The miscommunication trope has really outlived its usefulness to the narrative at this point. So much petty drama for no reason, and sooo much unnecessary filler in epsiode 7. It took me like 2 hours to get through the 40 minute episode because I kept getting bored and pausing to do other things š
Man, I gotta reread the webtoon because itās been ages & I remember almost nothing from it, & truthfully, I…
Itās very different. A couple of random scenes from the webtoon do appear in the drama, but for the most part nearly every single scene is different and the plot progression is changed substantially. Plus, they invented a lot of storylines and character traits (like the charactersā hobbies) that donāt exist in the webtoon at all.
Okay so Iām finally reading the webtoon and what gets me is they totally could have made the Chan Young/Ji Yu relationship plot work in a much more organic way if theyād just followed closer to the source material. They didnāt have to elevate them to these main roles or make their romance such a prominent plot point in order to make that work. And they certainly didnāt need to add in the silly tennis and secret musician storylines for either of them.
We could have had it all! And in a way that actually made sense and didnāt distract from the main plot of the webtoon! But instead the production decided they just *needed* to insert a bland straight romance front and center into a BL and thatās so dumb!
Personally, I liked episode 6 well enough. Not nearly as good as 5, but way ahead of 4 for sure.
That said, Iāve been saying since episode 3 that I hope itāll finally be time to switch over from the focus on the Ji Yu/Chan Young romance on to Heesu/Seung Won. Because really - how much more can they possibly do with the straight couple? Theyāre together officially, and still as bland as they always have been.
I liked the focus on the friendships/relationships between all 4 main characters in this episode, but the Heesu/Seung Won romance needs to take center stage for real from now on or this whole drama will be a write off.
Episode 5 was definitely an improvement compared to episode 4 for me.
Ji Yu facilitating Seung Won and Heesuās relationship was what I always hoped for so those scenes were really fun! And I loved that we got the backstory of Seung Wonās friendship with Ji Yu, plus some actual character development for him.
Then of course the sleepover scenes were lovely! I kind of hate the way this drama skirts around the word āgayā (and other identity terms), but I love that Heesu was able to have that talk with Seung Won about his mom and that it eased a bit of the burden of being different that he was feeling. Itās great that they finally seem to be developing a relationship where Heesu sees Seung Won as more than just a guy heās matchmaking.
To me, the weakest parts of the series are still the Chan Young/Ji Yu romance and the Chan Young tennis storyline. I just canāt bring myself to care about either of these plot lines. Neither feels satisfying or particularly interesting to me.
I'm not going to lie. The thing that makes me the most uncomfortable about the adaptation isn't the straight couple…
As someone who hasnāt read the webtoon, itās really interesting to learn that none of this was in the source material. I had seen people say that a lot of changes to the relationships between characters were made, but I didnāt realize that extended to these plot points as well. Now it makes more sense why they feel underdeveloped.
And I agree with you that Iād prefer to see a series like that! Some of my favorite moments in this drama are the scenes between Heesu and his sisters or the friendship scenes between Heesu/Chan Young and Seung Won/Ji Yu. That plus the relatability of unrequited crushes, first love, and mundane family troubles are enough to make a series shine. I donāt think thereās a need to try to make Chan Young a tennis star because the way theyāre handling that story (and others) just isnāt compelling.
I totally understand people's criticism and I have ton of cricitism for the recent episodes myself. Am I annoyed…
I find it frustrating because the production value is clearly so high. I was so impressed with the first couple episodes because itās clear that money and time and planning were invested in this drama.
But those efforts seem to have gone to the wrong place. The production team probably thought that they could market the drama better if they sold it as a youth drama where the straight characters and their relationship are just as important. But they clearly miscalculated because nobody wants that! Especially if it comes across as generically as it has so far here.
Iām still watching and hoping itāll improve as well, but itās so sad that they squandered so much of the source materialās potential within the first few episodes.
So, I have not read the source material, but i just binged these 4 episodes....I am a gay guy....so I am pro M/M…
This was my perspective up until the most recent episode, but as of the last epsiode I am getting more concerned about the progress of the main coupleās story - especially since one of the people in that couple (Seung Won) doesnāt have much of an identity yet apart from his crush on Heesu. Iād rather the series spend more time earlier on to develop his backstory and tell us more about him as a person but all we really know at this point is that he leads the counseling club, people think heās obsessed with getting into university, and he likes Heesu.
I donāt mind the fact that the straight couple was added, but I also think that itās reasonable for people to have distaste for adaptations of queer media that shift the focus away from the queer couple that is central to that media. I havenāt given up on it yet, but I understand why some other people have - especially if theyāre fans of the source material as written.
what are some other bl dramas that is similar to gelboys? its so good!
This drama definitely feels like itās doing new things in the world of Thai BL. More realism than Iāve ever seen before in a Thai teen drama. I think I Told Sunset About You is the closest to the vibe, but still quite different. For non-Asian dramas, Skam is close. Season 3 of the original Norwegian series is about the love story between 2 boys and is also quite realistic.
Currently watching episode 2 and I appreciate the realistic representation of high school boys who canāt sing and have no business being the frontman of a band doing it anyway š
seungwon treated heesu to chicken but they cut to chan young playing tennis??? wtf we wanted to see that interaction
Seriously, whatās with all the tennis scenes? Who cares? Any development of the relationship between the main couple should be taking center stage, but instead it gets sidelined for Chan Young hitting a ball š
Mm, it seems I was far too quick to judge (or not judge rather) the inclusion of the CY + JI couple instead of…
Totally agree with everything you said you liked and didnāt like about this episode! And I also fully agree that Seung Won needs more screen time to actually get to know him as more than just the guy who has a crush on Heesu. If we can get several scenes in an episode dedicated entirely to Chan Young starting tennis again, then why canāt we get scenes that give Seung Won more of a true personality/identity?
Iām still enjoying the series and I donāt mind the focus being spread between multiple characters, but I do think thereās too much emphasis being placed on relatively uninteresting storylines right now. Like itās fine to put some of the focus on Chan Young (he is billed as a main character after all), but doing so much of both the tennis storyline and his romance storyline with Ji Yu in one episode felt like too much to me. Does anyone really care whether he plays tennis or not? Because I feel like they havenāt given us any reason to be invested in that story at all.
I didn't read the manhwa...with that said...The straight ML's storyline is just fine as far as I'm concerned.…
I also love Ji Yu and Seung Wonās friendship! They have childhood friend vibes. I hope he tells her whatās really going on soon because itās funny how confused she is that he suddenly has a ācrushā on her haha
For a BL drama,the straight scene was more than the BL part this week.im not hating the side straight part BUT…
I feel like itās progressing pretty naturally. Like weāre still in the part where Heesu is infatuated with someone who isnāt into him and canāt yet see that thereās potential with someone else. So in that sense there isnāt really a BL storyline yet because if there was it would be too rushed for the story theyāre telling. Meanwhile, the straight couple probably wonāt get as much screen time going forward because theyāre already basically together. At least thatās my hope.
We could have had it all! And in a way that actually made sense and didnāt distract from the main plot of the webtoon! But instead the production decided they just *needed* to insert a bland straight romance front and center into a BL and thatās so dumb!
That said, Iāve been saying since episode 3 that I hope itāll finally be time to switch over from the focus on the Ji Yu/Chan Young romance on to Heesu/Seung Won. Because really - how much more can they possibly do with the straight couple? Theyāre together officially, and still as bland as they always have been.
I liked the focus on the friendships/relationships between all 4 main characters in this episode, but the Heesu/Seung Won romance needs to take center stage for real from now on or this whole drama will be a write off.
Ji Yu facilitating Seung Won and Heesuās relationship was what I always hoped for so those scenes were really fun! And I loved that we got the backstory of Seung Wonās friendship with Ji Yu, plus some actual character development for him.
Then of course the sleepover scenes were lovely! I kind of hate the way this drama skirts around the word āgayā (and other identity terms), but I love that Heesu was able to have that talk with Seung Won about his mom and that it eased a bit of the burden of being different that he was feeling. Itās great that they finally seem to be developing a relationship where Heesu sees Seung Won as more than just a guy heās matchmaking.
To me, the weakest parts of the series are still the Chan Young/Ji Yu romance and the Chan Young tennis storyline. I just canāt bring myself to care about either of these plot lines. Neither feels satisfying or particularly interesting to me.
And I agree with you that Iād prefer to see a series like that! Some of my favorite moments in this drama are the scenes between Heesu and his sisters or the friendship scenes between Heesu/Chan Young and Seung Won/Ji Yu. That plus the relatability of unrequited crushes, first love, and mundane family troubles are enough to make a series shine. I donāt think thereās a need to try to make Chan Young a tennis star because the way theyāre handling that story (and others) just isnāt compelling.
But those efforts seem to have gone to the wrong place. The production team probably thought that they could market the drama better if they sold it as a youth drama where the straight characters and their relationship are just as important. But they clearly miscalculated because nobody wants that! Especially if it comes across as generically as it has so far here.
Iām still watching and hoping itāll improve as well, but itās so sad that they squandered so much of the source materialās potential within the first few episodes.
I donāt mind the fact that the straight couple was added, but I also think that itās reasonable for people to have distaste for adaptations of queer media that shift the focus away from the queer couple that is central to that media. I havenāt given up on it yet, but I understand why some other people have - especially if theyāre fans of the source material as written.