MaintainingMama

Just finished. It was not nearly as bad I was expecting. Just like Love with Benefits, it has lots of ummmm questionable moments, but this was way better acted in my opinion. I think see what they, as a company are trying to do, in terms of actually hiring LGBTQ actors, if not for the main leads, then definitely for side characters. I commend them for that.
Here is what they get right, imo:
1)Nammon. Literally was so good in this. His break up scene with Gameplay was really well acted. I truly believed Ohm loved Dee, but it wasn't meant to be. He did broken hearted great, that struggling to open the car door was an amazing touch to a tough scene.
2) The plot. Now I am not saying they excuted the story right, but the overall plot of a young man born into wealth trying to make his own way in world was a decent plot. It would have kept my attention had they kept it going to the end...
3) Supporting actors. Compared to Love with Benefits, it was night and day. Yes they were all over the top EXTRA, but this time not cringey. Well...I wasn't into Thep's harassment of Heya, but outside of that storyline, I liked all the side characters.
4) Chemistry between Gameplay and literally anyone. I mean, he could have ended up with anyone and it would have been fine as long as he had spent 5 minutes with them in a scene. I did not know who I was routing for from scene to scene. Nammon, Knight, Guy and even that imaginery couple scene with Songthee was perfection.

Things that needed work
1) For the love of EVERYONE, please of please stop showing guys forcing themselves on people as a way to show they are interested. Just uggghhh!
2)I wish they had explored Knight's initial feelings for Dee a bit better. It was never clear if he liked Dee because he looked lile his fiance or for Dee himself. They needed to show him getting over the similarities and getting attracted to Dee for himself. And sense they mentioned he was straight, just a bit of normal questioning would have been nice. It would help explain why he was so cold and distant to Dee in the beginning.
3) When Dee going to stand up to his grandfather?! Knight 'stormed' the castle like a million times for Dee, could Dee have left and gone to Knight at least after his grandfather smacked him (yet again!)!? Like come on! He literally was trying to prove he was an adult, so why not say, 'Hey, until you can respect my decisions and stop trying to control my life, I have to walk away. I'll come back when you can be reasonable.' And then go find a job on your own like you said you wanted to. Show him you could build a life on your own and all you needed from him was love and support. He never stood up for himself or Knight and that bothered me greatly.
4) Grandpa and Grandma were just the worst. Grandma wasn't a good ally, I don't care what they tried to represent her as. She didn't care about Dee's feelings ever. I am actually more mad at her character than Granpa. He was your typical abusive older misognist, so whatever, but Grandma acted like she had Dee's back, but never actually did. Bringing Ohm to the house forcing Dee to sit there during that uncomfortable dinner was the worst. Then forcing Knigjt away cause he was poor?!? Like I come on! Dee is a grown man who should be able to take care of himself. Why did Knight have to be debt free to begin a relationship with Dee?! What were the tears for when the commercial came out? Grandpa was obviously jist yuck. I need to see more people choosing themselves, even temperarily and saying out right no to this type of behavior. Like I get it, your old, but you also have seen stuff evolve over time. Please adjust accordingly.
5) While Gameplay and Folk have super hot chemistry, that bed scene needed better direction. If you gonna have one, do them right!?! Like why did shirts never come off, it was the logical step in all that kissing across the room. Also, can we at least pretend to take off panta if we are going to include a grinding/riding scene. Like I can see ya'll still dressed, what is you doing?!

So the writing and directing was all over the place with the character and scene development and that is where this wasn't good for me. I still enjoyed it more than Bite Me though, so do with that what you will.

Nhai behaving like a brat is on brand for him, so I am not even mad. He was petty cause he thought he was getting cheated on and that was due to Ai's lack of communication. He does not have to say much about his mom and sister, just that he has them, doesn't talk to them normally, but they have been reaching out lately. The end. But I like that we get to see them (or any BL couple really) develop the relationship. There are bound to be kinks to work out. Now Ai knows what jealous Nhai is like.
I don't know what it is about Intha and Songkarn story that is doing negative 11 for me, but it is. They just don't mesh well at all for me. I hatrle Games hair in this too, it bothers me deeply. Now Nine and FM...I am here for. FM is cute, so is Nine. I liked Nitaman, although it needed some workshopping. Jom isn't a bad actor, and I like him so far in this. I definitely want to see where this is going to go. Ton and Chon, I don't know what to think. I know that they don't meet up until Chon goes to college, but where does that fit in, in this univserse. Cause it looks like Chon is suppised to be going to college any minute now. And in the other story, they met again before school starts...side note, Chon wearing a mask while no one else was, was awkward. I get its so Ton doesn't recognize him, but that needed to be stated. Or something said as an excuse.
I am here for evil Mom story. I need more, I have questions. How did they get from evil mom, leaves at birth to 2 dads?
I'll say it again, its irritating when Nhai acts like sex or even just fooling around with his boyfriend is just beyond the pail. I get being sleepy and not in the mood and having some climb on ya is annoying. But have a convo, not now but definitely later, instead, yuck get out. Its unrealistic. He is a healthy 20 something year old man with a hot boyftiend in the honeymoon phase of the relationship. Sigh...they have to do better. And yes, I know and acknowledge everyone has different libidos, but this isn't being portrayed as lower libido. It comes off like Ai is a letch who only wants sex, instead of them being in a mature relationship where sex is apart of it. As Boss from LITA (the new King of the NC scene) says, those NC scenes show that sex is a healthy part of a typical relationship. They just got to do better.

It was just the worst. Seriously a waste of time.

As much as I love BounPrem and feel they do have chemistry together, I truly think their het brains get in the way of these NC scenes. They need to take a page out of YinWar's book, its just acting. And if the scene calls for hot and heavy, ya gotta get outta ya head that your making out with your bro. Literally my only complaint about their NC scenes. It always feels like Prem is resentful of being the 'bottom' even in the interviews they do together. (Soo reminds my of Y Idols topbottom scene) I kept begging him to raise his head during kiss scenes as he tends to tuck his chin down making it harder for Boun to kiss him. I think he believes (even subconsciously) raising his head and relaxing his neck into that kiss would come off like he was the submissive one. When all it would have conveyed to me was that he was so turned on by the admittedly hot guy in front of him, he let go of his inhibitions. I feel Boun is doing that fairly well (conveying Win's passion for Team), but Prem is still holding something back, so it comes off as awkward. Just my opinion though.

At this point, throw the whole show away, except for TapPing. I have NEVER rolled my eyes so hard at scene as that abusive toxic whiny happens every episode with out really communicating like the freaking adults they should be. And I'm not even saying that Fah's feelings aren't valid. I wish he (the writers) would stop having us go in this endless loop and have Fah just confess his feelings and put up his boundries. Why is it so hard for him to say, Hey, Sher, I actually like you. More than I have anyone else. It doesn't bother me that you are close with Prince, but I feel uncomfortable that you are that intimate with him. How would you feel if the tables were turned? I know you guys are super close, and I respect that, but can you dial the touchy feely down, just a bit until we figure our shit out?' And the however crazy ass Sher responds, we can take it from there. But come on! All the unnecessary hitting and they how DARE you say I am sleeping with best friend when I literally do EVERYTHING to make make EVERYONE believe we are dating, including just now acting like I'm sad that Prince won't date me. At this point, I hate both of them, don't care about PrinceGear, even if that hom scene was cute-ish (too much Sher talk, who cares he is famous, what the HELL does it have to do with the story with 2 episodes to go!?). I literally only need to see Tap and Ping get themselves together and I am good.
Side Note, them NC scenes are trash. There was more sexual tension in Bite Me and that show SUCKED!

Thanks, that definitely helps

If this show didn't showcase anything it showed us that idol singing is super cringe. With the few exceptions who can actually sing, I really hope the BL industry (really looking at you, GMMTV) stops torturing us with these comcerts of off key singing and awkward dance moves.
That aside, I was prepared to hate the ending, but this had a clean happy ending with no questions needed answering. Pleasantly surprised. Now did I wish I could fast forward through most of it, yes (Dear Gagaoolala, PLEASE ad skip 10 second buttons!!!)! But I actually liked KlaPeek's romance part. It wasn't as toxic as the other 2 couples, so far and probably no where near as MostAchi are getting ready to be. I have to admit, as much as I hate Achi and I hope he suffers alot in the next segment, ToruFirst's NC scenes remain topnotch. Looking forward to their story as it is bond to be the messiest of them all and that is saying ALOT considering what we have already been through.

In them trying to give a book that was like 80% sex some substance, they added too much story for the time alloted. The whole daddy has a new chick and Yai cannot deal is a whole new thing and unnecessary, especially when we don't have many episodes. What is her deal anyway, why is she sooo invested in getting Yai to like her? He is grown, not a kid. And she just popped up out of no where, I get Yai's feeling on this. Could he be more cordial, sure! But its not like the dad or this new chick are being subtle or gentle with their approach. I mean, the dad not acknowledging the mom's bday is shitty and makes it seem like he doesn't care. If he had focused on the mom that day, and been there for Yai, who obviously needed his dad to say, yes, I loved your mom and I am sad she is gone, but I found someone who makes me happy and I hope you will get to know her. The end. Problem solved.
The whole 'months' threw me off too, but honestly in the book, they did hook up for months with out confessing any feelings. We needed one simple time skip montage with lots of passionate scenes and some soft romantic ones and again problem solved. It would have helped cement these big feeling they are demonstrating with some top notch acting. I have to give a shout out to Mos. Knowing that he is a first time actor and he admits he's not quite good yet, I am soo glad he didn't try to do the scrunched up face where he tries to make himself cry but cannot, so we must suffer ugly face fake crying. He knew enough (or maybe Bank told him to) to just make his face sad. And it worked for me. He looked devastated when he saw them kiss as well as resigned to his fate of not getting his man. I felt his pain in that moment with out the need for tears. Well done. Yai isn't a bad guy to me. He's protecting himself. He has never felt this way for a guy, let alone a guy who is 1) a known womanizer and 2) engaged to be married. Who would sign up for that kind of pain?! And he has fallen hard fast, so to not back away completely at this point would be emotional suicide. He said it himself that did not know if he could handle Mangkorn's issues, which is fair. These issues are usually a losing battle. And its not like Mangkorn professed his undying love and said, I'll fight for us. Yai has zero assurances that this whole affair is not going to turn to shit. I mean, it has been messy as hell from the jump! I loved the moment with Mangkorn's mom and Yai. Yai is super vulnerable at this point between Nine's confession, his dad/stepmama issues, Mangkorn and his issues and then missing his mom, who it seems he turned to alot, on her birthday. He needed that hug and warmth and understanding.
The whole 'they met when they were kids' was probably thrown in to explain Mangkorn's feelings. I mean, why else would he tolerate Yai's shenanigans unless he has had deep feeling for a long time?! Again we needed a tiny confrssion scene to us the audience either in the confo with Arjo or the fiance to explain everyone knew he liked Yai. The fact that Yai didn't acknowledge that he had kept that necklace for all these years irritated me. Why wouldn't he do it unless he cared?!
That kiss at the end was a thing of beauty. It just needed Yai melting in Mangkorn's arms at the end there, forgetting about all those people freaking out (loved all the shocked faces! 🤣) and giving into his feelings. Then it would have been romantic heaven. I like this series. Could it have been bettwr written, yes. But given what they have to work with, the actors are doing their job, the camera crews are doing their jobs and honestly so did the director. We just needed the script writer to clarify a few things and its all good. Its way better than Gen Y (which I loved bits of, but ultimately irritated me to no end), so that's something.

Every episode was excellent except that last one. It was a 40 minute long anti- smoking commercial. The whole thing with the dad came outta of no where. Wasn't even mentioned in most episode and then Bam, here comes a character we barely know anything about and we are supposed to care!? Why did Eiw have to forgive him right away!?!? He was literally the cause of their mom dying. They didn't deserve to take a minute to grieve before dealing with their daddy issues. It wasn't like he had been there the whole time and was a good dad except the smoking. He left them years before. They deserved to grieve their mother without the pressure of making up with their dad. Instead of 40 minutes of gut wrenching grief and 'smoking is bad! Don't do it!' WE deserved a proper ending. WE deserved a time skip that showed them getting back to their lives. Of See Eiw and Cake loving, laughing and being together. We didn't get too many happy moments for them and we needed them, gosh darn it! For something that was soooo well written and acted (even this last Just say no to cigerettes episode), I wanted to see Cake and See Eiw being together and going about theor lives day to day. Maybe them coming out to Cake's parents, to both their families, cause we didn't get to see that. Why and how did Pao hook with Cream. If Peek and Hom's age gap was alot, Pao and Cream is on the other side of too much. What the heck was that ending with the boys!?!? Sigh...another ending where so much more could have been done and would have literally made it the best. The acting was top notch though. They made you feel everyone's pain. Watching Pao break down as the oldest but still needing his mom...good job Prem! That medicine scene was top tier tears. Yeesh! But that whole 40 minutes of crying could have been shaved down to 10 and still had the same effect. Also, that kiss at the end! Barely touching lips after all that glorious eye contact. Like COME ON! We desrved a better kiss! Seriously, next show for SantaEarth HAS to be a romantic comedy. I want sassy Earth in fishnets and Santa in all black (cause he looks AMAZING in all black) and I want to laugh my ass off at shenanigans and tomfoolery. And Earth is forbidden to cry once! Not even during the inevitable, 'we had a misunderstanding and we may have to break up scene.' I just need to see it and I'll be able to forgive that last episode.

Agreed

So loved this series, so don't get me wrong when I say I needed a better ending. One more episode to tie everything up more neatly. This felt rushed and left too many unanswrred questions for me. Did Gun manage to rape Sky again? Did all of those scum bags there get taken care of by Chai, or just Gun? Why would Pai have to give something to the head of racing in exchange for taking care of Gun and his bad of shitbags? If Pai amd Payu had called the cops before they even got there (as they should have), it would have gotten back to the illegal racing. So they already did the whole racing orginazition a solid. I wanted to see Pai and Payu and even Rain going nuts on those men for attempting to gang rape Sky. I needed Pai to swear up and down he never gave or would ever give Sky yo ANYONE. He needed to declare that Sky was HIS and he would never let anyone touch him. Normally I hate the whole 'ownership' relationships, but Sky needed to hear that Pai would not have done that to him, even if he already believed it. Also, I need Sky and Rain to be therapy. Rain was kidnapped for heaven sakes, they both would be suffering from PTSD, of course Sky more than Rain, but they both need help. Them brushing off the fuck ton of trauma Sky experienced was not it. They could have ended this episode with Sky admitting that although he is head over heels in love with Pai, he needed to take things slow and heal from this. To help with the nightmares and such, cause Pai cannot always be there for Sky. Then the next week could have shown Sky going to therapy and finally crying it out. Screaming it out. Then a lovely time skip to 6 months or a year later. We get a wrap up of BOTH couples, post college graduation, possible living together and some family interactions. Sigh...the potential of this series being responsible for how to deal with trauma of this level feels so wasted. If they weren't going yo deal with it, I wish they had lessoned the reason for Sky's reticence in going with Pai. Oh well. Like I said I still loved the series. As Boss said recently, this show showed that sex is usually apart of loving someone. That its not this perverted/gross thing people do in relationships (like is shown in too many dramas) They gave us lots of beautifully wtitten scenes, mostly from Pai. Him crying while Sky revealed what happened to him was so well acted. He managed to convey heart break for his partner but strength for him as well. Kudos to Fort! Hopefully we will see these guys in anothet series. I need more!

YAAASSS!! I needed more. From both couples frankly. Episode 14 could have had a after graduation what are they doing now and it would have been the perfect conclusion, especially since you are right, the Special EP is going to be sex and fluff . I enjoy them for what they are but I needed a better ending episode.

I get the whole Nhai not wanting to have sex in a car, without lube (I completely love that they even mentioned the need for it) and in front of his family's house. But Ping doesn't convey enough in any of the NC scenes ( except the drunk couch first time scene) that Nhai is just as into the affection as Ai is. That is what I am talking about. He should at least look TEMPTED to do it with his extreme hot boyfriend in the early days of their relationship where usually hands cannot be kept to themselves. I wanted to see the internal struggle between wanting his boyfriend but also being mindful of 'this isn't the right place for this'.

So many unanswered questions? So now Ton DID know they are a couple? Continuity is gone, I guess. Did they have sex in the car and then again over night? It was SUPER unclear. I really need them (and all BLs in general) to stop this narrative that 1) that if someone says no to sex, just push the issue and they'll go along with it and 2) that the 'bottom' is supposed to act like sex is icky yucky gross and if your partner wants to have sex, they are a pervert and you can only give in reluctantly, with lots of protests, or your a whore. Like seriously! Last week Nhai admitted to liking sex with Ai, he was only hestitant because he was unsure how Ai truly felt about him and did not want to get in deeper. That totally made sense. But we are past that now, Nhai should be just as into it as Ai. Or at least half as into it! This whole episode felt like they left so much out. The whole story about Ai's mom, up until now, he said he didn't have a mother (leading me, at least, to believe he was born from surrogacy or his mom died when he was a baby) but now we have someone he met when he was at least old enough to remember her...I need answers. That would be a great plot line. Sigh...it just starting to feel disjointed now, and I love Ai and Nhai so far. I just need the kisses and intimate scenes to get a smidge better and for them to stop leaving us hanging on entire scenes. That whole car scene was weird. Was it lube, a condom, a sex toy?!? Like what was it and what happened in the car, cause Nhai's face before the scene ended looked like nothing was gonna happen...

Isbanky pouting is one of my favorite things on yhe show but especially in real life!

Yup! Something simple like that would have been all we needed and all she would have needed as well.

Literally would love to work there and add my input! 🤣 I can dream!

Having read Hemp Rope, this was a good start. I love they brought everone backand even had Sammy, Fluke and Ohm redo almost exactly to tie the balcony scene to the story. At first I was annoyed to get the whole grocery scene over again (despite being my favorite scene fro. UWMA), but then I realized the next scene wouldn't have made sense without it. Since this is the same timeline as UWMA, they have to clue us in to where in the timeline we are. Pretty smart, cause it kind of makes it necessary for people to go watch UWMA before watching this, and if you watch that, you definitely will come watch this.

At this point I am only here for Ping and Tap. I pray they don't let us down. Ping's crying was...not it for me, acting wise, but it was still better than anything Fah and Sher give us. Sigh...what is with these love scenes!! I never thought there could be worse kissing that the closed lips, not moving, eyes open (or squeeze tight in repulsion) BL kisses. But this open mouth, but STILL not moving your lips, actually only kissing the corner of the mouth is literally the worse. Ya'll are literally sharing air breathing all into each others mouths...kiss like your character means it! Sigh...end rant!
Ummm, why did Gear come back!?! If Prince had at least called and apologized for being a jerk, I could see Gear forgiving him. But to show up the next day, with food, and not even have a convo about it. COME ON! Seriously, if Ping and Tap don't deliver next week, I think I'll cry.

This episode desperately needed a time skip. The book took place over weeks of them doing it and getting to know each other. After the cleaning scene would have been an amazing place to put a time skip, showing them actually being in a relationship to warrent that after club confession scene. I mean it didn't make sense for Yai to be that big mad without some kind of promise from Mangkorn, either through actions or words. They went from Mangkorn 'cheating' to hey I'll leave you alone if we do it one (many) more times, to making breakfast and being cold at first then loving...with zero clarification of their relationship status or confession of feelings. Okay, let's say they didn't have a time skip. The breakfast scene where Yai is pouting was an excellent spot to have Yai be like, 'Mangkorn, okay, that girl was your old gf, what am I to you? What are we doing here? We didn't like each other before, but we keep sleeping togwther, what is THIS!?' Then Mangkorn confesses his feelings, and they have the rest of what comes next. Sigh...such wasted potential. Cause MosBank are absolutely doing their jobs, it was the script writer/producers who fumbled the ball. I want more for my MosBank cause I love them together, especially in real life. Been watching their travel vlog for a while and knew they would be amazing on screen together cause they have a great friendship off screen. The only surprise is Bank's singing voice, which is amazing. How this OST isn't over a million views by now is nuts to me.