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ONLY One Reason To Watch!
Overall, this was one of the worst BL series I have seen this year. It had no serious plot. A lot of the characters are cartoonish if not caricatures. Most came across as wooden, stiff, dull, and lifeless. The story meander pointlessly. And every cliché and trope imaginable was used to try and create links between storylines to keep this silly mess of a story going. There is ONLY one reason to watch this fiasco. Everything, and I do mean everything, is centered, linked, and focused on the bond between Jun (Oak Pasakorn) and Sorn (Boat Yongyut). Nothing else matters. I honestly did not care about anything that did not pertain to Jun and Sorn. All I cared about was watching them. They have a screen chemistry and a magic that is simply off the charts. It is too bad that I could not separate out only the segments where Jun and Oak are in. I would give that story a rating of 5 stars!Was this review helpful to you?
Made Me Feel Icky
Just plain weird. Honestly, there are not many instances that give me the ‘willies’, but watching this series frankly did. Everything about this story left me disquiet. And the way the narrative was fashioned felt like what the two protagonists were somehow involved in, between the two of them, was ‘dirty’. Therefore, the whole drama felt – unclean. Sadly, it did not need to go down that road. Overall, this feels a lot like another stepbrother trope BL series, only more obscenely because the direction made it feel that way. Rather than being an adult story, they made these ‘brothers’ caricatures – one almost angelic while the other demonic. Completely unnecessary. What would have been so wrong with treating them in average terms, more relatable to the everyday world, rather than truncating them into ‘good’ and ‘bad’ personas? Not everything is either a yin or a yang. Why can we not have something more genuine and real for a change that is relatable? The real question here about this series is an obvious rhetorical one: What would have been the outcome of this series if the plot had been that the protagonists were not labeled ‘brothers’ but something less salacious? Would we still want to watch it?Was this review helpful to you?
Entertaining, Enjoyable and Escapism par excellence
I downright fall under the spell of certain themes in either movies or series. This series had two of my favorites. Time travel and swashbuckling epic times full of exotic and romantic lore, legends, and traditions. And especially given my naïve Western upbringing, I am heart and soul smitten by Chinese fable and mythology. This series transported me back into time, like with the character, where I too could imagine myself beside them. This is a very short series and fast paced. The editing is very abrupt, and it feels as if a lot of the story is ‘missing’. While the narrative flows linearly, how it gets there is perplexing. Transitions between scenes are choppy and there seems to be gaps. But honestly, the acting is very good as well as the cinematography. The special effects were both good and bad, in the sense they were sometimes amateurish. The costumes were excellent and so were the overall scenes. This is a very enjoyable way to spend an hour of escapism. For those of us who still dream and use this as our flight of fancy, it was captivating and romantic. Perhaps I got too carried away, but I do not care. I am smiling as I write this. I think you will smile also.Was this review helpful to you?
One Of The Best Anthologies!
This anthology is like the first warm summer breeze that sweeps over you after a long cold winter. It is refreshing, gentle, and so enveloping that it makes you feel good all over. This anthology is composed of 4 unrelated love stories told so delicately that you might miss the intensity that lies underneath each of their love stories. Overall, these stories are nimbly told with no overused drama, no destructive love triangles, or cheating plots. It is solid stories with excellent acting in each. All four-love tales are different in terms of poignancy and message. Some are meant to be quite powerful while others are presented as examples of slices-of-life contextures.Was this review helpful to you?
Stop with the Stupid Plot Lines!
This whole series is one giant contradiction. But it presents well. That much I shall give it credit for. It hides its flaws with beautiful men, a heart tugging storyline, and an endearing love story. While the men are quite beautiful, the core story is based on kidnapping and coercion, and the beloved love story (actually there are two) is right out of the trope cliché playbook. You have seen it all before. Everyone functionally acted well in this series. Can I say anyone caught my attention? Well, no. It all seemed rather robotic to me and with little effort and development to fully get into the characters or who they were. Overall, this looks good. Polished performances. Even sometimes heartstring scenes. But an empty plot and an awful premise. One should not divorce, nor should one, from how the story developed. Falsely under duress and coercion using kidnapping and abusive techniques. And frankly no ‘love’ should overcome that premise. That is morally, ethically and I suspect legally wrong and unjustified. “Love’ will not change that. To fall in love with your kidnapper, no matter how ‘valid’ the reasons might seem or be, is a foundation not built on solid trust and one that will become suspect in the future. That is the classic case of using the Stockholm Syndrome.Was this review helpful to you?
A Surprisingly Strong Short Series
Perhaps not quite a masterpiece, but most assuredly it is a Must-See series. This is an astonishing and discerning BL told in just about an hour and a half. However, it loses much unless you watch it in toto. In that way, you get its complete essence, since each episode is only between 7 to 10 minutes in length. This is not only an entertaining BL with surprisingly strong performances, but there is also a strong screen chemistry between the two lead actors. For a South Korean BL, which are not generally known for its straightforwardness in relationship scenes, this was surprisingly intense and emphatic. We could at first feel the sexual tension between them and then when they got together, their barriers broke down quickly, and then we could sense the warm yearning that they had for one another blossom forth. It was to say the least charming.Was this review helpful to you?
Reached The Top But...
Undoubtedly, this is one of the best BLs to come out of Thailand in a long, long time. Assuredly, it will be like nothing you have ever seen before. It is realistic, fresh, and reflective of today’s fast paced adolescent living. Antithetical to when I was their age? I hate to tell you this, but little has changed! It is exactly what it was like when I was their age. While the forms of communication, clothing styles and slang, and certainly the awesome freedom to express oneself are all vastly dissimilar, what the internal feelings and emotions are and how those are established and exhibited are exactly the same way that we expressed them some 60 years ago and I suspect goes back much further. It is comforting to know that egocentrically and emotionally little has changed. If this is representative of today’s generation, then the reality is we have always been generational gelboys. Where I wanted to see this unique series succeed was to tell a more truthful story. I wish they had used actual teens for the roles so as to have captured the genuine immaturity of the substantive times; not the reflections of the past memories of the current performers. I am not a proponent of using older performers for roles that are clearly contemporary and in the here and now. There is no reason to do so. That IS what the story is about. We want to see, sense, feel, and genuinely grasp what they are experiencing in real time. Not a reflection of what was but a reality of what is. If they had used contemporary performers this would have been a dynamic masterpiece and set the standards for others to follow. It would have lent a greater level of sincerity to the production and the story, and we would have grasped the deeper meaning of the emotions because they would not have lived them yet. We would have watched them project their raw emotions, and for me that would have given it a greater sense of uncertainty. After all, they are teenagers, and they have their whole lives ahead of them. Let us see how each of them would have portrayed their own ‘tabula rasa’.Was this review helpful to you?
Winter Is Not the Death of Summer but the Birth of Spring
1 people found this review helpful
Watch This Series From A Prisoner's Perspective
Don't listen to the negativity about this series! Sure, there are production issues but this is a different BL. This whole series is unique in that despite its dark surroundings, it is still a human connection that binds two people together and that might be the requisite for survival in their world. Perhaps without that, the days and nights become a crestfallen abyss. If that connection is a form of love, then let it be named so. All I know is that this throw-away series is an exceptional and phenomenal series that says more with less. This series, I think, is misunderstood. It does not flow well. It feels disjointed. Time is hard to discern, as in reality, it would. So much is done cryptically. However, I am guessing that is exactly what prison life is like, plus more. There is also more unsaid than said. It is up to you to fill in the blanks here. This is one of the few real, honest, and genuine BLs to come out of Thailand in a long time. It is brilliantly acted, as the story is told with a brutal sincerity that is relatable for all of us to understand, if we open our minds to their confinement. They lost their souls in prison. We see that clearly. They are shells of humans. The only vestige of humanity is the here and there touch by one another that brushes past them occasionally, and even then, it can never fully be intimate. This story is gritty, touching, and unfeigned and not comfortable to watch.Was this review helpful to you?
This is a Sleeper Hit! Just Wonderfully Entertaining!!
By every standard, this series should not have worked. It is an overused plot line with cliché and predictable character-types but it is so damn charming and just so weirdly twisted that, like a freshly made bowl of popcorn, I could not stop consuming the series. It is funny, witty, joyful, and addictively entertaining. It is also assiduously sad, melancholic, and depressing. If you could compare life to a coin, this is what it would be like if you flipped it. Happy/sad. Heartwarming/melancholic. Charming/reprehensible. It literally is a story of opposites that should not have worked but did.Was this review helpful to you?
Made Deaf People Normal! Yea!
While this is honestly a rather standard BL formatted series, for some reason it worked! Maybe it was because of the innate nature of the characters themselves. Or the rather great chemistry between the actors. Perhaps it was the elevation of the trite storyline to a more relatable premise. Or maybe it was a combination of all of these. No matter, it simply was effective. Perhaps this is what made this series so special because it touched a chord with a population we often do not relate to. This series helped us understand, perhaps just a little, what it is like to be deaf and what some of their needs are, especially in developing interpersonal relationships. Kudos for presenting a disabled condition in a very positive light and showing us that deaf individuals too can and should be as part of our overall community also. I liked this series for its pragmatic message and its portrayal of an individual with a disability being more like us than unlike us.Was this review helpful to you?
Absolutely Brilliant!
Confounding, convoluted, deeply disturbing but brilliant! Just Brilliant! It makes no sense. Yet it does. This might seem like an oxymoron but what you are watching is a journey. A journey through the mind of a of a deeply disturbed young man as he tries to cope with living with an almost unfathomable trauma. It is his stream-of-consciousness displayed in all its resplendence for us to see and participate in. This series is so creative not only in story but also in presentation. I have no doubt that most will intensely dislike it because it just does not fit into any traditional standard of presentation. Through much of it, you may be confused and might scratch your head and ask yourself, “What am I watching?” However, be forewarned, by the end, you may be forced to confront your own sense of reality. A remarkable and unique series. It is astonishing and I loved it!Was this review helpful to you?
It Had Me Hooked But....
The story itself is certainly intriguing. And from China. Stunningly audacious. And one of the few times it actually portrayed homosexuality with surprising openness and candor. A round of applause and kudos for their efforts. In a bit of a schizophrenic twist, however, it goes deep but yet stays superficial. By that I mean that while we do actually get to know the characters, we never see them use what they know about themselves to better themselves. Until the end. Then it all comes together but in such a confusing way. I felt like I missed a big chunk of what happened to them to get to the place that they were finally at.Was this review helpful to you?
One Of The Best!
When I first started to watch this series, I frankly was perplexed by it. It certainly grabbed my attention and honestly, I did not identify the same actors playing different roles. Sincerely, I thought they were different actors as the roles, setup, and stories were so vastly distinctive. But as each of the storylines developed, I did observe that the essence was the same. It was well into the third storyline when I had my epiphany and realized the actors were the same but each of the stories was wildly different. Two young men find each other fall in love and form a nexus. However, not always with happy endings. Each character represented different personalities and certainly different outlooks on life. Yet, something always draws the two of them together. And that something of course is love. The outstanding quality of this series is that while there is no direct link between stories, it all still flows so naturally. It is an anthology that comes alive for you. There is nothing metaphysical, esoteric, or destined in the stars that fate the two protagonists to be together in each story. It all seems to flow so naturally and organically and without help from any high powers. And to be rewarded at the end with having a feeling of watching something that felt so alive happening, made it all the more special.Was this review helpful to you?
Another Stockholm Syndrome Plot
I wish a story like this had not been produced. It is a wrong message that got twisted into a pretzel trying to make it feel and turn out respectable. I am sorry but it should not have. Someone was kidnapped at gun point, threatened, tied up, terrorized, and almost killed. And then the victim falls in love with his captor. This is another version of the ‘Stockholm Syndrome’. Yes, of course, the story is more complicated than this. But then again, it really is not. The story gets convoluted and endlessly waxes and wanes between ridiculous plots and scenarios. I cannot say anything bad about the acting.Was this review helpful to you?
A Brilliant Character Study! Phenomenal!!
This is one of those breathtaking series that come along every once in a while, that when you begin to watch it, you know you will be profoundly affected by it. This is a remarkable story of two of the saddest figures in a BL I have ever seen. Yet, there is something magical and mystical about their fate together. Almost from the beginning, you knew they would be together, but you also sensed that the price they would pay for that to happen would be heavy and ladened with sadness. This is an astonishing character study of two flawed individuals who were marginalized, each for different reasons but faced the same outcome. A life of degradation and despair. But they found each other, loved each other, and grew. They had to sacrifice so much. Much more than most of us could or would have possibly been able to bear to do. A phenomenal and brilliant series! Completely character driven.Was this review helpful to you?
