Eliot_Rulez

Not an redemption arc!

While I am happy that "Up" had a chance to play a different character (and we all did really hate him), I'm disapointed in the story. Ming understands what he did was wrong, but he did not change his character that much. I can believe that he now really tries hard to be a better partner, but we have no idea if his control and power issues has been dealt with and I doubt it.
There were scenes where he was lying on the floor not eating, just drinking and not doing much, but this did not help to change his narcisistic flaws which are still present in the finale. I guess the screenwriter are contradicting the character because they wanted an redemption arc.

I also would have wished, they used "Winner" for the first part of the show and only "Poom" for the second half. This would of course complicated filming, because both actors would have to learn the same mannerisms for their characters which would have made the story more interesting and the immersion in the story more believeable. That the same person plays both characters irked me a bit.

I'm not happy with Mings character development and the same for Joe. Joe is always Joe not standing up for himself, not understanding when to say no. I can understand you love whom you love but there should be a moment when your brain says "enough is enough!". This show had so much potential, the first four episodes had me hooked and I thought about how they will solve the redemption. And because of the lack of a real redemption arc this show fails. For me the finale was especially lackluster because everyone is now "happy", all is good and even Mike got Mings secretary as future BF (They should have expanded that arc as well), because most of the later episodes is a repeat of the first ones without the violence and lack of self-reflection on Mings part but he forces Joe once again repeating the same mistake again.

So overall the show is still above average even when the story-writing falls of a cliff. It did at least try to do something different in the sea of average shows, it did try to give us a mature story in the sea of university settings. And Up as Ming was really great!

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Typical GMMTV show with many spicey scenes but not much substance

After the first three episodes I did expect a more mature story with dark streaks and interesting twist. But as usual when watching a GMMTV show in most cases you get disapointed. The lead couple at least compensated with great chemestry and some sensual moments which really were done well.

Would it not have been for the lazy writing this show could have been actually good. It seems like for GMMTV BLs are just a mass market product where the focus is pleasing aesthetics (actors and filming) and a shallow story which does not require much brainpower. The most annoying thing is, all characters are really flat, there is no character development at all, there are always some clichés involved and there is always a bit of sillyness or childish behaviour, unnecessary story elements or elements not explored enough.

The first BL side couple was of course cute but Fluke was a bit stiff at times. The second BL side couples did not really have a story at all, it just "happened". And then is Dr. Ter, first rejecting Dr. Wandee, then forcing him and then he finds a girl - WTF?
The conflict between Yoryak and his fathers felt strange, because if you hold a deep resentment against a family member both would struggle to solve it. Most of the time the characters are not overly mature, so to have a nice ten minutes chat and it's solved is a bit unbelievable. Also the nightmares of Yoryak were not explored deep enough, we did not see any therapy session and so his resolves feels out of place for me, As I said, lazy writing.

Overall it's not a bad show, but it lacks in story-telling.

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Much better compared to Middleman's Love, but stil lazy writing

Some positives first: chemistry, costumes, and the better episodes later in the series, not romantising to try kissing a sleeping person and calling it out, sensible intimate moments, some fluff, making the writing in a book play out.
Some negatives: Cringe, forced funny moments which were not funny, weak writing and no "battle" at all, bad adlib for the chinese actor, weak ending.

Maybe it's my guilty pleasure but I personally found it not that bad compared to other shows and they outdid themselves with the visual presentation. Lazy writing still prevails in Thai shows, so that was a given, but an improvement of the last show for the MLs.

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Great acting but clichés and cowards

While it's good to see a prequel to Unintentional Love Story I'm not completly happy with the story.
First, I don't like clichés like "we are both guys, so it does not matter" 🤮 When can screenwriter just skip such BS.
Second, I am not a fan of cowards, in my eyes both of them are. Kim runs away from his love of his life and Go does not admit his feelings and does not communicate them. Because of the non-communication the end is what it is, even when both understand what they feel.

So I am a bit split If I really like this movie... Production quality was top notch, the acting was also top notch but the story left a bitter taste in my mouth. While not every love story does need a happy end, this end is especially unsatisfying.

Overall it's worth watching even when it will not satisfy everything.

Edit: After some reflection, this story is inconsistent with the original series "Unintentional Love Story", because if you see ULS you will recoginze; a) Did Kim really go to an university in Seoul and if so, what did he study? He should be a doctor in ULS but he owns a coffee shop. b) Go tells Kim, that he always breaks up with his girl which means they never have kissed or had any closer than friends relationsship before. He did that in this story too, he knows his feelings, so he would not have dated a girl again imho. If that would be a famous franchise I would say this story is not canon.

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What an emotional rollercoaster

This season had everything from drama to romance to crying to laughter and was an emotinal rollercoster for many of the contestants.

The only gripe I have with that show is the ending of Hammin and Youngyoon. I don't see the point in showing something so negative on the show. I would have been more interested, what happenend with all the other man, if they all meet up, or what happenend with the third couple. To tell the audience in passing that Hammin & Youngyoon did not work out, would have been a much better choice.

So, this show leaves a bitter aftertaste after an interesting season.

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medicore story/acting, some cringe/fluff, neither fish nor fowl

The trend of lazy writing continues with this show. They had a good novel, the first episodes where interesting and then they buchered the story especially in the finale. That was so lame and so badly acted, just unbelievable.

There are some highlights like cute moments, building up friendships, supportive parents, but there are very cringe moments (very fake guitar playing) and many communication issues (you see it and think "wtf is he doing?"). The showrunners could not decide to make either a comedy or a mature drama and so they decided to go the safe route delivering us the worst of both worlds. If there are too many comendy elements (with of course lot's of stupid sound effects) it's hard to take the story seriously, on the other hand the finale showed they did not really like doing it in a serious manner, so it felt extremly silly and unbelievable. They had an interesting premise but in the end it got from good to bad.

So for me it's neither fish nor fowl, just a medicore show, leaning more to the bad side. If I had not seen this show, I would not miss a thing, but there are even worse shows out there. 🤣

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just cute without any bite ?

This is a short series best binge-watched, but at least we got two episodes per week. This should be called "My Secret Vampire-Family" imho, because there is just one who is not.

There are three full-blood vampires and a half-blood who agree to let a human stay with them. And this human has the attention of all of them, because they are out for his blood. While this could have been a drama, it is a romcom for most of the time. It's easy to understand, the story is not that deep but it's always quite funny and cute. But because it has a happy end, they all come to the conclusion that a human should not be eaten, because he cooks so well. 🤣 Of course there is some tension because one of the Vampires has his eye on the half-blood, but of course the half-blood was capitvated by the human before he even know him.

The most negative about the show is the side-couple, which is not developed and which takes away something from the story overall. It's just in the finale we see one of them going the step further. On the positive side, the script is not dumb, the cast is the show which elevates it from all the other average/medicore shows around. Production quality is quite high for such low budget effort, but there are some sound glitches sometimes. Overall this is a fluffy show, which makes you smile most of the time. So I can say, you should watch it, epsecially when you have a bad day.

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started slow but builds up till the finale

I did start this show with no expectations whatsoever, but I thought the premise is interesting. While the ML is a quite an one-dimensional character, there is more to him than the eye sees. The whole cast did a very good job. You get drama, you get comedy, you get thriller and you get a bit of suspense in this package. And every story arc gets stronger with each episode. At least after half the episodes you should know there is something fishy up the top, I will not spoil it here, but that was what I expected and they did not disappoint.

Overall an entertaining show, and in contrast to most shows it starts slow and gets better with every epsiode, so give it time.

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OMG, they ruined the story....

While the first four episodes were entertaining and interesting it falls apart in the fifth and sixth.

Why did they need to do a timejump? I don't get it, especially if the actor is looking more or less the same. Secondly could they not have adapted the original story so they timejump would have been shorter so it would make more sense. Or if the timejump had to be that large, they would need an other actor and four episodes to explain if Aksorn a) recognizes Songjam and b) can love a twice as old person.

So for me, they ruined the series and I don't get a 10 review at all. Also even a 7.7 which is the rating now while I'm writing this is much too high. I can't understand why a director and screenwriter does not make the effort to keep that part of the story as realistic as possible and I also don't understand why the producer does not say "stop it, that does not make sense". I have to say, I'm really pissed that they wrecked this show which had so much potential.

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They can act, when the script lets them...

This is hard to judge, because I'm not into religion at all and not into christian religion especially. The premise to be gay is bad in Gods eyes is an interpretation and translation errors due to the history of this incredible book. For me the bible is nothing more than like "Lord of the Rings" - an epic story madeup by many people and rewritten so often to fit the narrative of the people of the then religious power. Don't forget that the pope, cardinals and arch bishops had more power than any king or emperor. And to break that power we had for example the breaking off the Anglicans in England because the power of the papacy was too much for King Henry VIII. And soon after the christians fought themselves with the protestant movement and the excess corruption of the catholic church.

When I see people demonstrating against gay rights because they are christians, then I ask myself what's wrong with them. It can't be God is love for all or just for heterosexuals. That does not work out. This series never questions the stance of the christian religion at all and make it too smooth especially in the 90ties when gay rights are not as developed as they are now.

Edit: GMMTV did something different, but it felt like propaganda for the cathlic church. I know some where not even alive when all the sexual abuse scandals broke, gay priests f*cking innocent boys marking them with a trauma for a lifetime. Besides burning woman alive it was the most disgusting thing the catholic church ever did and they also kept it under the rug for a long time. Some will say but the church did not do it, and I say, of course they they did, because they knew. And not telling is the same as doing it. End of Edit.

GMMTV only did something different in the scope of the MLs. The struggle about the imho "false teachings" and his sexuality was perfectly done by Forth and I believe him, when he said this series was mentally draining. Other than that, the pacing was a bit off, the first two episodes were too slow for my taste, abruptly picking up the pace. For me the portrayal of the catholic faith was way too positive and unrealistic. I especially missed the struggle of Father Arnon. He was just too perfect for his times. He already knew what was going on, but he decides to let it go?

The finale also was a bit off. First I was confused in which timeline we are in the beginning after the emotional end scene in ep 5. So did they run away or what happened? And because it's GMMTV we get a happy end. Could not have been that Tanrak broke and went to be a priest as he always has envisioned - which would the more realistic and plausible scenario in that time.. Of course that can never ever happen with any GMMTV show.

So, is this a bad show? No. Considering all the other medicore to crap shows GMMTV mass produces, this series did at least attempt to show the struggle of being of faith and being gay. We see that ships can act, when the script lets them. I don't think especially Forth did improve, I think he always had the capability but with 08/15 BL scripts there was no chance he could shine. Production quality was very good as expected but for me this show is not a master piece because it does not question the catholic church and their teachings. On the other hand it's also not the standard BL which makes you to switch off your brain which is an improvement generally speaking.

Overall it's a good show with many flaws, but you need your brain switched on to process the content.

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Again, a very underwhelming GMMTV production...

This seems to be again one of the fast produced GMMTV productions without much thought or deepness. The story is weak, even the first episodes started really awful imho, but in contrast to most GMMTV productions it gets better. Of course lazy writing was prevelent. Why give us a military coup in a country, but not going through with that storyline? It just resolved itself without us knowing exactly what happened.

Of course the characters are also cliché BL, part childish, part pubertal behavior with actors way over 20. Yes, after a horrible start this series got better, but it's not enough to make me like it. It's one of the series I will only remember of not even being medicore. Also the production quality is nothing compared we have seen from GMMTV this year. It feels like they just created the series to fill a slot and that's it. While I wished for Winny & Satang to have a strong series, this was just a disappointment.

Should you not have watched this, just skip it. Better to watch all the recent JBLs (except Takumi-kun) and you will have a much better experience, more fluff (except the Yakuza series) and especially more story. So, I will wait for "School Trip" which bring me amusment and tingling sensations. 🤣

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a real chinese BL, an emotinal rollercoaster

After the first four episodes:

While I am not a fan that this show starts with the ending in the first scene, it's ok when the story makes up for it.
The dynamics of the characters is interesting, including marginalized people like a nearly deaf boy is also a plus.
While the story may not be as polished as I prefer it, it is much much better compared to all the Thai crap we get now. We get a serious mature story with some funny and fluffy moments as well. Acting is also good and cinematography is also well done. The only downside is a still one-dimensional abusive father.

So far this show is a must watch and done very well.

Update:

First, we were lucky to get this BL completed, after the snafu after 4 episodes. Why they need to get censored so heavily while all the thai shows are shown in China without censorship is beyond me.

Second, the only flaw of this show is that Tan is able to speaks too fast and too easily after getting his hearing aid. If you have not been able to hear, it would not be that easy to learn to speak.

After watching the first four episodes I thought we got the outcome of this show in the first episode, but that's not the case. It was just a flash forward to happy times but this show is mostly not happy at all. All leads did an incredible job conveying their characters and emotions to give this BL a realistic feel.

It was an emotional rollercoaster with lot's of very sad moments, especially the disgusting Father of Qi Lu who is abusive and such an disgusting asshole that words can't describe him. Both couples are leads here and both couples had their own story and neither was an add-on like in some other shows. The final left a bit to be desired story-wise and it is a bit confusing to know what really happend to Qi Lu if you don't read the text AFTER the credits. I would have wished they would have altered Tan for the final scenes, because he looks the same. The first couple sacrifices for their partner and the second couple have their happy end a bit earlier after overcoming some traumatic past of Liu Ming Yang.

Overall this show was a must see and due to the acting I rated it with the highest rating even when story-wise it was not perfect. Regardless the show was well thought out, well scripted, amazingly acted and with great execution, cinematography, OST and casting. I also appreciate the inclusion of a handicapped character, who is a minorty of a minority.

If you have not seen it yet, I highly recommend it even if you need some tissues over the course of the twelve episodes.

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An unpopular opinion: I hate this!

What a overblown rating again... The story is sooooooooo trashy, I can not find other words for it. It's like one of the 1000 episodes telenovelas. The story is just melodramatic and with excessive pathos. Everything is either black or white without any shadows. Everyone who is bad is absolutly bad in a two-dimensional way, with no nuance to their characters at all. The father may have some nuances but of course he is right and his son is wrong. But the finale is just ridicilous....

I can't fault the series with the production quality, besides some rare audio problems. Costumes were fine, staging was good, music was good and even the acting was good in the way what the script & director wanted them to do.

So for me, it's on the same level as The Next Prince. Differently bad, but bad. It's a real pain to watch this.

Update: This review is only valid for the UNCUT version, not the crap ONE31 (GMMTV) puts out on their Youtube channel which even cuts story elements which makes every show much worse. MDL does not have a policy to ALWAYS put uncut and cut versions on the page, sometimes it's done and most of the time it's not for unknown reasons. If you watch a series only on youtube, don't bother with reviewing them because you don't get the full experience.

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