Nolan Peale

My only fear with that fake kiss is that tomorrow we're expecting MSP to end with a real kiss, and I'm now afraid that it will end with a "loving fist bump."

Yeah. I can think of reasons why he'd be wary of Li Ming dating Heart specifically, but I doubt the teaser is giving us the whole picture of what that conversation is about and what triggers that response. I could also see him being very wary of his nephew being careless about them leaving the door unlocked at Heart's house (like they always do in BLs) which is going to lead to a lot of problems for Li Meng and Jim due to their class differences with Heart's family.

I guess the question is what he was going to do. Make sure that Jean didn't dance in her bra? Because that is what she was expelled for. Then not sleep with her, or make sure the condom stays on. I'm not sure he should avoid the other things he did that night, though. So kiss Mollie. Kiss Army. Make sure he sees Army kissing Joe. That's really about it, since I don't think See-ew, Kat, Rose and Jedi's issues are related to stuff that happened that night.

I don't think what happened was a sexual assault per se. The sex was consensual until she realized it wasn't safe sex, and then she noticed like 5 seconds before he came. Since he had gone to great lengths to get that condom, the reason it wasn't on was intoxication. He wasn't intentionally leaving it off because he didn't want to wear one. While I understand that she was telling him to stop, he didn't have time to stop. She should have told him what had happened, though. Her trauma is more due to the consequences of unprotected sex and the fact that society makes heroes of promiscuous men and villains of promiscuous women. She should never have been expelled and she should have been able to find an abortion clinic that was safe. Left unsaid was that since her pregnancy was before 2021, her abortion was illegal at that time.

Yeah. I have more negative feelings about the resolution for Army than I do for Alex, per se. Army really did leave Joe out to the jackals in High School and then went on his merry gay way. I'm not buying that Joe wouldn't have such resentment that he would take Army back.

On the one hand, Alex didn't know what Jean was going through, so he did not have an opportunity to step up. How do we know what he would have done 10 years ago. On the other hand, Jean was right, and he did abandon her when she was being shamed for dancing and having sex with him, and to boot, he just went off to be popular and have sex with Kat. She could have given him a chance to be there, but he didn't exactly demonstrate much valor at the time. Not as bad as Army, but still pretty bad.

Well, you have to admit, whether or not Alex can orgasm is a problem that is so important that everyone who has made progress should go back to square one until that is solved. That is not at all a selfish decision.

My one complaint is Mollie's shoulder pads. She's going to regret those wedding photos someday.

Well, it looks from the preview like he's going to go back and fix the past so that he can orgasm. I guess that's o.k. if she never experiences the trauma. But in reality, he had a crush on Kat and that's who he should be with. We're basically ending with "the first person you sleep with in high school is who you should end up with."

Yeah, this isn't really like Love Mechanics where what they gave us for the live action was actually a whole lot less rapey than in the novel. Actually, the LM novel wasn't really "rapey", it was actually a rape, at least from the perspective of Vee, who was doing the raping.

This just isn't a rape, nor do I think that King was taking advantage of the situation. If anything, Uea took advantage of King. Its not like King was plying him with booze hoping to "loosen him up a little" so he would get to the state where he didn't know up from down. Uea treated this like any number of people would who found themselves in bed the next morning with a co-worker after a work party. Beyond his general distrust and dislike of King, he's acting like someone who is a bit ashamed of his actions and not like someone who was wronged. Heck, I'd be a bit ashamed of myself for behaving like that at an office party and would hope that no one in the office had noticed. This happens in the world and I'm not certain why the selection of presenting the character this way is problematic.

Episode 1
The Good
-Do not give Jade any more sugar, caffeine, or any stimulant whatsoever. I'd hate to see what would happen if he took a full dose of DayQuill. I hope that Yim was o.k. after that couch dance. I'm hoping that didn't take too many takes as it looked exhausting. LOL.
-I'm going to be watching to see how this resolves. Truthfully, Uea needs more to get himself together than just a boyfriend who isn't cheating on him, since he melts down whenever his Mom calls. Hopefully it isn't going to end with another happy family reunion. "Mom and Dad are o.k. with me now that I send them money" isn't really working out for him mentally.
-I think there's enough to continue watching. I'm more interested in the issue with the parents than I am with the main drama about whether two people can be friends with benefits and not be in a relationship. If it ends with them just being friends, that would be an unexpected twist, actually.
The Meh
-I'm probably alone in this, but I'm had trouble telling all the office characters apart. Was that Gun falling asleep in the office all day, or King? What do they do at that company?

Given that it is Japan, it makes less sense that there are instantaneous riots in the streets than that people would carry on and go about their jobs at the Library if they could. At least after the initial shock. That would eventually wear off and the riots would happen, sure, but the first day or so, Japanese would tend to try to wrap things up and not having anything else to occupy their time, might show up to the office.

Episode 4:
The Good:
-O.K. Overall I didn't think this episode was as good as episode 3, but I usually feel that way when there's long musical interludes. I really do like the relationship between nephew and uncle and how once again, the fact that there's a romance brewing, Jim isn't wavering in remembering that he's a guardian. Instead of picking a photo of him with Wen to remember the birthday by, he cropped out everyone else but Li Ming. That's the memory he wants and it fits the character.
-I think Wen is the right person for Jim and I hope he does come around to seeing that Wen is actually an adult and the type of adult he needs. He seems to have given up a lot of his own young adulthoodhood on this restaurant and thin to Li Ming and its o.k. to have someone younger around (before you get too old and a younger lover is an obvious mid life crisis trophy). Jim is pleasant enough, but way to giving. Having Wen's more buoyant personality should be giving him permission to be happy, and its pretty clear that Wen can be a helper and bridge with Li Ming and not another juvenile mouth to feed. I'm just not certain what it will take to get them over the hump. And the fact that Alan is still there isn't going to help. Jim is right to back off here, since nothing else is working out right now and in the end, he isn't yet attached to Wen.
-I did like the opening contrast between the way two young lovers wake up with each other vs two ex-lovers wake up with each other. Heart and Li Ming are moving along just like we'd want them to at this point. I like the sneakiness of this story and how thoughtful Li Ming can be when he wants to be. Unfortunately, they are going to get in a boatload of trouble next episode.
The Meh
-I found the conversation between Kaipa and his mom a bit contrived, but I guess it filled in a bit more backstory about him and his mom. I just don't know what would trigger them to rehash and reflect at that moment in that way. There was nothing gained from that time that we didn't already know from the way they interact regularly.
-At the same time, we didn't learn enough about Alan and Wen and what was really going on 3 months ago when Alan wasn't around and Wen started trying to date Jim. Where was he? Why did he come back?

Weird that MDL users have tagged this as having a "Stalker Male Lead." Its a weird kind of stalkers who spend 10 years not speaking or trying to see each other. LOL.

Yeah. I kind of wanted to tell him that if he had never had sex again, it kind of was his own damn fault, so don't get testy with Ritsu over that fact.

Episode 4
The Good
-O.K. It is horrible to set a teacher (or anyone) on fire, and in real life, the synthetic fibers would have fused to her back and given her 3rd degree burns. And I am a horrible person for laughing at that. A lot. I mean, if you want to show a "simple plan gone wrong", you can't go wrong with it ending with setting a person on fire during a religious ceremony.
-Burger and King are quite cute. I'm not saying they can act, but they are indeed quite cute. I really do wish I understood Thai better as they are misunderstanding each other in ways that I can't quite understand when the subtitles provide only one meaning. But I laughed so much when King thought that giving Burger a resume with supporting documentation would win his heart and them thinking that Burger should provide his feelings towards King on a scale with decimal points. LOL. Those two.
-"Remember to wash up!" LOL.
The Meh
-Yeah, the production standards are pretty lousy to the point where I'm wondering if it isn't being done on purpose to mess with us. Like Burger has his socks off when he gets under the blanket to keep King warm. Then when he gets out from under the blanket, his socks are on. Then when he moves to the corner of the room because King is undressing, they are off again. Then when King removes Burger's shirt, they are on again. So I guess King put them on while removing Burger's shirt? Does King have a white socks fetish or something?
-I'm concerned that with 2 episodes left that they aren't going to be able to wrap up the third couple, or much of anything.

Episodes 1&2
The good:
-A lot actually. I like the setting. I like the premise. I like the potential conflicts. I like that they went a different route with this than the first two installments of Midnight series. All of these series have had debt as a central theme, but not everyone has humorous run ins with organized crime to deal with that involve wacky schemes to get out of. Maybe they'll end up there, with some crafty plan to staunch Uncle Jim's money woes and save the restaurant, or whatever. But for now, its just about a guy who is barely making ends meet getting hit with a lot of problems that would be easily solved with money that he doesn't have.
-Hopefully next episode, they'll give us a bit more insight into Jim beyond the fact that he is very generous and single. Wen as well, as I feel that after 2 episodes, I really don't know him much at all. He's rather flirty for a guy who has never had a one night stand before. Uh huh. Anyway, I thought the scene where Li is being shown around the house was an outstanding acting job by Fourth and I want to explore his relationship with his uncle more. And both their relationships with this restaurant. Li wants out and to get as far away from it as he can. I think Jim might want to, too. I think he might be using his generosity as a front to hide the fact that he's not happy owning this place.
-More Jack Krittisak shirtless, please. Its always nice to see a familiar face and body again.
The Meh
-Like in a lot of BLs, there are lots of absent characters who are really important, but dead. Once again, life expectancy is Thailand in BLs is about 40, since I don't think Li's mom and dad and Kaipa's dad, and Jim's mom and dad should all be dead (they'd be in their 50s) and I'm assuming Mark's family is dead, too, since why would he ask his boss for help in that situation if he had relatives. Could we make these deaths actually matter, though?
-O.K. Dear Thai series writers. Not every drunken hookup in life starts with vomit. Could we stop with that? It ruins the mood when you think "he didn't brush his teeth!"

Yeah. I think its a cultural thing that is going to tick us off if we're not used to it. O.K. You're pregnant and panicking, but fer crying out loud, just go to the courthouse and get married. There's no need to bankrupt yourself over your wedding. Unfortunately, I don't think it works that way since both of them are under 20 so they need permission from her parents to get married, which they might not get if he doesn't present the dowry. But I do want to be fair that they just got the bad news and her bitchiness is related to that. At least she's not nearly as that scary looking manufactured freak "friend of a girlfriend" they were trying to fix Li up with. I still have nightmares about that.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen him shirtless in his series. Maybe he’s modest. Maybe his body is average. I’d like to think it was a more exciting reason, though. Like maybe he has a large tattoo on his chest of Superman and Spider-Man doing something unmentionable to Mickey Mouse that just screams “big copyright lawsuit from well lawyered companies” if it ever appeared on camera. I think there’s a very naughty side to that boy.

Meh. Look, he's let the "adults" make all the decisions thus far, which is kind of expected as a kid. It was mom's plan to have Palm protect him rather than a real bodyguard. And Palm's dad who decided that the best thing for them to do was run and hide. And those plans were dumb and all that happened was that all the "adults" who were protecting him ended up in jail, in a coma and dead. Since there's no adult left to make these dumb plans that as a kid he needs follow, he's free to do what he wants, and it turns out, he is a bit more direct and probably smarter. Once all the adults are dead and incapacitated, he's free to handle things the way they should have been handled all along. LOL

To be fair, he had just killed two thugs and for all the cops would know, they were just innocent tourists looking for a room for the night. He might want to skedaddle. Since the cops would just leave her there for hours anyway while they did their forensic examination of the crime scene, might as well head off to the beach for a bit.