etoks21

It's weird that every performer in every K-Pop group is called an "idol." This kid's group doesn't make any list I could find of top-selling acts. He's an idol in his head and that's all. He's very pretty, but his "idol" status probably explains why he and the actor playing his BF in the series delivered the lamest, most wooden, fake kisses by far. They were like in from some awful Thai BL when it came to showing affection. I'm sure he thinks pretending he doesn't like kissing boys will preserve his career viability but, I'm sorry, he's gay af.

Also, I wish to god Korean production companies would quit trying to suck the blood-money out of the BL audience with these "idols" who don't commit to fully playing the gay characters they are assigned to portray. Those "god, I hate doing this" kisses are homophobic af.

lol

What a unique and humorous, yet nicely angsty film. All three plot strands were engaging, the acting was good all-round and I cared about the characters.

My fave character was, I guess, the lead, though he certainly wasn't always onscreen. Borderline homely and with those bushy, Groucho Marx eyebrows! lol I came to really like him. He puts on such an asshole, bad-ass facade, but he's actually sweet.

I laughed out loud a few times, but the best was the beach scene near the end. "What's wrong with you, Pecker? Get hard!" hahaha

Loved it. Thanks for the rec. 9/10 for me.

lol

Totally agree, but have you not seen the "kissing" scenes from BLs in the first years of the genre's existence? omg...horrible. I had NO idea about BL being a thing anywhere. I am an old, gay, white dude in the U.S. and had seen a lot of the terrible gay flicks America turns out, but I stumbled across BL quite by accident. First, I watched every European, Latin American and Nordic gay film I could find on YouTube, and while I was doing that I got hooked on Jonghyun-era SHINee, the K-Pop phenomenon. And somehow, in some way I do not remember, I came across Asian gay cinema, and then BL, all at about the same. It is no overstatement to say my movie/series universe exploded in a supernova of Asian Awesome and I've never been the same.

Anyway, two of the first BLs I watched were SOTUS and SOTUS 2. First of all, I noticed the gay guys were very stand-offish physically, even after becoming romantically intimate, which seemed odd. THEN, near the end of SOTUS the main couple finally "kissed" and I was like "what the hell, wtf are they doing?" I had never seen such an awkward fake kiss in my long life. They were like two mannequins, completely motionless, who someone leaned together at the chin/neck and left sitting there. The camera swooped and swirled, all to keep the viewer from seeing any lip contact. Nevertheless, it was obvious there WAS no lip contact, you could tell by the angle of their heads that they were kind of chin-to-cheek. I was totally freaked, but enjoyed the stories being tole in ways I'd never encountered enough to not run away.

Then I finally came across "Together With Me" 1 & 2, and THOSE boys went to town like it should be done. Totally committed and actually making out like real actors. I've seen quite a bit of fake kissing in Korean BLs, which is unfortunate, because some of the shows are otherwise good. But I feel exactly like you: WHY would a director cast any actors who refuse to kiss as they would if the other party was a woman? Maybe he/she's banging one of them, is all I could figure.

Anyway, it pisses me off too, and it's long past time this shit should not be tolerated. Fake kissing is a huge, homophobic red-flag saying "we will only PRETEND to kiss because, well, we're afraid we'll ruin our careers or someone will think we're gay, even though we ARE gay IRL because we don't want anyone to know, etc...."

As I wrote in an earlier comment here, it looks especially bad and jarring in this series because Maru and Minwoo are going at it tongues and all, complete with delicious, wet, smacking sounds and the other couple is doing a pretty good job, though not as fully committed as the other two. and then we have the tutor/student couple doing a dead-fish-mannequin kiss. Ridiculous. Their last one was so motionless I thought the video was buffering.

Your hyper-sensitivity to the comments of people who disagree with you is entertaining, in that you choose to perceive them as personal attacks and then respond accordingly. I don't care about you as a person, I am discussing your opinion of this show.

It seems you interpret arguments against your position as saying "you have no right to this opinion of yours. Now stop thinking that and think as I do." You would never survive being on a debate team. You'd spend most of your time at the podium crying.

I like to discuss programs I like, ones I don't, ones I feel in-between about, and ones I hate-watch, like this one, because of Akira's beauty and big eyes. "OMG, HOW DARE YOU ATTACK ME FOR CONTINUING TO WATCH AND LEAVING COMMENTS AND RESPONSES IN THREADS YOU DON'T APPROVE OF ME DOING...OMG, OH BOO-HOO...HOW SHALL I EVER GO ON...?

As for being called a "baby," I didn't do that. But if the bootie fits...

Why did they bring in a team of Thai writers to pen that last, boring episode, featuring endless hours of idiotic fluff? For the rest of this comment, I shall pretend there were only nine episodes in this series.

Though this series seemed to want me to focus mostly on the tutor/former student, this was a classic case of side couples overwhelming the so-called "mains" and stealing the show.
I am in love with Maru. Lee Kwang Hee is a very talented actor. That pillow-talk confession that opened episode 9 was beautiful, mostly because of his delivery. Bravo.
This may be the most handsome/beautiful BL cast ever assembled, precisely because they are each handsome, but in distinct and interesting ways. Maru's ears are the hottest feature on any of them.

Note to director: YOU CANNOT HAVE TWO COUPLES WHO KISS LIKE PASSIONATE, LIVING, BREATHING HUMAN BEINGS AND ONE COUPLE WHO KISSES LIKE TWO DEAD PEOPLE LEANED AGAINST EACH OTHER, MOUTH TO MOUTH. The kiss on the bench in episode 9 from tutor/student was so static I actually thought for a moment the video was buffering. Seriously.

Enough with the fucking clown-white makeup on these guys, Korea!

OK, since episode 10 does not exist in my universe, I am giving this thing a 9/10. Had the tutor and student been cut out completely, we're bordering on a 10/10 here.

A lot of ideas about the nature of love, falling in love, jealousy, unrequited love as a source of pleasure, etc. being explored here are nearly as lovely as the two leads.

It's scary how much Higuchi Kohei looks - face and body both - like a Manga drawing come to life.
So funny to see the flawlessly beautiful Yoh contort his face into such a goofy/ugly mask of jealous despair. lol

I love this show.

I have watched more BLs than you, easily. And I drop 99% of the cliche'd, trope-done-lazily, badly written ones out of Thailand within the first episode. This one is badly written as well. I'm in the company of hundreds in this thread who have said so. I can enjoy a trope, a cliche, a stock character, IF they are written, directed and acted with some hint of originality, from some angle slightly different than everything that's been done before. This show has none of that.

Little babies slurp up their pablum every morning and love it, over and over, but that doesn't change the fact their pablum is bland slop, prepared with no thought or creativity.

Weird. How is it possible to enjoy watching the same characters, acting the same way, acting out the same tropes and cliches as in every other BL with bad, lazy writing like this? Does it not get boring knowing what will happen, how it will happen, and when it will happen over and over and over again in every show like this?

I'm picturing you in front of your computer, completely zoned out, brain turned off, loving watching the same show for the 1,345th time in a row.

Your BL character "archetypes" apparently are the result of writers who can't come up with new ways to tell a story. And the thrill with which you watch what you've seen countless times before is...odd.

😂😂😂

No. It's because he is unattractive and has a dour, depressed affect, even when we're supposed to think he's happy or being nice. And when did we see see him doing this work "on his feelings?" There was none. He just turned on a dime all of a sudden.

I'm not here to defend the character of Minato. He IS emotionally constipated. I'm here to look at the beauty of the actor who portrays him.

Hey, thanks for putting some thought into what you shared here. I get where you are coming from much better than before. Sorry for coming on so strong.

My problem, if it IS a problem, is that I don't seem able to do that "turn off your brain" thing that is frequently cited regarding shows like this. I'm always analyzing and noticing everything; it's simply the way my brain works.

I liked what you wrote about different types of shows in which bad writing can be gotten away with, and those in which it can't. I will never be able to enjoy such shows like you do, but at least I have a better idea of where you're coming from.

As I've said, mostly I just like to look at Akira's beautiful features and big, round eyes. :D That keeps me coming back.

I do hope it turns out Shin if faking this memory loss. That at least would show some effort toward something different from the writers. I've never heard of amnesia in which one remembers everything except one particular person and everything about them.

"...hellish season." lol Indeed.
I tune in just to look at Akira's beautiful face. The rest of the show is too dumb and poorly written for words to describe.

This is just the type of thing commenters such as yourself always write in defense of shows that suck.
It is not wrong to have standards for BLs.
Do you believe it's not possible for a show to be "cute and fun" and also well-written?

Episode 10: More lameness.

Finally, something happened, but what a slog getting here.
I'm still suspicious Shin is faking it.
I like how Minato leaves his laundromat, where there are never any customers anyway, wide-open to theft and vandalism for hours at a time. lol
I wish Shin had forgotten he likes to wear women's maternity tops as shirts.
I wonder: Has shin forgotten he likes d**k and boy-butt?

Lame.

3/10

In what sense is their not speaking allegorical? To what their lack of vocal communication a reference?

Terrible. Also pretentious.

I was holding on by my fingernails but when they decided they were morticians I knew the level of stupidity had reached red alert status.

Dropped.

The basic premise is so flawed that it can't be taken seriously. Alright, I thought, perhaps this film has great things to say if I just roll with it and forget plausibility. Nope, didn't work.

It's terribly convenient that the owners of every home he enters leave greetings on their answering machine, letting whoever calls know they are out of town and their home is defenseless against burglary. People don't do this.
She's been wearing that pink outfit for days on end. He's in black forever, I guess.
Golf balls don't go through windshields and knock people out, inducing seizures. At most there would be some crackling/splintering of the glass.
The blood on the victim of the golf ball killing is awfully fake-looking.
I guess he's a mute, but why isn't she talking?
Where did the burial fabric/clothing and lengths of ribbon come from? Can you walk into Walmart there and purchase burial sets?

I know I'm supposed to fall at the feet of Kim Ki Duk because he's supposedly a great auteur. But no, this is lame.

Dropped.

1/10

lol