denryion

The first 3.5 episodes of this were just a compilation of sexual assault. There was absolutely nothing romantic, sweet, entertaining, or redeeming about them. After that, while it doesn’t become unproblematic, it becomes a whole lot more tolerable and less horrifying. I’d rate this a 7 if it wasn’t for all the sexual assault.

The main issue is just that there’s zero consent whatsoever. A Tuo does whatever he wants whenever he wants, and doesn’t even pause if Jun Xi doesn’t like it or says “no”. And the only reason that it gets better after 3.5 episodes is not because A Tuo starts respecting consent - it’s because Jun Xi starts consenting.

In the first sexual assault scene, they go to a movie and A Tuo essentially feels up Jun Xi while pretending he’s just picking up fallen popcorn. Jun Xi looks shocked, displays zero welcoming body language, and asks what he’s doing, but it doesn’t stop A Tuo. Jun Xi gets aroused and goes to the bathroom, and A Tuo follows him and asks if they should help each other out. But he doesn’t give Jun Xi the opportunity to answer. He repeatedly kisses Jun Xi and reaches into his pants while Jun Xi pushes him away and tells him to hold on multiple times, all while displaying extremely uncomfortable body language. Jun Xi eventually gives in after probably the 3rd time A Tuo reaches into his pants after being told no.

In the second sexual assault scene, they’re playing the lead roles in a play, and A Tuo kisses Jun Xi for real even though they had agreed upon a fake kiss. He acts like he did nothing wrong and gaslights Jun Xi, saying he should be happy because it got a good audience reaction and would lure more club members. When Jun Xi says that he should have asked first, he doubles down and says that Jun Xi is the one that kissed him this time, even though that only happened because A Tuo pulled him in. And then A Tuo backs Jun Xi into the wall and noncon kisses him again, after confessing his feelings, until Jun Xi pushes him away.

There’s also a scene where Jun Xi is lying in bed with sunburn, and A Tuo pins him down and physically restrains him while Jun Xi is protesting, saying no, and clearly thinks he’s about to be sexually assaulted again. I don’t care that he was just trying to help with the sunburn. No means no, physically or verbally. Silence means no. Discomfort means no. Nothing except an explicit yes means yes, and that extends beyond just sexual activities.

After A Tuo confesses his feelings and starts giving Jun Xi the silent treatment when he doesn’t respond positively, Jun Xi tries to talk to A Tuo. He says he’s confused about his feelings, but A Tuo takes that as permission to pin Jun Xi against the wall and noncon kisses him again. He insists that Jun Xi likes him the way that he likes Jun Xi. Jun Xi repeatedly tells A Tuo to let him go, but A Tuo refuses, doubling down that Jun Xi likes him, until Jun Xi forcibly pushes him away. And after that, Jun Xi mentally excuses A Tuo’s behavior, thinking that he shouldn’t have pushed him and that he only acted that way because he likes Jun Xi.

When they get together, A Tuo chases Jun Xi down on the street, grabs his wrist and refuses to let go despite repeated verbal and physical protests, drags him all the way home, steals Jun Xi’s keys, lets himself in, and then refuses to leave when asked to. He noncon hugs Jun Xi from behind, and when Jun Xi is uncomfortable and makes an excuse to leave, he noncon kisses him again. This kiss eventually turns consensual and from here on, A Tuo takes it to mean they’re together.

Except Jun Xi was never given the time to process what he was feeling, even after communicating that he was confused. And not one physical interaction between them has been consensual. Jun Xi constantly looks uncomfortable. It’s like he was just pushed into this and not given any real opportunity to say no. Even at school the next day, he tries to stay with his friend instead of walking home with A Tuo but A Tuo pulls him away by the wrist once again. When they’re hanging out and A Tuo kisses him, Jun Xi immediately makes an excuse to leave.

Jun Xi tells A Tuo that it’s annoying that he gets jealous over everything and that they got together too fast and he needs time to adjust. A Tuo responds by once again trying to kiss him, and Jun Xi stops him, telling him to not just kiss him whenever he wants until he’s adjusted. A Tuo says that he likes Jun Xi and therefore wants to kiss him, and somehow it turns into a game of rock paper scissors where Jun Xi wins, saying no touching or kissing unless he says it’s okay. I’m sorry, but why are they arguing about whether Jun Xi has the right to consent before A Tuo just does whatever he wants? He had to win a game of rock paper scissors to get A Tuo to agree to wait for his consent? And the worst part is, A Tuo says he’ll agree, but only for a month, and in exchange Jun Xi has to do something that he wants him to do. Like why is this a negotiation?

And while A Tuo semi-follows the consent rule, he does it in a manipulative, punitory way. He acts cold and distant, and when Jun Xi himself initiates contact, he ends it and says he’s just adhering to the rules. The rules weren’t no physical intimacy, they were no nonconsensual physical intimacy, but apparently A Tuo doesn’t know the difference. And then, he says that according to their agreement, Jun Xi has to do something A Tuo wants him to do, and proceeds to noncon kiss him AGAIN. Jun Xi pushes him away and says to wait, but he continues anyways. And then it turns consensual and they have sex (consensually). So all that negotiation about consent and waiting until Jun Xi was ready was for absolutely nothing because A Tuo just ignored and manipulated his way out of it.

There’s also dubcon scene in the shower after they initially have sex. A Tuo tries to initiate a second round and Jun Xi verbally protests, saying “wait” and “hold on” and complains about still being sore. He’s verbally protesting but is smiling and does reciprocate physically.

A Tuo is also just extremely manipulative. He will lie about his intentions to try to get Jun Xi to do or feel what he wants. For example, feeling him up while pretending he was just picking up popcorn. Or telling him he’d help him confess to a girl while instead intending to get close to him and convince Jun Xi to like him instead. And he gaslights Jun Xi as well, telling him that their sexual encounter at the movies was just him helping and that close friends often do that. And telling him that he didn’t initiate the kiss during the play and that Jun Xi should be thankful for attracting club members. He also dated every single girl that ever showed an interest in Jun Xi himself so that Jun Xi wouldn’t end up dating them. (Jun Xi is barely even upset about this, and seems to take it as a compliment, which is a whole different issue.) And when Jun Xi says he only wants touching and kissing if he consents first, A Tuo responds in a punitory way by acting cold and distant and by ending any physical contact that Jun Xi initiates.

There’s also a number of boundary violation issues. A Tuo repeatedly invades Jun Xi’s personal space, getting in his face, backing him up, and touching him after being told not to. There are a number of scenes where he grabs Jun Xi’s wrist and refuses to let go, either trying to prevent him from leaving or dragging him along. He’s the type of caring that’s really just controlling, because it removes Jun Xi’s personal agency and right to make his own choices. He’s domineering, controlling, and pushy, and will persist and manipulate until he gets the outcome he wants, regardless of what other people want.

He’s also extremely jealous, to the point of being controlling. He explicitly says that Jun Xi is not allowed to be close to girls. He grabs him by the wrist and drags him away when he talks to a girl that’s just asking for notes. He doesn’t even let him take back a sweatshirt that he loaned to a girl because she likes him. Meanwhile, he’s secretly hanging out with his ex (as part of a job to make money to buy a surprise present for Jun Xi), and letting her hang onto his arm. A Tuo would blow a gasket if Jun Xi was hanging out with an ex, if he was doing it behind A Tuo’s back, and if he was allowing her to touch him. But Jun Xi doesn’t even mind the ex tagging along with their friend group. The only time he gets jealous is of A Tuo’s boss, and even then, he doesn’t intervene in anyway. He doesn’t tell off the boss, drag A Tuo away, or tell him he’s not allowed to talk to his boss or that he needs to quit his job. The double standard is not at all acknowledged. A Tuo literally gets jealous of Jun Xi’s 5 year old nephew, saying he’s not allowed to kiss him, and was jealous of Jun Xi’s brother as a kid since Jun Xi liked him more at the time.

There were a few things that I liked, though, towards the end of the series. I liked the general relationship story line, with moving in together, exchanging couple rings, choosing each other even at the risk of family disapproval, and coming out. I liked that at the end, they were working on building a life together, working towards saving for wedding rings and building their childhood dream home. And I liked that A Tuo eventually acknowledged his insecurity issues, with his jealousy problems, breaking up with Jun Xi so he wouldn’t break up with him first, dating girls so they wouldn’t date Jun Xi, and pressuring Jun Xi into a relationship. But he never acknowledged his sexual assault / ignoring consent problem, and I think that was the most glaring issue that needed to be addressed.

I also liked that A Tuo said he would be okay with being either top or bottom. Of course, it’s a BL and stereotypes dictate that the big domineering one must be the top and the smaller reluctant one must be the bottom, even though your appearance and behavior have nothing to do with your sexual preferences…so A Tuo ends up being the top and Jun Xi ends up being the bottom. But I appreciated that A Tuo was open to options and didn’t just demand or presume that he would be the top. (This would have been a great opportunity to showcase a versatile couple, and/or to challenge behavior / appearance stereotypes, but I digress.) I also liked that when Jun Xi eventually reciprocated, he was an active participant and initiated. When they first have sex, he kind of just lies there even though it was actually consensual for once. But as the show goes on, he’s a much more active participant and begins to initiate himself. By the end, the affection was completely mutual.

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This started strong, dragged a bit in the middle, and had a rather disappointing ending. I watched the uncut version, so it had a happy ending, but I found it disappointing all the same.

I liked the mythological storyline and much preferred it to the crime storyline, despite the low-budget CGI. The crime storyline dragged a bit at times, especially in the middle. Did we need to see the whole love affair of Art and Kao played out? It was beautifully acted (especially by Art) and compelling of its own right, but had no bearing to the overall storyline so an entire episode dedicated to it was a waste. The filler episode dedicated to the side couple felt the same way, especially since we barely saw their romance through the rest of the series. The fact that Khem got shot at the end and they completely gloss over it and never mention it again is a testament to that. I would have rather had more time spent wrapping the story up, rather than the leads reuniting less than 10 minutes from the end. Some of the fight sequences dragged on too long as well, particularly the opening sequence. It took me a while to get started because the opening is a bunch of fighting and shooting and you don’t even know who’s who to know what’s happening yet. Also, the crime storyline was related to Tharn’s parents’ death while the mythological storyline was directly tied to the romance, so the mythological storyline enhanced the romance whereas there were definitely times where I felt the romance was overshadowed by the crime storyline.

I loved the concept of the romance - reincarnation, soulmates, forbidden love. But wow Tharn pissed me off so many times, and his reasoning and actions in the end cheapened the whole relationship, in my opinion. He disregarded Phaya’s concerns so many times — ignoring and dismissing his dreams when he himself wants Phaya to listen to his visions, or continuing to attempt to contact the doctor after promising Phaya he would trust him and stay away. He often acted flippant, ignoring calls or having an unfriendly attitude, for no real reason. He didn’t return the level of affection that Phaya gave to him. In the scene directly after they finally get together and Phaya has a nightmare, he doesn’t even hug him. And in the morning, he goes around pushing Phaya away and semi-rejecting his affection. Phaya was so sweet in giving verbal and physical affection, and I don’t think Tharn reciprocated in the slightest. Yes, he was willing to sacrifice his life for Phaya’s, but that’s the extent of it. The worst was when Phaya was in a coma in the hospital, fighting for his life, and Tharn actively chose not to stay in the hospital and instead went about working and investigating his parents’ death. And not only that, but he let the doctor console him, crying on his shoulder and holding his hands. It was like an on and off switch — one minute he cared and was crying, and the next he looked totally unaffected and dedicated to work.

And the end, when Tharn chose to stay with the doctor for an entire YEAR while Phaya was desperately searching for him, unsure if he was even alive, because he was worried about the doctor “suffering” was horrifying. Because what about Phaya suffering for that entire year? And the doctor was the one who has been trying to break them up and kill Phaya this entire time, so why does he deserve any grace? Yes, Tharn justifies it by saying he wanted to convince the doctor to stop breaking them apart in this life and future ones, but then in the special episode he talks about how the doctor was there for him and saved him after he lost loved ones AGAIN. Totally ignoring the fact that the doctor was the one responsible for killing said loved ones in the first place! And the fact that they gave the doctor a redemption arc, saying he “let” Tharn return to Phaya, as if that was something he had the right to dictate in the first place…I was seething.

Plus, Tharn tries to play this placating middleman in half the scenes where the doctor and Phaya are physically battling. Even in the past life flashback, Tharn just stands around while the doctor is actively strangling Phaya and begs him to stop instead of physically intervening. When he’s dying in the end, he tells both the doctor and Phaya to stop fighting as if Phaya is doing something wrong by trying to stop the doctor from killing him and stealing Tharn away. He chooses to go with the doctor in both the past and present life to “keep the peace” instead of fighting for Phaya like Phaya is willing to fight for him. Why is it Phaya standing up to the doctor and telling him Tharn doesn’t love him instead of Tharn telling him himself? He was never once straight up with the doctor — he should have told him point blank that he was in a relationship with Phaya and that he loved him, but he didn’t even once disclose his relationship status. Tharn is a spineless man with no conviction that’s willing to die for love but not willing to fight for love.

I also didn’t like all the secrets between Tharn and Phaya, and sometimes for seemingly no reason. Pharn should have told Tharn about the doctor way before he actually did. Tharn should have trusted and believed him when he did. And Tharn would just lie for no reason sometimes. Like why did he tell Phaya there were no updates to the Kao case when he’d just been told that the fiancé had agreed to handover evidence? Phaya finds out two seconds later anyways when Tharn has a vision of the fiancé being murdered and has to warn the team, so what was the point?

That being said, I really liked that both leads were complete equals and equally capable. They were both responsible for protecting each other, which is something you rarely see in BLs - normally they stereotype the top into that role as if the two are related. There’s no power dynamics either. Even if there are times where one might tell the other what to do, there’s never a case where they’re unable to refuse or are physically forced or coerced into something.

There were a few confusing things about the plot. One is the whole past life Tharn. It’s explained that Tharn was a female in his past life, and the dreams Phaya have show a woman played by a female actor. But in all the flashback scenes, the “woman” is portrayed by the same actor as Tharn - looks male, dressed male, but with long hair and addressed as if they were female. I didn’t understand that. Why not have the same actor play both the dream and flashback versions of Tharn? And even if you were going to have the male actor do it, why dress him male instead of female if she’s supposed to be a woman?

Second is the whole karma thing. It’s said that Tharn had bad karma from wronging people in his past life and they’re out to kill him and his loved ones in this life. His life is intertwined with Phaya’s, and he needs to protect Phaya because Phaya will rid him of his bad karma. But that’s not what ends up happening at all. No one is out to kill Tharn. The only bad guy we see is the doctor, who is out to kill Phaya and keep Tharn alive because he wants Tharn to himself. And the only loved one that is killed is a dead ex that was alluded to. (Side note but I take issue with the dead ex plot point, especially given that it’s only mentioned in passing once. Was that necessary? His parents would have been a better choice.) His parents’ deaths were attributed to the crime storyline and not the mythological one. And how exactly did Phaya rid Tharn of his bad karma, even if you take that to refer to the doctor? Because he loses to the doctor in the final battle in every life, this one included.

None of the Luangpor’s prophecy came true, so all the advice he gave seemed like complete nonsense as a result. Yes he provided the protective amulet, but he did nothing else useful. He told Tharn to live with him at the temple, except no one was out for him or his family because the doctor never wanted to kill him or his family. He kept going on about giving merit and mindfulness and meditation and enlightenment and how morals should be dictated by Buddhist precepts, but none of that ever had any tangible impact on anything. And because it had no tangible impact, it came off as preachy, like if a pastor character kept going on about praying and Bible-defined sin but neither had any visible magical results in the fictional universe. Plus he knew from the start that the doctor was evil, but did nothing to warn Tharn or protect him. So I don’t get what his purpose was or why Tharn and Phaya had so much respect for him.

And third, the idea that the whole high-power corrupt criminal / political network came immediately tumbling down the minute they caught Montree was ridiculous, especially given that he had an even higher power backer. It took them what, 15 years to catch Montree due to corrupt interference, and you’re telling me there was no corrupt interference getting Montree and everyone else associated off the hook this time around?

Also, I took issue with the whole messaging that legal justice always prevails, even if it takes longer, but that’s just blatantly untrue. They even prove it in the series, with all those rapists that got off scot-free and the whole corrupt political network. Just because there was eventually legal evidence to arrest one of the rapists does not negate that the others were under-punished or that many, many people were roaming free due to corruption. The inspector kept wailing on about following the rules and not letting personal matters interfere when he himself was breaking the rules and letting personal matters interfere by investigating his brother’s death and Montree’s association.

And fourth is more minor, but the 2nd couple had some kind of break up going on in the beginning, with Khem saying they were still together and Thongtai saying they were broken up. But it’s never mentioned again and they act like a couple through the entire series, getting engaged in the end. That should have been properly explained, especially given that there was a filler episode largely dedicated to showing how they originally got together.

The special episode was a bit lackluster for me. It was more crime/action focused, when I wanted something more character/romance-oriented. Since I preferred the fantasy to the crime in the first place, I just wasn’t that interested in the storyline. The only place the fantasy came in was Phaya’s past-life brother suddenly revealing himself and helping to defeat a henchman. It didn’t even make sense, because he didn’t show up when fighting the doctor, but he helped to defeat a henchman? The brother also warned that Phaya and Tharn’s powers would wane if they were too far apart, but nothing ever came of that, which was really disappointed. That would have been a much more interesting dynamic to explore. There was also a kid they had to take care of and a shall-we-have-a-baby dynamic, which is never my favorite.

There were some sweet moments and an NC scene in the first half of the special episode, but not much in the second half. We didn’t get an ending kiss either. And it really pissed me off that Tharn brought up the doctor in a positive light, talking about how he helped save him when he lost loved ones, when the doctor was the one responsible for their deaths.

There were some consent / boundary issues, but relatively non-egregious for BL standards. (Although I live for the day when consent issues as a whole aren’t normalized, and I don’t have to consider it a good day when they’re “only minor.”)

The scene that bothered me the most is when Tharn is in the bathroom, drunk, and Phaya comes in and reaches around him and helps him zip his zipper up. They’re not even really friends at that point, more just colleagues, so their relationship isn’t anywhere near that level. Tharn pushes him away and protests and then pushes him away again when Phaya says something about pulling it back down again if Tharn doesn’t need his help. Phaya also asks if Tharn is single, but the tone is kind of intimidating (I don’t know if that’s the right word, really). The whole interaction was kind of like a high school bully that’s only bullying you because they like you, basically. It also felt out of character, because Phaya is never that egregious with overstepping boundaries like that again.

Aside from that, there’s a scene where Tharn is drunk and leans into kissing distance, but ultimately doesn’t go in for a kiss. Phaya kisses his forehead. For their first kiss, Phaya grabs Tharn as he’s leaving and kisses his cheek, then his lips. Tharn doesn’t pull away but he doesn’t welcome it either - he gives a soft rejection (“let’s go to bed”) and avoids him after. Tharn liked Phaya at the time but wouldn’t admit it to himself, but the point is he wasn’t given the opportunity to consent because it happened so quickly and he likely would not have consented if he had been given the opportunity. Phaya doesn’t respect Tharn’s space in the aftermath - he kept pushing to get Tharn to let him drop Tharn home and to go out to eat, basically trying to get Tharn to stop avoiding him.

There’s one scene where Phaya pretends his bike is broken so he can stay overnight at Tharn’s, but he sleeps on the couch by his own choice. There’s also a different scene where Tharn grabs Phaya in his sleep, and Phaya takes that as an invitation to stay in the bed and sleep instead of going back to the couch. He also touches Tharn’s face and pulls him even closer to cuddle. There’s a point where Phaya invites Tharn over to his house because he wants to introduce him to his family. He tells his family in advance but only tells Tharn it’s a surprise, so Tharn doesn’t really get a choice in the matter. And overall, I felt Phaya was too grabby when trying to get Tharn not to leave. He was never forceful though, as in refusing to let go or actually preventing him from leaving, which is a step up from other BLs.

When Phaya thinks Tharn told the doctor about his dreams, he gets violent, including punching Tharn in the face hard enough for him to bleed. He’s also overly jealous of the doctor, sometimes reasonably given his knowledge of the doctor’s intentions, and sometimes unreasonably. He goes behind Tharn’s back and tells the doctor to stay away at one point, and also gets in a physical fight with the doctor at another point. But he never forces Tharn to cut contact with the doctor. He does request that he keep away from the doctor towards the end of the series and gets upset when Tharn wants to contact him, but it’s justified by that point because Phaya knows that the doctor is evil by that point.

The NC scenes were fairly explicit (naked ass, stimulated sex). They were okay, but a bit mechanical. The light orb effect over NC / romantic scenes was really annoying though. Their first proper kiss was a bit of a disappointment as well. It was shown from a really faraway camera angle and cut away too fast.

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This series was good in a lot of ways but also felt kind of lacking as well.

The main thing is that I was so much more invested in the past life than the present. The past life was a more compelling story — forbidden love and family drama and running away and a tragic end. In the present, there’s pretty much no obstacles to their love. They’re both into each other, there’s no cliched jealousy arcs, all their family approves…the only “conflict”, if you can even call it that, is them remembering their past lives, rediscovering the people from those lives, and coming to terms with that trauma and their identities in relation to and separate from those lives. I would have so much preferred a full series dedicated to the past life, with an episode or two at the end showing their reincarnation and reunion to give them a happy ending.

Also, the past life actors were so much better, in my opinion. Earth and Fluke were both constantly crying, but I thought Earth was more believable. Particularly in the climax scenes for both pairs, Earth was much more believable when he was grieving Korn and then killing himself, than when Pharm was breaking down and threatening to kill himself. Kao and Ohm were both supposed to be cold and stoic, but Kao did a great job of letting actual emotions and affection peek through, whereas Ohm was really straight-faced even when he was crying or head over heels in love. It would have been great if they had switched the actor pairs that played the past / present versions, or even had the past life actors play both versions.

Also, I liked relationship dynamic of the past life couple more. In the past, although there’s a clear division where Korn is meant to be the “dominant” one and In is meant the be the “submissive” one (and I say that in relation to traditional BL roles, because in reality there shouldn’t be dom / sub dynamics in a relationship unless they’re explicitly negotiated), In is strong and assertive within himself. In actually makes the first move and pursues Korn. He protects and takes care of Korn, he initiates and doesn’t shy away from physical affection, and he’s confident and assertive. He gives Korn gifts, explicitly says he wants to take care of him, tells him he wants to pursue him and asks him to be his boyfriend. Meanwhile, Dean pretty much always takes the lead and makes the first move — Dean drives, Dean pays, Dean opens the doors, Dean plans the dates, Dean initiates affection. Dean is responsible for protecting and caring for Pharm. Pharm is shy, delicate, docile, struggles to say no, and is constantly shying away from physical affection. I wanted him to be stronger and more assertive at least some of the time. The past life version of the couple felt more equal in relationship dynamics as a result.

Also, Pharm was so overly chaste and shy, scolding Dean for even kissing his cheek well into their relationship, and constantly hiding his face and unable to maintain eye contact. In wasn’t like that — he initiated physical affection himself. The past life couple properly kisses, while the present life couple’s kisses were often short, stilted, awkward, or chaste, because Pharm was always dodging or pulling away. There’s one scene in the past life where In pecks Korn on the lips and Korn says, “You call that a kiss?”, and proceeds to kiss him properly. Except that shitty peck is the standard for the type of kisses Pharm allows.

In typical BL fashion, there are of course consent / boundary issues. Dean comes off pretty strong, Pharm always looks extremely uncomfortable with any level of physical affection, Pharm struggles to give an explicit no, and Dean doesn’t back off until he gets an explicit no. So that’s the primary root of the problem.

For example, Dean kept insisting that he pick Pharm up in the mornings until Pharm gave in, because Pharm was trying to softly reject and soft rejections don’t work on Dean. When Pharm explicitly tells him to stop picking up in the morning though, Dean listens. Or their first kiss, where Pharm keeps backing up until he can’t anymore because he was uncomfortable, but Dean kept advancing. The kiss itself was consensual, and Dean confirms if he’s okay afterward, but why did he keep advancing when Pharm was clearly uncomfortable? There’s another scene where once again, Dean keeps leaning in as Pharm keeps leaning away until he can’t anymore and then just scrunches his eyes shut. Dean ultimately kisses his forehead because he sees he’s uncomfortable, but was it necessary to keep advancing for so long when he was already backing away? Or yet another scene where Pharm is leaning way, says Dean’s name in protest right before the kiss, and is semi-pushing Dean away during the kiss. Dean doesn’t back off until he’s properly pushed away, after which he stops and apologizes. But there were so many signs to stop before that point. Or another scene where Dean asks to stay over, and starts kissing down Pharm’s body, and Pharm looks so viscerally uncomfortable the whole time until Dean decides to just lie down and cuddle him.

There are two “NC” scenes (in quotes because it’s just chaste kissing and fade to black). Both were questionable due to Pharm’s uncomfortable demeanor. During the first, Dean says he wants a “reward”. Pharm is hiding under the covers and looks really uncomfortable, and voices hesitation due to not wanting others to hear them. Dean kind of talks him into it, and while it was ultimately consensual, it wasn’t really enthusiastic consent. Given it was their first sexual encounter and Pharm is so overly innocent, it really should have been a situation where he was 100% on board mentally, emotionally, and physically before proceeding. They don’t go all the way in that first scene, and the morning after, Pharm is STILL shy about even kissing Dean.

In the second scene, Dean TELLS (doesn’t ask) Pharm that they’ll be having a sleepover in a week, that it won’t be just a sleepover over, that he’s giving Pharm a week to prepare himself and that he’s been waiting so long and can’t want any longer. I can’t tell you how viscerally angry that made me. Pharm is clearly anxious in the lead up, especially when he sees the condoms. He keeps backing way, protesting, dodging kisses and making excuses, and while he ultimately gives in and they proceed consensually, it still made me uncomfortable. Pharm was so overly innocent and uncomfortable with physical affection. He should have been given the time and opportunity to explicitly verbalize if he was truly mentally and emotionally ready, because it was clear to me that he wasn’t. Dean should have asked, not told, and he shouldn’t have pressured Pharm. In the aftermath, the neighbor says he overhead them and that he was planning to intervene if Pharm “kept crying and Dean didn’t stop”. And he gives Pharm medicine for the pain. I’m sorry, but sex is supposed to feel good for both parties, and if it’s actively bad for one person, then it needs to stop immediately. You don’t just keep going because it feels good for you, like wtf?

When Pharm has a panic attack, Dean forces him to go to the hospital, saying, “I wasn’t asking,” and “Do you want to walk or do I have to carry you?” I find that type of controlling care really disturbing, personally. It’s not really caring for someone if you remove their personal agency and right to choose. People are allowed to make their own decisions, even if you don’t perceive them to be in their best interest. It was hypocritical too, because when Dean almost crashes the car while having a flashback, he doesn’t let his siblings take him to the hospital. And when Pharm is having nightmares, Dean wants to move in and says he’ll only go home if Pharm comes with him, again removing his choice in the matter.

Also, Dean introduces himself to Pharm’s brother and ends up somewhat forcing Pharm into introducing him as his boyfriend coming out to his family. And he comes on really strong about moving in together and getting married when Pharm is clearly not there yet.

In the past life, In pursues Korn for almost a month while Korn repeatedly rejects him. He even says, “You didn’t say no so that means yes,” a few times. There’s a character in the present life that continuously pursues Pharm for the first few episodes, and he’s painted as (and is) the bad guy for not accepting no for an answer, but In did the exact same thing to Korn and that was never acknowledged. Also, the guy pursuing Pharm ends up with Dean’s sister, and I have no clue why they paired the sexual harasser with the lead’s sister. So unnecessary.

I had an issue with Win / Team in Between Us because Win was really domineering and Team always looked uncomfortable with him. I liked them better in this series, because Team was more confident and assertive and seemed less uncomfortable. In terms of consent issues, there was one scene where Win pulls off Team’s towel thinking he’s naked underneath, and another where he pins down Team and tries to kiss him so Team knees him in the nuts. Also there’s a dub con / non con scene where Team is drunk and Win kisses him while Team is protesting and trying to push him off.

And side note, but choosing to have Pharm reincarnate as part of Korn’s family and Dean reincarnate as part of In’s family was some kind of weird semi-incestuous choice. The line is kind of blurry about whether Pharm and Dean see themselves as reincarnated versions of In and Korn or if they see themselves as vessels for their souls and memories. Or whether they love Korn and In themselves because they see them as the same people as their current personas, or if they see them as different people and are just connected to the memories of their past personas loving them. Either way, it’s weird that Dean is kind of in love with his grand uncle and Pharm is kind of in love with his uncle.

Aside from all that, there was just a big pacing issue. Everything was so slow, with long silences and extended periods of crying or staring into each other’s eyes. In the first couple episodes, I felt there was too much time spent introducing side characters that didn’t play a super significant role in the rest of the series. Watching on 2x speed felt like watching on 1x speed most of the time. There was absolutely no need for this to be 17 episodes long, especially considering that like I said, there wasn’t much actual conflict in the present timeline that the couple had to face. And the random break up in the finale, followed by an abrupt 3 month time skip, to see whether “their love is real” (or just a result of their past life connection), was so utterly unnecessary.

There were a couple things mentioned in the series that I personally felt were problematic. One is the idea that because Pharm is a small delicate guy that cooks, that he’s inherently the type of person that people like to ship with other guys. Or referring to him as a “housewife” instead of a “househusband” for liking to cook, as if cooking is an inherently wifely duty. There was one scene where Dean wouldn’t allow his college-aged sister to stay home alone because she’s a girl and it’s “dangerous”, which is plain sexist. Also, Team body-shamed the female friend multiple times — telling her to “look at your body” when she says she’ll wear a swim suit to eat swim-team-exclusive desserts, saying “that’s why your body looks like that” when she’s talking about eating all the desserts, and even calling her “fatty” — all in a humorous light.

And as a more minor issue, there was a lot of non con photo taking. Pharm takes a photo of Dean sleeping before they’ve even spoken. Dean takes photos of Pharm on their date after Pharm explicitly states not to and then posts one online. Their friends and random strangers are constantly taking photos of them and posting them online for shipping / gossip purposes.

Also as a side note, I know this was made in 2019 but the swoop hair and skinny pants were a real choice.

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I’ve seen a lot of terrible shorts series, and I usually make it through because they’re relatively short, but I really could not sit through this one. Yes, you’ve got the usual cheesy dialogue, crappy editing, and bad acting, but there there was nothing entertaining or sweet to make up for it. It was just straight up boring.

The characters kept monologuing loudly to themselves in public as a way to give information to the audience or so that someone could conveniently overhear them. The fake fighting was so unconvincing. Like you could very clearly see that they weren’t actually hitting each other. Every problem was solved through mafia-son-nepotism. The kisses were proper kisses, but the actors had no chemistry so it didn’t matter.

Plenty of your usual consent / boundary issues too. Grabbing to prevent them from leaving, pinning each other down violently, and trying to hit each other. Plenty of sexual harassment. James makes Push come in when he’s showering twice, both times getting in his space naked while Push is clearly uncomfortable. He forces him into the shower and gets him wet, makes him wash his hair, tries to make him shower with him, and tries to take off his pants despite repeated “no”s and being physically pushed away. He invites Push to join him in bed in a sexually suggestive way when Push has no choice other than to sleep in the same bed with him. He pretends to be asleep and cuddles Push. He hugs Push from behind and refuses to let go when he says to and is struggling. He non-consensually touches Push and kisses his cheek. And Push tries to kiss James while he thinks he’s in a coma (James was only pretending to be in a coma, but I have no clue why).

The couple was boring, the plot was boring, I wasn’t getting any sweet romantic moments, and everything about the production quality was so jarringly bad. Normally I say go for these short series if you’re bored and can’t find anything better, but I’d say this one isn’t worth your time even then.

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This was rough. It’s overdramatic and cheesy, to a soap opera level. The dialogue is terrible, the acting is terrible, the plot is terrible, the editing is terrible, the fake fighting is terrible. It’s filled with kisses / NC scenes, but probably 70% of them are noncon or dubcon, and that doesn’t even account for all the sexual harassment, manipulation, and outright violence between the couple. I’m not even going to try to list all the instances - there are too many to count. I know it’s a common trope in BLs, but the minute consent becomes questionable, the romance is dead for me. And there weren’t enough sweet or redeeming moments between the couple to even begin to compensate. Soap opera type shows can be done well, but this one just wasn’t.

The only redeeming thing I can pinpoint is this is the only BL I have ever seen that has vers representation. Both characters top and bottom. I would love to see that in more BLs. People don’t always have strict roles in the bedroom, and people’s personalities and appearances aren’t related to their sexual preferences.

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This was good, overall. Depressing all the way until the finale and special episode though, so you’ve got to be in the right mood.

The beginning of the story was very much about high schoolers being in situations bigger than themselves and making high schooler level decisions as a result. Haruki had so much going on with his abusive father and his head was a mess, so he kept disappearing and then re-appearing at his convenience. The separation, with Haruki pushing Jin away and leaving because he felt like he wasn’t good enough, and Jin letting him go without a fight, was very much high school-level thinking and frustrating, because it was a situation that could have been dealt with as partners with some communication.

I think Jin initially let Haruki go because he was a kid, Haruki dumped him, and he felt like he didn’t have the power to make anything better. But I didn’t really understand why he never reached out during their years of separation, especially once he found Haruki’s letter. They showed that Haruki tried to find Jin again, but Jin’s number wasn’t working and he had moved, so why didn’t Jin ever do the same?

The beginning of their relationship was a lot of dub con/non con and sexual harassment. The first three kisses were all dub con or non con, and the fourth started dub con and became consensual. It frustrated me that Haruki kept non consensually kissing Jin, even after promising that he wouldn’t anymore. He also did a bunch of other things that made Jin uncomfortable, like making him feed him water, hugging him from behind while Jin was washing his hands, smelling him, licking ice cream off his hand, sending kissing emojis, asking if Jin was trying to seduce him after Haruki pulled him and Jin fell on top of him, and the list goes on. I don’t understand why boy love dramas as a whole think this whole non-consent thing is a romantic way to showcase a developing relationship. It’s not sweet, it’s not cute. It’s sexual harassment and sexual assault and it shouldn’t be romanticized. Once they got together though, everything was consensual, both before and after the separation.

As typical for JBLs, the kissing is very chaste. Mostly pecks and dead fish lip presses. Even the shirtless make out scene had pretty much no lip movement. I thought the beginning half of the story was fine with those types of kisses. After all, they were inexperienced and awkward high schoolers. But when they reunited in college in the finale after being separated for so many years, a single lip peck was absolutely unacceptable. Even a passionate hug would have been better. It totally took the passion out of the situation. There was a proper kissing scene in the special episode, but if they were going to include a proper kiss, it should have been when they reunited.

The special episode was realistic, but disappointing to me as a romantic. Gay marriage isn’t legal in Japan and homophobia is a realistic reason not to want to come out. But all the same, I wish they had ultimately told their friends and at least had a symbolic non-legal marriage, especially given that Haruki was on board for that. It was just Jin that stopped them, although for fully realistic reasons. All the same, they did promise to be together forever, married or not, and I think a full epilogue-type episode like that was really needed to wrap the series up.

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This was super cute and super sweet.

The boss was a bit cold at the beginning, but never cruel, and was ultra sweet once he started to like the employee.

The relationship was mutual - no reluctance and avoidance that made the whole relationship feel uncomfortable / dubiously consensual (even despite one character being a virgin). Both characters were equals within their relationship, despite the power dynamic at work, and both took the lead, took initiative, and took care of the other at different times.

There was lots of casual physical affection, and it didn’t feel overly chaste or sanitized like KBLs often do. All proper kisses, and one implied sex scene (with a cut to the morning after). The movie version includes a shirtless make out in bed scene before it cuts to the morning after. I felt it could have done with an ending kiss in the finale though.

There were three things that kept me from giving this 10 stars: the ex-drama, the employee’s default behavior of running away when things get hard, and the consent issues.

For the ex-drama, the employee had an all-consuming crush on this guy back in college, but the guy never reciprocated and it turned out that he had dated the boss for a while. He’s now a friend and business client of the boss. This really bothers the employee, to the point that they almost break up when the boss doesn’t understand why it’s a big deal. To be honest, I don’t understand why it’s a big deal either. If he was truly over him, why would the hurt over the ex wanting the boss instead of him in the past still have any bearing? I wanted a more definitive statement to show that the employee was truly over that guy because I didn’t get the impression that he was. After the conflict is resolved though, the ex never shows up or is mentioned again, so that was good.

The employee has never been in a relationship before, so it makes sense that he doesn’t really understand healthy conflict resolution. But after the first fight around the ex, the boss tells him that they’ll work through things together, just don’t run away. But in the end, when the employee doesn’t get a full time position, he does the same thing and shuts down. They’re not explicitly fighting, but he avoids the boss for several days while still having time to work on a project with the other intern and to look for jobs. And he didn’t even seem unhappy about the lack of contact. That annoyed me, especially since it was in the finale, because it felt like a lack of character development. That would been the perfect moment to showcase the employee confiding in and leaning on the boss. When the employee apologized for shutting down again, it felt like a hollow promise since that seems to be his default response the minute things get emotionally difficult.

For consent, there were definitely a few times at the beginning that read like sexual harassment, as well as a few dubiously consensual moments. Because their relationship was developed in the workplace instead of outside it, because the boss made physical moves without clarifying anything verbally (even ignoring the drunk scenes and power dynamics), and because the employee kept calling the boss “Department Head Kim” for a while into their relationship, the beginning did feel a bit like sexual harassment. Also, the boss kisses the employee’s cheek when the employee is drunk, he carcasses his hair while both are sober in the office, and he kisses the employee for the first time while the employee is even more drunk on another occasion. There’s also a scene where the boss is annoyed the employee is avoiding him, so he grabs him by the wrist and yanks him a bit aggressively to get him to talk.

That being said, when the boss makes a move to initiate sex and the employee tells him to wait, he does stop and they discuss before proceeding. The employee is the one that decides to continue and the boss doesn’t pressure or coerce him in any way.

Also, it’s really minor but the idea that the video thanking the company that the employee and his co-intern made after not getting full time positions would 1) go viral, and 2) make the company regret not hiring them was a bit ridiculous. The video was super cringy and not dissimilar to a student project. It would have been more believable if they hadn’t actually shown the video they had made and left it to the viewer’s imagination.

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This was an okay watch, but nothing special. It wasn’t ultra-boring or hard to sit through or anything, and the premise was fairly interesting, but I think it fell flat with the chemistry and relationship development. And I thought the show’s messaging about alcohol was flawed.

In terms of the overall storyline, I didn’t think the relationship development or the development of Kihoon’s views on alcohol made sense.

From the start, Kihoon agreed to serve Jiyoo food during the restaurant’s break hours, which was a rule he strictly upheld. It didn’t make sense given that he had no pre-existing relationship with Jiyoo and Jiyoo had only ever made a bad, extremely drunk impression on him.

But more than that, the turning point where Kihoon really started to like Jiyoo seemed to be when Jiyoo helped with a large party at the restaurant, but as part of that, he offered them alcohol. He did that despite knowing about Kihoon’s alcohol ban, but Kihoon wasn’t upset and actually ended up removing the alcohol ban as a result. That was totally out of character, given that he vehemently refused any type of alcohol to be served no matter how upset it made customers, and often got angry if he was challenged. He knew that alcohol would make customers happier from the start, so seeing that play out in front of him wouldn’t have been a surprise. Not enough to overcome his trauma and make him do a total 180 after strictly upholding his rules for so long, anyways.

For Kihoon to go from strictly banning alcohol in all forms to serving it in his restaurant, agreeing to partner with an alcohol company, and personally drinking alcohol, all within a span of a few weeks, just didn’t make sense. It seemed too abrupt.

And that brings me to my second point. I didn’t like that the show was about rehabbing Kihoon to be okay with alcohol instead of rehabbing or even acknowledging Jiyoo’s blatant alcoholic tendencies. Because it’s totally valid to not drink, to not want to serve alcohol, and to not want to be around alcohol, and those boundaries should be respected, not treated as unreasonable. Jiyoo was quite literally an alcoholic. He drank every day and with every meal - not just a drink or two, but actively getting shitfaced. He would show up at work hungover and smelling of alcohol. But his behavior was never acknowledged as problematic. Kihoon had trauma about his grandmother who drank daily, but in the end her drinking was framed in a positive light, with him saying that she was drinking to congratulate herself for raising him. So the show ended up normalizing alcoholism while framing sobriety as abnormal, and that didn’t sit well with me.

The chemistry was there, but died with 3 dead fish kisses and not a single proper one. The relationship only gets to the awkward beginning stage. They’ve only known each other for a few weeks by the end of the show, and haven’t even reached the “love” stage yet, so it didn’t feel like a deep everlasting HEA, which is the type of fantastical romance I prefer.

Also, the show opens with Jiyoo’s break up with his ex, which I felt was irrelevant and should have been excluded. Why unnecessarily put in ex-related stuff? I don’t even like it when they put in ex-related stuff that is relevant.

Good consent / boundaries for the most part. The only minor issue was when Jiyoo put his face really close to Kihoon’s and watched while he was passed out drunk.

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This was really great. My only complaint is that it was so short, and that I wanted a bit more closure at the end.

The pacing across the overall series was perfect. I think the progression of the two characters falling for each other was great. In typical KBL fashion though, the actual content feels like it’s playing in slow motion. It’s perfect at 1.25x speed. The acting, from both leads, but particularly Shi On, was pretty good as well. It’s short, and the love story is simple without tons of conflicts, but it was well executed. The dancing was good enough to be passable for the story they wanted to tell. They were clever with the camera angles and cuts, and what was shown wasn’t mind-blowingly impressive contemporary dance, but it wasn’t so bad that it detracted from the story or anything. And props to this show for no dead fish lip presses! Nothing super steamy, but multiple real, proper kisses all the same.

My primary complaint is that I didn’t feel all the loose ends were tied up in the end. Hong Seok was being forced to go to Vietnam. Did his boss just completely let go of that after hearing Shi On’s confession? She was cold and uncaring the whole series so I don’t know why she changed her mind. Is she going to let him quit like he originally wanted to, and if so, what’s he going to do now? And what was her deal anyways? She was inappropriately caressing Hong Seok’s face sometimes, and that was never explained. What happened to Shi On’s mom? Is the end of that story line just that she abandoned him and we’ll never know anything more? And what about Jung Hoon? Is he not going to have any reaction to losing the audition to Shi On? And the show ends right when Hong Seok comes back to Shi On. They hug and kiss and live happily ever after I guess. I needed like 5 or 10 more minutes to see them actually happy together and see some semblance of what their happily ever after would actually look like.

No consent issues, but some minor boundary issues. Their first meeting, Hong Seok ties up and carries Shi On away over his shoulder — he’s a debt collector and Shi On was running. Following that, Hong Seok signs as the guarantor for Shi On’s debt, which Shi On plans to pay off by getting the lead role in his audition. Hong Seok starts entering Shi On’s house uninvited, essentially moving in, trailing him around, and micromanaging him, including force-feeding him and preventing him from working instead of practicing. Shi On says he’s uncomfortable with this, but it’s not really acknowledged. Hong Seok also demands that Shi On answer the phone whenever he calls. Hong Seok is very grabby — there are multiple scenes where he grabs Shi On by the arm to prevent him from leaving.

But overall, both consent and respect of boundaries were relatively good compared to other BLs. When Hong Seok starts staying over, he never presumes or insists that he sleep in the same bed as Shi On, and instead sleeps in a sleeping bag on the floor, even though the heat isn’t working. When Shi On tries to hold Hong Seok, and also when he tries to lean on his shoulder, Hong Seok immediately rejects him and Shi On immediately backs off. When Shi On first kisses Hong Seok, he gives him ample time to stop the kiss before making contact. When Hong Seok stops them and says it can’t happen again, Shi On listens. When Shi On says he wants to be alone that night, Hong Seok listens. I also appreciated that despite the creditor / debtor dynamic, there were no power dynamics between Shi On and Hong Seok. Shi On was confident and assertive, not afraid to voice his opinions, stand up for himself, or say no, and he was often the one making the first move.

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This was short and sweet, but wrapped up a bit unsatisfactorily. The premise was cute and if there was another episode to wrap things up nicely, I would have rated it higher. The prophecy said that if they meet coincidentally 3 times, they would be soulmates, and that part happened. But the fortune teller also said that the person from Korn’s dream was not his soulmate and had already found his person, which means they can’t be soulmates, and that was never acknowledged. Maybe it was meant to be a faith thing - they’re soulmates if they believe they are - but if so, it wasn’t conveyed properly. Also, the humor was cringy and every interaction where the couple actually spoke to each other was really awkward. Their interest in each other seemed primary based in appearance.

Couple of chaste but proper kisses. No boundary / consent issues between the leads.

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Just…ugh. The first couple episodes, I thought the reviews were exaggerating and it wasn’t that bad. But it just kept deteriorating. By the end I was watching at 3.5x speed, I was so bored.

To be honest, there’s nothing egregiously wrong about this. A lot of the time, when I dislike a show, it’s because of toxic relationship dynamics, consent issues, or other outright events in the show that piss me off. That’s not the case here. The couple is relatively green flag, and nothing bad really happens in the show.

But that’s the problem. Literally nothing happens in the show. There were two overarching plot lines - someone stealing designs and embezzling from the company, and the past life dreams. Both were so lackluster and anticlimactic that they felt like side plots and not the overall storyline. Both storylines drag for too long and resolve too easily. I think if they had played into the secret relationship aspect of things and had actual consequences for being together, that would have been a much more interesting storyline.

The dream storyline was just worthless. First of all, it didn’t even make sense. This woman (Lin) loved a man (Sun) who loved her sister, but the sister loved someone else and ended her engagement with Past-Sun. Past-Lin tries to kill her sister’s lover (for reasons?) and ends up killing her instead, so Past-Sun rips off the necklace she gifted him and locks her up in a cave. It ends when Present-Lin gifts a replica of the necklace to Past-Sun, therefore freeing Past-Lin and everyone lives happily ever after. Except why would Past-Sun want to free the woman that killed the woman he loved? Why did he forgive her so easily? And Past-Lin says that she and Past-Sun are destined to be together in the next life when she’s freed, so she clearly learned nothing. And none of that storyline paralleled the present storyline whatsoever. So what was the relevance? It would have been better if they just cut it altogether and stuck with the office rom-com concept.

Also, the CRINGE. I cannot tell you how many times I had to pause and just do something else because I couldn’t bear to watch. Khun Dad, for one. I find the term “daddy” gross enough, let alone straight up “dad”. The poses, the dialogue, the interactions…just everything was so goddamn cringy and also unbearably awkward. The pose Sun does when Lin opens the hotel door, the one-sided foot massage on the first date, their first kiss attempt, the dancing…please kill me. Like even in the special episode when they’re supposed to be effectively married, they were still awkward with each other. If it wasn’t for the cringe and awkwardness, this would have been so much more bearable.

Lin’s outfits were tragic. I have never seen more ugly clothing in my life. His high heels were particularly awful. His shirts and pants were ill fitting and his make up was so strong that I just kept wondering why his lips were so pink. The sparkly date outfit in episode 1 was a real choice. It was giving 14 year old on first date that picked something sparkly from the department store clearance rack. Also, it was a jewelry company but every single piece of jewelry was ugly as hell.

And the nepotism and rich-people-privileges were outrageous. Sun just gets handed the entire company when he wasn’t even working there before. His brother was secretly working as an intern, but when he’s discovered, he suddenly gets to take charge of the entire department. Sun was constantly throwing his money around — dates and trips and gifts that frankly would have made me feel bought and not wooed. Sun gets son-of-owner privileges because he can up and disappear for a week with no consequences, and Lin gets so much boyfriend-of-president special treatment that it’s actually ludicrous. He skips so much work to go out with Sun (basically unlimited PTO), his designs are obviously preferred, he’s guaranteed a job after graduation, he gets selected for work opportunities like work trips, and he gets to turn said work trips into romantic getaways.

There were plenty of stupid things as well. Like Lin saying he was never upset about Sun lying and just wanted to get back at him. Or Sun agreeing to be someone’s fake fiancé but not bothering to explain to Lin in advance. Or in the special episode, where they’re suddenly concerned about costs of clothing and accommodations when they’ve been throwing money around with no concern the whole time. The special episode in general was unnecessary. The finale already felt like a long, extended epilogue. We didn’t need another one.

I also felt that this show was heteronormative. I’m careful when using that term, because it is completely valid for a gay couple to have one masculine individual and one effeminate individual. That happens all the time in real life and isn’t inherently heteronormative. But the issue is when it’s depicted in a stereotypical, shallow way in a fictional series. You’ve got the masculine top that pursues and takes the lead and pays for everything, and the feminine virginal bottom that never returns the favor. Their outfits are very masculine / feminine accordingly. Lin initiates physical affection exactly once, in the finale, and he also takes the lead exactly once, in the finale. But Sun takes back control after like, 10 seconds, so did it really count? And it turns out that Lin is rich as well, and while he offers to split the bill once, Sun pays for basically everything. Why, if Lin is also rich? In the special episode, Sun doesn’t have a shirt and Lin is wearing 2 layers. He could have easily given his over shirt to Sun, but it’s Sun’s job to take care of him and not vice versa, and so he doesn’t. All of those things I could maybe excuse as cliched, bad BL tropes, though. The real clincher for me was when in the special episode, Sun looks at and rubs Lin’s stomach when they’re talking about having kids, as if 1) he can get pregnant and 2) he would be the one to get pregnant just because he’s the effeminate one / the bottom.

Also, it started off so overly chaste and ended so overly explicit. I mean, Lin was so extremely virginal. It’s said that Sun is around 30 and Lin is 8-9 years younger, but what 21-22 year old acts that overly innocent? Him puffing up his cheeks when trying to kiss for the first time, what even was that? He shies away from even hugs, let alone kisses. When they make it official, they do a forehead kiss instead of a real kiss. AT 30 YEARS OLD. They exchange couple rings before they’ve even kissed, and Lin gets shy after they do kiss. By episode 5, they’ve basically exchanged one peck and a few hugs and that’s it. But then it goes from hugs and cheek / forehead kisses and one solitary peck to a full on NC scene, no middle ground or build up in between. Then in the finale, we get a stimulated in-pants hand job, and in the special episode, we see crotch groping, nipple touching, and visible tongue kissing. The switch up was insane. I didn’t even feel like the NC scenes were particularly good. While both were both active participants, even if Sun took the lead, they felt overall mechanical, and just contributed to the overall awkward vibe that the couple had.

In terms of boundaries / consent, this was relatively green flag, especially considering it was a boss / employee situation. There were many instances of asking for verbal consent, even including hugs and kisses, and of taking no for an answer. When Lin says he’s uncomfortable, Sun respects it, apologizes, and backs off.

But that’s not to say there weren’t still issues though. On their first date, Sun spies on Lin taking a bath. They make it out to seem like Sun’s a good guy for moving on relatively quickly, as if it was acceptable for him to have been watching at all. There was also one scene where Sun takes off his shirt and kisses Lin’s knee while he’s on a call. Given their dynamic at the time, where Lin was uncomfortable with even hugs, I’d say Lin was probably uncomfortable. And afterward, even though Lin verbally consents to a hug, he seems uncomfortable anyways and keeps pulling away / trying to escape.

The boss / employee dynamic didn’t really bother me because they met before working together and Sun immediately told Lin to talk to him normally and act normal around him. So the power dynamic was instantly dissolved. When Lin’s mad at Sun for hiding his identity as the company’s president, Sun does chase after Lin, but he’s not super aggressive about it. Realistically, it’s sexual harassment because Lin indicated disinterest and Sun persisted despite the inherent power dynamic, but in relation to other BLs, at least he wasn’t forcing the issue to the point that Lin wasn’t able to say no. But that being said, he does manipulatively arrange a trip to Hong Kong with just him and Lin when Lin is still upset and seemingly disinterested, and Lin didn’t have a choice in the matter. So maybe that negates the whole “was able to say no” thing I just said.

The second couple (Sam / Yo) was more questionable. Sam follows Yo home, says he’ll tell everyone about Yo’s mom if he doesn’t give him something and then says the something he wants is Yo, outs their relationship without Yo’s consent, and is pushy about their first kiss.

Also, Lin’s friends spy on Chan / Juldis, non-consensually record them making out, and use it to blackmail them. First to get a ride, and then to prevent them from spilling about Sun / Lin’s relationship. Juldis was meant to be an asshole and comedic relief, but I actually thought their relationship was the sweetest out of all the couples, even though they were the fourth couple and barely got any screen time. I liked that Juldis was an ass to everyone but was so sweet to Chan, and their relationship dynamics were the healthiest and most consensual.

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Just…ugh. The first couple episodes, I thought the reviews were exaggerating and it wasn’t that bad. But it just kept deteriorating. By the end I was watching at 3.5x speed, I was so bored.

To be honest, there’s nothing egregiously wrong about this. A lot of the time, when I dislike a show, it’s because of toxic relationship dynamics, consent issues, or other outright events in the show that piss me off. That’s not the case here. The couple is relatively green flag, and nothing bad really happens in the show.

But that’s the problem. Literally nothing happens in the show. There were two overarching plot lines - someone stealing designs and embezzling from the company, and the past life dreams. Both were so lackluster and anticlimactic that they felt like side plots and not the overall storyline. Both storylines drag for too long and resolve too easily. I think if they had played into the secret relationship aspect of things and had actual consequences for being together, that would have been a much more interesting storyline.

The dream storyline was just worthless. First of all, it didn’t even make sense. This woman (Lin) loved a man (Sun) who loved her sister, but the sister loved someone else and ended her engagement with Past-Sun. Past-Lin tries to kill her sister’s lover (for reasons?) and ends up killing her instead, so Past-Sun rips off the necklace she gifted him and locks her up in a cave. It ends when Present-Lin gifts a replica of the necklace to Past-Sun, therefore freeing Past-Lin and everyone lives happily ever after. Except why would Past-Sun want to free the woman that killed the woman he loved? Why did he forgive her so easily? And Past-Lin says that she and Past-Sun are destined to be together in the next life when she’s freed, so she clearly learned nothing. And none of that storyline paralleled the present storyline whatsoever. So what was the relevance? It would have been better if they just cut it altogether and stuck with the office rom-com concept.

Also, the CRINGE. I cannot tell you how many times I had to pause and just do something else because I couldn’t bear to watch. Khun Dad, for one. I find the term “daddy” gross enough, let alone straight up “dad”. The poses, the dialogue, the interactions…just everything was so goddamn cringy and also unbearably awkward. The pose Sun does when Lin opens the hotel door, the one-sided foot massage on the first date, their first kiss attempt, the dancing…please kill me. Like even in the special episode when they’re supposed to be effectively married, they were still awkward with each other. If it wasn’t for the cringe and awkwardness, this would have been so much more bearable.

Lin’s outfits were tragic. I have never seen more ugly clothing in my life. His high heels were particularly awful. His shirts and pants were ill fitting and his make up was so strong that I just kept wondering why his lips were so pink. The sparkly date outfit in episode 1 was a real choice. It was giving 14 year old on first date that picked something sparkly from the department store clearance rack. Also, it was a jewelry company but every single piece of jewelry was ugly as hell.

And the nepotism and rich-people-privileges were outrageous. Sun just gets handed the entire company when he wasn’t even working there before. His brother was secretly working as an intern, but when he’s discovered, he suddenly gets to take charge of the entire department. Sun was constantly throwing his money around — dates and trips and gifts that frankly would have made me feel bought and not wooed. Sun gets son-of-owner privileges because he can up and disappear for a week with no consequences, and Lin gets so much boyfriend-of-president special treatment that it’s actually ludicrous. He skips so much work to go out with Sun (basically unlimited PTO), his designs are obviously preferred, he’s guaranteed a job after graduation, he gets selected for work opportunities like work trips, and he gets to turn said work trips into romantic getaways.

There were plenty of stupid things as well. Like Lin saying he was never upset about Sun lying and just wanted to get back at him. Or Sun agreeing to be someone’s fake fiancé but not bothering to explain to Lin in advance. Or in the special episode, where they’re suddenly concerned about costs of clothing and accommodations when they’ve been throwing money around with no concern the whole time. The special episode in general was unnecessary. The finale already felt like a long, extended epilogue. We didn’t need another one.

I also felt that this show was heteronormative. I’m careful when using that term, because it is completely valid for a gay couple to have one masculine individual and one effeminate individual. That happens all the time in real life and isn’t inherently heteronormative. But the issue is when it’s depicted in a stereotypical, shallow way in a fictional series. You’ve got the masculine top that pursues and takes the lead and pays for everything, and the feminine virginal bottom that never returns the favor. Their outfits are very masculine / feminine accordingly. Lin initiates physical affection exactly once, in the finale, and he also takes the lead exactly once, in the finale. But Sun takes back control after like, 10 seconds, so did it really count? And it turns out that Lin is rich as well, and while he offers to split the bill once, Sun pays for basically everything. Why, if Lin is also rich? In the special episode, Sun doesn’t have a shirt and Lin is wearing 2 layers. He could have easily given his over shirt to Sun, but it’s Sun’s job to take care of him and not vice versa, and so he doesn’t. All of those things I could maybe excuse as cliched, bad BL tropes, though. The real clincher for me was when in the special episode, Sun looks at and rubs Lin’s stomach when they’re talking about having kids, as if 1) he can get pregnant and 2) he would be the one to get pregnant just because he’s the effeminate one / the bottom.

Also, it started off so overly chaste and ended so overly explicit. I mean, Lin was so extremely virginal. It’s said that Sun is around 30 and Lin is 8-9 years younger, but what 21-22 year old acts that overly innocent? Him puffing up his cheeks when trying to kiss for the first time, what even was that? He shies away from even hugs, let alone kisses. When they make it official, they do a forehead kiss instead of a real kiss. AT 30 YEARS OLD. They exchange couple rings before they’ve even kissed, and Lin gets shy after they do kiss. By episode 5, they’ve basically exchanged one peck and a few hugs and that’s it. But then it goes from hugs and cheek / forehead kisses and one solitary peck to a full on NC scene, no middle ground or build up in between. Then in the finale, we get a stimulated in-pants hand job, and in the special episode, we see crotch groping, nipple touching, and visible tongue kissing. The switch up was insane. I didn’t even feel like the NC scenes were particularly good. While both were both active participants, even if Sun took the lead, they felt overall mechanical, and just contributed to the overall awkward vibe that the couple had.

In terms of boundaries / consent, this was relatively green flag, especially considering it was a boss / employee situation. There were many instances of asking for verbal consent, even including hugs and kisses, and of taking no for an answer. When Lin says he’s uncomfortable, Sun respects it, apologizes, and backs off.

But that’s not to say there weren’t still issues though. On their first date, Sun spies on Lin taking a bath. They make it out to seem like Sun’s a good guy for moving on relatively quickly, as if it was acceptable for him to have been watching at all. There was also one scene where Sun takes off his shirt and kisses Lin’s knee while he’s on a call. Given their dynamic at the time, where Lin was uncomfortable with even hugs, I’d say Lin was probably uncomfortable. And afterward, even though Lin verbally consents to a hug, he seems uncomfortable anyways and keeps pulling away / trying to escape.

The boss / employee dynamic didn’t really bother me because they met before working together and Sun immediately told Lin to talk to him normally and act normal around him. So the power dynamic was instantly dissolved. When Lin’s mad at Sun for hiding his identity as the company’s president, Sun does chase after Lin, but he’s not super aggressive about it. Realistically, it’s sexual harassment because Lin indicated disinterest and Sun persisted despite the inherent power dynamic, but in relation to other BLs, at least he wasn’t forcing the issue to the point that Lin wasn’t able to say no. But that being said, he does manipulatively arrange a trip to Hong Kong with just him and Lin when Lin is still upset and seemingly disinterested, and Lin didn’t have a choice in the matter. So maybe that negates the whole “was able to say no” thing I just said.

The second couple (Sam / Yo) was more questionable. Sam follows Yo home, says he’ll tell everyone about Yo’s mom if he doesn’t give him something and then says the something he wants is Yo, outs their relationship without Yo’s consent, and is pushy about their first kiss.

Also, Lin’s friends spy on Chan / Juldis, non-consensually record them making out, and use it to blackmail them. First to get a ride, and then to prevent them from spilling about Sun / Lin’s relationship. Juldis was meant to be an asshole and comedic relief, but I actually thought their relationship was the sweetest out of all the couples, even though they were the fourth couple and barely got any screen time. I liked that Juldis was an ass to everyone but was so sweet to Chan, and their relationship dynamics were the healthiest and most consensual.

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This started strong, dragged a bit in the middle, and had a rather disappointing ending. I watched the uncut version, so it had a happy ending, but I found it disappointing all the same.

I liked the mythological storyline and much preferred it to the crime storyline, despite the low-budget CGI. The crime storyline dragged a bit at times, especially in the middle. Did we need to see the whole love affair of Art and Kao played out? It was beautifully acted (especially by Art) and compelling of its own right, but had no bearing to the overall storyline so an entire episode dedicated to it was a waste. The filler episode dedicated to the side couple felt the same way, especially since we barely saw their romance through the rest of the series. The fact that Khem got shot at the end and they completely gloss over it and never mention it again is a testament to that. I would have rather had more time spent wrapping the story up, rather than the leads reuniting less than 10 minutes from the end. Some of the fight sequences dragged on too long as well, particularly the opening sequence. It took me a while to get started because the opening is a bunch of fighting and shooting and you don’t even know who’s who to know what’s happening yet. Also, the crime storyline was related to Tharn’s parents’ death while the mythological storyline was directly tied to the romance, so the mythological storyline enhanced the romance whereas there were definitely times where I felt the romance was overshadowed by the crime storyline.

I loved the concept of the romance - reincarnation, soulmates, forbidden love. But wow Tharn pissed me off so many times, and his reasoning and actions in the end cheapened the whole relationship, in my opinion. He disregarded Phaya’s concerns so many times — ignoring and dismissing his dreams when he himself wants Phaya to listen to his visions, or continuing to attempt to contact the doctor after promising Phaya he would trust him and stay away. He often acted flippant, ignoring calls or having an unfriendly attitude, for no real reason. He didn’t return the level of affection that Phaya gave to him. In the scene directly after they finally get together and Phaya has a nightmare, he doesn’t even hug him. And in the morning, he goes around pushing Phaya away and semi-rejecting his affection. Phaya was so sweet in giving verbal and physical affection, and I don’t think Tharn reciprocated in the slightest. Yes, he was willing to sacrifice his life for Phaya’s, but that’s the extent of it. The worst was when Phaya was in a coma in the hospital, fighting for his life, and Tharn actively chose not to stay in the hospital and instead went about working and investigating his parents’ death. And not only that, but he let the doctor console him, crying on his shoulder and holding his hands. It was like an on and off switch — one minute he cared and was crying, and the next he looked totally unaffected and dedicated to work.

And the end, when Tharn chose to stay with the doctor for an entire YEAR while Phaya was desperately searching for him, unsure if he was even alive, because he was worried about the doctor “suffering” was horrifying. Because what about Phaya suffering for that entire year? And the doctor was the one who has been trying to break them up and kill Phaya this entire time, so why does he deserve any grace? Yes, Tharn justifies it by saying he wanted to convince the doctor to stop breaking them apart in this life and future ones, but then in the special episode he talks about how the doctor was there for him and saved him after he lost loved ones AGAIN. Totally ignoring the fact that the doctor was the one responsible for killing said loved ones in the first place! And the fact that they gave the doctor a redemption arc, saying he “let” Tharn return to Phaya, as if that was something he had the right to dictate in the first place…I was seething.

Plus, Tharn tries to play this placating middleman in half the scenes where the doctor and Phaya are physically battling. Even in the past life flashback, Tharn just stands around while the doctor is actively strangling Phaya and begs him to stop instead of physically intervening. When he’s dying in the end, he tells both the doctor and Phaya to stop fighting as if Phaya is doing something wrong by trying to stop the doctor from killing him and stealing Tharn away. He chooses to go with the doctor in both the past and present life to “keep the peace” instead of fighting for Phaya like Phaya is willing to fight for him. Why is it Phaya standing up to the doctor and telling him Tharn doesn’t love him instead of Tharn telling him himself? He was never once straight up with the doctor — he should have told him point blank that he was in a relationship with Phaya and that he loved him, but he didn’t even once disclose his relationship status. Tharn is a spineless man with no conviction that’s willing to die for love but not willing to fight for love.

I also didn’t like all the secrets between Tharn and Phaya, and sometimes for seemingly no reason. Pharn should have told Tharn about the doctor way before he actually did. Tharn should have trusted and believed him when he did. And Tharn would just lie for no reason sometimes. Like why did he tell Phaya there were no updates to the Kao case when he’d just been told that the fiancé had agreed to handover evidence? Phaya finds out two seconds later anyways when Tharn has a vision of the fiancé being murdered and has to warn the team, so what was the point?

That being said, I really liked that both leads were complete equals and equally capable. They were both responsible for protecting each other, which is something you rarely see in BLs - normally they stereotype the top into that role as if the two are related. There’s no power dynamics either. Even if there are times where one might tell the other what to do, there’s never a case where they’re unable to refuse or are physically forced or coerced into something.

There were a few confusing things about the plot. One is the whole past life Tharn. It’s explained that Tharn was a female in his past life, and the dreams Phaya have show a woman played by a female actor. But in all the flashback scenes, the “woman” is portrayed by the same actor as Tharn - looks male, dressed male, but with long hair and addressed as if they were female. I didn’t understand that. Why not have the same actor play both the dream and flashback versions of Tharn? And even if you were going to have the male actor do it, why dress him male instead of female if she’s supposed to be a woman?

Second is the whole karma thing. It’s said that Tharn had bad karma from wronging people in his past life and they’re out to kill him and his loved ones in this life. His life is intertwined with Phaya’s, and he needs to protect Phaya because Phaya will rid him of his bad karma. But that’s not what ends up happening at all. No one is out to kill Tharn. The only bad guy we see is the doctor, who is out to kill Phaya and keep Tharn alive because he wants Tharn to himself. And the only loved one that is killed is a dead ex that was alluded to. (Side note but I take issue with the dead ex plot point, especially given that it’s only mentioned in passing once. Was that necessary? His parents would have been a better choice.) His parents’ deaths were attributed to the crime storyline and not the mythological one. And how exactly did Phaya rid Tharn of his bad karma, even if you take that to refer to the doctor? Because he loses to the doctor in the final battle in every life, this one included.

None of the Luangpor’s prophecy came true, so all the advice he gave seemed like complete nonsense as a result. Yes he provided the protective amulet, but he did nothing else useful. He told Tharn to live with him at the temple, except no one was out for him or his family because the doctor never wanted to kill him or his family. He kept going on about giving merit and mindfulness and meditation and enlightenment and how morals should be dictated by Buddhist precepts, but none of that ever had any tangible impact on anything. And because it had no tangible impact, it came off as preachy, like if a pastor character kept going on about praying and Bible-defined sin but neither had any visible magical results in the fictional universe. Plus he knew from the start that the doctor was evil, but did nothing to warn Tharn or protect him. So I don’t get what his purpose was or why Tharn and Phaya had so much respect for him.

And third, the idea that the whole high-power corrupt criminal / political network came immediately tumbling down the minute they caught Montree was ridiculous, especially given that he had an even higher power backer. It took them what, 15 years to catch Montree due to corrupt interference, and you’re telling me there was no corrupt interference getting Montree and everyone else associated off the hook this time around?

Also, I took issue with the whole messaging that legal justice always prevails, even if it takes longer, but that’s just blatantly untrue. They even prove it in the series, with all those rapists that got off scot-free and the whole corrupt political network. Just because there was eventually legal evidence to arrest one of the rapists does not negate that the others were under-punished or that many, many people were roaming free due to corruption. The inspector kept wailing on about following the rules and not letting personal matters interfere when he himself was breaking the rules and letting personal matters interfere by investigating his brother’s death and Montree’s association.

And fourth is more minor, but the 2nd couple had some kind of break up going on in the beginning, with Khem saying they were still together and Thongtai saying they were broken up. But it’s never mentioned again and they act like a couple through the entire series, getting engaged in the end. That should have been properly explained, especially given that there was a filler episode largely dedicated to showing how they originally got together.

The special episode was a bit lackluster for me. It was more crime/action focused, when I wanted something more character/romance-oriented. Since I preferred the fantasy to the crime in the first place, I just wasn’t that interested in the storyline. The only place the fantasy came in was Phaya’s past-life brother suddenly revealing himself and helping to defeat a henchman. It didn’t even make sense, because he didn’t show up when fighting the doctor, but he helped to defeat a henchman? The brother also warned that Phaya and Tharn’s powers would wane if they were too far apart, but nothing ever came of that, which was really disappointed. That would have been a much more interesting dynamic to explore. There was also a kid they had to take care of and a shall-we-have-a-baby dynamic, which is never my favorite.

There were some sweet moments and an NC scene in the first half of the special episode, but not much in the second half. We didn’t get an ending kiss either. And it really pissed me off that Tharn brought up the doctor in a positive light, talking about how he helped save him when he lost loved ones, when the doctor was the one responsible for their deaths.

There were some consent / boundary issues, but relatively non-egregious for BL standards. (Although I live for the day when consent issues as a whole aren’t normalized, and I don’t have to consider it a good day when they’re “only minor.”)

The scene that bothered me the most is when Tharn is in the bathroom, drunk, and Phaya comes in and reaches around him and helps him zip his zipper up. They’re not even really friends at that point, more just colleagues, so their relationship isn’t anywhere near that level. Tharn pushes him away and protests and then pushes him away again when Phaya says something about pulling it back down again if Tharn doesn’t need his help. Phaya also asks if Tharn is single, but the tone is kind of intimidating (I don’t know if that’s the right word, really). The whole interaction was kind of like a high school bully that’s only bullying you because they like you, basically. It also felt out of character, because Phaya is never that egregious with overstepping boundaries like that again.

Aside from that, there’s a scene where Tharn is drunk and leans into kissing distance, but ultimately doesn’t go in for a kiss. Phaya kisses his forehead. For their first kiss, Phaya grabs Tharn as he’s leaving and kisses his cheek, then his lips. Tharn doesn’t pull away but he doesn’t welcome it either - he gives a soft rejection (“let’s go to bed”) and avoids him after. Tharn liked Phaya at the time but wouldn’t admit it to himself, but the point is he wasn’t given the opportunity to consent because it happened so quickly and he likely would not have consented if he had been given the opportunity. Phaya doesn’t respect Tharn’s space in the aftermath - he kept pushing to get Tharn to let him drop Tharn home and to go out to eat, basically trying to get Tharn to stop avoiding him.

There’s one scene where Phaya pretends his bike is broken so he can stay overnight at Tharn’s, but he sleeps on the couch by his own choice. There’s also a different scene where Tharn grabs Phaya in his sleep, and Phaya takes that as an invitation to stay in the bed and sleep instead of going back to the couch. He also touches Tharn’s face and pulls him even closer to cuddle. There’s a point where Phaya invites Tharn over to his house because he wants to introduce him to his family. He tells his family in advance but only tells Tharn it’s a surprise, so Tharn doesn’t really get a choice in the matter. And overall, I felt Phaya was too grabby when trying to get Tharn not to leave. He was never forceful though, as in refusing to let go or actually preventing him from leaving, which is a step up from other BLs.

When Phaya thinks Tharn told the doctor about his dreams, he gets violent, including punching Tharn in the face hard enough for him to bleed. He’s also overly jealous of the doctor, sometimes reasonably given his knowledge of the doctor’s intentions, and sometimes unreasonably. He goes behind Tharn’s back and tells the doctor to stay away at one point, and also gets in a physical fight with the doctor at another point. But he never forces Tharn to cut contact with the doctor. He does request that he keep away from the doctor towards the end of the series and gets upset when Tharn wants to contact him, but it’s justified by that point because Phaya knows that the doctor is evil by that point.

The NC scenes were fairly explicit (naked ass, stimulated sex). They were okay, but a bit mechanical. The light orb effect over NC / romantic scenes was really annoying though. Their first proper kiss was a bit of a disappointment as well. It was shown from a really faraway camera angle and cut away too fast.

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This was an okay watch, but nothing special. It wasn’t ultra-boring or hard to sit through or anything, and the premise was fairly interesting, but I think it fell flat with the chemistry and relationship development. And I thought the show’s messaging about alcohol was flawed.

In terms of the overall storyline, I didn’t think the relationship development or the development of Kihoon’s views on alcohol made sense.

From the start, Kihoon agreed to serve Jiyoo food during the restaurant’s break hours, which was a rule he strictly upheld. It didn’t make sense given that he had no pre-existing relationship with Jiyoo and Jiyoo had only ever made a bad, extremely drunk impression on him.

But more than that, the turning point where Kihoon really started to like Jiyoo seemed to be when Jiyoo helped with a large party at the restaurant, but as part of that, he offered them alcohol. He did that despite knowing about Kihoon’s alcohol ban, but Kihoon wasn’t upset and actually ended up removing the alcohol ban as a result. That was totally out of character, given that he vehemently refused any type of alcohol to be served no matter how upset it made customers, and often got angry if he was challenged. He knew that alcohol would make customers happier from the start, so seeing that play out in front of him wouldn’t have been a surprise. Not enough to overcome his trauma and make him do a total 180 after strictly upholding his rules for so long, anyways.

For Kihoon to go from strictly banning alcohol in all forms to serving it in his restaurant, agreeing to partner with an alcohol company, and personally drinking alcohol, all within a span of a few weeks, just didn’t make sense. It seemed too abrupt.

And that brings me to my second point. I didn’t like that the show was about rehabbing Kihoon to be okay with alcohol instead of rehabbing or even acknowledging Jiyoo’s blatant alcoholic tendencies. Because it’s totally valid to not drink, to not want to serve alcohol, and to not want to be around alcohol, and those boundaries should be respected, not treated as unreasonable. Jiyoo was quite literally an alcoholic. He drank every day and with every meal - not just a drink or two, but actively getting shitfaced. He would show up at work hungover and smelling of alcohol. But his behavior was never acknowledged as problematic. Kihoon had trauma about his grandmother who drank daily, but in the end her drinking was framed in a positive light, with him saying that she was drinking to congratulate herself for raising him. So the show ended up normalizing alcoholism while framing sobriety as abnormal, and that didn’t sit well with me.

The chemistry was there, but died with 3 dead fish kisses and not a single proper one. The relationship only gets to the awkward beginning stage. They’ve only known each other for a few weeks by the end of the show, and haven’t even reached the “love” stage yet, so it didn’t feel like a deep everlasting HEA, which is the type of fantastical romance I prefer.

Also, the show opens with Jiyoo’s break up with his ex, which I felt was irrelevant and should have been excluded. Why unnecessarily put in ex-related stuff? I don’t even like it when they put in ex-related stuff that is relevant.

Good consent / boundaries for the most part. The only minor issue was when Jiyoo put his face really close to Kihoon’s and watched while he was passed out drunk.

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