Gendli

There is so much to say about this series. It was weird but enjoyable in a way, like bad to the point where it's kind of good.
I'm gonna talk about things I liked and disliked more in depth.

Things I liked:

1. Cinematography. A lot of beautiful shots and scenes, made watching it 10 times more enjoyable.
2. Story. Or more of an idea they had for this series, I feel like they didn't execute it in the best way, but it was still interesting and quite original.
3. LGBTQ+ representation. In my opinion, the representation was great and there were few truly important talks about the equality and gay marriage.
4. Acting. It was excellent, all the actors did amazing, I especially loved NuNew's acting, he's a great actor and did a beautiful job in my opinion.
5. Intimacy. The intimacy with all couples was good, the chemistry between actors was incredible, and it was really nice to see them together.
6. TutorYim couple. Totally my favorite couple, they had a lot of sweet and cute moments, great chemistry. And honestly, it was such a palate cleanser and breath of fresh air in between watching other couples interact.
7. Foei. Might be my favorite character, he is such a goofball, the funniest character in this whole series, just seeing him on the screen made me smile.

Things I disliked:

1. MaxNat couple. Really toxic, and I will even go as far as calling it an abusive relationship. Constantly telling a person, that you aren't even officially dating (not that it would be better if they did) to report on where you are, who with, when you are coming home, etc. is borderline insane and pretty much abusive. Even though it's all because of Yi being worried, it is absolutely does not excuse his behavior. There was no talk on whenever Diao is okay with Yi controlling him 24/7, and from what I've seen, I can assume he really isn't. So for me, this whole “relationship” and its dynamic was too toxic. While I can understand dom/sub dynamics in relationship, it is absolutely something that needs to be talked about, and it needs to be mutual, which in my opinion isn't really the case here.
2. Lies and manipulations. The amount of times Lian lied and manipulated Kuea is insane. The way Lian treats Kuea like a child instead of treating him as an equal, as a partner and the person he respects is just diabolical. I hated every part of Lian, to be completely honest, he is just as toxic as Yi just in a bit different way.
3. Toxic masculinity. What I am referring here is a Lian being really weird about the whole proposal thing. He was really against the idea of Kuea being the one proposing, and even almost walked out when Kuea went above and beyond organizing a surprise for him with the proposal in the end. Him being so weird and full on toxic about this whole proposal thing made me grind my teeth with anger. He made up a problem that wasn't even there out of thin air just because “Oh I'm the MAN, so I will be the one proposing”. What kind of logic is that?
4. Weird logic. The whole logic with Kuea having “secrets” that probably the whole world knows about and thinking that for some reason Lian doesn't know anything. This whole thing with these secrets was super weird.
5. Non-con. It wasn't that big, but honestly the whole scene with Lian taking drunk Kuea home made me quite uncomfortable, and I don't think it was a good idea adding that weird non-con kissing.

Overall, it wasn't the worst, but I would probably enjoy it much more if I would just turn off my brain from time to time.