This is another show I should’ve probably dropped after a few episodes, but I was hopeful it might get better, so I pushed through. Get better it did not. In fact, I’d say it only got worse…

The acting is probably the least offensive part of this series. None of the performances are award worthy, but nobody stands out as too over the top or too stoic. The chemistry is also one of the better aspects. For the side couples, it’s not great. I can’t really put too much blame on the actors though, because they weren’t given the necessary scenes and dialogue that would’ve allowed any chemistry to shine. The main couple consisting of Mos and Bank is much stronger on the chemistry spectrum. However, they also got cursed by cringe dialogue which made many of their scenes hard to watch.

In terms of character writing, this show doesn’t really deliver much. Though most side characters are more interesting than the main leads, they’re not really fleshed out either. Most of them can be described by a single character trait (or two if we’re generous). In my opinion, Sam had the most potential, being the younger son of the company owner. He went undercover as an intern and it was actually refreshing to see how he acts really down to earth for someone of massive wealth. Sadly, we didn’t get to see much of him, and when his mother found out about what he was doing, she immediately put him in a higher up position. I have no idea how he even has any qualifications for the job, but I guess they’re at least depicting nepotism accurately.
Sun, one of the main leads, is basically a slimy piece of cardboard with a lot of money. We don’t know anything about his qualifications either (or I missed it because this show made me almost fall asleep several times), but he suddenly gets put in charge of the company when his mother steps down. The series depicts very little about his work, but we don’t really know who he is outside of work either. His main personality trait is being whipped and horny for Lin. Oh, and he’s a horse boy.
His love interest, Lin, doesn’t have much more to offer. He’s also rich, and he’s dedicated to his job and jewellery. Though he has one thing going for him: He’s by far one of the most inactive main characters I’ve ever seen in a BL — it’s actually impressive. The guy literally does nothing throughout the show, and he’s getting great opportunities thrown at him, making him one of the biggest Mary Sue characters in BL. Essentially, his entire arc can be summed up as "privileged pretty boy gets everything he wants with the help of his even richer boyfriend.“ Lin doesn’t have to solve any of his own problems, making him redundant in what’s supposed to be his own story. Instead, Sun or Lin’s friends do the dirty work for him. I’m not exaggerating. The guy gets an internship at one of the most pristine jewellery companies where he’s immediately inspiring change by calling out their designs as "too similar“ — a problem apparently none of the experienced designers working there could fix. So, Lin immediately designs something so beautiful (despite nobody really training him on 3D design or anything. Seriously, nobody ever wants to help the interns, so why hire them in the first place??) that his design is the one used to be presented to a very important client. When there’s an accusation that he stole said design, Lin doesn’t lift a finger to disprove the claims. He cries for a few minutes, then it feels like he just forgot about the entire thing while his boyfriend and friends try to solve the mystery. Of course he doesn’t get fired over this either. I know he didn’t rip anyone off, but if he wasn’t so privileged, firing him would be what most bosses consider. Then again, the boss is his boyfriend, so… That very boyfriend then takes Lin to see the important client. Of course Lin has another "exceptional“ work ready to present which the client chooses right away, immediately trusting a company that was just accused of plagiarism. And as if all that’s not enough, of course our precious darling angel Lin also gets chosen to be her model. Must be nice to have life go your way like that.

The story as a whole is pretty boring. It’s your standard workplace BL that doesn’t really have anything interesting to offer, other than the added element of visions and dreams of Lin’s soul realm — which we don’t have any grasp on yet even though the show is almost over. That mystery element doesn’t mash well with the rest of the show, making it feel like someone accidentally added scenes of a different series into the mix. The whole thing really could’ve been eight episodes (or preferably stayed in the drafts) because there aren’t really any overarching plots going on. Some plot strands are just forgotten about (such as Lin’s friends just forgetting he’s seeing a guy he met online) or they’re not explored whatsoever (such as Yo’s family having to deal with debt collectors).

We have four couples in this show which is too many. You could argue that Juladis and Chan don’t really count since they’re already established and don’t get much screen time. However, they still take away a few minutes each episode that could’ve and should’ve been spent on fleshing out one of the other ships, because they needed it.
The GL couple is executed pretty poorly with Pim being dumped by her boyfriend, then immediately kissing Prim like a day later. It’s also incredibly unoriginal because it follows the "I’ve loved you since we went to school together but never confessed, and now we meet again at work“ trope. It’s also incredibly frustrating because Prim lets her feelings get in the way, basically refusing to teach Pim, the intern, anything. That’s why I just don’t generally vibe with office romances — at least not if the two are in different power positions.
The BL side couple of Sam and Yo is my favorite. I can’t even really tell you why though because it’s not well done. They have a cat and mouse dynamic, which I like, but it’s not executed well. They get hot and cold for no reason, making it feel confusing more than anything. They also got together without any meaningful build up. We mainly just saw them bickering at work and boom, they’re suddenly dating. Sam having lied to Yo about who he is was also dealt with in a useless way. Yo pouting for an episode and then immediately forgiving Sam without him even really explaining much is not solving conflict, that’s just magically making the conflict disappear. Ugh.

Lin and Sun having met through online dating is actually a somewhat original premise. However, they meet at the end of the first episode, so that doesn’t last for a long time. They don’t start dating right away because they don’t know each other well enough. Great, I thought! That makes a lot of sense, and I’d appreciate it if it weren’t for the fact that they act like boyfriends right away. They might not have a label yet, but they’re all lovey-dovey. It doesn’t feel like they’re getting to know each other, it just feels like they’re all in from the start. They do wait a while to kiss and have sex though. Sun is presented as some noble man who doesn’t give into his lust, instead waiting for Lin to be ready to get intimate. I hate how we have to praise him for the bare minimum but I digress. Anyway, the two of them are incredibly cringe together. Don’t get me wrong, I like my BLs sweet but they are over the top, especially for their age (more on that in a bit), and their dialogue feels so unnatural and slimy. So despite their solid chemistry, they just gave me the ick. Especially because of their age gap, paired with the power imbalance of Lin being an intern at Sun’s company. Sun immediately made use of his power when Lin was angry at him for having lied about his work. Sun sends Lin on a work trip and manipulates the whole thing so he can go with him. He uses his position to get closer to Lin when Lin had explicitly told him he didn’t feel like speaking to him. It’s not cute, it’s creepy. It was obvious that Lin felt uncomfortable with their relationship because he wanted to hide it. When Sun asks Lin to be his boyfriend, Lin says they should wait until his internship is over. I was so happy when he said that, just to be hit in the face seconds later. You see, Sun doesn’t accept this, instead tells him to stop thinking about what others will think and just act on his feelings. So they do start dating. Great.

In Wandee Goodday, I complained about the adults acting like teenagers. I’d like to formally apologise because in comparison to this, Dee and Yak are oozing maturity. Despite Sun being almost thirty and the rest of them being in their early twenties, they all act like a bunch of teens, or even pre-teens. It’s incredibly irritating. Lin’s friends act like high school kids who are way too involved (and borderline obsessed with) his love and sex life. They also worry an unhealthy amount about him. Sun gets horny from every little thing Lin does like he’s just discovered what sex is. When Yo and Sam start dating, Sam asks Yo for a kiss. Yo’s just like "Are you crazy?“ like kissing isn’t a normal thing adults do. He does give him a little peck in the end, but it feels reminiscent of someone sneaking a peck at the back of the school where the teachers can’t see. Of course Lin has never kissed or slept with anyone before either because he needs to be pure for our hunky, horny, experienced love interest. Sun keeps talking to Lin in baby voice which made me want to crawl out of my skin. All in all, he treats him like a kid, so when Lin asked to call Sun "Khun Dad,“ I honestly couldn’t blame him. Still made me want to die though. I’ll never get the whole daddy thing, but each to their own I guess.

Where the show fucked up by far the worst is playing sexual assault for laughs. At the bus stop, an older man grabs Lin’s ass. This is a horrible thing to happen, and something many people suffer through in real life, often resulting in trauma. Portraying this kind of thing happening to a man (when often, people assume victims are just female) could’ve been a powerful message. However, they didn’t handle this with any grace. The only reason the scene even exists is so Lin can humorously kick the guy in the face, and so Sun can play the role of worried boyfriend. Other than that, this serves no narrative purpose and has no impact on Lin’s mental health. Good for him, but that’s not usually how that goes. If you’re not going to send any sort of message or at least make an important plot line out of it, then don’t add something like this. It’s not lighthearted entertainment, it’s a real issue for many people, and you’re just making fun of it. That's in really, really poor taste.

I also hated Lin’s and Sun’s first meeting. Lin goes to meet Sun at a hotel room after talking online a bunch, having never met him before. That’s soooo dangerous! Yes, his friends came along, but they stayed in the car where they couldn’t have intervened at all if something were to happen.

As for the positives… There aren’t many. The only thing I can really think of is that the show looks visually stunning. The sets are beautiful, the costumes are fitting, and the camera work is pretty. That gives it some brownie points at least.

All in all, I really think I’ve wasted my time with this one. I was hoping things would improve, but clearly I’m too hopeful for my own good sometimes. So the moral of the story is that I need to learn how to drop shows a lot sooner. I will not be watching the remaining episodes to get at least a little of my time back. Maybe my review will keep some other people from wasting their time on this, so at least I’ll have done a good deed by pushing through for this long.