Adorble and clever

This is a story about a man's dog and cat coming back from the afterlife as humans - I don't think so much reincarnated as incarnated.

The casting and acting are wonderful - although human now, the pets still act like a dog and cat - Choco (dog) follows his former master everywhere, even at home, and escapes to follow Jung Woo when he goes out (especially if he's on a date), and Milk plays the "love me. Stop touching me" game of a cat.

There's no particularly important message to this, other than perhaps Carpe Diem, but it's relentlessly pleasant and fluffy without ever being cloying.

My only criticisms are, and the first is specific to me, the guitarist on the soundtrack kept sliding his fingers down the fret, which sets my teeth on edge and I often had to watch on mute.

More substantially, this is overly sanitized from the source material, being a hard G-rated. Choco is just plain sexy, but other than that, there was no heat between the leads - they had decent "hug" chemistry, but it felt like a primary school romance rather than an adult one, and that limited chemistry made it hard to invest as much as I would have liked to in the romance.

Still, this is one of the better series that aired this year, and is one you can go back to over and over.

The finale clearly set things up for a S2, which would be welcome.

Leia Mais

This was fantastic

When you get a first rate director, cinematographer, and editors, find a good script, and cast talented actors, then throw in some love, and you get something like this.

This is a story about a young man, Wang, who engineers stranding himself and his mother seemingly in the middle of nowhere, but in reality at the house of his dead father's closest friend, and his journey of self-exploration that results. This is not really a BL, and if you try to engage with it as a BL, you will not fully appreciate it. I think I saw some of the reviews call it heartbreaking, and it really isn't - but it's about Wang's journey and what he learns about life and himself. In that light, the story isn't at all tragic, because in the end he is wiser, stronger, and knows who he is.

My favorite thing is when a series takes advantage of the visual medium - every shot of this tells a story and supports the story. Sometimes it's obvious, like the role thee screen in In's room plays, or the bridge, and other times it's more subtle, with lighting and framing.

This felt like a play, and in reality it was - almost all of it takes place in one room - but it never ceases to be a film, never becomes static or tired, and every episode feels like it zips by. Every scene is allowed to develop, and is never belabored or rushed.

And I can't tell you what a huge breath of fresh air it is for romantic feelings to develop through normal interaction rather than accidental kisses or one boy tripping and the other catching him. Here it's a real connection, deep and rooted, and it has a power I haven't felt in a long time.

The acting is fantastic - with Pond as Wang it's obvious, but Nike and Mam are both wonderful in their roles as well.

There are a couple of things that were issues for me. While Nike was great, casting a 34-year old to play a 45 (ish)-year old is cheating a bit, and it also distorts the story because it makes Wang and In seem like a no-brainer because the generational difference is not visually obvious - if it were, In's hesitation might make more sense. The second is that Wang's mother is a bit much. Judging by the comments, the audience found her to be the villainess of the story, and she's not - but she's so histrionic and melodramatic that it's a bit too hard to feel sympathy for her.

Also, many people in the comments called In a coward - but is he? I can tell you for sure that I wouldn't let myself be strong-armed into a relationship with someone half my age (and the child of my best friend and my One True Love on top of that) that I'd known for only three days. That's not cowardice, it's just sensible. Wang wanted all or nothing and came on like runaway truck with a deeply introverted person - if he'd approached it as "let's get to know each other, he would likely have gotten what he wanted.

Anyway, this is one of the best series I've ever seen and I can't recommend it highly enough.

Leia Mais

Dull and Disappointing

Sometimes a total disaster of a series, like Unforgotten Night or So Much In Love, can be more entertaining to watch than a thorougly mediocre one. Coffee Melody aspires to be the most mediocre it possibly can without falling over the line into being bad. There are many things that can be individually critiqued, but the quality of this series that most stands out is its dullness.

Part of this is the limp script. Nothing really happens. The main pair meet and like each other and enter into an unearned relationship, there are a couple of minor bumps, all externally driven, and everyone lives happily ever after.

But even then, a featureless script can still create a series that's entertaining - but this production lacks any passion. Was Benz even playing a character, or just being himself? Pavel Naret was apparently neutered, given bad hair, and then directed to be as blandly nice as he could possibly be. The style department couldn't even be bothered to make Titnuea's hair a consistent color - one moment it's deep red, the next it's light pink. That's almost certainly because of the filming schedule, which is based on location, not the story's chronology, but that's the sort of sloppiness that's endemic to this series.

It's largely about musicians and music, but there isn't any until past he halfway mark, and it was underwhelming when it appeared. The sound editing is poor - sometimes the music drowns out the dialog, and other times you can barely hear it. Nobody could be bothered to write or obtain decent background music, so the just played easy-jazz piano Christmas carols.

In the end, this story has nothing to say. Even the difficulties of maintaining a long-distance relationship is papered over by having someone move abroad, and then move right back 5 seconds later. Presumably time has passed, but it was so poorly set up that it came off as unintentionally funny, and his boyfriend reacted as if he'd merely been on an overnight business trip.

There were a few positives: whoever wrote this has a love of coffee that came through, Palm Veerapat who plays Jean was adorable and engaging, and some of the ad-libbed scenes, mostly with Duean Yi's parents, were quite charming.

This isn't terrible. But it's so-so in the most boring way possible. I can't recommend it, and it saddens me, because I was excited Pavel got a role, and I hope this doesn't damage his chances of geting another one.

Leia Mais

Diabetes-inducing.

Here's representative dialogue:

Kluen: Can you not be any more lovable?
Daonuea: I'm a lovable person. I can't quit being lovable, can I?
Kluen: Continue being lovable. And I'll keep loving you. Love you with all my heart.

Vomit. That was corrected for a mistranslation - it's clear they were saying "lovable" and not "lovely", but it's terrible either way. That of course was followed by Kluen trying to kiss him and getting repeatedly pushed away, because gay sex, ick. The last thing I want a brand-new boyfriend to do is touch me.

That, incidentally, was followed by a scene featuring the late-20s couple, wherein a kiss on the cheek is treated like it's a huge deal. At least in this case Fah announced he planned to escalate their chaste slumber:

Fah: "I've changed my mind. I don't just want your company in bed. I want my boyfriend in bed." To me that means "crack out the lube and fire up the DoorDash - we're not leaving bed until Monday." To them it means cuddling while they sleep while fully dressed.

At least that didn't make me vomit. Just roll my eyes and sigh wearily. However, the extremely long product-placement scene where everyone force-fed each other fast-food fried chicken made me plenty queasy.

Every line is so predictable that you actually groan before it's even spoken. Here's a quiz:

Fah asks Prince: "Which do you like bettter - the mountains or the beach?"

Is the answer:

a) The mountains.
b) The beach.
c) Who cares? Take off your shirt so I can hump your abs.
d)

I don't need to fill in d), because you know exactly what it will be. And it's delivered with unsmiling gravitas as if it's the most meaningful and important thing anyone has ever said.

Physical Therapy is frequently held up as the worst BL of the year, but at least there was no possible way to predict what would happen (since it was randomly generated). Star & Sky is so formulaic and predictable that it's just insulting.

Do yourself a favor and skip it.

Story: 1. There is no story - just people being sickening. You can have cuteness without it sounding like it was written by a nine year old girl. Actually, that's really unfair to nine year old girls. There would at least be a cute bunny or a unicorn to distract me from the awful dialogue.

Acting: 3. Mek Jirakit is by far the best actor in this. Much like Mussolini was the least awful dictator in WW2.

Music: 3. The same two bars of synthesizer music played over and over.

Rewatch value: 1. Only if you promise to lobotomize me afterwards. Actually, scratch that. Make that only if you lobotomize me before.

Overall: 2. Sometimes a series is so bad that it's good. Not this one.

Leia Mais

It's very good, but that ending...

The acting in this is superb - all the actors did an excellent job, even all the minor parts. Some of that is good directing - there are actors in this that have been mediocre elsewhere that were fantastic in this. Standouts for me were Off, who had way more star power than he has in the past (and he's gotten mighty fine, I must say). There's a scene with Gawin that's an 11/10 - you won't be able to breathe (although some of that is beauty). Gunn has always been good, so no surprises there.

The Music is pretty good. It didn't really stand out to me very much, but it avoided tired cliches, never got in the way, and supported the story.

The story... this is a tough one. With the number of plot threads introduced, I kind of expected some of them to be dropped, but not ALL of them. The ending of this wasn't an ending - it just stopped, and it was way, way too happy for the story. It even ends with the tired cliche that this series had avoided up to that point, the triple-take kiss, which made me LOL it was so silly. I don't like sad endings, but come on. The only thing it was missing was a rainbow and unicorn. What was the point of Todd's character? He never did anything that was important to the plot, except for one thing before the series starts, and we never find out why he did it. He never does anything of consequence again (except look sexy).

The 2 BL romances were good, the straight ones just chewed up time and had nothing to do with the story. There's a lot of violence in this - a lot of it is necessary, but there's a lot that's just eye-rolling machismo and wasn't needed at all. For example there's a scene where someone hurts someone emotionally - it would have been a lot stronger if it was all words and not lots of punching. In another, a decision is made by an actual physical fight between the two viewpoints. This is never done again despte there being a huge number of times there was no consensus, so why that one time? There's another case where a character deliberately beats someone into a coma. How on earth do you calculate how much beating to administer that leads to worse than unconsciousness, but not quite death? Dumb and unnecessary.

All-in-all, this was a refreshingly different series - I just wish it could have been more nuanced than rich=bad and poor=good. Evil powerful people tend to be wealthy because evil poor people don't have the means to gain power (except in revolutions), not because rich people are inherently evil. Although to be fair the ending was so abrupt that it's not entirely clear even the main villain was a villain. In any case, you don't get points for including social issues if you having nothing to say.

I guess the secret to enjoying this is to not take it very seriously. Let's face it - this is a story about a law student who replaces his evil twin in a marxist motorcycle gang. (I know Black isn't evil, but he's definitely not the good twin). In the end, it contains some really good romance with great chemistry in both couples, and that's what saves it from it's total lack of plot. (Before anyone says it - consider a rope ladder. If you use excellent materials and fashion it with skill and artistry, but you never hang it up, is it a ladder, or an expensive pile of rope?)

I don't think I would rewatch this, but there are scenes I might go back to - there were several that were in the top handful in all of BL.

Overall: 8. It would have been a 9 or 9.5 if it had an ending.

Leia Mais

Cute but pointless

I didn't really get the point of this - it was fluffy but static. There was more than enough time to explore an element of their relationship, like what it's like for one of them to grow old and the other to stay young forever, or how annoying someone who is too neat and tidy can be - anything. The actor playing Ever 9 has an amazing body - I would have liked to see Yi Ping feeling awkward about being sexually attracted to him shirtless or something. I'm sure we've all thought about what sex with a robot would feel like emotionally - and since that's a very likely future for many or most people, it could stand to be explored.

Ever 9 looked hotter with his hair like that.

The bumper car scene and the competition after that were the highlight of the episode for me.

Anyway, if you liked Anti-Reset, you'll probably like this, but nothing happens and the kissing is so-so at best.

Leia Mais

Cute and forgettable

I enjoyed this, and I would recommend it, but it's a bit of a missed opportunity. There is no character work at all - and before anyone says it, it had the same run-time as The Godfather, so don't tell me there wasn't time for character arcs.

Its started off brilliantly, with the tsundere character actually being an insane fanboy barely repressing himself, which was genuinely funny - I even laughed out loud, which is unusual for me. The main character is surly, but in an interestingly masculine way even inside his cute boyish body.

But the entire plot is driven by misunderstanding, including implausible easily cleared up ones. A misunderstanding needs to be driven by the nature of the character, not just thrown in and not explained or dealt with, and the resolution also needs to be consistent with the characters. None of that is the case - the ending is just... the end. It happens suddenly and without any character progression or processing of anything, including the state of someone's apartment.

The chemistry between the leads was so-so - it wasn't unbelievable, but it also wasn't palpable.

This was cute and enjoyable, but I don't think I'll remember any of it in a month except for how delightfully weird Akafuji is and how it did things to me whenever Aoyanagi was angry.

Leia Mais

Well, that happened.

I'm not sure I've watched as series that's had such a reversal in my opinion of it. I was excited after the first episode - I like Meen & Ping, and I had hoped for a better vehicle for them than Ai Long Nhai, and here it was! But it was just a trick.

The first couple of episodes were good and engaging, with an odd and silly intersection of gaming and gangsters - I thought it would be campy fun, but instead, we got an endless stream of people making inexplicably bad decisions - solely to get the plot to progress from step to step. In order for there to be final drama, Tew has to spare the life of someone totally psychotic and evil when doing so put himself, Guy, the Boss, and everyone else associated with them in mortal danger - in fact it was double suicide, because he disobeyed the Boss to do this. It was so completely stupid and out of character that it pulled me completely out of the story. Maybe if the villain had been compelling instead of the offspring of a non-binary clown and John Lennon it could have worked, but Kenji is such an awful actor that his scenes gave me secondhand embarassment. (Tommy has a day job as a model, so he'll be fine - and he is fine, underneath the clown suit they make him wear.)

The rest of the series is a meandering mess, with an intriguing secondary couple that doesn't go anywhere, and a ton of side characters that could have been integrated into the story - like what if instead of being a sneering Beetle the villain had been sophisticated and smart, and it took the whole crew to take him down using their individual skills? But nope, all we got was Elton John on a bad hair day chewing up the scenery and also making insanely stupid decisions.

In the final episode there were lots of time jumps, over the types of things that it would have been interesting to watch, like the secondary couple getting together, but it was apparently necessary to cut all that out to include lots of scenes of Tew cooking boring dishes and having the same conversation with Ping on an endless loop.

OK, the positives - Meen is hot. I'm not even sure that's subjective. In fact the whole cast is attractive to the point that it made me watch the whole series (with judicious fast-fowarding).

Winner Tanatat is wasted on a side role, but he absolutely nails it and makes Wal a fully-realized character rather than just a villain-esque dick. He managed to play Wal as a loyal and loving friend while still giving him an unpleasantly domineering edge, but never so much as to send him over the line into villainy.

The fight scenes were not exactly cinematic in quality, but there were impressive for a small production like this.

I can't recommend this. Meen takes off his shirt a couple of times, which is worth seeing, but he probably does that on social media somewhere and you can stare at the glory that is his body all you want.

Leia Mais

I'm giving it an '8', but I didn't like it.

I'm torn on this one. It's well-written, exquisitely filmed, well-directed and pretty much excellent in every technical way.

I usually defend shorter works, but in this case, it's too short for the material it covered. Not plot-wise - all the story arcs conclude and while I wouldn't say it's a blissfully happy ending, it is realistic and convincing. It's in the emotions. It's bleak for too long with an awful person dominating the story, and there's only 3 minutes of relief.

I may be missing something, but I didn't see how the two stories were connected or how they complimented each other - it felt like two entirely different stories stapled together, and while the color grading and other skillful 'tricks' made it very clear what were flashbacks, the jumping around made the story feel even more disjointed.

And because there is rarely any context to what's going on, it's hard to figure out. Why were Archie and Kelvin at a high school at the end of the series? My guess was that Archie now teaches there and Kelvin found out and went there to find him, but then he was surprised that Archie had been there, which was just confusing. I may have all that totally wrong, but that would only amplify my point.

Anyway, I understand this is being made into a long series, which would be welcome if it's the same production crew, but I hope they find a better way to handle Archie & Kelvin's story than have a horrible, evil female character that sucks the desire to watch this out of me. It could be more nuanced with societal and family pressures driving Kelvin's decisions - making him get trapped and have no choice just makes him pathetic, and if I were Archie I wouldn't touch him with a 100' pole - he brutally dumped me once for her, why should I believe he won't do it again?

Leia Mais

I loved this, and I hate everything.

I don't know where they found the actor playing Ye Chan, but he was amazing. It can be hard to play a reserved character, but it's also hard to play one who hides nothing. He could slide so effortlessly between happieness, outrage, worry, shyness, and smoking hot sexy all within a few seconds - what a vesitile man.

The plot is sweet without being saccharine, and alhough it uses some BL tropes, it uses them logically, consistent with the characters, and seem like a natual extension of what was already going on.

There is no external drama thrown at the couple to keep them apart - everything doing that is organic to the characters, and not artificially inserted in the usual lazy writing that plagues BL.

The do start out with a mild enemies-to-lovers trope, but because they're realistic people, they quickly realize there was a misunderstanding and acknowlege their role in it.

I would do anything to have my own Ye Chan - how could anyone ask for a better boyfriend? 100% honest, 100% supportive in a selfless way, muscles all over the place, uncynical, and able to find happiness in simple things. And simultaneously cute and handsome, which is a brutal combination.

This is a story that could easily segue into a season 2, so here's hoping for that.

If I were to list negatives, it would be that Yul is not a very appealing character. He's a bit bland and often unpleasant, although that improved in the later episodes. Still, the actor was badly overshadowed by Ye Chan. It could have been longer, as the music issue was squeezed entirely into the last episode, and although it was set up earlier, maybe not enough.

Still, this was easily the most enjoyment I've gotten out of a BL in months, and you absolutely can't go wrong watching it

Leia Mais

A nice suprise

There is an inevitable comparison with Gameboys, but the similarities are only superficial - this is a totally different story with different themes.

This is well-done for what it is - and a rare examination of the disconnect between who we seem to be online and who we really are. I can't say too much about the story without spoiling, but the buildup of the plot and the main theme of the story is quite well-done.

However, the resolution was too easy and simplistic and let down the series overall by being unearned. It really needed 2-4 more episodes so that what happens can be processed - in a way that makes sense for teens.

The simple fact is that there is an element to attraction that is physical. There is nothing wrong with that. It can be problemmatic if ALL your criteria are physical, but there are just certain looks that appeal to us more than others. For example, I have a little trouble finding really tall men attractive, and I find Asian men more attractive than any others. That doesn't mean I'm never attracted to men of other races, and I'm sure there are cultural elements involved in my associations, and there's much more to any attractions I have than just physical.

The other thing that was a little off-putting was that there was a large personality difference between fantasy and reality as well. There is a power element to love relationships, and that is also OK and natural. In this case, Boss has an easy, cocky confidence and a sexual confidence that Tono doesn't have - I would find that exciting, and if that balance were suddenly reversed, it would be an issue. Also, there are limits to how different a person can look from what you expected - for example if they're 40 years older or a different gender. Small superficial differences are much easier to integrate than major, categorical ones (e.g. he's really a woman instead of a man vs. his hair is dark brown, not light brown or he looks a little heavier or lighter in person than on camera, etc.)

What I would have liked is some processing on the part of Tono - like his initial reaction is a bit shallow and he needs a little time to think about how that makes him feel and how important it is or isn't to how he feels about Boss, maybe talks it through with his friend, rather than the isntantaneous shrugging it off.

Anyway, I still liked it and it's worth watching. The pacing is good (except at the end), the actors work well togther even in the videochat format, and both are charming and have wll-drawn characters given the short length of the series. I hope we get a chance to see more of them both.

Leia Mais

Beautiful and powerful

This story is so authentic that it hurled me back to that age in a way that I haven't felt in a long time. This is what you can get when you put together good writing, directing, and acting.

In an hour a more complete story was told than you get in most 12-episode series - testament to the power of the image, and how a facial expression can convey more than 20 minutes of voiceover or exposition.

Oak is better in this than anything he's done before, conveying an innocent loneliness, insecurity, and longing in a way that you usually don't see as he's tended to be in more comical roles. Mon is shattering, and I was amazed at his first-rate performance in the last scene. That was very difficult material to pull off, and would have been dull with an off-the-shelf actor, but it's clear he put a lot of work and thought into the scene and received able guidance from the director, for whom this is clearly a very personal story.

Highly recommended.

Leia Mais

Very ambitious production

I gave this a relatively high rating because the scale of ambition here is so high, and the execution is fairly impressive for such a low-budget production - not low in BL terms, but for the CGI and effects, and all the fight scenes, they got good bang for the buck.

The cast is beautiful - every frame is full of eye-candy (for me, it was all about Gap as Yai and Nat as Art, but they're all hot and gorgeous), it's well-filmed, the acting is overall very good, the music is a step above the norm - but the writing is a mess.

How would you summarize Phaya and Tharn's characters? How did they develop over the course of a long series? Their personalities are similar and there's no journey at all. Even Chalothon (played with wonderful malicious glee by Heng), who has the largest character development, does it with a light-switch off-screen in the #1 enemy of good writing, the lazy time-jump. The side characters were all better drawn than the mains - for example, I could describe Yai in detail, but to be fair, he and Nat were the two best actors in the series, and infused their characters with layers.

Instead of Tharn sulking in flashbacks for the entire final episode, wouldn't it have been nice to see Tharn & Chalothon's interaction? What was the point of the artist character (named "Art")? I appreciated having Nat Sakdatorn wearing very little on my screen for an episode, but it, like most of the plot threads, went nowhere.

The main day-to-day villain is stolen from a Scooby Doo cartoon - I almost expected the "and I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for those pesky kids!" His sidekick has no personality whatsoever, so he should consider himself lucky. I think we know who the mentioned but never seen Big Boss is, but I'm really not sure given the way the series ended.

Billy & Babe get high scores for their lack of inhibition in the love scenes - that was real kissing, and their bodies even touched - but they're so hyper-romanticized and formulaic that they lack any heat, and I just didn't feel it. There is chemistry between the characters, but it's more best-friend chemistry than lover chemistry, at least from Babe, who didn't show much emotional range and I just didn't feel the love from him like I did from Billy. It was strange that they had Tharn in drag in all the past life scenes - that really served no purpose. Even if that role in the mythology it's derived from is female, then either have a woman play the role in those scenes, or just make his character male.

The series had a lot of good stuff in it, some great visuals, some intense scenes, but it seemed a bit like a collection of ideas someone had for great scenes with no coherent plan behind it. There are many plot threads that go nowhere and just take up time (although again, I'm not going to complain about getting my naked Nat, useless or not). His storyline seemed like it belonged to a totally different series (which I would have much rather watched), and I can't help but wonder if this was written as an episodic serial rather than a coherent novel.

And in the end, I was bored. I think perhaps the biggest problem is the lack of stakes. Shot 15 times? No worries, pshaw, he'll be fine! Impaled with a magical ice spear? Just a flesh wound. Fall off a cliff and plunge 1000 meters onto rocks? A nasty bumb, for sure, but nothing to worry about. It even got to the point where when people made comments that are usually the kiss of death, like "when this is all over, I'll have your favorite meal waiting for you at home", I still wasn't worried. There are a few characters for whom there's an explanation for why they aren't bruised and battered after fights, but that shouldn't apply to their hair still being pefect, although I suppose being supernatural could include magically-arranging hair. (Speaking of which, Billy's hair in Ep 12. Yikes.)

I was hoping for a spectacular final confrontation, but nope, nothing of the sort, other than a drug raid which resolved nothing. There was too much that I had to fast-forward through - so many flashbacks and pointless scenes - and because there were no stakes and no real purpose to them, the fight scenes were just filler for me.

I would recommend this for the visuals and actors, but I don't understand the incredibly high score. It's worth watching, and I hope it emboldens more sci-fi & fantasy-themed BLs, and I applaud the effort that went into this, but with better writing it could have been a 10/10.

Leia Mais

Tries to be too many things

The novel from which this series was adapted was apparently porn, and fairly transgressive at that. I can't help but ask if that was really the most suitable material.

This starts of as an Enemies to Lovers story on steroids, with the two being so awful to each other that it's hard to imagine coming back from it. Later on it emerges that Mangkorn has liked Yai for years. You mean like when you drugged and raped him, filmed it and used the footage to blackmail him? I might have started out by asking him on a date, but I guess we all have our playbooks.

Do note that Mangkorn discovered that Yai planned to do that to him and turned the tables, so It's not like Yai is some innocent victim.

Anyway, they fall in love, of course, and have all the typical BL problems from demanding fathers, arranged marraiges, inapporpriate jealousy, and implausible lack of communication, before the most inexplicably dull finale imaginable. One commenter called them "matured". Yes, matured if you mean married for 40 years and no longer have any passion left between them. There's a large chunk of their conversation that revolved around who was ordering flowers. There's even a flashback to provide the backstory to who was ordering flowers. Do we watch dramas to listen to people have a conversation like our elderly parents might have, or do we watch it for, I don't know, drama?

I don't necessarily need a realistic portrayal of what would happen if two 20-something men who are passionately in love and haven't seen each other for a year came together (hint: tons and tons of sex), but I do want to see the joy and passion and chemistry, not discussions of who ordered the flowers and career goals.

The transition from mutual attempted rape/blackmail to Disney princess is non existent - we really don't see the progression in their relationship, they just go from firey hatred and a desire to destroy each other to waiting up for the sunrise when they've been apart for a year (note: airliners have WCs and people have been brushing their teeth on them since the dawn of flight. Airports also have WCs, and if you're rich and flew Business, the lounge even has invidual fully-stocked private bathrooms).

There's apparently a Season 2. Joy.

The acting is quite good in this - I didn't notice at first, but both leads are considerably above average. There is good cinematograpy, but there are times when a shot is so obviously set up that it takes you out of the moment.

My intial reaction to this series was quite negative, and then it steadily grew on me, before taking a downswing with the finale where everyone started talking like greeting cards. It's not the worst series - I'm not sure I'd recomment it, but if you can get past the first three episodes it starts to get better. If not for the finale, I would have given this a 7.5.

Leia Mais

Kind of a guilty pleasure

This is not good. It's not terrible, but the writing is unimaginative and derivative. It's almost saved by its cast, but there is a glaring problem that prevented this from being the best execution of this plot type.

The problem is the main couple, which is a pointless and cliched story that is poorly written throughout, which is unfortunate, because none of the side couples (and there are three of them) have this issue. Even then, it might have been saved if the actors were fanastic with electric chemistry. And Fluke as Mek has a certain charm. But Earth... his acting is wholy lacking in authenticity - everything he does looks fake, even blinking (how can blinking look fake you ask? I don't know. But Earth manages it). He's not assisted by the writing, which makes Kim a prissy, grumpy and unpleasant person, who has no character developmen at all. As opposed to Mek, who turns 180 degrees from who he was like a light switch being flipped - he goes from a charming carefree prankster into a featureless dullness which paired with Kim makes you resent the amount of time spend on them in the finale.

The side couples are some of the best you'll ever see. Lee and Park are rather unusual in the way they meet and get togther, which is refreshing and interesting, and allows the story to examine a much different set of issues. Acted by two beautiful and talented actors, Daniel Cheng (Marco from Call It What You Want) and Bew Sitthikarn, a newcomer who I hope we see a lot more of, this is a compelling couple.

Bear and Bomb are a high-contrast couple, played by the lovable Por Patsakon and the pouty-sexy Yut Kritsadayut, with great chemistry and complimentary personalities. Tim and Mai don't get much screentime, but they also become interesting later on as the brooding popular boy and the perfect man for him in his taken-for-granted best friend who's always at his side encouraging him.

This series is too full of tropes and cliches to give it a high score, but if it had dispensed with the main couple and focused on the other three pairs, perhaps with Lee & Park as the main, this could have been an 8.5 or 9. I'm not sure why this keeps happening - I think maybe it's because the main couple has a "gimmick" and ends up having its story constrained by it, while secondary couples have more freedom. Also, for reasons that I'm not sure I understand, rookie actors are cast as mains, relegating the experienced and talented actors to side roles.

Anyway, despite the above, I do recommend this series - it was a guilty pleasure for me, but for the side characters. The cast is unusually attractive and charming, and I did get a lot of pleasure from it even if I had to put Kim & Mek on 2x to get through their tiresome scenes.

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