Going down the hill
It started very promising. The first few episodes up to like the sixth episode were truly entertaining. I especially enjoyed that playful bond between team players and Sam and Tom's friendship—absolutely the cutest thing ever and a reminder for the BL industry that two people can be very close and touchy while staying friends and not developing any romantic feelings. Honorable mention for characters having consistent personalities, which is rare in Thai industry. Now the couples, during those six episodes, we've got to see a very original story of Sprite and Zee. I absolutely loved the acting of these two. It's actually admirable to play two people at the same time and still make them very recognizable and visibly different. About Jack and Mike: great chemistry, finally we're starting a relationship from a mutual attraction instead of hate or random mutual love at first sight. Sam and Tan—overall, they were pretty cute.I know many people thought they were awkward, but personally, I think it just added to their charm. New relationships tend to be awkward and imperfect sometimes.Then we got past the sixth episode, and the downfall had begun. Truly random, unnecessary problems; chaotic scenes that didn't really make sense chronologically. I feel like I've watched them, but I didn't—the director just poured whatever to fill up the space between the 6th and 12th episode. I could let this go if the 12th episode was really worth all the bs, but I'm afraid it wasn't. I mean, I like how they mentioned some issues and resolved them, but bro, they had 6 random episodes that gave nothing just to overfill the 12th episode with every possible plot point they found. They could've further developed Tan and Sam's storyline, shown us more about Jack's family, and, in general, more about Mike and Jack's dynamics (during those 6 episodes they appeared maybe like 4 times are you fr). They could've shown us more about the relationship between Zee and Sprite getting better, it seemed like they suddenly just let all the bitter feelings that we've learned about in the summary go. There were many, many possibilities, all wasted now. I set the rewatch value as 5, because I'm definitely watching those six episodes again, but I'll act like whatever comes next never happened. I suggest y'all just come up with your own ending; I bet it'll be more interesting.
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Wasted potential
When I first read the plot and watched the trailer I was so excited to follow the journey of Teerak and Muenfah — such a pity that the main plot that I had learned about and loved so much was lost somewhere midway through the series. Oh was the main villain but also an important character for the storyline that they set up as he basically was the reason for it so once they got rid of him around ep 5… the show lost its initial purpose. I wouldn’t even notice it probably if the storyline’d remain interesting but Teerak’s and Fah’s relationship was simply boring. It was only getting worse plot-wisely. It lost its course completely and became a plotless, basic and, dare I say, boring drama. They focused on building up the relationship of the main characters but there was nothing special about them or their background, they faced common problems that we’ve seen in hundreds other series already. The fake dating thing was actually interesting and in a way quite unique — such a pity they threw it away so quickly and chose the most basic way forward. Of course, there are events in the show that I enjoyed very much but they were strongly overshadowed by the dragging of those useless plot points . If I were to touch the acting — I was VERY impressed. I love the way Kong portrays Teerak and Teerak’s mother did a significantly GREAT job as well. All the friendships felt overall very natural and playful which made watching the series a pleasurable experience in this certain aspect of it HOWEVER — Thomas. I feel like he lost Muenfah a bit. I met Fah as this cold person that everyone was afraid of but learned that he has a soft spot for Teerak, that gave his character a bit of depth which sadly was getting shallower and shallower as we were getting nearer the end. At some point Fah was a completely different smiley fluffy person which felt fake most of the times. It could’ve been a scenario issue tho. I was very pleasantly surprised by Real and Hia. Their storyline was a bit toxic with all the forcing that was going on but their relationship seemed very personal, special and one-of-a-kind type of shiat. I wish we could get more of Por and TeeTee instead of endless fluff and mostly uninteresting problems of the main characters.Was this review helpful to you?
So unique!
The plot is so creative; it's one of the best plots I've ever watched in BLs, actually. Making reality into a game was a genius move; it allowed the authors to get carried away with reactions, plot twists, and mysteries without them not making any sense or being random, because after all, no matter what would come on, it would have to make sense since it's in the game. Even slightly cringeworthy moments or characters' rushed development were totally fine, because they could've been a bit caricaturized. However! That didn't make the story all fluffy, boring, or lacking. I absolutely loved the background for the little love story of Myungha and Yeowoon, especially that out-of-the-box ending. Although I still feel like we could've been provided with more information about the game itself, etc., I wholeheartedly hope for a spin-off. Watching all these dramas, you can notice how most of them don't bring anything to the table—this series totally does. Creative, interesting, engaging storylines; amazing acting; outstanding visuals (I loved how the director provides viewers with shots typical for video games; it just makes the whole experience even more enjoyable). There's nothing tired or corny about it. They served quality AND quantity, since that's one of the longest KBLs we've got so far. Honorable mention for music; it was one of the best soundtracks I've heard in BLs. The only con I could think of is, as I've stated prior, the lack of disclosure regarding the author of the game, how the game works, how it is controlled, and how he managed to stay inside—but that doesn't make the show any less great and it's not like it was absolutely necessary for the author to touch upon those things; it just makes me hope for a second season.Was this review helpful to you?
Decent acting saved this
I guess korean bls are a genre of their own, the main rule being “give as little as possible”. I understand making something great while having only 8 episodes, 12 minutes each, requires a cinematographic mastermind but then let’s make it longer than that, so the plot won’t seem so shallow. I mean overall it’s not that bad, just a little overdramatic towards the end in my personal opinion- it’d be great for angst lovers. The acting was great, really amazing. The cast did an outstanding job at making it enjoyable and sometimes even funny, and for that I’d recommend to watch it - it’s still just like an hour of your time.Was this review helpful to you?
A shiny pearl in the nonsense of GMMTV cinematography
I never expect too much from GMMTV, but this series seriously exceeded my expectations. I see many people complaining about some little, frankly insignificant things that I didn’t even get to pay too much attention to as I was too absorbed into the amazingly portrayed story of the main couple (I’m still going to mention some of the things that I wasn’t too pleased with down below tho). Leng and Ohm did a phenomenal job, both are just genuinely some of the best Thai actors I’ve seen. The love of their characters felt very real, natural and… romantic? Yes. I feel like many moments in the series could’ve been a cringey disaster but they’ve smoothly saved them with their amazing acting. A great plus of this production that I don’t see many people mentioning are the personalities of the characters which were CONSISTENT. They didn’t act out for absolutely no reason just to make the moment dramatic, their decisions and actions were explainable most of the times (the only exception would be Jada but she could’ve just been very bad at being a villain I guess). I like how they kept it away from being over dramatic — Q didn’t cry and left for Vancouver, we didn’t get the “10 years later” shot and they didn’t call it a day like that and, knowing GMMTV — they could’ve. There were some scenes that I think were useless, cringeworthy and could’ve been skipped, but I can probably count them using only one of my hands. I would definitely like for this to be more focused on this criminal storyline that got me so excited about Kidnap and maybe come up with a less shallow and short plot based on it, but even like this I think watching it was overall a very enjoyable experience. I usually hate movies and series that mostly focus on romance but I found myself not bored when the storyline focused on Q’s and Min’s relationship. Ohm’s acting (I mean the younger brother of Min) was also very impressive and him alongside Q created a very special, unique and funny dynamics when they tried to get Min to come back to Q. At first I thought that desperation wasn’t the right move for Q’s character but after reconsidering it I think that “being overly confident” and childishly stubborn fits Q perfectly. I would recommend it to everyone who likes the increased number of incredibly sweet but not at all cringey moments between family and lovers mixed with a slight criminal side story.Was this review helpful to you?
