This review may contain spoilers
Imperfect, realistic take on modern love
I initially was drawn to watch this series via the trailer. The All Star cast excited me and the adult storylines seemed to be a “finally” moment for many BL fans of diverse ages and nationalities. As someone who identifies as a part of the LGBTQ+ community, I felt that this series has something for everyone. Character development is a true strong suit of this series, and I was impressed by the writing and each character we are given. From the innocent, naive virgin who has his perspective shifted from heartbreak (Mew) to the one sided, slightly obsessed guy in love with a toxic f***boy (Nick), there was character development to appreciate from all. (Even Boston got a tiny, TINY change of perspective or introspection, albeit not enough).I found myself identifying with Nick (Mark) the most, and it was impressive to see him and Boston (Neo) act out their toxic characters and situationship in a mature way. The writing for them was spot on nailing the essence of a situationship that many of us in the LGBTQ community can identify with all too well. Likewise, the evolution of Sand (First) and Ray (Khaotung) is a roller coaster that most viewers will find that they can’t help but root for. While Mew (Book) and Top (Force) did well and the acting was great, I found myself less invested in their story.
My only wishes for this series is that the trans and lesbian characters had more development and screen time, and a scrapping of the Boeing plot twist/character introduction, but enjoyed the mature writing of the overall series and felt it truly nailed many aspects of the often messy and drama filled romantic tropes that exist for some of us in 2024.
Watch this series if you want some drama, plot twists, character development and growth, a great OST and playlist, mature characters, and someone to root for or identify with.
Don’t watch this is you want a cookie cutter GMMTV BL with nothing but happiness, no conflict, and a perfect romance! (also you will get plenty of fansevice fluff in Only Friends, you just have to wade through a pool of sometimes toxic behavior to get there).
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This review may contain spoilers
Bagunça!
Apesar da história ter como foco principal a história dos amigos que administram um hotel, ela não conta realmente a história deles. Isso pq logo de EP 2 o conteúdo se espalha e cada vez aquilo que deveria ser o foco se torna apenas pano de fundo.Todos os personagens compartilham da falta de desenvolvimento, a série tem vários arcos importantes mas não traz impacto o suficiente pq os personagens não tem intimida com o público, não são apresentados da maneira correta para o público.
O casal protagonista (Mew e Top) também é apagado, não tendo química ou qualquer tipo de brilho eles acabam sendo ofuscado toda a série pelo casal secundário (Ray e Sand)
Apesar de ser um personagem que claramente foi feito pra movimentar o enredo, Boston ao decorrer dos episódios se torna o melhor personagem da série pois mantém sua veracidade, história e personalidade.
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This feels like a real series! And it is!
It's so refreshing to see behavior like Boston's, that is usually forgiven or completly overlooked in a lot of BL's, actually have consequences. Truly the way Boston's storyline ended IS the true sign of how unique this series is.Khaotung is so good at crying I love him. Also I really appreciate Boston’s capacity to cause literally every single conflict in this series. Also a Thai bl that spent money on actual costumes for a costume party?? This is so absurdly different from everything else, it’s not the best romance obviously but it’s so charming and so worth the watch.
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This review may contain spoilers
Realistic view of teenagers discovering themselves
This is a gritty story of a group of late teenage (mainly) boys with too many hormones and not enough life experience as they crash from one bed to another leaving a trail of confusion and heartache in their wake.The story centres around 4 kids who, as part of their end of year project, decide to create a business plan and renovate an old hotel with the intention of running it together. The kids consist of Mew, an innocent, nerdy gay virgin determined not to lose his V card via a one night stand. Boston/Ton, the son of a politician, who is a complete man whore. Ray, a wealthy young man whose mother died from alcohol poisoning who seems determined to follow in her footsteps. And Cheaum a lesbian in a stable relationship who seems the only one with little or no axe to grind.
As the four of them move through the year the boys crash and burn, heal and move forward. Mew learns that changing your outer appearance and trying a relationship out of obligation doesn’t heal heartache but standing up for your principles might just get you what you want. Boston starts to develop the beginnings of a conscience as he learns that pretending to change to make someone happy is pointless and only ends up hurting that person more. Ray learns that he deserves sobriety and that unconditional support and patience can lead to a better, happier life. And Cheaum learns that being honest rather than saying what you think your loved one wants to hear makes for a better relationship. Along the way we also meet Top, Sand and Nick who all become integral to the plot and, towards the end one final character Boeing, appears who seems hellbent on making several of the other characters as miserable as he is.
At the outset of the series, Mew and Top’s roller coaster relationship seemed to be the main focus of the drama but about a third of the way through I began rooting for Ray and Sand who had a much more subtle, slow burn, sometimes dysfunctional and often toxic one.
The whole series is incredibly well acted and the various plot lines interweave brilliantly and for a plot as steamy as this I was surprised at how most of the NC scenes stopped at chest shots rather than full s*x scenes which was quite refreshing even though there was plenty of chemistry. In fact the lack of explicit action did not stop things from being totally believable.
In fact the acting and plot were so good that I became really invested and spent a lot of the time tsking, saying “No! Don’t do it!” or just wanting to slap the characters as they wove from one drama to the next but I was spell bound from the beginning and rooting for 4 of the relationships that did eventually gain solidity. That said, I was rolling my eyes at the last scene where another Boston/Boeing manwhore pitched up.
This BL is worth a look if your wanting something gritty and ugly but with honest and sometimes happy endings.
Would I watch again? Probably if I didn’t have a hundred others out there waiting for me.
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only grindr fans who hate romance
Firstly, this is a very watchable departure from the standard BL mode. This is both bad and good...bad that it wasted the actors on a hook-up culture that leaves little room for anything that resembles love or intimacy. And good in the sense that you have good-looking couples with chemistry stepping on and crushing the BL mode. It's great to experiment and change things up..this goes a little too far in the direction of only-fans or the opposite of a romantic comedy.The story is basically each character getting out of their underwear to pass the time on conquests and cruel mind games with others. Toss in drama drama drama and you have a recipe for a hot mess. But, strangely if you get past episode two you can't stop watching. Like with most trainwrecks or messy characters, you root for them to redeem themselves or have fun yelling at the screen when characters do unnecessary bad things to other people.
In the end, I hope this opens conversations and expands future BL shows to show the many different sides of relationships. I tend to connect more with romance, and less trashy characters but maybe there's a way to do both or watch create watchable variations like is show...
but also that can give viewers hope that love exists.
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Entertainingly Messy
This show can be summed up by just one word...mess. This isn't necessarily a bad thing because it was very enjoyable. I binged this series so quickly and most episodes didn't disappoint me. The only episode that truly made me think "was this necessary" was episode 12/the finale. I think some choices on the production side took me out at times (esp audio). I wholeheartedly believe this show would have never been as good if it wasn't for the actor's performances. I'm pretty new to Thai bls and quickly fell for some actors. One of these included Khaotung's portrayal of Ray. He portrayed this complicated character who people could either love or hate and not many could have pulled off this character the way he did. Overall enjoyed the show and will probably rewatch it, especially for the growing and complicated relationship between Sand and Ray who were honestly the only couple out of the main 3 I was rooting for.Was this review helpful to you?
Story was way better than i thought it was going to be
So this was a pretty good story about the messy relationships between people trying to figure out how to deal with falling in love with people that theyre pretending to be "just friends" or friends with benefits with people they actually fell in love with. The story was way better than i thought it was going to be, honestly. Another theme that they dealt with interestingly is the recognizing the differences between a person who is a h*e and wants to change their lifestyle and someone who is a h*e who is playing around with someone's feelings because they dont know how to love or love themselves, let alone other people. I like how they handled that theme because not everything is a happy ending for every couple in real life and they showed how alot of the struggles that people have in relationships (like forgiveness and jealousy) cause different results in relationships. And it wasnt just black and white either, which i like. What was clear was the differences in intent and effort to change when the person who messed up apologizes and is asking for forgivess while promising to change. All very real relationship concerns when it comes to that.Was this review helpful to you?
unexpectedly, it’s really good
I just started watching bl so I came across this, without knowing any of them I fell in love with sandray, firstkhao really executed their emotions into their characters really well and now I can proudly say I became a fan of them. the plot was a bit messy at first but I love how it ended, I really can’t wait for the second season. I’m not a big fan of topmew story, idk I dislike top even tho he had a character development there’s still something abt him that I dislike but their chemistry is top tier, mew is THAT character, he really came from 🌸💕to 🖤🔪. I hate boston but neo is a really good actor, he acts so well and surprisingly neo and mark is not an official cp when their scenes are so intense and the chemistry is out of the world.Was this review helpful to you?
Only friends who kiss every other friend!!
As my heading suggests, this drama is one crazy kind where all characters are busy kissing or f***ing each other... Like literally!!Don't expect moral values like honesty, commitment, loyalty etc while watching this show, you will be highly disappointed.
The star cast is too good and you will find all GMMTV actors here playing small to micro second roles which are amusing to watch.
The chemistry of all actors are great especially Sand and Ray.. they both are fire in this.
I didn't personally like Top.. I find him too stiff as an actor with limited expressions and dead face.
Boston's character was actually sl*tty and he played it too well, so much that you will literally hate him.
Rest all characters were also good.
WARNING:
Every episode has a kissing scene or s*x scene with great sounds so better watch it with your earbuds plugged in.
Enjoy this messed up show and learn how not to be "only friends" with your friends :D 😂
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This review may contain spoilers
A strong takeoff that misses the landing
What a true rollercoaster of a show in every sense of the word. This show presents some of the best acting out of GMMTV to date, with incredible performances from Khao, First, Force, Book, Mark and Neo. However, the explosive start to the series finished with a sizzle.If you don't know, this story was loosely based on the writer's group of friends. I believe the biased view of these characters, coupled with the branding of these pairs, forced the story to take a turn that was neither good to its characters or to its audience.
You knew from the start that Top and Mew would be together because they are Force and Book. You knew that Sand and Ray would be together because they are First and Khao. In any other story this wouldn't matter, but you show that these characters are so deeply flawed and dirty and raw, that to try to clean it up in the last act feels cheap. Then your only non-branded pair (and the writers self-insert) ends with one feeling high and mighty, and one slut shamed.
I also think that the show suffered from the classic Thai 12 episode format, because it had its climax so early in the show, that the falling action felt like it was dragging and the fun was gone.
Overall I enjoyed the experience, but know that this is a very complicated fav.
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That was something…
I highed up my expectations for nothing, there wasn’t really a story just some fucked friend group that shows you how fucked up they could be each episode. The cast is amazing they did a really good job at disgusting me, so shoutout to that.. honestly i didn’t like it from the very start, I personally do not like those kind of shows it’s just not for me. The reason I watched the whole thing was because of firstkhao so…Was this review helpful to you?
Some of the known BL couples being challenged in fidelity
This BL is unlike almost all the others, where only the shipped couples are allowed to show kissing. Here they are on a path of discovering who they are and what they seek in a partner.Let’s start with First, who blew me away with his acting so I looked up what else he acted in and realized he was in one of the best BL’s “Not Me”, definitely have to rewatch it. I also binged the shipper where First had the main role and got to kiss with Ohm. So First did get his fair share of kissing with boys. He moved into my top 5 of BL actors. Can we all agree he has such a nice smile?
Khoathung played his boyfriend and when he looks at you intriguing, how can you not fall for him?
The second main also has been together in other BL’s and had a nice storyline. What I didn’t like is they also had to sniffkiss a couple of times where the other couples gave decent kisses. Force and Book did give 2 or 3 times a good kiss, but you could see they’re not so comfortable. Neo and Mark on the other hand where very into their character and had some hot scenes. Mark who played Nick, was so adorable.
Some more familiar faces of BL’s do pop up as well.
Definitely a rewatch, also one of the better BL’s in 2023
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