TianQi

Same

I'm really trying to see it for this show, but I can't just help how empty and basic it feels. :/

What about the acting though? Do you really feel like any of the actors have skill in this series compared to TharnType, Theory of Love etc. This story is OK, but it's being delivered in such a boring way to me.

I love historical fantasy dramas, I love huli jing/fairy fox lore, and I ADORE Leo Luo (he's the reason I started watching it), but his acting is the only thing carrying the show and it's too good compared to the others. Even though it is short in episode length and number of episodes, I can't bring myself to watch this.

In response to your second and third paragraphs. In a lot (most) of these Thai BLs, the 'coming to grips with my sexuality' portion is minimalized. There could be lots of reasons for this, but my theory is that one of them is: the series are too short to have enough room for all the guys to realize they have same-sex attraction and struggle with it. It's much easier to say, "Wow, I like guys...weird, but let's see where it goes." and keep the story moving or else we wouldn't get see much else unfold in the areas of romance and other types of character development. This is true for most of them, but a few of them do tackle this. TharnType and 2gether come to mind, but even in 2gether, not much time is given to it. Lastly, I don't think think the sexuality of any of these characters is meant to be clarified and if we were to assume, I think the safest assumption is that everyone's bisexual except Bone (but he really might be too as he doesn't seem put off at all at the notion of his guy friends being in love with each other). An/Un might be gay, but all we know is that he likes Two, doesn't mean he hasn't had a gf before or something. Third seems like the most obviously gay based on outer appearance/vibe he gives off and he says in the beginning his speciality is rejecting women in a particularly sharp way. Is he good at this because he's gay OR is he good at this because ever since he's been in college, he's only had eyes for Khai? We don't know.

Sometimes I think viewers go into Thai BLs set in college or high school expecting the characters to have a 20/20 vision when it comes to love (I reiterate their age). Love between high school and college students is rarely mature enough for the characters to avoid making stupid decisions.

Now that that's out of the way. I found this to be a decent series. Typical, but well-delivered on the part of the actors. As others have said, the writing could have been a lot better. Also, we have a jealousy troupe that gets thrown in a lot around the last couple episodes of Thai BLs to kill time, but with this one, they could have spread the '7 things I hate about Khai' theme out over two episodes and it really could have 1) given Khai a better chance to redeem himself not only to Third, but the audience as well (I also don't think Khai really deserves as much hate as this comment section gives him, but that's another issue) and 2) given the audience a chance to find out what it is that Third sees in Khai that makes him love him so much. We know they've been friends forever, but by the time when we enter the friendship as an audience, Third's in a really bad place mentally.

Next, KHAI. Dear, dear Khai. Khai is a real person. We all know guys who have all or some of his aspects. He's not the most clever guy out there and he has the emotional intelligence of a frog at times, but I'll be damned if I wasn't rooting for him the whole time. Maybe it's because I had a "bad guy turned good" relationship in the past, but I definitely GET Khai. To the criticisms of his womanizing: I'd like everyone to turn a mirror to the screaming gangs of girls (the exact same age as Khai) throwing themselves at him and the other boys for no other reason than their looks. No, we don't see Khai truly valuing women, and I'm of the opinion that it's more because of his own low emotional intelligence than actual chauvinism, but we also don't see any girls valuing Khai outside the realm of his looks or being in possession of him as theirs alone as opposed to anyone else's. So, was Khai a two-timing asshole half the time? Yeah, but those girls he dated had 0 going for them, too.

Overall, I liked this drama because the actors played their roles well. I especially appreciated how the group of four friends acted as good foils for each other. Theory of Love isn't one of my favorite BLs ever, but it was decent and I definitely think it's worth the watch...especially with all the other crap that's out here lately. *cough* 2gether *cough*

Agreed. The homophobia, violence, and sexual assault are MAJOR stress factors for TharnType, but as you said, the ease and chemistry are just there for them. I was very surprised when I found out that the actor plays Sarawat has been involved in media before, but this is basically the first time for the actor who plays Tine. There's something about timing and facial expressions in this between the leads that never seems to really convince me.

I'm on episode 6 and I empathize with Third in the fear of confessing love because you're afraid you'll lose a good friend in addition to the fear of rejection. Third isn't a shy guy, but Khai makes him as soft as butter. :'( Poor thing.

I feel like a lot of BLs try to make it about a new iconic "it" couple and overshadow the side couples a bit too much. Every BL isn't going to be Gu Hai and Bai Luo Yin or P'Arthit and Kongpop. It's ok for us to have variety in the show and considering how much better actors Man and Type seem to be than Sarawat, it would have been nice to get a lot more of them.

The only one of those this actor has is blank expressions. Let's be honest here. The one with the "lecherous oppressive air" in this series is Man. lol

The thing I liked the most about TharnType is what frustrates me the most about this show. The interaction between the main couple. Hopefully, the last two episodes can at least end everything on a good note so I won't be forced to give this show a rating lower than 5. lol

Yeah, I wouldn't expect an asexual couple to have sexual chemistry, but I'd expect most couples to have romantic chemistry. What you have called "weird chemistry" is just coming off as bad acting to me on the side of Sarawat. It's mostly him that makes it awkward. Tine is insecure, but at least his acting feels sincere.

Overall, the show just seems underwhelming. Like if it were 2015 or I've never seen a Thai BL before, I could probably appreciate it, but when we've gotten dramas along the same storyline/theme like SOTUS, What the Duck or TharnType, the bar is just already set. I can even accept slow or not so dramatic ones. 2 Moons (S1) was like that and it was ok, but this one just falls really flat for me.

tfw know when you watch a BL and you really want to just see a side couple's story more than the main couple...

I got it during 2 Moons (season 1) and now it's happening again. At this point, I just wanna watch Man and Type. lol Tine and Sarawat can go live happily after now.

I don't think that's the source of people's complaint. It's just the lack of good chemistry. Nothing to do with being "too gay" which doesn't exist anyway. There have been lots of -actual- bromance series that were much more romantic than this romance is.

Oh my god somebody finally said it!

Even with the basic storylines, there's still usually like one thing that makes it stand apart. I'm not seeing for this series...at least not yet.

There isn't that 'spark' when they look at each other like the leads of other series. When they joke around/play with each other, there isn't a genuine interaction between them. It feels very forced. Sarawat, even though he's very handsome, also looks very 'dead' in the eyes a lot of the time too. Like he kinda just looks like a handsome robot a lot of the times. It's good that we have the actor playing Tine to balance him out because Sarawat's character and how the actor portrays him is a little boring. A lot of people who really like this drama say that they people who don't like it very much don't like because of the lack of physical romance, but that REALLY REALLY isn't it. Nothing about this drama is unique or special aside from the fact that Sarawat is excessively good-looking, and that's great, but for people who regularly watch Thai BL's, this really isn't anything special.

THANK YOU. lol

This was an interesting read. For me, I'm compelled to fault each character because the circumstances of their setting because I feel like they're all more victims of their circumstances than they are of each other. One is a gay king in the middle ages, one is a soldier in the middle ages and one is a princess sold into marriage as political deal during the middle ages. It's a set up for a hard life for any of them. In spite of all that, though, I think there's something much more complex to the story than that, particularly between the king and Hong Rim. I don't think it can be easily said that the only reason the Hong Rim had a strong affection for the king is because the king groomed him. I think that may oversimplify Hong Rim's character and almost negates him having agency and autonomy over his own mind, which we see isn't the case in the second half of the film because of all the crazy shit he starts to do. If he had no mind of his own, I don't feel like a few rounds of sex with a female would lead him to that level of betrayal. Yes, I think that while the king very much doted on Hong Rim, but Hong Rim also truly cherished the king. Hong Rim wasn't just a personal servant to the king, he was also a part of the king's guard, so there was a little more to his life than just the king 24/7. I don't think we could say it was 'true love' as we know it, but given their circumstances and their basic human capacity to love, I think it was as close as they would have gotten. I'd like to think Hong Rim could have secretly been having sex with girls all the while, like I think some of the other soldiers might have since that wasn't uncommon at the time, but he didn't. That may digging a little too deep into things that weren't shown, but still.

As for the queen, I feel like it's easy to see what she and Hong Rim had wasn't love...primarily because of the fact that she deeply and openly resented him because of how close he was to the king. There was nothing but hate there until they were actually in the bed. So, I feel, as far as the queen's concerned, a sexless marriage that turns into sex with her husband's lover that then turns into a pregnancy could easily be a lot of things: attachment, jealousy, spite, revenge, anguish, etc., but I believe the queen just wanted to BE loved much more than she actually loved either of them. She loved the king, empathized with him and knew her duty/place well. She fell into a sexual relationship with Hong Rim and got over-attached (due to lack of affection shown to her before), but I just really can't see her as actually being *in* love with Hong Rim.

I could go on forever about this movie. It's one of my favorites. I love when others dissect it too. lol

So far, this series is just OK for me. It's funny, but not funny enough. Romantic, but the chemistry isn't there as much as it could be. The story also has very little nuance.

So many people are saying 'Oh not every BL needs kissing and bed scene.', but a romance without at least kissing is a little awkward. If it were a bromance, that'd be one thing...but they're dating.

Also, if you think that other BLs *rely* rely on the bed scenes, then clearly the only thing this series is relying on is Sarawat's good looks because that's the best it has going for it right now imo.