Heartwarming and sweet dating reality show!
This show had me hooked from the start! Considering how trashy dating shows in the West are, I was extremely pleased with the way this show was conducted. The cast is fantastic and there is absolutely no unnecessary drama or fighting. I loved meeting these 8 gay men who were looking for love, and the show makers seem to respect that. Even the tasks they had to do and the way they went about "matching" with each other was done nicely while respecting everyone's boundaries.Special mention to the fact that the show-makers spent time asking these men their experiences while living as a gay man in Korea. Hearing their experiences (the good, bad and ugly) really made me appreciate the producers for not making this show as a cash grab but actually supporting LGBTQ+ rights.
My only issue: the way the show went, they really exposed a lot of the men to very humiliating and embarrassing situations. For the people who did not match with anyone, the humiliation was a bit difficult to see. It felt unnecessarily cruel to see them be rejected in front of everyone.
Minor Spoilers Below:
My absolute favorite couple from the beginning were Chang-Min and Jeong-Hyeon. Even when these two did not hit it off at first, I saw the chemistry. I am so happy they end up together and out of all the matches, theirs seems the most real and very sweet. I was absolutely wishing these two together so I was super happy to see them paired up at the end!
Special note: loved Jeong-Hyeon x Eun-Chan x Hyeon, the 'sisters' of the show, whose friendship made me lol too many times!
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A Kpop stan's dream come true!
Idol I is a cute watch— its basically a dream come true for every Kpop stan. Se Na, a stan of the Kpop group Gold Boys, but specifically the lead singer, La Ik, gets to be his defense attorney when he gets accused of killing his fellow Gold Boys member and good friend. What follows, is a "mystery" that was pretty easy to see through, and a cutesy love story between Se Na and La Ik, which was strangely vanilla, like they were highschool teenagers instead of adults in their 30s.Still, I thought the acting was amazing by both leads, and the chemistry was there. Since it was just 12 episodes, it did not feel very draggy, and was overall a cute watch. I just wish this show did not follow the classic Kdrama trope that I am now seeing EVERYWHERE. Which is, the leads were somehow connected when they were kids, and that's when their relationship "actually" began.
*sigh*
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Adorable!
Ok, let me start with the most important PSA: PLS WATCH THE HORIZONTAL RE-EDIT OF THIS SHOW AND NOT THE REELS. Its a vaaaaaastly superior experience!This show is so cute— omg, I love the celeb-meets-a-regular-person-and-shenanigans-ensue kind of stories. And this one is so well done! Moon Do Ha is a cutie- perfectly cast as an idol who is actually really lonely in real life and forms a connection with his martial arts teacher Jae Yeon, who is principled and disciplined, and a total hottie. Both actors are perfect for the roles they've been cast in, and they feel super believable as these characters. They had a very easy chemistry throughout the show, and although the kisses are very vanilla, it had me smiling with joy throughout.
I have 2 wishes: first, can someplease please take this concept and make a longer, proper length show? And second, can someone cast these 2 in another full-sized BL please?
Loved it!
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Cute & Fluffy!
I really liked the actors who played Kosuke and ShinichiroI thought they had a nice easy chemistry between them, which never seemed passionate but thats fine. Not all relationships are all fire and thunderstorms.
The setup of 2 highschool friends reconnecting as adults and finding that they always liked each other was nice and I liked that they showed the various stages of their relationships— from the happy honeymoon period to the arguments to the personal growth. It was all kinda superficial and fluffy without ever getting serious, but thats okay. This was a fun and cute watch for me.
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A fun watch— probably the best offering from DMD yet!
Khemjira was pretty great. The intro music was iconic, the story was well written and for once, the characters were rich and well developed. I do have a small complaint, that Peem falls in love with Khem a bit out of the blue. Like we see he saves him when they were kids and then suddenly it feels like a switch is turned on for him around ep 4 where he loves Khem all of a sudden. But Keng is mega attractive to look at and very believable as a stoic shaman. However, he was so reserved and one-note in this role (which suited the character), I would be interested to see if he is actually a good actor or if the stiffness worked well just for this one character.I loved the writing and ending they gave Ramphueng. You feel so sorry for her, its hard to villanize her despite all she does. She faces such a tragic death in her lifetime that its easy to see why she is after Khem's life. I am glad they redeem her in the end instead of making her an out and out villain.
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Wasted potential!
I was very excited for this one when I first saw the trailer, but for me, its a major letdown. I don't see much chemistry between the leads— they actually feel more like friends rather than teenagers in love. We've had so many school-based BLs so we know that is not a limiting factor when it comes to showing real chemistry, but its just missing here. The leads' performances are also quite mediocre, especially the actor who plays Nut. His expressions are extremely stiff and off-putting at times, which is tough cause he has to act out a lot of emotionally hard-hitting scenes but is just not able to deliver.I also dont think they've used the whole plot device of Win returning from the future to improve the past thing very well. It feels like an afterthought tbh. 8 episodes in, and other than a few characters, nobody knows Win is from the future and it has no bearing on the story whatsoever. Nut's father is comically evil— just no depth or complexity to him. Why does he hate his own son with so much passion? Just cause, I guess.
Also, another major gripe is that this group of friends just dont come across as friends. Like our central cast of characters are all awkward and odd with each other, so their friendship feels very fake to me. The only thing I kind of like about the show is P'Chai's character— he is someone dealing with real poverty while being surrounded by very privileged kids who dont understand how good they have it. I am intrigued by the setup of Chai and Ek as well since its a decently cute P-nong relationship.
But overall, just extremely meh. I dont see this show saving itself in the last 2 episodes at all.
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