Why do guys expect Theo to be all lovey dovey with akk from the beginning...he literally just returned from France…
If you're replying to me, I wasn't referring to anything romantic. You don't have to have romance to not be lonely. Akk and his two sisters are totally there for him. Why is he telling Akk that he feels lonely? Its like an erasure of their friendship.
That was dull and barely watchable. The last 5 seconds were cute, but there was no real build-up to it that made…
Agreed that the one line just isn't enough to care about.
Also, he's talking to his best friend, who's been there for him since the moment he arrived back in Thailand and he tells him that he's lonely. Rude. Which is strange from a character who opened the story by saying he didn't like being with other people.
Lastly, someone says you can talk to them. Okay. Cool. A potential friend. Why does it have to be romantic? Its weird that that's the assumption being offered up for the viewer.
I want to support the representation of BL/GL/non-binary/trans/poly productions, but they make it hard to sit through them which such weak storytelling (and, often, subpar acting - though, I get that they basically have to draft their own lineup of actors because mainstream actors and production companies won't take it on. especially with all the fan service BS, actors must be super wary.)
A problem here is that the character Theo needs some, well, character. He seems to only exist as a rather spoiled rich boy who is considered attractive. Does he have any interests? Passions about how he wants to spend his time? What makes life worth living for him? Okay, he likes to read. But, we don't see that translate into wanting to be a writer or an editor; which is fine. But, what does he want to be? At least Akk has a pursuit. He's going to college to further that pursuit. What about Theo? If you had to spend a weekend with Theo, what you end up talking about that is anything other than shallow and vapid?
I have been watching these Thai BLs for years now, wanting to be supportive of the representation. Sometimes, it’s been a tough haul, with horribly written stories. (Rape as the beginning of a relationship. So many female characters depicted as neurotic and toxic as hell, e.g.) To date, my favorite was one of the earliest ones; the BL cut of Lovesick. The central pair had such a genuinely sweet, mutually respectful, and patient relationship, and the people around them were generally supportive, once the boys came out.
When all the GMMTV crew of actors were so young and new to acting, there were a lot of not great performances to sit through.
I’ve watched as the stories have evolved and the actors have grown. All the fan obsession of CPs, etc. Some of them definitely had chemistry together, but still the acting was not stellar.
Bad Buddy has the best pair of actors as the leads. They are both quite good and draw you right into their characters. They feel like they pretty naturally inhabit their characters. Though I don’t speak Thai, I can hear that the lines are delivered more fluidly.
It’s also great to start seeing the focus of a story not necessarily be about the fact that there is a same sex relationship. That’s almost a non-subject. As it should be. We need to normalize having all kinds of relationships and gender presentations just existing within a story. (Also nice to see the inclusion of a lesbian relationship, with no fuss.)
Here, the core of the story is the family feud, what really happened, and how that feud has affected the young men. It gives us so much more to latch onto emotionally. We aren’t just rooting for them to be accepted for their sexuality (still a very real struggle, I know. But, normalizing means not necessarily centering it. Make is matter-of-fact.) We are curious about what the history really is and heartbroken at how the boys have been tools for the parents’ enmity. We relate to them as we would any other character, having nothing to do with their sexuality.
Also, we see how the toxic environment they grew up in actually bonded them. Who else could ever understand what they’ve experienced? There is no one else they could turn to as they try to find their way to healing. Remnants of the forced rivalry in their dynamic are turned playful, as they grow into something more healthy. They are simply lovely together.
This is good storytelling.
This is the first of the Thai BL dramas that I would heartily recommend to friends who ask. Some aspects - the college campus setting and the weird “faculty” dynamics - could still use some improvement, but, overall, this is a solid story with solid acting. So refreshing. May these productions continue to evolve and, hopefully, help normalize representation beyond the cis hetero forced narrative we’ve all been subjected to for so long,
Your entire point of view is based on your personal views on abortion. If you disagree with it that is entirely…
That’s silly, since so many people become parents after abortions. Its the reality of life. People abort pregnancies for any number of reasons. It doesn’t mean they won’t be good parents, once they choose to take on that role.
Perhaps his situation is an opportunity for Korean society to come to terms with this. But, then, he may not want to be at the center of that public discourse. His choice.
She's insecure in the marriage so she's clingy and wanted to be involve in whatever ErLang's focusing on.
She should be insecure. He did not want to marry her and she used their families to force him. She has no right to be in his life against his will. He needs to dump her.
So…. I really like so much about this drama. But, Infind myself avoiding it because the Liu Ran character and the clear indication that the writers are going to have Hongyi “fall for her”.
She’s a not-so-bright spoiled brat who coerces him into an unwanted marriage. She assumes she knows how he feels better than he does. She ignores his feelings and all of his boundaries and forces herself into his activities. She is supposed to come off as cute, but what’s she’s really doing is grooming him.
There is no way that such an intellectual man, who gets completely drawn into puzzle-solving and designing things, would want someone like her in his life. He couldn’t ever have quality conversations with her about the things that interest him.
Mostly, though, you can never trust someone who coerced you into a relationship and who ignores the way you feel. That’s not something you get over. And because she’s been successful at getting whatever she wants (regardless of how others feel or how it impacts them), she isn’t going to become someone who operates any differently. She’ll always be narcissistic and insisting on having her way. That’s not a relationship. The other person is just an object t be used for her own ends.
I can’t stomach it. I don’t find it amusing and I wish writers would stop couching toxic relationships as comedy.
To be clear, he’s not pursuing her, at all. Not in the least.
They are neighbors, who end up having encounters where they help each other. The girl is not a teenager. She is repeating her senior year, which would make her 20 or 21 (students graduate HS at 19 or 20 in much if SE Asia.) They get to know one another and she falls for him and asks him to wait for her to finish her education to become a doctor.
The series ends here. The WEBTOON skips to when she’s an adult and they meet again.
Fanxing only problem is that she's dumb esp in relationship issues other than that she have no flaws, The bad…
What? Is he lying to her? He wanted their relationship to be out in the open. She’s forcing him to hide it. I’ve been away from this for awhile, so I don’t remember much now, but if you’re going to claim that being as bad, you need to back that up with examples of what he’s doing.
For me, it’s that he agreed to the secretive arrangement. He should have seen that as a huge red flag and said, “no. I deserve more respect.”
It’s a slog getting through this, in the second half. I have not seen the last 2 eps, yet.
I wanted to like it. The actress for the FL was great in Back Street Rookie. I enjoy fantasy and thought this would be fun. But, here, she’s wasted on a character that has zero character development. She never learns, never behaves in ways which match the supposed deathly seriousness of the situation. Screaming during a stealth rescue. Falling for obvious traps, etc. Not respecting the wishes if the person she supposedly oves, in regards to his own body and fate. She has the least info about what is going on than anybody, but always ignores their plans and does whatever she feels like. It gets tedious.
All of the characters are monochromatic, giving the actors not much to do with them. Almost all of them don pretty much one facial expression throughout.
Way too much sappy internal dialogue. The love story is just boring. I’m not feeling it. One ornithology interactions in childhood doesn’t make a relationship. They have so little synchronicity and their personal agendas conflict. I find myself not caring and feeling that no character in this is suited for romantic partnership. Which is okay, so just leave it out!
Needless supporting character death. It didn’t make sense and felt like some kind of forced “dramatic moment”. Meanwhile, the character had the most potential to be interesting, because there was a sense of a story to his past , but they just dropped it.
One thing writers really need to be careful about with costume dramas that have a palace or ruler aspect: monarchy and authoritarianism aren’t actually desirable things. For viewers to care about vies for the top position, they must make at least one of them look like a compelling option for compassionate leadership. That’s lacking here. The antagonist is the only potential heir to the throne who seems competent at administering a government. The other option is more hapless. He’s known all along that his brother covets power, but has never done much to make it look like he’s a meaningful option. Has only been interested in the arts. Not paid attention to state management. So, what is the viewer supposed to have any vested interest in?
I’ll see it through because I’ve come this far. The only hope for interest is that the antagonist doesn’t actually have bad intentions. That he’s doing what he’s doing out if personal need and has a plan to settle things well, once his need is addressed. Otherwise, a rather lackluster, mundane story, with nothing new and no really memorable performances. So sad. A lot of wasted potential.
I hated it ...it made me so uncomfortable to watch ..it belied my all expectation
They seem to have just gotten cringeworthy, after what was a fun beginning. I skipped to the end of that episode, but then I couldn’t deal with the “I need to have access to you 24/7” dynamic and the over-the-top baby voice cutesiness. It doesn’t fit either of the characters as depicted, up to that point. So, I dropped it.
Can someone tell me how long the “let’s keep this a secret and I’m going to be violent about” scenario lasts? I hate this trope and don’t find her getting violent to be funny. I’m stuck in early episode 11. If I know it ends soon, I’ll trudge on. If not, I think I’m done.
This is a story of the fallout from a case of brutal domestic abuse.First, the intense scene which is the catalyst…
adding to my critique of how this is handled:
The wife, the victim of spousal abuse, is asked by her sister why she doesn't leave her abusive husband. We don't get the real life answers such as "I don't if I could make it on my own financially" or "I think it would be to hard on my daughter' or the VERY real, "I'm afraid he would find me and kill me." She apparently has no fears, because, instead, she says, "because I pity him."
I was floored. Its as though the writer(s) had a pathological need to refuse the victim her victimhood and the powerlessness that ensues with chronic abuse. And a pathological need to turn the abuser into the victim. She pities him. "who would love him if I don't." So, she's some heroic martyr sacrificing herself so that this man can be loved.
I just can't. I find this whole story to be almost criminal in the way it is written.
Just finished it within a week. Really great and underrated show with real characters throughout, and not just…
it's no small problem that not once in the entire series are the words "self-defense" uttered. That not once does anyone suggest to the aunt that she is a victim of an attempted murder, is traumatized and needs help. That the FL knows her father was violent and read the scene where he was trying to kill her aunt and mother and she is still just angry with them for killing him. (Would she rather he killed them both?)
I also don't find it all romantic that the FL is so selfishly wrapped up in her own shit that she just uses her BF for emotional support for herself and then abandons this man who has a history of being abandoned. And that showing up and waiting for him to ask her to stay is the romantic way in which they get back together.
Also totally uncool that, even though they tried to play as though this wasn't the dynamic, in the end, the HS friend succeeds in making her feel that she had done something wrong by ending her friendship after such a serious breach of trust. A breach of trust which nearly drove her to suicide. "You can still eat on a table that is cracked" is some bullshit. That cracked table is going to fall apart and need to be replaced. Plus, the friend had, in current time, still demonstrated totally toxic and manipulative behavior. There was nothing at all that warranted her deserving friendship, other than guilt tripping her victim.
What people are calling warm and romantic here I'm finding very disturbing. There is no real healing. There is tons of victim blaming. And the poor aunt who was totally traumatized was just disappeared - without getting the health care she needs. They just send her off to a miserable and lonely death, while everyone else goes on to have love lives.
this always cracks me up. the exaggerated over-representation.
Also, he's talking to his best friend, who's been there for him since the moment he arrived back in Thailand and he tells him that he's lonely. Rude. Which is strange from a character who opened the story by saying he didn't like being with other people.
Lastly, someone says you can talk to them. Okay. Cool. A potential friend. Why does it have to be romantic? Its weird that that's the assumption being offered up for the viewer.
I want to support the representation of BL/GL/non-binary/trans/poly productions, but they make it hard to sit through them which such weak storytelling (and, often, subpar acting - though, I get that they basically have to draft their own lineup of actors because mainstream actors and production companies won't take it on. especially with all the fan service BS, actors must be super wary.)
I have been watching these Thai BLs for years now, wanting to be supportive of the representation. Sometimes, it’s been a tough haul, with horribly written stories. (Rape as the beginning of a relationship. So many female characters depicted as neurotic and toxic as hell, e.g.) To date, my favorite was one of the earliest ones; the BL cut of Lovesick. The central pair had such a genuinely sweet, mutually respectful, and patient relationship, and the people around them were generally supportive, once the boys came out.
When all the GMMTV crew of actors were so young and new to acting, there were a lot of not great performances to sit through.
I’ve watched as the stories have evolved and the actors have grown. All the fan obsession of CPs, etc. Some of them definitely had chemistry together, but still the acting was not stellar.
Bad Buddy has the best pair of actors as the leads. They are both quite good and draw you right into their characters. They feel like they pretty naturally inhabit their characters. Though I don’t speak Thai, I can hear that the lines are delivered more fluidly.
It’s also great to start seeing the focus of a story not necessarily be about the fact that there is a same sex relationship. That’s almost a non-subject. As it should be. We need to normalize having all kinds of relationships and gender presentations just existing within a story. (Also nice to see the inclusion of a lesbian relationship, with no fuss.)
Here, the core of the story is the family feud, what really happened, and how that feud has affected the young men. It gives us so much more to latch onto emotionally. We aren’t just rooting for them to be accepted for their sexuality (still a very real struggle, I know. But, normalizing means not necessarily centering it. Make is matter-of-fact.) We are curious about what the history really is and heartbroken at how the boys have been tools for the parents’ enmity. We relate to them as we would any other character, having nothing to do with their sexuality.
Also, we see how the toxic environment they grew up in actually bonded them. Who else could ever understand what they’ve experienced? There is no one else they could turn to as they try to find their way to healing. Remnants of the forced rivalry in their dynamic are turned playful, as they grow into something more healthy. They are simply lovely together.
This is good storytelling.
This is the first of the Thai BL dramas that I would heartily recommend to friends who ask. Some aspects - the college campus setting and the weird “faculty” dynamics - could still use some improvement, but, overall, this is a solid story with solid acting. So refreshing. May these productions continue to evolve and, hopefully, help normalize representation beyond the cis hetero forced narrative we’ve all been subjected to for so long,
Perhaps his situation is an opportunity for Korean society to come to terms with this. But, then, he may not want to be at the center of that public discourse. His choice.
She’s a not-so-bright spoiled brat who coerces him into an unwanted marriage. She assumes she knows how he feels better than he does. She ignores his feelings and all of his boundaries and forces herself into his activities. She is supposed to come off as cute, but what’s she’s really doing is grooming him.
There is no way that such an intellectual man, who gets completely drawn into puzzle-solving and designing things, would want someone like her in his life. He couldn’t ever have quality conversations with her about the things that interest him.
Mostly, though, you can never trust someone who coerced you into a relationship and who ignores the way you feel. That’s not something you get over. And because she’s been successful at getting whatever she wants (regardless of how others feel or how it impacts them), she isn’t going to become someone who operates any differently. She’ll always be narcissistic and insisting on having her way. That’s not a relationship. The other person is just an object t be used for her own ends.
I can’t stomach it. I don’t find it amusing and I wish writers would stop couching toxic relationships as comedy.
The series ends here. The WEBTOON skips to when she’s an adult and they meet again.
For me, it’s that he agreed to the secretive arrangement. He should have seen that as a huge red flag and said, “no. I deserve more respect.”
I wanted to like it. The actress for the FL was great in Back Street Rookie. I enjoy fantasy and thought this would be fun. But, here, she’s wasted on a character that has zero character development. She never learns, never behaves in ways which match the supposed deathly seriousness of the situation. Screaming during a stealth rescue. Falling for obvious traps, etc. Not respecting the wishes if the person she supposedly oves, in regards to his own body and fate. She has the least info about what is going on than anybody, but always ignores their plans and does whatever she feels like. It gets tedious.
All of the characters are monochromatic, giving the actors not much to do with them. Almost all of them don pretty much one facial expression throughout.
Way too much sappy internal dialogue. The love story is just boring. I’m not feeling it. One ornithology interactions in childhood doesn’t make a relationship. They have so little synchronicity and their personal agendas conflict. I find myself not caring and feeling that no character in this is suited for romantic partnership. Which is okay, so just leave it out!
Needless supporting character death. It didn’t make sense and felt like some kind of forced “dramatic moment”. Meanwhile, the character had the most potential to be interesting, because there was a sense of a story to his past , but they just dropped it.
One thing writers really need to be careful about with costume dramas that have a palace or ruler aspect: monarchy and authoritarianism aren’t actually desirable things. For viewers to care about vies for the top position, they must make at least one of them look like a compelling option for compassionate leadership. That’s lacking here. The antagonist is the only potential heir to the throne who seems competent at administering a government. The other option is more hapless. He’s known all along that his brother covets power, but has never done much to make it look like he’s a meaningful option. Has only been interested in the arts. Not paid attention to state management. So, what is the viewer supposed to have any vested interest in?
I’ll see it through because I’ve come this far. The only hope for interest is that the antagonist doesn’t actually have bad intentions. That he’s doing what he’s doing out if personal need and has a plan to settle things well, once his need is addressed. Otherwise, a rather lackluster, mundane story, with nothing new and no really memorable performances. So sad. A lot of wasted potential.
Why do so many S Korean dramas derail themselves?
The wife, the victim of spousal abuse, is asked by her sister why she doesn't leave her abusive husband. We don't get the real life answers such as "I don't if I could make it on my own financially" or "I think it would be to hard on my daughter' or the VERY real, "I'm afraid he would find me and kill me." She apparently has no fears, because, instead, she says, "because I pity him."
I was floored. Its as though the writer(s) had a pathological need to refuse the victim her victimhood and the powerlessness that ensues with chronic abuse. And a pathological need to turn the abuser into the victim. She pities him. "who would love him if I don't." So, she's some heroic martyr sacrificing herself so that this man can be loved.
I just can't. I find this whole story to be almost criminal in the way it is written.
I also don't find it all romantic that the FL is so selfishly wrapped up in her own shit that she just uses her BF for emotional support for herself and then abandons this man who has a history of being abandoned. And that showing up and waiting for him to ask her to stay is the romantic way in which they get back together.
Also totally uncool that, even though they tried to play as though this wasn't the dynamic, in the end, the HS friend succeeds in making her feel that she had done something wrong by ending her friendship after such a serious breach of trust. A breach of trust which nearly drove her to suicide. "You can still eat on a table that is cracked" is some bullshit. That cracked table is going to fall apart and need to be replaced. Plus, the friend had, in current time, still demonstrated totally toxic and manipulative behavior. There was nothing at all that warranted her deserving friendship, other than guilt tripping her victim.
What people are calling warm and romantic here I'm finding very disturbing. There is no real healing. There is tons of victim blaming. And the poor aunt who was totally traumatized was just disappeared - without getting the health care she needs. They just send her off to a miserable and lonely death, while everyone else goes on to have love lives.
How is this a heartwarming story?