jpny01

IMO, it's because it's focused on Tae, who is both a fair actor and gorgeous (and has had his shirt off for the last two eps), and Nite II is a considerably better actor than Nite I. Also, everyone looks better in sunlight.

I'm totally wrong. His hair is not even close to the same color - he's nearly blond and it was Asian black at the beginning. I like it both ways.

I think the number of eps is wrong on this site. It's always had 12 on the schedule. Maybe it was planned for 10, but then they had to add two for the immense product placement they did for the Chiang Mai tourism board and that ceramics store.

OK, I'm glad it's not just me (and Freshkicks). In the earlier episodes they keep painting Que as super-hot, and Bhu keeps calling Tae too skinny, and I'm thinking, "Uh, are none of you seeing what I'm seeing?" Even witth his shirt on I can't breathe when he's onscreen, let alone when he whips out that perfect body.

I could watch Tae walk around shirtless for12 episodes and not complain. For Nite 1, I think there were probably plenty of equally cute guys that would show up for a casting call, so I assume he gives good h@#$. Sorry, that was crude. You're right though, they put him where he can't do too much damage. I don't understand why they don't have him smile more - he has a very sweet smile. But it's all about Tae for me anyway, so all the Nites can look however they want.

I think that might qualify for 'so bad it's good.' I actually enjoyed it, just not in the way the produers intended. The scene of the paper shirt floating down the stream and Efren's attempt to unfold it is one of the funnier things I've seen lately.

Why is the acting sooooo good and everything else sooooo bad? Is filming with a weed in front of the lens blocking Enzo's face supposed to be artistic? It isn't. And so how could anyone not notice it was there? And in another scene they shot Enzo with a red plant fluttering in the foreground which made him look like he was standing in flames, which I think is the opposite of what they're going for there.

Every scene Kaleb is in can reduce me to tears. If he were in something good it would be spectacular. He really has something special.

That's a good point about consent - people frequently don't take advantage in BL, but that might the first time someone didn't even consider it. The no-vomiting was good to. I lived in rural Poland for a while, so I defintely had an oppotunity to test the limits of the body's ability to handle alcohol, and I didn't throw up once. Not everyone does every time they have a beer.

To me, Gene is too hostile and rude. I get the introvert part, but that's more than slightly socially awkward, and I don't think introversion is an excuse to be a dick. But even then, the problem for me is it's gotten a little repetitive, and we never got an apology for his explosion at the end of the previous ep, which I find off-putting. The actor is doing a great job, though. And I do like that he doesn't faint or trip and fall and have to be caught every other episode as the uke trope requires. In this ep Sib had to carry him because he was moving too much, not because he was a 19th c. maiden with consumption.

Yes, I was wondering about that too - that was a pretty serious outburst and then it just disappeared. I wonder if we've seen a cut version and the full one had a different opening scene.

Maybe "hate" is too strong - but I'm finding him tiresome (although the actor is doing a good job) because the story has been too static - Gene is hostile to SIb, who is really nice to him. If Sib has a dark side, we need to see it or Gene is just being a dick to a really sweet and loving person. If Sib is actually creepy, then it justifies Gene's relentless suspicion and hostility.

I see what you're saying, but I wonder if that's because the POV character is Gene, who doesn't seem to trust or accept affection. I had the same impression of Sib, but there have been a couple of scenes where we've seen his expression when Gene can't see it - he seems to genuinely love Gene. I was hoping there would be a dark side to him, and sometimes we see it in the anger he shows to non-Gene people. But I suspect his secret is that he's always liked Gene and has deliberately staged everything in order to get closer to him, which would indeed be a little creepy.

Also, I wonder if maybe it's necessary to view Sib as creepy in order to like Gene - otherwise he's being a huge dick to a really sweet and caring person.

That's a good point - I didn't think about the car as I was dreading the inevitable vomiting scene, but I will say I was pleased they skipped over that formulaic trope. Gene even remembered everything from when he was drunk, which is also unusual.

The first episode did indeed make it look like something new, but since then all that's been abandoned to present a thoroughly unoriginal and conventional BL story - what a disappointment as I was really excited about this series.

Thank you for your thoughtful responsse. You really got me thinking with your sophiticated and mature arguments.

Wow, your review uintentionally managed to prove the point that the show has failed to do with the flurry of attacks from toxic fandom to your review. I'd be saddened, but the total lack of a sense of irony in the attacks is actually kind of hilarious.

I couldn't agree with you more - the show touched on a few themes in the first ep and then never went anywhere near them again and has presented a thoroughly conventional BL, bur more dull than usual.

Wow, if you were looking for a way to demonstrate toxic fandom, you've accomplished it. Have you even read the review? The reviewer's point is that the show only superficially touched on important themes and then went nowwhere wit them. What does that have to do with sexual stuff or rape? I've read it twice and found nothing that even suggests what you've written. I think you owe the reviewer an apology.

Has it occurred to you that the standard BL formula exploits and fetishizes m/m relationships to titilate women and ignores the pain, suffering and sacrifice that we endure for just being who we are? (Disclosure - I'm a gay man - I accidentally registered as female and can't change it.)

And you compound this by attacking sexuality, as if we shouldn't be allowed to show it, only pure non-physical love that you find unthreatening, as if my sexuality isn't an important part of who I am - which is apparently something that disgusts you as you brought it up despite the total lack of mention of the subject by the author, who was critiquing poor character development and shallowness of thematic material, not lack of sex.

The reviewer's point is that the themes you mention are given only lip-service and not really explored, and that's been borne out by the total absence of any of them in the last three episodes as the series as devolved into a standard BL that does many of the things it purported to critique. I thought Aey was pretending to like Sib to further his career, which was clever and interesting, but no, he really likes Sib, etc.

I'm just wondering if you still feel this way - I was excited when this started becasue I thought it would be a satire that explores the issues you mention - but then it just turned into a very conventional BL, and not a very interesting one e.g. it turns our Aey is not pretending to like Sib, he really does.

Just as an aside, the pornography-inspired intimate scenes in BL? I take it you don't watch pornography (not a criticism) because I think the intimate scenes are inspired by 19th c romance novels or 1950s films, with one or two exceptions like Tharntype. If you get lips touching in the last sceen of the last episode that passes for risque. I don't think BL is really about sexual relationships - it's more about "bromantic exclusivity."

If there's an issue to explore, it's the exploitation and fetishization of male/male relationships, which in real life exist in an oppressive context that is often not cute, but painful and requires great personal sacrifice and a struggle for equal rights and acceptance.

I'm so relieved to read this - I thought maybe I'd fallen into an alternate reality where I saw everything differently than everyone else. This not only seems like a conventional BL, but Gene seems to me to be a self-indulgent insertion of the writer into the BL as some sort of fantasy-fulfillment. There's the barest lip-service to themes like fan toxicity, but then it just returns to the same formula (although I have to admit the product placements are very meta and funny), with the same artificial seme/uke dynamic, all the same plot devices, without saying anything new about them or offering any critique. I just watched ep 4 and and it was a dull slog, so I think it was my last.

But the series hasn't been about that. In fact, one of the leads (in Bad Engineer) likes the other lead, and there haven't really been toxic fans except for a very brief scene.

Regarding fans and reality vs fantasy, I think they know the difference, but they get so invested that they don't want to think about it all being just acting - although this does have significant negative real-life effect, like how nobody watched He's Coming to Me even though Ohm & Singto have 100 times more chemistry than Singto and what's-his-name. But don't forget that a lot of the fans are really young, and when you have a shorter perspective it's easier to get more heavily invested, sort of like how you think your life is over when your first crush goes nowhere, whreas when you're older you shrug and move on becuase you're tired and jaded.

I'm hoping this returns to the themes you mention, because otherwise it's just a conventional BL with an unlikeable main character who appears to be the writer inserting herself into the BL as some sort of seli-indulgent fantasy. The sound effects were definitely annoying, and I think they do the opposite of make the actor more expressive, but fortunately they've toned it down to where it fits better. Otherwise, the production is indeed super-high quality. The shots are beautiful and the editing sharp.