Beatrice

Poor Opening

There is a fine line between expressive and over acting and the actress that plays Ah Young has annihilated that line and needs to take it down 5000 notches. The character is also immediately very annoying, turning off the tv that someone's in the middle of watching to hit on them, daydreaming and impeding traffic with her car stopped on the road but of course gets away with it because the cop that stops her knows her and she continues to take a phone call while standing in the middle of the road after he drives off. She literally writes herself in as a y/n character of course under the guise of saving Woo Bin. I feel so bad for this guy getting physically harassed by her. It was nice to see her be separated from him once Rebecca writes the police guy Myung Hwan in as her husband and probably his partner as their kid to distract her. It's weird that he's the only one that didn't get to return to his police officer job and is suddenly running the beachside book store. This drama randomly has the most explicit sex scene in recent non Netflix kdrama years.

It was a terrible struggle to get through all of her scenes even with the short half hour plus run time of a mere 6 episodes. This could have been way more enjoyable with a good actor with better acting skills, but this isn't that. It still has an interesting premise that they tease at the end could be expanded upon. I hope if they do it will be better cast with competent actors as the lead.

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Atypical Kdrama

Right off the bat I enjoy the casting of the main leads for Gwi Ju and Da Hae. I like how Jang Ki Yong is playing against his usual cool guy role, being a dorky regular Joe Gwi Ju who has the mushroom/coconut hair. Chun Woo Hee is effervescent as Da Hae who gives off this endearing charm where it's understandable how people are drawn to and trust her. I love how both of the actors ground even a silly funny reactions so that they aren't cringey, which includes the bickering which is usually a fast forward moment in other dramas. I love the scene where Da Hae goes off to con a fourth husband in order to shake of Gwi Ju. She shows off her full con mode, she's very effective but Gwi Ju doesn't have any jealousy or anger or is even phased. Which was a preview version of later when he finds out she faked her death in an attempt to save him. He was angry and confused, but he just embraces her as soon as he realizes why she did what she did. Their chemistry is so good! Of the extended cast, Kim Geum Soon is really impressive as Baek Il Hong, Da Hae's loan shark turned adopted mom. She's fantastic at keeping her motives ambiguous as to whether she's sincere or a plot, whether she loves Da Hae or she's a cold hearted crime boss who will collect on Da Hae's due.

The writing for the most part is really good. The writing for this show actually understands how to withhold and reveal information with impact. They play with the expectations of the powers really well from the evolution of Gwi Ju being able interact with past Da Hae, to her revealing to him things his future self did but the audience aren't sure if she's lying or not and she's able to use this in a actual lie as well, to her simultaneously interacting with both past and future him, and how he's saved. The flower scene is probably the most trippy time travel event of the whole series, because she didn't lie but he also didn't buy the flowers until his future self gave them to her. Ina's friend/bully doesn't even know that Ina has the power to read minds when she looks into people's eyes but was unknowingly able to use it to mentally bully Ina. Da Hae is able able to flip Man Huem's fatalist viewing of her negative dreams into a reinterpretation of the events into a positive outcome, building on what her fellow regular human father in law Man Seok has been doing to make the positive dreams come true. Man Seok seeming like she was tricking Il Hong about a vision about seeing the daughter she lost (the one that died while she was in prison) grown and alive but actually was about embracing Da Hae who faked her death hit me so hard in the heart.

The weakest part of the writing is Dong Hee's storyline and struggle with eating and body image. Dong Hee was used a comic relief character when she was heavyset and then suddenly she's just all serious when she's lost the weight again. The optics of that is really suspect to say the least. I could see there was the intention of wanting to convey the reasoning behind Dong Hee not being able to fly was not actually her physical weight, but the crushing mental insecurity and regret, but I don't think the story conveyed that as well as it can be. Then the other weak parts was the unnecessary teasing of the scumbag doctor by Da Hae and Grace that causes him to push her out the window and then him being the one to cause the foreseen school ire that forces Gwi Ju to time travel to the past feels forced. It's like they just transferred all of Dong Hee's cartoony nature into him just to move certain plots along.

The conclusion is lovely though. It turns out Da Hae and Gwi Ju definitely got frisky at least once at some point because they have a son at the end and it's so beautiful that her child is who brought Gwi Ju back to the safety of the future. I thought it was funny that they didn't show Ina's face in the future, only that she has long hair. Her actress was probably actually around 11 at the time playing a 13 year old while all the class mates were played by 14 or 15 year olds which makes her look as small as possible, so I understand how it would be hard to age her up. They should have cast an older kid so she could reunite with her dad too. Overall the drama was very enjoyable to watch and it's always great to see kdrama try to do something different and mostly succeeding.

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C grade

The adults act so childish while the teenagers get all the emotional heavy stakes and interesting plot developments. The best parts of the drama were actually the teenagers and their struggle to meet these physically and mentally taxing educational standards and expectations of their parents and society as well as the mother daughter relationship between the aunt and niece. The wildness of the the hagwon institutions like how the parents have to line up everyday to get the best seating for their children was interesting as well. The murder mystery part of the drama was okay, but it was dragged on for like 3 or 4 episodes too long. When it was revealed that the brother is a red herring and assistant guy is the murderer, that's when they should have wrapped it up.

I quite enjoy seeing pairings where both grown consenting adult characters have the female lead as older than the male lead and the corresponding actors, but the casting here is really distractingly off with the actress not looking anywhere near believable as the character age range she is portraying. It didn't really need to be a noticeable issue except for the drama itself making it awkward by throwing lines like "she doesn't look old enough to be a mom to a teenager" and showing that only a decade has elapsed between the past and the present the story takes place in. It's compounded by the fact that the costume department didn't make a single effort to at least style her to look like she's in her 30s or even 40s and always put her in clothes and hair styling that made her look very middle aged.

Her character is also like an emotionally volatile doormat, it would have been nice to see her have some smarts and effectively save or stand up for herself and her loved ones from time to time. Her version of acting cute was really off putting as well with the over the top laughing as she covers her face and violently hits whoever is in front of her. The romance plots of all of the adults were the least interesting parts of the story. None of them had chemistry and it would have been better to keep those as brief as possible. The teenagers were more interesting, I like how the two boys actually developed a friendship despite being love rivals.

For a single mom with younger man romance that also includes a serial killer plot, I recommend watching When the Camellia Blooms instead of this drama.

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Mr. Misogyny

Phayu who is rightfully broken up with by May who realizes she's better than to be the only one putting in all the emotional labor of their relationship. He begins seeing hallucinations of May whenever he's trying to flirt with a new woman and of course makes it her problem, accusing her of cursing him. It's so gross how Phayu always acts like he's a victim when May is angry, flinching like she'll attack him when her hand is merely close to a drink he feared would be hurled at him when she was just grabbing her bag to leave. She is never violent towards him while he would lash out violently at the hallucination of her which hurts the people around him. While a man at a party merely got a drink tossed in their direction by Phayu and got to punch Phayu back in return, the other people he hurts are all women in his direct strike path. His friend Jab even throws a fry onto real May's head and we don't even see him apologize. These men are all terrible people. He assumes it's a dark magic spell May did in Japan and also immediately makes himself the problem of an innocent Japanese woman, Kucci who was unlucky enough to be on the road when he runs into it.

It turns out Kucci works at a Thai restaurant where he gets to play hero and help correct a recipe to a violently loud customer's liking. That guy should have been kicked out for so rude to the all women staff aside from the male chef. Phayu is called out by a couple Chinese tourists and be arrested by a nearby police officer when he attempts to cut down all of other people's wishes to get to his own. Phayu was a terrible boyfriend to May, he always says he'll remember what she asks him specifically to remember and he never does. Even something as big as a Japan trip that's planned ahead of time, he chooses to go to a soccer match and has her go on her own. He didn't even argue or chase after her when she broke up with him. He clearly has no feelings for her. Kucci falling for him is going from her red flag boyfriend to a red flag rebound. Phayu being rewarded with moving on to another woman is so sickening. May is a saint for picking up Phayu's call from his weirdo friend who threw a fry at her and agreeing to meet him. I really like that she has zero interest in dating him again and was genuinely disgusted at the idea of him begging to get back with her. His apology is very lackluster for all the harm he caused her. As for Kucci, there's no helping bad taste. It's too bad she and May never got to have a conversation at least.

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Heads slowly

The concept of the show started off promising with the mystery of how two people who can't stand each other, but are constantly drawn together nonetheless by their family, but mostly by each of their respective obsession with one another that they interpret as hate before some kind of supernatural force intervenes.

The reveal that Jinn confessed to Jerome when they were very little kids and the latter handled it with bullying Jinn from elementary school till current day in college and worse Jinn's crush still hadn't gone away in the 10 years since is so sad. Every time Jinn tried to move on in the interim with different boyfriends, Jerome kept stealing them. It took supernatural intervention of visions from his dating alternate future for Jerome to realize his extremely weird fixation on Jinn is something else. Alternate because it seems to be a world where he didn't have these visions and still organically started dating Jinn at some point. It's weird that Jerome is so not immediately more concerned about his visions more since they literally take over his vision and senses into crashing his car.

I love Jerome's speech to Jinn that it took a life endangerment to realize his feelings and that Jinn can take all the time he needs since he's still not used to them being loving to each other and even if it means that they don't end up together in the end, at least they don't hate each other. It seemed like Jerome had a plan revealing his future seeing to Jinn's mom, but they they decide to do it in a traumatizing way of driving Jinn up to the boutique to see his dad there instead of just having her talk to him like an adult, maybe with Jerome present. It didn't really resolve with any kind of communication, it just does when Jinn calms down. I did like that non of the parents are surprised or care that they're dating.

There was a scene where the director wanted to angle their faces to be visible to the camera during the hug, but there was like a cavern between their faces. The angle for the Van and Farm kisses are weird too. Despite the weird angles, I do think the kiss scenes in general between the two leads is a slight improvement at times from their previous projects, though definitely still needs more direction to look organic. The actors in the same age range in other shows are about the same. It also depends on the individuals, experience, good direction and perhaps some coaching from intimacy coordinators if there are any.

Mai has been a one man comedy show from beginning to end. Van is big walking red flag, but I do like that he's taking it slow and just gradually changing for the better with how he treats Farm without instantly just asking him to date before he can be a proper boyfriend that Farm deserves. I love that his friends call him out early and often to treat Farm right. Farm finally learning Van's parents have both passed on and Van's living a lonely life with no commitments to any of his relationships though relying on them to take care of him until he betrays the relationship somehow.

The pacing really grinded down towards the end.

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A touch of archetype subversion

The story is a concise, well drawn progression of Hioki and Watarai from strangers to boyfriends. The show manages to illustrate the inner life of both of the main characters so well, that it would have been nice if the writers were allowed to go even further with more episode runtime to explore some more of the psychology and the impact of the popularity hierarchical expectations that haunts the both of them and the other popular kids as well. The switch in perspective to Watarai was especially fascinating. Watarai himself is suffocated the unwanted idol status that has been forced upon him just because of how he looks, particularly in the way that his otherwise normal actions causes the class to smack talk a classmate that he just randomly lent a pen to. He hears the shallow way people gossip about him, which is why he's so incredibly touched to overhear Hioki describing Watarai the way Watarai sees himself to Hioki's friends, as a normal guy. We see through Watarai's perspective that Hioki is not an awkward loner at all, he's actually very sociable and well liked among his school sports team friend group. His own friendship with the other guys was also only formed because they happened to be in the same class and started talking to each other because of the weirdness of being grouped together as "The Big Four" by their schoolmates though they literally never met each other until that sophomore year class.

Both Hioki and Watarai are trying to figure out things as they go and it's lovely how they are both communicative through their feelings. I love how Hioki acknowledges how brave Watarai has been making the first steps to connect with Hioki and confessing to him and Hioki steps up to bravely ask the question to solidify their relationship as boyfriends. The supportive adult of the series is Ryoto who is the older brother of one of the popular kids Morisaki. He has a rather horrific introduction in which he tricks Hioki into thinking he's been kidnapped to be murdered. That's not a funny prank to anyone let alone a teenager. Though I think guys should be shown this scene to understand the perspective of what women have to deal with and fear. Outside of that terribly unfunny prank, Ryoto notices Watarai's feelings for Hoiki and lets Watarai know that Ryoto it was nice for him to subtly let this queer kid he just met know that he's not alone.

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Schoolby Gang

The show has a nice cinematic feel though there are jarring, though thankfully rare moments where it seems the cinematographer changed when it suddenly has the look of a more typical tv drama camera set up. The scholarship students fight against the systemic corruption and it's great that the smart kids put their intelligence to use and actually gets results, but the pacing of the story drags on for a bit at the beginning, though gets better towards the end. Each episode ranges from 40 to 50 minutes or so long for 16 episodes. It's an interesting twist that the scholarship student used to be a rich girl, though aside from monetary issues for her not being able to study cello anymore, there isn't much that she deals with adjusting even though she was rich just months before. The one year exchange student music program deal is not too bad, at least she would have to deal with one less year of her school debt since it's all expenses paid unlike her actual school. Every scene of the boys that Rose are friends regarding their crush on her and jealousy at each other and her closeness with her long time friend Bom are extremely boring. There are so many and doesn't add anything to the story at all.

Rose's objectively attractive, popular athlete, one year older friend Bom who also had a perhaps for a while mutual crush on her is also part of the problem in student leadership but just wants to go along to get along because it doesn't harm him as much being at the top, but Rose changes his mind enough to help them in the end above and beyond expectations, using his access to get video footage of the corruption. Better late than never. Rose becomes aware that all her guy friends are crushing on her, which makes her feel the burden of not wanting to hurt her friend's male egos. It's so annoying when Boo and Surf are jealous, let the girl who works hard to bring seemingly impossible changes to the school spend time with the gorgeous senior before he graduates. Rose tells Surf she likes him, but there's zero chemistry and they have more sibling vibes. She also does stop liking him in that way, which to Surf's credit notices and is the one to bring it up with her. It's refreshing that the show shows that dating in high school doesn't mean the feelings never change.

I love that Lily is actually genuinely a good student and is convinced to do better by the school like Rose. Boo is a huge incel who snuck into her room and fanned the flames that she's the thief who stole the corruption money for her father's surgery. The flames hit him too. He doesn't rat out Teacher Mike knowing that his thief girlfriend who is charge of the school funds stealing the student's parent's government entitlements out of bro code, but doesn't even spare a thought the pressure Rose is under with her dying father needed expensive surgery. Rose's mom still doesn't find it suspicious whenever the principal visits from that corrupt school. It's good that the kids are able to, though just barely, find adults who are able to help, though the kids are the ones who did all of the investigative leg work that's needed. It's nice that Lily's villain seeming head of the PTA dad also has a change of heart like she does and becomes one of the adults instrumental in helping the kids enact their plan. The teachers and staff help once their livelihoods are on the line as well. If this was an American show, Rose would take her aptitude at tackling corruption and apply to be an FBI agent or something, but she's off discovering herself now that she has some money again from her father's life insurance while her friends have a reunion and thinking of her.

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Only works as acting reel clips for the child actors

The child actors were acting pretty well, so it felt pretty abrupt to suddenly transition to the high school junior/senior characters who didn't seem to match the acting level of their younger counterparts. Checking their filmographies, the kids were from I Told Sunset About You so they had some solid experience beforehand. It's so strange that Smart is the one that tutored Peach to pass the university exams despite being a year younger, but he seems to be studying three times as hard for the same exams. A lot of the story is Smart studying and trading texts about he's gonna do his best to join him at the same institution. Finally he does, Peach has nonsensical jealousy to one of their childhood friends giving some vegetable-less noodles to Smart and ignores Smart for a while, but suddenly has no issue anymore Smart performs at Freshy Night and they both audition for a label as a duo before the scene cuts out without knowing the answer if they passed or not and it ends there. Explicit romance, there's none. Conclusion, there's none. There is less of a throughline than a trailer for a movie.

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Gen Z in love

The series starts slow first episode setting up all the pieces, but picks up starting in the second episode where all the personalities, ambitions, and interests of the various characters interact and bring change in each other. Shane finding out he actually enjoys shooting people in lazer tag to even shooting his own team mates was funny as was the twist that the Literature club aren't stuffy elitist and they actually also enjoy Doremon that Kit brings up as his fave and gives his reading on it and Mon was only upset because he didn't give it a chance before and instantly got the comics to read so that he can also do a analysis on it. Kit is truly down bad to do math problems all night. It was a funny bit that Per happens to be a photo taking savant, taking less than a millisecond to get the perfect school ID portrait. It's cute that Shane and Kit can walk around holding hands though later he has to overcome his hang up of showing PDA around his friends. These kids have so much energy to wake up early to go to school together. Shane already has a an Olympian study schedule though, so he's already up. The way that the issues with the parents are presented and resolved is very nice.

The high schooler seniors act more mature in terms of knowing and expressing their feelings than the math teacher Tan who is ridiculously passive aggressive against the nice fellow teacher Nat who he has a crush on. Nat doesn't care that Tan stalked him though, he's finally found a guy that won't easily ditch him like all the other people he dated, but doesn't want to become serious. Tan is 29 and Nat should be around the same age, so they are about the tail end of the millennials age range. Tan is envious about how the kids are able to be themselves freely in this era with them able to abolish school uniforms and in terms of sexuality. Though Tan can't change his teenager years, he can make the most of the current times and he and Nat has a sweet, supportive relationship where Nat helps Tan realize that he needs to like himself more. It's nice to see the actor Papang get to play outside of the mature or bad guy type he's usually cast in. The scene where goes full soft boyfriend voice to ask a favor from Nat was really cute, his glasses magnifying the puppy eyes to completely melt Nat. Tan is able to give advice to Shawn not just as a math mentor, but also as an intergenerational queer one.

It's good modeling of communication for both the parents and the kids. It was a surprisingly strong point in the series where they don't villainize the conflicting views of the parents and the children nor the views between the two romantic partners. The only exception is Shawn's dad trying to sell the condo and break up their kids who have been raising each other and the lives they have created for themselves as part of the war against his ex-wife, using them as pawns to choose sides. Shawn has taken up a lot of responsibility even though he has two older siblings to take care of himself and them, even having to cover the bills. In the end his elder siblings at least help him by stepping up to confront their parents, his sister laying down the ultimatum that she will change all their last names if their dad makes them leave. There was a sweet and funny scene where Kit begs his parents to send off the Germany to study with Shawn and his dad sharply refuses, but reflects on it and tells Kit his remorse in not being supportive and is willing to send him, but Kit says he changed his mind, not mentioning that Shawn is no longer leaving and that heartfelt moment ends abruptly. It's so sweet that his dad was willing to do that for him. Mon and his school counselor mother though, love each other. He's unhappy with always moving around for her job, but she's not as controlling as she seems like she would be. She chastises him for not properly introducing his boyfriend when she came in and was the one ignoring Kim's calls all night. She's also having a friend get together when Kim takes Mon hope promptly before 10 and is happy that Kim is someone who keeps his promise.

Both Shawn and Kit each had different instances of thinking about where they want to continue their future, either abroad or at home, which major or which school or city, as does their friend group. It's all major life decisions that all 18 year old high school seniors need to make. It's nice that the characters learn that they can't control how it will turn out, but they will make a decision they won't regret not having tried. I like that Kit has some genuine concerns other than his boyfriend as reasons for not wanting to study in the US like the language and cultural barriers. I feel like for him, he made the right choice to study his major in Thailand instead. Surprisingly Kim with the average grades and scholastic performance gets excepted into the engineering program, which makes sense he would accept it and he and Mon become the long distance couple. Per the sports guy finds his calling in the film/communications department where Tar is also applying though unsure of which specific part he wants to specialize in. I'm so shocked that he never considered something in fashion as he's definitely the fashionista in the group. I loved his little dachshund shoulder bag and the shrimp plushie attached to his blue cap.

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Intro to Twitter Idol Fan site Admins

The show literally dedicates a scene to breaking down fandom terminology at the beginning of the show for the normies that may be unfamiliar with the online/twitter fan culture before selectively delving into the strengths and issues of the culture through the characters that represent them. Namwah is the main admin of the fan account Fruitylove that is dedicated to ghost shipping an entertainer named Copter and a barista influencer called Maipai. She rudely crashes into Gap as she's running and filming content at the same time, spilling his pink milk drink, a notable drink reference from some OG bl wave moments from the mid 2010s and blaming him before huffing away. Of course the two attend the same university, the same class, and gets stuck as group project partners, so she tricks him to do their project at a Maipai event. Namwah makes Gap hold a Maipai sign, which is considerate compared to all the other shipper signs that litter the crowd. The show does not discuss the ethics of forcing or focusing a ship at an individual artist's event or to them directly. Doubly so for Maipai who doesn't even directly work with Copter. Because of drama coincidence law, Gap happens to be Copter's friend and access to tickets for his events and Namwah is able to bribe Gap to help out with her fan activity by being the sister of a famous music producer brother with a studio that his band can practice in for free 24/7.

Nawah's co-admin and best friend Noon is also revealed to be the sasaeng account who has been terrorizing Maipai to the point that he moved in with Gap. The sasaeng character gets off way too light and what she lost was all contingent on her own volition to self punish. This does show that there is the thinnest line between being a fan and a sasaeng and not enough legal nor social recourse to protect the people being harmed. Nawah wants to be stay friends with Noon despite everything and Noon is the one who breaks it off and even gets a heroic moment using her scooter to drive Gap to the contest in time. It's unclear if she even apologized and taken down all her creep posts on her account, merely saying that FruityLove is not involved. She stalked and stole things from Maipai and also stalked Copter. She used information from her best friend and Gap to dox where Maipai is living. She deserves a criminal record. It feels like the dramas that feature fans in the storylines are too fearful of truly criticizing the most toxic parts of fandom, because they do recognize that the intensity of their attention near or past the point of mania is what they rely on for money. This is one thing that doesn't need to be subtle, the shows should make it clear exactly where the line is and show consequences, even if sadly real life doesn't have them yet.

Being a online fan account often develops organizational skills to do PR which Nawah is able to translate to help Gap's band Evening Sunday. She immediately starts to post shipping moments to get attention online. Even though Namwah family is in the industry, her skills are honed entirely through fandom activities. This is the power and passion of fans that companies and artists try to pander to, fear, and in some cases even be hindered by. Whether it's negative or positive depends on case by case. Shipping moments is more socially accepting version of homoerotic fan service that boybands has long since utilized to galvanize attention that began with gay panic humor derived games way back in the day. The lines and limits of which depends on the comfort of the artist and their ability and wish to set boundaries or not between the pressures of their companies, contracts, and fan expectations. Another aspect is that a lot of the times the actors do not need to do anything and the fans will selectively curate and edit moments into a storyline that will rationalize a secret romance they want to believe between the two artists they want to ship regardless if it's real or regardless if it would be forcefully outing them if it is real. Often fans will claim this is for fun, but there is often a sizable and vocal portion of the population where the so called fun devolves into a mania where they believe the storyline that they themselves created and expects the artists to validate it . The artists often have to balance the parasocial connection that keeps the fans involved in supporting them while they promote whichever project and brands as a pair or group, while also somehow navigating through the entitlement of fan expectations. The drama does not explore this, but does mention another aspect where the band is accused of only growing their popularity through shipping bait rather than actual musical ability and also the smallest mention of fans of each artist attacking the other.

The drama asks for understanding for Namwah's love for the relationship of two entertainment people who aren't dating, but don't do too good a job of giving a clear thesis aside from it just makes her happy. There is too much understanding for the sasaeng character. I do like how they they showed the rival fan site admin also seems to be in the medical field, administering medical aid with her fellow admins becoming a impromptu medic team immediately whenever it's needed. The kindness and willingness to help each other in the community of fandom is one of the positive sides. There's also the valorizing of seemingly straight presenting fanboys who are given a lot of clout for merely being a fan of a different gender presentation than the majority of the fan population which is extremely true to life. Namwah has her own trauma suppressed skills and abilities that led her to interact with Copter as she performs with Evening Sunday. Her growing romantic connection with Gap was nicely done as was the romantic connection between her producer brother Shogun with Evening Sunday drummer and Engineer major Maitoh who happen to have all the same specific tastes from music, to movies, and especially food combinations which are more hyper specific.

The most horrific moment of the show other than it whitewashing the creepy sasaeng character is the Namwah's make over portion is the stylists snapping her prescription glasses in half. The frames and lenses may possibly be more affordable to replace in Thailand, but I need all stories to be more respectful to these medical devices, especially when the characters actually need them to see. They somehow already have Namwha's contact lens prescription available even though it doesn't seem like she's ever had them before and she's able to instantly wear and hopefully remove them with no issue. I like that Gap has already been long crushing on her way before she did the no glasses makeover. Her heartbreak over Gap having lied to get close to her and utilize her connection to her brother to elevate his band was easier to get over than her best friend betraying her was good too.

The standout romantic storyline is Maito and Shogun. I really like that Maito is seen also working on his engineering school projects alongside working on his band duties. He's always the way showing up to practice and taking all of his responsibilities seriously regardless of his developing crush on Shogun. In return, it's values that Shogun shares and appreciates in Maito. Shogun picking up the guitar to play a song and Maitoh instantly matching with the drums because they both enjoy progressive metal, which great taste, was a great intro to the pair. Maitoh is able to communicate with Shogun on behalf of the band and even help him understand his sister some more. Maitoh is the instrumental catalyst in helping Shogun to open his mind in terms of the band, his sister, and especially in romance. Shogun for his part stands up to the homophobic music equipment shop owner who looks down on Maitoh who had a crush on him when they were younger, claiming Maitoh learned the drums to get close to him. Shogun immediately announces he's going to change merchants and only asks if it was true if the reasons Maitoh learned drums was because of a guy, which of course not, Maitoh loves music which makes Shogun proud and declares Maitoh his "beloved student" in Mandarin. Shogun isn't aware at how his specific attentiveness towards Maito comes off to Maitoh nor to himself. Offering his headphones while performing a nausea alleviating wrist massage and gently holding Maitoh's wrists after Maitoh feeling some pain from practicing so much can be ambiguous, but standing shirtless and out of nowhere offering Maitoh to touch the scar on his chest is definitely some mixed messages.

It is understandable that Shogun initially tells Maitoh that he likes him as a brother because sexuality is a spectrum and he hasn't experienced that same sex attraction until he met Maitoh also sometimes the way you see people may remain platonic until suddenly they express interest in you and the way you feel changes. It's nice that Shogun has a conversation with his studio staff about how if there is someone who is everything you are looking for, but just one tiny thing, would you let that chance go and to not make it complicated because out of the billions of people on earth, is it that easy to find the one? The man has a silly haircut, but he also has sensible advice. I really liked that Maitoh sets a boundary with Shogun to put some distance between their interactions in order for Maitoh to get over him and when Shogun was watching Green take care of Maitoh that it isn't angry jealousy, but heartbreak and yearning that it isn't him. It was wild that Maitoh closed his eyes when Green was trying to kiss him, basically allowing it when Green was sabotaged by his own ship supporter Maitee, Maitoh's little bro. Maitoh was so heartbroken that he was almost willing to rebound with Green who has always tried his best to adjust to his preferences and take care of him if Shogun didn't come to his senses and showed up to win Maitoh heart back. Maitoh's parents instantly clock Shogun's food preferences match Maitoh. Maitoh being the best, directly confronts Shogun why he's there suddenly acting like he likes him after bro zoning him and doesn't say anything direct, just hugs him. Shogun does go for a kiss, but interrupted by Green who does force a kiss on Maitoh, which is not cool, but at least they make things clear between each other finally. It's so cute how Shogun snuck some bracelet making material from his sister and made a good luck keychain for Maitoh. It's a testament to real friendship that Green is able to witness the happy scene and be genuinely happy for Maitoh's happiness. Their romance gets the beach sunset conclusion with a funny moment where Shogun asks Maitoh in Manderin "Let's be together" and Maitoh's is confused asking if he's insulting him, before Shogun clarifies it means "please be my boyfriend", and they finally get to kiss. This being a private moment is better than Gap doing a whole friends and family proposal style to asking Namwah to be his girlfriend, but the girl enjoys dramatic romantic actions fanfiction style so Gap is doing right by his audience of Namwah. Maitoh already using his boyfriend powers to hold back Shogun from that paternalistic impulse to throtle pull Gap away from kissing his sister even though he was in on the confession party.

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Industry drama

Credit where credit is due, there was no feeling between the characters when the show first started, but through the storytelling of the characters getting to know each other and showing more of their personalities and dedication to acting, the connection and chemistry grew. That's how it should be even if it wasn't the case for a good story. Usually the bangs in the eyes styling is very annoying to look at, but the hair stylists styled it just right to convey vulnerability. It's seems to be a signature stylized feather look like Jin's occasional angel wings.

Other than Jin creepily kissing and taking pictures of an ill and unconscious man continuing portray those red flag actions as cute, his immense crush and adoration for Akin is actually pretty sweet. Akin navigates being the ultimate professional to his craft and also dealing with with threats of losing his career. Jin is really down bad that he still lovingly cleans Akin after the latter got sick all over the both of them. The smells must have been atrocious but Jin happily cleans away. It's interesting that this Thai series looks to be based on a Japanese work that gets the delectable angst of Chinese costume martial arts dramas spot on. It's so funny that they even get the wounds only having the nonsensically tiniest splash of blood right. It's strange that the show treats Akin like he's 50 years old. He's only in his late 20's, he shouldn't be confused about livestreams and other typical social media promotional etiquette.

Ironically, I was thinking that Jin didn't get any of that honey because they didn't bother to mix it in the water after dripping some into the mug, but soon after he gets a whole body's worth, the amount that's not soiling that white fur rug anyways. It makes no sense how neither their skin or hair is all sticky and all the furniture ruined the next morning, unless the honey was imaginary. The shower version looks torturous also. I get them trying to be creative, but water doesn't get hot that fast so it must be freezing cold at first blast. The break up sex was an attempt at angst. I don't think the execution was successful, but I appreciate the thought process and attempt. Jin acted cold and angry, but it seemed to just be an act to keep Akin in the dark about Jin's true machinations to help Akin. This is a bit weird, Akin almost fully sacrificed himself if the broadcast where Jin enacts his scheme right before Akin does his noble idiot plan because he didn't just tell him he has an alternate plan.

Poor Akin was made to believe he had sex with, but really in context is that he may have been raped by his co-star after he got blitzed out drunk. It's pretty terrifying to think how many times it might have happened before without Akin even knowing if he's so incapacitated when he drinks. It's so utterly tragic that Akin can only think that he's guilty towards Jin when he's a victim. Aside from a bad co-star, Akin also has to deal with a creepy sasaeng. This man just keep getting tortured. The sasaeng needed to go straight to jail, but I think the show is trying not to alienate the bl fandom which does encourage the kind of obsession, which is very uncomfortable. The photos she took still got to be used to blackmail him and he tries the noble idiot trope. Akin is a great actor, but he's no good at being cunning. Good thing his boyfriend is a crafted a smart plan with Judy to double kill their rumors together. It's supposed to be a custom ring that Akin for Jin, but it looks pretty loose in the close up. Prop department could have done better. I knew there would be marriage at the end since the years were counting up to current day. It's beautiful that the legalization of gay marriage is a benchmark in time for these queer love stories.

It's tragic that the company sabotage depicted in this series also happened in real life and affected the actors and the entire production. It would truly a shame that there may be no further continuation in either a special episode or season of this story as it looked like it was set up to have. I hope the situation will somehow, some way be resolved well for the actors and production team who really did seem to put their efforts into this drama.

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Stalking the Cloud

This is definitely one of the better specials being able to utilize the parallel worlds conceit for a stronger story as well as serve as an epilogue for the main story.

I had wanted to see more of this brash alternate version ponytail Cir when he returned back to his world in the main series and it was delightful to see that indeed the special is all about him as teased by the end of the show. The bespectacled Phu is the besotted stalker in this world's configuration of the two. He isn't great at being subtle at all, but somehow Cir had never noticed it before. He's so lucky the alternate Cir's had set up the path for Cir to fall for him. He's even self aware that he's a stalker who follows him around like a creepy weirdo. Jin and Wim have already dated for a year and Phu never noticed somehow. Neither ponytail Cir or spectacle Phu are very observant to the people around them. This Wim has boyfriend Jin do everything, but Jin is happy to of course.

It's an interesting twist that Phu is the one peering into the other world and wakes back up to tell Cir who becomes jealous of his alternate self. I wonder if the other Phu's also get to see the alternate Phu vision of the alternate cir they meet. It's nice to see a glimpse of mean CEO Cir kiss office worker Phu too. Black shirt Cir greets ponytail Cir in a dark grassy area rather than a white room, like meeting each Cir in a purgatory waiting room. He claimed to the other Cir that someone had done so for him other Cir will do so for the next Cir, but it seems like maybe it's always black shirt Cir in the room. Maybe he's prime Cir or some kind of spirit that's always guiding all the Cirs to Phu. The lore possibilities is so fascinating. The whole concept could easily lead to continuations if the production wants.

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Stalker Cloud

I like that the title sequence had scenes that were specifically for the title that artistically interpreted the theme of the story along with some scenes from the show sprinkled in.

Phu may be forgetful, superstitious, and unafraid of speaking to himself out loud in public like a maniac, but he's still capable of being self sufficient and thoughtful. He's also got steely spine when it's needed which makes him standout from the stock cutesy guy into someone more three dimensional. Phu standing up for his dumb friend Achi who was tricked by Cir's arranged fiancé to get Phu there to verbally and physically attack him was great, showing he's no doormat. I like that once he entertains that it may be true that Cir is from a parallel world, he immediate differentiates that he himself is different from the Phu that Cir is dating and thinking about how parallel Cir is probably sad that his boyfriend is gone. He does eventually come to the conclusion upon Cir's second brush with the car of doom trope that he would like to be selfish and keep this Cir with him. At least he thoroughly thought about it first. This series has the worst moms. At first it seemed maybe it's fair that Phu's mom is living her own life in Australia now that he's in university, but she left her own child while he was still in junior high. That's wildly selfish to not take him with her no matter if he doesn't want to leave where his dad lived. She should have finished raising him and he could still go back to Thailand for university as an adult. Grief never goes away, but she's chooses to deal with it in a way that also keeps her kid in even more pain with him losing both parents when he needed at least one to take care of him and help him process it. It's amazing he's not more of a mess, which could be credit to his unseen auntie who had to take him in. Perhaps they never showed her to keep the negative maternal figure theme.

It's immediately weird that as in love as Cir acts that he is with Phu, he doesn't make that distinction that the Phu that he knows and love is back in the other world with out him, but rather with a different Cir as well. It's an interesting twist that Phu isn't from another world, but has been creepy stalking Phu for 5 years which is how he knows so much and the brain trauma from his first brush with the car of doom in addition to getting dream access to seeing into the parallel world where he's successfully dating the object of his obsession pushes him to desperately skip straight to dating Phu. Cir isn't that smart, he could have just used his information that Phu is probably open to being with him as push for a start fresh with Phu instead of just going full I'm from parallel world schtick to both Wim who has known him since kindergarten and this Phu who doesn't know who he is aside from being schoolmates. Cir is 1000% getting past getting committed to the psych ward with his pretty and rich boy privilege and being an unhinged stalker liar once Phu has already fallen hopelessly in love with him. The writing also should have kept it ambiguous if Cir is lying or not if they Cir was going to keep lying to Phu for a long time because once it's confirmed to the audience, it just drags the story pacing down.

Wim is so funny, at first it seems like he may be in love with Cir and a really serious guy, being so concerned about him, but it's really just everyone puts way too much responsibility on him regarding Cir's behavior like he's Cir's keeper and it's so funny when he learns Phu gets along with Cir despite his weird behavior and giddly says no take backs. Poor Wim has been traumatized by being forced to witness Cir being abused by Cir's truly abhorrent mother too. Cir really needs to treat Wim, who is the best friend to him, better and not just sell him out by giving Wim's number to Jin just like that just so Phu won't go with Jin to the movies anymore. Wim and Jin's cloud interaction was cute, playing what animal shape the clouds are with Jin who happen to know things because he can read minds. But everything else after that was just pure red flags, forcing Wim to go on a date and kissing Wim without consent and it's just played off as cute. At least Jin stops being able to hear Wim when he realizes how much he really likes Wim. He supposes it's both because Wim always speaks his mind and because the strength of how much he likes Wim that he can stop invasively hearing the one he likes.

It's really cool that a different Cir travels to one where a relationship with Phu is already set in to get a taste of it before returning and meeting their own versions. I wonder if the black clothed Cir in the white room wished that they had a happy ending becomes in some worlds they do not? It also seemed at first it's only the mind that is changed, but Cir's physical scar leaves and goes depending on the consciousness, but the hairstyle stays the same. That doesn't really make any sense, the show should have came up with something extremely specific habit wise for Phu to be able to differentiate between Cir and ponytail Cir. I feel bad for Cir getting hit twice with a car for these switches to happen. Phu telling ponytail Cir to convey his message of love and goodbye was such good angst. The switchback was the perfect time for Cir to finally tell Phu the truth about him actually being the Phu from this world, but it's so annoying that he doesn't because it makes Phu feel guilty for taking the boyfriend of another him and he knows the pain of losing Cir. Phu snooping around in Cir's room and finding out Cir's stalking truth is fair with Cir's lie to get close to Phu. This was dragged out so long that there's no angst in it, it's only right that Phu is angry. It was annoying again that in Cir's clarification video, he doesn't add on that he saw the parallel world in his dreams to at least explain why he was saying that he was from there to begin with. They only finally make things clear post coital at the very end. As it was for the two lead actor's previous project, the NC scenes for the characters are character driven. I've seen remarks about Phu being different between his regular character and when he's in a sexual situation, but he's shown that he was always increasingly bold with every interaction.

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Cursed to be an emotionless product placement soap opera

This is a soap, but it's a supernatural soap with reincarnation, super powered gay characters, and multiple types of angst that were all good foundations that should have made this drama better than it was, but the execution was so bland and such a waste of the interesting concepts. This started off decent enough, setting up the attraction between Siwat and Thara and Khunkao being drawn to Siwat. I liked that Thara and Khunkao are actually friendly with each other as team members and in the business of saving people in the current life even before they remember their past life. Somehow as the episodes went on, the show forgot to keep developing the relationships between the three of them with them being the core of the story and it just dragged on and on until the very sudden end. Their trek to find the mythical place as so anticlimactic, it felt like there's still a bigger story in a few episodes when it's the grand finale. The ending with Siwat turning to dust should be extremely emotional, but it feels like just another Wednesday. Where are the emotions? These are two guys that have been obsessed with Siwat/Suraya for mulitple lifetimes and that's all the emotions they can muster? The whole story side of the show feels like placeholders for the actual meat of it, which is product placement. They mostly make the random side characters do the selling, but it's horrible on the nose and boring every single time. There really isn't more emotional reaction to a whole man that appears out of nowhere named Peem that looks exactly like Siwat either?

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