naki_Mushi

I was hoping so hard that one of the main characters or friends of Pharm is actually related to Intouch's bestfriend (Somkrit). He deserves as much closure as the surviving family of Intouch's and Korn's. His dialogues hurt me the most~
Other than this slight disappointment, this is honestly a very intersting story.
A multifaceted story with complex emotions and entwined relantionships.
Pharm's actor did well in presenting the layered emotions of Intouch's and Pharm's whenever Pharm gets his past life's flashes, especially the whole sequence from when he found the tinbox near the end of the show.

I was lazy to add on, but after I posted my thoughts on the wedding scene, I recalled the next meal scene where both Jack and his Grandma actually laid out a bowl and utensils for Joke, and Jack even knocked on the table to "called" Joke to eat. That is actually a rather clear display from both of them (and the show) that they are inviting a spirit to the table to have a meal. Hence, it is a clear sign that Jack does acknowledge Joke's "passing", and he had a Ming Hun with him, not a mortal marriage.

But yea, the show didn't really incorporated all the Chinese cultural elements that they mentioned well. They just sort of used them like props.
Coming from someone who had some knowledge of Chinese culture, the wedding scene was actually just incredibly heartbreaking when I saw it. When I first saw the paper doll, the first thing that came to my mind was Ming Hun, and it just speaks volume about Jack's love. Hence the audience's calmness didn't felt ridiculous to me like all the negative reviews seemed to had an ick about.

A little spoiler/ summary/ synopsis:
2 actors working on BL projects together fell in love and have to navigate their relationship hurdles together as their career plans take shape.

The 2 actors working on BL show idea is not new, there's several in JBL. But the story telling for this makes this one exceptional.
The 2 actors work on several projects. and each projects is portrayed as a complete standalone mini BL in the show. And the audience do not know that the mini BL is part of the bigger story at first, which is why is sort of interesting. I thought I was watching a compilation of 1 volumes BL novels up until episode 4.
Maybe the synopsis was literal nonsense to not spoil the story telling art here? lol

Each mini BL in the show had a really good story flow and unique characters too. The overarching story was also distinct. I could instantly tell when the actors were acting as the main story BL actors or as the leads in their mini BL series (sounds kinda inception here).
Very well created characters and stories here.

And I agree with a comment below about how each mini BL story possibly represent the stages of their r/s. Though we might have different interpretations.
This is because the mini BLs project that they did just get progressively more intimate after each one. So the first one stops at a shy kiss, like a budding romance. Then the second mini BL, the characters had more skinship, and the kiss was more passionate. The third almost had some bed scenes. The intimacy level of each BL projects they did represents the intimacy level of a typical romantic r/s from it first begins.
Side note: The intimacy correlation is just a minor "interpretation", not my main interpretation. I might have to sit on my thoughts for a while for that lol

This is one interesting story telling format. The synopsis is trash. Might as well leave it empty.
I like how the story unfolds, is a little different than what we get from similar tropes, but is definitely coherent. The mini stories within are all executed really well and complete despite the short time frame. Really well done.

Will leave a 1 liner synopsis in my spoiler comment lol~

Jack's family is of Chinese descent as expressed multiple times in the show, and the area they live in seems to have a lot of chinese cultural background and beliefs . Though tarot reading is not part of chinese culture, I don't know how that part made it in the show lol.
In Chinese culture, there's a thing called "ming hun" or Ghost Wedding. Where you marry a ghost/deceased. There's a Taiwan show (Marry My dead Body) that can explain Ming Hun really well, and there's a Thai version coming soon (The red Envelope), both are Ming Hun between men btw. In Summary, Ming Hun is carried out when a person passed away before marrying (this tradition evolves and changes through time how and why people wants to do it, but ultimately is always to let the deceased child RIP) and the family will search for a suitable partner to conduct a Ming Hun. During a Ming Hun, the deceased can be represented by a "paper doll" like how this show tried to do it.
BUT BUT BUT. This is just my personal thought when I saw the scene. That they were conducting a ming hun. Even though an actual ming hun involves MUCH more things, alot of ceremonies and traditions to properly pay respect to the deceased and call upon them to get them ready for the marriage, not just walk down the aisle lol. But then, throughout the WHOLE series, every dialogue and indication of chinese culture they have tried to incorporate was very vague and rather inaccurate, so I am not surprised if the show wanted to used the Ming Hun idea but didn't want to do it properly.

Just want to put this Ming Hun possibility out here as I saw a few reviews that seemed to think the cardboard wedding was very nonsensical though from a cultural POV, is actually very heavy hearted and respectful.
If the show was actually properly done, this could have been a very emotional plot point, to marry even in death.

Honestly, felt so cheated by MDL rating, should have trusted the reviews. If this series was 8 episodes long, I could have let it slide, but this was a lot of time wasted. Anyway, despite how I feel about the series as a whole, I just want to provide my 2 cents (personal interpretation) on the wedding scene.
May or may not be spoiler, not sure how sensitive people are, so I will just put in the spoiler tag in the reply below.

This is such a good one, I am glad I chanced upon this going from recommendations to recommendations (I don't follow social media on what's new, I just rely on titles /recommendations and synopsis as though I am browsing the library 20 years back lol) . Definitely more romcom and fluffy romance than heavy, dark, and dangerous love like what the synopsis hinted. The "heavy, dark and dangerous" element is there, though not of their romance, but of their circumstances and the situations that the story uses to move the plot along. I just really like how they deal with the traumas. The self blame, self isolation, and self sacrificial mindset, then the healing for both of them at the end, they are all portrayed really well? At least to me it was very well presented.

Read the comments and reviews > Got intrigued by how bad can this be with such a safe enemy to lovers trope > Watched it > Ended up loving it > Came back to rate and saw the criticisms again > Now thinking I might just have trashy taste hahahha

In my personal opinion, is a cute, fluffy love story that is executed rather decently. Story telling is more coherent than some other higher rating BLs out there lol. Acting was above decent too lol~
Glad I took my curiosity seriously and gave this a try. Enjoyed it so much

Added some personal interpretations of certain scenes and symbolism in the symbolism discussion board that might have some FYI stuff, but is a lengthy post lol

After Teh returned home from giving up his allocation, and he had his instastory argument with Oh aew, he opened up his tattered textbook. The largest (and camera focused) 2 chinese words on the left page, then later refocused again after his cries when he lay his head down on the book meant .
Then at the very end, the final scene where the workbook shows a repeated practiced writing of a single word. The word is Love.
These are just 2 scenes that don't seem to have been translated, so I thought I will write it here as an FYI.

Teh's mum, though, gave me anxiety every time she appears on screen lol. Celebrating before any results are out, then announcing(bragging?) all her great assumptions to the whole world... That's some stress.... That kind of "oversharing" somehow made me doubt the timeframe this show was supposed to unfold in. Several times I thought is the 1990s. Everyone was too nice.
A pleasant surprise in this cross cultural plot is that Teh seems to be of Baba/ Peranakan descent (His mum wearing the Nonya traditional clothing, unless there are other cultures with similar clothing that I am unaware of) . Not shocking, since Thailand is literally just above Malaysia, but I guess is a little amusing to "see" supposed Baba people speaking Thai (natively) .
Getting the feels to plan a trip to Phuket lol~

This is beautiful. Just so intricately beautiful. Like a delicately stitched embroidery. The actors and the cinematography and the music and the dialogues etc etc are the yarns and threads. Such a beauty

Even up till now in the working world...lol~ Was labelled rude when I was young because I don't "mingle" with the others (Similar to the Jane storyline, except I was scolded and reprimanded by adults for not playing with the other kids). Had a fun combination of being painfully shy and introverted when young.

Not sure about the budget difficulties that comes with a series/film production, but I hope the situation gets better for yall. 《Bad to bed》really has depth to it. Thank you for producing the show despite the limits in budget, Looking forward to the next show the team produce, Jiayou~

Needed to add: I love the last episode of the scene where Kangaroo helps pack the clothes of Racoon into the luggage for their upcoming trip. IYKYK

Definitely should add a psychology/mental health (idk what tags there are here on this site) tag to this series, the element of psychology(MH) is slightly greater than the romance, which happens to be my cup of tea lol. The BL romance is a great supplement to the plot of the psychological struggles of both MLs (especially the main male lead). Transition between reality/dreams/past/delusions could have been more distinct though. First 3 episodes was definitely like a walk in some house of mirrors, extremely confusing. Story telling could be better, but I do like the style of not showing the mental health issues clearly on screen, even though everything that happened, happened precisely because of it (i.e. Many dramas like to let the audience know exactly what is wrong with their characters by adding in some diagnosis scenes etc, so we get the clear idea behind certain behaviours). Very much like real life. More often than not, we see the action and behaviours of people more than we see the underlying reason for said actions and behaviours.

Honestly, did not want to watch this because of the synopsis, thought it was a fantasy story of sorts, glad I read the comments and gave this a shot. That synopsis need to change...
Surprisingly enjoyed this series to the very end. The rating is not justified. Probably because people came for BL(romance), but got something much more complicated and deep (read the reviews, should give a better idea that this series is not purely love is in the air romance).
Both MLs are super cute too. I love all the BTS clips at the end of each episode, seeing their little preparations and de-escalation for each important scene is actually pretty fun and insightful.

Great story, some scenes actually got me teared up, but needs better execution/production (or needs more budget idk lol)

I couldn't bear to skip the main leads, I actually love both couples in the main story hahaha~ But really need a sequel for Ho Tae and Dong Hee. These 2 are just so endearing~

The ending is so heartbreaking... In the end, YiHeon still gave up on living... He may have saw how "his" life changed, but ultimately he didn't experienced it. Leaving the place that brought him so much pain is the only relieve afterall....

watching this has me missing the main story so much I think I am going to rewatch it to sooth my soul lol