Reviews

It gets better at the end

I ended up watching this, because the squeal has been popping up in my social media feed a lot. I think the logic was that I'll first watch this and then move on to the next part. As a disclaimer I should probably say that I have not read the novel this and the sequel is based on, so my opinion is just based on the TV show.

I think in terms of overall plot this is a pretty average university themed Thai BL drama. I feel that I have seen what I saw in this series many times before, with all the student ceremonies, activities and clubs along with the side characters appearing during the show. A good set of main characters could have helped this a lot, but we got kind of half way there with that part.

I don't usually like to refer to other specific shows when discussing characters, but having watched the insane chemistry Pond's character had with the other lead in the show Reset, watching Hill's and Ter's romance was bit awkward. They are cute, but.... well just cute. It could be that with different kinds of character castings Pond's and Earth's romance on screen could have more chemistry to it, but with this show it feels very superficial even if they try to give the romance a proper background plot. I would like emphasize that for me good chemistry doesn't mean that the couple has to necessarily have a lot of spicy scenes, it can be built with other means.

The second pairing with Johan and North did get me to watch this in the end, even if with them it was initially bit slow. North as an individual character is so far my favorite, quite unique character in the genre all together. I would recommend watching the two special episodes they got if you like this specific pairing from the show.

Overall considering the contents of the show, this could have been condensed into less episodes and bringing in Johan's and North's storyline earlier would have helped the watching experience. Ter's and North's friendship is something fun to follow . As a side note it did make me laugh how quickly these couples go from just dating to moving in together, yes I know it's a fictional show, but still I found the speed comedic (even if otherwise the show was at times slow in progression).

Do you need to watch this to watch the Fourvever you part 2: No. If you find the main couple of the sequel more interesting you can watch it directly, you don't miss out.
Re-watch value: the Johan and North parts maybe sometime.
Overall vibe: It's okay, but not very memorable.

Read More

When the credits are longer than the story...

This is an odd one. The story could have been very interesting, but the execution was soooooooo bad. Even the murder of the uncle was comical using a butter knife... which does not even have a pointy end... As always I'm not a fan of the dubbing especially because it felt off. They had a big house, expensive car, but could not invest the money and time to tell the story more comprehensible.

And why did the credits run longer than the episodes? To split it in five epsiodes was a waste of time, especially if you have to wait for the next episode for a week. So, the execution lacked a bunch, the story should be much much longer, even a short movie of around 45minutes would have been better than this.

Read More

Watch it!! - no regrets :)

I absolutely adored!! It had it had cuteness. It had romance. It had drama. It had mystery thriller. It had tension. It basically had everything!!

I love a series that pulls together and has a nice balance of everything and that’s exactly what this series had not only that but it also brought a light. The fact of truth that K-pop stars have to go through. Hopefully fans have watched this and they’re gonna reflect on their behaviour and be more like the fans at the end respecting privacy and protect protecting the idols privacy 👀👏🙏

I’d kind of figured out that it was the ex she just got so suspicious by the end but at the same time I’m so glad it wasn’t someone unexpected that you’d grown to love! The music was addicting and the way the main characters grew together was so wholesome and cute!! I’m definitely going to look at series with these actors and actresses in because they were all great and I would definitely watch a drama from this director again!

There was found family there was tension there were suspicion. I’d like to know whether the mum went to the concert. I’m hoping she did but I feel like she solved the ticket… and the ex manager/owner of golden boys the way he was almost like a father figure and he apologised for his behaviour so reflection tick tick! (I do love the actor who played the manager/owner of Golden boys I’ve seen him in quite a few things and he’s acting is incredible! Same goes for the male lead apart from that I don’t think I recognised many in this series but I will be looking them up for recommendations of other ones to watch now!

Overall, an amazing series really enjoyable really captivating and fun to watch!

Read More

Suprisingly good

I didn't go into watching this with too many expectations, since based on the trailer I got the idea that it is a romantic comedy with the whole mafia thing being just a side plot. But it was fun, even if you knew from episode one that Thee 's character is purposefully meant to appear as out touch from reality kind of a mafia/perfume company boss. I expected a lot of the humor to feel forced, but I genuinely had quite many good laughs while watching this. There was actually some growth with Thee's and Peach's character individually and as a couple. Maybe a small critique is that the story relies very heavily on Thee's character development and Peach's role a lot of times was just to support it.

The side characters were also quite enjoyable and for once we actually had in the end both parents supporting the relationship. I am bit over almost that in every BL we get at least one of the parents causing some kinds of issues, just to get something to fill out otherwise a thin story line. Thee's mom is a character (diva) of her own but I liked her a lot. And yes I am in the majority of ppl who wanted more of Rome and Mok. Fingers crossed something else with the duo will come, because after everything Mok had to do to help his boss, he deserves a happy ending.

Overall the characters carry the show trough, the plot lines are pretty predictable and aside from few scenes, this isn't a very serious mafia show. There was luckily enough plot to carry the show trough, I am happy they went with 10 episodes. If Rome and Mok as the second couple would have had more screen time, then I could have taken another episode.

In the end is this revolutionary in terms Thai BL's: heavens no!
Did it offer me surprisingly lot of joy: yes!
Would I re-watch it: maybe one more time. Not still a show I would say has a ton of re-watch value.

Read More

Theme and plot don't align

So I had a tough time with this show overall...frankly, I wasn't feeling the chemistry between the leads from the beginning and the romance felt very forced from the beginning. Now it wasn't because the FL keeps a distance because she's a professional or anything like that, because usually, that push and pull *is* what creates tension and chemistry in shows for me. Especially shows with subtle romance. And the thing is there are glimpses of these beats in this show too like in one of the earlier episodes when Laik takes a short step closer to her to tell her he doesn't want to hide anything from her anymore. But those moments don't hold. They're not allowed to linger. I think this has more to do with direction/writing than the performances.

But I still held out coz the whodunnit aspect of thinsg was more or less interesting but then episode 11 happened and oh my god, my worst fear with this show just came true.

So I just finished this show and found it kinda ironic how the entire show tries to urge fans to be more responsible with their idols and how they deserve to have a personal life too but then in the end, the killer turns out to be the ex girlfriend kinda reinforcing the fact that it is the fan who will stay loyal and dependable to the end and save the idol, and romantic relationships are a risk regardless...might be an inaccurate read of the whole drama and doesn't negate all the other positive things about it, but i found it really lazy to make her the crazy obsessive ex killer out of all the other options?

Read More

Quite bad drama even if you watch in that time and this time.

I watched this in 2024 and i know this plot was quite trend among short drama.

Plot is about FL who become substitute bride for her sister to marry disabled ML. FL only know her sister was having affair with FL boyfriend so she agree to become bride for disabled ML who turned out to be FL boyfriend uncle. When FL have wedding night FL ex wants to rape her and suddenly ML open his eye and scare FL ex. ML family suggest FL to get pregnant but ML don't want FL to be pregnant and will kill her baby if FL get pregnant. FL was actually pregnant lying she had abortion and using her ex name for medical checkup.

The acting and chemistry was that bad. It feels like you watching C+ drama assignment in your highschool since iit was obviously on-budget drama and yeah fake kisses strikes again.

The only decent acting is ML sister acting in here. Overall this drama was bad.

Read More

Underwhelmed drama.

I was excited when i heard Huang Bo and He Jianqi are going to be dual male lead and turns out it was ultra-disappointing.

Plot is about FL disguising her identity, using the ML and the SML and using her intelligence to stir up trouble. The three are caught in a love-hate relationship. Yuling was bravely kissing both He Jianqi and Huang Bo but her chemistry never show up in this entire drama. There is no sparks between two couples in this drama. Yuling was miscast and her acting stills weak.

The pacing is super disjointed, the plot has breaks, some plot twists are abrupt, and the editing is disjointed. For example, sudden changes in characters' behavior and illogical developments in events constantly raise questions while watching, affecting my view experience. Dropped.

Read More

the bromance was amazing and a great drama

this drama was acc amazing and I did not lose interest. it kept me hooked the whole time and there was always action going on but not to much. In the show their friendship was so strong and their personalities were amazing. I have watched both of the main actors in other shows and they had such different characters that weren’t very similar and the acting was amazing a 10/10. this show I could rewatch so may times. It is most definitely a rewatch but to watch this show you have to be ok with blood and death but other than that great show and I am so excited for the second season.

Read More

Watching this make me doubt about anything

I watched this after Xiao Wenyu version comes out and that drama quite hard to watch. For me, this is slightly better and have balanced acting since Chen Gang and Tian Miao Miao embodies their character greatly.

This drama is hard to categorize. If you call it tragic, you feel the FL deserves the sins she committed in her past life, and you also feel the ML deserves his own madness. If you call it sweet, the ML genuinely loves the FL in both lives. In the previous life, he forced himself on her, and in this life, he pretends not to love her in public while secretly being a devoted admirer.

I don't know who is tormented beside the myself. You say ML is tormented? I think he enjoys it. You say the FL is tormented? I think she's really asking for it. You say the housekeeper is tormented? He gets a high salary.

Actually the half of first drama was better pace until the appearance of brother. He is the one who destroy the yin yang of this crazy drama and everything was disjointed. The brother is one of reason i am not recommended this drama.

Read More

Thais don't generally sleep with the lights on.

People watching Thai BLs who have not been to Thailand may assume that Thais like to sleep in broad daylight with all the lights on. But be assured most Thais -- like the rest of us -- prefer to sleep in darkened rooms. I realize that budgets are constrained but one would hope that producers could figure out a way of suggesting darkness during the scenes in which people are supposed to be going to bed to sleep for the night. And while we're at it, couldn't the makeup artists have made some effort to suggest that Jinn and Jerome have aged a bit in the scenes set a decade in the future? It's really hard to summon the necessary levels of empathetic grief when one confronts a rosy Keen Suvijak supposedly on his death bed. I mean, he looks not a day over 15 with his peaches-and-cream complexion and silky black hair Yes, he is a superb actor but conveying impending death in a hospital bed without any help from make-up artists is beyond even his talents. At least in the earlier visions when he was supposed to have died in an auto crash, we see some fake blood trickling down his lovely face.

Read More

Amazing chemistry between the leads

Things I adored

1 The ML. He's one of the best actors and every time I've seen him he nails the cold but soft hearted character. I just love him and am looking desperately for any other modern dramas he's the lead. He is so handsome with a great body and hair, and yes I'm superficial, I want the ML to be handsome. That he can act only adds to his appeal. Here he was just perfect. His smile alone melt my heart. Good casting choice, no doubt.

2 The grandfather. he was grumpy but adorable and I loved his relationship with his grandchildren and his assistant.

3 The office workers. I adored all of them. Their interactions made me happy every time. So fun and heartwarming. I just loved them.

4 The ML's brother. What a sweet kid and a great actor. My heart was soaring each time they showed him with his brother. Some of the scenes just before he left were amongst my favorites. I admit I cried a lot during these scenes even before I knew what was going to happen. I wish they had some ending scenes between them. I'd love that. It's a pity it ended as it ended. The scene with his father wasn't enough for me.

5 The ML's friends. What a great bunch of people and how rewarding it was to se them coming together for the leads. Another aspect of the series I loved. It doesn't hurt that they were funny as well.

6 The 2ML. I found him endearing funny and loved his character even though they tried to make him a goofball and someone immature. What's wrong with being spontaneous and let your heart guide your life. I rarely love the second couples and I didn't particularly cared for the 2FL, but the 2ML was one of my favorites ever.

7 The chemistry. it's rare for leads to have such good chemistry and it's something that makes or breaks a series for me.

8 The kisses. The ML is one of the best in kissing and each kiss have me butterflies. I wish this was a bit more daring but I wish this for every drama so my wish never comes true.

Things I loved

1 The FL. I can't put her in he "adored" list for two reasons. I don't find her particularly beautiful and I think he was above her league to be honest although it sounds callous what I say. That said, I still loved her and that's why she acted perfectly her role. She's a very good actress, the issue is that I don't think I will search other dramas with her. The reason is that I think that the chemistry between her and the ML is what made me love her. I can't imagine loving her with another actor but who knows? Maybe I'll try one day. The second reason is that I think her character was a it inconsistent sometimes. I don't think she showed enough emotion. I feel like another actress could play better the emotional scenes. She was great at comedy though. I loved her relationship with her grandfather, her brother, her best friend and her coworkers.

2 The 2FL. I can't put her in the "dislike" list because she was a good friend, but I'm tempted to because I didn't appreciate at all the way she behaved with the 2ML. But fine, she wasn't a bad person and the actress is beautiful and acts well.

3 The outfits. The ML had some gorgeous outfits, some of the best I've ever seen. The FL had some great ones but she also had some awful ones that made her look like a grandma. Still many great outfits everywhere.

4 The whole series. I loved that it was a work office rom com. Others said are bored but I actually loved every work related aspect. I found the setting original and if it weren't for the propaganda I would have loved it even more. It had also many funny moments and I was looking forward to the next episode. So all in all a great series.

5 The last scene with the small boy and the leads. Funny and heartwarming. I wish we had a few more scenes.

Things I disliked

1 The professor. I didn't hate him and he was a strong and interesting character but his propaganda speech annoyed me a lot.

2 The proposal. Too cliché and didn't give me the butterflies I wanted. It should have been done in another way more private, funnier and more romantic. It ruined the whole thing for me.

3 The lack of a final scene between the ML and his little brother.

Things I hated

1 The propaganda. It was too obvious and took away from my enjoyment.

2 The sponsored products. It was so blatant, it bordered to annoying, no scratch that, after a while it was annoying. I normally don't mind some discreet or sparse sponsored scenes but here it went too far.

3 The scumbags who have been arrested in the end. I'd love to have more time to see them going through some rough moments. They were both despicable. But at least we had some rewarding scenes with them caught scheming. Just not enough for me.

Read More

Sex, drugs, and denial

So I was pulling my hair out of frustration watching Half-Awake, that minidrama has a very solid cast, loved the aesthetic, premise was my catnip (twisted mutual revenge) but the writing is just abysmal, to the point where nothing could save it from being a rage-inducing trainwreck with no reward in sight. Feeling deprived of my hate-love romance crack, my attention was caught by this drama : it has Wang Kai Mu, is made by director of critically acclaimed What a Good Girl and Please Tell Me If You Are Moved, and features a sexy scumbag ML I will inevitably root for (my bar for fictional ML's redemption is very low).

It's not for everyone, but it was certainly for me, I liked every minute of it (and it's not a short vertical at 3:40 hours), it surpassed my expectations, even surprised me at times. I find it so well written, appreciate it didn't shy away from some truly dark places. The hero is the anti-prince charming, he is absolutely two-timing his recovering fiancee and blackmailed mistress, turning both crazy, one with his lies and the other with his hypocrisy and mixed signals, he is caring but distant to his fiancee and abusive but all over the FL in the classic madonna/mistress complex. I find the drama made him feel very human by showing how he's trapped by guilt, self-loathing, and loyalty, until he's finally able to admit he should be more blunt to his fiancee who's spiraling out of control and gentler to his lover who's just trying to survive (I live for the moment these antiheros become sweeter, and the hospital scene ? Amazing) . The FL was also great, first I discovered a new favorite in Ma Le Jie, she's a bombshell and a talented actress, and second the character was truly moving. Yes, it's again a poor girl in a tragic situation where she's alone in the world with no support and a dear sick family member she will sacrifice everything to save, but it's well written and effective : her sister is such a sweetheart you understand why FL wants so desperatly to protect her innocence and save her, even if it means shredding her dignity (the scene where she begs under the rain : oof), the subplot about her reporting job gives her another dimension (and confirms that she does have a savior complex that puts her in very dangerous situations) and, something that too many of these love-hate romances never dare to do : she's not innocent in the deal, she does chase the ML, she wants him to be her support, even if he's clearly not willing, and yes, she weaponizes his sexual attraction to her to get what she wants. Yay for multi-dimensional characters ! The plot starts because of money, and is later moved by the magic pills that cures her sister, but the ML is nothing like your usual sugar daddy who falls head over heels for the FL and pampers her, noooo, their relationship is way more complex (and more interesting IMO) than that. I was glued to my screen to see how it was going to evolve, and the drama over-delivered. SFL was also very well written, not your usual green tea, she herself was dealt an unfair deal, and her excessive codependency to the ML made her more tragic than infuriating.

To be clear : the drama isn't trying to be realistic or feel like big TV, Zhai Shi Fan obviously adores the format's freedom to be over the top and soapy and she's a true master at it, shooting crazy but powerful and memorable scenes. This is an acquired taste obviously, I don't recommend it to anyone who isn't at least a bit into slap & kiss or makjang, and knows what to expect (or, you never know, let the show introduce you to a new type of crack !).

Read More

Spoiled Stinky Cheese

Let's start with the poster. Bad design. Makes the show look stupid. Which, it actually is stupid. It's just a bad production with a dumb plot. It doesn't even know who it's audience is. We don't mind bad so much if the visuals are worth the time. They are not. This show isn't cheese. It's awful. Like it doesn't quite know what it wants to be. The sound effects for the kissing is sloppy, like literally sounds like wet sloppy licking and slurping. Bleh! And really who wants to watch forced intimacy? No one. The FL is supposed to be training at a science facility, but comes off as having fluff for brains. Like she can't even remember simple world building info that she is supposed to know. Not to mention the dumb stuff they have her do like "climb" down a rope in a mini skirt that magically doesn't bunch up and show anything. As if it isn't obvious she's being lowered by invisible cables. This is time wasted.

Read More