This review may contain spoilers
2 Years, 2 Rewatches, and It Still Lives in My Head
One thing I don’t like about BL: too much fan service. Well, in BL there’s no fan service like abs in k-dramas. I think BL is a genre that is fan service itself. But when you add fan service to fan service — well… they make a lot of sex scenes. I don’t mind it if it makes sense, but most of the time, it doesn’t — and that’s why I try to avoid shows like this. That’s also why I’m scared to watch many popular BL shows. I don’t want to be disappointed.And what do I mean by “makes sense”? Well, some sex scenes are there only because of fan service, like I said. Yeah, people like sex, but if you want to see both love and lust in one, porn is not enough. So to fulfill the fans' desires, they make shows like this, and in every episode, there are like 10 sex scenes. And to be clear — I’m not that type of fan. But if you are, that’s fine, I guess. Even though I’m not a fan of the type of BL where there are too many spicy scenes, I fucking love this show so much that I call it my No.1 favorite — and I even changed my whole personality because of it.
Since I’ve written this long-ass intro, I have to talk about that first. Well, Only Friends has a lot — a lot — of spicy scenes, and most of the time, I don’t mind it. It "makes sense." Why? Because it’s about friends with benefits, and what would be the point of that if there weren’t scenes like that? Of course, there were some unnecessary scenes, but okay I can accept that.
The plot and the characters. The plot is basically Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High? by Arctic Monkeys. So if you like that song, this is made for you. I wouldn’t like it if the characters weren’t so fun. It’s a story you’ve definitely heard somewhere else (yeah, Arctic Monkeys literally sang about it), but have you ever heard about characters like these? I definitely haven’t. They are so toxic and such big red flags that you have to love them. It’s like Azula from Avatar — such a bitch that you just have to love her.
The relationships between the characters are so well written that you’ll say: “What a small world.” Yeah — such a small world that they all know each other because of stupid things like sex, stalking, being roommates... “This one is my crush’s crush,” and “this one is my roommate’s sex friend”… and many more. Doesn’t that sound like fun? To me, it pretty much does.
Acting. Oh my god… The actors are so good that I believed they were the characters. Ever since I watched Only Friends, I consider First my favorite actor. He has such a passion for acting — and you can see it. He’s a great actor. But he’s not the only great one in Only Friends. They all did a fantastic job.
Directing. Jojo Tichakorn and Ninew Pinya — I love you. I love you so much. Their work was so creative. In the first episodes, through their direction, they made sure we really got to know the characters — like we knew them personally. How? All characters had their own role in the club. Also, we’d never know what the characters truly thought of each other if it weren’t for the interview scenes because these characters are so fucking fake that they’d never say anything to each other directly. For them, communication is not the key.
There was also this scene — the therapy session scene — which I still don’t quite understand, but it was very creative and it felt like art. Also, Ninew Pinya (one of the directors) is an acting coach, so maybe that’s one of the reasons why the actors were so good.
Shows with themes like this can be easily messed up. You have to keep everything in mind so you don’t contradict what’s already been said or shown. And in Only Friends, they did a pretty good job. Let me explain with examples — spoilers ahead:
The main conflict between Mew, Top, and Boston — everything you might ask about it does get answered. Why did Top cheat? Well, he didn’t love Mew at the time — he just wanted to be someone’s first. Why was Mew mad even though he and Top weren’t officially dating? Mew thought Top was dead serious about him — since he already told Mew that he wants to date him. And also he slept with his best friend. Why didn’t Boston get a redemption arc like Top did? Because Boston doesn’t even care. He took his friends for granted. And you may ask many more questions and it still be answered.
Also, I was really scared they’d mess up the part where Ray cheats on Mew. Ray, who hated Top the most for cheating, would be forgiven too easily for doing the exact same thing. I was nervous — but it turned out great. Everyone knew Ray was no better than Top. But at the time Mew was dating Ray, he wasn’t exactly innocent either, so he didn’t really have the right to be mad at him
There’s one thing I really don’t like about Only Friends. And if I had to rate this show objectively (which is a stupid thing to say but whatever), I’d give it 9/10 — because of this one thing: the fucking Boeing guy. Like, who the fuck is he? He ruined everything I loved about the show. The screenwriters had to stick to 12 episodes, so they needed another conflict — and this conflict didn’t make any sense. The whole show, Sand was holding back only because he was deeply in love and most importantly, it was a one-sided love. When he finally gets to be with the one he loves, the fucking Boeing guy shows up and the screenwriters suddenly make Sand act out of character. He starts thinking about being with his ex? Does that make sense? No, it doesn’t. He was loyal and devoted the whole show — how could he even think about something like this? Yeah, Boeing could’ve been there, but it would’ve been better if Sand didn’t look like he was hesitating.
Okay, I think that’s all for now. I wrote this two years after I watched it for the first time, and it’s still on my mind. I’ve seen it many times, and each time feels different. Every time, I notice something new. I’m not saying this series is for everyone, but I really loved it — even though I’m not a big fan of BL. I usually watch BL only when I want something light and unserious, but I think this one is actually a pretty serious piece of work. And I dare say it’s one of the best BL series — if not the best.
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