jpny01

I want to like this. I will try to support it because it's the first on free TV, but it is not good. It isn't bad, but it's derivative and unoriginal, which is atypical for Filipino BL - it copies a lot of the Thai BL tropes (e.g. the setting, and the whole school inexplicably worshipping the okay-looking Ken), there are obvious and strong Hello Stranger influences, both in prodution and plot elements (although at least HS isn't Thai), and the editing needs work - not in technical aspects, which are well done, but in narrative flow. For examplle, the scene with the mother was excruciatingly long and sucked all the life out of the episode. Plus, a real mother would be concerned if her son was in a fight for the first time, not scold him for 20 minutes of screen time with irrational arguments. I did appreciate the lack of exposition - we were quickly and effectively shown Shake's unfortunate circumstances without belaboring the point.

The acting is uneven, but both mains seem solid and natural, so that's a source of hope.

I think Kao, Phu, & Petch have some personality, but there's no chemistry between Kao & Phu - at least not yet. It feels a little stalkerish. Phu is really, really handsome (although holy cow that's a terrible photo above) - more manly than most BL characters. I have to take breaks from watching during each of the four parts, which is not a good sign. If it weren't for COVID, I probably wouldn't bother with this show. Thailand needs to take a long vacation in the Philippines and study how to write and cast BLs.

She didn't seem to be in labor - she probably had a medical appointment, or they were so bored of Wil & Joey that they needed to get a change of scenery before they felt compelled to commit seppuku to escape the situation. Maybe they went to go visit Nuan because he's in all the interesting scenes. And has a hot body.

It's like watching a train derailment, except the train was only moving at 5 km/hr so it just made a small metal scraping sound and the engineer got out and shook his head while the passengers sat wondering if anything had happend.

If I look at the episode comments, I wonder if I'm watching some other show with characters named Joey and Wil in it. They both have more chemistry with the plant than they do with each other. And it seems to me that Wil was supposed to be the villain of the story, but so many 12-year old girls ranted and raved about how wonderful he is that they reversed course. Does nobody rememberthat he called a henchman that sounded afraid of him to bribe the drama teacher then later told him he planned to make Joey suffer to drive him into his arms?

The plant schtik is lazy writing. If you can't show us what's going on with a character in a visual medium, at least insert exposition into dramatically compelling scenes between characters (human characters). The only scenes that were more interesting than... well, talking to a plant... all included Nuan, which should tell the producers something. Even Erwin is better when he's in scenes with Jules. I can't watch scenes with Kenji - it's just embarassing.

The plant had more scenes than the protagonist. This is the show we're watching.

It's unintentionally symbolic that about 90% of the episode was Joey & Wil talking to a plant, which is about how interesting their relationship is.

I get what you're saying, but Waan realized that Pure would be ruined if he was guilty, whereas he's a top student and the consequences would be mild for him, so it's not an unreasonable direction to go. As for the teacher, I think she leveraged the situation to solve several problems - save Waan from punishment for a well-intentioned lie (while still having him face some consequences), saving a struggling student, and making the presidents of the club swork together, to end the feud. People often end up liking each other when they get to know each other, right? It's easier to be hostile to a stranger than someone who's helping you get into college, or saving you from being expelled and disowned by your mother.

That is to say, if that really was how the teacher was seeing it - if it was, then the writing fails for not making it clear that's the case, and if it isn't, then the writing fails through laziness. But boys are kind of dicks at that age, and often being dicks to each other is part of the process of socialization and can lead to real friendships. My best friend and I hated each other for years when we were kids.

I'm with you. I'm not sure any Thai BL really measures up to the higher tier of Philippine BL, and they just started. Even weaker actors in those are better than the stronger ones in Thai dramas. Give me one Thai BL actor as good as Elijah Canlas or JC Alcantara (or as hotttttt as Royce Cabrera. Jesus Christ, he should be illegal).

I'm sure there are tons of Thai actors that could compete - they're just never cast in BLs, which insist on pulling non-actors off the streets and inserting them in main roles. Why not at least use the more experienced ones? If Oxygen had Kao & Kun in the main roles, how much more compelling would it be? About 1,000 times more.

Aren't pretty much 100% of Thai BL characters bisexual (slight exaggeration for the sake of drama)? I'm struggling to come up with characters that are actually gay. Ohm in He's Coming to Me, and, umm, uhh, I can't think of anyone else. Oh, Tay in 2 Will Be Free.... but that's not really BL (at all). Hmm. Maybe someone can help. Wait, got it, how could I forget - Tharn in TharnType.

Sooo much better. Oxygen has some decent actors, but unfortunately not in the main roles. This show is about as "meh" as you can get, but it's at least watchable. The main pair in Oxygen is about as interesting as a carboard box watching paint dry. Honestly, I'm thinking Thailand needs to take a lonnnnnnggggg vacation in the Philippines and try to absorb some innovative BL.

I'm not sure what you're referring to. The only Vs in there are the teacher, who I think is brilliant (avoids punishing good kid, gets struggling student the help he needs, forces the presidents to work together in order to end the feud), and Itt's mother is sweet. Are you referring to something that's in the book later on?

Actually, you sound like you're throwing a tantrum. You're the one who attacked first, and you're the one who is taking this personally, as if someone not liking something you like is an attack on you. And if you want to see childish, just read your last sentence.

Comparing like products is a perfectly legitimate tool of criticism. Oxygen is terrible, with awful acting and aimless, meandering writing,Gear & Gown is better acted and written. However, Gear & Gown is intent on throwing in every BL trope imaginable and totally lacks originality, whereas Oxygen is at least trying something new, but just barely since it's engineering school, AGAIN.

Wow, you are really harsh about the teacher. She is letting him tutor Itt in lieu of punishment, which Waan deserved for lying. I think she's smart, killing three birds with one stone - avoiding punishment for someone who lied (albeit for a good reason - but a lie is a lie), getting a failing student the tutoring he needs, and throwing together the presidents of the feuding clubs so that they'll start getting along. She was leveraging, not blackmailing. Blackmail is victimizing someone with damaging info you have for your own gain, not doing what's best for everyone. I'm sorry to hear Waat and Pure won't be together, but as long as Fiat keeps wearing those sleeveless shirts I'll be happy, because damn, 'dem arms!

I'm not sure what you mean - it's so stereotypically BL that I feel I'm watching all the other BLs I've ever seen.

It doesn't matter - are they really even part of the same episode, or are they just labeled that way? I just watch as they come out. It's hard enough to get through one episode at a time let alone three, so I don't recommend waiting!

There was an actual 10-minute scene with Wil and Plantie. That was a clear indicator that this was going to drag on forever without anything happening. I get that the actor playing Joey was in quarantine and missed a couple of episodes, but couldn't they fill the time with something more interesting than someone having a conversation with a plant? I was so bored that I started wondering why the plant was still just sitting there in a random spot.

Totally agree. There were hints that Wil is manipulative and even villainous, but they haven't gone anywhere with that except his lying to Nuan and hiding the lie from Joey, there is nothing to show us why Nuan is obsessed with Joey, or why everyone else is. He's nice, but if they're going to have every man on campus murdering each other to get him, they should have cast someone really hot and compelling in the role so it makes sense. Like Royce Cabrera or something.

That's not really true. If you're young it just seems that way, but the LGBTQ community has long-term relationships just like everyone else. For a lot of people, you've had no dating life at all until college so you want to spread your wings a little. One thing I've found different is that gay men usually remain friends with exes - I don't think I've ever broken up with someone that I'm not friends with.