jpny01

Agree about Krathing - Pluem hit it out of the ballpark.

OK - I've never really gotten the Singto thing. Is it part nostalgia because for many people SOTUS was their first BL? I get that, but to me he was underwhelming in this. I think his character was arrogant and transgressive, not irresistable - and it's ridiculous that Punn hired him after being sexually harassed by a potential subordinate. Also, that haircut they gave him is ridiculous. He looked so good in the first scene with normal hair. Anyway, I'm gay and I would have no problem at all saying no to him.

But Pluem - holy cow, was he good in this. I cried when he did when he had the dessert - and that childlike smile when he had cake after the match was so cute it killed me. I would have no chance of saying no to him, that's for sure. And Lee (Punn) is gorgeous he also did a great job and is a compelling lead. I'm looking forward to Foei being in the story. I wonder if they'll make this more of a BL than the other versions. I vote for Pluem coupled with absolutely anyone.

It will go down - but yes, Singto has his following, for sure.

I agree. The Japanese one is too old and it feels dated, and for once, the Korean version is actually better.

I liked Cupid Coach. I do not like this, and I really like Gameplay. CC wasn't good, but it was entertaining to watch, and it did have its qualities, like having the lead character explicitly gay and the maturity with which the characters handled conflict. And the way the lead character looked with his shirt off.

But this is just dull dull dull. And it looks like we're going to continue with the disturbing sexual harassment next ep. I'm really confused - what is the point of this series, other than product placement.

Does anyone else need a cold shower whenever Ida talks?

I agree with you - this should have been up there near ITSAY - it had everything it needed to get there. It certainly looks beautiful, though. The cinematography was fantastic, and I really liked the music and sound a lot.

I'm certainly no expert - all I was going by was he said he had a lot of makeup on, but I'm probably wrong.

That's one element - in this case it's about the comparison- the straight couplings all occur with smoothness, whereas when the sort-of-gay character wants something, he tries to take it by force. That reinforces the predatory-gay stereotype - we see it more commonly in effeminate characters, who are universally lascivious and rapey - check out the premiere of Love With Benefits for a recent example. It's excruciating to watch.

But what I find more homophobic is that this is supposedly a BL, and the production was more than happy to exploit the BL audience, but more happens between insignificant characters Chompoo and Lek than between the main couple, who have artificial and out-of-character drama keep them from sharing any romantic connection until the last 30 seconds of the show.

There is no outright flirting, and I don't count the endless staring - I think Zung communicated longing, but Mark was a cipher (I think deliberately - or at least I hope so, or he's a bad actor), no hands touching, not even the stupid and overused trip/fall/catch cliche. It simply wasn't a BL, until a few seconds stapled on at the end.

Why not? The source material was BL. If you watch a behind-the-scenes, Zung makes it perfectly clear he had no desire to be in a BL, but he was talked into it - it's hard to avoid the idea that he was only OK with it because he only had to do one chaste kiss.

There was plenty of drama to have been had just in the inherent conflicts in their relationship - age difference, class difference, boss/employee, familial disapproval, the stresses of the competition, etc. But instead we get no romance other than a sexual assault.

My low rating was for ep 8 - after waiting forever for something to happen between Aue and Aek, Aek brutally rejects Aue for no apparent reason, then Aue sexually assaults him, Aek gets violent, and they break up before they ever even got together. I would probably have given it a 7.5-8 before that ep. Then after that the whole thing was swept under the rug like it never happened. That's terrible writing and very disappointing. It's actually kind of homophobic.

I think it's because the show had such great promise and then didn't deliver on it. When you know a show isn't going to be good going in, you may not judge it as harshly. This one for me was an 11/10 after the first episode, but then just became a frustrating and extremely slow mess with people staring at each other taking the place of character & relationship development. The series felt homophobic to me. The straight couple slid comfortably into a cute relationship, but the gays were kept apart artificially, and had some sexual violence thrown in for no apparent reason, because gays are like that, I guess, in some people's minds.

I'm really disappointed. I was looking forward to Gameplay in a lead role. He didnt do much for me in Bite Me either. I"m starting to wonder if Ingredients worked because of Jeff Satur. Although I still like him.

I have no recollection of either watching this movie or writing this review. I guess it didn't stick much. I sort of remember there being a series that wasn't very good with Earth and New. I'll go back and skim through this and see if it rings a bell.

I won't pretend that looks don't matter, but I agree there's a lot more to it than that. But even in looks, it's hard to imagine not finding him attractive - but I guess we all have different tastes.

I agree with all of this 100%.

Eventually. He thought she & chief had a thing most of the way through, so she still served as that plot device.

It's like there's a law requiring it or something.

That was really wonderful. They got in so much characterization in such a short time.

If you think ordering someone to buy you a soda is as bad as phyisically beating him, then this has ceased to be a rational discussion and I'm not interested. The result of physical violence can be and often is death and permanent injury. You're making zero sense, and this is the sort of nonsense that drives voters to pick orange people.

Unfortunately none of the top-tier BLs have ever had two gay characters. Once someone breaks that barrier it will happen more. Brothers and Cupid Coach are the only two I can think of where both characters were unambiguously gay, and Cupid Coach the only one with self-identification as gay. In fact in Brothers, the seme started the series with a BF, and the uke openly had a huge crush on his male tutor.