ADB TV

This might be one of my favourite bl dramas, definitely from GMMTV. I liked that it didn't have some deep mafia or fantasy plot, whilst I love them (Trapped is legit my fave bl ever), sometimes you need a nice sweet simple plot so you can focus on the characters and their relationships. I have seen a fair bit of criticism around the pacing, and to be honest, I'm not sure I agree. I think if this show was supposed to be a simple BL, then the pacing is a valid concern, but I saw this show as being about the friendship group itself and how they support each other in finding love. With this mindset, the pacing makes a lot more sense, especially considering they need to showcase the story of four couples. Some might see Phum and Peem's storyline as being too long, but I think it did its job as a contrast to Toey and Q and Tan and Fang perfectly. Peem was focusing on his art rather than throwing his university degree away to fall in love like we often see in GMMTV, Q told him from the get go that he needs to work out how he feels and he was doing that just at a slower pace because it wasn't his main concern at the moment, it just felt like they were in the talking stage for slightly longer which happens sometimes. The friendships were healthy, the relationships were healthy, no unnecessary toxicity that GMMTV likes to throw in sometimes. I loved it. Could the acting have been a bit better? Perhaps. But as someone who has been watching BLs for years now, I enjoyed the acting and found myself replaying so many scenes to laugh at (something I rarely do).

I think the show was supposed to act as an almost reset and introduction for these couples, AouBoom in particular, who have skyrocketed since this show. It's nice to be able to just stick a show on and enjoy it without having to watch them suffer trauma every single episode.

If you're looking for a straightforward BL drama, then you might not love this as much as I did, but if you want a show about friendships akin to that of Friends, How I Met Your Mother, and the like, then this is perfect. It has become a comfort show at this point purely for the friendships. It features university students simply being university students, and I loved that it focused on the art students rather than engineering for once and didn't make it seem like a throwaway degree.