The Love Never Sets

The Love Did Set

Indeed, there is much to unpack in this series. Unfortunately, rather than trying to deal with it with any cornerstone to reality, they choose to deal with it in the make-believe world of BL. One can guess what the direction is going to be and indeed you would be correct. It is your standard use of tropey storylines. The story tries too hard to cover too much and fails in almost all of it. Through all of this, redemption does happen. While there are certainly redemptive arcs in the storyline, to get there requires twisted logic and implausible plot twists. Plus, the angry rich father who then ‘sees the light’ and/or rejected mother who begs for forgiveness routines are getting way over used and are now officially trite. Each one of those redemption arcs required and should have had a whole episode in and of itself. Regrettably, there is also no serious screen chemistry between the protagonists although they ‘look’ good together. One cannot act out sincerity; it must be felt. It needs to come out of the screen and grab you. Unfortunately, those two lacked a passion in their relationship. They only went through courting motions.

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A really important message!

This is a series that requires an open mind. On one hand, we have JaTae working together for the first time, which demands a significant investment of work, dedication, and commitment from the actors. Added to that is the story's backdrop, which deals with such a difficult subject matter. I think that, obviously, although there are flaws, as in any production, it was an excellent job by the entire production team. From my personal perspective, it would have been desirable to see Ja's character confronting his father from a much earlier stage in the series, but as the plot progressed, I had to remind myself how different the staging of Asian productions is compared to the rest of the world. In Asia, respect for parents is sometimes portrayed so deeply that even the worst treatment doesn't provoke confrontations from children towards their parents. I found the portrayal of JaTae's characters in the short film within the series wonderful (and I cried a lot). It conveys an important message.

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What do you think?

i like it and hate it
1) ice didnt act well at the first 5 episodes. Idk if he did it on purpose but it didnt look believable at all. Saint was great from start to finish
2) the side couples (wxw, bxb) are cringe to the point i had to skip their scenes. Especially the two guys, the acting is bad, the "jealous" scenes look forced, their eye contact insufferable.
3) the crazy ex and the professor? im traumatised, it went on for so long and the "reactions to their actions" felt rushed at the end eg when the professor was caught in the moment. Even saint's dad was against them the whole time and on the 13th episode he said hmm okay (????)
4) the music is great as it is in most bls
the ending was better than most of the episodes, but i doubt i will rewatch this ever again

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Strong side BL and GL Couple

I know this is a first go for JaTae and I did appreciate seeing their potential in the series. I hope as time goes on they will grow in their comfortableness. My excitement in watching the series was DomonAtom as the side couple. Both fairly new to BL and it did not show at all. Their chemistry was very good, they played of each others characters well and it always left me wanting more in anticipation of the next episode. The GL Couple of NikitaJaja were so good!! They are so well suited and I will need to see them in a lead role with their own series.
This was Tae's first lead BL role and it is some big shoes to fill with partnering with Ja, like I said I hope they can continue to work on their comfortability with each other.

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Good but not great

I will start this by saying i was very excited for this series as I love Ja as an actor and the storyline was something different than what we usually get. Now I will also continue this by saying that begging of the series and the end of it feel like 2 very different quality series...

The beginning of the series was something I actually enjoyed watching, it was interesting and the chemistry between Ja and Tae was AMAZING. Unfortunately that didn't last... the moment their characters got in a relationship that chemistry was nowhere to be seen....
Tae is not ready to be a main character and his kiss scenes were horror show. For goodness sake your partner was Ja THE JA the one who knows how to kiss, who isn't shy to kiss his partner!! The kiss scenes left me frustrated because of Tae and his lack of reciprocation during them. Genuinely hope he stops accepting roles until he doesn't get comfortable with kissing other people.

Next couple. The girls. In all honesty I skipped them... I tried to give them a chance but the plot was not something in enjoyed that beginning of their relationship felt so rushed to me that I just couldn't get pass it.

Finally MudBook the only couple that had good chemistry from start to finish and weren't shy around each other. The plot of their relationship was also good but I do love some level of toxicity in relationships.

All in all I was left disappointed especially when Ice and Saint decided to give that person a chance. Warm was supposed to be left in past, forgotten and not forgiven. I was rooting for this series, but not everyone deserves a happy ending. A good watch, but definitely won't be rewatching it.

I also do love the OST.

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The series is okay overall. It was fun to see Ja with a new partner and to finally see Tae in a main role.

Both are good actors, but I’m not sure if they are the right pairing for each other (my personal opinion).

I also wonder if they will continue as a pairing or if this was only for this series.

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Emotional and heartwarming but slow and lacking depth

This reminds me so much of the earlier BL dramas and also some newer ones such as lITA ( side couple) and tharntype (without the toxicity).

It has very sweet and emotional moments involving a few misunderstandings about each other where they have to work to gain the others trust and overcome traumatic past events. Ja is an experienced, almost veteran BL actor at this stage having starred in many BL dramas since 2019 such as Tharntype and Don't say no which paved the way for many other series. This new CP with Tae is perfect, they compliment each other very well in terms of skill and style making the scenes believable.

This series touches on many mature topics such as sexual abuse, trauma, nightmares/mental health and bullying. However it fails to deliver with integrating these into the story leaving it hollow. It is a series about healing and growing together as a couple, I have always enjoyed this genre for BL since Tharntype however it is portrayed with less toxicity with no abuse at least with the main couple.

Consent is taken seriously, the characters take on a project as actors under an inexperienced director and there is a scene where they forget to ask consent when acting out a 'restraint' scene before checking if they were both ok first. They then discuss the right and wrong way to perform scenes and begin workshopping.

Some scenes are a little childish such as the bullies pouring water over themselves and bowing low asking for forgiveness, this came of as comedic and was not taken seriously even though ice was hurt by their actions. I find the smoking scenes to be unnecessary as well as the really awkward bra advertising scene right in the middle of an intimate moment.

edit: The show really starts to drag around episode 7 and some of the character interactions are quite childish making the production look low quality. There is a lot of unnecessary drama and an S/A scene where the jealous ex is wearing a comically stained shirt to suggest he hasn't washed and spilled food on himself.

The scenes with the second couple GL, are sprinkled in with not much build up and a strange ad for a bra company right in the middle of an intimate scene which is distasteful and insulting to the actors and their work in the moment.

The main story itself is quite weak and takes forever to build and reach any sort of excitement.

Warnings: The show promotes smoking in a few scenes. Some scenes may also be triggering as it covers topics such as SA and trauma.

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I had high hopes

The starting was little bit tacky and lacking. I've never written a review in my life. I solely made this account today to write this review after finishing episode 7. I sat through whatever this drama was trying to be. Trauma? Romance? College life? Separation? Second chances? Asshole predatory professors and boyfriends who deserve to be thrown into the ocean. I didn't want to give up on the drama because trauma and reemergence of characters from said trauma (re- Sky from LITA) to me is like what a flame is to a moth. I just can't ignore it but then the end of episode happened and I was like "no" do not ask him to kiss you right now. Honestly...what was the thought process behind that? Like come on! I get it that everybody processes trauma differently but those around them are supposed to bear responsibility.

This just felt a little cheap and hollow to me. You could have had so many scene to differentiate Saint from other characters-especially Warm...it was not difficult. This just was not it. And you want me to believe an assault victim isn't vigilant about their surroundings-with an intoxicated ex just around the corner. Throughout that scene I kept going "Lock the damn door!". I can overlook whatever happened after that because locking up\freezing up is the kind of response your body turns to when something like this happens again BUT you're telling me he didn't lock that damn door for whatever reasons!??

This felt a little insensitive to me.

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In love omg!!what took me so long to watch?!!??

so like I’m love this show so much omg!!
JaTae omg where do I start. these two when I first saw they would be paired together I was excited to see what they had in store and I omg I couldn’t be happier! there chemistry was amazing!

Their characters Saint and Ice where both emotionally complex characters with their own traumas to deal with. Saint with his Abusive dad (who I got to say that actor did his job cause I wanted to jump into the screen and punch him so bad😅😅), Ice who was forced into doing noir films and that son of a ******** professor Mint who essentially r**** him and countless other boys. Ice was going through it and omg I wanted to hug him so bad🥲🥲I was so happy when Saint finally told ice what happened and why he disappeared and I loved watch them be able to grow their relationship. I don’t understand the other reviews they were amazing and I can’t wait to see this pairing in future projects🤍

Now.. When I say Book and Mud took me by surprise it would be an understatement. I love these two so much like Domon and atom did an amazing job protraying these characters! I was in love with thee two and I wish we got more of them 😔🥲🥲 Like no joke I need them paired together in another series!!

My Gl couple SeaLanee where spectacular!! My smile was so big every time I saw them on screen! I literally am in love I was so happy when Lanee’s mom when Lanee confessed that she didn’t like Saint and that she liked sea she accepted and apologized to her that if she knew she didn’t like him she would have never made them be arranged and that is a W mother right there😌. Nikita and JaJa need to act in another series together for my sanity they look so cute together🥹🥹🤍

As much as I hated Warm I’m kinda happy that Saint and Tae gave him a second chance at the end. also warm’s actor Bounus is so cute 🥹🥹 I hope to see him in another project soon!!!

overall this series did have it’s moments but it’s not bad I truly enjoyed this series and it talks about topics that are important and I loved that. the topics of S/H and S/A can be very easily misinterpreted in media so I’m glad they didn’t sugar coat it and all showed it. I’m so sad this Series is over tho I’m so glad I was able to watch it🤍🤍

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The show that tried to do to much

This show started off strong and I was really rooting for it. The six main characters were all likeable and the actors, for the most part, did well with the material they were given. The concept of a porn star leaving the industry and returning to college was compelling and original.

Unfortunately, this show suffered from trying to do to much. In a 13 episode series they tried to cover:

- Sex work
- Sexual assault
- Abusive, controlling, and neglectful parents
- Redemption arcs for 2 of the 3 terrible parents
- Blackmail
- Class differences
- Consent
- Coming out
- 3 romance arcs
- Jealousy and miscommunication tropes
- A show within a show that includes death and over-the-top 90s era homophobia
- An overly complicated plot to overthrow a cartoonishly evil professor
- Bullies learning the error of their ways and becoming supporters of their former victim
- A protagonist who also has a burgeoning music career in the middle of all this
- Having a character who has experienced pretty horrific sexual assault SEEK OUT an ex-boyfriend who attempted to SA him and invite him to join his music label?!!!

And they tried to do all of this while keeping the tone pretty light. There was just no way to do justice to all of these issues and plotlines. And I hate to say this because I really like Tae as an actor, but he's not great at on-screen kissing, which makes his love scenes with Ja kind of a rough watch.

Kind of a smaller complaint, but having a bra ad in the middle of an NC scene was a really strange choice.

Domon and Atom (Mud and Book) were my favorite part of this show- I hope it's a launching pad for them to get better projects.

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