thai BL because he calls Namo to brag about the time he spent talking to Phob (Namo later does the same but he really likes Phob from the beginning), he calls Phob all the time and tells him he loves him and calls him "babe", he tells Phob they will eventually end up together but I don't know if he is driven by love, driven by jealousy of seeing Phob being happy with someone else, driven by his desire to have Phob around to help him do everything, or a combination of all of the above. Sorry, but Phob is too good for you MaiEak... luckily, the writers decide the same thing and Phob gives a Namo a chance and end up together while MaiEak reflects by writing a boring letter to himself and hoping he ends up with Phob one day.

The other couples are not as confusing but don't show many interesting things.
Nampu chases Copy like a puppy all around campus, the copy store, the café, everywhere. Copy starts to slowly fall in love with Nampu and has a nice chat with his father who supports him 100% no matter who he decides to like (yay for the usual Thai BL clichés with the parents that either completely approve their son being gay or do the most ridiculous things when they are against it, but there never is any middle ground with parents in Thai BLs). That gives Copy confidence so he becomes Nampu's boyfriend. The story of this couple is dull and boring and they go through all the usual phases of a BL with the flirting, denial, rejection, jealousy, fighting, etc., etc. and Nampu is a bit too annoying with his actions at the beginning when he is almost forcing Copy to like him.
Plawaan and Suea see each other a lot at first with all the basketball practice but then Suea's mother tells him to study and grounds him so they don't spend much time together. In the end, Top tells Plawaan that he wasn't selected in the competition so Plawaan should try because the bet from the earlier episodes was a joke (yet another plot mess). Plawaan meets with Suea in his school and they go together somewhere but nothing else happens.
Both and Newyear are a couple. Both proposes in episode 12-13 while on vacation at the beach and they own a café. That's it... nothing memorable to tell.

The thing that bothered me in this series is that we see the couples, but aside from the moments with Both and Newyear in the café, at Neywear's party and the beach trip, they don't interact with each other. Simai-Phob-MaiEak are friends but I don't know how do they know Plawaan-Suea or Nampu-Copy aside from the friendship they share with Both-Newyear. And the other actors, like the guy who keeps trying to sabotage Lukmo's work and telling the girl in the office to do something or he will lose Lukmo, the 2 older women at the office, the company CEO, the café worker, even Simai's parents, do not provide any depth to the story, they don't bring anything interesting or do much... so I have no clue why were they were included in this series other than to have some airtime to fill.

The acting is a bit of an issue but is not as bad as other series (like Gun Napat in "Golden Blood" for example). Newyear and Aof (who plays Phob) have more experience than the rest with Newyear appearing in "I am your King Season 1" and "What the Duck 2" and Aof appearing in "Make it Right" and "Make it Right 2" while Tiger (who plays Plawaan) had a guest role in "My Engineer" as the annoying guy who flirted and tried to kiss Cooper.
The rest are newbies to acting... Kanok (who plays Simai) and Mix (who plays Lukmo) had good chemistry. There are some behind the scenes at the end of each episode and there is a scene with Kanok crying after discovering that he might be Lukmo's half-brother, when the director yells "cut", he keeps crying and is Mix who comes to console him, which was nice to see. The acting wasn't solid by any means, but they delivered decent moments when they had to. I believe directing and writing is what let them down in this series.

In the end, a series that was longer than what it should have been, that had some major plot issues and that didn't provide a satisfying end to the main couple caused by all those plot issues is what makes "Top Secret Together" another forgettable BL series. Also, anyone knows why there is a scared cat in the series poster? Makes absolutely no sense.

Read More

WHY did I watch this?

Season 2 of a series, regardless of its genre, should be reserved for a series that was highly successful and popular in its first season because of a memorable plot/storyline, solid acting, or good writing and directing, that left everyone wanting more.
Sadly, most of the series that have gotten a second season lately, especially Thai BLs, have been utterly disappointing (see for example "Love by Chance 2", "Tharn-Type season 2", "Love Area season 2", among others) as they couldn't overcome a myriad of flaws and some questionable acting and directing that left us viewers regretting our decision to watch.
Gen Y season 2 is NO exception despite what one reviewer (who has only watched 4 episodes) said about this being a wonderful show. It is NOT... Gen Y2 became 12 episodes of dull acting, bad directing, many storyline plots that were even more boring to watch and useless situations that were dealt with in usual BL fashion of not being dealt with at all. Here's why.

The storyline/plot:
This story seems to follow the concept of the original "2Moons" with Wayu (instead of Wayo), Kit and Pha remaining constants from that show and with virtually identical characters. The idea of having Wayu and Thanu as the main couple in season 2 was created by the plot of Pha leaving Wayu alone in season 1 and telling Thanu to take care of Wayu. It took all of season 1 and then nearly a third of season 2 to finally know that Pha is sick (I believe he had a sort of brain tumor judging by what Kit is reading while doing research on the disease) and is dying, so he leaves Wayu because he doesn't want him to see him like that. Really?! The love of your life and you just leave one day, ask another guy to "take care" of Wayu for you, and vanish into thin air without an explanation? So this was sinkhole #1 in the plot.

Then Kit and Mark have their own issues... the cat and mouse game Kit plays in season 1 by rejecting Mark's advances and flirting until he finally breaks his walls and accepts that he likes Mark, shift into Mark and Kit having a dull relationship (in my opinion) with Mark acting cute all the time because of how much he loves Kit and the other trying to restrain himself and control Mark's personality at the same time. And then, they drift apart when Kit applies for a scholarship abroad (one of the usual Thai BL clichés) and decides is better to take some time apart from seeing Mark to make sure both get used to living apart from each other. Really?! If I knew I was leaving to study abroad, I would have spent every single second I could possibly spend with my loved one before I had to leave, not the opposite... Kit is basically training Mark (and himself) to be alone in case he leaves but both spend countless episodes crying and sighing because they miss each other. So this was sinkhole #2.

Pha reappears early in this season but is to reveal he is dying. This takes Kit on a quest to save him, trying to apply for an experimental study in the US, neglecting Mark and almost everything else to save Pha. Thanu feels sad about his friend and also a bit guilty by "keeping" Wayu. And Wayu has no clue of what is happening at first, until Sandee (more on him later) reveals the truth, making Wayu feel guilty about being mad at Pha for what he thought was just Pha breaking up with him and then compensating by staying with Pha all the time at the hospital, feeling a bit angry because nobody told him about Pha's health, and then guilty again for having feelings for Thanu while Pha is dying. We had to watch nearly entire episodes of these scenarios I mentioned above and they became quite boring after a while as nothing was developing with the other couples and Wayu-Thanu-Pha kept this love triangle from dying out. Finally, Pha does end up dying (in a poorly edited scene with Pha's mother saying "he is gone", but then Wayu, Kit and Thanu going in the room to find he is actually alive, before he finally dies) which released us from watching Wayu suffer because he loves Thanu but wants to take care of Pha. So this was sinkhole #3.

Sandee is the bad guy (I guess) of this season as he tries to "fix" the couples to what he thinks is best. Thanu with Phai and then also messing with the Tong-Pok couple because Tong switched his grade with Pok's so he could be accepted in the university. Ok, I get you're angry at Tong because your grade was switched... but when Sandee confesses to Phai about what he did and then in episode 12 when he talks to Pok, he reveals the switch didn't affect either of them as the grades were identical. Really?! You went through all the mess of threatening and blackmailing Tong, being outcasted by your group of friends, having Pok beat you up a little, and for what? In the end the switch didn't make a difference! And then trying to put Thanu and Phai together serves no purpose in the series as Phai already made it clear he will not interfere in the Thanu-Wayu relationship, so what... Sandee likes Phai? Maybe... Sandee just wants to play matchmaker due to his distorted idea of what love should be (all the fate-destiny crap he and Phai talked about since season 1) Maybe... but we never know for sure. So this was sinkhole #4.

Pok and Tong have an almost toxic relationship with Tong refusing to kiss as he is "saving that for his real love"... great... but his conservative nearly puritan perspective goes to hell when both are being fuckbuddies and doing nearly everything (including the shower scene before they break up) but with Tong still refusing to kiss. They lack communication, they let Sandee influence them quite easily, they never listen to the rest of their friends and then all is solved in episodes 11 and 12 when they each find out the truth (from someone else), Sandee apologizes, and all is well in the world of Pok and Tong. So this was sinkhole #5.

Then we have the secondary characters who have nothing to do. Jack and Ko could have been the best side couple of this season as the actors worked together as a couple in "My Mate Match" but they barely get screen time with all the characters in this series. At least they have a decent and cute ending... We also have the mystery that Padbok was in this show. He was constantly fighting with Thanu in season 1 for what he thought was his friend's betrayal... but then he disappears in season 2 with the excuse of him taking care of his sick father. He briefly appears in the waste of episode when the whole cast dresses up for the mini-plays but leaves after literally 10 seconds when he sees that Thanu will be involved in the scene as well. Then in episode 12 he listens to Thanu and Wayu, then Jack and Jew confirm the story and what could have been solved in about 2 minutes of the show, ended up being solved until the last 10 minutes of the season. Not sure if Junior (the actor who played Padbok) was busy with the new BL he will lead (something called "Boxer in Heart" where he will play the main couple along with Tiger from "My Engineer" and "Top Secret Together") but his absence in this season was made even more evident by the choppy scenes he had to film to solve his problems with Thanu. The rest of the characters either play matchmakers or provide some sort of comedic relief but they barely add anything to the story. Phai more or less gives some good advice to Kit in a few episodes but nothing that good. So this was sinkhole #6.

The acting:
Sadly, most of the actors, while attractive, have fallen in the same sort of roles. Bas (playing Wayu) is stuck with the suffering damsel in distress character that needs a big strong man like Pha or Thanu to help him and all his characters have that similar feeling. Kimmon (playing Mark) and Copter (playing Kit) have fallen in the playful/flirty character (Mark) and the serious, uptight, centered character (Kit). Bank (playing Sandee) and Pon (playing Phai) were nothing like their characters from "The Moment" and "The Moment Since" where they had some soul and personality, here both were quite dull. Big (playing Pha) had mostly bed-ridden scenes in the hospital and maybe he was also focusing on his support role in "Something in My Room" (where he doesn't appear much either and his character is quite weird) but his scenes playing a sick man were forgettable. The other Bank (playing Pok) and Bonus (playing Tong) could have used some acting directions as they had some of the most intense scenes, whether having sex or arguing, in the series, but they didn't convince me much. The rest were just there.

In the end, Gen Y 2 ended up being another disappointment in what is becoming a long list of disappointments now, as companies are just producing BLs because they see them as profitable or trendy but don't bother too much in terms of quality. So, yeah, avoid this season if you can.

Read More

No more moons please!

Well, this is getting repetitive...
You would think that after giving us Kimmon and Copter and the 15 insufferable characters that Bas has played since he was the original Wayo in the first edition of "2Moons", this company would have said... "ok enough... we did well enough, let's move on". Sadly, season 2 became a chaotic mess when all the original cast left and they had to re-cast, sending fans into distress because some couldn't accept the idea of not having Kimmon and Copter playing Ming and Kit or couldn't accept the idea of having inexperienced newcomers replacing them.

But, we got "2Moons2", with a whole new cast and wasting the first 4 episodes with a reminder of what happened in the original series. This series was not perfect but we got Earth (now called Din) doing a decent job as the new Wayo, Joong who seems to be the most successful of the bunch moving to GMMTV, Nine who now seems to focus on his singing career after being on a Chinese singing competition, and Phoom who was quite subdued in the very mediocre "Coffee Melody". That season ended with Wayo suffering from his picture being placed all over the university by the guy who likes him but gets rejected and then seeks revenge. He runs away to his home and while Pha is kicking the other guy's ass, Joong (Ming) comes and tells everyone that he knows where Wayo is, at home with his father.

Even a this point, season 3 seemed inevitable, focusing on Wayo-Pha and their crisis and also on a secondary character called Suthee (played by Green) who was going to be "The Ambassador" in season 3. But, Mello Thailand/Motive Village (whatever the name is now) messed it up, again... first by creating a music group with all the guys from "2Moons2", except Din... which created an incredible uproar by the fans. Then, more controversies with their contracts and between the company and director Anusorn (who directed the second part), ended up with the whole cast quitting again. Instead of ending the project, Motive Village decided to re-cast for the third time and we ended up with this mediocre series as the third season of an already mediocre project.

Some of the bad things:

1. The plot/storyline: No clue, really... the main character of the this season is Lom, who is Pha's cousin and his "enemies to lovers" story with Tatch. They both argue about being the candidate for the university's Ambassador competition and decide that, whoever has more IG followers by certain date, will be the faculty's representative. Lom lives in a self-pitying world as he always says he is not good looking enough, especially when compared to Tatch, but he has way more followers than him, so he is always trying to make Tatch more popular and in the process, falls in love with him. That part of the plot seems clear... but then we have the other couples from the previous two seasons and we see them quite scarcely throughout the episodes... the Wayo issue from the end of season 2 should have been the starting point for this season but, instead, gets pushed I think until episode 5 or 6 (don't even remember now) when Pha tells Lom how the problem was solved as a 3-minute flashback during the episode.
Kit and Ming, Pha and Wayo and Forth and Beam do not advance their relationships and, instead, we get the usual jealousy, fighting, arguing and tears in the usual BL tropes wasting whatever momentum the couples from part 2 left for the new couples in this season. I mean, we even have Pha and Wayo still arguing in the last episode and suddenly solving things with a kiss and a hug. It seems the director and the writer were set on focusing so much on Lom-Tatch, that the rest of the guys were just a side note during the series... if you watched carefully (unless you fell asleep from the boredom or you quit the show before the end), each couple (Wayo-Pha, Forth-Beam and Ming-Kit) had their "big" argument, their jealousy moment, and their NC scene with some very awkward kissing making it the same dull formula for all the couples all the time. Lom and Tatch being the focus of this season, had way more screen time, way more kissing scenes (a bit less awkward than the other couples), so we got to see the perfectly waxed armpits from Danny many many times. Plus, we even got an extra couple with Toon and Tong (Lom's friends) kissing in episode 12 without much development for their couple.

2. The acting: Yes, I am aware the actors are brand new and QUITE inexperienced... but it was painful to watch. No emotions in sad scenes or angry scenes or any scene whatsoever, no chemistry between them, some of the characters really don't match these actors, and yes, I also know I shouldn't compare, for example, the acting and character development by Nine vs.the acting and character development by Toey (both played Kit) or the cute, naive acting done by Din vs. the cute, naive acting done by Park (both played Wayo), but the chemistry between the couples in "2Moons2" felt a bit more natural than with these couples. Plus, with the reduced screen time that the 3 original couples got, meant we barely had any chance of really getting to watch how each actor portrayed their character... just to see if they brought anything original to the table. Instead, we end up getting Danny (playing Tatch) and Mark (playing Lom) for 85% of the episodes and very few glimpses of the rest. It is a shame that the company did not prepare these guys better for what was definitely a pressure-cooker because fans already had 2 different casts to compare and to choose from.

3. Side characters: If we barely saw the main couples, we had even less side characters with Lom's friends being the ones who got most airtime and the cartoon-like villain we got this season (Panon), that actually has a good twin as well (Parak)... evil twin-good twin, how original! But the bad guy is in love with Lom and tries to get him to break up with Tatch ... so in this Thai BL we got the crazy male character instead of the usual crazy female character. We also have a girl who likes Tatch and is a friend of Lom... she thinks Tatch will ask her out but he never does and then feels betrayed by Lom when Tatch tells her he is in love with him and not her. At least we didn't see the plot get any crazier by having her do something "evil", so we settled with the crazy male character doing all the bad things, then get beat up with his own twin and miss the Ambassador competition.

Good things? I'm not sure... some of the actors had cute moments but good luck finding something else.

In the end, for the third time, this series has been wasted due to poor management, poor writing, poor directing and mediocre acting. I truly hope this is the last season of the "2Moons" franchise because the original was not exactly a masterpiece and the other 2 have gone down in quality ever since.

Read More

Good but definitely not the best BL series ever

Wow... I'm surprised by the amount of reviews and comments that have labeled this series as the "best BL series ever" writing long reviews that basically don't say much as all tend to go around in circles. People tend to give positive reviews based on how cute or hot the actors are, how well they acted, how much chemistry the main couple has, and other banal things that have caused an explosion of mediocre BLs over the past 2-3 years (most of GMMTV BLs for example) and an explosion of BLs done by low-budget companies who just produce a BL for the sake of getting some money. Most people forget to judge the show on concepts like plot, storyline, writing, and directing... which are always difficult to judge as many get blinded by how hot Tee looks or how well Tae portrays his character. In reality, "Triage" was good but it was definitely not the best BL series ever, I mean, did we watch the same show? Here is why...

First, the good (which I admit, there is a lot of):
1. The acting: I believe we've seen Tee (playing Aek/Tol) and Tae (playing Dr. Tin) at their best. Tae was recently with Singto in "Paint With Love" and the show never really brought that much excitement and Tee played a cute/lovable character (for some moments) in "The Miracle of Teddy Bear". Both played the originals Forth and Beam in "2Moons" (before the whole cast changed for "2Moons2" and then changed again for "2Moons3: The Ambassador" that is supposedly coming at some point this or next year), so we knew they were familiar with each other and it shows. The chemistry is there, and not only for the kissing scenes, but also for the more dramatic moments as both seemed to have a connection in terms of what to expect from the other. The supporting cast was also good with Tonnam (playing Dr. Sing) and Dr. Aob (playing Dr. Gap) being the secondary couple but providing real support to the leads while dealing with the organ harvesting and corruption of Dr. Sak and Dr. Doi. Fiat (playing Rit) had some solid moments and it is a shame that he is currently dealing with some mental issues and on hiatus from acting until he recovers. Morris (playing Jinta) and Kradum (playing Dr. Sak... who we recently saw as an exemplary police officer who was also the father of Tee's character in "The Miracle of Teddy Bear") take the more adult roles in the show one serving as the guide to all the loops Dr. Tin has to go through and the other serving as the villain of the series. The other doctors and the lead male nurse all provided good moments in the show as well as it was clear they were there to fill a specific purpose and not just to fill the show with more faces.

2. Dr. Sammon: The writer does it again... "Manner of Death" with Max and Tul and this series have been two of her most successful stories so far (she also wrote "Bite Me" but that was mediocre at best due to terrible directing), as both are set up in other places different from the hundreds of BLs set up in university and both deal with serious topics that are barely covered in Thai TV and/or a BL story such as abuse of power, human trafficking and prostitution (in "Manner of Death") and organ harvesting, corruption, bribery and abuse of power (in "Triage"). In both stories these subjects are dealt head on by the lead actors and are handled correctly. In addition, being a doctor herself, the actors who had to work in the hospital received actual training from real doctors and Dr. Aob was also selected to play a character (Dr. Gap) but had the role of supervising his fellow actors in the challenging medical scenes. I think that made a huge difference from just training Tae, Tonnam, and the others, and then just let them do it on their own compared to training them and have an actor who is an actual doctor going to the scenes alongside them, that was a good move. As a side note... Dr. Sammon's next story to be adapted into a BL has more doctors but with a supernatural theme and apparently will have Judo (who appeared in "The Miracle of Teddy Bear") and Fluke Natouch as the leads... it might be weird to see Fluke without Ohm but also interesting to see how that story is developed.

Now, the in-between:
3. The plot: Here is where the series begins to falter a bit... the idea of someone living inside a time loop and having to repeat the same storyline over and over is not new on TV but it is for BLs... so, from that point, the show scores one point for being original and forgetting about engineering/medical students, universities, trope parents who either ship gay couples or who are completely against them, screaming/whining/ultra jealous female characters, unnecessary love triangles (sometimes even love squares), and boring storylines. The plot then also becomes a bit of weak point of the show after episode 10 as these episodes were set from Dr. Tin's perspective, this is his time loop after all, right? Jinta mentions that he needs to save Tol to break from the loop cycle and he gets better and better at connecting the pieces together and trying to solve all the issues around Tol's death. We are aware that his actions have consequences in what he changes on each loop and also we know that while he takes a bit of time to remember previous loops, I was under the impression that the others were not able to remember them. From episode 11 until the end we switched to Tol's perspective as Dr. Tin is killed in one of the loops and Tol begs Jinta to bring him back. That to me was the weak point as the series begins under the premise that Dr. Tin MUST save Tol's life or repeat the loop over and over... on episode 10 he does that, but he dies in the process... in theory, he broke the loop and that should be the end, EXCEPT for the fact that now Tol feels bad and wants to save Dr. Tin so he is now able to summon and see Jinta and ask for one chance. What takes Dr. Tin 10 episodes to partially solve, takes Tol only 3 thanks to the magical notebook with all the notes from the previous loops that Dr. Tin can't see on episode 12 and the magical kisses that suddenly restore the memories. The side couple of Dr. Sing and Dr. Gap doesn't even have a relationship until the final loop and while we know Gap likes Sing, Sing's personality is trending towards being a bit of a jerk towards Gap, so it was weird that all of the sudden, a new loop happens and they are happily together. Finally, some of the female characters in the show like Mai, Dr. Fang and Dear are good characters in the whole Dr. Sak saga but just bring unnecessary tension between the lead couple in their relationship as in some loops Dr. Tin seems to be close to Dear and Tol is jealous and Mai is just using Tol to pay for her mother's treatment when she is already dating Heart.

And the not so good:
4. The final episode: Once again, and I'm not sure if this they way Dr. Sammon planned it in the written novel, but just like in "Manner of Death", the ending of "Triage" felt so rushed. The episode is around 45 minutes long (taking out the introduction, the reminder of what happened in episode 13, the final credits, and the pictures of the cast and crew), and in that time Dr. Doi kidnaps Rit and Dr. Sing, shoots Sing, takes Gap as hostage, fights with the latter two, gets knocked out, suddenly appears in the basement where Dr. Sak and the organ trafficking gang were keeping Tol and Dr. Tin hostage and tries to kill Tin with a poisoned needle and then is captured and goes crazy. That's a lot for a character that was simply moved by greed and power and then apparently had some daddy issues or needed Dr. Sak's approval as he "is doing all of this for Dr. Sak" and "wants to show him he can do the job of cleaning up". Such a useless character played a major part in the final episode and as it happened on "Manner of Death", the villains don't get proper punishment through the justice system, which is quite disappointing... Dr. Doi goes crazy and Dr. Sak is murdered by the organ traffickers who are never captured. But, what I think bothered me the most of the ending was the actual ending... Dr. Tin is in a comma after being poisoned by Dr. Doi and Tol writes him a diary in the magic notebook for him to remember when he wakes up as he is transported to a different hospital. Tol goes on to live his life until one day Dr. Tin suddenly appears in the clock tower where they kissed for the first time and after pretending not to remember Tol, he tells him about how the magic kisses bring back memories so they kiss while Tul makes another special appearance to discover the organ traffickers harvested Dr. Sak's kidney before he died. Oh the mystery!
The way Dr. Tin came back was a bit underwhelming as he is in a comma and then suddenly he is there, next to Tol... AND Jinta is nowhere to be seen after the loop ends... for a character who appeared in every silly way possible and in every unexpected moment possible, it was odd not to have him in the final scenes at all.

So, in summary... "Triage" is a good series and a ray of light in a sea of mediocrity that BLs have become lately as it brought a different story with a different pace and brought great acting and solid writing. But, is most certainly not the best BL series ever written, let's be real about that.

Read More

My eyes need therapy after watching this series

I've rarely graded a series so harshly as I've graded this one... I saw "'Cause You're My Boy" with Frank and Drake, an entire series that was based on a ridiculous plot; I also saw "Top Secret Together", an entire series based on confusing plot mess after confusing plot mess; I saw "Don't Say No", an entire series dedicated to a character who tried to destroy a relationship (in season one of "Tharn-Type") and then becomes a submissive, whiny crybaby and another character who became a possessive and controlling boyfriend after gathering the courage to confess his feelings; I saw "My Boy" with one actor who looked like the other actor's father, who had zero chemistry and very awkward intimate moments. And I saw "I am Your King season 2" with a hysterical female character, zero acting skills of most of the actors, zero credible storyline. However, "Physical Theraphy" raised (or maybe, lowered?) the bar in terms of poor quality. It is a shame that Peak, a well-known BL actor from the "Make It Right" series, is listed as the director of this mess. Here's why.

1) Plot:
There is not much I can tell you about this. Milk works in a creative design agency with his high school/university friends and dated Ake for a while but at the beginning of the show, they are no longer together and Milk is sad about it. He visits a hospital as they are doing a campaign to re-design the hospital's image and Milk pretends to be a patient to observe the doctors. The synopsis talks about the blooming romance of a patient and his physical therapist and we do get that for about 2 or 3 episodes when Milk suffers an injury and needs Dr. Pun to help, only for Dr. Pun to provide the most detailed assistance of a patient I've ever seen on TV, with him basically spending as much time as he can with Milk using the injury as the excuse. Pun develops feelings for Milk but he is not sure due to his recent breakup with Ake and Pun's mysterious attitude when talking about his family or the past. On the other hand, Pun meets Milk's entire family and all of them are in love with him and want Milk and Pun to end up together. We then know, Pun came from China running away as his family is broke and indebted to the family of a girl named Tzuyu who thinks she and Pun will get married... except Pun doesn't love her... but she insists and even tries to first talk to Milk around episode 4, then to Dr. Yang around episodes 5-8, and then finally accepts she won't win around episode 10... just like that. Milk then finds out that Ake has been depressed for a while and begins to help him recover and they solve their breakup and Ake admits that Pun is the best for Milk and almost gives them his blessing, again, just like that.
Other than that, Dr. Yang is gay but in the closet and he was secretly seeing Milk's friend who we never meet as he dies when his car falls of the edge of a cliff in episode 1. The incident and this friend are never mentioned after some flowers are sent for the funeral, Milk can't attend, and then tries to make Dr. Yang confess he is the mystery boyfriend during his first visit to the hospital but can't get an answer and the issue is never brought up again. Then, Dr. Yang visits Milk at his place in the middle episodes with the excuse of needing help designing a cover for his book... he even seems to be flirting with Milk but again, nothing happens. Yamyen, one of Milk's coworkers, begins flirting with Dr. Yang when both meet at the hospital for the marketing campaign, Dr. Yang rejects him for a while, but then end up having sex in a scene that doesn't match with how Dr. Yang kept rejecting Yamyen for so long only to have passionate sex afterwards. Dr. Yang gets exposed online after that, tries to quit and then writes more books as well. Super well crafted ideas for this storyline, don't you think?
Then we jumped 5 years in the future, Pun and Milk are taking care of the son of Milk's older sister who had an affair with a married man and got pregnant. Pun's parents arrive and spend a few days together and start to mend their relationship. The kid calls them "dad" but in episode 12, Milk's sister returns and tells them she is taking the kid back, just like that... Pun proposes to Milk in the final moments of the episode and that's about it.
The office characters, Milk's coworkers, the few doctors that do appear outside of Dr. Pun and Dr. Yang, the gossiping nurses from the first few episodes, Milk's family, Pun's family, and the Korean guy who is Pun's friend and hires Milk for some work provide ZERO... NOTHING... NADA... to this story... not even to fill-in some airtime... the minor exception are Milk's younger brothers who are funny sometimes... but even the dog who got lost like 3 times in the series is cuter and funnier than most of the characters of this series.
There was no sustained plot or storyline, no connection between much of the series, each couple (Pun-Milk, Yang-Milk's friend, Tim-Rosé) do not go into much detail over the course of 12 boring, dull and excruciatingly long episodes... this series should have been over in 6-8 episodes max. The hospital seem to have 3-4 doctors based on the moment they all have to dance for the marketing campaign but only Dr. Pun and Dr. Yang matter for this series. Nobody works in actual medical cases aside from Milk's injury and Milk's dad heart attack and nobody seems to be doing anything at this hospital besides walking around, gossip, and staring into oblivion. Milk's friends also don't do much work as Milk seems to be the only one working day and night on some projects... at some point they even have a team-building workshop that includes everyone and they sleep as part of an exercise Milk proposed... this has no reason as Milk and his friends were hired by the hospital to do an image re-design so the purpose of having this workshop with both hospital and marketing campaign employees is not clear. We also have weird dynamics between some of the characters as Tim and Rosé are friends but want to be more but Tim can't gather the courage or can't commit, and the time jump makes no sense at all.

2) Acting
I've seen a lot of reviews for other series where the person reviewing complains about the acting but "forgives" everything because how cute the actors are... here, no matter how cute Son (Milk) and Petch (Pun) are, their acting is not 100% terrible but has a lot of bad moments. They seem to have very little chemistry and Son is terrified of being kissed as he makes awkward facial expressions when Pun gets within an inch of his face which makes the lack of too many intimate moments for this couple even more glaring. Folk (Dr. Yang) and Pim (Tzuyu) are stiff as cardboards during their scenes and Folk couldn't convince me of his feelings when being exposed online. The rest are just there but the whole cast could have benefited from longer workshops to develop a bit more cohesion and chemistry and from a better acting coach to guide them through the few challenging scenes this series had.

So, please, save yourself and avoid this show if you can. I know, as a BL fan, we tend to watch almost everything just because is BL or because, if you are like me, don't want to quit watching a show (call it stubbornness or pride)... but in this case, I highly recommend you read a book, knit a sweater, play videogames, clean your room or do something else instead of watching this show that really had nothing of substance to remember it for.

Read More

A fake competition

What did I just watch?
After the worldwide success that "KinnPorsche" was for Be On Cloud, someone inside the company... mainly CEO Pond, decided to create a "reality" competition between aspiring actors with zero or very little experience in order to find the "new" couple to be the leads in the next Be On Cloud series... and let me tell you, this competition was a complete and utter disaster and here's why:

1. What was the point of dividing the show in different chapters? If they are looking for actors, shouldn't they be training with the acting coach like they did in the final episodes or at least doing acting workshops with different scenarios to see if they can act? The answer of course is a NO because CEO Pond decided to craft this mess of a show with the first episodes dedicated to the "The Hidden Story" where one character did something wrong in their past and the others had to guess who it was. Of course, we found out very questionable behavior from some of them like being homophobic or hitting their father (albeit it was apparently in self-defense). We also got the usual sad stories to bring tears to our eyes about a sick family member, a family having economic issues, etc. These episodes were a waste of time as we couldn't see any acting skills at all. Maybe they were preparing for a future scandal like the accusations against Build and his resignation from the company by revealing all the issues from most of the cast members of this show.

2. I know Be On Cloud is riding the "KinnPorsche" success train as much as they can but the whole show centered around it. Having Mile as host was fine (more on him later) but bringing nearly the entire cast to play silly games in the second part of the show was another waste of time. Perth, Us, Bas, Nodt, Barcode, and the others, appeared to play dumb games and provide nothing useful. Bible was a mentor alongside Apo in episode 9 and Bas, Nodt and Tong came in for episode 10 but they barely had an interesting or helpful comment to give. Apo was the exception as he either was in a really bad mood or was told to play the strict judge as his comments were sometimes too harsh and picky in some of the re-enacted scenes. And, speaking of those scenes... more "KinnPorsche" as all the cast members had to re-enact scenes from the series in another mistake. Why not have them act their own scenes? That will show adaptability, creativity and flexibility... but instead, we had awkward moments like Apo stopping a scene because it was so bad (in his opinion) or New looking like a crazy man imitating Bible's character Vegas, but doing it wrong.

3. The final portion had the real acting part that should have been the center of the show. The re-enacted scenes were not properly executed but some were nice surprises like the chemistry between Mio and Bump and JJ and Fuaiz acting skills (with JJ being a complete rookie). However, episode 11 was a mess as it was done live and apparently very difficult to watch on IQIYI for international viewers. Plus, it was incredibly rushed as the episode was probably the shortest with around 45 minutes compared to the others that had between 65 and 70 minutes... So, we saw poor Barcode singing his new (and self-composed) song only for him to be nearly kicked out of the stage at the end without even saying thank you so Mile could read the final results. The judges gave a few comments after each of the final scenes were shown but they were also rushed as time was ticking. We knew 1 couple was going to be eliminated before the episode even began and New and Jet were left out of the episode entirely as they had the lowest votes and didn't even get the chance to appear on screen and look sad for being eliminated. In addition, the voting system was a confusing and a questionable one... the explanation on how to vote and the charges for voting were explained in a super long on-screen segment that aired once on every episode starting from episode 7. Mile looked completely lost during some of the episodes as he looked like he was forced to read a script and tried to find dramatic moments to make it more interesting and his personality was not exactly one cut to the show's MC as he was not really energetic or engaged. He didn't vote in the final episodes so he was just there to tell us the results and look handsome on TV.

4. The final decision of who was going to win was most likely made when Ta appeared as a guest in episode 2 and then was added as a cast member soon after. He already had the "KinnPorsche" fame and a steady fanbase, so this show was almost meant to find him a suitable BL partner for the next series as if he was taking the baton from Mile and Apo. Copper selected Ta in a clever strategy as Copper seemed to be such a fake character who was only interested in winning and could not stop smiling all the time. Him and Ta were definitely the WORST acting couple of the remaining three but were chosen as the winners with a ridiculous number of votes because of Ta's huge fanbase and, apparently, all of Copper's family and friends who spent millions of Baht voting for him. In a weird moment of the voting system, Mile said the votes will reset to zero after eliminating New and Jet... which was fine. However, during the 1st couple's re-enactment, the number of votes were put on-screen and Copper had already over 19,000 votes and Ta had over 2,000 votes, compared to JJ who only had around 200 in similar trend with the others... so, no idea how someone got so many votes so fast. The fact that they won 500,000 Baht, a cover in a Thai magazine and the right to star in the next BOC series seems a bit unfair when Ta was already part of "KinnPorsche" and BOC and Copper felt so fake during the whole show.

5. That was the same fake perception I got from other cast members... Jet had already been part of several BLs in another company but for some reason decided to join this project and he was shown as being on his last chance to succeed in the industry along with the fact that his mother is (or was) very sick and he needed/wanted to help.
Mio and Bump (and even Ta during episode 10) said they were more interested in singing than acting so I had no idea why they were there. I know other musicians like Jeff Satur has done the same and Mio apparently worships Jeff, but if you are going to start a career that you don't seem to want, why bother and why bother us?
CEO Pond got his dramatic TV moment when he got super angry at Mio during episode 7 for him supposedly being late and not practicing one day. I mean, he clearly overreacted for dramatic purposes but Mio's heart seemed to be in his music and not in acting from the first place... even if he was good during some of the scenes they had to act.
Other characters like New, Perth and Copper seemed fake from the get go and I was never able to decide if they were lying or telling the truth. Max was cute but super green, Fuaiz apparently was a child actor, Woody was openly gay so, of course, the show had to showcase that before he was eliminated.

In the end, this "show" was a sad attempt to find Ta a partner and to keep riding the success of "KinnPorsche"... the results seemed fixed, the show was not that entertaining and the cast members really didn't showcase their acting skills until the final episodes and, when they did, it was by being forced to re-enact scenes from BOC's only successful show so far. Hopefully, possible talents like JJ and Fuaiz and possible future singers like Mio and Bump don't go to waste and find success somewhere else because I'm sure BOC is not the answer for them.

Read More

Not your usual ghost story

When I started watching “Something in My Room” I had virtually zero expectations in a show that was airing on Channel 3 in Thailand, that wasn’t known for investing a lot of time and resources in creating a pure BL drama. Plus, Nut wasn’t exactly my first choice for lead actor as his work in “Oxygen” was quite underwhelming. And, the plot of ghost and boy meet and fall in love was already explored in “He’s Coming To Me” with Singto and Ohm, in the two episodes of “Y-Destiny” that had Pee and Au and in the Thai-Korea co-production “Peach of Time” with Jimmy and Choi Jae-hyun. However, while not perfect, “Something in My Room” became an interesting choice because of how the director managed to adapt the work of Raflael into this drama and because the acting was better than I expected. And before I dive deeper into the show, I’m acknowledging that the plot is an issue. We are all aware that ghosts can’t touch, kiss or have sex with living humans. Singto and Ohm and Jimmy and Jae-hyun managed to kiss in their series but when Singto and Ohm tried to take a picture, Singto never appeared in any picture. In this series, Phob slowly is able to gain more “self-awareness” to touch and handle things and him and Phat do take pictures together with Phob being visible (at least that’s what I think… it might be that he is only visible to Phat even in the pictures but that theory was never tested) and then have quite a lot of romantic moments, especially in episode 10 (really, they kissed so many times just in this episode). So, yes, I’m ignoring the fact that the plot is quite impossible but as this is the centerpiece of the series, I’ll let it go.

Now, let’s talk about what worked:

a) Plan and Nut: Both actors are nearly acting newbies as Nut is the older one (28 years) and with “Oxygen” as his main role in the past and a guest role in another Thai drama. Plan had been in another Channel 3 drama in a support role but at 24 years of age, he finally got his opportunity to take the lead in a series. Thankfully, the chemistry between them was quite good and that facilitated things between them as they had to navigate through difficult sets of emotions like Phat’s shock that he was able to see a ghost, Phob’s uncertainty about his past and his future, then both realizing they liked each other, to the end of the series that is simply a tear-jerker with them having sex and then having to say goodbye. Nut was able to showcase more of his personality as he felt incredibly stiff in “Oxygen” and Plan was able to showcase that he is more than capable of being a lead actor.

b) The ending: Most of the usual BL fans will be disappointed with this ending as it is a partially sad one. I say partially, because they do end up being together, but to get there, Phat has to live the rest of his life and then die of cancer in order for him to see Phob again and reunite in the afterlife. That being said, I’m ok with that… I was fearing some sort of ending with Phob suddenly coming back to life or Dream casting a spell from her book to make Phob live again or Phat thinking about dying just to follow Phob. Luckily, that was not the case and we see both characters enjoying their last moments together, Phob saying goodbye to Dream and then saying goodbye to Phat in very emotional scenes. Then, many years later, Phat returns to the house where all began and reveals he is dying of cancer and that he is ready to see Phob, which happens in the end when Phob comes to bring Phat with him. It was a somewhat sad ending but it was well crafted and without any ridiculous plot twists. Aside from the weird end scenes when we see the house again and some roaming evil spirits walk around it and one does end up getting inside the house... what was the purpose of that after the nice Phob-Phat afterlife reunion?

c) Dream: I was hoping for a strong female character that didn’t have to act like crazy, super jealous or bitchy just to earn some attention from the male character. Faii was a pleasant surprise as her character was a mystery at first because of her resentment towards her dead father and her friendship with Phat. She looked like she had a crush on Phat but it was actually the other way around but both end up being best of friends. Dream has also the ability to see dead people but struggles with that ability and wants to suppress it at first, but when Phob appears she decides to help Phat see Phob. Faii dealt with all those emotions adequately and provided a strong support to both Nut and Plan.

Now, what didn’t work…

d) The rest of the support actors: Phat’s mother was played by Took, for those who remember her, she was Frank’s crazy mother in “My Tee” who was completely against him having a boyfriend. In this case, she was a “shipper” as she tells Phat that if he decides to love a guy, she will be happy about it. Her only important moments were in episode 9 when she begs Phob not to take Phat with him and to leave him alone and in episode 10 when she tells Phat that even if Phob is not there anymore, she will be with him. The rest of her scenes came with Nuan (played by Phiao) and were mostly useless scenes about the house and Nuan’s past. Phiao also had plenty of weird moments as Nuan because she knew Phob’s family as she was the neighbor who fell in love with Phob’s father only to be rejected by him and indirectly causing Phob to die as he watched that and thought his father was cheating on his mother, began walking and got hit by a car and died. Nuan was obsessed with Phob’s father as she thought he would be over the grief of losing his wife and will take her immediately, but was rejected once again. Nuan’s father turns out to be the house guardian spirit that she is keeping there as punishment for how he treated Nuan in the past. And she had cameras installed in Phat's house and she would watch them at night from her own TV, but the purpose (aside from being a creep and a stalker) was never really revealed.
Green played Ben and had a brief appearance as Phob’s ex-love interest that ends up being a manipulative person who then supposedly changed and produced an awkward theater play to tell his story... I mean, he knows Phob died and he feels that guilty that he decided to do the play to show some remorse perhaps?... The reality is that I couldn’t trust him in the 2-3 episodes he appeared. Green’s acting is just like his nickname, super green, as he was stiff as a board in “Y-Destiny” and he hasn’t improved much for this series and for “The Tuxedo”, so that was a bit of a bummer.
But, the worst of all, was Big playing Luck. Big previously appeared in “My Mate Match” and as the bed-ridden and dying of a brain tumor P’Pha in “Gen Y 2” but this character took the cake of weirdness. He likes Dream and thinks Dream and Phat are hiding a relationship and something else so he begins by hacking Phat’s laptop. Both forgive him quite quickly but he can’t open up to Dream so they break up. He finally has a heart-to-heart with Phat and then with Dream and end up together. All of that was more or less OK, except for the part that he is obsessed with aliens as apparently his parents were abducted by them in the past. Then he sees a flashing light in episode 9 and wonders if the aliens are still kidnapping people… I mean, WHAT?? That was probably the most bizarre moment of the show as it made no sense to the main story, it provided nothing useful to the plot and it solved nothing.

e) Some of the editing: I appreciate having the chance of watching the longer version of the episodes as the shorter ones lost anywhere between 25 to 35 minutes of screen time. Some might argue that the edited scenes were probably irrelevant moments like scenes that had all the secondary actors, but I think that some Phat/Phob moments were cut a bit short as well because of that.

So, in the end, “Something in My Room” ended up being more than just a ghost and boy fall in love story. It had a lot of lessons on life and death, on forgiving others, on communicating with others to avoid misunderstandings, on second chances in life, on dealing with the loss of a loved one, on dealing with rejection, on finding new love, on realizing that nothing lasts forever, on dealing with the fact that we are all going to die one day, on moving on and letting go, etc. The show was a very decent BL proposal for those, like me, who are tired of engineer/medical students, poorly written plots, bad acting, bad directing, and the usual Thai BL clichés.

Read More

A lesson in life and also a lesson on how to make a BL

What started as a small university project for Mean (who we've seen in plenty of BLs like "Until We Meet Again", "Love by Chance", "Love by Chance 2", "Make it Right" and as a guest in "TharnType") became a full series that has really surprised me on many levels and here is why.

1. The plot is something we've seen in the past with one of the main leads running away and leaving the other lead all alone for several years until its time to come back (see Taiwan's "We Best Love: No. 1 For You" or Thailand's "Waterboyy" for a few examples). However, what makes this plot a bit unexpected is the reason for the character to leave. Normally it has been because he goes abroad to study or because the parents are against their son being gay and in a relationship, so they send him away for some time. This time, Phob, our main lead who runs away, comes back around episode 4 to reveal he left his best friend, Nut, all alone because he has cancer and was undergoing treatment. BLs have not really ventured into one of the main characters having an illness... we've seen the topic of suicide in "Until We Meet Again" and murder in "He's Coming to Me" but not the issue of having one of the main leads with cancer. So, having a character that undergoes cancer treatment and then suffers the amputation of an arm is quite new for a BL.

2. The acting is something that is also a surprise. Man and Title make their acting debuts playing Phob and Nut respectively, and both do a very good job in portraying the different emotions their characters have to go through. From Nut slowly falling in love with Phob and thinking of a future together studying medicine. To Phob finding out his cancer diagnosis and deciding to leave Nut to get treatment without telling him. To Nut being surprised that his best friend missed the university exam but not getting an explanation of why and then finding out he just woke up and left him all alone. To the moment they find each other again and Nut tries to ignore Phob by pretending to not recognize him. To Nut finding out about Phob real reason for leaving him and then all the issues with Phob's diagnosis. Both actors, but particularly Title, showcase their emotions quite effectively and move from being angry, to being disappointed, to being sad, to being hopeful and to being happy in the 8 episodes of the series. Their acting is not perfect but it was an outstanding debut if we consider other actors like Gun Napat in "Golden Blood" or Plan in "Love by Chance" and "Love by Chance 2" who despite being a bit more seasoned actors, still have many flaws in their acting. Title and Man do a terrific job in their first series, particularly in the last 2 episodes when the emotions really explode and Nut gets to see Phob alive but having lost an arm due to cancer. Instead of falling into depression, both characters try to be happy but this time, together.

3. The secondary actors like Tonnam (playing Nut's older brother Note), Fah (playing Phob's older sister Pat), well-know BL actor Prem ("Until We Meet Again", "Long Khong", and "7 Project") and even director Mean who also acts as Dr. Sarut all provide enough support in the series without being annoying or interfering with the main plot. Note is especially good when having a conversation with his brother about the situation with Phob and asking Nut if he is really ok with what is happening. It was nice to see a good brother-bonding moment with the older brother providing good advice and listening to what his younger brother had to say. All the secondary roles do not have many lines and actors like Get (playing Note's best friend and boyfriend, Tar) do not even appear in most of the episodes, but still deliver when needed.

4. The only minor issue I have with this series is the amount of flashbacks. I understand some are necessary to get an explanation of what happened with Phob in the past, what Nut was feeling when reading the files he found on Phob's USB, or what Phob was feeling when he finds out his diagnosis, decides to leave and then comes back to town. However, the final episodes were almost full of flashbacks that we already saw not too long ago, so it seemed a bit unnecessary to include so many flashbacks. But, that being said, the series is nice enough that I can overlook that.

In the end, I believe "The Yearbook" is not perfect, but it has to be a lesson in life for all us given the circumstances both Nut and Phob had to experience and also a lesson for many other companies in Thailand who produce plenty of BL shows without a hint of quality, that have directing issues, low budgets, terrible plots/storylines, and rookie actors that are not well-trained by capable acting coaches and directors, resulting in mediocre series (and I'm being kind with some of the disasters we've seen lately). Mean just showed us that a very decent series is possible, even with rookie actors or even with low budgets.

Read More

Interesting topics but are they realistically portrayed?

Now, I'll say this show is a mess in so many ways so, I always find it funny when people make drastic comments like this is the best show on Earth or people who hate every single little detail of it.
I say this show is a mess because it is unusually long for a BL series that normally have 6, 8, 10 or 12 episodes... so reaching 20 episodes was something rare. And now, don't get me wrong, the fact that it had 20 episodes is not what makes this show a mess... it is the way the 20 episodes were handled. Having 4 stories lasting 5 episodes each would have been innovative if it was done properly. Instead, we have characters appearing in the first story that never appeared in the other stories. Can you honestly remember most of what happened on episodes 1-5 at this point? Probably not.

The plot of the whole series was to highlight or show people the worst issues, or the worst problems or the worst obstacles many actors, managers, producers and even companies have to face when doing a BL and it was a different concept from "Call It What You Want" and "Call It What You Want 2" as those series also wanted to showcase the worst issues inside the BL industry but the attempt started OK and then went to the toilet with poor directing choices in the plot and the storyline... This series wanted to bring different stories and get them their individual spotlight:

Episodes 1-5 had Billy and Seng acting as Nott and Pan almost immediately after we saw them in "Secret Crush On You". So, their previous characters were quite fresh in our memory and now each had a character that was the total opposite. That was good as we could see their acting skills, but sadly, this story was one of the weaker ones as the characters were not developed in a way I could fully understand their motivations to act the way they acted. From Pan being offered by his manager to one of the producers in order to get him commercials or a TV show or just money or him scrubbing himself quite harshly while taking a bath because he felt dirty or him not trusting Nott and his intentions of developing a real relationship, were just some of the plots that were never really fully developed. At some point I even thought this story will connect with the managers story and it kinda does but very marginally as Gus and Bew are the secondary couple in these episodes so nothing was completely handled plot-wise. This was probably the weirdest story of the 4 as Billy and Seng just appeared in these episodes and were not seen again until the final half of episode 20 despite having second credit after Lay and Muse (who also barely appeared throughout the show).

Episodes 6-10 had Gung and Korn acting as Gus and Bew... we saw this couple in "Y-Destiny" and they had good chemistry back then and they still do. That's probably their strongest point as their acting, especially Gung, remains a bit weak at times. They appeared in the first 5 episodes as the new BL couple trying to earn a spot in the industry but their main storyline focuses on their work and their managers. Now, I'm sure some managers do try to exploit or benefit from rookie actors who get poor advice from them but the way this was portrayed in these 5 episodes was quite exaggerated and 99% of the things we saw would merit some jail time for so many criminal acts. I hope that forcing one character to sleep with the other or to charm him so he could fall in love, sabotaging their own BL partner for their own benefit, hiring spies or having someone else spread rumors are things that happen in very few cases or this industry might be doomed already. I thing the plot twist of having Bew being the one who orchestrated most of the issues we saw, was good... but he is forgiven quite quickly by Gus and the two managers just go their marry way with another BL couple without really facing any type of consequences. And aside from some minor appearances in the first 5 episodes and being the main couple in these 5 episodes, Gung and Korn also disappear until the final part of episode 20.

Episodes 11-15 had Milk and Markpoom as Peak and Kla and I think if you want to really learn what happens inside an idol environment, you should just watch all the Korean singing reality shows where they train the young hopeful candidates in singing, dancing, rapping, and some physical conditioning. While that industry is also messed up in the way they value a cute face or a hot body and Korean idols have some quite insanely strict rules about their weight and their romantic life, the 5 episodes of Y-Idol were far too long. SoSatSeoulSay had a field day appearing on these episodes and having silly competitions with the trainees who then had to sing and dance in almost every episode (if we can call it that). War of Y wanted to highlight the obstacles some of the trainees (in this case, trainees for a BL series) might face like a bad or mismatched partner, a non-approving family, producers/networks who prefer a specific trainee over another, etc., but all these issues were poorly acted and not explored that much because of all the other drama they had to fabricate. Milk made his acting debut in this series and it showed because he was really one of the worst in terms of acting and I never really felt any chemistry between him and Markpoom.

Episodes 16-20 had Toru and First playing Most and Achi... we also saw this couple in "Y-Destiny" and in there they had some of the steamiest scenes on that mediocre series so everybody remembered them and anxiously waited for these episodes. They began appearing since the previous storyline as they were also part of the Y-Idol show. Once the producers manipulated the results, they were the winning couple and got their own BL series produced by Lay's character (P). In here, First had to carry most of the weight of the story as his character is involved with Toru's character for the series and also becomes romantically involved with Fern (played by Paper) a girl who is cast as an extra but who is secretly brought in to the series by P in order to spy on Most and Achi and make sure they don't break the "no dating" rule. This plot could have been the most interesting as First and Toru have a really good chemistry from their previous series and Paper's acting was quite good. The way her story was handled was quite disappointing as she is exposed as trans on episode 20 so P can save his production and Achi can keep his job... after a brief talk with Achi she doesn't appear again in the episode until the final seconds. We never got to see Achi's full background story which I think was key to establish his selfishness or his intentions. Most tells Achi in the last episode: "when you're cute, you're damn damn cute... but when you're bad, you're an evil person"... the lack of background on Achi made me wish would've gotten something more useful to understand why he acted the way he acted.

The last half of episode 20 has all the main actors returning for the Galaxy Awards and P magically wins the Greatest Y Award (using some of his scenes from "Y-Destiny") maybe related to the phone call he makes earlier in the episode to someone and to compensate the fact that the show he produced, lost (against the other 2 shows that ended up tying for the win) and his lead actor (Most) wins the Best Y Actor Award but he decides to quit acting to focus on music. Lay's character was a bit puzzling as he was supposed to be the senior Y actor looking over all the new rookies but ended up being like a leader of a mafia cartel but with zero background on his story and zero character development other than being a selfish jerk most of the time and having a Y series partner that appeared very few times and spoke even less.
The show ends with a silly montage of all the actors saying some things about the industry while holding the tiniest trophy ever given to what it's supposed to be the "Greatest Y Award".

I think this series had potential but the 4 stories felt quite disjointed despite having the main couple of episodes 6-10 appear in episodes 1-5 or the couples in episodes 11-15 also appear in episodes 16-20. I think Lay could have been the connecting factor in all stories but his role was quite narrow from being an "experienced" BL actor dealing with potential newcomers, to being a producer of a reality show, to being a producer of a BL series, to suddenly winning another acting award to remain relevant and also announcing that he wouldn't accept any more nominations so others can get the chance (hmmm... how generous of him!). Aside from that, each could have been a separate BL series on its own as most fit the current trend of just airing whatever mediocre product they can find as long as they cast good looking actors. One last annoying thing were all the social media posts that appeared on screen during the episodes as some were translated and some were not and the translations were placed alongside whatever the actors were saying, so it got very confusing and hard to follow all the text without having to pause the episode just to read half of the screen full of text.

The show ends with another of their polls asking if all the "War of Y" stories were true, would you believe it? I'll say that I would believe it but I hope the reality is not as exaggerated or as bleak as it looked in this series.

Read More

Irregular Frequency

I'm not sure how a novel adaptation has managed to become a dull and sometimes boring TV series. This show had the perfect combination (or imperfect, maybe) of bad editing, an interesting plot that turned into a laugh, questionable acting and a small studio that has already produced very mediocre BLs such as Hidden Love and What's Zabb Man. So, let's talk about each.

1. The plot is not a new one as we've seen plenty of ghost-human Thai BLs starting with "He's Coming to Me" (with Ohm and Singto), "Peach of Time" (the Korean-Thai co-production with Jimmy and Tommy) and the more recent "Something in My Room" and "Ghost Host, Ghost House", among others of course. All the series I mentioned had the mystery component of finding either who killed the ghost, why, how and finding a way for the soul to reach the afterlife safely. In this case, Thames has an apparent accident that leaves him in a comma and, suddenly, his soul leaves his body and he is able to communicate with Mon (his manager's brother) and interact with him. The pair form a type of Sherlock Holmes-Watson dynamic trying to find clues as to who caused Thames's accident and why before time runs out for his soul to return to his body (otherwise he'll die). So far, it sounds good, right? Well, that's as far it goes because the storyline falls into the same traps we've grown used to in recent BLs where managers or agents or producers try to exploit actors for their own benefit (Thames is a famous actor in this series). Thames discovers the tricks Thanit is doing while managing Ai, records him, and Thanit discovers Thames and chases him down and almost kills him. So, sadly, instead of trying to find something a bit more original or creative, we have all the usual pitfalls that are increased by the terrible...

2. Editing... oh boy! The problem of having a series with only 8 episodes is that the producer and the director have to be on-point and be almost flawless in the way they link the scenes to solve the mystery and give us a happy ending. Unfortunately, this doesn't happen as some of the continuity in the scenes got lost by having flashbacks to tell us what happened to Thames at the party before the accident and also to introduce some of the characters and their storylines. In one scene Thames and Mon will be talking in Mon's house and the next scene he will be sitting in his work desk talking to his friend Pete or Thames will be chatting with the house guardian Guy and next he will be cuddling with Mon in the living room. Some of the major moments did not get the proper editing like Thanit's capture (a joke of a scene by the way) in episode 7 or the non-sense between Guy and Thames just before he comes back to life where magically, we find out that the house guardian was actually Mon's childhood friend who died in an accident and that Mon blames himself for all these years but he never recognizes him at all?! Now, not all is the issues happened because of the editing... some have to do because of the...

3. Poor acting. I get it, Guitar and Ping are cute and look good together... end of story. The reality is they had virtually zero chemistry and I don't know why they were instructed to give their lines the way they did (actually, all the actors were the same). Thames will say a line, he will wait for 5 seconds of staring into Mon's eyes, silence, Mon will then say his line, wait another 5 seconds and just stare into Thames's eyes, rinse and repeat. ALL the actors did the same and I'm not sure why the acting coach and the director decided to do this. No actor had really complicated lines with medical terms or difficult words or had to talk for a long time... so I think this prevented me from being more engaged in the story as I was just pressing the fast forward button to skip several seconds of silence and awkward stares. The chemistry part is a bit more worrying as the lead couple had Ping trying too hard to be cute and Guitar not doing enough as he fell flat in most scenes, in my opinion, to be the lead couple.
The other actors were there just to be there... Mon's sister Bua seems like a possible culprit of Thames's accident when she pulls out Thames cellphone out of nowhere in episode 3 or 4. Then, she disappears for a lot of moments and stays at the hospital with the grandmother but does nothing relevant. Pete is a useless character who works with Mon and later ends up being the son of a mafia boss (another laughable storyline). Ai is exploited by his manager Thanit as he has to have sex with clients until he lures Thanit to catch him. Beam (playing Mark in this series) has already appeared in a few BLs (most notably "Check Out", where he has an extra steamy scene near the end of the series) but in this series he likes Ai without anything interesting happening between them aside from brief flirting scenes. The house guardian, played by Bonus (who we saw in the disasters that were "What Zabb Man!", "Gen Y" and "Gen Y Season 2") also does nothing until he appearently helps Thames's soul to return to his body before telling him he is Mon's childhood friend.
And, let's talk about the scenes in episode 7 where Thanit gets caught... Pete brings his mafia gang to catch him and despite being surrounded by 6 gunmen plus Mon, Ai, and Mark, he still manages to have a half-ass fight and shoots his gun. I mean, there is no police in Thai BLs or all the characters are masochists who enjoy getting hurt or putting themselves at risk just to be the heroes?

So, once again, Kantana gives us a nice idea but a far from ideal end result.

Read More

Mostly a disaster

Ok, this has to be one of the weakest BLs of the year, and maybe one of the weakest all time that doesn’t come from a small company with low-budget and completely inexperienced actors. Author Mame cannot write anything different from what she has written in the past, so we got “Love by Chance 2: A Chance to Love” and “TharnType 2: 7 Years of Love” and now this series, all really bad series and all very similar series in terms of plot and scenes. I’m amazed as to why there are so many comments and reviews that say this is the “best series ever” and score this with a perfect 10… I wonder what are they drinking/smoking to be so delusional and here is why…

The premise for this series were the two characters that appeared in “TharnType 2”, Fiat and Leo, that get their own BL series for reasons that are beyond my comprehension. In TT2, Fiat gets injured and needs physical therapy, only to be treated by Dr. Type and that immediately causes a stir in Fiat's thin body and, despite the constant rejections from Type and also knowing that Type has a boyfriend, Fiat decides that he will steal Type for himself all while acting out as a spoiled brat that throws tantrums like a 3-yr. old would do. All this is watched by Fiat’s best friend, Leo, who has been secretly in love with Fiat for many many years but has never gather the balls and the courage to tell him. After some clumsy attempts to stop Fiat from harming the Tharn-Type relationship he confesses his love for Fiat, which brings us to this series. So basically, a guy who tried to wreck a relationship and then behaved like a slut and another guy who was happy just being his best friend and not confessing his love got a full series... go figure!

So, let’s talk lead actors. First plays Fiat and Ja plays Leo and I’m sure both are really nice guys in their real lives but I cannot find any charm in them acting in this series nor as a couple. Fiat is always a nagging, whining, bitchy, crying mess because in all the episodes he is either complaining about Leo’s younger brother, Leon (more on him later), acting like a diva in front of his friends and rivals, crying like a little baby after every single misunderstanding with Leo (and there are PLENTY of those), and becoming an emotional mess around his own family. Sadly, First does not do a good job trying to portray all these emotions, whether it's his bad acting mixed with some bad directing and coaching or is just his lack of talent, but I did not like him in “Tharn-Type 2” and still don’t like him here. Ja is a bit better portraying Leo as he needs to be the stronger one in this relationship and his emotionless expressions and cold stares normally do the trick. But as several reviewers have pointed out, this couple sure lacks some chemistry on screen and while they don’t look as uncomfortable during the kissing scenes and the sex scenes as Plan and Mean did in “Love by Chance” and “Love by Chance 2”, they sure struggle.

Now, the secondary couple has Smart playing Leon and James playing Pob and surprisingly enough, newcomer Smart does a decent job portraying the savvy and charming Leon that knows what he wants and insists until he gets it but he does it without being pushy, controlling or annoying like Leo. Pob is the sweet and caring guy who wants to help orphan children and rescue stray cats but is hesitant to trust “playboy” Leon immediately. Eventually he does fall for him and their relationship evolves in a much more normal and stable way with Leon courting Pob and always asking his permission to do things he knows might be uncomfortable or awkward for Pob. In real life, James is 8 years older than Smart (28 vs. 20 years old), but despite the age difference, they do have much more chemistry and seem a bit more committed to the intimate scenes than the lead actors. These two characters are the only saving grace of this disaster and it is a shame that the end was not a satisfying one for them. In very usual Thai BL fashion, we have Pob leaving Thailand to help orphan children in a remote location after realizing his application for the job was accepted. In more clichés, he does not know when he will be back and he does not want to hinder Leon’s dreams if he comes with him so they break up.

The rest of the supporting juvenile actors do not really provide much to the series aside from a few funny moments from the twins and all of them joining forces in the last episode to prevent Punn and King from doing bad things and splitting Fiat and Leo. The older actors are mainly Fiat’s father, crazy mother and stepmother and also Leo/Leon parents. And here is where I begin the headache that is the plot/storyline of this show.
a. Fiat’s father divorced his mother because she has a mental illness and she makes Fiat believe nobody loves him except her. Fiat develops a hate towards women around his father so he is always rude and cold towards his stepmother and stepsister. Fiat’s mother escapes the mental institution and finds Fiat so she brings back all of Fiat’s traumas. Leo is the one “negotiating” with Fiat’s father to solve this issue and tell Fiat the truth so they can be a happy family again. All of this because Fiat seems unable of having a conversation with his father and his father is unwilling to tell Fiat all the truth.
b. Fiat loves Leo with all his heart but both are unable to communicate effectively and efficiently during the series leading to many misunderstandings, confusion, tears, arguments, etc. It becomes a bit repetitive as both fight and cry only to finally understand what happened in the next episode and have sex. And now, I’m always up for some sexy scenes when the scene makes sense in the plot, but Mame had this habit in “Tharn-Type 2” of including sex scenes nearly every other episode and she did the same thing here with Fiat and Leo kissing and having sex constantly.
c. Leo played the martyr role because he waited for Fiat during “Tharn-Type 2” but now that he confessed, he turns into the dominant type, who is always there to basically control and possess Fiat as he wishes. This story is not as innocent as two best friends falling in love because Leo is quite the controlling type and Fiat is quite the submissive type that is a bit awkward to watch. Several times during the series Leo tells Fiat that he hates seeing him talk to other guys and that he will “lock him up” so he cannot do that because he gets jealous and possessive of him and Fiat just says “ok” (episode 12) which leads to more sex.

There is one more special episode coming November 6 to basically show us how happy Leo and Fiat are and how Pob comes back from abroad to find Leon and be together happily ever after as I’m sure Mame will do the same predictable things she did for the “Tharn-Type 2” special episode. UPDATE: Turns out the special episode was more of the same disappointing writing from Mame. Just like she skipped 7 years in Tharn-Type for season 2, she decided to jump 3 years into the future in this episode only to have Leo-Fiat still do the same things they did before in terms of nagging, whining by Fiat and an almost obsessive jealousy and possessiveness by Leo (seriously, this dude has some issues). Nothing relevant happens with them after coming back to Thailand. Leon and Phob should have had a happy ending but Mame and the director decided to make us suffer even more by making them miss each other by mere moments in almost every scene they were on. Phob sent emails for 3 years to Leon because Phob forgot there are phones to communicate... Leon also forgot his password and didn't check that email account at all because he apparently has never heard of password recovery. The special episode just left the door wide open for Mame to get more money by writing a new (and surely mediocre) series for Leon and Phob.

In the end, I had very low expectations for this show and it did not disappoint. Aside from the Smart-James secondary couple, the show was poorly written, poorly directed and had incredibly bad plots and storylines that combined with more or less mediocre acting, ended up being what I wrote in the title, mostly a disaster. So, if you already watched this series, “say no” this time and don’t watch it again.

Read More

An attempt that falls flat

It is a shame... I've seen most of the reviews and comments posted in here and I agree with some of them.
The idea presented by director Anusorn and GagaOOlala when part 1 was about to air was an original and almost controversial one. Exposing some of the ugly truths about BLs, particularly in Thailand, that happen usually in small companies with low budgets and inexperienced actors that don't have proper representation and need the job and shameless directors or producers who might take advantage of that inexperience, was something unheard of in a world where everyone watched BL stories and shipped the couples without thinking about what was happening behind-the-scenes.

Anusorn had a very successful series when the remake of 2Moons, now labeled as "2Moons2", aired in a production done by a company called Mello. However, it is well known that Mello has had plenty of issues in the past with poor handling of their actors that led the original cast of "2Moons" to be completely replaced for "2Moons2". Anusorn was also told he will not be directing the new sequel, "2Moons3", so he openly complained on social media and promised to expose some of the secrets from the industry. Then, in more errors, Mello created a music group with the "2Moons2" main cast but excluded Earth, which caused a whole bunch of protests from the fans and ended with most of the cast quitting "2Moons3".

This whole process took Anusorn to direct "Call It What You Want" and "Call It What You Want 2" with GagaOOlala and it gathered quite a lot of interest because of what he promised to deliver... sadly, he delivered something, just not what we all expected. The series (speaking of CIWYW as a whole) was a failure in my opinion and here is why:

1. While part 1 had a nice setup of the characters and the situation that Bas was facing with his boss, Tee, part 2 descended into chaos with how rushed some of the stories were developing. From Bas crying his heart out and Marco taking him on a road trip to the beach, to Bas exposing Ait and James and trying to kill himself, to Marco saving him and having sex, to the press conference. It ALL felt super rushed... Marco drove through Bangkok in 3 minutes to save Bas and fell in love with Bas in like 2 seconds apparently.

2. The plot in part 2 makes no sense. Marco and Bas have barely met, so there is no reason to take him on a beach trip. At least I don't bring someone I nearly just met on a trip and share a room with that person. Then comes the plot mess of Marco and his love decisions... he loves James, he hides his feelings but Ait senses that he likes James, but during the beach trip he is starting to like Bas, only to turn around and confess his feelings to James after Ait corners him into doing so, then he drives like a maniac to rescue Bas who is about to kill himself, saves him and immediately decides to have sex with him (despite Bas having all the trauma from Tee's sexual harassment that drove him to the suicide attempt, but they seem to ignore that), then Marco openly questions James and Ait about their relationship during the press conference with no apparent reason as both James and Ait look confused and don't know how to handle it in the beginning. So, Marco goes through many phases in just 6 episodes but some don't make sense.

3. Bas had the most miraculous recovery of a clinically-depressed patient I've ever seen. From crying in episodes 1 and 2, telling James and Ait about Tee's abuse, getting mad/jealous of Ait and James and sending their picture to Tee just to expose them, to crying again when his father called him a failure, to trying to kill himself, to finding love with Marco. In just 6 episodes, Bas magically recovers and goes happily with Marco. I will say that Michael (the actor who plays Bas) did a very good job in portraying his emotions from a distressed man that was a victim of abuse, to a depressed man being labeled as a failure by his own family, to a hopeless man when he felt nobody was able to help him, to a hopeful man when Marco showed him that he needed to have more confidence and self-esteem.

4. The James-Ait relationship was dull and boring. Ait is a whiny spoiled brat who desperately wants James's attention and James is confused (in part 1) about wanting to risk his career as a director for a relationship with Ait and then acts like a firefighter (in part 2) putting out all the fires caused by Marco's confession, Ait's tantrums, Tee's abuse, Bas's mental health, etc. The confession in episode 6 was nice but it was way too long and useless. All BL fans know BL couples are fake (with very few exceptions like Both-Newyear in "Top Secret Together"), all BL fans know that BL couples do a LOT of fan service in all the press conferences, interviews or live IG sessions, etc., by acting all cute and lovely around each other... the issue is that SOME BL fans do not want to understand that is all an act and want to live in a bubble where their favorite BL couple is real and love each other. That is why Max received a lot of angry messages when he revealed his relationship with Mook Worranit, as BL fans were obsessed about him and Tul being an actual couple. That is why fans were concerned when it was announced that Saint will not appear in "Love by Chance 2" as fans claimed that Saint and Perth were the perfect couple. The message that James and Ait tried to portray in episode 6 was a nice one in theory, but in reality, obsessed BL fans will not understand that fiction is not the same as reality.

5. The villain of the story, Tee, just vanishes. After Bas, Marco and Kaprao decide to expose Tee in the press conference, he just stands up and walks out of the room without answering any questions from the press and without providing any sort of explanation. The woman who acted as the main sponsor of the fake series Ait and Bas were starring, just looks around disappointed and then we see James directing the new series and Bas and Ait acting in it... but no Tee anywhere and no scene that maybe showed him being in jail or something. The whole idea of director Anusorn was to expose some of the ugly truths behind Thai BLs and you had Bas suffering from Tee's harrassment since season 1, you would at least expect some punishment for Tee... but NOTHING happened to him on screen. And yes, I am aware that sometimes the guilty person can go unpunished but since this is a story that was created with the specific purpose of showing these truths, but, sadly, part 2 just focused too much on the Ait-James and Marco-Bas relationships rather than focusing on exposing the bad guy. And also, why have Kaprao if you are barely going to use him in both parts? He is the one who initially accused Tee so he should play a bigger role that what was given to him,

In the end, "Call It What You Want" parts 1 and 2 end up being a failed attempt to bring something different to the Thai BL industry and is just, yet another mediocre series in my opinion.

Read More

Such a complicated mess

No idea where to begin... I never expected this series to be any good and I was not mistaken. But, I also never expected 6 episodes of confusion and more confusion combined with poor acting, terrible directing. This has to be one of 2023's weakest BLs and we've had several disasters this year... here's why:

1. Gun Napat simply cannot act. I'm sure he is a charming person in his everyday life but he either never listens to his acting coach or he just can't produce any leading role material. He was the funny character in the quite disappointing "Love by Chance 2: A Chance to Love" and then he was lead role in the mediocre "Golden Blood" and his acting remains almost the same. No improvement over his silly way of delivering lines without any particular emotion and always crooking one side of his mouth when he smiles or when he is angry or when he is sad or when he cries. I'm not sure if it's a nervous tick or he has an issue with his face but it is always the same. One side goes up no matter what so he seems to be smirking when he is crying and that, to me, is so distracting. He is also the least believable doctor in the entire world, but that is not his fault... that is the production and director's problem to cast him in that character.

2. The plot twists were so much it was making me dizzy, especially in the end. Mai turns out to be Thana, Ryou turns out to be Phatit and from what Dena narrates near the end of episode 6, Nack turns out to be Naphat. So, this story seems to convey the message that nobody was happy with their situation so they all had to resort to wishing in a mysterious café first managed by Kaownah and then managed by Kaew (I think that was her name). It is a never-ending train of persons who are unhappy and want to wish for something else. Ryou wanting Mai to love him, Nack wanting to kiss Ryou, Thana wanting to find a job, Kaew wanting to see her son again. All that would have been fine, but the jumps in timeline from the past to the present are so confusing at times that I don't know what wish are we on or who asked for it.

3. Forgettable characters. None of the characters is really likeable... maybe Ryou saves himself but then he goes and wishes someone to "love him forever" (as if that is something you can just unilaterally wish for). Nack is a bully to Mai because he is jealous that Ryou likes Mai instead of him. We think he is the one that locks him up in episode 1 but it turns out to be Dena who is also jealous because she likes Ryou but he thinks of both her and Nack as best friends. As a result, they also go to the café to wish for something but I nearly had to pull out a board to write down who was wishing what and what timeline was it happening. Then, Kaew takes over the café and we see Dome (previously seen in 2Moons2) appear and at first I thought he got Kaew pregnant during their high school years so I was confused. Later, I realized he is the son of that relationship who Kaew gave away for adoption and the father looked exactly like the son... I mean, they could have used another random actor to portray the father instead of having Dome play both roles (and considering he was one of the weakest in 2Moons2, his acting is not exactly prize worthy). Bhu (who we saw in "Manner of Death" and "Nitiman") and Ryou seem to have the most chemistry between them but I felt both were a bit subdued in their roles and didn't give us more memorable moments... probably because of...

4. Poor directing/writing. The concept of the show is not that original but the execution could have avoided this confusing mess. Situations that were never explained as, after finding out that Mai and Ryou are Thana and Phatit, we ended up jumping from the past to the present to see all the things that led each of them to wish in the café. We fell into the usual clichés of Mai not wanting to be gay because of his parents but then contradicting himself when he almost rapes Ryou. The usual jealous third wheel that tries to sabotage a relationship like we saw Dena try to do by locking up Mai or Nack try to do by bullying Mai. The common love triangle with Ryou being the center of attention as both Nack and Dena like him but he only has eyes for Mai. The cheating moment with the lead couple with Thana getting oral sex from Time only to be discovered by Phatit and then the most ridiculous conversation happening between them with Thana asking for forgiveness and Phatit suggesting that if a couple stay together for a long time, cheating is bound to happen so his "brilliant" solution is proposing an open relationship so Thana can have sex with whoever he wants as long as he tells Phatit about it. If all relationships went like that, well, I'm sure it would be a disaster for many. Most of the situations in the show were poorly handled which led to more confusion and things that had to be solved near the end of episode 6.

So, in the end, a disappointing series that at least ended after 6 episodes instead of torturing us for 12 like others have done in the past (see Love Syndrome III with Frank for an example). A shame because now for every decent BL series we have, we seem to get 4-5 mediocre ones and 1-2 complete disasters.

Read More

Good but not great

This series generated quite a lot of expectations when it was announced that Jimmy and Tommy will act along Korean actors in a Korean-Thai co-production filmed in Korea.

The show has some strong points:

1) Good chemistry: Jimmy and Tommy have acted together in "Why R U" and have been a BL "couple" ever since... so we knew they have good chemistry. Their main issue was the challenge of going to Korea to film alongside Korean actors and get used to the Korean way of doing dramas. They talked about it in several videos you can find on Youtube and overall I think they did a very decent job. And yes, I know Jimmy's acting skills still need to improve, especially in the sad/dramatic scenes, but I felt he provided very nice moments throughout the series. In addition, his chemistry with Korean actor Choi Jae-hyun was not perfect but it was quite good despite Jae-hyun being 5 years older than Jimmy and having quite a bit more acting experience.
Both play their roles effectively and convincingly enough. And while other Korean BL series have had better chemistry among the lead actors (see "To My Star", "Where Your Eyes Linger" and "Mr. Heart" for examples) both actors navigated through the language barrier to present a very decent product.

2) The music: This was one of the best parts of the series. The OST is nice and all the music surrounding some of the scenes was always on point and even complemented the weather and the mood on the scene.

Now some of the not so strong points:

1) Plot: The story of someone being able to see a ghost is not new (see Thailand's very good "He's Coming to Me" with Singto and Ohm Pawat and the 2 episodes dedicated to the Thurs-Pao/Pae story in the disaster that was "Y-Destiny" for examples) but the story of Yoon-oh and Peach brought the added fact that Yoon-oh could not leave for the afterlife because he had a deep sorrow to solve. Despite what the preview mentioned about Yoon-oh and his mother being a bit distant, I always wondered about the "real" sorrow that Yoon-oh could have... was it a) his relationship with his mother, b) his feelings for Peach, c) the cause of his death, d) a combination of all of the above?
The first episodes were clearly focused on his relationship with his mother because Yoon-oh seemed to be hindering some anger or resentment towards her. Then, when Mario starts meddling in the Yoon-oh/Peach relationship, we see some hints of Yoon-oh being sad or regretful about loving Peach but not being able to remain with him forever. Then, near the end of the series, the issue of Yoon-oh's death is brought to the center with suicide being ruled out thanks to new footage from another car's dashcam. We also get very few details of Yoon-oh's visit to Phuket so we assume they fell in love with each other there but never had the chance to develop those feelings with Yoon-oh returning to Korea and Peach going to Africa for charity work.
The problem with all of these scenarios is that the plot never really focuses on one aspect alone and works on it to develop it in a more satisfying way. They jumped from the mother-son relationship, to the Yoon-oh/Peach relationship, to even involving the man trying to sue Yoon-oh's mother for malpractice as being the one who caused Yoon-oh to step into traffic and be killed (which is a weak argument as the man never pushed him or forced him to start walking on the street) and then, all is magically resolved in the final half of episode 10.

2) Support actors: Tommy, the girl who helps Peach in the café (Shin-ji) and the girl's mother (Soo-jin) are all connected as Tommy's character, Mario, also has a deep sorrow that he couldn't solve in many many years, but ends up being solved in about 3 episodes of the series. He worked at the resort and fell in love with Soo-jin but then died on a fire without being able to see her. His sorrow was that he never knew why she didn't show up... we find the reason around episode 8 and that was it, nothing very significant.
Yoon-oh's mother and the man who is trying to sue her have some intense interactions as he blames her for his daughter being in a coma but she proves to him that it was not her fault. But, as the lead surgeon on duty and with the hospital trying to prevent a scandal that will generate bad reputation, she tries to hide the incident at first but then takes responsibility for it. The hospital director is just a crook who only thinks about the economic aspect and the hospital's reputation with a possible lawsuit instead of anything else and the 2 cops who investigate Yoon-oh's death are probably the worst cops in Korea by doing a very very poor investigation of the case.
Of all the characters, Mario and Yoon-oh's mother should be the 2 most important ones but he gets lost a bit thanks to a weak plot/scenario for his character and Yoon-oh's mother gets involved with the possible lawsuit and the hospital way more than she should. I mean, Peach tells her he can see and interact with Yoon-oh, she faints when Peach proves it by talking about the cat she adopted and then gave away because of her allergies and then, nothing... that topic is not touched again until the Christmas party when Yoon-oh sings on episode 10 and Peach tells her he is singing in front of her.

3) The finale: I get Yoon-oh had to leave but we never get the real reason of his deep sorrow, which is why I think it might have been a combination of all the 3 options I mentioned above. In the end, he just says "I love you" to Peach and without any goodbye, he just vanishes in thin air before being able to kiss Peach (for the third time on the series). Then, when Peach is in the now closed café, the kettle starts boiling out of nowhere which might signal that Yoon-oh came back or actually never left in the first place, but we never get a clear answer. The finale was a bit disappointing as big chunks of the last part of the episode were spent with Yoon-oh singing the same song twice, first at the party and later in front of the sea with Jimmy looking like he was about to freeze (they filmed in winter and both Jimmy and Tommy being from Thailand had to deal with snow and cold temperatures, something both were not very used to).

The movie version should come out at some point in 2022 and, if they follow all the previous Korean BL dramas, it will usually include a bit more scenes that were not included in the regular episodes due to time constraints. Hopefully, we get an extra scene with a bit more than just the kettle boiling, otherwise the finale will remain a bit disappointing.

In the end, the series had nice moments and I'm sure Jimmy and Tommy faced challenges when dealing with dialogues in Thai and Korean and also having to adapt to a mostly Korean production. Filming in a foreign country without dominating the language is always hard and it takes a lot of courage to do it. Sadly, the end product was just good but not great.

Read More