Seriously... I tried. I am close to the end of Episode 3, just right around the same point where I quit the series months ago. Sigh. I mean... I began fast forwarding seggs scenes! I felt so NOTHING about it. Like romance was sucked out of me from some emotional vacuum cleaner!
Yes it looks all hot and steamy, but Lordylord... I feel nothing about Sorn and Jun. Like not an inkling of romance. Both are brash, hyper-acting, irrational characters, whose actions make zero sense to me. Is any of them feeling any affection for the other, for I can't tell. And everyone seems to take seggs and relationships so nilly-willy. Like Jun has this lukewarm boyfriend, whom he treats like a random stranger he just met in a hook up bar.
And then this "oh I teach you" plot. .... Seriously? Does Jun have the IQ of 30? Rrriiiiight. I am having seggs with a guy to train.... There is no character develop... can that, there is no CHARACTER I feel behind any of these actors. Sorry, if you liked it, but I feel like nothing. Nobody seems even remotely having any normal human emotion, at least as far as I can tell. I don't feel any personal interest of Jun or Sorn towards each other whatsoever. Or maybe they are the Asian face-masters of hiding, but then... what the heck is this BL even about?
I know the series is leading lists, and yes "oh it gets interesting at Episode 7"... but each episode is LONG and by now... I feel nothing about them.
"Jun, a mischievous high school boy and expert in pushing peopleās buttons, and Sorn, a composed, orderly man who absolutely cannot stand kids like him, have been at odds since the day they met. From sneaking salt into toothpaste to hiding personal belongings, Junās endless pranks have made Sorn loathe him to the core"
Sorn is composed WHEN? What pranks did Jun make? Isn't it more the other way around Sorn is pushing Jun's buttons for no reason at least I can see.
"But fate has a sense of humor." (DO I look like I am smiling??) "When Jun unexpectedly runs into Sorn in an unusual situation, (Liike Sorn letting Jun almost DIE!) what starts as awkwardness soon becomes the beginning of a complicated connection. The man who once firmly declared, āI donāt like kids,ā finds himself slowly stirred by unfamiliar emotions. From conflict to closeness, the line between annoyance and affection begins to blur."
Or like this. Jun receives a parcel from a delivery guy for someone else. Sorn: WHO WAS THIS? WHAT DID HE WANT?
I'd really want to channel my inner working class Englishman and say "Oi mate, that's none of yer bloody business, innit?"
Boy does Sorn hide these feelings well. They just push each other around like being really annoyed ALL THE TIME, and suddenly have seggs. I just raise my arms to the heavens, and like Maggie Thatcher long ago cry "NO. NO. NO."
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Just watching it will kill your braincells.
Tonhon Chonlatee - Breaking up at Episode 3, dead because of FremdschƤmen"FremdschƤmen (German): to feel embarrassed on behalf of someone else when they do something awkward or cringeworthy."
Powers help me. I so wanted to see Pod in a role not being sidechar. So googling I heard of Tonhon Chonlatee. Already Episode 1 with the cartoon "sissy gay" being beaten was... borderline bearable.
Then Ton (Pod), the supposed hetero living with THREE most obvious gay guys is oblivious and dumb like toast. Each step gets worse. He leads (forces almost) them all into a brothel to "have happy time with women". What is that, the soft version of "conversion therapy"?
In the middle of Episode 3, I could take it no more. What rubbish is this? I mean, seriously? In the not yet so long list of my watched BL series this was the worst, most embarrassing, cringe and outright offensive series I so far had the dubious privilege to watch.
What in the Twelvegods names were they THINKING? SO like a boxing judge I can only yell: OUT OUT OUT, with a relentless
0/10
Just watching it will kill your braincells.
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A nihilistic nightmare that will drain your happiness out of your soul!
tldr: STAY WAYGods above! I rarely so much wanted my time back I wasted here. It is by far the worst BL I have seen so far (which isn't so long but still). Actually it has BL slapped on but it is just a drama with gay characters and love in it.
Where to begin... okay the acting is good. That's is the good. Like all of it. What the studio tried to pull off was a Greek Tragedy or a Shakespearen Drama like Lear or Hamlet. And sorry, nameless studio, whose name I shall not look for to waste MORE time, YOU ARE NOT HOMER OR SHAKESPEARE!
What I saw was a nihilistic, depressive dark meta-message about life. As if I needed more! There was nothing dark in the sense of rape or violence. But the dark that ruins your feels.
The MC starts with his boyfriend breaking off, and a Cupid Reaper appears, giving the MC 7 people in the coming 7 nights before Valentine can "make vanish" whom he thinks will bring his BF back. And BOY this MC is an unbearable character! What starts as nuisance quickly descents into chaos and nihilistic horror. There is NOTHING interesting or even remotely entertaining in seeing this unfolding. So I broke up at the recent Episode 10, and I should slap myself for being too dumb to see there is nothing rewarding coming. I am really ANGRY about having watched this, since the idea could have been used for a fascinating plot. This series will literally suck joy out of your soul. Avoid it at any cost. As such
1/10
Stay away!
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This review may contain spoilers
Wooden Acting 101 - A series that was only good when the MC was not in it
MOONLIGHT CHICKEN - REVIEWI must admit I have no idea what standing this series or the MC (Earth/Mix) have, but to be frank, while the series had some merits, I felt this was really a low end of sheer boredom, wooden acting and uninteresting MC couple of many BLs (which are not many) I have seen so far. You know me dear beloved father, who passed away 10 years ago, when hearing a joke used to say "if you pull out a toenail maybe that will make me laugh" when he found something meant to be funny unfun.
I don't know how many Gods I must have offended to be punished by this series. Since I feel it was a milestone and Earth-Mix used to be a name often spoken about, but most important for it, it was the first BL role as far as I know with Fourth and Gemini, and I had not continued if I had not seen Fourth in Episode 2. In this Episode 2 and the entire series Fourth Nattawat really shows he is BORN an actor and a star. His sheer presence overshines the entire series like a sun suddenly rising at midnight and driving the shadows of bore and wooden acting away. Just a gaze 10 seconds of him are condensed energy of an entire hour of the rest of each episode. Honor points also for the stellar acting of Gemini playing a deaf character very lovely.
As to the rest... I am sorry, but Earth Pirapat is the most wooden actor I have seen in BL and outside and I have no idea who cast him. He cannot act, he looks mediocre so there is nothing to see, and Gods above if people called me "Uncle" so many times instead of my name I would go crazy. There is Mix, playing Wen, who is in love with Uncle. Gods know why, I mean they had sex and I cannot see any charming quality of Uncle. He face is like a frozen Asian business smile. When he is sad, when his ex betrays him, when he is dead, when he is angry with Li Ming (Fourth) I feel like when God created him he forgot a bucket full of face muscles someone just Jim Carrey got extra.
And then starting the entire starting with seggs and Wen living with his ex... I mean seriously, that is probably THE most disqualifying thing I can imagine in any gay guy I would consider dating material. He broke with Alan, lies to himself it is "good for Alan" instead of it is just good for him not being all alone, and still seggsing around meanwhile, but hey lets keep doors open and maybe that Lung whose only quality is to make chicken is good. Why... I'll never know. What do they have in common? What connects them? What chemistry is there. Wen (Mix) is a bit better at acting, but honestly not really a lot. He has a neutral face, a somewhat off smiley-flirty face and swaps between those two and that's it. And I notice it so strongly every time the story moves to Fourth and Gemini making the contrast so unbelievable to me that I can only think, well people probably love it out of nostalgia. I mean each to his/hers.
Then there is First/Alan one of my favourite actors, because from others series I know, BOY HE CAN ACT. Like so different characters with so different layers. As much as I like Fourth for the radiance, First is IMVPO the most capable actor in terms of... well acting. He can play multi-layered characters and have so many different emotions run over his face, which I know from other series he played it. Maybe Earth and Mix can that and it was just not desired by the director, but when I expect someone to go through so much shit as Uncle Jim went through, it would SHOW on my face.
And then this forsaken restaurant. Even in the end, Uncle had to admit, he didn't even know why it was important or what he wanted to do. Like yeah, that fits with your acting, man! I didn't know why I should care. It wasn't a nice place, the menu was chicken... and chicken... and he was just drifting or rather not, he was just ... existing there. Now look, I lost a husband to a car accident, a boyfriend to lung cancer and another to a woman he married and had a kid with, so trust me, I know about life's misfortunes. But locking yourself into a chicken diner and staring at life is not a reacting. You cry and break, you become a monk or a killer to avenge or a sage or whatever, but it DOES something to you that MOVES your feelings. And I just did not see that. I don't mention that for pity points or to brag with what I got through but to say, I KNOW such things as in this series, and Earth's acting as well as the story around Uncle and Wen reflect nothing of that, neither in acting nor in any way how they come together.
There were some good points. The late story around Li Meng's mother, the closure - though I had hope we would have see some more about Alan and Gaipa. In the last episode it is said how much Uncle and Wen grew, but sorry I didn't believe it. The others, yes. But I don't buy a change which is said. And then the worst happens at the end which I personally vividly hate. Gay guys which are unable to say "I love you."
See, I am scarred with this. I had a boyfriend 4 years, and he never said it, and when after 2 years I argued with him he said what is so often a trope in BL "my actions tell you."
NO. NO. NO. There are things you want to hear. Period. Paragraph. I don't buy this. A man who can't say he loves you is a red flag. (This was the guy who left me for a lie of a "normie life" out of fear, so you get why I am so passionately against this *thing*.) Humans are not mind-readers. And even to deaf people we can "talk."
In the end, I did not know where to put it. It wasn't a total disaster, but that was because there were other people than the MC in the story. Like my view or hate it, that's how I felt. Given the screen time measuring both the MC's presence which I felt nothing about and the sometimes fantastic other parts when it wasn't about them, but the ratio is still so much time about Uncle and Wen I have to give it heartfelt
3/10
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A must have seen series - a new gold standard for BL Series!
REVENGED LOVE ā ReviewA must have seen series - a new gold standard for BL Series!
A first long go, now showered out in fast pace, we came to an end of something which set nothing less than a new Gold Standard for BL Series. Given my rating system, I must admit, this series crashed rating system of mine. What a run! What is there to say that can give justice to this? To paraphrase the words of Aragorn from Lord of the Rings: A day may come where we see a better BL Series, but it is not this day ā and it will hardly be one I can foresee.
First, the daring to go through such a long and complex story of no less that 24 episodes each around 40 minutes is much time to fill, and it wasn't a single minute I felt was uninteresting or anything but breathtaking. It is probably what Lord of the Rings is for Fantasy for Boys Love. In a year blessed with many new great series and a generally huge step up for the BL genre, I have no doubt this will long be remembered as THE series that demonstrated how well BL stories in more than āmere loveā can be. The many ups and downs of each of the character, the development of both characters and story were all nothing short of breathtaking. A cast entirely perfectly chosen, and I am sure few can doubt that Zi Yu, the actor of Wu Suo Wei demonstrated a range of acting worth any great movie or series production you can imagine, and despite all MCs being very good, he shines over the entire series giving it his imprint and in many ways making it his story. So we can only wish that this series brings to him and all MC actors a well deserved career in the future.
The music scores, the camera use, the many sets and places ā all are of equal high quality, convincing and superb. From the side streets where Wu Suo Wei sold his sweets over his mother's family house and garden, the 181s clinic serving as a story hub to the many houses, clubs and landscapes; nothing of this was other than perfect, as was the pacing and change from drama to happiness, back and forth to a nice and well deserved happy ending for everyone who deserved so. I tried to think of the best moments, but the show had so many, I can't pinpoint any. Each meeting, each conversation, each glance and look so subtle to emotional strong scenes of crying and joy, all were in so many variations, it satiated every desire and style.
The one sad thought is as commonly known, that mainland China while bringing forth such great actors and so perfectly a series, does not recognize it, but we from outside China can hope and wish that āRevenged Loveā will contribute to a change both in the making of BL and maybe in a bit more acceptance of gay people someday, someway. For, as once I read, politics is downstream of culture, and were it not bards of old, the storytellers from times immemorial whose stories shaped minds? Plato once said, those who tell the stories rule the world. And as such I hope it changes hearts and attracts people to watch it, who maybe usually not find BL interesting. At least that is what I wish and this series is a great ambassador for both BL series, for the art of great storytelling and acting, and what Chinese culture can bring forth, if they put their effort into it. Revenged Love will be a game changer, a measure to which all who aspire for great BL series ā or even series at large ā have to measure themselves with. And while surely the small stories, the short wholesome others have equal place in the BL universe, this was like reading one of a great drama of epochal measure, put into the frame of a Asian-Chinese modern BL story. It is one of these series which after the end leaves the watcher with a longing, and empty place and a great memory. If I could I would change the rating scale just to highlight this series with all aspects. While we don't know what the future holds for actors and crew, I wish their careers find justice in their future as it left us with a great memory of what I regard as nothing but perfect BL story which goes way beyond the boundaries of BL itself. As such my rating is a glowing āmust have seenā
10/10
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