etoks21

Well made, cute guys, but rando, nonexistent story.
If that hug at the end is what makes this gay, give me a break.

4/10

Sixteen freaking hours?

Love Yoo but any story that takes that long to tell can't be worth hearing.

Episodes 3 & 4: Thai BL cliches dragging this down, but I do love sweet honey...

MILD, SCENE-SPECIFIC SPOILERS BELOW:

I almost dropped this early in episode 3, but when I came to leave a comment to that effect I saw a couple other comments below once again mentioning how hot the sexy time scenes were. Thus, I discovered the key to getting through this now tiresome series is skipping ahead to the ST scenes and leaving the rest of it to those of you who enjoy this type of high production value garbage. Nothing wrong with eating garbage; but I'll be sifting through for just the sweet, honey-coated parts.

What had me at the point of dropping was all the standard, cheesy Thai cliches that always ruin these shows for me:
Characters who are "acting" as "types," not people.
Cliche, god-awful, over-costumed, over-sponsored clothing choices that scream TRENDY...buy this!!!
Horrible, melodramatic background music, especially that over-the-top stuff that sounds like it's out of a SciFi disaster flick. In the middle of a to-that-point believable scene, a character suddenly says something threatening or dramatic and BOOM!, in comes the disaster flick pounding base and whatever. So stupid. Many a potentially good scene has been ruined by that shit in countless Thai BLs.

Speaking of which, the term "BL" is obsolete for shows like this. I'm not sure what should replace it, but this is a gay-themed drama of a type that grew out of BL, but is way beyond what BL used to mean. This isn't a slam on BL or on whatever these kinds of shows are, but it is not a BL in the classic sense. I watch almost NO standard Thai or K or J dramas, so I don't know, maybe all this awful, cheesy stuff I'm listing is standard to that genre, which would mean this is a gay-themed Tdrama, no?

Boom is a far better actor than Smart, that's just a fact. He doesn't "act," he inhabits the character. I see Smart "acting" a great deal of the time. Of course, it's impossible to know what he is trying to evoke most of the time because that stupid haircut completely obscures his eyes most of the time. The eyes, as it's said, are the windows to the soul. You can't see in there if the eyes are covered in hair.

Besides which, it's not plausible that this actor, within the plot, has risen from being a nobody to near super-stardom, and he has not yet changed his haircut at all, especially from the awful, long bangs/back mullet abomination he wears.
Either too much makeup or badly-done makeup. Especially on Jin. In close-ups, I see makeup.

Oh, and there's the standard top-bottom thing that was telegraphed from the moment we saw these two on camera in episode 1. We knew Jin is the top and Akin is the bottom. Sure enough, by episode 4, this is confirmed and it's so predictable, cliche, and boring. When is a writer or director going to catch a clue that it would be interesting and hot af to switch that up and surprise us instead of pushing the same old, same old?

The honey scene...of course, it had potential and was undeniably hot once it got going. However, it came out of NOWHERE. There was no lead-up, no teasing dialogue, no little bit where one accidentally spilled honey on the other, maybe on his finger and then coyly licked it off, and then one thing led to another, to another, to another...and boom!

Instead, we got some sexy making out (I don't know if it's makeup or real, but Akin's skin hot-flashing red like actual, light skinned people do when turned on, is incredibly sexy and realistic. Combined with his ability to lose himself in the character in the moment, that is remarkable stuff.), and then all of a sudden, a huge glob of honey was running down somebody's chest...etc., etc. It was all so staged and rehearsed and presented with glaring light and weird, tinkling piano music that wrecked it for me. Too many quick cuts and artsy-fartsy editing that calls attention to itself too.
Too bad, that could have been an epic scene.
I feel bad for the maid who has to try to scrub the dried honey out of that ugly yellow carpet in the morning ( along with the dried spooge.)

The further I get into this, the less I find Smart a convincing actor. Interesting, poofy lips, but I do wish he'd stop mouth-breathing. That's another problem.

OK, now that I know to just skip ahead to sexy time scenes and forget the rest, I look forward to wrapping this show up in another couple watches. But even while skipping ahead through 3 and 4, that's more than enough for today.

I could see Boom having a successful film/drama career, but I don't watch Thai dramas, and I don't know much about the Thai film industry, so maybe I'll never know.

Speaking of which, the new Thai film, "Let's Make Millions Before Grandma Dies" (horrible title), currently airing on Netflix and starring Billkin, of ITSAY and IPYTM (now those are BLs), is fantasic. If you can access it, I highly recommend it. It's nice to see Billkin's career continuing its upward trajectory. His performance in the movie is especially enjoyable because there is no sign of the dreaded PP Krit, who seems to have attached himself to Billkin like a leech.

Yes, I do. Why wouldn't there be? All sorts of gross behaviors are portrayed in all kinds of media, including film.
Incest has been a plot point in fictional stories and performances for thousands of years. You're not going to stop it.
A recent, extremely popular and financially successful HBO series portrays two brothers making out while drunk.
A new sequel to a wildly successful Hollywood films portrays hot lovemaking between two-thirds of a set of female triplets.
I could list a lot more examples from countries all over the world.

Incest is there because it is an extremely powerful taboo that makes for great and powerful drama. If you know of a film that includes it in its story, don't watch it. Try that.

The attempts of people like you to censor what gets included in film, books, plays, and everything else have been and will continue to be a huge failure, thank goodness.

I don't care what is now "considered" sexual assault. Whether in legal terms or cultural terms, calling the act of someone touching someone else's forehead without "consent" sexual assault is bat-shit crazy. It is appalling that such tiny physical acts have been criminalized, especially into a sexual category, to appease NeoPuritans such as yourself.

You know what a sensible, decent, mature person does when someone touches their forehead and they don't like it? They say, "Please don't touch me anywhere on my body without permission, OK?" Then, if the person does it again, they can go running to the police. Same with a kiss, an attempted kiss, a photograph, or anything else such as that.

Touching a forehead is a tad different from grabbing a crotch, wouldn't you say? Attempting a kiss in response to a mutual physical vibe is different than grabbing someone's boobs or ass, wouldn't you agree? Stop policing other people's behavior and making natural, complicated physical actions that take place in a gray zone from black to white, automatically into crimes.

If someone says "stop," anything further is a crime, I get it. Kissing someone gently on the lips while they're asleep because you are intensely attracted to them romantically and are caught up in the vibe of the moment, MIGHT be inappropriate, depending on the circumstances and the people involved, but it is not an "assault."

Taking someone's pictured without permission MIGHT be creepy, depending on the circumstances and people again, but it is not automatically a "crime." It is a gray area situation and becomes criminal when it continues after a request to stop doing it, not on the first try.

But more importantly, regarding this show, these acts are taking place within the universe of a fictional story, not in real life, in case you haven't grasped the difference. The portrayal of transgressive human behavior does not automatically "condone" or "romanticize" that behavior to the audience. Even if it emphatically does so, it is not your or anyone else's place to censor that creative choice, nor assume that the audience is so stupid as to have their existing belief system altered by what they see on screen.

Does the portrayal of murder automatically condone murder? I'm hoping you know the answer.

Your arguments and unwanted monitoring, your attempts at thought, romance, and speech control, are tired and obnoxious. Grow up someday soon, please. Be responsible for yourself and your behavior. Stop preaching at others to fill your need to feel better-than.

Most importantly, stop watching shows you disapprove of, rather than watching them all the way through so you can come to comments and police other people's opinions and responses. It's annoying and transparent.

Self-righteous, prudish, busybodies are a fact of life, and constant push-back is required to prevent them from taking over. Thanks for reminding me of that.

Drives me crazy. :)

Yeah, I can see how almost kissing someone (twice!!!), touching their forehead (oh my god!!!), taking pictures (sweet holy jesus!!!, and (gasp!!!) kissing them when they're asleep is just like forced, penetrative intercourse to orgasm.

Exactly the same.

I'm imagining Akin as a woman (Akinita?), Jin as a bit less handsome, and...yeah, I still feel great about the almost-kisses, the forehead touching, and the photo-taking. And I feel especially wonderful about that lovely, soft kiss to the sweet lips of Akin. I'd have done the same.

Your NeoPuritan prudish/sex-phobic/censorious BS is already tired.
Take it elsewhere.

I did not think you were trying to insult me. :D
It's all good.

Bummer.
I wish all the stuff about "Jin/Junta being so obsessed with Akin/Takato in the anime and harasses him and becomes sexually assaultive and would like to f*ck Akin/Takato all the time (even without consensus) that he becomes “insatiable” for him" would have been left in the adaptation.

I'm beyond sick of everything being cleaned up to ivory-white purity for the 2025 NeoPuritan crowd who believe only rosy-pink, sickly-sweet human behaviors should be allowed on screen. Well guess what? This adaptation wasn't cleaned up enough for at least two commenters below who discussed how there are "multiple sexual assaults" ( I kid you not.) in the first two episodes.

I like transgressive human behaviors in my dramas and movies. I like rough edges and dark corners. They're what makes the lily-white, rosy-pink stuff stand out by comparison. Contrast, you know?

Oh well, never mind...sounds like you're a NeoPuritan yourself, so I'll not waste any more time for either of us.

hahahaha...omg...

I'm sorry, I know you are in earnest with your comment, but it made me laugh.
I thought I was clearly being WAY over-the-top in my descriptions of the "sexual assaults" I list above so that people who read them would know I was MOCKING the MDLers here who see EVERYTHING as "sexual assault!!!!!!!" unless both parties (or three, or whatever) have prior, signed, written, binding contracts in effect at the time anyone touches anyone else. :D

The NeoPuritans here watch shows they claim to find questionable, sniffing desperately for something/anything to call "SEXUAL ASSAULT!!!!" so they can go screeching into comments and proclaim their self-righteous outrage for all to see and thus score further NeoPuritan Club membership points.

I totally agree with what you wrote above. I found Jin's kiss and Akin's unconscious throwing of his arms around Jin to be romantic and touching, no assaults involved. However, at least two commenters below earlier alluded to multiple "sexual assaults" in "the first two episodes." I kid you not. Look for yourself.

My smartass comment above was written for them.

I'm tempted to keep arguing, but I'm trying to cut back on discussions with people who are only looking to have their assumptions confirmed.

Repeating from above:
Our perceptions of reality in general are quite different (ooh! sounds just like this show if it had good writers!), thus I'll not be engaging further.

Have a lovely day or evening or morning, depending on your location.

hahaha...

Regarding the part about me saying you "like JH because he's hot," a rough paraphrase to be generous, you left out the bit where I said "Of course I could be wrong."

I laughed my way through most of your list. As I mentioned earlier, you either invent stuff out of thin air, or put a hilariously biased spin on everything JH does...in pursuit of your crush, I assume. That's not my privilege to know.

Your and my perceptions of reality are quite different (ooh! sounds just like this show if it had good writers!), thus I'll not be engaging further.

Well, yeah...duh. It would be nice if they gave us some context before angel wings start appearing out of nowhere in the first episode. lol Wouldn't it have made sense to WAIT until after the insatiable angel remark has been made?

I'm looking forward to finding out what "insatiable angel" is all about. ;)

The commenter above wrote "in the first 2 episodes..." I've seen the first and recall nothing related to, let alone "romanticizing" sexual assault.

This is, once again, where the term "sexual assault" is used so frequently and loosely that it is beginning to mean nothing at all.

There you go again. You don't know what actually happened in any of the shared, remembered experiences. You have been shown two perspectives, and you've chosen to believe that JH's memories are the "real" ones.

Are you saying that JH said one thing on the phone with his buddy from the bar, and that MJ, who was ten feet away, misheard ALL of it, or as I've suggested, hallucinated all of it? Why do you choose to believe that JH's flashback memories are "correct?"

If the intention of the writers/director is that we first saw MJ's recollections of occurrences and then the "actual" occurrences (as opposed to JH's recollections), can you lay out for me where and how that is made clear for us in the script?

Perhaps JH WAS "toying with" MJ. Perhaps JH got caught and was mystified by MJ's disappearance because he's not used to getting caught.

Do you disagree that in the first 2 or 3 eps, JH was arrogant and cavalier in his attitude upon showing back up in MJ's life? He ambushed MJ eight years later, then stood there smirking through their first several conversations. Is that how you present yourself when hoping to re-engage with someone who "hurt" you but whom you are still in love?

That's another case in which the direction and writing is either confusing or actively misleading. There is no mistaking his attitude there, unless we are to believe that JH didn't really act that way and we were seeing only MJ's perceptions of how he acted. lol Where does it end?


Anyway, whatever the writers/director MEANT to convey is hopelessly obscured by their lack of skill in actually conveying it.

"In the kindest way possible, I think you're projecting."

Right back atchya.

What "cultural" thing? The wedding photo arrangement? You think that only applies to Korea? Please be specific in your references.

I'm going to ask again: What makes you so sure that the flashbacks are unbiased representations of what "actually" happened, and not representations of JH's flawed memories? Because they are shorter in length? Nah... And how do you know what is "baked into" the show?

Note to the wise: Words like "literally" and phrases like "We just don't," are NOT supporting evidence. :D

I'm reading a lot of arrogance from you, and condescension to boot. Plus, the passive-aggressive insults in statements such as "I just actually see both perspectives (meaning that I do not, of course)."

If what you have to offer in this conversation is basically "Regardless of what you write, I know what you think," don't bother me further.

I just finished the first episode and am about to start the second.
Curious: What did you see in that first ep that you felt "romanticized sexual assault?"

Episode 1: Somebody please get that dude's hair out of his eyes. Use bobby pins if he won't cut it.

It's been a long time since I've seen a mullet haircut, and it's not a good thing. There's a reason they went out of style. Regarding those front bangs...why work so hard to produce tears when the viewers can't see them anyway? How do people stand having that hair right IN their eyes anyway? The hair was moving with his eyelashes.

That said, this is the first time in nearly two years I've made it through the first episode of a Thai BL without dropping it.
Great production values.
Jin comes off as mentally challenged.
How does an actor this green and untalented get cast in a major drama production, opposite a huge star? That was not explained.
The best parts were the side characters (NOT the screaming queen gay stereotype manager duo) such as the director, the asst. director, the nasty soft drink CEO, etc., and their hilarious little remarks, all under-acted and low-key, which made them all the funnier. Loved the back and forth between the director and the CEO when the CEO kept interjecting. lol
As long as Thai BLs keep using shameless product placements, I have to admire the willingness of this show to mock the practice within the script. And good on the product company for going along with it.
I laughed out loud at the placement of the soft drink machine in a forest in the middle of nowhere. It would have to have its own solar panels somewhere. :)

Again...when Thai BLs include obviously gay side-characters and trans actors, why is there the continued impulse to present them as silly stereotypes, instead of as real people with individual personalities that aren't straight out of a homophobe's playbook? That poor guy in the horrendously over-the-top magenta eye makeup, complete with little rhinestones glued to his face! Then, he smiled and the braces! God help us. Regardless, I laughed despite myself when the management duo prayed to the little god of something or other on the dashboard. I admire the willingness to poke fun at colorful Thai religious traditions without seeming to demean them.

And wtf? with the CGI angel wings in the cops-in-the-rain scene near the end? lol
Oh, and continuity error: Did anyone else notice it was raining in the long shots but not in the closeups during the slip/fall catch? :D

OK...on to episode 2.

You missed or misunderstood my point.
Never mind.

"...it's weird because i'm reminded that the people that you argue/disagree with on the Internet are actual people and have real lives and real jobs that they do every day."

What's weird...? So do I. People who don't like my opinions often throw this canard around but the truth is, how long does it really take to sign in, reply to comments or replies, and sign back out? Half an hour, max? Ten minutes sometimes? You made clear you don't like what I have to say; it's no surprise you're lobbing another passive-aggressive insult my way. Rest assured, nothing you say is going to shut me the f**k up.

I don't consider your questions about my work invasive, whatsoever. I'm hesitating to share a link to my art with you because the MDL Little Girls, Church Lady Prudes, and the rest of the NeoPuritan brigade are likely to descend upon me outside of MDL. I don't want that. You can understand why.

Oh gosh, look! It's taken me seven minutes to write this. I'd better sign out quick so no one here thinks I spend all my time here. lol

How do you know anything about the people who argue with me? You don't. I think a lot of them are high school and college students, who have plenty of free time.