bakedbeanbabygurl

while I understand that 23.5 was a pivotal GL at the time and people may have given it higher ratings to show support for GL shows, I think enough time has passed that I can be a little more harsh with my review.

but first, let's focus on the things I liked:
- the chemistry between all the ships was top tier. I have a special spot in my heart for Nida and Bambam. their scenes had me kicking my feet and giggling. I also really like how they provided guidance to the students (especially that one scene with Aylin). a lot of school romances have a weird absence of adult figures and having teachers who are 1) supportive and 2) actually doing their job is a breath of fresh air
- I loved the focus on astronomy and all the names being related to space. cheesy lines such as "the Earth revolves around her Sun" were cute
- the scenes were Sun and Ongsa were "texting" but they were in that abstract garden in space???? it felt ethereal and was a unique way of showing them talking
- Ongsa never stops wearing her glasses, even after her "glow up." any show that allows the MC to keep wearing their glasses makes my heart whole
- special shout out to View for nailing her character as Aylin

and here are some of my criticisms:
- although I loved each couple, there were too many. I think the story would have flowed better if you had your two main couples, Ongsa & Sun and Luna & Aylin, followed by one of the following: Nida & Bambam, Tinh & Mawin, or Ton & Charoen (if you count them). I think having three side couples led to their stories/scenes being half-baked. I feel like I didn't get enough screen-time of any of them, which is unfortunate because as I said earlier, the chemistry was cooking
- the anti-climatic revelation of Ongsa being Earth. although I am a conflict avoidant person by nature, I feel Sun forgave Ongsa a little too easily. part of that I think is because the conflict was centered on Ongsa's fear that Sun won't accept her for being a girl, instead of the actual catfishing. personally, would have loved the argument to be "no, I don't mind you're girl, I mind that you're my friend and you deceived me". I also think this lack of fighting caused the show to feel a bit slow and boring at times
- but I guess it doesn't matter that Ongsa faces no repercussions for her actions, because Sun doesn't either. other reviews have pointed this out (and will say it more eloquently than me) but the fact that Sun outs Ongsa (and Aylin) to her parents then is hurt/confused about why Ongsa would lie ???? girl where are your critical thinking skills? It really triggered me that Ongsa is the one who has to apologize when the fault lies with Sun. she takes zero accountability in the situation, which unfortunately leaves a sour ending to an otherwise fluffy story. up until this point, I would have given the show a 7/7.5 rating

to summarize, the show is decent at best but tolerable at worst, so if you have free time and it's on your watch list, give it a go and you might like it.