Feardorcha

I can't yet say for certain where it all went so wrong but my enjoyment of this series has really plummeted.

Is any of this grief fest necessary? They could've resolved their miscommunication three episodes ago and spent the final act dealing with the realities of their being a couple in the context of their lives (boss/subordinate, rich/poor, controlling mother/aging parents, etc). Shun Yu had perfectly valid concerns about being together, and it would have been nice to see Shang Zhou validate those concerns and the two of them work through it together.

I honestly thought that's where the series was headed given how often Shun Yu fretted about their dynamic and differences but...I guess the writer got cold feet.

The only way the existence of this series is justified is if it's meant to launch the other couples' stories and/or ships for GMMTV.

As adult characters, Name/Saifah would've been a far more appropriate focus for a series titled "Dangerous Romance", in which every decision made could result in psychological devastation, serious bodily harm, or outright fatalities. As a ship, the chemistry between Pepper/Papang is intriguing.

As high school characters, Guy/Nawa would've been a better focus for two hot-headed, stubborn teens always at one another's throats who ultimately fall for one another. Smoldering tension was omnipresent in their interactions, whether they were fighting or joking or worrying together about their idiot friends. Marc plays well off Pawin, and the two of them together absolutely nail the "enemies to lovers" trope. (Marc is a passable actor but he needs the support of makeup and wardrobe to fully inhabit and sell his roles. He was styled so well in "Chains of Heart" that I didn't even recognize him at first.)

It's obvious the Pimfah/Napdao interactions were included purely to garner interest in the "23.5" series featuring Milk/Love as leads with View/June as the supporting ship, as well as further scaffold GMMTV's foray into GLs. The ladies didn't have much screen time but they made the absolute most of what minutes they did have.

As for our lead couple in this series...

Well, they simply don't work as a couple, as characters, nor as a BL ship, as actors. Kang/Sailom had an engaging friendship; I never once bought the romance. Perth/Chimon have decent buddies vibe; I feel zero chemistry between them. They are both solid actors in their own right but Perth needs a better BL partner, and Chimon needs to exit the genre altogether.

Overall, an uneven and fundamentally disappointing series.

Now we just need Wan Wan, the cat from "Be Loved in House", to show up and we'll have the complete Taiwanese BL roster set.

There were three different shows going on this episode: one, a violent action series about a gangster desperately trying to go straight; two, a heart-rending family drama about brother seeking justice for brother; and three, a coming-of-age tale of sports hopes, self-discovery, and the power of never giving up on your dreams.

Oh, and some other show about a romance or something...? I wasn't really paying attention, didn't seem to matter anyway.

I really need Name to get a spin-off. I want to know his story.

Janus is a whirpool of a Human being and Bom has the patience of a saint. He and Sky need to form a two-man support group to survive loving these brothers.

Xiao Jie has to be the most stressed member of that entire gang. Every time that poor bastard is on screen he's caught in the middle of some new nonsense in the Chen Yi/Ai Di shenanigans show. Even when he's trying to help (after being ordered to do so), he's getting yelled at, kicked out, insulted, or having objects hurled at him. His life is making me anxious.

I never said, nor implied, that Sand is still "hung up" on Boeing; I said Sand needs to let go of the anger, pain, and bitterness he's been holding about how their relationship ended.

No.

Boeing IS the forest. He's like an Ent that woke up and chose violence.

*waves my admission tickets*

I'm already in like Flynn, trust.

😂 Yep.

If Sand explodes next episode, I will literally stand up and cheer. As Sand's Mother told Ray, Sand is empathetic and caring to a fault. He's got a wine cellar's worth of bottled feelings and he NEEDS to start uncorking himself.

My own headcanon is he's about 2/3rds of the way to a stress-induced hernia, and it can only be thwarted by him FINALLY telling SOMEONE to fuck right the fuck off.

I do agree about the interpersonal vitriol being distasteful. I do, though, think it's much less pronounced and a problem here than in other comment sections on MDL.

The "Cutie Pie" comments section, for example, is just downright vile.

The fact that Sand's anger and vengeance was directed at Top rather than Boeing was a whole essay in Sand's protracted emotional battle about his and Boeing's failed relationship. Top was a jerkass piece of trash for what he did, sure, but Top wasn't the one obligated to respect the relationship between Sand and Boeing; loyalty and commitment to Sand was Boeing's responsibility, and he chose to break it. Sand's pain and anger has long been misdirected, and I do believe he needs to have a final showdown with Boeing to exorcise it all.

We all have the right to feel however we do about our past and the people in it, but we also have the responsibility to reconcile our past with our future, and I feel like this episode pushed Sand in a position to do that, just as Sand pushed Ray to do the same.

Am I a bit frustrated with Sand? Sure. But I am frustrated with him in the exact way he has been frustrated with Ray: wanting someone you care about to wake the fuck up and become the person you see in them.

I understand your viewpoint but I, personally, utterly adore the tension of this comments section. The analyses, discussions and, yes, heated arguments, happening here about this series are among the most nuanced, layered, and engaging that I have ever encountered in the world of BL. What I find so refreshing is that the disagreements here are so often connected to how lived experiences are influencing individual interpretation and judgement of the characters and their stories, and most everyone is making absolutely valid points even when their views are in opposition.

This type of discourse, I believe, is how we, as fans, encourage more content like "Only Friends", and balance out the cutesy fluff of the genre with more multifaceted portrayals of homoerotic relationships without completely jettisoning the framework of yaoi by adopting, wholesale, or colonizing, indirectly, the identity of LGBTQ+ media. (Note: I am Queer and differentiate between BL/GL and LGBTQ+ media but I absolutely recognize that is neither a universal nor empirical assessment.)

I wish more series in the BL genre elicited the response we see in this comments section.

I am actually not perturbed by Sand's behaviour toward Boeing. Sand stole from his roommate, blew up the friendship group the man he loves belonged to, and destroyed a relationship that was none of his business—all of it in obvious violation of his conscience and sense of self—simply to get back at the guy his then-boyfriend dumped him over. Sand, whatever his feelings for Ray, obviously hasn't completely processed or let go of the Boeing/Top thing, yet he's running around giving everyone (including literally his own Mother) advice about their lives? No.

Sand needs to have a reckoning with his own past in order to move on and move forward, and I appreciate that the script didn't let Sand off the hook. There are no angels here, and Sand fully deserves to have his demons both validated and vanquished, just like all the other conflicted and complex characters who are struggling toward a better version of themselves.

Frankly, I still don't want any of these main characters to end up together, not even SandRay, but what I like most about this series is that everyone is unequivocally Human, warts and all. They are all being forced, in one way or another, to come to terms with themselves and their own shite, and it would've been a disservice to the character, in my opinion, if Sand was exempted from the harrowing ordeal of confronting one's self just because he's (arguably) the least bad of the bunch.

I freely admit I've paid so little attention to the plot of this series that I haven't the foggiest what was going on in the final episode, but I would like to personally extend my gratitude to every single member of the production crew even tangentially responsible for putting Max's perfect butt into those khaki trousers and providing gratuitous low-angle shots of it. Thank you, you fine people.

Oh thank you!

It really was just a nothing of a series. Baffling why anyone bothered. Even if I view it as purely a promotional vehicle for the group, I'm not convinced it did that well either.

Indeed. This series was just not for me.