Reviews

Comfort drama

This drama is for those who are looking for comfort. This drama brings you the stress of being introvert, the joy of pursuing one's passion and discovering more to life. There are some points in the drama where the story is a bit lacking but honestly the actors pull through. I came here for Han hyo joo and she did not disappoint. She portrayed her character perfectly from the body language to the speech. I loved her especially for the fact that they did not portray her like most kdrama actresses these days- thin to the bone and sharp jawlines. As someone struggling with body image I was so grateful to come across an actress who does not have a sharp angular face and stick thin body and still looking so perfect and beautiful.

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The Rabbit and the Moon

Love in the Moonlight is quite your basic plot at it's core - it's got all the clichés you would expect of a lakorn, down to the tiniest details, for example, the leads getting stranded somewhere (huh.. yeah). But what makes it work is surprisingly enough, the formula itself. That, and the chemistry between the leads.

I have not watched enough lakorns to claim subject matter expertise, but the ones I've seen all have ten scenes that always happen - may not be the same ten, but ten nonetheless that move the story forward, with things happening very conveniently just so the story can move forward. The leads come up with a plan and the script just happens to say that they will get caught halfway through the scheme?! Why not, because that means half their plan is complete, all the important setup is done - it's just the execution that needs fine tuning. Lucky us (unlucky them), we get to witness this plan circle around for five more episodes because they just keep getting caught time and again.

Love in the Moonlight follows Saenkaew, the prince of the kingdom Nanta, who needs to marry a Thai woman so that his family may survive the political changes his country is going through, changes that are resulting in the persecution of royals. His father has arranged for him to marry Pin - anong, a childhood friend of his but he has no interest in this marriage. He does not love her, but he's also bound by his duties, so he decides to go along with the plans while formulating his own, to ensure that his family can safely move to Thailand.

Before his wedding, his father sends to Thailand to start the process of asset transfers and to get to know Pin better - but the very first person he falls for (pun intended) is Sasin, her elder brother. Sasin is immediately suspicious of Saenkaew, he's worried about his intentions, especially after he catches Saenkaew sneaking around in his attempts to transfer the assets without a marriage of convenience, which means that he's certainly going to break off his marriage to Pin. But Sasin decides to put aside all his suspicions for the sake of his sister, who's actually in love with him, has been for a long time. But each time Saenkaew is caught in a "compromising" situation by Sasin, he gets more and more upset, which forces Saenkaew to reveal all his plans to him.

After a bit of convincing, Sasin decided he's going to help Saenkaew, as it is by far the best scenario for all parties, and this causes them to grow closer and closer, until it hits a point where they acknowledge something that's been apparent from the beginning - they've developed feelings for each other.

This is of course, just one plotline that's going on, there are several others that run intersecting with this one, involving Saenkaew's family, Pin's family, Sasin's friends, the political situation in Nanta, and a few others. It's a complex layering of story lines and characters that is both predictable and unpredictable - you can tell exactly how each character will behave in a situation, the situation will mostly go only one way - but the possibility that it could another way is very imminent (and nerve wracking might I add).

It's that kind of back and forth, between hope and anxiety for the leads that keeps you on the edge, and pushes you to press the "next episode" button. The absolute predictability of it all serves as a complete paradox to how well the series actually moves despite knowing every next move.

But the best part about this series is it's leads and their romance. While almost every second character is unsurprisingly one-dimensional, Saenkaew and Sasin are complex, deep and well written.
Sasin may seem like a typical protective, playful and flirty male lead, and to an extent he is - but his relationship with Saenkaew makes him a more cautious and calculated, more depth than perceived.
Saenkaew though.. my, my, my.. he is easily the best character in this by a mile. He is smart, strong, empathetic, and annoyingly adorable. I wondered with each episode just how he functioned, because he is a human angel and deserves the absolute best.
He is incredibly well written - so complex, yet with such a simple notion - he just wants to be a good person. He recognises that in his pursuit to be this individual, he will have to take risks and chance hurting people he really cares about, but because he's also smart and calculative, he's anticipated that these negative feelings are an unavoidable by product every way. He wants to be a good son, a good friend, and a good partner to someone he can truly love as a partner and he's even willing to sacrifice his happiness to an extent - until he isn't. Saenkaew is the best character, hands down.

And the romance? The flame that lit many fires was truly top notch. Sasin and Saenkaew's chemistry was just incredible, incredible enough to make my side eye about the absolute passion of their relationship disappear. Plausibility is not what I came for anyways - I'll take their heartfelt smiles and chemistry any day. The trajectory of their love story was not a simple one, opposition from characters you wouldn't expect it from is the least worrying thing - so many characters brought out actual pitchforks to try to stop them from loving each other. But Sasin and Saenkaew are the brightest spot, their love burns as bright as they do.

The rest of the characters can.. I have some choice words not suitable for a review but they can do all that. Some of them are human trash, most of them are bad people to an extent, some are surprisingly complex. Yes, perhaps most of them were presented as absolutes of good or evil, for the most part really one dimensional, but there was surprising depth. It did come a bit too late (and yes, I could not excuse the previous horrids), but I'm glad it came nonetheless.

I won't be covering the ending - I'll just say it was an emotional rollercoaster.
I will say the acting was brilliant. You can feel all the emotions from Inside Out in one scene, and the actors all deliver.

I'm not sure I've convinced anyone to give it a try - I've basically said a lot of it is not plausible, the writing is predictable, the characters are atrocious and the only saving grace are the leads. I'll just be straightforward then. You should try this. Yes, it's incredibly dramatic and a lot of things happen more out of convenience than confident writing, but lean into the vibes and drama of it all, and it is worth it.

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Waiter waiter more lakorn please

I never thought I would like Lakorn but here I am eating it up . This series gave us everything. Drama, suspense, chemistry,comedy and thrill. I rarely like thai bls nowadays for some reason but somehow this series managed to captured my attention from the very first episode and have me tuning in as soon as I could for every episode. The downside of this series was the lack of subs. It was torture to wait for an entire single day to watch an episode. I hope that the production company provides subs as soon as they can next time they produce another bl cuz it really brings down the hype because of the delay. Now the acting, it was really good. Both the MC's actors did a splendid job. Especially Saenkaew's actor. I love his face when he is on the verge of crying. Eyes red and face with sadness muah chef kiss. Hard to get that type of face. The chemistry also was chemistrying. The ost was so good. I like the bar music too. Really old timely and sets the vibes. I thought thai bls were starting to get boring but I think it's only Bls from GMMTV. I am looking forward to the next series of the main couple and this production company.

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An unfortunate let-down of a much-anticipated novelty

I have to start off by saying there's a lot of valid criticism for ABO in the first place. A lot of the time it seems like an attempt of straight women to eroticize the abuse by men against women by using feminine gay bottoms as a proxy to not feel personally victimized by it. That's always been off-putting to me because I will never understand why women, who are so often assaulted by men, would find the fantasy of it hot and want to be dominated by men without the ability to not consent as in the ABO universe.
Having said that, if you're going to do an interpretation of The most stereotyping genre of fiction then you have to do justice to its base archetypes. Call me a tradjoshi but I don't want to see the alpha and omega being of the same height and proportions, the sub-genders being reversible (since when was that ever an option in ABO) or the omega-looking and acting enigma turning into an alpha top. In that case what is even the point of even making up such normative sub-genders? So I suppose my main gripe with the show is the writing and the source material itself which defeated the whole premise of having these supposedly fixed sub-genders and their innate traits and came across as very unconvincing and all over the place.
I would have loved to have seen a powerful secretly independent dominant omega who has the alpha wrapped around his finger with his charms (and pheromones) alone rather than what we got: an all-powerful, borderline sociopathic, manipulative, r*pist 'enigma' turned alpha who was simultaneously too gentle, poised and feminine to take him seriously in that role, again considering the very distinct rules of the ABO verse.
The r*pe scene (or should I say scenes?)Is what killed any interest I had had for the show. Because there is a way to make dubious consent at least somewhat tolerable and sensual in ABO by making the alpha and omega so overcome by their hormones, pheromones and cycles that they mutually cannot resist each other. In this case though, particularly between the main couple the enigma just r*pes the alpha who is not in his right mind because of the heat the enigma artificially started in him, who thinks the enigma is a stranger and verbally says he does not want it. Amidst all the boring business jargon and pointless plotlines, this moment is when the show really took a dive for the worst. The enigma's acting as a top wasn't believable either and the alpha looked visibly uncomfortable with being the bottom till the end so their whole dynamic was just stilted and weird.
Li Pei (aka Gao Tu) was the only good actor in this show but to be honest I didn't find the chemistry between Gao Tu and the alpha good enough or their story compelling enough to want to see a continuation of it. Not a fan of the bigot and his victim becoming lovers trope either. Overall such a let-down of a show which seemed quite promising. Still, I have to commend the showrunners for getting this made at all despite CCP’s hideous homophobic censorship and will be looking for better gay media from China in the future. Would love to see proper gl as well.

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Everything but a Yakuza romance!

I dived into this as a Yakuza romance enthusiast, expecting the angst and romance to have me swooning. But what I got was a watered-down hotchpotch family drama without the thrill.

Just after finishing "Lover's Revenge" and this drama, I realized that the FL, Konno Ayaka, chose two dramas with the SAME timid, lovely, easy to trample with and "mommy issues" personality in the same year. Felt like her character was teleported from the previous drama to this, no change, same old "help me" puppy eyes with "this world can't have another innocent person like me" face.

The storyline was mid, acting was okay, side characters are nonexistent in a way that they don't intrigue you at all, just some cartoons popping up here and there. The Yakuza ML was more of a office worker than a leader so won't be seeing him fighting, but some occasional glare fights and mostly (99.999%) being diabetic sweet to the FL.

This was a Yakuza romance without the Yakuza part. It means, you ordered chicken soup without the chicken, but it was still okay as it "got the flavor", so you ended up finishing the bowl. But you will definitely not order this again.

Personally I wouldn't recommend, but do check it out if you are really interested as everyone got different tastes. If you don't like this, just want to let you know, you've been warned.

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Easy Procedural - Contemplative on Marriage and Love

On the surface this is a legal/crime episodic procedural drama. However, oddly there are strong themes regarding love, marriage, and family relationships. I suspect that the lower than expected rating is due in part to people going in with episodic crime expectations and perhaps looking for a stronger romantic entanglement between the leads, and instead getting a healthy dose of almost at times meditative discussions on love and its evolution within a marriage.

There are the promised court room cases per episode. These are entertaining with satisfying surprise twists. Of course there is a main story arc involving the two leads and this is interwoven skillfully with several plot arcs involving supporting characters, good and bad.

Symbolism is artfully placed without being too heavy handed. Also enjoyable are the contrasting relationships and character arcs that invite understanding.

A partial spoiler.....

The two 'supporting' main leads have a romantic connection. She is 10 years older than he, and they finally do get together i.e. things are consummated and we're left at the story end with marriage on the horizon. The two main leads have a similar age difference with a gender reversal but things are left open. The contrast between these two couples seems intentional with one hopefully foreshadowing the prospects for the other.

In general on one level an easy and entertaining courtroom procedural that with repeated watching reveals more subtle commentary waiting to be noticed.

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A drama so beautiful and serene

It had it's beauty and flaws but more or less it brought me to the era of Siam from the history books and every moment felt like I travelled back in time of peace and tranquility. I wished it had a little more tragedy at moments.

This is in my opinion the best plot from GMMTV this year. I love a well made periodic drama. I did wish to see more of the Thai French relationship on a political level, that would have enhanced the historical dimension of the plot even more. This drama is made for more mature mind. The story of Siam's relation with foreign countries back in the day, how love in any form other than the generalized one wasn't accepted and how the commoners and elites were divided by the classism. Each character truly felt human and alive . They were closest to the real world people unlike the imaginary characters we see in dramas. Couldn't help but a little lingering feeling for the ending. It was almost perfect but few things could have been done in a little more refined way at the last episode.

Cinematography was truly mesmerizing. It was slow and sedate. In a period of no rush and no modern facilities, it truly felt like I was brought back in time to a whole different world. Knowing a little Thai made it even more enjoyable to hear the old Thai pronunciations. Every scene was caught beautifully. Some times it did felt a little empty on the scenes. I felt as if there could have been a little more added to each scenes.

Acting wise this is definitely GreatInn and AuoBoom's best acts yet and I am snot arguing on this. This was tough to act. To understand a character from a century ago, speaking French without knowledge of the language, speaking old time Thai, defining things with expression that will go along with the character so different from their usual selves. They did fantastic job. Kudos to the rest of the casts for the amazing work they did. Each character and cast felt in perfect sync. Truly amazing.

It was definitely worth watching. In the era of rush and bustle a drama like this makes me appreciate the world a a little more. If I could I wish to travel back in time and be the Rati to someone.

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Ultimate spectacle where pride, passion, and legends collide

I love that this show is receiving a very positive reception and strong popularity, despite the controversies surrounding it and how it was founded. The main issue is the legal and intellectual property (IP) dispute with the network JTBC, which produced the predecessor show, The Strongest Baseball (or A Clean Sweep). Fireworks Baseball was launched by Studio C1, led by producer Jang Si-won, who had previously directed the first three seasons of JTBC's popular show, The Strongest Baseball. It features the same format, the same manager (Kim Sung-geun), and many of the same key players, and was initially planned to be Season 4 of the original show. A public conflict arose when JTBC announced the cancellation of the tryout process for The Strongest Baseball Season 4. Producer Jang Si-won went ahead with production independently, renaming the show Fireworks Baseball (or Flame Baseball) and launching it on YouTube, which led to both sides taking legal action.

JTBC's Claims: JTBC filed a criminal complaint against Studio C1 and PD Jang Si-won, alleging IP infringement, trademark violation, breach of trust, destruction of electronic records, and obstruction of business. They claimed Studio C1 was violating the IP rights of The Strongest Baseball by producing a show with a similar concept and cast. They also raised suspicions of overcharged production costs for previous seasons.

Studio C1's Counter-Claims: Studio C1 denied the allegations and countered that JTBC was attempting a hostile takeover of the show's IP. They claimed JTBC engaged in "illegal acts of obstruction" such as interfering with stadium rentals, making threats to other channels, and attempting to poach the cast and crew.

A major frustration for fans was that JTBC repeatedly filed copyright infringement reports against Fireworks Baseball videos on YouTube. Due to these reports, episodes that had amassed millions of views were deleted, leading to fan complaints about the "abuse" of the copyright system and the infringement of their right to enjoy the content. Due to the constant deletion of videos, the production company (Studio C1) eventually launched its own independent platform to host the episodes.

The biggest takeaway for me is that the show consistently reports high concurrent viewership, with some episodes surpassing 200,000 to over 300,000 simultaneous viewers during their release or live broadcasts. This indicates a solid and engaged fanbase. As an avid fan, I am hooked by its inspiring content, which showcases a team of former professional and amateur players who, despite their age or past careers, demonstrate dedication, teamwork, and a relentless spirit to compete and win.
The matches are thrilling, showcasing a high level of competition and the ability to entertain both on and off the field. As much as I enjoy the games, I love the funny exchanges and camaraderie among the players. I think what makes this show even more credible and appealing are the well-known figures in Korean baseball, such as manager Kim Sung-geun and legendary players like Lee Dae-ho and Park Yong-taek, along with its high production quality.

Fireworks Baseball is not merely a successful sports variety show; it is an unstoppable cultural phenomenon that has brilliantly hijacked the national spotlight. The program has transformed the baseball diamond into an arena of visceral, high-stakes drama. It’s a compelling saga built on the triumphs and heartbreaks of baseball legends clawing for redemption. The show doesn't just capture the audience; it dominates its attention with a raw, inspiring narrative of teamwork and relentless perseverance, amplified by electric, intense baseball action. Every episode is a torrent of clutch hits, strategic gambles from veteran Manager Kim Sung-geun, and jaw-dropping comeback victories that ignite the collective passion of the audience. The show isn't just well-received, it's crushing the competition, proven by its record-breaking viewership numbers and the fervent fan dedication that repeatedly sells out massive live-game venues. Fireworks Baseball is the ultimate spectacle where pride, passion, and legends collide. You can watch it on https://studioc1.co.kr/

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Gloriously Dramatic

Totally didn’t expect much going into this lakorn, but wow—it really delivered. I mean, sure, lakorns are known for their wild plot twists and over-the-top drama, and this one definitely leaned into that with full force. But somehow, it worked. The twists were intense, sometimes borderline outrageous, but they kept me hooked the whole way through. Honestly, I’d even say this is one of my favorites this year. What really stood out was how the story tackled the experience of being a gay man during that time period. It was done with so much nuance and care, and the way it was woven into the political backdrop – super clever. The pacing was smooth, the story arcs felt well thought out, and the acting—chef’s kiss. Peak was such a pleasant surprise. I didn’t expect him to carry the role so well, but he really nailed it. And the actress who played Pin? She was incredibly convincing. Also, shoutout to the music. It elevated the emotional beats so much—it didn’t just sit in the background, it actually helped shape the mood. All in all, this series was a ride I didn’t see coming, and I’m glad I hopped on. A solid 4 out of 5 stars from me.

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The Ending With The Father....

Honestly, I was trying to be fine with how things ended but something just felt very uncomfortable watching the father of Saenkaew sit amongst everyone else taking the picture. Like Sasin looked uncomfortable, I could be reading too much into it and maybe it was just the actor pulling faces just because. It felt rushed and weird. But whatever, shows always do this with parents who cause a lot of damage and its wild to me..

Anyway, I'm glad how things turned out for everyone else and their fate. It was a good ending and this show really pulled me out of the slumps I've been feeling towards BLs lately.

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Nicely wrapped time travel drama even with the Chinese censorship

I liked the ending of this drama. Unlike "Summit of Our Youth", this actually had a happy ending.
Even though it was dragged for like 10 eps more or less, it was quite nice and enjoyable. It was funny and heartwarming.

I felt bad at the end when Lin Yan died alone, but that was not the point. The point was- his devotion to his wife until death and not marrying into another family, so his tale and loyalty can be passed down to generations of Shen descendants. He might not be the ancestor, but he was a relative of Shens.

If they had both grown old and died naturally at old age, their story would have been a common one and not a story of love and loyalty.

Then, when both of them woke up, both of their dreams aligned, and they found each other again.
I would like to believe that he didn't die alone, but his soul has changed the timeline. And after years of hardship, and for the love and loyalty to his wife, God gave him his own happy ending as a reward.

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Only the ending isn't satisfying

I went into this series without expecting much due to the short running time, but I was positively suprised by how much I enjoyed the story and chemistry of the actors.

The story isn't anything grand but it made me laugh unexpectedly and the tension between the main cast definetly is catchy.

The only downside of this watch, is the ending. It's not satisfying cause of the kind of open ending...? I was startled, one second I was immersed into the plot and the next it was just done. I hope they make another season for this show.

I would watch it again and I do recommend a Look into it.

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