CursedXistence

So even on 2x speed how many times did you fall asleep? lol

This is what happens when you have four mediocre writers, a first time producer, and the rest of the production staff doesn't know how to work with the talent they have.

There was no chemistry between the main couple from start to finish, nor was there ever any emotional connection. In the end, the writing let it down to the point where you just sat through it...or in some cases slept through it.

The So character is one that even experienced and very talented actors sometime struggle to portray properly on screen, let alone giving that role to a first time actor. He would have been better cast as one of the support roles.

They had this huge, overly drawn out, and highly overly dramatic build up to the big reveal of "OMG he's going to study abroad....you know like thousands of other people do every year in an age where we have the technology to be able to communicate with anyone anywhere around the world at anytime. They wasted what 10 episodes on that bs only to rush the rest of it and as I mentioned before, gave us nothing to emotional connect to nor any chemistry between them. If they had revealed him going away around episode 4 or 5 they could have gone with the "I know you're going away for years, but we can't help how we feel, so let's make the most of it" thing. This would have given the emotional connect, and freed the actors to build up their chemistry so that when So did finally leave we felt the gut punch and the elation of his return in the after credits scene.

The only things that carried this series were the Sant X Mon interactions, the hope of a Micky X Q spark, and Pond's shenanigans. I can't even speak for the other support roles because they were so poorly and underutilized that you didn't really even get a feel for them.

This series could have been so much more and I think that's the really frustrating part about it.

I love how Yuki is just in this "I like you and the rest come what may" mode. He's not trying to force anything, just genuinely wants to be there with and for him.

A knife would have hurt less.

In Thailand the BL genre can easily get sponsors and government funding, etc. just like the rest of the TV/Film industry. That however is not the case for most of the other Asian countries, o they have to rely on self funding, donations, and whatever they make from views.

That's why you'll see a lot of these series that are 1-=20 minute long episodes and then a "movie" version comes out shortly later. They actually film it all as a movie and then separate it into episodes so they can sell / make money off of it twice. "Wish You", "Tasty Florida" are just a couple of examples. There's usually also extended / extra scenes in the movie versions.

I'm pretty sure there were thousands of hippies that had deeper conversations with their pet rocks. lol

I think it's the same thing like with So and Mon on "Our Days", the problem is both characters are so muted that there's nothing to build chemistry off of. Then you couple that with a short episode length and a writer that doesn't know how to use the time wisely and a lot of the relationship building gets left out.

I think there's only a couple of other working couples that are anywhere near the level that MaxTul are honestly.

Thanks.

I'm 41 and basically held together with duct tape and chewing gum for the past ten years...except the chewing gum has dried out and the duct tape is peeling, yet here I linger. lol

I was figuring he was going to tell him when they took the next trip to find the temple. I definitely agree with you that she had no place in telling him, it seemed so selfish of her to do yet she was trying to justify it in she didn't want Le to miss Wen-Wen anymore. I think she was secretly hoping he wouldn't accept it and go running to her.

Yeah even with Covid protocols or whatever they could have at least had some of the production crew fill in as customers here and there. There was a Japanese series called "Would you like a cup of coffee?" that was set in a cafe that was filmed during the height of the covid restrictions and they very carefully had a couple of people on set to make it look like there were some customers.

If you're one of those people that cry easily, make sure to stock up on tissues before watching The Yearbook. lol

To answer you question though, it's an amazing series and very very very underrated.

Personally I thought Tae's performance in the first three episodes was very flat and monotone, but finally in this episode he's starting showing some emotion and it was definitely miles above the others.

And then of course there's MaxTul who yet again prove why they are the working couple every other working couple should model themselves after.

Yeah when they did the whole reveal I dropped down the google rabbit hole myself, but the search results were mostly the dumbed down / broadest versions of the different syndromes. We won't go into the amount of hours I went through reading a bunch of the medical journals and studies done on the different variations, etc. lol

Here's my guess on Le, I think he's realized he's bisexual. He obviously had very deep feelings for Wen-Wen, but as the series has gone on, it's obvious that he's developed feelings for Amber as well. I think his love is overriding any shock, etc. and also he's so hurt that Wen-Wen didn't think he could tell him the truth.

I think this is where a lot of people are getting confused, Wen-Wen was always biological male. The problem is that the defect in his chromosomes was preventing his body from developing the male physical features. He was never trans. The gene and hormone therapies he would have received abroad would have just helped his body to properly develop the physical features as it should have normally from birth.

It's possible he has an underdeveloped penis and scrotum which can very much be mistaken as an improperly developed vagina in early years, which fits with him saying they discovered his condition in 3rd grade, which would have put him at 8 years old.

It's possible he could have needed some sort of surgery for his penis and scrotum, but would have been young enough that the gene and hormones therapy would have prevented the need for any other surgery.

There are some variations where there are female sexual organs that develop even though the body itself is genetically male, and those typically need to be removed.

Damn Yuki....good thing Jian Ying Ze owns a laundromat....... lol

I was just going through some of the other comments and noticed a lot of people still commenting on the scene were Amber was shirtless and people trying to figure out his reaction now that we know exactly what the big mystery was.

Everyone seems to be assuming that his reaction was because of surgical scars, etc. There are a very wide variety of ways that Chromosomal abnormalities can manifest. In one such case the exterior appearance is that of a female including an underdeveloped penis, etc. that at birth can appear female as well. There are therapy regiments than can help the body to "correct itself" before puberty even begins.

There's a very real possibility that Amber's reaction was just from all the bullying that he suffered before and that has just made him very insecure about his body still, especially around Le who he obviously has very deep feelings for and was so afraid of him not taking finding out the truth well.

The lead up, reveal, and now the aftermath has been so expertly written, executed, and acted. Every movement, dialogue, action, and reaction have been so perfectly crafted in this series and it's all set to a beautiful soundtrack. The other thing this series does is really showcase how the BL genre is evolving to some really powerful LGBTQ+ stories.

That scene with Amber and Le was so emotionally charged and both actors did such an amazing job portraying the wide range of emotions each character was feeling all at the same time.

No matter how perfectly they execute the remaining episodes it will never feel like enough. They could keep this series going for many seasons just as it is and I'd never get bored of it.

When you can take a power nap, wake up and not only is the conversation still isn't over, but you didn't miss anything. lol

Pide (Q) is 24 in real life and Cooper (Micky) is 18 in real life. Legal age of consent in Thailand is 15, but to kiss, etc. on screen you have to be 17 so there's obviously no issues there.

As far as the characters are concerned, Q would only be a couple of years older than Micky so not a huge age gap.

Those two had so much chemistry together that I think if they ended up having them as a legit side couple they definitely would have stolen the spotlight from the main couple.

Luckily "La Cuisine" hasn't been infected with the slow pace pandemic that's been going around lately. At least with that series when they do have a pause of reflection, shyness, etc. it's short and much more realistic.