Eliot_Rulez

While a nice genre, I could not enjoy it due to the bad writing

For me the story felt crude. The final fight was also a bit strange, if you have the upper hand, there is no reason for a one on one. The "General" felt like a bad guy from a dime novel.
In the beginning there was a bit of mistery around "Patrick" but that was the only highlight story-wise. To have several couples in a show with only 8 episodes is not enough time to develop a real story and formost no time to develop the characters and their feelings. The main couple did transport some glimpes of affection, but everything felt shallow. The side story around an engaged couple with the body swap felt unrealistic and much much too fast to be believable.

While it was not totally bad, I consider the storyline really bad and unrefined. The actors could only do the best with the material they got but there was no way they could shine or had a challenging role. I had much more expectations from the genre type but was disappointed. It is not even a medicore BL show, it was boring as hell, the funny scenes were not funny (for me) and as usual with most shows it starts stronger than it ends. So, all in all, you should pass it, when you have not watched it yet.

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Easy on the eyes, easy on the story and just no drama at all... quite wholesome.

There is not really much to say about this series. It's short, to the point and no bad drama, no bad ex gf, no bitching, no heated discussions, nothing. It's just a melow story of two couples coming together. Of course due to the constrainted playtime and I guess because of the limited budget there is no depth in the characters. All of them are pleasing to the eye and we have to guess that all of them are nice in their ways.

Production quality was nice. Just the "bar" both TrueFilm and Sukfilm use is still a bit cringe :) The actors are all quite handsome or cute, they also did the job well.

So, this was quite fun to watch, quite relaxing and a nice change of pace compared to all drama series airing the last two months. You will not get frustrated, you will not get angry, you will probably just enjoy it. And that's a good thing. If you have not seen this yet, invest the 30 minutes for a wholesome expierence.

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Neither bad nor good, but some aspects are bad and some are good

With this series I'm very split... The part where they record their video-memories are really good. The story is a dog biting his own tail running in circles and the comedic parts are just annoying.

While the story is not great, it at least has some redeeming qualities and the mature parts are really nice. The other stuff is just there including a side couple and some NC scenes which are maybe nice to watch but not really essential at all. One highlight for me is "Cooheart" playing the "lady" of the family but not over the top as in many other series but with an aura we seldom see from him. I guess he had the most fun playing in this series. The contrast between the MLs was quite stark and may be an eye-sore for some but I guess that's done for "dramatic effect".

If they had done the show more seriously it would have been much better imho, but this story it's an improvement from their last series which was worse for me. Sadly Max & Nat have never had a good project yet and I have no hopes this will ever happen. At least they tried their best. This series is only 30-35 mins per episode, so you can rush the 10 episodes quite fast compared to most other thai shows.

Final verdict: Some will hate it, some will love it and I'm split :) I see what they tried to do, but the execution is not to my liking. But it's not that bad either. So judge for yourself.

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Not as cute as Only Boo and a red-flag character...

As always when "New" Sijaw is directing, most series glide into childishness and cringe. In this case it was more subdued then in most other series (Fourever You Part 1, Perfect 10 Liners) but it's still there especially in the first two episodes. There are times when childish beheaviour is appropiate but in most cases it's not.

The script is a mixed bag. The solution of the time-travel was a bit weak and Mr. Redflag (Van) side-couple felt a bit unrealistic. How he handles the situation is dispicable but also the script was quite lazy depicting it. Also there was not the budget to "age" the actors to make them distinguishable from now and the future selfs. So the production is ok, but it looks constraint by the few locations they had. Of course there are a lot of stupid things in it and the direction is bad.

So overall it's on the "good" side of BLs we had last year. At least Sea "Junior" did improve a lot with his acting which is also a plus for me. Keen has the talent, it looks like it's easy for him. I will not criticize too much in this case, it's pleasant enough to watch and many will have fun with it.

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Short, to the point, still a slow burn, no toxicity

While Strongberry struggled with it's last series, GND did it mostly right. This a lovely friends to lovers story. While a short one (6 ep around 10 minutes), it's still a slow burn. On the other hand there are no misunderstandings or toxicity. The only negative is that we had to wait for each episode for a week which does not make much sense. I would have prefered if they just released it as an movie - which they will do not so far in the future if I think about their last production "My Damn Business". This should be binge-watched!

The characters are not super complex but they are well enough written, they avoided classic BL clicheś with a love triangle from the friends but inserted a sunbea in the later half of the series. This forces Ju Do to act, to take the courage to confess and leave his angst behind him. They even left an open end for his friend because sunbea may have an interest in him too. The third friend is surprised but supportive and understandingwithout any drama introduced.

Production was more eleborate compared to Sukfilms series, so this feels more organic even when they have only four characters in the whole series. The school could have been more livelier but they had some extras at the basketball court. I also wished they had some extras in the cafe but of course they had little budget to expand the scope of the production. The chemistry was nice and acting wise there is nothing I could complain about.

Overall it was really heartwarming to watch and this is a show you should not miss!

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what a roller-coaster...

I'm neither a BTS fan nor have I any idea of the original storyline... But man that was intense. I can't collect all my toughts because I'm overwhelmed.
The only thing I can say is, this drama stands out. It is not entertainment in the least. It raises too many questions, shows us how shitty the world is we live in, depresses us and if you are sensitive, it overwhelms you.
All the actors did convey the story in an outstanding way and with this material it could not have been easy. Production quality was top notch.
I don't think I need to say more. This was outstanding in so many ways.

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folklore meets BL, but it failed to deliver.

I like a premise where fantasy/folklore is part of the story and in the beginning they did well. Till episode 4 they had an animated intro which did explain bits of the tale which played out 1000 years ago. With ep 5 this part was gone and we had to wait till ep 9 where a lot of the background was explained. This episode was the best of the series, but I felt they should have given us more background. The part of the BL was also a long time in the background and overall I think the couples lacked the chemistry needed to "sell" it to us. It got better in the later episodes but imho it was not enough. I would have liked to have seen more of the past and less in the current time.

In the finale we got a quite satisfying happy end for the main-couple, but the side-couple was just a 2 minute insert without any details or depth. Overall I felt the series lacked a constant pace, some episodes felt a bit streched and genereally I missed the focus of both folklore & BL. We also have an antagonist and with his smirk in the last scene (and with a scene before), there is even an open end for a season 2.

Production quality was very good, which felt a bit of a waste considering the script. I think the actors did lack chemistry with each other. They did kiss, the side couple landed in bed together (but we did not see what happened there), which was fine, but I never felt a longing for each other. So I'm a bit disappointed with the outcome of this series, because they have tried to do a good show, but I think the script was too weak to do so. For me it's an ok show but not a show I will watch again, except if there is a season 2 to refresh my memory. This show will not leave a lasting impression.

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More fan-service than anything else...

OMG that story was painful to watch. While I like fantasy and scifi this was so badly written, I could not imagine how bad.
If you see your lover dying and go to the other world to save him, you will not fall in love with someone else out of nowhere. That was incredible unbelievable. You have a sickness while somewhere on the ass of the world (means a small town somewhere in the jungle) and there is one book which describes where to find a cure. Of course there are berries nearby in the jungle and they could not find a stick long enough to collect more than one berry. But two berries heal you anyways, incredible.

This show is soooooo overrated because they had a lot of nc scenes which was fan-service at his best. They could have expanded on the story of the side-couple which was much more believable but of course they didn't.

So while the production value was high, the fan-service over the top, the story was really terrible. And everyone who says you should watch it, they lie.

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comedy missing the point...

While I can get Tongrak & Mahasamut story, I don't get the GL part... Is it me or don't you court someone you like with annoying requests and silly excuses? This irked me the most.

The characters in general are very one-dimensional, there isn't much of a development. Also all the drama elements felt a bit forced and cliché. Tongrak's buying sex-service is not a good point but it's life. The only thing which was clear from the beginning (for me) was that Mahasamut did not really do it for the money. He was interested in Tongrak from the get-go. But there's where the story almost ends. At least I understand why Tongrak acts as he does, shunning his feelings but be overwhelmed by them anyways. This leads also into excessive sex-scenes due to Tongraks "buying" Mahasamut. While japanese BLs show mostly too few (with some exceptions), Thai BLs choose too many and this fan-service is appreciated as I can see from most reviews and ratings here. In the end Tongraks overcomes his fear of love but it took too long of a time for me.

Tongrak's niece was the highlight of the show giving it a bit of flavour uncommon to most BLs. I don't find it surprising a 13 year old girl said that uncles new man is sexy, that should not surprise anyone, that's also normal nowadays.

I would have purged the script of all the silly comedic scenes, have either skipped the GL or altered it into something mature, to have a contrast to the dark outlook from the BL. Then this show could have been done in 6 or 8 episodes. Why did the producers choose to have a dark story for the MLs and to contrast them with mostly silly comedy for the GL? For me It breaks the flow and since episode 1 everyone should have understood there is something wrong with Tongrak. But maybe the writers wanted to be close to the source material or they thought that this is the way to go, I don't know. For me it was the wrong way.

Production quality was high with beautiful shots of the island which were too few imho. The ML did a good job overall especially Peat, the GL were good in serious scenes. Due to the handling of the story, this is a subpar show. Good chemistry does not save a bad BL, sensual sex-scenes don't either. It's sad that people don't invest time to think about the story and understand what's wrong with it.

But as the ratings show, sex sells, so it's again a sad day for Thai BLs with declining quality plots, writing and execution. This year seems to be a new low for Thai BLs with a lot of crap shows and a lot of medicore shows. As long as people like such shows, they will produce such shows and the quality will diminish further.

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The most cliché redflag/good guy "romance" ever...

After "Bad Guy My Boss" I hoped the next thing should be better, but no it's still a pile of crap. The worst thing is GagaOOLala picked this diarrhea up and polluted their content.

It starts with an narcistic egoistic asshole meeting a good guy and of course the good guy falls heavily for the asshole regardless of warnings previously given. And when the inevitable happens he has to cry himself to sleep. But of course the asshole gets a miraculous redemption arc because - the script says so. Yeah of course love can move mountains but people are not mountains. 🤣

I don't know why girls dig such shit, because this series still has a rating of 7.1... WTF? What's wrong with you people? This series is so awful it's not only a waste of your time, it's a waste of the money that was invested. Of course it's a tad better compared to 4Destiny, but it's just a different taste of shit. Could they please stop making such series? Nobody needs them, because they only thing which was watchable where all the nc-scenes because fanservice is king or so it seems.

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No magic, just the same old recycled GMMTV concept.

When you already know in the first episode who the "bad guy" is, then I asked myself who did not see this coming? When you like to do a fantasy BL, then why not skip all the crap with the cheapo cliché bad guy? Of course they laugh in the end and are still friends even when the baddie tried to kill his "friend" but failed. That's fantasy of course, because in real life that would never happen in a span of a few days.

GMMTV is hyperfocused to give fans just the feel-good vibes without any depth. They want to sell their overpriced concert tickets and merchandise. They seldom do stories which are controversial or have a background from real life. Where are the times when storytelling was king and fluffy scenes where the cherry on top? Or: When was the last time a story made sense and you did not know what will happen next?

The second question is: Why bother with a second couple when this couple is just an afterthought? Yes they are cute together, but there was no substance, they just were there to look pretty.

Production quality was very good, because that's one of the most favorite ships in GMMTVs menagerie of ships. At least First had a nice time, because he could play the bad guy and he did a good job of that - as far as the script let him. While Sea can act, I would also say Jimmy improved again, but he is not even close to Sea. So overall, this is a brain off series with mostly good vibes and that's what GMMTV went for. They all look pretty, the camera framed them pretty and that's that. But for me, it was just predictable and most of the time boring as hell. Still, I can't fault it too much, because it's at least not bad. It's ok to watch and ok to like, but as usual the ratings are overblown by all the fangirls who do like seeing there ships hugging, kissing and in some NC scenes.

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Sometimes even Domundi BLs can surprise us in a good way...

Disclaimer: This review is only valid for the UNCUT version of this show. Avoid the cut version like the plague, because as always, the cut off a lot of story. This is especially true for episode 8 which has a runtime of 1:56:51. I would not have minded to cut a lot off the finale because the end was draggy. So consider the uncut version as a 13 episodes series with some bonus content.

P'Aof said in the making of TNP he could not do any better, but he clearly lied, because we saw, he could do better. When you do not make a show just to cater to the fangirls and the actors, to no surprise to anyone, you are successful. This was filmed before TNP and it seems, this is the series where all the energy got into the script.

While the story is elaborate it's still straightforward and easy to understand. There is a lot of darkness in it, a lot of pain, but also a lot of growing and commitment for each other. For me it was perfect for episodes 1 to 10, ep 11 and 12 did not keep up the high standards established before. Especially the "bonus" bits felt a bit draggy and also the production quality was subpar because the cuts where a bit eratic, they could not keep a rocket in focus (who wants to watch just the smoke?) and the happy family time felt unnecessary for me because it did not fit the vibe of the show. Most of the finale would have been better served as an special episode detatched from the main story.

I guess the star of this show is the soundtrack which was really exceptionell and of course the "intro" which did not spoil any story elements at all. Kudos for that! Acting was very good especially considering the filming must be especially hard without any climatized rooms for most of the time. Of course this plays out in a rural area, so we got also a lot of nature and traditional housing. Cinematography with the 2:1 aspect ratio was most of the time stunning, the special effects were better than in any other thai BL and of course they had lot's of work with makeup and costumes.

Overall, this is the first series, where a big budget meets or exceeds it's expectations and after the fiasco (in my view) of TNP Domundi/Mandee redeemed itself as being able to tell a story first and have romances second. They even went the extra mile to put their ads as subtle as possible.

This was most defenitively not a waste of my time and it will not be a waste of your time either.

Update: Thanks for all the upvotes but thanks also for nearly the same amount of downvotes. If I sometimes agree with the masses they downvote and when I write harsh reviews disagreeing with them, I get the same. It's really amusing how much hate people have in them.

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This is akward...

First of all, the reincarnation tropé is nothing new, but to have that in an instant when the body of the grandpa dies is so strange that I could not comprehend that for a second or two, because I understand that Yuan did like the outside of Ze Fang, but I can't understand that he is quite in love the moment the souls switched. That the other soul is the hetero grandpa is the cherry on top which makes this ridicilous.

Production quality was good, cinematography was ok, but overall I did expect more. This is a again a taiwanese show which does disappoint.

I will not rant further, because storywise this was dumb. When I consider we have 2025 and there is still the hetero to gay tropé - a tropé which is sooooooooooo outdated and should not have a place in any BL. When I remove the obvious stupid parts of this story, it's a decent BL with no heights and quite everything is standard. It's pleasant to watch cute/handsome actors but that's it. Because of the story I have to downrank this show, because it makes no sense for me. If you like it, good for you, but I do expect more and of course, I'm not a girl. 🤣 I was never invested in the characters, so when I rate this as medicore, than it's because they went not the GMMTV/Domundi way which would make all worse... Watch it, if you have the time, skip it if the story is important to you.

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Easy on the eyes with a touch of boredom and a rushed, crazy finale...

While I understand what the production tried to do - replacing homophobia with xenophobia for merman, they did not do a thoughtful job. Especially the story around the events 20 years ago were not done properly. It is mentioned in the middle of the series and culminates in the finale with a ridicilous solution to cure poisoning. Of course when you first see the actor playing Phraphai father, you already know who the bad guy is - that's when you "typecast" an actor for mostly bad guy roles. So the predicability shot through the roof - and I don't like that. That his adoptive son also plays a psychopath is also not helping.

The rest is ok, they even put effort in the merman fins which did not look out of place. The setting is also nice, it's not in the city, but of course we have the typical rich city boy and a very naive bartender who does not stand up for himself and is under the thumb of the psychopath most of the time. Because it's not a school setting I expected him to be more pro-active and not display such a passive behaviour. He is old enough to know what he wants and what he does not want. The first four episodes drag on a bit and I wished they had introduced the past event much much earlier and kept that storyline more in focus and did tell that story in more details and not so rushed. The side-story of Pings mother was just ridicilous imho. If you tell your son for 20 years, that he is a "monster" - but then change your mind when he left for a day - it's just not realistic in my book. And they did not really need that story-plot.

Storywise this is an average show, the production was ok most of the time and it's easy on the eyes. But just cute/handsome actors do not make a convincing story. It's far away from the worst thai BLs we got to see this year but it's also not really good either. It's an ok show and if you like the premise it's not too bad to watch.

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"Toxic" is too mild...

First of all I will not dive too much into this series.
You have lot's of reviewers who will explain any detail for you, but I can't be bothered.

While the acting was amazing all characters in this show do need psycho-therapy. All of them. While "psycho professor" & "angry director" do need it most, the other two need it too.

To have a BL where love is regarded as "business" leaves a bitter taste on my tongue. Also the co-worker who at least does not care about Daons background has also a problem with accepting a) rejection and b) listening. I find it quite annoying when characters refuse to listen.

And then there is the lackluster finale... Because it's a BL we get a happy end. Oh would it be so much better if Co-Worker just died and that would be the end for all. But no, he must get his Daon so all the fangirls are happy. Also the final kiss was not that good compared to the scene in his apparment when he was drunk...

Cinematography was top notch, all the details were amazing... but imho it was quite wasted on such a story imho. I liked the beginning but it then spiraled out of control especially with the "angry director" and the "psycho professor". Also who would go for a presentation when the co-worker got stabbed? Would you not inform the attendence and scrap it? Or is it a work-related thing in Korea, that business must go on regardless of what happend? That did not make much sense to me. And then Mr. Director appologizing? Nah, unbelievable, you can't reflect in such a short time on the 11 years you did all the crap.

So overall I'm a bit split about this series, even when I don't mind toxic storylines. It's an above average show, but the story will not be to everyones taste which is a plus in my book but the finale was disappointing for me.

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