Nolan Peale

Ok, some good and some meh, so lets get started.
-I'm glad that Palm had the opportunity to kill the nameless goons who killed his mom. It would have been a waste of drawing attention to the guns way back when with the shooting lessons and never give them an opportunity to kill anyone. Palm missed earlier, but I'm happy that he followed through and double pumped the goons.
-Now its up to Neung to do the same with his uncle. I think its important to his character development that he finally takes on the responsibility of vengeance for his dad and mom, since its going to involve killing another wealthy person. He needed to leave Palm behind to do this or they never would be a healthy couple. Neung needs to stop being so passive and let others solve this problem. Why should all these lower class people have to suffer to put him on the throne? What I don't want is a resolution like 3WBF where the heir to the vast fortune gets to be Mr. Morally Good while the other characters do the violent acts for him.
-I'm glad they are off the island though as the series was starting to drag. Like if Neung and Palm didn't care about solving the problem, why should we? Get a move on! There's a vast fortune at stake and vengeance to be had if there won't be justice.

Now for the Meh:
-I'm meh on Ben being the one who discovered the whole scheme. How convenient. Do the rich not invest in thick walls and doors these days? Anyway, I would have been happier if Neung and Palm had solved the crime, but now Ben just will tell them everything they need to know. The leads have been way too passive for too long.
-Yeah, it does kind of suck that the good moms have both been shot, since neither of them would have stood in the way of them getting together. Well...except Palm's mom didn't believe they would stay together, so I think the writer decided to punish her. That's cruel, but something had to give to get them moving off the island. Plus had she lived, her stupid son's boyfriend was planning on buying up the island for development, which would have really put her out of business. Best I assume to kill her off before she got a real reason to want them to break it off.

I’m going to guess that his parents are seldom home and that closet is in their bedroom, not his.

I don’t think it was rape, but I do think she had a reason to have him stop. I think we’re going to find out that the condom had come off, she realized it, and the reason she has abdominal pains now is the result of a bad abortion or complicated pregnancy.

Not really the fans fault that that this is posted by the people involved in public forums for everyone to see. If they don't want us to talk about it, perhaps they should shut down their fingers.

Well, we'll see.
-Is Tanya dead? My guess is that she's paralyzed at least. I wouldn't put it past them to hide the fact that she's dead from Neung, though. JoJo isn't against the idea of killing off parents to liberate the young to live their own lives in his series, and having the characters easily get over dead family members as well. That was the point of 3 Will be Free, after all.
-Who released the photos? Well, Chopper was the one who knew Ben was going to hit on Neung, so...but still. That was a pretty harsh way to troll the young lovers. I wish it would turn out to be Palm because they were taken from his vantage point and screw the boss for talking down to him and writing "fool" on his cast. LOL. Anyway, ya'll would faint if Palm did something bad to boo hoo richie boy.
-Does Palm love Neung? Well, not yet, apparently. His whole point a few episodes back was that he was a good shot when he imagined protecting someone he loved. Well, what explains his inability to hit those hitmen at 15 feet? I guess in the actual heat of battle, Mr. Romantic Sweetie Pie Gunny Boy can't remember who he loves so easily. LOL. Anyway, I'm not going to be happy with this series if Neung and Palm aren't ever seen killing someone. Given their situation, they shouldn't be allowed to escape protecting themselves by taking a life so we don't think ill of them.
-Will Ben get a chance to show some spine? Look, I'm not going to harsh on a teen with an Imperial Asian Dad who shows less resilience than a pile of shaving cream when put on the spot. Hopefully at the next opportunity, he'll show some growth and not be the milksop in a tragedy. I can empathize, sure, I'd probably be the same in his shoes. But it would be a waste of a story to leave the character in that spot.

Yep. It finally became clear. The photos need to happen. They've been working under the assumption that he needs to prevent them from happening.

One of those series where I probably should have spent more time watching other series to understand. Since I've seen like 2 historic K-Dramas in my life, I have no idea why its bad that Dongbaek was born in the home of a shaman, what is so bad about being a child of god, why wasn't he supposed to have a name and what was supposed to happen once he had one. O.K. he has a destiny now. And? What? Is he going to grow horns and shoot fire from his eyes now that he has a name?

Episode 4
The Good
-I'm actually pleased that Ben seems to have some kind of chance. Usually, third wheels arrive already flat. And there's actually some very good reasons for him to choose Ben and not wait around for Palm. Maggie is pretty much drawing dead, as usual. I don't think Palm is using her as a beard, so its not exactly his fault when she's cast aside.
-Also glad that Palm gives the warning that Neung and Ben need to be careful about making out. When Chopper and Ben had their convo, it was like "oh, yeah. Just ask him. Asking another boy out is really no different than asking a girl out in this surprisingly free and open society that we're just imaging exists because its a BL and love is love. Nothing to worry about here at this school." Yeah, its another example of Palm eating his true feelings and copping out because he's "security", but it will make the next episode less jarring.
The Meh
-O.K. I get that the fight showed that Palm is going to remain Neung's protector, even after Neung humiliated him. Easiest thing for him to do is go "whoa, buddy, you call me a friend one minute, and a slave when you're drunk. Well, you're on your own." But really, I thought the whole "the ballroom dance social suddenly is no different from a biker bar with all the drunken roughhousing" fight sequence wasn't necessary. No matter how much they try, they aren't going to make me think of Pond as an action-hero, so the fewer unnecessary fights, the better. Everything was fine until they escalated.

Yeah. I'm guessing that there are men who take ballroom classes as part of court ordered anger management classes as part of a plea bargain. Maybe. The guys were even dressed low class in t-shirts and jeans like they walked into the wrong party. It was just poorly thought out. And once again, Ben is missing.

Yeah, though the issue with Palm's asswhopping is that he would have killed Phun if he didn't get pulled off. And as much as I hate a high school bully, he didn't really do anything beyond bullying until the fight escalated. If I'm the vice principal, both boys are doing hard time.

Episode 1
The Good:
Well, I liked Jason Tuan in Red Ballon and loved to see him again. The more I see him, the better.
The Meh
I’ll stick with it, but am meh about the way the time travel doesn’t seem to matter much to the story so far. In a world where wizards exist and they cast spells to transplant random people decades into the future where they’ll be in different bodies, there doesn’t seem to be much that the writers seem to find worth exploring. O.k., cell phones are now smart phones and it’s easier to start a scooter, but I’m concerned that the mains are going to hand the same BLrelationship that they would have had if there were no wizards and time travel.

Bluefin, skipjack or albacore? If you're gonna be a tuna, you should reach to be the best one you can be.

Episode 3 thoughts:
-Yeah, Ben, when Neung said, "don't tell anyone", he didn't mean "use this information as a cudgel to beat on Palm. Chopper also gave a warning about him. Maybe its sour grapes over being rejected, or maybe Chopper knows but loves him anyway. Regardless, they made him state that he doesn't know how to shoot a gun, which either means that he's the most dangerous character or that he in fact does no how to use a gun.
-I'm glad Pawin turned out to be an asshole. I was worried it would be Nemo part 2, where he was just another desperate hanger on. Neung really needs to start learning about the family business and who might have it in for him. I don't know why Neung's dad tried to have Phun killed, though.
-Speaking of the family business, I don't think they are actually a "mafia" family as I would understand it, although they are hazy about what business they might be in besides hotels and casinos. When Thanya says that the tenants are letting their competitors operate on the land, I have no idea what she means. Uncle Bozo complaining about rising management costs to me is a tell that this isn't mafia. The mob does not really care about those kinds of metrics and as for shareholders, well, its not like the accounts mobbed up businesses hire won't sign off on anything. Anyway, I had to laugh at the idea that the way he thought management costs would get under control would be to have a second CEO. Yeah...umm...having two of those and no one knowing who answers to whom is a pretty sure fire way to have costs go through the roof. Try again, Sam.
-I'm hoping that Thanya and Chanon were the ones to kill Neung's father. Its just too obvious if it were uncle Bozo. Thanya seems to eager to play Queen Regent for prince Neung, like she had a plan all along.

I found it funny that he's going to get a gig playing piano and they don't specify what he's supposed to be playing.

Mackie: O.K. Elderly people, time to work on our cha cha steps. Take it away piano man.
Neung: I don't know any cha cha chas.
Mackie: What do you know.
Neung: Well, a few Christmas carols, some minuets, a few rondos and a tarantella.
Mackie: O.K. Geezers. Lets get ready to rondooooo.

Episode 2

-Yeah, its a little over the top, but I'm glad they escalated that Uncle Khit is violent, or at least has his minions commit violence. That's something they never bothered to do in Eclipse for many episodes. Make the danger more dangerous. That said, he didn't actually look at the finger while it was being chopped and didn't actually do the deed himself, so he's in danger of being another lightweight villain who uses incompetent lackeys. He's got fairly simple motives. Lakhorny even. I hope he can shock us. Since he's telegraphed his intention to off Ma and Son, I hope its not him.
-Next time, I hope Neung goes "I like to watch you swim. But please wear this. *pulls out tiny thong* or nothing at all." Work with us, Neung. Be our surrogate perv so we can view more Palm flesh.
-One of the things they also never really made us do until the last episode in Eclipse is make us re-evaluate a character. That was too long for a thriller. So hopefully they have something planned to make us change our minds about someone. Chanon had dad killed maybe. Or maybe dad doesn't want his son in the car not because of class reasons but because he's planning on having Neung assassinated in the car some day. Anyway, make him interesting. Surprise us. I'd rather have a bit of a thrill than the typical lakhorn where we know who is good and who is bad from the early episodes and it never changes. The Good Servant is a bit of a bore. Chanon has potential to be an actual antagonist here since until he's dead, I don't think that Neung and Palm can be friends, let alone lovers.
-O.K., Chopper, Dear. If you want to win Ben's heart, the way to do so is to spend some of dad's cash to take guitar lessons. Or, since you're named after a kitchen appliance, make yourself useful and bring him snacks. Egads. Approaching him under the pretext that you're suspicious of him is not going to get you far. You know that now.
-Chimon is wasted being a good kid. Ben is a politician. Should we trust him?
-Nothing against Mackie, per se, but I hope she ends up walking with a cane in the end for calling those people elderly when they are merely not kids anymore.
-Why is it that no one seems aware that Chopper is related to Neung?

I think he kind of revealed too much to Chopper when he kind of said that he wants to keep him close because at any time, Ben could be removed as President if Neung wanted to be president. He has an anxiety. Then he backtracked and got all huffy when accused of wanting something.

It does make me worry that when I go to Thailand the kids are going to refer to me as grandfather rather than uncle. I can handle uncle. I guess I'll appreciate the respect, but come on. I'm not in "the elderly" for at least another 20 years.

Or they just could have lied and said he was a cousin from the country, moved to Bangkok for school. Or something. Maybe they go to Sunday School together. Or an old family friend's kid whose parents have died. Like there's many reasons a rich person would have someone come stay with them. Its not like the school administrators are going to ask questions.

I guess the biggest mystery from episode 4 is whether Joey really went to buy Aun beer wearing only his boxer shorts.

5 Questions for the Series after ep 1

1 Will they bother to solve the murder and who else is going to die? I'm going to trust Jojo here that he didn't just kill off the patriarch of the family with potentially seedy income sources just to set the plot in motion. 3 Will be Free gave us a cadaver a week. I'm hoping for the same. Since we've already established that Neung can't hit the broad side of a barn, he's going to have to shoot someone stone cold dead in the head or I'm going to be disappointed. Prediction: It will be Chopper. Alternative Prediction: It will be Palm's father.

2 Will the BL get in the way? Ugh. I know we love our "moments" but the BL moments were rather awkward in the first episode. Why did they need to duck in the hallway at that moment like its Bad Buddy 2? Why did they need to fall into the pool? The less of that the better.

3 Will there be more to Palm than just the robot? O.K. so we have another "I fell for my bodyguard" story. Golden Blood and Oh! My Sunshine Night gave us these barely human bodyguards who were all about duty, and short on the libido. Why should they have to give their lives for these rich pricks? Unlike those bodyguards, Palm wasn't raised for this role. So hopefully his character story will be more than just "he was a good soul who ignored all those protest signs against our capitalist overlords and was never tempted to do anything but fall in love with his master." I liked that he decided that since no one was using the pool, he might was well use it. It was just kind of laying around there, anyway. (When Neung didn't see anyone, I was very very worried that Palm had a habit of holding his breath and meditating under water. Oh! My Sunshine Night has ruined me.)

4 How are they going to decorate Pleum's room? Maybe they'll hire folks from Big Dragon and make it into a palace of pleasures. I doubt it. They'll probably just hang up some posters on the wall and call it a bachelor's pad.

5 Do these rich people and well-heeled schools know anyone who can tune a piano? I know its humid and the instruments were designed to be located in Northern Europe and all, but for an extra $100, or pocket change for the wealthiest family in Thailand, they could have someone come in and maintain them.