John Master

--Because they mentioned Thanos. The characters themselves literally compared the ring to Thanos's gauntlet as an explanation for why Boss was powerful.

--I didn't say a word of criticism about the staging of fight scenes. Or their inclusion.

--When a series is not centered around the romance, all the more reason to pay attention to the logic of the rest of the story. If you write a crime action tale and you need a powerful villain, do better than "Boss steals a ring and, suddenly, all the other villains who used to mock him are now afraid of him" as justification.

--this particular series has four credited screenwriters, but making the "writer" a chorus didn't work. I opted for "her" at the end only because in this industry female screenwriters outnumber men. In the moment, I was more concerned with the default linguistic tendency to erase women's contributions by resorting to male pronouns. Does that alone qualify as misogyny? Or does leaping to the very serious accusation of misogyny make you a man-hater, absent any other evidence?

--the "fan" comments summarize different elements anyone can persistently find sifting through the comments section of any BL series. Fan 1 is based on me, in fact. I did not invent these ways of thinking, nor do I object to the fans finding what they want. But I do think if we do not demand better quality from production companies, we certainly won't get it.

--having a different sensibility than you do regarding continuity, story logic, plot editing, or character development is not a sign of bad faith.

Well, thank you. But BL Fan 1 is based on me. So be careful what you wi--whoa! Look at that! Is that two pretty boys kissing?

"It was said." Many times, actually. That is the answer. "It was said."

Director: I am not comfortable shooting this. I mean aside from the central romance and Joke's family issues, none of it makes sense.

Writer: Hush, you peon. Television is a writer's medium. You'll shoot the script as written. And tell those actors to make it believable when they talk about the ring! If the characters all act as if a ring bestows magic powers and invulnerability, the audience will just accept it.

Director: but this isn't a comic book universe or a make-believe world. There are no magic rings. The audience will see through it.

Writer: You forget, peon. This is a BL audience. As long as pretty boys flirt and kiss, logic doesn't matter. If everyone behaves as if a hunk of jewelry has power, it becomes true.

BL Fan 1: how dare you think so little of us! Of course, story matters! Of course, plausible character arcs meticulously crafted over several episodes matter! You can't just dump some previously unmentioned ring into the middle combined with some weird game and expect us to just forg--hey! Are those guys kissing? Wow! Look at them go at it!

BL Fan 2: Gosh! These actors have such chemistry! I'd watch anything to see chemistry like this! That isn't highly trained and well-rehearsed professional actors putting on a performance! That's real!

BL Fan 3: I just loved them in their last series! So good! I am just so happy to see them together, I dont even need a plot.

Director: [chastened] I will never question you again!

Writer: Wise, peon. Very wise. [Laughs maniacally as she twists an ostentatious, possibly magic, ring around her finger.]

THE END

Director: I am not comfortable shooting this. I mean aside from the central romance and Joke's family issues, none of it makes sense.

Writer: Hush, you peon. Television is a writer's medium. You'll shoot the script as written. And tell those actors to make it believable when they talk about the ring! If the characters all act as if a ring bestows magic powers and invulnerability, the audience will just accept it.

Director: but this isn't a comic book universe or a make-believe world. There are no magic rings. The audience will see through it.

Writer: You forget, peon. This is a BL audience. As long as pretty boys flirt and kiss, logic doesn't matter. If everyone behaves as if a hunk of jewelry has power, it becomes true.

BL Fan 1: how dare you think so little of us! Of course, story matters! Of course, plausible character arcs meticulously crafted over several episodes matter! You can't just dump some previously unmentioned ring into the middle combined with some weird game and expect us to just forg--hey! Are those guys kissing? Wow! Look at them go at it!

BL Fan 2: Gosh! These actors have such chemistry! I'd watch anything to see chemistry like this! That isn't highly trained and well-rehearsed professional actors putting on a performance! That's real!

BL Fan 3: I just loved them in their last series! So good! I am just so happy to see them together, I dont even need a plot.

Director: [chastened] I will never question you again!

Writer: Wise, peon. Very wise. [Laughs maniacally as she twists an ostentatious, possibly magic, ring around her finger.]

THE END

In my theory of criticism, certain episodes of a limited series have particular jobs to do that other episodes do not. For example, Premiere episodes must introduce the characters and establish the situation. It is not always necessary to set the plot in motion, but the debut must do the set up for the main story. Similarly, penultimate and finale episodes have jobs that differentiate them from most other episodes. It is therefore possible to judge such episodes differently than the rest of a series.

In my opinion, Wandee Goodday delivers one of the most effective premiere episodes. It is noteworthy enough to warrant this addendum to a review that encapsulates the flaws and sins of the whole. Nevertheless, aspiring scriptwriters should study this episode as a textbook example of how to establish characters and set up a premise.

Unfortunately, the series progresses downhill from there. It may be a textbook story on what not to do after that. What a colossal waste.

Not only is it a shame that the moral shortcomings of this plot distract from the fine acting, but my recollection is that the staging of the amorous moments was far more sophisticated than Thai series usually manage. Credit to the intimacy coach for that, although hiring actors willing to "go for it" makes an absolute difference. No pressed lips frozen in place in this one. A shame the non-amorous moments so seldom defy logic. Or common sense. Or anything resemblimg professional ethics.

Note to self: work the word inamarato into next review. Keep using it thereafter.

Deciding whether or not to watch The Hidden Moon? [Quick answer: do watch.]

If you know nothing about THM, do NOT sample the Comments here because these folks have mostly finished the whole series. They are eager to discuss its twists and turns. Their comments reflect all that knowledge. As the genre is "supernatural suspense thriller", the less you know going in, the more you will enjoy it. Spoilers in this realm really do spoil the fun by leeching the suspense and the surprise.

As an alternative, please consider this spoiler-free review I wrote. I kept things vague while still trying to give a sense of who will like--or dislike!--this production. The first paragraph alone will suffice for many. Those desiring more info before they commit to 10 hours can read onward. Happy watching.

https://kisskh.at/profile/8984637/reviews/402968

Maybe too much sense? Could still be wrong.

That occurred to me too. Time travel paradox.

The clever line at the boat floating was when Tin said to Khen "people like us cannot...." Tin meant "us dead people," but the disguised meaning was "us gay people..." it was a clue out in the open, yet the writers knew the disguised meaning would stand out tomost viewers.

See my note below. E 9 went out of the way to state only four bodies had been found. That must have significance then?

First Rule of TV Deaths: if you haven't seen a body, the character is not officially dead, even if all the other characters think differently. So, I maintain Khen's status is still an open question, until they show us the body. Khen may be dead like his four friends. But why save finding his body for the finale? Instead, he may be comatose somewhere, having staggered away from the scene and then collapsed. Thus, the reason he manifests physically to Mas is that he is a coma ghost and not a "real" ghost. That would also explain why he still feels the pain of the accident--because his living body has yet to be treated.

It wssnt all that thorough! I just picked out the three biggest factors that prevented Curse from reaching brilliance.

A very good series, very much worth the watch. Excellent acting. Excellent directing. Good writing (script). (And a happy ending, if you relish BL for that sweet domestic bliss at the end.) Misses the all-time greats in my view due to choices made in story frame and structure. I think the writers were ambitious (credit) but bit off more than they could chew (fault).

Three Criticims:
1. Episodes set during high school outshone the episodes set during adulthood.
--Not only did those episodes resonate better in the romantic department, I felt like they left material unexplored when the timeline shifted to adulthood. And those later episodes just didn't quite gel--in part because the writer chose to withhold information from the viewers (but known to the characters) until the final episodes that would have made the middle eps more comprehensible. Relying on late-arriving flashback sequences (multiple) to render a story logical? Unless you are Agatha Christie, that techniqe is hacky.

2. The time jump is the most preposterous time jump I have encountered in a Bl series.
--Some relationships can pick up where they left off (platonic or romantic) despite a lengthy separation. Resuming as uf no time has passed at age 30 with someone you last saw at 18? And at that, only briefly knew each other? Not only implausible to anyone who understands human maturation, but those guys frittered away their youth. They neither of them grew in their 20s via the experience of romantic trial and error. The problem was not the length of time: it was how the story presented the gap.

3. The criminal twist in the finale was unnecessary.
--This came across as a writer failing to realize their character already had enough potential drama to be a complete character capable of supporting a compelling story. There was lots left to explore before the writer said, "How else can I complicate their lives?" and dumped in this unfortunate and supercilious subplot at thelast minute. Take it out, and you still have a character who fell short of his dreamed future life. Ad yeah...that is enough for a good character and story.

For a fuller explication of these thoughts, please seek out my review.

https://kisskh.at/profile/8984637/reviews/402618

Thus is the best theory i have yet seen for why JY maintains contact with DH's father. My own theory stopped at "he figured DH would show up eventually," but this fits that andmire so elegantly.

Solid review. I will observe that applying western notions of how timely the subject matter feels out of place since Korean culture does not move in lockstep with western cultures. For instance, in the '80s and '90s disclosing one's HIV status became an ethical expectation of serious relationships. In the west. I cannot say whether a similar ethical consideration formed in the sexual mores of Korean gay male culture in that time, a subculture that would have remained more concealed than comparable queer communities in the west. The imperative to keep secrets may have won out.

Moreover, the comparison to the '90s fails because Go Young reached adulthood and acquired the virus in the 2010s. By that time, an HIV diagnosis no longer represented a death sentence. By the end of this story, it is possible that "undetectable" was a valid outcome. Advances in drug efficacy has reduced the urgency to reveal one's status to every trick. In other words, the current generation of young gay men (globally) does not face ethical considerations of safe sex equivalent to the concerns of the generation that came of age in the 90s. Unfortunately, the TV adaptation is uninterested in depicting how Seoul's gay community proccesses HIV diagnoses. So while I concur with your general critique that the script underplays the impact of the diagnosis on Go Young's life, I can also see where that that choice may reflect a contemporary reality of HIV. What would have consumed a person's life in the 1990s, making him a patient or victim or object of pity, is in the 2010s a manageable inconvenience. Perhaps the script underplays Go Young's virus because that is not the chief thing the writer is concerned about in telling Go Young's life story. Actually, that's kind of a refreshing way to see HIV handled--an afterthought.

That notion also occurred to me. The way they filmed Yim rocking back during his cowboy moment, no way at least one of them wasn't playing with the second penis in the room.

I had the same thought during the finale sex scene. Only my brain framed it as a character issue rather than an actor issue. Made sense to me for Ob Aun and Shan to be the sort of couple who routinely swapped around. Almost as if actual gay couples dont get hung up on which of them is "the man" and which "the women." Who does what in bed? Not a concern.

And then the scene with Pie and Ozone started, and I thought THAT couple ought to swap around just to subvert genre tropes and stereotypes.