KAVO

My Unexpected Reaction

This sequel film gives us the ending we had hoped for in the first film, but I was left unsatisfied. While I enjoyed the first film, it did occur to me that Oat (Kritsana Maroukasonti) essentially raped Toey (Tonawanik Addison). He also told him several lies for his own selfish ends. Now Oat is back to fulfill his selfish needs at the expense of his wife and child. This makes him a pretty unlikable character. After four short years Oat's boyish looks have also faded. He's disfigured his body with excessive tatoos to the point that it's an unpleasant distraction. They should have reworked all the shirtless scenes to cover up his torso. A new character, Kenta (Ohmi Ryota), creates most of the interest in this long winded, padded epic. I began rooting for Toey to forget about unlovable Oat and get together with this new kid. Oat had made his life choices so he needed to take responsibility for them. Toey should have realized Oat was no good and when Kenta came along, he was the one to fill that void for a soulmate. Well, a work of fiction is whatever the audience wants to take away from it so that's the rewrite I've made in my own head. I am going to look for other films with Ohmi Ryota in them, but I'm done with Toey and Oat.

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I wish I could give this 12 Stars

Wow! What's not to like here. As others have noted, I was left wanting more. Korean BL dramas are much more timid than the best from the Thai film industry, but they make up for it in better storylines and Hollywood-caliber audio mixing. On screen, "Wish You" never gets beyond a bromance, but the subtext for a deeper romance is all there. I think in 10 years Korea will be the leader in this genre. All of the actors are outstanding but Lee Sang as Yoon Sang Yi could have carried this drama all by himself. It's worth noting that while both leads are suppose to be the same age, Kang In Soo is 7 years older than Lee Sang. Let's hope there's a sequel with these two.

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Lightweight version of Gameboys/Hello Stranger

Another entry into the Video Chat Bromance genre, "See You After Quarantine" is a quick, breezy drama coming in at under 10 minutes per episode. According to the end credits, the entire show was shot on a Galaxy S21 smartphone and it doesn't look too bad. To be fair, I think Gameboys and Hello Stranger were also shot on cell phones, so technology is no longer a barrier for pro-am level productions. The love interest between two guys with a greater age gap is refreshing departure from the same age cliche. There's not a lot of dramatic conflict beyond the "does he or does he not" element, but it's certainly a conflict anyone can identify with, so it works. We're also spared the usual padding with secondary characters and sub-plots, as "See You After Quarantine" stays in its own lane for the most part. More recent BL/Y dramas have backed away from displays of affection between the men, but here we get an explosion of kisses in the final installment. The leads do a good job of raising their performances above the rather two dimensional script. For such a short drama, it's certainly worth a look. You'll want to skip past the repeating open/close bookends which will save you about 30 minutes over 10 episodes.

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