Heartbreaking and Heartwarming
WOW! This show was a MASTERPIECE. I already had a feeling it was going to be good between the cast and the director, but this is one of the most moving BLs I have ever seen. I felt like every episode made me full the full range of emotions, and they managed to pack it all into an extremely short show. Not to mention, the artistry in the directing was BEAUTIFUL! The way the shots would linger, the tension in the shadows, and the love in the lighting....all of it was genius. The religious imagery was beautiful, and the small details of religion brought into different scenes really made this show feel complete. It's hard to bring religion into a queer show, especially to do it in a way that doesn't feel like it's ridiculing the religion or pitting religion and queerness against each other, but this show manages to do just that.
Tanrak (Fourth) has been raised in the Catholic church, and ever since his parents died, he has been on the path to becoming a priest himself. When Barth (Gemini) transfers to the boarding school, Tanrak is tasked with looking after him; he didn't expect Barth to be a troublemaker who doesn't see the purpose in believing in God. While Tanrak tries to help Barth follow the straight and narrow path, Barth tries to get Tanrak to see things from a new perspective. As feelings start to develop between them, Tanrak is torn between his love of God and his love of Barth, believing them to be mutually exclusive.
The main conflict in this show not being between Barth/Tanrak and the church itself, but being between Tanrak and himself was truly incredible. I feel like oftentimes we see religious parents citing religion for the reason to not accept their queer children, which still exists in this show of course, but I really enjoyed this internal struggling the most. You could really sympathize with both Tanrak and Barth and their reasons for believing or not believing in the things they do. These internal conflicts only grow stronger as we learn more about the characters' pasts, and I am super impressed with the amount of character development we see in such a short series. I of course wanted this show to be longer, but not because it felt unfinished or underdeveloped - I just loved these characters and thought the show was beautiful. And I have to say - Fourth's acting was CAPTIVATING! So much of this story is not told through words but through the emotions portrayed by Tanrak. The struggles he goes through are not things that he talks about, but rather things that show up in his actions and in his eyes. I cannot believe how much storytelling was done simply by a camera pointed at Fourth as he stares into it and WOW it was incredible to watch. Even as someone who is not religious, I found the messaging of this story to be done very thoughtfully, and it definitely has something that can resonate with most people. Overall, this show is one of the best things GMM has put out in a long time, and I think it's worth a watch from everyone.
Tanrak (Fourth) has been raised in the Catholic church, and ever since his parents died, he has been on the path to becoming a priest himself. When Barth (Gemini) transfers to the boarding school, Tanrak is tasked with looking after him; he didn't expect Barth to be a troublemaker who doesn't see the purpose in believing in God. While Tanrak tries to help Barth follow the straight and narrow path, Barth tries to get Tanrak to see things from a new perspective. As feelings start to develop between them, Tanrak is torn between his love of God and his love of Barth, believing them to be mutually exclusive.
The main conflict in this show not being between Barth/Tanrak and the church itself, but being between Tanrak and himself was truly incredible. I feel like oftentimes we see religious parents citing religion for the reason to not accept their queer children, which still exists in this show of course, but I really enjoyed this internal struggling the most. You could really sympathize with both Tanrak and Barth and their reasons for believing or not believing in the things they do. These internal conflicts only grow stronger as we learn more about the characters' pasts, and I am super impressed with the amount of character development we see in such a short series. I of course wanted this show to be longer, but not because it felt unfinished or underdeveloped - I just loved these characters and thought the show was beautiful. And I have to say - Fourth's acting was CAPTIVATING! So much of this story is not told through words but through the emotions portrayed by Tanrak. The struggles he goes through are not things that he talks about, but rather things that show up in his actions and in his eyes. I cannot believe how much storytelling was done simply by a camera pointed at Fourth as he stares into it and WOW it was incredible to watch. Even as someone who is not religious, I found the messaging of this story to be done very thoughtfully, and it definitely has something that can resonate with most people. Overall, this show is one of the best things GMM has put out in a long time, and I think it's worth a watch from everyone.
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