Maggi64

Yo, Tim, she just said you were "incredibly young." Now, she had said it for an utterly inane reason. Nevertheless, for people in their 50's like us, I'd be damn, smacking happy to called incredibly young. You need to thank her for the compliment.

You had sent me a music video of Mr. Pillow Lips from "Semantic Error," but not this kid from "Cherry Blossoms."

I gotta say, when I heard that one of the boys in "Cherry Blossoms" was an idol, I figured it was more likely the tall one. Cuz the short one is not merely short, he is teensy-tiny! But hey, I guess Asian teenaged girls like their idols cute and pocket sized (eg, Mr. Pillow lips is also very short).

Come to think of it, the same can be said for American teeny-boppers who went gonzo over the likes of Davey Jones. He was a midget too. I wonder if it's about teeny-boppers liking teensy-tiny idols because it makes the idols less sexually threatening. In short, the teeny-boppers' sexual fantasies about these idols would feel somehow safe.

huh?

Which guy from Cherry Blossoms is an idol? The little one playing Haeboom, or the tall one playing Tae Sung?

Shoot, I was hoping you'd watch WYEL, cuz I'm such a psycho that after writing that comment I pulled it up again and I'm re-watching right now. These 2 boys look at each other in the very first 10 minutes and you know they got it bad for each other. And when the bodyguard washes the other boy's hair in the shower in ep 2..... well dang. They's in love. But it takes 5 more eps to say it to each other. But short 12 min eps. As I said, it's only 90 min in total (ie, the avg length of a feature film).

lol, I just re-watched WYEL for the exact same reason. I saw him in Ocean Like Me and simply had to re-watch him in this again. I want a sequel, but it's been 2-3 years since WYEL finished, so I doubt we'll be getting one. I wonder why when it was such a hit. Perhaps the leads did not get along? There's gotta be a reason, cuz the show was a smash hit and started the trend for Korea making more BL's. And the same director did To My Star and Bleuming, so she's certainly still striking it hot in the industry.

Yep, he's hot even with the bad make-up and glaringly over-lit sets that make him look so pale. I also loved his shirtless scene, cuz he's got this beautiful body that is tone and muscular, but does not have a rock hard, six-pack, "I live at the gym" body.

I always suspect men with such bodies of vanity and know they are just as bad as girls when it comes to counting calories and stepping on a scale every ten minutes. I know from experience cuz one of my bros did body building and was like that. Girls trailed him cuz he was cute and had a six-pack; but I lived with him, so I knew how truly insufferable his body maintenance was. I prefer guys with bodies like Ha Gi Chan's in this show.

Ok, go watch WYEL!!! And since I know you have Viki, be advised: watch the series, not the movie version, cuz the movie omits the boys' internal monologues, which are the best part of the show.

Also, Viki fucked up the editing at the end of episode 7. After the ending credits roll, there's 30-40 second scene of the bodyguard working at a restaurant which actually belongs at the end of episode 8. The clip comes after ep 7's credits roll, so just skip it and directly to ep 8. Can't believe Viki never fixed this mistake. Nevertheless, Viki has the best subtitles for WYEL, so watch it there.

Golly, can you tell I've watched WYEL a half a dozen times?

I like that both characters are openly gay at the get -go, so there's no, "I'm straight, but just gay for you." Sure, sometimes we'll get one openly gay guy in a BL, but we rarely get both.

Also, I must confess, I would watch ANYTHING that has Han Gi Chan in it. He starred in one of my Top 3 BL's, "Where Your Eyes Linger" and has not been seen since.

This is the first time I've seen him again, and I'm here for him. I'd re-watch a soda-pop ad over and over if he were in it (I also love his voice). It sucks that they gave the poor guy a subpar project after such an amazing and iconic BL like WYEL, but there you go. So I'm watching.

But Tim, I'm serious, you need to re-watch WYEL. You told me it's been a long time since you've seen it. The actors Ha Gi Chan and Jang Eui Soo both had heat, even w/o touching (btw, poor Jang Eui Soo's follow up BL was also subpar).

The kissing scene in WYEL was chaste, but that's because it was Korea's very 1st BL (made 2-3 years ago). It was so popular that it set the trend for Korea's BL's afterward.

At any rate, if you're wondering why I'm so into Han Gi Chan, go re-watch WYEL. It's only 90 minutes in total episodes, but man does it pack a punch in that short time. The chemistry is on fire.

Yea, Holland cannot act. He's basically just playing himself. When I heard how he came out of the closet I was so impressed (cuz that's still hard for an idol to do in Korea), I looked at some interviews with him. This is just his personality. He makes all those same expressions and has the same sassy sort of vibe. So this show just put the camera on him and let him be himself. I think they really just wanted his name on the billing, regardless of his acting, cuz BL fans love him for his other projects and how he came out. When I say "other projects," I mean non-acting projects, cuz this is his first acting gig. Clearly, lol.

Wait, which character was an actor in To My Star?

Agreed, the kids in the bedroom was a problem. It forced the viewer to make up their own scenarios for how they got there. Like, what, were the parents in the restaurant downstairs and when they saw no staff their kids wandered to the living quarters upstairs? If so, tell the viewer that this is what happened for goodness sakes. So yea, there are problems.

But I just readjusted my expectations to the barometer of "cute and harmless" and let it go. The show I am really hating on currently is PlusMinus. They had a budget, so there's no excuse. Bad script, bad pacing, and bad casting with that ugly laundramat guy hooked up w/the hot bartender.

Meh, it's cute. And really, there's no other BL out there this season except KP and Mr. Unlucky. I was hoping PlusMinus would be good, but it sucks. I cannot even call it "cute." It's just bad. And that one clearly had a budget, so there's no excuse either. Just a lazy script and poor casting (if you've seen it, then you know laundramat guy is ugly). Oh, and 3 trip and fall kisses per episode.

Episode 3 and 4 are proving that this is one of those shows that gets better as it goes along. There was a really darling scene in ep 3 where Ba Da smiled at Tommy and began to laugh, and Tommy was startled and kept asking, “What?” Ba Da had always been so shy (and, frankly, a bit stiff), that it was a nice break for his character. In general, I am enjoying the classic scenario of "opposites attract" with reserved Bada and sassy, outgoing Tommy. And ep 4 really got things rolling by introducing a rival for Mr. Sassy! There’s also a new twist that’s thickened the plot.

Moreover, may I say that I freaking LOVE that the characters are gay from the get-go. There’s none of that bullshit we see in most Thai BL’s with “I’m really straight, but just gay for you.” I think this trope is utterly cowardly. So I am impressed when a BL jettisons that and has the guts to present openly gay characters – not to mention an openly gay actor!

Everyone is commenting on the bad makeup. Yes, it’s bad. But I think the problem is more with the cinematography, because it’s not just Ba Da’s and Tommy’s faces that are pale. Their hands are super white too. All the scenes are overly lit. But it’s clearly a low budget show, so I’m forgiving these flaws and focusing on character and story instead. As far as that goes, I think it's a sweet little BL.

Wow, I had no idea that WYEL was released at 10 min per episode. I watched it months later all in one shot -- and freaking loved it. I also adored Bleuming, which I do know was 10 min per episode, so I loved that it was released in all one shot. But this show is clearly a lesser budget than both those shows, so I don't think the duration even matters. WYEL and Bleuming had multiple settings and larger casts. This is set at only the restaurant and the beach, and has only handful of actors. It also looks like they could not afford a proper cinematographer and make-up artist, which is why everyone looks so pale. I think those things are bigger flaws than the leads chemistry.

Incidentally, I thought the reason we never got a sequel to WYEL is that Han Gi Chan was no longer doing BL's. So isn't it odd that he's not only doing a BL, but that it's such a low budget one? The other actor from WYEL also made his follow-up project a truly shitty BL where he also played, coincidentally, a chef. Both actors need to give us a sequel to WYEL!

Exactly, ep 3 got the show rolling along better. I think it gets better as it goes along cuz there's been less of that annoying girl, who took up way too much of ep 1. As for Korea just making short BL's to get viewers, why not? The Thais have been doing it for years, and they manufacture them off an assembly line with far less originality. At least the Koreans don't set every BL on an engineering campus, lol.

The chemistry started to show when they finally let the chef smile and giggle at his new partner in ep 3. That was cute. Especially when the partner looked startled and said, "What? Why are you laughing?"

I think the director went a bit overboard in trying to make us know that the chef was supposed to be "shy" in ep 1 and 2, and that made him look stiff. But things lightened in ep 3, so we're starting to feel some chemistry. I think the show gets better as it moves along. At any rate, I am baffled by the haters here. It's a perfectly nice little show with a cute set up of "shy guy loves outgoing guy."

Worst BL? Have you not seen the 50 or so Thai BL's that they manufacture off a factory assembly line? And where everyone is at an engineering campus and there is always exactly ONE kiss per a 14 episode series? This is a cute little, small budget show that's doing a perfectly nice job with its limited resources to tell a story of "opposites attract" between a shy chef and his outgoing business partner.

And I love how right after he said that, it cut to a scene of ocean waves rolling. Every time the chef senses his attraction, it cuts to a scene of the waves rolling.

I LOVE your comment. Frankly, I am baffled by the negative comments about this show. It clearly has a low budget, and limited settings and a small cast. But it's doing a nice job with limited resources. The love story is a nice scenario of "opposites attract" with a shy one and an outgoing one. I think it really works. I mean, what the hell are all these haters talking about? I genuinely do not get it.