Reviews

Threads of love…longing for more

The series finally ended and it’s giving me a bit of melancholy, after all these two have grown on me. Bruce Chiu and Liu Yu Ren carried this story with heart. Bruce’s Chia Kai, a neurodivergent thread-seeing seer, could have easily become a caricature, but he made him wonderfully human…adorable, perceptive, and expressive in ways that often said more than dialogue. Liu Yu Ren gave Ta Wei the appropriate toughness of a police officer while revealing the wounded, layered man shaped by abuse. Watching their story unfold was a joy.

Call it bromance or BL, it does not really matter. There were no NC scenes and no intense kisses, yet their closeness, charm, and chemistry felt more genuine than in many series that try much harder. The love was already there…in the way they protected, understood, and chose each other. For two actors stepping outside their usual comfort zone, that emotional intimacy was simply great acting.

The finale revealed what the story had quietly been building toward. “Whatever problems we face in the future, we face them together” is not merely encouragement…it is love in its most honest form. And perhaps a special episode will finally give this couple what the series intentionally held back…the space to let that romance breathe.

Ms. Peggy was my favorite character. As a student of psychology, she reminded me of my own teachers…wise, observant, and always seeing what lies beneath the surface. Episode 11’s discussion of the Zeigarnik effect, how our minds hold on to unfinished tasks, may be more than a psychological lesson. Maybe it is the show’s little Easter egg that Chia Kai and Ta Wei’s unfinished romance still has a few threads left to weave.

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BEYOND MY EXPECTATIONS!!

Nour does not owe me a single thing! They dont make BLs like this no more, the acting, cinematography, editing, sound tracks, camera angles, and everything else i didnt mention, 10 OUT OF 10!! I love how the actors were not afraid of getting ugly while acting (meaning showing raw emotions). The details in the series are exceptional, everything is well executed! But i am not surprised this was directed by Boss Wasa, the director of Top Form. I literally cried while watching ep 5 because of how well everything was acted out.

Im done now. My first review basically a rant ig? But NOUR I LOVE YOU BABYYYYYY!!!!!

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MASTERPIECE SERIES

It has quite an interesting plot, with each scene neither feeling too rushed nor too slow-paced. Not to mention the good acting especially Tee, a footballer? + amazing OST that I doesn't skip their intro

I actually prefer stories that can truly get me invested like this one. I love when a series focuses on mystery and toxic behaviour, where every episode leaves you wondering what’s going to happen next, while also giving you a full roller coaster of gut-wrenching, bittersweet, and emotional moments that keep you hooked. This one kept me constantly guessing, and that uncertainty made me look forward to every new episode because I genuinely wanted to know what would happen next.

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Cute

Everything about Blossom Through the Cloud is about flying: pilots, flight attendants, airlines, training, airplanes—you name it. And yes, once again, we have the familiar CEO-falls-for-his-employee storyline. Cliché? Absolutely. Tropey? Definitely.

But it's also very easy to watch.

The whole drama is lavish and luxurious. After all, the bosses are mostly sons and daughters of tycoons. We get luxurious condos and offices, fancy meals, expensive cars, and all kinds of toys. It's basically a feel-good world where everything eventually works out, angst is kept to a minimum, and wealth seems to be everywhere. In a way, it gives viewers a little vacation from the hardships of real life.

Our main couple, Fu Ming Yu and Ruan Si Xian, are both serious and seem to have permanently stern expressions on their faces. They are attracted to each other, but instead of admitting it, they spend quite a bit of time bickering and putting each other down.

Then there's the side couple, who are even more amusing. Each is busy pursuing someone else without realizing that the person they're looking for is actually right in front of them.

The first ten episodes are mostly about Ruan Si Xian trying to become a pilot, and honestly, not much happens. I found those episodes rather boring.

But I stayed—and I'm glad I did.

One thing I really enjoyed throughout the drama was the subtle humor. A lot of the jokes aren't loud or obvious. They're often delivered with completely straight faces, which somehow makes them even funnier.

The story revolves around Fu Ming Yu and Ruan Si Xian. When Ruan Si Xian was working as a flight attendant, Fu Ming Yu misunderstood her. He thought she was trying to get close to him because of his wealth and position—that she was basically trying to sleep her way into career advancement.

The tables turn when he eventually falls for her after she becomes an excellent pilot and ranks at the top of her class. He finally realizes that she's actually very independent and ambitious. She doesn't need connections to advance her career, and she's certainly not looking for a wealthy husband.

I actually found that change in his attitude quite satisfying.

Ruan Si Xian (played by Liu Xie Ning)
Ruan Si Xian is cold and uptight on the outside, but once you get to know her, she's warm and caring. Most importantly, she genuinely loves flying. She loves airplanes and everything about being a pilot.

There are several things she says later in the drama that I found surprisingly touching. They show how much she has grown and how she's beginning to understand herself, her life, and her relationships differently.

I've come to like Liu Xie Ning recently, and I think she has a lot of potential. She still has some room to grow as an actress. Her facial expressions can be quite restrained, and at times she looks a little wooden. But overall, she gives us a very lovable Ruan Si Xian.

And I actually think the straight-faced humor works in her favor. Some of her funniest moments come from saying something amusing without changing her expression at all.

Having said that, Ruan Si Xian is supposed to be emotionally guarded because of her difficult childhood, so perhaps Liu Xie Ning's restrained performance is partly what the character requires.

Fu Ming Yu (played by Miles Wei)
Fu Ming Yu, the son of an airline tycoon, is handsome, aloof, and, at first, rather unpleasant toward Ruan Si Xian. Watching him go from thinking she's a gold digger to completely falling head over heels for her after she earns her pilot's license is actually quite endearing.

And then comes the transformation.

The cold and aloof CEO turns into a clingy koala once he falls in love.

That alone put quite a few smiles on my face.

Even more amusingly, despite running an airline company, Fu Ming Yu is afraid of flying. There's an episode where he's dressed in full aviator gear, looking every bit the confident aviation executive. But once he's actually on the airplane, he closes his eyes and looks like he's preparing to meet his maker.

The irony is hilarious.

Miles Wei makes Fu Ming Yu surprisingly lovable. Despite the character's rigid demeanor, he manages to bring out a subtle humor and adorableness that makes Fu Ming Yu much more enjoyable than I expected.

But perhaps one of my favorite characters is Fu Ming Yu's personal assistant, Bai Yang.

He's wise, capable, patient, and incredibly endearing. It's hilarious watching him constantly try to help his boss win over his new girlfriend and navigate the complicated world of romance.

Zhao Xuan does a wonderful job with the role. His scenes are some of the most enjoyable in the drama because everything feels natural and believable. He has great comic timing without overdoing it.

The side couple
The main side couple, Zheng You An and Yan An, is also cute and funny.

At one point, Yan An advises Fu Ming Yu that the only way to win a girl's heart is to kiss her like crazy. Naturally, he ends up learning his own lesson the hard way when Zheng You An bites him on the lips and refuses to let go.

That scene was hilarious and sweet at the same time.

There is some genuinely good acting in these side stories, and they provide a nice break from the seriousness of the main couple.

The second half gets better

Episode 20 is probably the climax of the drama. It's intense, emotional, and has some of the most elaborate production settings, with airport equipment, machinery, and all kinds of things moving around.

But interestingly, the drama doesn't simply lose steam after the climax.

Instead, it becomes more emotional and, surprisingly, more philosophical.

The story begins exploring different kinds of relationships: mother and daughter, father and son, friends, siblings, and, most importantly, lovers.

This is something I appreciated because many Chinese dramas start strongly but gradually lose their charm as they approach the ending. Blossom Through the Cloud actually became more meaningful for me as it wrapped up.

The characters grow. They learn from their mistakes. And, in their own ways, they become better versions of themselves.

The message
The biggest message of the drama is about failure and courage, especially for women.

Don't be afraid of failure. Keep moving forward.

One of the ideas that stayed with me is that failure's mother doesn't ask her children why they failed. She simply waits for them to come home.

I love that sentiment.

Go ahead and mess something up. Mess it up badly. You'll discover that the world still turns.

You don't have to be perfect to be loved.

Take that 50% chance of failure. Look at the world from a different angle. Accept your own ordinariness. Take charge of your life.

And perhaps most importantly, be kind to life. Let things happen as they will.

Overall
Blossom Through the Cloud is, at its heart, a typical boss-and-employee romance. The plot is cliché, the characters are familiar, and there isn't much angst or serious conflict.

But sometimes that's exactly what you need.

It's easy to watch, easy on the eyes, and full of beautiful people living in a very luxurious world. The characters are cute, the humor is subtle, the romance is sweet, and the story becomes more thoughtful toward the end.

It's not a drama that will change your life, but it can certainly put a smile on your face—and sometimes, that's enough.

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I felt manipulated. PEAK.

Okay so at first i want to say that my overall rating is 10/10 because i don't rate the last episode as it wasn't what i hoped for, but the ending was good, so it can be like that. I loved this series so muchh, couldn't wait for every friday just to watch it. I think the storyline was really entertaining till episode 7, it was actually making me suspect everyone and i really thought jane patrick was a demon. This series felt different, it had some aura that any other series didn't have. EVEN I AS VIEWER FELT MANIPULATED. but then it got a little confusing with the years skip part. And it was repetitive (you know some scenes with Jane and his brother). Anyways i enjoyed every episode, Jane Patrick had really bad behavior, but like lil Jane i guess I'm colorblind. Can't blame him. I didn't like the last episode because it had some cringe scenes FOR ME, but overall it wasn't bad, the last dance was awesome. The other aspect is that i love the music. I fell in love with the ost and have been playing in on repeat :) I surely will rewatch this series in the future.
xxx
Anyways Jane Patrick the man you are... i understand lil Jane so much hahah

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Very strong beginning but as usual it falls off a cliff....

While we have dark material, the production and the writers are too afraid to explore this setting. They just end up doing the bare minimum and making it lacorn-style with clear white and black characters. Also Little Jane is a bit strange. Does he want to know or does he not, he seems always to hesitate what to do next. Not a character I can identify with.

The finale starts as a softporn with
"Put him in!"
In my head: "Where is the lubricant?" "Did you clean your h* before it? Because it does not seem that you did" and all of that.
"Harder!"
Of course he is a little bitch and he needs it very hard. 🤣
Fanservice at it's best or so... That was just funny for me. This time we have the ending of a revenge arc in the finale, because otherwise we would have bored to death with the final episode. So little Jamie got abducted from the guy who lost it all and because the writers are the writers there had to be no other solution. Even if that's exactly how the novel played out, it's stupid and the old same, same. The scene was in itself stupid. When this was my brother, I would have grabbed him, the gun and run with him before doing anything else... but no, it must be a dramatic scene for the fangirls... and so little Jane can shine a bit, hestating only a little bit... Alone for this bullshit scene and the softporn scene I deduct the rating, because both annoyed me sooooooooo much.

As expected what starts good, falls of a cliff especially in the last five episodes. I can't fault their acting, they have done well, I can't fault the production quality or the OST. but of course I have to fault the production for such a weak script again. It's watchable, but it's not really good, regardless of the many praising reviews this will receive. I'm sorry, when watching I never have my pink glasses on :) So this series is above the usual thai crap, but it could have been sooooo much better, but they failed.

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I love flora’s character

The actors did a fantastic job with bringing this story to life and I must say their chemistry is off the charts!
You might not like Luke from the start but he did have a lil character development and Flora is that girl I must say and I know her character in the drama is often misunderstood but I understand her completely and I really love how she’s an independent strong woman and can hold her own.
And the OST?! Amazing
Overall it was a good watch even though I wanted more episodes before Luke’s proposal at the end, now I’m wondering what to watch next that will get me hooked to my screen again.

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After the Winter of Us, Came the Spring

As someone who has read the novel, I was really looking forward to seeing The Early Spring brought to life on screen. I was curious to see how the characters and their complicated relationship would be portrayed, and whether the drama would capture the feelings I had while reading the story.

Not every love story makes you root for the couple every step of the way. Sometimes, you want them together, sometimes you want them to stay apart, and sometimes you just wish they would sit down and have an honest conversation. That's exactly how The Early Spring made me feel.

The chemistry between Shang Zhitao and Luan Nian is what first catches your attention, but it's their complicated relationship that really gets you hooked. Between pride, ambition, insecurities, and two very different personalities, there's never a shortage of sweet moments, frustrations, and misunderstandings. Their relationship is far from perfect, but that's what makes it so engaging. Beneath the romance is a story about two people trying to find their place in the world while figuring out how to make a relationship work.

THE MEANING BEHIND THE TITLE

The original Chinese title Zǎo Chūn Qíng Lǎng, meaning Clear Days in Early Spring, is a beautiful reflection of the story.
Early spring is a season caught between winter and warmth. The frost hasn't completely disappeared, but signs of new life are already beginning to emerge. And this is exactly what happens to Zhang Zhitao and Luan Nian.
Both enter this relationship carrying their own emotional baggage. Zhitao struggles with insecurity and the pressure of establishing herself in a competitive industry, while Nian hides behind his arrogance and emotional walls. Their love brings warmth into their lives, but it also forces them to confront things they've long avoided.
For me, the title represents the journey from emotional winter towards a brighter beginning. Happiness doesn't arrive overnight. Sometimes, we have to go through a little more cold before we can truly appreciate the warmth.

LEARNING TO LOVE WITHOUT LOSING YOURSELF

One of the strongest aspects of this drama is the development of its two leads.
Shang Zhitao's journey is particularly satisfying. She begins as an inexperienced young woman, constantly questioning her abilities and trying to prove that she deserves her place in the advertising industry. Gradually, she becomes more confident and independent, learning to recognize her own worth. What I love most is that her growth isn't defined by her relationship with Luan Nian. She builds her own identity and realizes that loving someone should never mean losing herself in the process.

Luan Nian, on the other hand, is a brilliant but emotionally complicated man. His arrogance, sharp tongue, and need for control make him frustrating at times. He genuinely cares for Zhitao, but caring and knowing how to love someone are two very different things. He has to confront his own shortcomings and learn to put down his pride, communicate his feelings, and understand that love requires more than simply having someone by your side.
What makes their journey meaningful is that both have to face their own flaws. They need to grow individually before they can truly stand together as equals.

LUKE THE DOG: A LITTLE PIECE OF LOVE THAT REMAINS

I also find Luke the dog particularly meaningful in this story. He's more than just the adorable dog they raise together; he becomes part of their shared life. Through him, we get to see a softer, more tender side of their relationship, away from the pressures of work and all the complications between them.
What makes Luke's presence even more touching is that when Zhitao finally decides to walk away, she takes him with her. To me, that says a lot. Even though she chooses to leave the relationship behind, she doesn't have to erase everything they shared. Luke represents the affection, memories, and happiness that remain even when two people go their separate ways.
Sometimes, it's the smallest things that hold the most meaning. And in this story, Luke is a lovely reminder of that.

THE CHEMISTRY THAT GOES BEYOND ROMANCE

Jing Boran and Sun Qian really deserve a lot of credit for making these characters feel so real!
Jing Boran is especially impressive as Luan Nian. He does such a good job portraying his arrogance, confidence, and sometimes infuriating attitude, while still letting us see the softer, more vulnerable side of him. I particularly love the little details in his performance: his expressions, his glances, his voice, and the way he gradually lets his guard down. Even when Nian makes you want to pull your hair out, Jing Boran somehow makes you understand him. He makes the character's emotional growth feel natural rather than forced.

Sun Qian is equally wonderful as Shang Zhitao. She brings so much warmth and sincerity to the role, capturing Zhitao's insecurities, determination, and growing confidence. I especially appreciate how she portrays her strength without taking away her softness. She makes Zhitao someone you genuinely want to root for.

Their chemistry is simply captivating! It's not just about the romantic tension or intimate moments. It's the little interactions, the playful exchanges, the disagreements, and even the silences that make their relationship feel alive. They really make you believe in these two people and their connection.

AFTER THE WINTER COMES SPRING

What I love most about The Early Spring is that it doesn't give us an effortless love story. It takes us through the messy, frustrating, and beautiful parts of loving someone who is just as imperfect as we are.
Along the way, both characters learn that love isn't about having things your way or expecting the other person to change. It's about understanding, respecting, and making room for each other without losing yourself.
And this brings us back to the title. Their relationship feels much like early spring: sometimes warm, sometimes cold, with plenty of uncertainty along the way. But even after the difficult moments, there's always the possibility of a fresh start.

Perhaps that's what I take away most from this drama: the right kind of love doesn't ask you to give up who you are. It gives you room to grow, to make mistakes and to become better together.

The Early Spring may not tell a perfect love story, but that's exactly why it works for me. Sometimes, the most beautiful spring comes after the longest winter, when the flowers finally bloom, the world slowly wakes up and everything comes alive again.

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be prepared to cry

,,dont be to emotional" it's definitely not just a sentence only for little jane- also for the viewers bc damn i cried so often- the last episode alone made me cry abt 5 times- this show is an up and down- u need to prepared for everything- episode 11 curse is a joke next to this series. I rly loved the acting! The actors did all a pretty good job and the story was something new and refreshing after some time- u never knew what would happen next. I'm also in Love with the OST- ,,colorblind" is definitely one of my favorite songs, i will to hear this song every Friday from now on

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zhao jinmai will always deliver!

i'm in the process of watching every drama starring zhao jinmai, and this is definitely gonna be one of my favorites.

to start, the introductory plot is very interesting. i'm glad that lin yusen was wrongfully petty before they cleared up the misunderstanding. what happened to him was not something light, and if he immediately just let go of his hatred when he met nie xiguang the second time, he wouldn't be my favorite. i hate foolishly stupid men in love. that he had to go through his negative emotions towards her before fully accepting his feelings again is written accurately.

i was also surprised to find that xiguang's character was not doormat. what we usually see from rich nepo babies, especially women, is they have to be extra nice, so they don't offend their (fake) friends with their wealth. when she got accused by her jealous roommate, i was glad she stood up for herself and didn't apologize. her close relationship with her maternal family, especially her cousin, was also something i value greatly. i'm glad she has permanent people on her side because sometimes, it tends to get unrealistic when everyone seems to be against the main leads for the plot.

another character i'm surprised about is zhuang xu (second male lead). i started this drama fully ready to hate him to my core. the edits on tiktok, the clips i saw, they're all showing how much of a manchild he was and i was glad xieguang didn't date him. however, surprisingly, i did sympathize with his situation and understood where his inferiority complex came from. i'm not saying he's not annoying—he is!—but his insecurities are valid. it's not a something he can change (their social status gap), no matter how hard he works. i do think he shouldn't be so foul-mouthed when talking to her, but i felt bad for him in the end when he ended up realizing how wrongly he fucked up. his childhood friend feeding him lies also didn't help his case and made his resolve to be a coward so much worse. in the end, he got courageous in the wrong time. this scene also cracked me up because he and xiguang were finally confronting each other, and the taxi xiguang hailed was just beside them waiting. i was laughing, wondering how that will play out if it happened in real life.

anyway, i also disliked that they cleared up the misunderstand too late. i wish they cleared it up earlier than that, or at least before episode 20.

the ost is also not something i connected with, especially the theme song that plays whenever they have romantic moments together. it takes me out of the scene because the song pisses me off, and i just mute it and hope it ends immediately. i wish they played something else; not a singer belting out an english song that i feel like don't match the main couple's calm energy.

the on-the-nose propaganda about their solar technology also got old too fast. i was hooked in the beginning, and then i started skipping it halfway through. the drama felt so draggy with these scenes prolonged in some episodes.

there was also a memorable scene i couldn't forget where xiguang got angry at yusen when he had to attend to an emergency, and she got upset because he didn't update her. i get her and i'm always team maimai, but i was lowkey thinking: "girl, somebody almost died. surely, you'd think this isn't about you?"

but overall, i really enjoyed this. the equal social status of both leads made it interesting, and although i was getting tired of seeing CEO leads left and right, song weilong was good at portraying a CEO who actually does his day-to-day work. it made me believe that he was really busy. the ending was also satisfying. definitely rewatch material if you're feeling like watching something lighthearted.

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Ragebait All The Way

This series is a joke. And not a good one.
I cannot, for the life of me, understand how it gets all the hype and good ratings.

Trailers vs. Actual Series
It starts with trailers that conveyed a completely different vibe than what it ended up being. We were shown an unapologetic black flag demon (not even mentioning the bl**dy library scene...), we got an apologetic red speckled green flag regular dude, who happens to have a dodgy side job.

It'd be too easy if it stopped there, though. How about changing the series' entire tone two more times? From "tragic dark romance" to "generic office romance" to "blunt soap opera". All within 12 episodes.

This I could still have lived with if the actual series wasn't this genuinely unbearable to watch.

The Characters and the Storyline

Dan
Everyone's hating Dan but, as annoying as he may be, that character is actually just a heat sink for the ludicrous plot and Little Jane. He's simply constructed to be this disgusting, so the other characters and story feel less silly. I also fail to see what he did wrong, apart from being annoying, in the first place. In the end, they had to force a crazy and completely out of the blue revenge/kidnapping plot on him to justify his villainy. I feel sorry for the actor, the role is deeply ungrateful (bro himself is doing great acting it, though).

Little Jane
Seriously, the core problem and true villain of this entire series is Little Jane and the badly constructed storyline, that relies almost entirely on him being a dense pillock, and employs rubbish soap opera tropes that were outdated and parodied already 30 years ago.

Little Jane is quite frankly the most annoying main character I've come across in a long time. His decisions and actions are always poorly thought out, with no substance behind them whatsoever. LJ practically leaves BJ the second he hears a rumor about him. He hardly ever tries to talk to him (or tries but doesn't have the backbone to really confront BJ) and the only one he ever spoke to, clearly and reasonably, was Dan, when he dumped him, oddly enough.

LJ seems like the authors fever dream self insert: the pretty, cute and innocent boy next door, who can be with you today and leave you tomorrow, without ever facing the negative consequences of his actions, blissfully oblivious, because don't worry, the hot guy will ALWAYS fight for you, no matter how many times you hurt him, and he will never want anything back from you because you're the pure and adorable dream boy.

The actor himself is super cute, but I'm not sure this role lets him unfold his potential.

The Statue
Glad they've remembered to add comic relief. Matches LJs character more than his looks.

Big Jane
The thing that mostly makes BJ look like an idiot, is that he let's LJ leave without protest, then still runs after him every goddamn time, although LJ CLEARLY doesn't want BJ and leaves him the second he gets a chance to misunderstand him. It makes you feel sorry for BJ so much that it hurts, although his own behavior wasn't all that good occasionally.

I couldn't figure out why BJ loves LJ in any way or form. LJ is bringing absolutely nothing to the table. He does not stand up for BJ one single time. Which in turn makes BJs advances even more comical.

But then again they never really explore or explain the source of either characters' love OR fear, despite all the potential, a lot of which lies in the greyscale of BJs behavior. It's beyond me why people are so set on them being together. If they weren't the main leads, you wouldn't get the idea they should be together in the first place.

For all that it's worth, the actor is doing a pretty solid job.

The Aliexpress lockets
Another thing that bugs me about BJ though is the stupid cheap a** lockets with the tack glued in, in which he collects blood. With zero supernatural element to this series, what is the point of these? Why does he keep them like sacred objects? Aren't a lot of them just from a**holes who tried to take advantage of his services? And does he make them himself? Like, with a tube of E6000 and a packet of tacks, while watching TV? If I were to ask him a favor and he pushed this over the desk I'd die from laughter. It's absolutely silly. Too bad the series isn't a parody on purpose.

Story
As for the story, there is a limit of how many times you can watch the train derail, in only 12 episodes, before it winds you up.
Rachel and Ross at least had 10 seasons.

The MCs were separated so many times for the dumbest reasons, I've lost count. They just cannot leave well enough alone for one single episode. The relationship revolving door (another soap opera staple, by the way) is moving too much and too fast. So much so, it even undermines the credibility of the happy ending. For all the times they f*cked up their relationship already, who guarantees they're not divorcing in 5 minutes, because someones cousins stepsisters best friends' colleague said BJ is still gluing tacks to Aliexpress lockets? Or some other of BJs demons from the past has a spare truck?

Every hot, cute or happy moment gets chopped immediately. It feels like they've unearthed every possible undead soap opera misfortune trope, along with every possible idiot ball, and herded them into the meeting room in which the writers were forced to conjure up this show on a Wednesday afternoon. Things are going well for 5 minutes? Oh no wait, let's have disaster strike immediately. No, don't worry if it's in the last half of the last episode, after everything seems settled and nice. Just shove it in wherever. The MCs could call the cops or at least inform someone what's going on, one of them being mister almighty powerful wish fulfilling quasi mafia CEO? Nah, let's have them rescue a child from a psycho, alone, with no support, no backup plan, no appropriate gear, no idea what's going on, but alas, in their Sundays best and a hyper car.

The tropes and plot points employed are only there for their own sake, they hardly ever serve any actual storytelling purpose. They're building up expectation and suspense, only to be gone and forgotten minutes later. Take Puts death as an example: it's not happening because it has a deeper meaning to the plot. All it does is serve as a quick and dirty catalyst for LJ and BJ breaking up. Alas, they still spend the night together, although LJ is set on BJ having killed his best friend. It's so exhausting and preposterous.

I've seen people argue there's tension all along the series, but I wouldn't call it that. Tension implies a mutual desire that's being held back only to passionately erupt at some point. What we are being served here is one sided desire (BJ), a soulless bipolar (LJ) and the "passionate eruption" comes in the form of "break up". It's not tension, it is frustration that keeps people on the edge of their seats.

The Amnesia
This crap really gets it's own point here because it's the epitome of about everything wrong with this series. I've seen people defend the lazy writers and argue that the amnesia trope is necessary because "random a** pull".

No. No, that trope very much is not necessary to the series or the relationship between the two main characters in any way or form. They could've left it out entirely and it'd make no difference. The villain plotting the accident and LJ getting hurt still would've worked on its own. LJ could've remembered the good times entirely on his own for once and Dan could still have got a punch in the face. The sole purpose the amnesia serves, is to create a cheap episode, wind people up, reset the entire story (again) and take a detour to the ending (again). Effectively they've employed the trope to turn episode 11 into a recap.

This isn't even my personal taste at this point. It is simply what the makers of this series actually provide. They provide nonsensical characters (mostly Little Jane), that resonate with the nonsensical story. It's a vicious cycle.

And this isn't intentional either, the creators just DON'T care. They think they can get away with being lazy with the story as long as they shove in every trope from whatever checklist they could conjure up from statistics. Or maybe the creators were hoping the poor attention span of people these days would make them oblivious to the repetitive and illogical narrative.

And honestly, it would not have taken too much to fix this story. The series COULD have been good, if only they'd wanted it to be.

Here's what actually would've helped the series and/or relationship:
- A well written, well paced, coherent story and plot that arches over ALL the episodes and doesn't just skip from one episode to the next.
- Well constructed characters that talk and think before taking action.

Yes, I know it's based on a novel and rumor has it the novel is equally bad or even worse than the show. Still doesn't justify they reproduce this in the series.

Quick shout-out to the actors: you guys are cute. I genuinely hope to see you again in a better series that makes sense at least halfway.

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better as it went on

Overall: the beginning was cringey; however, the series kept getting better and better. 12 episodes about 50 minutes each. https://www.iq.com/play/mr-fanboy-episode-1-1dyrv206y2o?lang=en_us

Content Warning: panic attack, manipulation, slap, intimate partner abuse (not between the main or side couple)

Watch Suggestions (to cut out a lot of the manager/show drama and focus on the romantic relationships)
- I might go back and re-watch episodes 1 & 2 for timings
- episode 3 watch 18-24:30, 41-49, 53-58
- episode 4 watch 4 3:40-4:11, 17:15-22, 43-45:20, 49-end
- episode 5 watch 16-end
- episode 6 watch 18:10-22:30, 43:45-end
- episode 7 watch beginning -7:30, 33:45-37:20, 1hr-1hr 6
- episode 8 watch beginning-35:50, 40:45-end 8

What I Liked
- showed other acting pairs with cameos
- acting, James in particular was fantastic
- sweet moments
- intimacy (good consent in episode 8)
- chaos gremlin

Room For Improvement
- the stalking thing in episode 1, he was in the wrong but then threatened to drag the company on social media so then the company caved
- fan stuff was a bit cringey
- too much with catty managers (felt like stereotypes of effeminate men/trans women)

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