Just watched this for the second time in one sitting. It was aired during the initial avalanche of BL series from the Philippines, most of which were forgettable or not very good, but this series was one of the better ones mainly due to the two leads whose chemistry is electric. From the start, Jaime is attracted to Winston who he finds on a blog and when they meet soon after, Winston realises Jaime is attracted to him while he finds he can't help but feel the same way, though he does his best to quash those feelings. The way Jaime looks at Winston throughout the series is enough to make one melt. At the guest house where Jaime is supposed to win the affection of Heart, who has just come out of a relationship that ended badly, Jaime and Winston find themselves becoming more and more attracted to each other. One thing leads to another and suddenly Jaime can't contain himself any longer and manages to kiss Winston passionately in the bathroom, who responds in kind. By the time the three of them leave the guest house, Jaime is sure he wants to be with Winston and that's where it ends. As such, that works quite well. A second series was never made, nor was it really necessary as what was given is quite sufficient.
After reading a few comments, I just realised there's a prequel to the series which escaped my attention when I first found out about it. I've just watched 3 episodes in one sitting and I like this series very much, however, I don't think it's too late to watch the prequel before I go any further with this.
Ep. 10 - Finale. This was an amiable, somewhat engrossing series in which Toru, the main character, has cute guys falling over themselves to be with him, though there is nothing particularly special about him - just a really nice, attractive guy, extremely competent, helpful to a fault and not one to blow his own horn. Having broken up with Masumi, who took the entire series to get over him, he took up with Ryo, a fellow attorney, who took an instant attraction to him and quickly became his boyfriend, who is quite cute but quickly became rather possessive and jealous when he saw Masumi try to win Toru back. As an expression of his love for Toru, he spent his spare time painting a portrait of the both of them which he eventually finishes but we don't see him give it to Ryo on their anniversary or find out why it's hanging in a small gallery (as per the end titles).
In this final episode, Ryo doesn't make an appearance. Instead, Toru finds himself in the new restaurant of a former pupil, Jun, where he meets a friend and business associate, the cute Mr. Suzuki, who like Masumi before him, basically falls in love with Toru at first sight. Toru begins to realise this but doesn't volunteer the information that he's already taken. That information is provided by Masumi, who has also been invited to the restaurant by Jun, who also conveys the same message, so he changes tac and invites him to join his business as a co-CEO who he wants regardless to be by his side. Does Toru take up the offer? To Be Continued appears in large graphics, but two years on, there is no indication there will be a Season 3. If there was, I could imagine the lack of passion exhibited by Toru towards Ryo and taking up the position with Mr. Suzuki, might lead Toru to just as easily drop Ryo for the rich new guy. Who knows?
Ep. 8. It's getting a little drawn out and repetitive. I'm also finding Toru's character to be a bit too bland. He's just so nice to everyone, so thoughtful, so eager to please and always wanting to improve himself and correct any flaws he sees in himself. There's nothing wrong with that, per se, but it's perhaps a little unrealistic. The other thing I find odd is that he and Ryo as boyfriends who love each other, then why do we always see Toru sleeping on the couch instead of in bed with Ryo?
Ep. 3. I'm getting used to the new Masumi. Though not as exaggerated with his speech and movements, he nevertheless has brought to the role his own dynamic which works in the context of the unfolding drama concerning the bullying he faced from a new teacher, Mr. Saegusa, which led to him quitting his job and his mother going to see Toru, now an attorney, to remedy the situation with a view to Masumi returning to the school as a teacher.
The heart of this episode was the one on one with Mr. Saegusa which was quite long but it was superbly scripted and acted. What stood out was the way Toru was supremely focused yet was able to express empathy when he found out why Mr. Saegusa had become so nasty to everyone and was able to get a full admission as to his abusive behaviour.
The plot line supplied to this series did not give any indication that it was going to focus on Masumi hiring Toru as his attorney or that Toru's new boyfriend, a fellow attorney from the same office, would become jealous of those two being together again. Indeed, Masumi's name isn't even mentioned, but of course, as a second series, he had to appear as a main character and I think gives a hint to the title of the series. It's certainly more serious and has more substance than the first one.
Ep. 3. By now, we can see this is much more than a romantic dramatic drama; it is a psychological drama that revolves around Uea. Under that gentle and sweet exterior, he is contending with his past - the beatings and verbal abuse from his mother and the unwanted way in which his uncle touched him that could easily lead to sexual predation. In the present, his ex-boyfriend won't accept they've broken up and forces himself on Uea. It is no wonder that in his relationship with King that he set rules and appears at times troubled which King cannot fathom because he won't open up to him about it. His cuteness is ultimately a curse because everyone, boys and girls alike, gay or straight, finds him desirable so he puts up a barrier to stop people from becoming too close to him, with the exception of King and Jade.
Disclaimer. Before watching Season 2 I decided to rewatch Season 1 since it was only four brief episodes which I had rated highly because I found it to be so delightful and enjoyable, embued with a light touch and a sense of comedic fun. I have just watched the first episode and thought it was good Masumi was brought back after we found he and Toru broke up between seasons. However, it is a new Masumi who to my way of thinking isn't a patch on the old Masumi, who was funny, used a wide range of facial expressions and was a little dishevelled in his appearance. The new one looks far more conventional and acts with more restraint and that description characterises the overall feel of this first episode, which lacks the lightness and fun of the previous series. In addition, the episodes of the new series are more than twice as long and run to ten in number this time which have all been released, but it's early days yet for me. Consequently, I won't read what others have written who have watched the entire season by now and will post the occasional comment when the mood takes me.
Ep. 1 can be watched on various websites but the subtitles are uniformly awful and with different graphics. At the time of writing, four episodes have gone to air but only the first one has subtitles, an odd state of affairs. I can work out who Ai is (Dorm 2) and the guy he ended up arguing with is War (Dorm 3) who I think MDL has confusingly named Songkhram. So far, after going through some weird tests to see which dorm each student would reside in, the rest of the time sees everyone shouting and swearing at each other a lot. It's not a particularly auspicious start to this series so I hope things calm down, the subtitles improve and the story gets moving in the right direction.
It's very odd, but Ep. 11-1 Dream On is nowhere to be found and those listed as that are actually 11-2 Wake Up where Mum and Dew end up together and are last seen walking down the corridor from Room 609, hand in hand.
In the end, I just found this story to be rather pedestrian and underwhelming that featured a romantic relationship that took most of the series to get underway and then was tepid at best.
A series that grew on one as it progressed, there were lots of interesting location settings. excellent cinematography and an unusual storyline that centred on education but in the countryside for a change and featured two unlikely protagonists who were initially mismated but couldn't help falling in love with each other. It was charming, full of gentle humour and went from one incident to the next as we followed Thi and Noey grow and find themselves until they are ready to be together forever, supported by friends and family. It was original in concept and the performances were uniformly fine from a bunch of actors not seen before. I hope to see the two stars again in another series as they have a natural chemistry and work well together. The last episode rushed along at breakneck speed covering some years and no one aged a bit. The good thing about was that it wasn't at all soppy, it just kept one smiling until the final moment when we saw Thi and Noey kiss for the first time. Applause all around.
After finding out that voters on a website dishing out BL awards for 2022 judged this series the best for that year, it was reason enough to watch it for a second time. I rated it 9.5 and I can see why I gave it that score. This a gentle drama, nuanced and sweet that is perfectly executed, with an adorable cast and catchy songs. Like so many series from Korea, Japan and Taiwan, it has eight episodes, each with a duration of about 25 minutes, which makes it ideal for binge watching. Definitely worth your time.
Ep. 11 was about Noey changing himself for the better and expressing his love for Thi who passively lets him. In this, he is supported by his mother. Thi too is in love with Noey but is less demonstrative, on top of which his parents disapprove of their friendship and to make sure they aren't together, his parents want him to continue his master's degree at a university in Chiang Mai. Noey is not as crestfallen about this as Thi expects, after which they still find time to be together. Noey asks if he can hold his hand and then asks if he can kiss him, but as he is about to do so, Thi's phone rings - it's his mom, which most likely reminds Noey of their doomed love for each other. Then Noey calmly drops a bombshell: with Thi about to go away, he tells him he's going to court Pam again. Has he suddenly decided that as fate won't allow him to be Thi's boyfriend, to lessen the blow he'll lie about his pursuit of Pam to protect both their feelings? It's hard to imagine any other reason for this turnabout as he knows Pam isn't the slightest bit interested in him. How all this will play out we'll see in the forthcoming final episode.
This is very much a slow burner, in fact, it's barely simmering. The bit of flesh shown was the only eye catching part of Ep. 4 and predictably the writer found his hot sculptured body too much for him. Now that they've decided to work together, I hope the pace picks up and the 'passionate romance' ignites in Ep. 5.
Ridiculous... funny... cringeworthy... over-the-top.. a mixture of them all... plus it's educational (learning the history of and how to make certain cocktails). Whatever, it was an entertaining diversion that didn't outlast its welcome of just two episodes. It was enough.
Whereas the other two couples (Dean and Pharm, Bee and Prince) have declared their love for each other (Tul still has to get over his identity problem with Waan first), neither Win nor Team are yet capable of committing themselves to each other though for all intents and purposes they both truly are in love. Everyone knows this except them, which is why they are always put together with the sleeping arrangements. This is really being drawn out for maximum dramatic effect to the point of exasperation, so the way things are going, I think they'll officially become boyfriends in the last moments of the next episode or during the final episode. Most viewers appear to be getting up fed up with the slowness and repetitiveness of their actions and I can't blame them. Also, its slight relationship to UWMA has nothing of the angst Dean and Pharm had in that show and leaves out what they're going through entirely, which is fair enough - it would just be a distraction. That leaves Bee and Prince and I'm finding the slightly dorky but adorable Bee is my favourite character.
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In this final episode, Ryo doesn't make an appearance. Instead, Toru finds himself in the new restaurant of a former pupil, Jun, where he meets a friend and business associate, the cute Mr. Suzuki, who like Masumi before him, basically falls in love with Toru at first sight. Toru begins to realise this but doesn't volunteer the information that he's already taken. That information is provided by Masumi, who has also been invited to the restaurant by Jun, who also conveys the same message, so he changes tac and invites him to join his business as a co-CEO who he wants regardless to be by his side. Does Toru take up the offer? To Be Continued appears in large graphics, but two years on, there is no indication there will be a Season 3. If there was, I could imagine the lack of passion exhibited by Toru towards Ryo and taking up the position with Mr. Suzuki, might lead Toru to just as easily drop Ryo for the rich new guy. Who knows?
The heart of this episode was the one on one with Mr. Saegusa which was quite long but it was superbly scripted and acted. What stood out was the way Toru was supremely focused yet was able to express empathy when he found out why Mr. Saegusa had become so nasty to everyone and was able to get a full admission as to his abusive behaviour.
The plot line supplied to this series did not give any indication that it was going to focus on Masumi hiring Toru as his attorney or that Toru's new boyfriend, a fellow attorney from the same office, would become jealous of those two being together again. Indeed, Masumi's name isn't even mentioned, but of course, as a second series, he had to appear as a main character and I think gives a hint to the title of the series. It's certainly more serious and has more substance than the first one.