solipsism5

This was very entertaining. I think taking a classic story and executing it really well, even with all the tropes, can be well worth it. I'm glad that we've upgraded half the crew from engineers to architects at least. When is the piggy-back ride coming? I hope I don't have to wait till episode 3 - I'm getting impatient. It looks like there is a real romance in this one [looking at the end credits] which makes it much more worthwhile. It's nice that I don't have to guess whether this is going to be a real BL or not.

The little kids really stole the show this episode. They were just so adorable. I wanted to pinch the chubby one's cheeks :)

I appreciate this comment a lot. I also feel we should listen to the criticism of this show and not turn a deaf ear to it. I believe we all understand our own opinions very well, but we all would do well to study the opinions of others. It's almost a corollary to a teaching of Jesus that it is easier to love our friends than our enemies, that it is easier to listen to the opinions of people we agree with than those we disagree with. As I said before, I feel I'm learning from opinions that totally differ from mine and it is almost good to seek those out. For that reason alone, I completely agree with Jarabaa and encourage everyone to keep watching this show.

I think even the director could learn something from this comment board, though I think he would have to have more mental fortitude than myself to wade through all these comments.
I think the director's style is rather unique and quite interesting. I'm guessing most people on here don't like it, but I find it kind of refreshing because it is just so very different from virtually anyone else I'm familiar with and strikingly different from anyone else in the BL genre. I think he could perhaps learn to take some of the criticisms of Aek's manner of speech, and his sudden change of pacing in episode 8 into his next venture, and perhaps make something much smoother and pleasing to the general public [without sacrificing any of his artistic integrity].

I really feel the love story here more than almost any other drama. I just don't understand how people are missing it. The other love stories in the other BL's feel so shallow by comparison. It's because Aue and Aek feel like real people and they tried to create a real world around them. BTW I've been reading your story on wattpad - it's been very fun. Congratulations on writing a BL that's entertaining so quickly. It's always a very tough job creating a literary work - you have my thanks and encouragement.

I agree with all of this. The storm of the events of last episode were going to happen at some point. The only thing I believe the director could have done better was to show more of how Aek was feeling uncomfortable with the relationship. I just can't think he didn't know Aue was interested in him, but this is a minor point. Aek might have also been disgusted that his boss was just using him [again]. There is definitely a complex set of reasons for him to reject Aue, and because those reasons are so complex, he can't even understand his own emotions. I think this is still a real classy relationship that will only be expressed with some light romantic scenes on screen and that is all I am hoping for. I think Aek's emotions are being expressed a lot better in these last two episodes, like the mask is coming off and he is revealing his emotions - I know people complained about how wooden he was before but I think his depiction that way was intentional and the director wanted to show us the difference.

I feel this episode does have a lot of development. Many people feel that there has been little movement in the story in many of the older episodes, and perhaps too much in the previous one. So I think the pacing should be an improvement here.

I think a lot has also been explained. The feelings Aek has for Aue are just being supressed and most of his pain is self-inflicted. I believe we will see in the next episode that Aek's mother is also more supportive of the relationship than he imagines and a major impediment will be removed. Aek has the mindset of an adolescent that can't see a few days down the road and feels too keenly the intense drama of the moment. He says, "What choice does a person like me have?", while talking to ViPhob, and he just can't see things like that his road to being a chef is still easily available. As far as Aue still pursuing Aek against his wishes, I think Aue sees that Aek has feelings for him that he refuses to express, and I find his speech to Aue relating how he cherished all their moments together was very moving. It would probably have been better for him to have done that the previous night, but his emotions were too in disarray for him to tell Aek how much he loved him with such eloquent words. What I also really enjoyed in this episode was the support that the whole staff showed Aue and I still say that they all know Aek loves him as well - they wouldn't be this way if the whole relationship was really uncertain. I believe Aek's college friends feel the same way, as well. Everyone realizes that Aek is his own worst enemy. It is possible, according to the conjecture about what happened to him in high school [according to the novel], that Aek had some traumatic incident that happened in high school that has left a real scar on him that prevents him from being emotionally receptive to a gay relationship, and that what we are seeing is his consuming internal struggle to get beyond this barrier. If that is the case, the support of his friends will be very important and I hope we will see some nice scenes in the future with them helping to pull him out of his dark depression.

Ok, I like the comic delivery of Ryu and Jame, but that weird shaky head routine [used to display anger] they do is at the level of a middle-school production. That should have been edited out but I'm afraid it was the director that put it in there in the first place because both actors are doing it. It kind of takes away from the whole episode. Other than that, I really enjoyed this. I like the competition for Jet's affection. This show has all the feel of a good sitcom from the US from the 80's or 90's. I'm trying to say that as a compliment, but humor ages pretty quickly, but this still has some good comedic sharpness that's a little better, for me, than a lot of other Thai productions.

The first part of this episode was just comic. Leo looked like he was wearing a bow tie more suitable for Mr. McGoo while Fiat came to the formal event dressed like a high-priced call boy. When they were kissing it felt like Mr. McGoo making out with a male hustler. The toxic female lead is over the top toxic - she makes Cruella look completely believable. I'm not even thinking this is misogynistic portraying a woman like that because she's like from some other planet. When the gang exposes the toxic female lead it was just so cringey - it really made Scooby-Doo and the gang feel like Hercule Poirot by comparison. This writing was just so, so bad.

Yet the scenes with Leon and Pob were really sensational. It was a real tragedy that I really felt strongly but with a few caveats. Why can't these two contact each other by phone? Why can't Leon visit on the holidays especially considering his immense wealth? Why does this volunteer work last seemingly forever - aren't these volunteer jobs usually short? But forgetting about that, the story was almost plausible, and the acting was phenomenal by both Leon and Pob, here. I definitely felt the stark tragedy of their separation even if the whole scenario was not quite believable. The only scene I liked with Leo in this whole series was when he was consoling Leon about his loss of Pob. If it weren't for Leon and Pob this series would have been a complete waste of time, but I felt it was actually worthwhile watching this because of these characters - you just have to fast forward through 60-70 percent of this and you'll love it.

I thought this was very well done. I'm afraid Viki has only half the subtitles finished but I still really like what I've seen so far. I don't really care about the gossip concerning Eui Soo - that's almost a snoozefest for me, but it is sad [if true] that he gets death threats from Koreans for playing this part. That he doesn't want to do gay parts any more is of little concern to me and since people don't really know his reasons we should just stay out of it.

I really like Korean dramas - they always seem more elevated than Thai ones [usually]. I love the Korean language especially when spoken with someone with a deep sonorous voice - it has to be one of the sexiest languages, especially when it is heard like that. It's a nice touch that they have the Well-Tempered Clavier, and Pathetique Sonata in the background, and it adds such a nice flair to some of the scenes.

This is the third BL in a short space of time centered around food and I'm not complaining. Food and handsome men go well together - it's a good formula. It's weird having the two chefs compete like that in the restaurant but I'm suspending my judgement about it. Yes, the boss is a B@#ch for doing that but how do you have a drama with all milquetoast characters? And aren't there a lot of bad people out there in real life? I worked in a restaurant where the general manager was on drugs and makes this lady look like a saint.

I agree with someone else on here that says Eui Soo shows some good versatility playing this character and his character from Where Your Eyes Linger. I think his role here is rather entertaining and that the leads have some nice chemistry. Overall, I'm enjoying this whole series. I just wish these Korean dramas were a little longer, but I'm trying to think of them as a movie broken up into 8-10 parts, but it still feels rushed, somehow.

Just started this. It's very cute. I just noticed all the actors are from Gen Y. Ryu was Pha in the last episode of Gen Y and the big reveal at the end was kind of disappointing because he didn't look that good, somehow. He look s a lot better here. Could it just be the haircut? I'm feeling a little superficial saying this, lol.

So far so good, and I'm rooting for the three-way like everyone else.

A while back we were talking about the director, and I have to reassess my opinion. He needs someone to reign him in and to tell him to develop some of his ideas with greater nuance. It reminds me of what I said about Mean in The Yearbook [and his obsessive use of flashbacks] and I wonder why no one is there to guide these young directors. It seems like the directors are just given free reign to do whatever they want which I find to be strange. I think this director has a lot of potential, but he's stuck on a few ineffective techniques. I think with a few modifications this could have been 10 times better - all the things people have been complaining about could have been fixed while keeping the placid and relaxing quality of the series that I appreciate.

I can see a lot of what you're talking about here. As far as characters, I also had to mention I like chef Aui a lot, he has that easy charisma of a head chef at a well established restaurant. Gameplay is also good in the few snippets he's in [why so few? I would have had him involved with someone in this show and that would have made this show a lot more appealing to people on here]. Also the new rival chef [Wiphob] has an interesting personality as does Eve, imo. On balance, I find most of the characters have some engaging elements and most of the uninteresting ones have little screen time. I agree that the secondary couple is bland, but I like that they are normal people without all the fake drama.

I just have to say that I might not be as objective as I normally am with this show. It just has too many things of interest to me, and I already grade BL's on a very gentle scale. I'm not a cheerleader for this show as some people might think. I'm just pointing out why I like it. I know the crowd on here, and I'm not surprised that most of them dislike it. If I was the director I would have done things differently and would have made this show more palatable. There is no need to have Aek speak so slowly and with such a wooden delivery. I understand why he did it, but he lost so many viewers by doing it that way and he could have retained Aek's character without having to rely on that technique, or using the long pauses, or the excessively long stares. I'm very forgiving of all that, but I see where others find it intolerable.

I would agree that the ugly elements that were introduced in this latest episode were unnecessary, but that might be how the story was to occur all along, and that Aek was always going to be uncomfortable with coming out, and being that open in a gay relationship. It just didn't have to be so jarring, with such an abrupt switch in the tone of the whole series. I think the director shows some inexperience there. I think we should have had some preliminary development to the crisis instead of us having an exploding volcano in episode 8 [like you were saying above]. I would have had Aek display some more queasiness in earlier episodes and show us some more undercurrents of discomfort. And I don't care if you grew up on a deserted island - there is no way that Aek could not have known Aue had feelings for him. That part is totally unbelievable. He should have noticed, also, that other people could see this as well. He is quite blatantly displaying his affection in public. Despite all these faults, I still like the show for the reasons I've stated above but understand how many people are not as forgiving.

I did see it, and agreed with all of it. I think I'm reiterating some of it here. Thanks again for the kind words. I really did cry this episode - I'm really very sentimental. I'm still very positive that they will get back together and I haven't felt this strongly about a couple since ITSAY mostly for the reasons I've stated here.

I have to say this last episode was jarring. I wasn’t expecting that at all, and certainly not any drama to that degree. It was like having a cold bucket of water thrown in my face and the placidity of the past several episodes was suddenly gone. That doesn’t mean I don’t like this any more, at all. I think some of what happened was actually an improvement- Mark was able to do a lot more acting and his character became a lot more complex. The illusions behind much of their relationship were cast aside and now we have a more realistic one – Mark was brought up as a conservative Thai boy from the rural countryside and he is very devoted to his mother so he wasn’t going to embrace the extremely liberal environment which Aue was used to. I still believe, though, that he is in love with Aue. At the risk of sounding like an armchair psychiatrist, I’ll say he is unconsciously in love with Aue as can be seen by his long stares for the first few episodes. He also let’s Aue feed him with a spoon while they are in Nam province. I believe the rest of the people in the restaurant are not wrong either – they sensed the Aek liked their boss, and people are normally right about these things. I think Aue just represses his feelings because of his background. I think he got scared because of word getting back to his mom about his very liberal lifestyle in freewheeling Bangkok. I don’t think he was telling the truth when he was telling Aue he thinks of him as just a brother. It is reminiscent of the time that he told his mother that he didn’t like cooking and would rather be a food delivery driver – an outright lie that was meant to be like a slap in the face to Aue. Aek did that so his mother wouldn’t worry, and he would go to far greater lengths to prevent her from knowing about his gay lover/boss.

That Mark chose to go with the new chef is a minor detail. I think a lot of people have made some sound conjectures as to why that occurred. Should it have been explained immediately? I don’t believe it’s necessary and it does help develop some dramatic tension leaving it as an open question. Why did the “evil” chef Eve suddenly appear out of nowhere? I don’t know, but she probably is connected with the Wiphob from the competition, and if she just appeared there by random chance, it’s unimportant. Throughout history writers have relied on impossible coincidences and that doesn’t mean they are bad writers. Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Tolstoi, and Shakespeare make use of these impossible coincidences as well – it’s just been an old tradition and doesn’t mean the writing, or the writer is bad. I still have always thought it was a little lazy, but it doesn’t mean much in evaluating the overall quality of an author's work. Do I think this writing is great? I think it is passable and not exceptional, but it is not horrible like some are suggesting, imo. I never said I liked this show for its eloquent script. When it comes to conveying realism , though, the script matches the cinematography, and I believe that is its strength.

In my list of things of why I liked this drama I forgot to mention one. I love that this drama explores romance between gentle and good people. If I put the characters' personalities from most BL’s on a spectrum they range from troubled to haunted, for the most past. I like the exploration of love between these types of characters since the romance feels much more real and intense. Its more fulfilling and wholesome and serves as a good exemplar for young gay people. I know it doesn’t look like it at the moment but Aek and Aue are both very kind and benevolent characters. I feel strongly we will see them reunite by the end. This point in the story reminds me of a scene from Room with a View [by E.M. Forster] where the female lead banishes her lover from her house and tells him that he is never to see her again [to protect her reputation, like Aek]. Later on she confesses to the father, after denying her attachment for months, “Of course, I love him, what were you all thinking?” I think that way about Aek – of course he loves Aue. I could have said that in such a carefree and blithe way last episode, but I’m saying that with tears in my eyes after watching this episode. I might sound like a nitwit and silly romantic for saying it but I’ll say it again, of course, Aek loves Aue.

No, they don't. I was just making a mild statement that he doesn't look as good when he's doing his ugly cry, but I think Leo is super attractive. I would let him do his ugly cry in front of me till his tear wells ran dry.

BTW, I’m not condoning the assault that Aue committed. It was probably done in a moment of despair, and he obviously wasn’t thinking about how inappropriate it was.

I agree with this and I think it's the only thing fitting with Aek's character. He isn't normally rude and it could only be the panic you're talking about that makes him act that way. It's not surprising since he comes from a conservative Thai village. Aue wasn't really crossing a line either in going after Aek - I mean he's been holding off for weeks and was accused of being too shy. It was really a very poignant episode.

Thanks for the kind words. If you enjoy it at that speed, it's certainly fine by me.

Thank, thank you! You've made my day!

I know, right? And a lot of these BL's are so half-hearted in their LGBTQ+ representations.

Last week I put out some comments as to why I didn’t agree with the criticism of this series, and this time I wanted to put together all the reasons I really like this show:

1. I’m a fan of restrained romance. I don’t need a lot of overt expressions of affection for me to feel the intensity of a romatntic connection. One thing I liked about A Tale of a Thousand Stars was that the romance was apparent without a lot of hugging, skinship, and kissing, and I feel this drama is doing something similar
2. The ideas that this drama explores are quite varied and expansive for a BL drama. This show not only goes into fine dining and the culinary craft, but also touches on art, architecture, history, and religion. Perhaps some of what people are calling dead-space in this show covers these topics and may seem unnecessary, but I feel they add a lot of depth to the show.
3. The world-building in this drama is really excellent. The depiction of the Nam region was better than anything I’ve seen in any BL. Even A Tale of a Thousand Stars does nothing like this. If someone is familiar with that drama there is no mention of Chiang Rai which is near the fictional village or the beautiful clock tower in that city. Everything is also realistic – the village of Nam is very realistic, but even Aue’s kitchen is real for me – the appliances have that patina of being used, rather than being sparkling new Wolf appliances. This is a great relief from the artificial sets in universities and rich people’s mansions.
4. Of course I love the food shots and I combine that with the wonderful cinematography in general. This is visually probably the best BL drama save for ITSAY. I also happen to love Thai food so that makes it personally more appealing to me.
5. I love all the side characters. I think they did spend the time in this drama to develop a lot of them and they are very alive for me. I especially love the mom, and grandma. I also love Nuna and her poignant scenes last episode.
6. I like the relaxed pace which a lot of people find stifling. I don’t quite understand the problem (tbh). Do people really play this drama at 1.25x speed? I find that would ruin it for me. The characters would look comical and I would feel rushed having to read the subtitles at blinding speeds for most of the characters.
7. I see virtually none of the normal BL tropes in this show, and the main characters are both gay. I don’t really mind the tropes, but it’s still a relief to not see some of the worst of them like the screeching ladyboys, and the gay for this one guy tropes.

Again, I don’t care if you don’t like this show. I feel like I’m learning something, usually, when someone criticizes a show and I have learned about some of the flaws of this show by many of you who have criticized it. My opinion, though, is that its merits outweigh it faults. Much of what I like about this show are just personal preferences, but I also believe it is objectively good, for the most part. I’m getting older and I realize that I can hardly change anyone’s opinion about anything, but just give this show a chance, or at least stop advertising how bad it is so others can make up their own opinions.