The Middleman's Love: Uncut

Omg, I Can’t Even…

This is the worst Thai BL I’ve ever seen. I even enjoyed Sangmin Dinneaw which had some of the cringiest scenes I’ve ever seen. So that’s saying a lot. I watch the dramas purely for entertainment. I don’t even care if some relationships start off toxic. These are fictional so I don’t analyze each character. But whoever wrote the character of Jade must’ve been high. He was single-handedly the most annoying character, like fingernails to a blackboard, can’t continue watching. I watched ep 1 and ep 8. I’ve watched Cutie Pie and Bed Friends and didn’t really have a problem with Jade. But I don’t know who decided to change character settings on him but the way he speaks is grating and abnormal. So obviously, Jade and Mai get together. What Mai sees in Jade, I don’t know. But holy cow, even skipping to the last episode, I found it excruciating. I do not recommend. This is WATCH AT YOUR OWN RISK…risk of throwing something at the screen to stop Jade’s high pitched banter and weird facial movements. The voice was annoying, the facial expressions super annoying. I actually never even made it to other couples. But had to watch at least the ending. The show owes me. I need compensation.

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It COULD have been a just simple and cute love story, BUT....

What is up with the ridiculous and over-exaggerated acting by Yim (Jade)???? Why can’t he act normal like all the other characters?? It was so over-the-top that it was unbearable for almost the entirety of the show. Yim looks so handsome and normal in the special interview episode. I would have dropped this drama within the first 5 minutes if I weren’t watching this for a clown watch challenge.

I was confused when the show started. Was I watching the right show or was I watching an anime? Three to four minutes in, I realized I was in for a very bumpy ride. The acting is ROUGH.

The plot is very simple. Mai is adorable and is a super green flag. Thank god for supportive parents and family. It was cute following Mai's attempt to court Jade, who has no idea Mai is in love with him. As a rom-com lover, I love it and it’s my jam. But…. Did I mention I hate Jade (Yim’s overacting)?

The secondary romance between the other two interns is boring. I forgot about them after they left my screen. The writing and the acting are not good. What a waste of time.

The saving grace is Uea and King. They are so pretty to look at, and so fun to watch. They have great chemistry and almost make me want to check out “Bed Friend”. Uea (James) is so pretty and I love his aloof sassiness, and he knows he has King at his fingertips. King (Net) is such a good-looking guy. I love that he’s tall, DARK and handsome, and totally smitten. The two of them are also great friends to Jade. They are supportive yet never cross the lines in exposing Jade’s secrets/feelings/history to Mai.

The second half of the drama drags. There isn’t a lot going on aside from Mai’s internal conflict and indecisiveness. I understand why he feels this way, given his upbringing and failed relationship. But that lasted too long and I became very bored in ep 5-7. There’s a lot of filler in this short drama. Do we really need to spend so much time at the sports day, which has no sports but a bunch of party games like a fraternity party?

Once Mai and Jade finally get together, it’s full-on cringey, sweet, fluffiness. This is a little hard to tolerate, but at least I expected this much. The drama jam packs all the kisses, skinship and sexy scenes all in one episode to make up for lost time. However, I can’t say I did not enjoy Mai’s (Tutor’s) enthusiasm in those kisses. LOL

Unfortunately, I cannot recommend this show, unless you REALLY love Yim and can tolerate that exaggerated acting. Don’t waste your time.



Completed: 7/3/2024 - Review #456

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Less than Middling

I really do like Yim and Tutor as actors and their commitment to their parts, but the direction of the show and the characters leaves much to be desired. Jade's over the top cartoonish over reactions to everything needs to be taken down at least 5 notches. It's grating more than cute, which is disappointing since Yim has the natural cute look. Everything just drags and drags until the only development nearly towards the end where Jade rejects Mai because of his insecurity from being dumped by his first boyfriend. Mai rightfully puts some distance between the two, but the show doesn't do anything with it. The only result is Jade finally sorts out his feelings for Mai without showing any change in any significant way. Mai's family is very lovely though and models loving supportive family behavior. While Jade is a whole cartoon caricature, Mai is really flat as a character as well, just moony eyes and willing to enable Jade's every whim without anything else to his personality. The supporting couples have their petty misunderstanding plots. The intimate scenes are somehow both try hard and directionless secondhand cringe, but a step less cringey than Bed Friends with the lowest bar. This director is capable of filming competent intimate scenes, I don't know why he massively fluctuates in his direction of both those particular scenes and the overall series in every project. There is no consistency.

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No... Just no... TutorYim deserve so much better

I watched this after Bed Friend, which comes before it, and which was a lot better.

Story? There wasn't really one. The main character is so insufferable that I found myself hoping the main love interest would just decide to move on. This was the weakest aspect of this series. Why did they change Jade so much from the first show? (Disclaimer: I haven't read any of the source material.)

The comedic moments are not funny. The actors were fine, but they weren't given much worthwhile to do. I watched most of this on double speed, and I never felt like I was missing anything. What was even happening? Two people like each other, and eventually get together, with no real conflict or any interesting aspect other than one of them being shy and insecure, but not in an endearing way, it's just irritating. It doesn't seem like Mai should be into Jade, and we don't see Jade fall for Mai either, we just assume it's mutual since Mai is absolutely perfect. Jade is absorbed in his hobbies and seems to develop feelings for Mai out of convenience, since the guy just shows up and wants to date him, which is not interesting. Scenes are slow and don't move the plot along (because there isn't one). The second couple is nothing special, but they're almost preferable to the main one just because of this horrible character Jade.

The main couple from Bed Friend could have been given something worthwhile to do, but instead they just acted as passive advisors on love and had some minor spats. Very boring. Everyone's families are there just to be generally supportive of everything going on. Very boring. The NC scenes were decent, but so few that they felt out of place. They could have at least given one to NetJames, so that at least some more interesting things would be going on.

Rewatch value: I will rewatch certain parts for Tutor's body, face, and especially tongue... it's doing a lot of heavy lifting for overall worth of this show. He's so fine, seriously.

I thought "Battle of the Writers" wasn't good, but it was something close to a masterpiece in comparison to this trash. If you like TutorYim, that's a much better watch.

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So this is my review after watching this. So many people might say, " DON'T WATCH IT, IT IS SOOOOOO BAD But it really isn't. I love the story as a whole, and I also love how Uea and King seemed like a mother and father to Jade. They also kept checking in on him when they noticed he was feeling sad and distant. At the start of the series, I thought of how loud Jade is. Then I realised that he is so loud to cover up his insecurities, it's like a perfect mask that he has made himself because he has seen how no one really loves him more than a platonic way, and also from when he got rejected and "hurt" by his EX. I also didn't really like Gus, as he really made it seem that he liked Mai, which almost ruined his relationship and Mai's. Maybe he did it to make Tong jealous. I don't really know, but overall, the story is really good; it makes you laugh, and it also makes you feel sad. It might be cringy for some, but it is a sweet kind of cringy, not one that makes you wonder what the actors are really doing, one that makes you have a warm heart if you get what I mean.

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It could have been so much better…

First of all. I love TutorYim. Love their chemistry and I loved them in Cutie Pie 1-2 although I didnt like the series they were my favourite, mine main reason I have watched it.

The Middleman’s love is just simply not good.
I gave it 5/10 just because TutorYim.
The plot is sooo boring and the main character is annoying over the top.
I love Yim but its hard to find the balance with an overthinker and loud character (For example Poon nailed it with Pun’s character in We are) but this time he didnt find the balance. They characteristic should have been changed because it was just not good at all and the overacting was really annoying.
Someone wrote that in the last episode we got some superior scenes but yes overall it was just not believeable and not because the chemistry was missing. The NC scenes were really good and hot but we spent 7 episode just with nothing happened between them.
I loved the side couple storyline though.

I defnitely not recommend to watch the whole series. If you love them just watch the last 2 episode and thats all.
But I cant wait TutorYim next series and I hopethat will be better!

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This could’ve had so much potential

This drama was not one of the best ones of 2023, but we all were waiting for it all the way once it was announced and after bed friend finished, but it wasn’t too good. I’m only giving this a 3.5 just because of my favorite couple in this series which was TongGus. They were just so cute every single time they were on screen and had so much chemistry together. Every scene that they were in made me so happy from the very beginning of Gus falling for Tong right away saying he’s his type and made him a coffee while flirting, when they left the office all the time together, when they had hot pot together and Gus saying his sad past with his mom, telling Tong off saying that the listener always remembers what the speaker says, when it was songkran and Tong was trying to make Gus like him again, when it was the office event and Tong got injured and Gus told the medic that to take good care of his boyfriend, and let’s not forget their steamy scene it was so insane I was screaming the whole time.
I can’t really write too much about this show because I can’t really seem to find a lot of good things about the show because it was either to messy or to chaotic. I do love both Tutor and Yim and think their a good pair, but this show was not it for them and plus Jade was also super duper loud throughout the show. Their would also be some comedic parts, but didn’t really help make the show more enjoyable. I also feel robbed about their being barely any scenes of Uea and King, because I do think they would also would’ve helped make the show a little bit better, but we only had to scenes which were valentines and a wedding ring scene of them because I do think they would also have helped make the show a little bit better. I would recommend this show, but their might be a lot of non enjoyable parts of the show.

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Very slow burn romance

It’s not immediate satisfaction or even the same as Bed Buddy, but it touches on realistic elements at the beginning of a relationship.
I also suspect Jade is in the spectrum and that’s why he gets overwhelmed with emotions. Uea hints at it a few times and how he has to be eased into anything.
Loved watching the family dynamic this time around and the reason for their emotional hang ups.
Glad I went in blindly and stayed just for the everyday life events. I don’t know why some talked about the lack of chemistry between the secondary characters. There was no need for them to display more and overshadow the main characters.

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I feel a bit cheated

I enjoyed this series to an extent, I do feel we were cheated on many things with this series. The main ones (for me) being 1. Jade and Mai don't get together until the very last episode. That means everything between them and after they got together etc living together, meeting the parents etc was rushed extremely and not in a good way in my opinion. The 2nd thing I feel cheated about was the scene of Uea and King in the intro, we never got that scene! I understand this wasn't their series but why put that scene in and get people excited if you're not going to do it?!

I liked Jade in Bed Friends and I was excited to see his story unfold but I also won’t lie and say that, 90% of the reason I even watching this, was for the Uea and King content I’ve dearly missed. Bed Friends was the second BL I’ve ever watched so the characters hold a special place in my heart.

I feel like the humor was too much at times, the whole series is basically a bad rom-com which focuses on the comedic aspects of it more than anything. Multiple times throughout the series I paused and wondered, “Wtf am I watching.” Sometimes the humor made up for that feeling but when you have to ask yourself multiple times, what am I watching?, then something might need to change.

I did love the little callbacks from Bed Friends, especially between King and Uea, but I also was disappointed by them as well because, did King propose to Uea at the end of Bed Friend? Cause I specifically remember a proposal but it is never once mentioned in this series, they don't even refer to each other as fiancé, just boyfriends.

And why tf did Jade get sick when Mai took his shirt off?! WTF Some of the choices made were just ridiculous.

Jade is the definition of oblivious cinnamon roll who is blind with and without his glasses. And, while I like that to an extent, they really overplayed it. And that whole fight/argument between King and Uea made no sense to me, it was just added so that all the couples of the show were having issues at the same time. I also didn't like how the first spicy scene we get isn’t between the main couple but the 3rd side characters. Don’t get me wrong it was steamy but, what was the point in waiting til the very last episode for Mai and Jade to get together? Plus, maybe this was just me but Jade and Mai's steamy scenes were kinda odd.

Overall I really don't think Middleman's Love did Yim and Tutor justice. They are talented and have such good chemistry together I hope we get a chance to seem them in something better.

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Great Concept, Poor Execution

It's wild how completely opposite ML is to its prequel, Bed Friend, especially since ML is a direct continuation of BF just with a switch in the main couple. Same characters, same lore, same locations.

I saw someone state that ML feels like they tried to lessen the seriousness and angst of BF and decided it was somehow a great idea to crank the craziness up to damn near 100. It's a shame because I really enjoyed Jade's character in BF! He's a little skittish in that one, sure, but not as bad as here.

I don't mind a show that has a weird, cartoony feel to it. In my opinion, Secret Crush On You executes this aesthetic very well- despite how I feel about the story in general. I think a major part of the reason why it works so well in that story is because the main character wasn't the only weird one: his friends were weird too, just not as bad as him. The actors pulled off them off VERY well. The overexaggerated personalities extended to the clothes they were and the use of colors in the entire sets. It's my favorite thing about SCOY, and I found myself rewatching episodes for the aesthetic alone.

Unlike that story, Jade in ML is the only one who's so over the top. Him being so isolated in that really highlighted how uncomfortably weird he was. And I'll go ahead and spoil something for you real quick:

We learn waaaay later in the story that the reason why Jade keeps himself in the middleman role and is so self sacrificial to a fault is because he dated years prior and the guy who dumped him basically said he was boring and overbearing.

Oh how I WISH they gave us this info sooner. I wholeheartedly believe that if the audience learns of this in the first episode or two, then most of us would be willing to sympathize with Jade's character. We'd be more willing to pay more attention to his antics.

But instead we get a solid 5 or 6 episodes (out of 8!!!) where he's borderline unbearable most of the time. Some might argue the show isn't worth watching because of him alone an d I wouldn't blame them for that.

I'd say his actor yells more than he talks. His expressions are so weirdly forced. And like...I don't necessarily blame his actor. I blame the directors and writers for this. They could've had him dial it down a bit but no they thought this was a great idea.

What makes things worse is that Jade's love interest, Mai, is so chill compared to Jade that he comes off as very one note. Mai, if the story was written well, could've been a great way to balance out Jade's character. But because Jade is so...well, *Jade*, Mai is unfortunately quite boring.

Which is such a bummer because like I stated previously, I was so looking forward to Yim and Tutor together. A friend of mine told me to skip ML and watch the show they did a year later called Battle of Writers. I just started it and let me tell you, I love them here way more than in ML.

Another major issue with the show is the pacing. It's 8 episodes long and yet they could've- *should've* had it be 4 or 5 episodes. The slow burn works in theory for both pairings, but in execution it felt like the story dragged a lot of the time. I do love slow burns, but this was not it. By the way, if you want a good slow burn story, watch Monster Next Door!

Other bad things:
1) I really did not like how fly-on-the-wall Uea and King were in this show. They do next to nothing to the point where they might as well not have been in the story. A big reason why I hate this is because I loved how much Jade helped them with their relationship in BF. I loved how Jade constantly offered Uea help with dealing with gross men. So I was hoping they would, to some extent, help more with Jade, but they barely did anything.
2) The audio quality was bizarre at times. In one of the later episodes, the music kept cutting off instead of seamlessly transitioning.
3) The side couple was more interesting and I hate when that happens.

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Now some good stuff:

Unfortunately, this is yet another story where the side couple is more interesting than the main couple. Gus and Tong were very cute. Their actors also looked cute together and their chemistry was pretty good! I do love a good Extroverted Bottom x Introverted Top situation, so I was pretty hooked from the get go. Unlike the main pair, I'd say their story was fairly well paced and the tension was good. A lot of what happens with them simply makes sense. Bare minimum, I know, but with this show, it must be mentioned.

I thought the small reveal that Gus isn't actually all that extroverted worked very well. Even I found myself surprised by it. I don't necessarily think giving him Dead Mother Syndrome was needed, but eh there's worse in this show.

Also, I loved the bit of nuance with their sexual roles. Like, normally it's the top chancing after the bottom but it was opposite here. The bottom was the one openly flirting with the top. I was convinced that Gus was the top- which I would've loved. A cute top with a serious bottom is another one of my favorite tropes.

At the end of the story, one of the characters states something about the 3 couples (one of which is from BF). He said it in a way that almost implied a sequel? I really don't think this story needs one, but if they do have one and the main couple is Gus and Tong, then I may watch it just for them.

Other good things:
1) Casting was very well done. A lot of the actors that played family members legit looked related in some ways.
2) Despite the mistakes in audio quality at times, I thought the choice of music overall was okay.
3) Mai's actor looked so pretty in every scene.
4) There definitely isn't as many sex scenes in ML as in BF- which is fine! But the couple that are in this show were well done. I didn't expect Gus and Tong to have one, so that was a very pleasant surprise. Both couples did a great job.
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Summary:

I'd recommend watching this if and only if there's a pair of actors you wanna watch for. I stuck it out to the end simply because I like Yim and Tutor together. Otherwise, I would've stopped a long time ago.

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Weighing the good and the bad

Weighing the good and the bad, I do believe this show was worth the watch.

The Bad :

Jade's Screaming. (Of course, I have to address this because it's probably the main reason why this show is disliked by a lot of people.) If you lower the volume whenever Jade starts screaming, it makes the show 10x better.

Lack of a plot. TBH, after watching Bed Friends, I was expecting deeper more complicated characters. This show definitely suffered from the departure of Jimmy and Tommy from the project, because scheduling was a affected and Bed Friend's was filmed before Middleman's Love, causing the main conflict in Middleman's Love source material to become obsolete. They tried to fix this problem with the addition of Ton and Gus, but it didn't quite work out, relegating King and Uea to minor roles.

The Good :

Unlike many shows that torture you until the last second, Middleman's Love gave us a whole episode of Jade and Mai together as a couple. Great NC scenes, great kissing scenes, cute couple moments and meeting each other's families. This episode alone was worth the shock Jade caused every time he screamed.

At the end of the day it was a cute short watch. If you can survive Jade, the first half, the second half gets better. I personally enjoyed episode 6 and on, the most.

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Disappointing

The only reason I'm giving The Middleman's Love any stars is for Tong/Gus (Leo/Tai) who are the only characters worth watching this for.

As another reviewer wrote, this series feels nothing like Bed Friend. King/Nuea (Net/James) characters have been decimated. Their relationship should be strong given this is set over a year after them being together, and they're engaged. Somehow the office has moved location (I guess it's cheap to film in your own offices), which I think might have been vaguely referenced once but otherwise ignored.

Mai/Jade (Tutor/Yim) appear to have no chemistry and I didn't realise they were Nuer/Syn from Cutie Pie as they were so awful in this. Jade is written as the most annoying character and not suited to be a leading part. Mai and Jade have no reason to like each other. Mai must have something seriously wrong with him to have fallen for Jade instantly.

The only characters that kept me watching were Tong and Gus. Can they have their own series? Actually, just Leo and Tai as different characters. I guess I need to look for Forever Friend to watch. The comments on MDL look like other series they've been linked to wrong be happening. Oh well.

My overall rating is 7.5/10 for the tertiary couple, 0.5/10 for everything else.

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