FreshKicks

I nearly fell out of my chair when Xav told the teacher, "I'm a top!"

I have been guilty of this myself and like to think I've seen the error of my ways. We are so lucky to have both series to enjoy.

I had a good long talk with myself and said, "Self, these are sincere efforts by people who only want to entertain and move you. Accept their gifts -- don't nitpick like a spoiled kid on Christmas morning."

Agreed ... but comparisons between, say, a film by a famous auteur and a thesis submission by a student in film school, while valid, is silly and ultimately pointless. To judge the latter based on the former might be fun, but there's a danger of it becoming more about the critic showing off than actually adding value to the discourse.

Also, I don't know if there are definitive "artistic standards" for any form of expression, whether it be film, writing, music, painting, or drama series. (If there are I'd like to know who defined them and what makes them the authority lol.)

Academics sometimes might think they know all of the so-called proper ways to do things, and enjoy using those standards to educate us about the works of others, but for some people the most rewarding artistic experiences are the ones that diverge from the accepted norms.

I myself listen to K-Pop songs and Mahler symphonies. Most fans of either of those genres might find the other to be utterly lacking, but I love both. (Imagine a classical music critic reviewing a song by iKON lol.) I think that for any individual, the best person to decide if a work of art has impact, meaning, or importance is themselves.

Sorry if I alarmed you. I was mainly joking. But aside from Singto in Friend Zone 2, I don't know of any BL projects coming up for any of these guys. So maybe I accidentally joked about what is actually true.

Don't you just love Daniel? Such a sweet kid.

I think there was zero chance of him NOT using it, no matter who was in the group being eliminated.

And K's ability to read the room is apparently also at zero. Taki keeps getting betrayed by everyone, to the point that even Taki himself was surprised that he wasn't one of the original four being voted out despite having a top score. They all dislike him for some reason.

So for K not to realize that Taki would probably have received the next-highest number of votes is just proof of how he was too focused on using that special power no matter what. Such a kid mentality. He needs to be humbled, and soon.

Taki stans unite!

K is like a novice gamer who, when given a magic potion in a game, feels like a fool if he doesn't end up using it.

I think K was determined to use that immunity card no matter who got voted off, because ... well ... because he'd *won* it, dammit, and it was something nobody else had! (That's me channeling my inner K lol.)

And honestly, if he didn't realize that Taki would be in deep peril if he saved someone then he's dumb as a box of hair. Taki always gets the shaft, no matter how well he performs or how nice he is to people. And you can see how he himself knows it now, from the way he behaves when he enters a room where there are other boys gathered. He draws into himself a little, becomes just a bit tentative, probably because he can feel the dislike from the others and tries to watch what he says and does. He's certainly not as cheerful as he was at the beginning.

I'd like to see K brought down a notch. I think it would be good for building his character. A little round trip to the Ground would do him some good. Right now the sight of him makes me throw up in my mouth a little.

It's probably not going to happen, but I'd like for the Grounders to win the contest and have the surprise consequence be that the reps who failed to win for the I-Land all have to go to the Ground, while the reps who won for the Grounders get to go to I-Land.

One thing for sure, Taki is being treated like shit by the other guys. Including his own friend who sold him out early on. Is it because he's young, or he's Japanese? Or what? The kid performs consistently well and STILL gets the boot. The only thing he's probably learning from his time on the show is to TRUST NO ONE because even your so-called friends will stab you in the back if it benefits them.

If Taki ends up winning a spot in the final group it will be a miracle, and the fact that I feel so confident in that also makes me really sad.

It takes a downward turn after Sarawat and Tine move in together, then the last two episodes achieve maximum suckage before finishing up with the now-legendary high five.

However, if you have any remaining interest I think you should probably watch it to decide for yourself.

What if Kim has actually been in his body along with Pan all along, but is capable only of observing what she does (for better or worse)?

(This was the premise of another drama that I watched a while ago.)

Such a great way to start the weekend haha.

BL is endgame ... and this will end up being one of the cleverest BLs ever produced.

I'm tired of Pan and her antics. She certainly has nothing to feel superior about now. So what if Kim cheated on some school tests (which I think we'll find out that something else was going on there) -- she's the one playing with someone's life, and going on a date when she should be trying to figure out how to get Kim's soul back in his own body.

She's being really selfish. She's using the latest body swap to indulge herself at the expense of Kim, while she should be trying to find out what happened to Kim's soul instead.

I'm liking her less and less.

Folks, I'm more confident than ever that WayKim will be real.

And big ups to the director of the scene where Pan/"Kim" is standing in front of the net while Way tells "Kim" how he feels about him. While Way's story refers to the BBQ that they ate while Pan was in Kim's body, Pan is represented on-screen as Pan, because that was all her doing ... but then, when Way starts to tell her how he started to have feelings for Kim as early as their first conversation, the camera moves and it goes behind Way for a couple of seconds .. and when we see "Kim"/Pan again, it's as Kim, symbolizing that there was a history there long before Pan. The disappointment on Pan's (Kim's) face is a nice touch.

The two guys were definitely flirty back then, and while I'm certain that the near-kiss that ended this episode will get interrupted, I think once Kim is back in his body we'll eventually get the real deal.

This episode took the series to a whole new level. Very impressive writing and acting. How many other series could deal with grief, guilt, friendship, loneliness, and joy all within a half-hour? And to think they accomplished it using what's essentially a new genre of storytelling, relying solely on social media.

It also ended with the kind of cliffhanger that I like - one that comes directly from the story and doesn't rely on an artificial event or situation that turns out to be a fake-out of little importance. This was an ending that mattered in multiple ways, and it left me as excited as ever to see what happens next week.

Great stuff.

Great review! Your passion for this series has made me decide to see it.

Are there two movie versions? The one on Viki runs for 1:24:53 and didn't contain any new footage. That running time is also pretty much the same as what you'd get by watching the episodes back to back while skipping the opening and closing credits.

No page for the movie version.

So far the only differences I see are in some of the translations for the English subs, the lack of voiceover narration, and the different music. Otherwise it looks like the movie is just the separate episodes edited together.

I think that removing the narration adds an element of mystery that's rather nice.

I have zero interest in this, and I'm surprised at the number of BL influencers who are promoting this series like it's BL. It's more like GMMTV's graduating class from BL.