HaiLuoYin

I came back to this after watching Rainbow Lagoon. Oak is so good. I love Wayufilms.

Because Check Out, Physical Therapy and some others exist, this isn't the worse BL of the year. But this was a missed opportunity. After watching this and the Japanese live-action version (which was worse), I've accepted that Love Stage should have stayed as a manga and anime. This 11 year old manga doesn't translate well to tv and no amount of "sexy" scenes could make this version good.

Anda is just one more uke from a long list of recent BLs who behaves like a toddler and is treated like one by everyone around him including the man he's having sex with. It's weird, awkward, and not fun to watch. I forced myself to finish this by fast-forwarding a lot and using 2x speed. The best thing I can say is that Kaownah and Turbo have good chemistry.

Wayufilm is like the Thai version of Strongberry. They don't have big budgets, but they consistently tell realistic, quality, heartwarming stories about gay people. In less than an hour, Rainbow Lagoon was able to tell a complete story, with leads who have believable chemistry and it had an awesome mom. This was wonderful. If you haven't seen it, it's available for free on Wayufilm's youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1pHPpllm5E

We knew this show would be frustrating and I can deal with all the highs and lows of Vee and Mark's relationship, but if the friends disappeared I'd be happy. Nuea's obsession with Mark is boring because Mark made it clear over and over that he wasn't interested, everyone continuing to push them together needs to stop.

But Yeewah, omg!!!! I'd rather have female characters in BLs who are friends or sisters instead of the usual evil ex. But Yeewah's endless meddling is also extremely irritating. I hope she isn't gonna hassle them anymore in future episodes. I know why the character was written that way, but I'm tired of hating women in BLs. It is possible to create a female character in a BL who isn't awful, writers just choose not to.

But despite my frustrations with the episode, this show is still the best Thai BL airing right now BY FAR, so I'm looking forward to the next episode.

Both Taiwan and Korea have made some pretty bad BLs this year. But I think we notice it so much more from Thailand than other countries because Thailand makes soooooo many BLs compared to everywhere else. I agree with you about KinnPorsche and Check Out. I think the really good BLs like KP, Bad Buddy, Love Mechanics, Not Me and some others are making it even harder for fans to tolerate the crappy shows like Check Out. It sucks because these companies are only harming themselves and their actors and all fans can do is complain or stop watching.

🤣🤣

This seems like the year of plenty of Japanese BLs and I'm completely here for it! 🥰

You said what many of us have been thinking. I wish I knew why the Thai BL industry has collectively decided to ruin the quality of Thai BL. It's sad to see.

No it doesn't get better.

Wabi Sabi confuses me so much. After striking gold with UWMA and creating 2 of the biggest ships out there, they wait years and then give fans Even Sun. I'm not sure if OhmFluke are still under Wabi Sabi, but Even Sun is only barely better than Oh My Sunshine Night. Both shows are part of the long list of below-average, forgettable, poorly written and directed 2022 Thai BLs and I've got questions.

Why are the intro and outros sooooo long? Why is the bts at the end of each episode more entertaining than the show? Why did the director only have Prem frown constantly and have Boun say "go back home" without giving either any actual direction? Why is Sun's dad treated like a main character with soooo much screen time even though he's completely one note and this is a BL? Why would anyone ever give him money? Why was the casting director hired and allowed to make so many strange casting decisions? Why am I even watching this when every aspect of the show is so amateurish and every single person looks bored? But most importantly, how is it possible that each "couple" has strong chemistry but the writer still managed to make this show so bad?

I'd drop this if the leads weren't Prem and Boun, but I'll be back next week confused and bored.

You're welcome. I wanted to warn potential viewers so they didn't spend nearly more than 8 hours on 16 episodes only to be caught off guard by the conclusion.

That makes sense. I think a lot of people on MDL and sites like it rate things the same way you do. I was a film major in college, so anytime I watch a show/movie no matter the genre, I review it with film/show criticism in mind and keep my personal feelings about the show out of my rating. And save my feelings about the show for the comments section. I didn't even give my all-time favorite series a 10 because I knew the show had flaws. I'm sure not many people would have a favorite show and not rate it a 10 lol. But thank you for the conversation and not being offended by my perspective. I really appreciate that.

Can't wait to see how they adapt this one! With so many great yaoi comics and webtoons out there, I love seeing when they become live action BLs 😊

I agree completely which was one of the main reasons I found the ending to be so frustrating. I'm sure many people watched it and didn't see it as anti-gay, but I watched a lot of characters get a happy ending, while the gay young master got the opposite. I sorta remember seeing Frozen Flower and not liking it, probably for the reasons you just listed, but I can't remember the movie. I'm not giving it a pass, but it came out 14 years ago and "let the gays suffer" storylines were very popular back then. Which is why the evolution of BLs over the last 8 years into a genre that allows gay characters to be happy and lead lives that aren't filled with endless pain and suffering has been such a huge game changer. The ending of this show feels like a step back.

I finally watched the last 2 episodes and I'm disappointed but not just because of the queerbaiting. I never once thought of Salbyul as gay so him not ending up with Guem Seong didn't surprise me or ruin my enjoyment of the series. But I still liked both characters, the mom, Salbyul's fake dad and all the sisters and friends. They created a nice world and for most of the episodes, I enjoyed entering their lighthearted world where the biggest problems were domestic. Once Salbyul's family member was revealed, the show became much more serious and more difficult to follow and connect with. But I still liked the conclusion of that aspect of the story.

My problem with the series and the thing that I consider to be an unforgivable writing sin is how the "young master" character was treated and his ending. This show was marketed as a BL and the only character that was open about liking another man was the young master. He was traumatized as a kid and ridiculed by his father and others around him as an adult. He only ever loved one person, who never loved him the same way back, had a horrible ending and almost no one cared. That is heartbreaking. He was a mean person, but the reasons for his behaviors were very clear, in spite of that the writers turned him into a villain, instead of another person in need of saving. Queerbaiting exists and is frustrating, but mistreating the only gay character in a show marketed as BL, is beyond cruel.

For all the good this show did over 14 episodes, the final 2 and the young master's end made the show much worse than it should have been. I truly wish we lived in a world where historical BLs were well made and about 2 gay men who love each other, but it seems like that's not gonna happen anytime soon. I hope BeOnCloud proves me wrong next year!

I respect your opinion, but this is part of the reason why I can never trust MDL ratings. I know we all rate things by different standards, but I wouldn't rate something 10/10 if I didn't think all of the episodes including the final ones were strong. This show has a unique premise and was strong until the later episodes. But for me, just because there have been a bunch of crappy BLs this year doesn't make other ones perfect by default. And I'd only consider a perfect series worthy of 10/10. But again we all rate differently.

Since you've decided to compare the shows, I have to disagree with you regarding Not Me's ending being anti-climatic. Tawi and Tod were strong villains and both got their comeuppance in the end. Also, Dan being the group's unfortunate antagonist came to a head in the final episodes. And Yok's agony in the hospital when they were almost arrested was some of the strongest acting I've seen in a BL. Tee crying for 2 episodes didn't have the same weight for me.

Also, Sak and Doi were cartoon villains who were pawns under a criminal organization we never saw. Pretty much all we know about Sak is that he is a doctor who wanted money, so he did awful things to his patients. And Doi was his underling. Somehow Sak was able to operate behind the scenes for a very long time and it was only the events of the final episodes that lead to his demise. A demise that we never actually see him suffer through. Doi was lucky that the police, Gap, Rit and a shot Sing didn't stop him sooner or else Tin wouldn't have been stabbed. In my opinion, both Sak and Doi were weak villains with very little backstory or reason to care about them once they met their ends. If Tin hadn't started investigating them, they would still be harvesting organs. On the other hand Tawi and Tod were both very fleshed out characters whose actions made sense throughout the series. Tawi was hated by many in society long before Sean and the group went after him.

When it comes to "pushing romance" Not Me and Triage both had one sex scene and some kisses so I'm not seeing how one show pushed it more than the other. But one of the legitimate criticisms of Triage was the lack of romance. Tin spent more than half the show liking Tol while Tol rebuffed his advances, they were together briefly in various loops and then the final loop started and they were separated again. Tol kissed Tin a few times in the final loop but it wasn't until the last minute of the last episode that they shared mutual affection again. In a genre called Boys Love, I prefer to see the leads in love than apart for the majority of the series, but everyone has their own preference.

I don't think comparing Not Me and Triage is an effective way to review either series since they are very different. I do think Manner of Death and Triage are comparable for obvious reasons. And in my opinion in terms of overall story, romance, and finale including the endings of the villains, MOD is easily the better series.

I still liked Triage in spite of all I just said. I just felt the need to indulge your comment for the sake of the discussion.

Ok cool. But a short scene of Tol waking up from his coma would have decreased the confusion. But that wasn't the only plot point that didn't work well in the finale.

I felt the same way

*sigh* I'm sure this is an unpopular opinion, but the last few episodes and the finale weren't good (but the series is still much better than most Thai BLs that have aired in 2022). It's hard to watch a show do so much so well and then fall apart at the end. But everything in the final episode felt so contrived, ridiculous and nonsensical that it was hard to still be invested.

I loved this series from the first episode when barely any international fans were watching it. I think Tee and Tae did an amazing job. I anticipated the upcoming episode each week. But once they started the final loop it all started to fall apart. The final episode felt like endless suffering for our leads all for the sake of endless suffering. It didn't have to end like this and since I haven't read the books, I don't know what the epilogue meant or if Tin is really still in a coma and Tol just imagined their reunion in the final moment. Unlike the rage I felt at the end of Miracle of the Teddy Bear, this ending left me numb. Which is unfortunate because for more than half of the series, I really loved this show.

I'd look forward to a Manner of Death season 2, but since Tul is in New York and won't be back any time soon, I won't hold my breath.