pearlescent

New's singing this episode was great. For once I enjoyed a song in a BL drama. I also enjoyed that some stuff finally progressed...kind of? Lian is pulling out all the stops. We got some more annoying Lian leaning without doing anything but at least Kuea pointed it out this time so I could laugh with them.

Lian continues to be manipulative, though I've given up on that "improving" since it seems to be the entire joke of the show. Lian is Kuea's husband-father and he knows everything while Kuea is clueless.

Onto the secondary couple: I liked that Yi told Diao he wasn't mad at him and we saw him freak out over a dog. Knowing Diao's history with animals from the books, it made his overprotectiveness sweet for once instead of scary.

The pace needs to speed up a little bit more, but this episode was a huge improvement on the last.

And that's a good thing to you? Gay subcultures in non-Western countries have a right to exist without Western approval. The only real issue in the husband/wife debate is whether or not both parties consent to the use of language. If both parties consent (And surprise—there are real gay Asian people that use these terms in their IRL relationships!) it shouldn't be anyone's business.

Zee treats Nunew the same as Nat because they're kids compared to him lol. Definitely a very parental vibe that carries over onto the show.

I don't care about ZeeNunew being real or fanservice (psst It's most likely fanservice) but Zee has never stricken me as straight, especially after I learned that he was an actual Saint stan that went to one of his fanmeets pre-Why R U? There are pictures and everything lmao. I don't know any straight guys that watched LBC and stanned Pete enough to go to the actor's fanmeet.

I have nothing against Zee and Nunew as people but the entire Cutie Pie promotion cycle is giving heavy notes of TharnType/MewGulf. It's a problematic series that's bolstered by the over the top will-they-won't-they fanservice of the cast members. I think a big reason why this show is doing so well is because of the ZeeNunew fanservice.

I'm so bored with Lian hovering over Kuea and not actually doing anything. Also very bored with how infantilized Kuea is, to the point that Lian is basically Kuea's guardian. For this reason, I wish the special romantic item was a bracelet or a necklace instead of STUFFED DOLLS. I can't even imagine Lian and Kuea going beyond kissing and having an intimate adult relationship because Lian treats and manipulates Kuea so much like a child. Not a 20+ year old man.

IDK buddy, maybe some light PTSD from the kidnappings, public beatings, head injury, and attempted rape!? The show is meant to be a romcom so they'll never extrapolate on this point but Gorya's mental health has gotta be terrible after all the assaults she's experienced because of F4.

This is a good description. It's not necessarily bad cause it has some stuff going for it, but the tropes feels dated. The show reminds me of watching problematic Asian dramas with my Mom in the early 2000s except this time it's gay and they can afford nice cameras.

Yay:
- I liked that we saw the cultural and economic reasons why Lian wants to be a wealthy businessman who can take care of Kuea. Although his character is cold at best, and manipulative at worst, it does justify and explain his love.
- The cinematography and lighting continue to be on point. The show looks great.

Nay:
- The central conflict makes no sense. Their parents are cool with it since they arranged their marriage, they've known each other since they were kids, and Lian knows Kuea loves him but his grand master plan is to...tell him he doesn't love him? Delete CCTV footage of their kiss? Pretend he doesn't know that Kuea is Kirin? I get that these misunderstandings are the plot. But from a human-POV it makes no sense for Lian to do what he's doing. The characters aren't acting like logical human beings they're acting like dolls who need to keep dancing because the show must go on.
- The infantilization of Kuea is weird and makes his relationship with Lian feel one-sided and unequal. Lian has been manipulating Kuea into showing his true self since the start. Literally everyone—including Kuea's boss at the bar—lets Lian take Kuea without a fight, and then lies to Kuea about it. Yi and Lian make bets over Kuea showing up. Lian knows all about Kuea and has even kissed him without his knowledge while Kuea has no idea what's going on! I hope this is played as a battle of wits instead of Lian just manipulating Kuea. I want to see Lian sweat too.
- Yi smiling when remembering Diao crying was crazy. They're not beating the domestic abuse lite allegations anytime soon. The writers need to be more aware of the massive size and age difference between the actors when trying to portray these scenes as "cute".

I like the show because of the production value, the hot people, and the acting, but I agree with basically everything you said.

Especially your point about the two couple dynamics being "weird and unpleasant and too similar". I don't know why the writer chose to write two relationships that include rich, cold, and dominant men with seme-bait twinks. Oh, and they're also both best friends with their matching counterparts! It's a very boring choice from a writing standpoint.

On the unpleasantness—it's honestly very weird seeing such heavily paternalistic romantic relationships x2 with both men acting more like their partner's fathers than their boyfriend/fiancees. This isn't new to BL dramas but jeez is it boring and regressive. I also didn't expect Lian to be so paternalistic towards Kuea since Kuea was advertised as an undercover bad boy in the trailer.

At first, I was very impressed with this adaptation for the seriousness of the bullying, the cinematography, and the social awareness. I'm still impressed by those things.

But 10 episodes in? I think this adaptation is seriously lacking in the romance between the two leads. Every fluffy scene they have together is over the top slapstick fighting with her beating him like an anime character. Any of their scenes that aren't slapstick are usually some variation of very serious drama, fighting, or bullying. None of this is stuff is romantic.

Usually, I have the opposite problem with Asian dramas prioritizing romance over the plot, but F4 Thailand is different. Instead, they're so focused on shoving 1001 storylines into 16 episodes on top of developing multiple couples/characters—and they're choosing all the storylines! This show would have greatly benefited from a higher episode count, giving Kavin, Kaning, and MJ more character development, and some importance being placed on Gorya and Thyme's ROMANTIC relationship. Screaming at each other like chickens and saying hurtful things to each other is not romance.

I don't hate it enough to drop it but it seems like the show is either extremely exhausting and depressing because everyone's traumatized OR it's over the top slapstick. Right now we're in the exhausting trauma episodes.

The production value of this series is great. The colour grading is bright and the shots are interesting even when the dialogue is simple. It all looks very expensive.

New is very good for a rookie and I got emotional when he was begging Lian to love him. His portrayal of a sheltered little prince whose secretly a rockstar is also very believable.

On the plot:
- I don't understand why Kuea loves Lian so much when it seems like Lian hasn't been warm to him in over a year, and Lian seems very stuffy and stiff when compared to Kuea's alternative interests. I hope they expand upon why Kuea still loves Lian so much as an adult.
- I liked that the plot started with Kuea having a spine and standing up to Lian. He's not so in love that he has no pride.
- On Lian, I can assume that he started becoming cold toward Kuea because he could tell Kuea had become fake and overly perfect to impress him, but it still seems like an oddly cruel thing to do to someone you allegedly love.
- Kuea's family is pretty weird for assuming he will always remain as adorable, fragile, and docile as he is as a child, and then giving that responsibility to another child. Obviously, they end up being perfectly romantically compatible and it all works out great because this is a love story, but kids can turn out very different from how you expect.
- Episode 2 was insanely draggy in the first half. Kuea and Diao having one conversation didn't need to take up 2 out of the 4 parts.
- Yi flipping out at Diao kinda scared me. I'm interested to know WTF is going on there.

I know everyone is mainly focused on how Akk and Theo look like twins, but honestly, all of the love interests look eerily similar to the lead because of the matching haircuts. This is basically a harem series so they should have taken more care to create different "types" amongst the men, like tattoos, unique hairstyles, unique clothing—NOT the exact same haircut on top of the identical school uniforms.

The French accent and French used were abysmal. The only one who sounded real was the actor who played the cop.

I enjoyed Akk going off on his sister's (?) customer, and the inclusion of his family members. They're very charming. However, the whole episode lacked conflict or a point of interest to make the viewer want to watch the next episode. It also totally focused on Theo and Akk's relationship which makes it obvious who the endgame is, and makes me uninterested in seeing the other guys. Why should we want to meet them when it's obvious Akk is going to "win"?

I don't think this will be the worst series of 2022 or anything, but I do think the creators dropped the ball when it comes to casting, styling, and writing, though that remains to be seen. Maybe it'll get better, but as of now, I'm not impressed by all the poor choices that were made.

Good:
- Ohm and Nanon can actually act.
- There aren't intense gender roles between Pat and Pran like most BL dramas.
- Switching was implied; that was cool.
- Ink and Paa's inclusion, when Ink didn't exist in the series.
- Paa and Pat have a realistic and sweet sibling relationship.

Bad:
- The conflict was non-existent and shallow. Every episode ended on a fakeout so this show is obviously better when watched live. If this show is binged all at once, it all seems a lot stupider because literally none of their cliffhangers ever mattered.
- People only think the show is 10/10 God-tier because Ohm and Nanon can act and Pat and Pran aren't r*ping each other every other episode. I'm sorry, but that doesn't make a series excellent. They're positives, that's about it. If Ohm and Nanon were worse actors, people would be able to see the plot holes more clearly.
- Pat's Mom and Pran's Dad are totally undeveloped considering the show is built on the rivalry between their two families. There is no rivalry. It's deadass just two individuals (Pat's Dad and Pran's Mom) disliking each other. The rest of the family didn't care at all.
- Episode 11 and 12 were like Nyquil in terms of plot. I'm not talking about the romance or the flirting, I'm talking about the PLOT which was completed deaded because apparently none of their problems actually mattered? I'm not dead inside—I did laugh at Pat and Pran lying to their parents for four years—but WTF was the point of this series? What is the plot if no one cares?
- I was actually asleep during Episode 11 when they had that random extensive subplot about Junior not wanting to go home to Bangkok and it being representative of Pran's relationship with his Mom, or whatever. I do not care about random tertiary side characters.
- Pat getting shot and Pran saving him from getting thrown into the slammer was so dumb, even though I know it was based on the source material.
- Wai outing Pat and Pran and being a manipulative weirdo (guilt-tripping Pran into doing his work) was never resolved.
- They sang the OST way too many times. After the 10th time, I started skipping the singing scenes. I get it, Nanon can sing.
- After Episode 7~ the plot jumped off a cliff. The tension was exchanged for cute kissing scenes and wrestling.
- Nothing ever matched the longing and desire Pat and Pran had in the Episode 5 kiss scene. It irritates me because clearly, they can act! But after that scene, they usually just felt like flirty bros because Ohm and Nanon are such good friends IRL.

Your entire comment just proves my point. WHY should every single acting job Kao work purposely try to avoid anything that could possibly parallel to a past show? UWMA is not that important. It's only "exactly identical" to you because you like UWMA and don't seem to have seen Romeo and Juliet (1996).

Romeo and Juliet (1996) used a gun, so Lovely Writer used a gun. That's who they wanted to emulate. They had no obligation to censor their reenactment because of UWMA fans's feelings.

I think this is a personal problem that you and many people have. Because it's really weird that so many people think Kao should never be able to reenact a suicide scene ever again, just because he did one on UWMA. He's an actor. These are roles. UWMA did not copyright double suicide.

What does any of this have to do with you wrongfully thinking that they had a sad ending in the novel?

It was not supposed to be a sad ending. They have a happy ending in the book but it's different from the show.

What are you even talking about? I've read the novel and they do reconcile.

Nubsib breaks up with Gene according to what Tarm asked, and Gene wrongfully assumes that Nubsib is angry with him. Nubsib sees Gene crying and realizes that Gene misunderstood his actions. Then he reassures him that he loves him and he'd never really break up with him. He only did it to respect Gene's wishes and to not be so selfish. Nubsib nurses Gene back to health (because he made himself sick with worry) and then they stay together but they lay low for the rest of Nubsib's contract.