3
5
Abyssmal
I won't bore you with a long review, but this is the dullest, most pointless BL I've seen. The acting is non-existent, the plot is pedestrian, the whole thing is filmed on an iPhone, the editing is incompetent, the sound is poor, and there's no ending. It just... stops. There's a card that says it will be continued, but as far as I know it's over. There are scenes that are shot so poorly that there are characters that I didn't even realize were there until they spoke.The central relationship doesn't really do anything - until suddenly it does a LOT, and while I think the love scene is supposed to be consensual, the way it's filmed and the way the characters act afterwards, it's a bit questionable, although I think that might just be the total lack of acting. I will say that the main character has a surprisingly beautiful body when you finally get to see it, and he's cute when he smiles, which is like twice.
I can't recommend this at all.
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Not the worst think I've ever seen.
This series had potential that was never realized. It had a fairly talented cast - including Kaleb Ong, one of the best actors in BL, Axl Romeo, and RR Roque, who was a surprise.It had some interesting story ideas, like a minister who has an interesting night job, interesting class difference issues, an unusual, mildly creepy, but ultimately engaging sibling relationship, and portraying an effeminite gay character in a very positive way (and for the first time in human history, had an uke who was taller than his seme - this counts as a major miracle).
But many of these plot points went nowhere, like the minister performs his night job once and then it's never referred to again. The class and power dynamics were never really explored.
I think there are three main problems with this series.
- The script is not good. It wanders all over the place and needed a lot more discipline and to link the stories together better - and build up to issues rather than springing them out of nowhere. It needed to focus on the themes it introduced, instead of handwaving away all the conflicts.
- The directing drains all the energy out of the production, not to mention the actors. Meet My Angel was not good in most regards, but the acting, especially Kaleb's, was spectacular - maybe the best single performance in a BL of all time. Here, he's... there. In My Chinito Prince, Axl was compelling and sexy - here he's... there.
- The editing. The series wandered all over the place, with strange scenes included and critical ones left out - like there's a critical conversation between Omeng and Lemuel in the last episode... that apparently happened offscreen, because there's a sudden and total reversal in their relationship that came out of nowhere.
The technical qualities of the production like sound weren't great, but they were above average for a DIY like this and adequate. The OST was good, but it sounds like all the other Filipino BL OSTs and is used way too much to the point it gets irritating.
I don't think I can recommend this series - there's no payoff for the investment, and the actors (epecially the ones that drew to watch this) are poorly utilized and give their least compelling performances to date.
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This is truly awful. In the most boring way.
I'll start with the good. The music is good. The cast is pretty good. Noh will probably seem lifeless to you, but I think that's bad directing, not bad acting. I think he's capable of displays of restrained and subtle emotion, but you only get to see it once or twice. The main couple are undoubtedly cute together, and they have strong chemistry. Bbomb has a really, really hot body and he's very sexy. Jin is adorable and his smile is really something.The bad: There is no plot. None at all. The characters merely run in circles the entire series, and it's hard to convey how completely unexaggerated that is. Do you know how many times people get injured playing football? I don't - I lost count. (That's slightly exaggerated - but Jin does get injured more than once, and it serves exactly the same plot function both times.)
There is only one source of drama in this series, and it's jealousy. Both characters are endlessly jealous over the other so much as being in the same room as anyone else - girls, boys, houseplants, they're jealous of everything. It's always a misunderstanding, and the characters never, ever discuss it - they just retreat somewhere, sulk, and refuse to answer the phone or communicate in any way. With no exaggeration, the number of times this happens is so great, often several times in a single episode, that I can't tell you how many - really, I'm not kidding.
Bbomb is so psychotically jealous that Jin should really run for his life, because he's going to end up strangled to death in a fit of rage. Although the chances are 50/50 he'll be able to escape if Bbomb is currently recovering from a football injury.
There are a lot of supporting characters in this, and none of them serve any purpose whatsoever. If you're here to see Kaownah & Turbo, prepare for disappointment. There are hints that Turbo likes Kaownah, but it never goes anywhere. At all. And Kaowah is surprisingly terrrible in this - I think again, very strange directing. Ball, played by the actor who is the fujoshi's brother in Oxygen, appears two or three times and one of the support characters is smitten by him (and Ball is almost fatally cute), but nothing happens. At all. He's not even in the finale. Boss, who played Kao in Oxygen is in this a lot more than I was expecting, and he's wonderful in a completely opposite role (reserved, manly, aristocratic - I would love to see him play a villain), but it's not enough. The guy who plays That in Manner of Death (the hot guy with the motorbike) does nothing significant.
I'd say about 75% of the run time is characters eating and drinking, or traveling to a from eating and drinking. The other 25% is people sulking in jealousy and implausible lack of communication.
All the friends have a master plan to get Jin & Bbomb together, but it makes absolutely no sense - it's totally incoherent and illogical, and appears to be more or less randomly sabotaging the two endlessly until... they get together?
Jin is so wracked by internalized homophobia that not only will he not allow Bbomb to tell anyone they're dating, he won't even let Bbomb hug him, even when they're alone in private - until the final episode, when he does something so totally outrageous and out of character your mouth will hit the floor - let's just say it involves involuntary outing, and if the person in question didn't already know, it would have been the worst thing any character has ever done in a BL (other than villains).
There is not one tired trope that isn't stuffed into this. If one of the main characters hugs someone, the other will show up at just that moment and misunderstand. If someone has a drop of alcohol, vomit and a piggyback ride will result. Playing football? Guess what happens? It often feels like a checklist they need to get through each ep.
Bbomb's house in Chiang Mai is so gigantic that it doesn't fit in a wide frame shot - seriously, it's not a mansion, maybe not even a palace, but an entire city-complex. If I were to guess, I'd say at least 2,000 sq m. And two people live there. With no domestic help. What is the point of this absurdity?
Despite the main couple's chemistry, they never really get anywhere, and the ending of 2gether is an orgy of pornographic debauchery compared to how this ends. There's a stuffed animal involved. And nobody f@#$s it, which would have been more interesting and satisfying than what happens.
When you finish the first episode, you'll say "This guy is too negative - it's not THAT bad." When you finish the last episode, you'll say "why didn't this a$$hole warn me it was this bad?" because it's much worse than I can convey in words.
Given the above, a four rating may seem high, but the quality of the production is good (other than the directing and writing), and the actors did as well as anyone could with this awful, miserable script, and I can at least say you're never without eye candy, so I think a four is reasonable. I can't imagine ever rewatching even one scene in this. I don't think there was even a gratuitous shower scene to go back to.
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It's not THAT bad.
A lot of the reviews and the comments section are a bit harsh, but I wonder if maybe people were reading the comments and letting other people's opinions sway their own - notice that most people said they watched the whole thing or that it's "so bad that it's good."This is not so bad that it's good, and it's not bad at all.
I think we need to keep in mind is that there is a Thai BL formula which includes a huge dose of fantasy - for example, the whole school is gay, or nobody has a homophobic bone in their body. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, and it's often a nice break from the real world, where there is no escape from homophobia. But that doesn't make everything else "wrong".
So first, some negatives that aren't negatives:
The budget. Yes, it's low. So what? Almost all BL are low budget, and it's cheaper to film in the Philippines or Thailand than it is in China, not to mention the censorship and really, really difficult municipal regulatory issues. The issue isn't the budget - I'm sure we can think or a ton of Thai BLs that had healthy budgets that were terrible. The issue is what you do within the constraints of the budget. Do you have a competent cinematographer and director? Is it well-edited? Is the sound & lighting good (these can be the hardest, BTW - editing & cinematography are about talent, skill, and time - lighting & sound are about money [as well as talent and skill]).
This show did a good job with all of these.
The writing is just OK. The "I hate you" phase was better, and had some good ideas in it. The relationship part itself didn't work as well and was a bit rushed, but imagine the level of censorship this production must have faced - it's a miracle that it was made and released at all.
The acting - one of the leads is a bit stiff, but he's not BAD, just a bit limited in range. There aren't any embarassing or laughable performances, and by BL standards they're fairly good.
There is a toxic female character, but there are also two positive female characters, and the toxic one is an over-the-top villainess who does not consume a lot of screentime, nor does she make anyone in the main pairing irrationally jealous like the standard BL formula requires.
But what is most important is for there to be heart in the project, and this has that. You can really feel that everyone involved cares about this series, whereas so many BLs are just cashing in on the popularity of the genre - including a lot of the high-budget productions. Every single person involved in this production risked their futures to make this for us, and we should appreciate that and give it our support.
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This is a beautiful story.
This is more LGBTQ+ focused than the majority of BLs, which have a focus on boys being cute together - and that's perfectly fine. I love those too. But this series may not resonate as much with audiences who are looking for that type of romance. There are many cute and heart-warming moments here, but this is a coming-of-age story, so the arc is about Mico being unable to attain love until he's able to attain self-acceptance.Anyway, a lot of the criticism is over the lack of communication between the leads, which is odd, as most BLs heavily lean on implausible failures of communication to generate the final dramatic hump of the series. Here, I thought the communication problem was entirely authentic, and its resolution equally true to life, requiring outside help, whereas often in a story I'm thinking "you know, these two have mutual friends who know both sides of the story and can easily fix this..."
The acting is very good. JC is great, suffusing his character with confidence in his intellect, bold nerdiness, and insecurity about everything else. Tony is underrated - playing someone emotionally and verbally reserved, he has to pack a lot of emotion into subtle moments. His nervous giggling as he's gearing up to sing is masterful and authentic - and at the end of Ep 5, during a pause before an important moment, he worldessly radiates with an understated stare so much vulnerability and longing that I audibly gasped and started crying, and I'm tearing up just thinking about it now. And his desolation in Ep 7 may crush you. The support characters are all well-cast for their roles - I loved that everyone in the friend group (the Padawans) is clueless except Junjun, who sees everything. It was nice to see a minor character play a crucial role - that he was called was the best possible decision that could have been made and he was the only path to a happy ending.
The script is tightly written, with many layers of meaning, the central poem of their school project woven through the story, so that you can pick up new things with each viewing. (Note if you're watching with subtitles that lines that sound clunky are often from the poem.) Even the t-shirts reflect feelings and internal conflicts, and the heart on Mico's wall represents where he is, etc. The project performance in Ep 7 was a little too on-the-nose, but it was well-setup throughout the series so it worked. Or notice the color of Xavier's backwards baseball cap in Ep 6 and think about what that symbolizes. Both characters have an arc, and the resolution depends on a powerful statement of the importance of self-acceptance.
The cinematography and set design were artful, with delightful color coordination (e.g. Ep 8 with Mico's pink accessory in the closed tea shop), the music was beautifully integrated, e.g. he final music cue in Ep 5 was perfect to maximize the impact of the final line. The editing is stunning - there are scenes where you'll gasp at the way they managed to overcome safe distancing to give you real intimacy.
All of this was accomplished within the tight constraints of the COVID/social media setting - and I wonder if maybe that inspired a higher level of creativity.
There are a couple of issues. The side couple is adorable, but they didn't really serve much purpose in the story. Kookai's importance ended with her declaration towards the beginning, and Seph never had one - only Junjun was needed throughout, and the time would have been better spent developing Xavier's context, or more time establishing Mico's character at the beginning - or just making the series an episode shorter.
There are also a couple of important scenes that are non-linear but it's very unclear and confusing about where they fall in the story. I like that the production respects the intelligence of the audience, but we needed a "two weeks ago" or something in a couple of cases, or some other means of context. If you're reading this before watching, the most important is a conversation in Ep 8 involving the teacher, which occurs between Ep 1 & Ep 2.
The second one is a 1:1 conversation in Ep 8 with JunJun that occurs prior to a group chat the Padawans have at the end of Ep 7 and explains the strange things they say to Mico and advise him to do.
I've rewatched much of this several times, and this is is one of my favorite BLs of all time. I highly recommend it - just be forewarned it may take 1.5 episodes to get into it.
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Better than I was expecting
There are a few negatives that I'll cover first, in what was otherwise a strong series.I don't think Park was the right actor for this role. He's made to be a campy villain - in the last episode "real" Apo had 10 times the weight that "fake" Apo had.
I don't like it when ukes are infanilized and feminized. If a male character is going to be feminized, then he needs to OWN it. Why did they dress him in middle-aged woman's clothing? He looked like a society matron. His character was so weak and lacking in agency that the only time he takes decisive action he accomplishes absolitely nothing except getting run over by a car and meeting a much more interesting version of himself, which was proof Park has it in him if the role is right.
The villain of the story was so obvious from the first time the character appeared onscreen, but I forgive this for how much I enjoyed the performance - I really want to see the actor playing a full-on evil character.
Big surprised me in this. I've always been obsessed with him physically, but his acting in this was really strong, managing an actual character arc and a very wide range. Also, he was shirtless so often in this that even I was satfisfied. That man has an absolutely beautiful body.
But let's talk about the secondary couple - who stole the show more than secondary couples usually do. That was a strong premiere for Pan - but Jeng absoutely has leading man energy and should be in way more series. He was mesmerizing as the misunderstood villain in Friend Forever, and he was a standout in this series.
I thought the writing was very solid and character-based. It wasn't full of silly coincidences and misunderstandings - people acted like people act, and the story was coherent, with attention to action and reaction rather than using weak plot devices to push the "plot" forward. Even the supernatural powers in this were used consistently, and while they certainly factored into the story, they weren't abused, and they didn't suddenly disappear when it was convenient.
I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this series - the acting was all-around strong, the writing is good, and there's plenty of eye-candy and for once, a BL doesn't shy away from the physical aspects of love - but also handles it tastefully and with restraint.
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Cute but a bit shallow
This was a cute romance with good chemistry between the leads - especially in the earlier episodes. The dialogue was fairly snappy and cute, and it had many nice moments.I think the premise is a little wasted. There were two directions they could have taken, but didn't. One would be to accent that he's a robot and doesn't really understand humans and human society outside of what someone could read, and all the funny situations that develop from that. There's a scene where the main character is so turned on by the robot that he has to "relieve himself" - I would have liked to see him wondering what's wrong with him, and asking himself is Ever 9 is in effect sophisticated porn.
The second, and probably the one that would have made the most sense, is to examine what a person is. What are we? We're constructed with our DNA as a blueprint and we have basic emotional and behavioral settings also programmed by our DNA, and the rest of what we are is based on whatever we experience. Is an artificial being like Ever 9 much different?
We often blame things we do on past trauma, essentially "programming" that we have no control over, so why is an AI any less a living thing, provided it is truly autonomous?
This was totally ignored, even in the decisions his uncle makes.
This reduces the premise to a shallow gimmick and the plot is formulaic and predictable. I enjoyed it until the last 2 episodes, which degenerated into a tedious montage of past happiness played against a truly sappy love ballad.
Speaking of which, the music in this was tiresome and got on my nerves in the last two episodes.
The acting and production values are quite good. Ever 9 is just robotic enough to seem not quite human while conveying emotion clearly, and the main character is good at portraying how closed and clueless he is in dealing with humans and only able to open up to a robot (another lost opportunity for examination).
This is a good series to binge - it was hard to wait for a weekly episode at the beginning, and the last few episodes are better all at once, especially the last two. I wouldn't enthusiastically recommend it, but it's cute and entertaining and short enough that even if it's not really your thing it's not a huge investment of time.
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- The acting - excellent overall. Especially the BL couple, who were so natural and comfortable - I think there was a lot of ad-libbing, but it worked really well.
- The music - a big step above the usual Thai drama standard. The music was serious when it needed to be. It was actually dark and beautiful in the "almost-kiss" scene late in Ep 7 - I was really surprised and moved.
- The men. Jeez. Other than the main character, the boys were stunning, especially In.
But unfortunately:
- The writing. So, so bad. First of all, the main character is unlikable. He's a hypocrite and is trying to steal another person's girlfriend. He has no positive qualities - he's not intelligent or funny, he has no integrity, and when he has any agency at all, he becomes abusive with it. Also, what's the message here? If you're a loser, join a biker gang and start acting like a dick and you'll be cool?
The BL couple is written nicely, but there's NO PAYOFF!!! Not even a single kiss! It doesn't make any sense - one boy is not gay, but he agrees to date the other because he doesn't want to lose his friendship? WTF?
If you're here for the BL, it's not worth slogging through this awkward, unpleasant mess. I couldn't find an InSun cut, but if you can, it might be worth it, provided there's a payoff in Our Skyy - I haven't watched it yet.
It's a pity, because there were a few nice writing touches, like the conversation in the aquarium - it's like there was a good writer for the dialogue, but the worst one in the world for the plot.
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The first half was fantastic.
The first half of this series was beautiful to watch, beautifully filmed, an air of nostalgia in a beautiful setting.But then the setting disappeared, and the "plot" was left unsupported, and the flat, predictable, and formulaic story had to bear its own weight, not helped by the strange decline of the sountrack.
It felt like the director lost interest halfway through and just had to tie it up and go home. The time jump wasn't as awful as these usually are, but it was also insufficiently supported and drained the narrative of what life it had left.
TBH, I barely remember this series. I binged the frist four episodes, and then had to force myself through the rest. It wasn't awful or painful, but it was difficult to pay attention.
This is short enough that it won't kill you to watch it, and the first half is beautiful enough to make it worth it, but a higher budget, better writing, and slightly longer run-time, and a longer attention span on the part of the director, could have made this a masterpiece.
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Great series. Maybe let down by the last two eps.
I really like that we've moved past university (or worse, high school) stories, and I applaud the plot and theme of the story, which is that clinging to the past only brings sorrow.This is a charming series, with a superb actor in Daou, who gives a deep and mature performance. Offroad is infectious with that smile, but he did pale a bit in comparison to his partner, perhaps partially because his character isn't as interesting or deep, and doesn't really have that much agency - he more or less gets dragged along by fate or whatever else is happening. He's clearly been hitting the gym, because... woof.
The cast is extraordinarily attractive, with not only Daou and Offroad, but Pond, Gumpuns as the hot priest, and especially See as Vee's friend Ton who we don't get enough of.
There are a few things that did diminish what could have been a better series. One is the 2D villains, who would twirl their mustaches if they had them - they were cartoons and lacked any depth, context, or any defined role in the plot other than being evil. I liked that although we revert to the female villain, she's not evil so much as selfish and bumbling. This is all Lakorn-ish, including the overly dramatic musical cues, and got a little tiresome.
The other problem was the tonally dissonant last two episodes, which took way, way too much time and made me ff through most of it (there's a +10 sec button on GagaOOLala). It was tedious and not fun like the rest of the series. This, like almost all Thai series, would have benefitted from being 2 episodes shorter - it's a bit dragged out to fill the time.
Still, you won't regret watching it.
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Cute and worth watching, but a little messy.
The first four or five episodes of this are unusually delightful, with painfully shy culinary student Lukchup and his friends vs his crush, the popular senior architecture student and picky eater Ram and his friends. All of them are nice people and their interactions are cute and dynamic.The architects repeatedly find excuses to have lunch with the chefs, in sort of a take on Sheherezade but with cooking instead of storytelling. It's really sweet and well-written, with hints of attractions outside the main couple, and I could easily have watched 13 episodes of that and not gotten bored.
Unfortunately, a huge amount of screentime is devoted to the scheming of the wannabee-girfriend and a campaign of very serious bullying. While this plotline is decently handled and the good-guys aren't complete idiots like they usually are and deal with the situation intelligently, it felt a little like a completely different show. There's the main BL, with, shall we kindly say, "understated" acting against the bullying storyline and the lakorn acting of the villainess. She's quite good and convincingly loathesome, but it's just too overpowering for a series like this.
The external threat wasn't at all necessary as there were plenty of characters and relationships to explore. Lukchup is painfully cute, and Ram is handsome enough, but their relationship is so chaste that eventually it becomes awkward and unbelievable, especially as the popular secondary couple Sky & Phai go from 0 to "let's go to my place and f@#$" in 15 seconds (They actually do say this, albeit in euphemisms). The main pair actors are apparently not planning to be professional actors, and it shows with their total unwillingness to do anything gay (even a fujoshi fantasizing about them doesn't have them so much as kiss) whereas the guys playing Sky and Phai seriously commit and provide what could have been red-hot if there had been any setup.
Likewise, it's hinted that Lukchup's handsome older brother and his super-hot manager are involved, but this is never explored, and there are two het and one BL couple that use up a chunk of the finale. One of these couples is cute and does have a bit of time throughout the series, but their progression is rather sudden at the end.
If they had stuck with the earlier structure and explored the interactions and developing relationships of the two groups, this would have been a better series. As is, it's messy and the later episodes are things you just want to get through to reach the end.
I can recommend this, because I got real enjoyment from it, but I did do a lot of fast-fowarding in the later episodes. The ending is satisfying but underwhelming.
Story: 8. This is high, but the beginning is really good, and even though I didn't like the evil-female storyline, it was well-written and the good-guys are not clueless and handle it well. The OTT effeminate gay character is not played just for laughs (and is really good-looking), and immdiately sees through the villainess.
Acting: 6. As typical of Thai BL, the understated style prevents unskilled actors from being embarassing, but there aren't any standouts either. Many of them do a great job of being cute. I'll leave it at that.
Music: Better than average, and very catchy.
Rewatch: I would and probably will rewatch the initial episodes, which I would probably have rated a 9-9.5.
Overall: 7.5 - but if I could split the series, 9 for the first half, 6 for the second half.
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Excellent Short
DON'T read the synopsis on GagaOOlala - it spoils the story.This was really good - it's beautifully shot and edited, with fantastic color grading. The acting is good - the bigger guy is a stronger actor, but the cute one holds his own.
This is very narratively tight - the meaning of the strange opening scene becomes starkly apparent at the end - it's quite powerful. There is one plot hole which will almost certainly come to mind, which is "do people not ask each other what they do for a living?" I think this is somewhat plausible given how they meet and immediately launch into a fairly physical relationship, but the story appears to span at least be a few days so it's a bit odd, although I will say that I dated a guy for 2 years and he had no idea what I actually did - just that I had an office job.
Anyway, it doesn't really matter - this film isn't trying to be realistic, it's about perspectives.
This is NSFW - it's not graphic, but there's a lot of love going on. A lot of hot, sweaty love.
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A Disappointment
The acting in this is very good. Both leads do a good job. The OST is good, but overused on very high volume. It's filmed decently and the overall production quality is fine.But the story... it's a BL because of Ep 6, but that's about it. Other than that it's mostly two guys talking about their girlfriends, including the very last scene, which is between one of them and his girlfriend. BL has a weird obsession with straight guys.
I like slow-burn relationships, but there is really almost no burn at all - until suddenly they're on fire. The final episode was entirely getting in and out of cars and the gf meeting, and the ending was mystifyingly open. If you're going to make us slog through this, at least let's have a nice payoff, not an abrupt ending with no closure.
I really got no pleasure out of watching this and I can't recommend it.
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Wonderful Short.
I think people are rating this as if it were a regular BL series with twelve 45-min episodes. Judging it as a short, it's really good.The castdid a great job of realizing two chracters in 12 minutes, and I really cared what happened. The loser kid was so adorable (he's a dork) and the sad guy did world-weary well. The way the story unfolded was not entirely predictable, even though it went to the "fall and end up with faces too close together" trope which needs to be taken out to a field, soaked in gasoline, and burned. I would have give this an 8 but for that.
Anyway, well worth 12 minutes.
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There was so much extraneous time-filler in this series that it felt like a shameless cash-grab. I had to set it on 2x or even skip some scenes that were just too much torture to watch.
Going back to it later, my reaction didn't change much - Book & Frame are enjoyable largely because of Ohm, but the storyline is bad, and the exploitative use of very troubling events without examining them with any depth or there being any consequences was actually disturbing.
Anyway, all the actors have been improving, and they're nice to look at, but I can't express how disappointed I am in this season.
If you like the actor who plays Frame (Ohm Pawat), then I recommend He's Coming to me, where he's amazing. And maturing well, I must say. He's also great in The Shipper, although mostly straight in that series.
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