MikeO

Finally! Someone who doesn’t trash Love Mate. When most KBL kisses look like licking a postage stamp, those two had come chemistry ZaveidM. May favorite KBL of the year and in my all time great list is The Eight Sense. I think you’ll dig it.

Agreed. I’m addicted so I want more and more titles but, but I know we are way oversaturated. For every Moonlight Chicken comes five terrible Thai BLs. I’m having a really hard time counting on one hand what’s even been passable this year. Step by Step has flaws but it’s overall a quality effort. I also liked The Luminous solution, even though the magic plot device is not necessary, it has been at least passable I hear the new Krist BL is good. My School President was well done I’m tolerating La pluie though it’s really gone Off the rails. I’m really stretching here to define quality. But as far as Thai releases go most of them have been Tim Ten Jaí.’d (My new Thai word for sucked)

I hope part of my IQ subscription goes toward acting lessons for the cast.

My liberation notes is one of my favorite kdramas. So, I’ll go ahead and watch this next. That was the comparison I needed. For some reason I’ve been put off by the title, dumb as that may be. I’ll bet I’ll regret not watching sooner.

3 years ago , I probably would have rated this series quite highly. It was a serviceable story with decent but not spectacular actors. The story would have been better as a 90 min movie than an eight episode TV series., The series dealt with a friend couple , where one of the dudes wasn’t Willing to “go there”. It never went for the “only gay for you” route and if this was a few years ago, we probably would have praised the show for handling the “uncomfortable with m4m” internal struggle of one of the leads in a mature way ….

But this is not three years ago .. this is 2023 and a rising tide has lifted all boats. South Korea has put out, arguably some of the best BL’s of all time. Semantic error , the eighth sense. , to my star, and Light on Me just to name a few

The game has been upped and what worked in the past just doesn’t cut it given the elevated standards. And I’m not talking about expensive talent or exotic shooting locations that are hard for an indie production to pull off. But some of it is basic blocking and tacking . Normally, I don’t bitch about production value, but between the terrible editing, and the lack of mic placements were so notable, it was intrusive. It sounded like the main actors overdubs some of their lines into a studio, voiceover mic Meanwhile, some of the actors couldn’t barely be understood because they were on the other side of the room with no boom mic.
For most of the time, the acting was confident, I thought the main lead his family had horrible financial trouble was really quite good in his role. There’s something believable and honest in his portrayal But anyone taking a role in a BL who has any pride in their craft at all, might think twice about the old, licking a postage stamp style of kissing. . Sorry dudes, but you got left in the dust. If it’s that important to you not to get teased in your personal life for gay kissing maybe go for a different role. Even the two kids in Moonlight chicken, Fourth and Gemini, who because of their age at the time of filming, were forced into the unique camera angle that blocks the physical contact. As those kids proved , You need to actually show the contact, and that couple managed to pull it off spectacularly.,

I don’t wanna come across is too harsh. I may have just unfairly overloaded my wrath about fish kissing on one couple There’s a lot worse being put out these days. But when you side-by-side the production value, writing, and performances in My Dating Sim compared to Star Struck. Or the chemistry between the two leads in Love Mate (and talk about passionate kissing) ) there’s just no comparison

On to root for Love Tractor next!

Eric has just described how it is in the real BL world. Met my partner on a hook up line and night 1 was all about that. But we are now 15 years into our relationship. So I guess the sex didn’t stop us from falling for each other hard.

Ha ha ha. So true. So KBL. But at least they got the kissing right.

So funny. I was thinking the samething. Where did he end up. Rumored to be moving to GMMTV. A year ago but I’ve lost track. I’d love to see him in another BL

I totally agree with that. I couldn’t put my finger on what bothered me about the awkward lip pressing. In my comment i equated it to licking a postage stamp. But you are right. It makes me uncomfortable because they are uncomfortable. Then I’m reminded that my own lifestyle choice is still so stigmatized in this world despite growing acceptance. , it kind of of ruins the experience. Oh. And it’s not a choice. But you get what I’m saying. These two actors, no matter what their preference, sell the passion between their two characters so well. And that makes me feel good. It’s their way of expressing acceptance and I’m totally comfortable with that

Ok. I’m probably upvoting this more than it deserves because Cho Han Gyeol in a swimsuit is exceptionally hot but also once the couple became a couple I am really enjoying the show more than when it was stalky. But I have to give the actors a lot of credit for really selling the passion. No lip pressing here. Too many KBL couples Make kissing look like they are moistening a stamp. To be fair so do a lot of straight Korean romances. Not here. (And since Semantic Error and especially Eighth Sense KBLs have gotten way better in this department ). I think these two actors were able to get lost in the characters and sell the passion and without fear of being judged. I appreciate that.

I will Most People panned oxygen the series as a bore fest. I binged it and actually like it. No question, Waiting a week between mediocre would it suck more For me it sucked less. Hoping to get that out of BD, plus it’s got more action.

I did the same thing you did. Dropped it months ago. Gonna dive back in and give it a chance

This is really good. Quite artistic. It got served up to me by the iq app after watching a few BLs so I of course shipped the two boys , but now I see that’s not where it’s headed. However it would be a unique BL story idea where the relationship is secondary to the plot, but where the leads grow close because of the plot. Sort of like that Max Tull show. But I guess I should deal with it as the show I got. It’s a really well paced slow reveal mystery. I’m on ep 4 and I can’t stop. It’s funny, outside of BLs I rarely watch Taiwan series. But when I do they’ve been great. This series and “Someday or one Day”, which was perhaps the greatest TV series I’ve ever watched, and I include all the great American Peak tv era shows in that comparison.

This one is not quite that, but it’s honestly really quite good and getting better with each ep. It’s unusual in that it pulls off comedy really well, but then can be quite terrifying a moment later. Very few Asian dramas cause me to laugh out loud but these actors can do it with their wry expressions and understated delivery

Well. I’m going give Midnight Museum a chance then. Aíslan BL is what brought me to a steaming platform like Viki, but the series that absolutely blew me away was Someday or One Day …nothing to do with BL but became one of my favorite TV shows ever . Understood on MSP. I guess the reason I liked it is the very thing you just described. They tried to change up the tired School plot enogh for me to buy in. But still plenty of slide whistles and bongos. Kinn Porsche? Now that’s changing things up. (Speaking of hit and miss). I’m really curious how you’ll react to the Eighth Sense. Here is how it went down for me. I just got done with a Shoulder to cry On. It held my interest until the final episode when it immediately bore the stink of my day job, dealing record label ProMotion weasels and artist management. It felt handled. This won’t give anything away in case you haven’t seen it but there was clearly a committee steering how the two K-POP actors would navigate the typical BL relationship dynamic. Everything in that final ep was made out of ecomic choice as opposed to artistic choice and as one living in the real BL world I felt total ly “handled” and was put off by it. So I flipped on Eighth Sense at a bit of low point in my Bl viewing lifeand went in with no expectations. And for me it was a life eating experience (love that expression by the way). Maybe not in terms of time but emotion. From the musics, to the production style , to the low key and rather western aesthetic and especially every side character written in a three dimensional treatment. These people felt real. I was so completely enthralled with that show. Now that’s just me. Your experience may be totally different. Several of my closer My Drama List pals had issues with one of the leads. But from our couple of exchanges, I can tell I’ll respect your opinion so get back to me either way. If you end up not liking it, I know it will be for a well spoken reason . And if you do like it, we’ll I’ll get an ego boost for recommending it. I really do want to know what you think. Take care for now

Ok. Well this recco is not quite that level of artistry . Step by step is more in the “surprisingly passable for a Thai BL” category.

That is very well said. Just because I appreciate MC, Eighth Sense, ITSAY, Semantic Error for their artistic breakthroughs, I still sit through the ones like Ai Long Nai where absolutely nothing happens for 10 episodes, other than having a meal and standing around and looking pretty. Or worse yet, "Bite Me" where I had to wait 10 episodes between lines of dialogue. Overall, I think Thai BL is upping its game lately. My School Prez for what it was, was incredibly good. Hey..are you watching "Step By Step". That's another Thai BL (only two eps in) that's surprising me in the way we've been discussing. It's no Rembrandt, but an actual story. It's on YouTube. Tell me what you think. Hopefully I didn't just curse it.

Since now I know you have great taste I have a recommendation. No, it's not sunset / eighth sense level, but surprisingly mature and well structured storyline for a Thai BL. Feels like a real story where the romance evolves organically. It's called "Step by Step". If you're like me, you're dreading not having E.S. eps to look forward to. This one is on YouTube and I think it airs on Tuesday. (I think) You probably already know about it, but if not, give it a try. I might ease the withdrawals. Goddard, however, won't feel threatened. Neither will Werner Duplessis and his co-director.

I actually felt that as my first impulse. But having lived with others making tragic decisions because they were depressed seemingly out of the blue i think the camera angle was to give the narrative the sense than mental illness, anxiety and depression can come from those you least expect it from. Anyway that was my second take of that artistic decision. But you raise a good point

I’ve never felt such an adrenaline rush that watching the opening scene with Wetter’s song playing. And the party scene. So incredibly beautiful and authentic

So true!