FrothyMix

"Toxic" relationships make for great drama. I do not watch BL for moral teachings on how to live my life. It's sad that many other commenters apparently do.

Oh SJWs go nuts over stuff like this. It's one of the best History stories. I love it.

If you consider THAT soft porn you live a very protected, prudish life. Sorry for you.

It was awesome. I love it.

In what way have we come a long way?

Just rewatched this for the third time. It is not perfect, but it is one of the best of the History series. That chase/fight/angry/loving/sex scene toward the end is one of the best scenes with some of the best acting in BL history. Bernhard Hee letting us see Jin Teng's facade of arrogant toughness crack and fall away from his face made me burst into tears. Teddy Ren as Yi Chen was perfect in the role. Great chemistry. That scene, like other parts of the show, is overflowing with mixed feelings, anger, passion, lust, and finally redemption and forgiveness, all sealed with some presumably passionate sex. BRAVO..

If I never hear the word "Baby" again, it will be too soon. What's up with that?

Trope/cliche city: Selfish, judgemental Aunt, other selfish, guilt-tripping Aunt, family pressure to do unreasonable things, screaming queen stereotypes, Pinoy-style social-issue lecturing through dialogue, over-the-top stereotypical fag-hag behavior, lack of creativity in considering other options than the ones being forced upon the main couple, turning Cairo into a typical BL prudish, sex-phobic, coy tease who suddenly, now that the couple is together, has no sex drive and is always slapping away a horny Cav, (think top/bottom), the list goes on and on sadly...

The love scene and the later beach scene, among others, along with specific and very moving sets of dialogue, made this endurance test worth the watch for Cariro/Cavreel lovers like me. Just seeing them together, so handsome/cute, and bouncing chemistry off the walls, was enough, barely.

If you haven't seen it, for a clear example of the excellent acting skills of Elijah Canless, please see the feature film KALIL, 15. It is riveting and Elijah is Oscar-worthy in the title role. Likewise, Kokoy de Santos in the film "Fuccbois," which was made BEFORE "Gameboys the Series." It's a whole other side of Kokoy and he's great.

I feel you. Somewhere around halfway I realized I was BORED, and that realization came during a big, dramatic scene. The story and writing was weak.

I love the story of Cairo and Cavreel, and I loved Gameboys the Series.

But throughout this movie I kept thinking "what a missed opportunity..." Such a great chance to continue a wonderful, romantic, hopeful, funny, human, touching tale with something completely original in scope, story and tone. But alas, we got trope after trope after trope, cliche after cliche. I'll list them later. To be sure, there were some extremely touching moments along the way: Cav and Cai's love scene near the end was gorgeous; just enough to let us know what was going down and not seem prudish, and at the same time wildly romantic and beautiful. And what a revelation! To see a BL sex scene where versatility is the theme! lol And that ending! Anytime a film can make me ugly-cry and ugly-laugh at the same time is great by me. :D

Kokoy and Elijah's chemistry continues to be powerful, but too often it was in service of predictable, cliche, embarrassing plot devices. I felt bad for them as actors, that they weren't given better material. These two are fully capable as professionals of pulling off an ITSAY/IPYTM-level BL but the writers and director won't let them do it.

I'll write more later when I'm fully recovered from that ending.

But then, why is Ton in the hospital?

Thinking about it, I get a strong vibe from TK that he is crushing on Daon and a more subtle, gentle vibe from Daon that he was charmed by and attracted to TK. The most heart breaking scene for me in this last ep was when TK and Daon were talking alone and we saw Daon choking down all of his feelings toward TK and admitting that he hadn't thought of TK at all during the day since the photo went online. I think he will stay in the closet, marry, have kids and be miserable the rest of his life.

Sadly, I think Daon is headed back into the closet for good. His parents will KILL him if they hear of this drama with the photo. To insist on being who he is would be to face expulsion from his family, who will do everything they can to keep him away from TK and his true self. I see im being shipped off to study "abroad" as is so popular a way to deal with children who are suspected of being gay. Which always amuses me. Do these parents think there are no gay people "abroad?" lol However, there are millions of people in China and Korea especially, who don't think being gay is even a "thing."

Love your comments. Feel much the same. I really think the plot may show us Daon locking himself solidly back into that steel closet he's built for himself and stay there the rest of his life. Daon is emerging, to me, as the most tragic character in this drama. Given the reality of the horrendously awful parents he has, he doesn't really have a choice which is what is so sad. He would have to be prepared to be entirely disowned and rejected by his family if he insisted on coming out and openly being who he is and in a relationship with TK. They haven't even been shown on screen, but I see his parents as the powerful, selfish, hateful, bigoted BL monsters who would rather destroy their children's souls than support them as openly gay.

SHIN WOO, OF COURSE. It's not even close. Daon is so very damaged and in this episode we watched him choose to go inside that black hole of a closet and padlock the door. It's not his fault but he IS a robot. Who would inflict him on our TK?

This is always so interesting and just shows how different audience perceptions can be. I feel chemistry all over the place between Shin Woo and TK. I even feel it between Daon and TK, though to this point I have not liked Daon at all.

Clearly it's in his backpack. :)

MILD SPOILERS, MAYBE...

Episode 12 was beautifully crafted, directed and acted. This is the very first time I have felt empathy and compassion for Daon. The fact that he is so damaged as to not be able to respond openly to TK's words of caring and concern, given that they are both hurting, is heart-breaking. Choe did an excellent job of letting me see/feel Daon mentally and physically STIFLE what he really wanted to say, push down and contain all the good, true stuff and once again spout utter bullshit in keeping with the false personae he has developed for himself over the years. Even when the two of them were entirely alone; no danger of anyone else seeing or hearing what was being said. That is really, really...sad. I fear for his future well-being.

Lee did his usual excellent work as TK, the robot who chose to make himself human/vulnerable and reach out and who is now paying the price. I love him.

Kang as Shin-Woo is spot-on. Another one always stifling, but now, as he sees someone he cares about so deeply suffering, he is choosing to open up and show that he cares. I teared up at the sweater thing with TK in the hallway. It's a beautiful thing. Also..."why don't you come over to my house?"...lol Way to go, my man Shin Woo! Make the most of a golden opportunity to move in for the kill. :)

Who doesn't love Go as Shi Woon? Oh man, he was my hero through this entire episode. I love how he plants statements calmly and without great drama, that make their point emphatically and pound people into the dirt who need pounding, all with a shrug of his shoulders and a smile on his face. Shi Woon is the rock at the center of this drama, a kind and moral solidity around which all other characters move. He felt like the star of this episode to me.

So what's up with the uniform dress code at this school? There's the tie/shirt/blazer but guys feel free to opt out for all kinds of sweaters, including the ugly as f**k things Shi Woon wears, ditching the shirt and tie altogether. This episode, TK looked handsome and adorable in that deep navy-blue sweater.

Interesting. I enjoyed his portrayal and took Karn's reticence as a natural part of his personality. He seemed someone more given to deep thought and ponderance than being primarily ruled by emotion. I'm an emotional person, but I liked how he handled the character. To me, four years of loving Neur but not being able to express it, constantly stuffing those feelings day in and out had made him a guarded person who is cautious about emotion because he doesn't want his to give him away.

What percentage of people his age and state of health drop dead at their wedding from a heart attack or stroke? It's ridiculous.

I actually think it is one of the best BLs ever made, totally destroyed by the last 20 minutes. I don't believe all series or films need to end happily, but a negative story-end ought to somehow come out of what has gone before, not just be tacked on to crush people for the hell of it. To be precise, the sensible ending is at 1:02:00. That is the place to hit the STOP or pause button and get the hell out. :)