News 
This review may contain spoilers
I'm Sad, I'm Disappointed, Wasted Potential
I have so much to say about this because, honestly, this was incredibly disappointing, and it genuinely hurts to say that I had to drop it. I really tried to keep watching, but eventually, I just couldn't bring myself to continue.
If you've seen my TikToks or reviews, you'd probably know that I have a particular appreciation for religious BL dramas. Even though I’m not religious myself and probably never will be, I find the intersection between religion and queer stories incredibly fascinating. There’s something about that forbidden feeling, especially when faith, sexuality, guilt, and identity are all intertwined, that can make for such an emotionally powerful story.
I remember watching "Original Sin", which was only a short film, and yet I felt like it captured something incredibly real, the internal conflict that many LGBTQ+ people can experience when they grow up religious, whether they are still unaware of their sexuality or already know but feel ashamed, conflicted, or afraid because of what they have been taught to believe. That is exactly the kind of emotional depth I was hoping this series would explore.
Unfortunately, this series felt incredibly unrealistic in its portrayal of someone who had spent most of his life immersed in religion and attending a religious school slowly discovering that he might be attracted to men.
So, let's get into it.
Tanrak, or Tan, is supposed to be a character who has suffered immensely. He lost his parents at a young age, and considering that he already came from a religious background, it makes sense that he would become even more devoted to God after experiencing such a devastating loss. Religion became his source of comfort, and he eventually attended a religious school where seemingly everything revolved around saints, God, and faith.
Because of that background, I expected his internal conflict to be much more intense.
If someone has spent years being taught to follow God, avoid sin, and live according to a specific moral framework, I would expect the realization that he is experiencing romantic or sexual attraction toward another man to be incredibly difficult for him to process. Lust itself is one of the seven deadly sins, something the series even briefly acknowledges, so the realization that his own feelings of attraction are directed toward another man should have carried significantly more emotional weight.
And yes, someone could argue that maybe Tan was simply open-minded. But that's where I have an issue, because his established background doesn't really support that interpretation. If he were genuinely that comfortable with these feelings, then why does he constantly bounce between guilt and acceptance? His internal conflict exists, but it never feels fully developed.
I think the story would have benefited tremendously if, from the very beginning, Tan's attraction toward Barth had been portrayed with much more uncertainty, yearning, and confusion. I wanted to see him question why he felt this way. I wanted him to wonder what these feelings meant, why he was experiencing them, and whether having these feelings made him a bad person in his own eyes. I wanted to see him scared of himself, anxious about what these feelings meant for his faith, and genuinely struggling to reconcile the person he had always believed himself to be with this new part of himself.
And realistically, I think he would have pushed Barth away because of that.
That could have created so many opportunities for genuine self-discovery. Tan could have distanced himself from Barth, struggled with the guilt, slowly realized that his feelings weren't something he could simply pray away, and gradually come to terms with his sexuality and what it meant for his relationship with his faith. We could have watched that transformation happen over time rather than having him seemingly become comfortable with these feelings almost immediately.
Instead, we got a character who is deeply religious, yet somehow becomes relatively comfortable with the idea of liking men almost overnight, while simultaneously having moments where he feels guilty and conflicted. His feelings constantly go hot and cold, but the transition between those emotions never felt natural to me. Everything just moved far too quickly, and because of that, his internal struggle never had the emotional impact it could have had.
Barth, on the other hand, is also someone who has gone through a lot. Unlike Tan, he isn't a believer, and he seems much more confident in himself and what he wants. But there was another aspect of his character that I found difficult to understand.
If Barth had previously been bullied at his old school because he was gay, why didn't he seem to carry any real fear or hesitation into his new environment?
He transferred into a religious school and immediately became extremely close to Tan, eventually becoming very open about his feelings. Considering what he had already experienced, I would expect him to be much more cautious about who he trusted and how openly he expressed himself, especially around someone like Tan, who was essentially the model religious student.
Realistically, I think Barth would have been afraid of history repeating itself. He could have worried about being bullied again, being rejected, getting kicked out, losing his friendship with Tan, or even simply misunderstanding Tan's intentions and putting himself in a vulnerable position. I think it would have made so much more sense for Barth to take his time before making a move or openly admitting his feelings.
And honestly, I think this all comes back to one major problem: THE SCRIPT
Fourth and Gemini are both amazing actors, and I genuinely enjoy watching them. They have great chemistry together, which is one of the reasons I was so excited for this series in the first place. I had been waiting for this for over a year, especially since I had taken a small break from watching BL, and I was genuinely ready to feel everything this story had to offer.
Because realistically, this is the kind of plot that should make you FEEL something. It's not a concept that should simply be interesting to watch. Religion, sexuality, guilt, identity, repression, and love all have so much emotional potential when they're brought together.
But because the script didn't give the characters enough depth or time to properly explore those things, even the acting occasionally felt a little off to me. And I don't blame Fourth or Gemini for that. I blame the writing. It's difficult for actors to fully sell emotional conflict when the script itself doesn't give that conflict enough substance.
And that's probably my biggest disappointment with this entire series.
The cinematography was good. The music was good. The cast was good. The chemistry was there. There were so many elements that worked individually, and yet the one thing that needed to hold everything together, the writing, just wasn't strong enough.
I wanted more yearning.
More confusion.
More questioning.
More guilt.
More internal conflict.
More moments where these characters actually had to confront what their feelings meant.
I wanted the religious aspect to be more than just an aesthetic or a setting. I wanted the story to actually explore what it means to grow up believing that certain things are wrong and then suddenly realize that you may be experiencing those very things yourself. I wanted to see the psychological and emotional consequences of that conflict instead of simply having religion present in the background.
Instead, we got what ultimately felt like a very mediocre series with an incredibly interesting premise that never reached its full potential.
So yes, I am disappointed.
I will probably forever grieve what this series could have been, especially because the casting was genuinely perfect. Fourth and Gemini had so much potential to bring this story to life, and that's what makes it even more frustrating to me.
And to anyone who enjoyed this series, I genuinely respect your opinion. I just hope mine can be respected as well. Not every story is going to resonate with everyone, and unfortunately, this one simply didn't resonate with me in the way I desperately wanted it to.
I’ll keep waiting for that perfect religious BL, the one that actually makes me feel everything I came here to feel.
Overall: 7.5/10
If you've seen my TikToks or reviews, you'd probably know that I have a particular appreciation for religious BL dramas. Even though I’m not religious myself and probably never will be, I find the intersection between religion and queer stories incredibly fascinating. There’s something about that forbidden feeling, especially when faith, sexuality, guilt, and identity are all intertwined, that can make for such an emotionally powerful story.
I remember watching "Original Sin", which was only a short film, and yet I felt like it captured something incredibly real, the internal conflict that many LGBTQ+ people can experience when they grow up religious, whether they are still unaware of their sexuality or already know but feel ashamed, conflicted, or afraid because of what they have been taught to believe. That is exactly the kind of emotional depth I was hoping this series would explore.
Unfortunately, this series felt incredibly unrealistic in its portrayal of someone who had spent most of his life immersed in religion and attending a religious school slowly discovering that he might be attracted to men.
So, let's get into it.
Tanrak, or Tan, is supposed to be a character who has suffered immensely. He lost his parents at a young age, and considering that he already came from a religious background, it makes sense that he would become even more devoted to God after experiencing such a devastating loss. Religion became his source of comfort, and he eventually attended a religious school where seemingly everything revolved around saints, God, and faith.
Because of that background, I expected his internal conflict to be much more intense.
If someone has spent years being taught to follow God, avoid sin, and live according to a specific moral framework, I would expect the realization that he is experiencing romantic or sexual attraction toward another man to be incredibly difficult for him to process. Lust itself is one of the seven deadly sins, something the series even briefly acknowledges, so the realization that his own feelings of attraction are directed toward another man should have carried significantly more emotional weight.
And yes, someone could argue that maybe Tan was simply open-minded. But that's where I have an issue, because his established background doesn't really support that interpretation. If he were genuinely that comfortable with these feelings, then why does he constantly bounce between guilt and acceptance? His internal conflict exists, but it never feels fully developed.
I think the story would have benefited tremendously if, from the very beginning, Tan's attraction toward Barth had been portrayed with much more uncertainty, yearning, and confusion. I wanted to see him question why he felt this way. I wanted him to wonder what these feelings meant, why he was experiencing them, and whether having these feelings made him a bad person in his own eyes. I wanted to see him scared of himself, anxious about what these feelings meant for his faith, and genuinely struggling to reconcile the person he had always believed himself to be with this new part of himself.
And realistically, I think he would have pushed Barth away because of that.
That could have created so many opportunities for genuine self-discovery. Tan could have distanced himself from Barth, struggled with the guilt, slowly realized that his feelings weren't something he could simply pray away, and gradually come to terms with his sexuality and what it meant for his relationship with his faith. We could have watched that transformation happen over time rather than having him seemingly become comfortable with these feelings almost immediately.
Instead, we got a character who is deeply religious, yet somehow becomes relatively comfortable with the idea of liking men almost overnight, while simultaneously having moments where he feels guilty and conflicted. His feelings constantly go hot and cold, but the transition between those emotions never felt natural to me. Everything just moved far too quickly, and because of that, his internal struggle never had the emotional impact it could have had.
Barth, on the other hand, is also someone who has gone through a lot. Unlike Tan, he isn't a believer, and he seems much more confident in himself and what he wants. But there was another aspect of his character that I found difficult to understand.
If Barth had previously been bullied at his old school because he was gay, why didn't he seem to carry any real fear or hesitation into his new environment?
He transferred into a religious school and immediately became extremely close to Tan, eventually becoming very open about his feelings. Considering what he had already experienced, I would expect him to be much more cautious about who he trusted and how openly he expressed himself, especially around someone like Tan, who was essentially the model religious student.
Realistically, I think Barth would have been afraid of history repeating itself. He could have worried about being bullied again, being rejected, getting kicked out, losing his friendship with Tan, or even simply misunderstanding Tan's intentions and putting himself in a vulnerable position. I think it would have made so much more sense for Barth to take his time before making a move or openly admitting his feelings.
And honestly, I think this all comes back to one major problem: THE SCRIPT
Fourth and Gemini are both amazing actors, and I genuinely enjoy watching them. They have great chemistry together, which is one of the reasons I was so excited for this series in the first place. I had been waiting for this for over a year, especially since I had taken a small break from watching BL, and I was genuinely ready to feel everything this story had to offer.
Because realistically, this is the kind of plot that should make you FEEL something. It's not a concept that should simply be interesting to watch. Religion, sexuality, guilt, identity, repression, and love all have so much emotional potential when they're brought together.
But because the script didn't give the characters enough depth or time to properly explore those things, even the acting occasionally felt a little off to me. And I don't blame Fourth or Gemini for that. I blame the writing. It's difficult for actors to fully sell emotional conflict when the script itself doesn't give that conflict enough substance.
And that's probably my biggest disappointment with this entire series.
The cinematography was good. The music was good. The cast was good. The chemistry was there. There were so many elements that worked individually, and yet the one thing that needed to hold everything together, the writing, just wasn't strong enough.
I wanted more yearning.
More confusion.
More questioning.
More guilt.
More internal conflict.
More moments where these characters actually had to confront what their feelings meant.
I wanted the religious aspect to be more than just an aesthetic or a setting. I wanted the story to actually explore what it means to grow up believing that certain things are wrong and then suddenly realize that you may be experiencing those very things yourself. I wanted to see the psychological and emotional consequences of that conflict instead of simply having religion present in the background.
Instead, we got what ultimately felt like a very mediocre series with an incredibly interesting premise that never reached its full potential.
So yes, I am disappointed.
I will probably forever grieve what this series could have been, especially because the casting was genuinely perfect. Fourth and Gemini had so much potential to bring this story to life, and that's what makes it even more frustrating to me.
And to anyone who enjoyed this series, I genuinely respect your opinion. I just hope mine can be respected as well. Not every story is going to resonate with everyone, and unfortunately, this one simply didn't resonate with me in the way I desperately wanted it to.
I’ll keep waiting for that perfect religious BL, the one that actually makes me feel everything I came here to feel.
Overall: 7.5/10
Was this review helpful to you?
