This drama is just your ordinary korean love triangle drama where a hot chaebols fall in love with an innocent hardworking poor girl. Cute, but nothing special really. Although I do love Krystal and Minhyuk.

The actors: the reason I gave a 7 is because of Lee Minho, Kang Haneul, Minhyuk, Woobin, and Krystal. I don't particularly dislike Park Shin Hye, but I'm just not a fan of her acting in this story. She made this story flat for me. She's supposed to be this innocent and lovable girl but pushed got me annoyed really (no offense)

The music: I LOVE THE OST :3 I seriously do. Especially the one by hongki <3 ft island is the best ay?

Rewatch value: nope. never gonna rewatch this again. watched it five months ago and until today I haven't rewatched it.

Overall: this is actually not bad although my review make it looks like its terrible. It's actually cute. It's just that I'm not really into dramas where the girl is so innocent and lovely and all that shit.

Read More

Two predators and their victims

This series deserves all the flack it gets. Yes it's fiction, but there is so much romantization of stalking, SA, and very loose definition of consent. IF they had even addressed that yes! stalking is bad! forcing someone to pay you back with their body is bad! Then I might have liked it slightly more. Not only did they not discuss this, they actually romanticized it.

You'd think that the first couple was problemating with some grooming themes with the sudden (non-sexual) spanking scene that came out of nowhere, the older dude saying shit like "I don't like boys who use bad language", and just literal weird parental dynamics. But I'd argue that the second coupling is even worse, and the bar was already in hell.

At least with Phayu and Rain, they actually started out with a very strong meet cute and very strong attraction even from Rain's end. Like that boy was lusting after Phayu before he even knew that he likes men. Like yes, Phayu did initiate sexual contact without clear consent when he brought Rain back to his room but I can believe that it was a misread signal. I would also thought Rain was hitting on me if his car breaks down the second time in my vicinity after him spending his dinner literally ogling at me. Yes, he should have stopped the moment Rain says no the first time, I am not justifying that. But him giving Rain a proper out by clarifying that he's not going to try anything anymore and that he's not in the mood anymore is better than what Pai did for Sky. For me things really only started getting problematic after Phayu implicating that he wants Rain to pay back the car servicing with his body. That couple went straight to hell after that but became kinda cute again after Rain starts feeling more comfortable in that relationship.

The same thing can't be said for the second couple. With Sky and Pai, the way they started out was already dodgy as it was literally presented to Sky as a "fuck or die" type of situation. Noone would see his reaction after and think "oh, this person just had a consensual sexual encounter." Then this Pai dude went on to just straight up stalk him - and you can literally see that Sky was so distressed in the beginning about this, and then Stockholm syndrome kicked in and he started giving this psycho stalker a chance. And what did this psycho do? Create a copy to Sky's room key and intentionally spread the rumor that they're dating when they were not. He did a couple of decent things like took care of him when he was sick, be a little bit romantic, and then Sky, who already had such a low bar in relationships due to his previous history of dating an abuser, ended up falling in love with him.

I'm sorry but I'd rather watch eat dog shit than watch this hot mess ever again. Yes, the sexual chemistry is there, but if I wanted that I'd just watch porn. At least I can filter out non-consensual contents. I honestly regret this as much as I regretted watching tharntype and dark blue kiss.

Read More

Not Amazing but better than a lot of other Thai BLs

Let's start with getting all the bad stuff out of the way first:
1. A lot of plot points are not well fleshed out. There are tons of conflicts that should be discussed and resolved better but most of them either gets resolved hastily or are just not talked about anymore. To be fair though, I'd rather have this compared to hugely prolonged conflicts.
2. Acting is subpar. But then honestly that's the case for a lot of Thai BLs except for the very exceptional few.
3. They are still clinging on to a lot of heteronormative gender roles and tropes. Especially with Nai taking on the "wife" role and having that typical reluctance to sex, naggy, and needing to be saved type of character. This is supposed to be an LGBT drama guys, we can do better than this. Although I have to say, Nai getting lost and being forgetful isn't that farfetched, he might just need an ADHD assessment.
4. No real character development. But again the characters started out more emotionally developed and less annoying than most main male characters at the end of shows so I didn't really mind.
5. Ai being attracted to Nai because he reminded him of his stepdad is kinda weird BUT it's literally just Freud's theory in action. And Freud is a psychologist (a weird one but a psychologist nonetheless) so who am i to question his theories.

Now onto the good stuff:
1. Both boys are so proud of their relationship. It's so refreshing to have a drama where both parties are not so deeply entrenched in internalized homophobia. Both Ai and Nan are actually so proud that they bagged each other and that is absolutely adorable. Love it when Ai's dad told Nan that he knew about him because Ai kept bragging about how amazing his boyfriend is to his dad. Seriously, we need more of this in BLs.

2. Friendship group is adorable. I know some people find the friends underutilized and had no real development, but I honestly just love seeing BL leads have actual friends man. I find a lot of Thai BL friendships very stilted in picture (this one is a lil stilted too but better than most).

3. Older gay couples!!!!!! Love seeing Ai having two dads who are still so in love. I also love seeing how supportive and adoring households lead to kids who are generally well adjusted (for the most part).

4. Generally an enthusiastic consent on a lot of aspects of the relationship. I am not only talking about sex in this. I am talking about how Nai, although has not ever considered liking men before, was so open to the idea of "trial dating". The moment he acknowledges his feelings for Ai, he was instantly all in. Yes, Nai gets that "more reluctant to sex" character but he does initiate a lot of intimacy. He also tells Ai that he IS flirting with him and wants Ai to get his hints. In an ideal world, we will have a BL couple who actually displays enthusiastic consent to things but honestly this is a step up compared to other Thai BLs.

5. The other love interest does not get villainized!!!! Sometimes a girl gets infatuated and let's go when she realises that it's not gonna happen. This drama gets the memo. We need to stop turning girls into villain just because of a man!

6. Skinship feels more natural than most other Thai BLs I see. I love how there's a lot of non-sexualized skinship happening in this relationship. The cuddling, hand holding, and the casual side hugs!!! Those things are better to me than sex.

7. Ai's actor is hot. I'm a sucker for that hairstyle man.


Anyways I like this, not enough to recommend to my family and friends, but enough to recommend it on this site.

Read More

Liked it ok for love's sake

With all the glowing review and the current high rating on MDL, I expected much more than this. But even without those expectations, I would still consider this drama as a disappointment personally. Let's just start with things that were done right:

1. Very strong premise and theme. This drama hooks you right from the beginning and keeps you engaged throughout. Seeing the world through Myung Ha's lens (or more correctly a VR game lens) started the drama on a very lighthearted note and disguises its darker themes which I enjoyed. The depiction of emotional turbulences through "system error" is a very good choice in my opinion - it really got me on the edge of my seats and gets me anxious to see whats going to happen next. The way they inserted the mental health theme, loving yourself, and finding a constructive community for yourself is well introduced, although this could have been expanded more if they had more episodes.

2. Some characters are multi-dimensional and well written. Yeo Woon's progression from distaste to liking the feeling of having company is so so so sweet to see. I also love how Sang Won develops from just a rich brat who is a bit of a bully into someone who helped teach Myung Ha how to receive love and help. Myung Ha is the most complex character of all - he started out the journey thinking that this is a self sacrificing journey where his end goal is to make Yeo Woon happy and to save Yeo Woon, but was actually put in this journey to learn how to love himself. I do love that he is so ready to do anything to save YeoWoon but my heart bleeds for him because he just can't extend the same kindness and love to himself.

3. Homophobic bs does not fly in this series! I love how Myung Ha just does not stand for any type of homophobic remarks made towards himself or others. It is rare to also see a character like Sang Won so ready to accept the fact that he likes men that easily. Is it the most realistic depiction of self discovery? Probably not for most people but I don't care. This is the ideal world that we should be working towards anyways - where kids are not afraid to express themselves because all sexual identities are normalized.

Things that did not tick my box:
1. Myung Ha still having the 29 year old mentality while dating an 18 y.o. I understand that he travelled back in time. But maybe get him to start forgetting that he was 29 y.o at some point? There were so many moments where Myung Ha and Yeon Woo's interaction felt paternalistic which was actually expressed by multiple characters. I just could not buy their relationship as a romantic one because of this. In the end, he was given a chance to fully go back and live his life as a 19 y.o, so in my head I am just believing that he will lose his 29 y.o mindset and perspective and start actually living life as a 19 y.o.

2. Series is way too short to successfully execute the intended themes, premise, and character development. This is such an interesting story and there is potential for this series to be iconic. However due to the length of the series, everything felt rushed and nothing was fully resolved. They had so much potential with the mental health and self love themes, and I guarantee that with 8 more episodes and proper character development, this would have been a solid 9/10 from my end.

Yes, there were more positives than negatives, but the rushed execution is just too jarring for this series to be anything but average. The actors were excellent though and I am so looking forward to watching their future projects.

Read More

What an incredible messy but fun ride

If you've been in a an Australian/American queer group chat, you might get a little bit of a traumatic flashback while watching this series. I'm actually convinced the screenwriter just snuck into a queer gc and copied their drama as plot points.

First things first. This is messy but also a good representation of extremely liberal slash problematic queer friend groups. I'm convinced all of them should be in therapy and/or a polyamourous commune where they can just mess around with everyone. I just don't think monogamy works for some of these characters and that's fine!

Secondly, while I do agree that this is an accurate rep of the messy side of the queer community, it can be a triggering to see that many topics of cheating, emotional manipulation, privacy infringements, and violence in one drama. So please proceed with caution. It is good to get a rep of the messy aspect of being queer, but also there is mess in all communities really.

Thirdly, I love having a drama catered for nosy bitches like myself. I thoroughly enjoyed this although I do want to do the Gordon Ramsay's sandwich meme to some of these idiots. Make sure your blood pressure is controlled before watching this fr.

I still highly recommend watching this despite my above review.

Read More

Side characters stole the show

This had to be said - this series would be a forgettable mess if it weren't for the side plots.

To be honest, the main plot is so unfocused which did not allow proper emotional investment from the viewers at all. Jim's running a chicken shop - and then there is the problem of his business not being profitable enough, his landlord wanting to sell the building, Wuen being a part of the project that wants to demolish the building, and then all the unresolved issues with their exes. None of these issues were properly fleshed out and discussed and their plot just feels so unfinished and messy which I did not appreciate. I just wished they had a more focused issue that they fully focus and not just handpick a bunch of drama cliches they could add as a conflict point.

HOWEVER, the silver lining of this movie is the excellent excellent side couples and characters. Gemini and Fourth is becoming two of my favourite emerging actors - they delivered a stellar and emotional performance as two youths trying to find their own paths in life, while also building each other up. Their struggles, emotions, and connection feels so raw and real which is so engaging to the viewers.

Another standout is Khaotung's performance as Gaipa. I might not always buy into his performances (especially where he plays the "bad boy") but he was absolutely excellent here. The emotion he managed to evoke out of me was insane - and not only once but he is just so consistently emotionally transparent which allows us to really sympathize with him. Khaotung as Gaipa and First as Alan is glorious and I wish we had more of them on the screen.

Lastly, the soundtrack is actually tear-jerking. The nostalgia of this song while also having the song played at the most pivotal emotional moment in the series really is a genius move because now I can't stop crying whenever I hear 月亮代表我的心. Not to mention I was obsessed with Teresa Teng as a child so this was an excellent song choice by them.

I have to give this a 7.5 overall because of how forgettable the main couple's plot is, but it's more of a writing problem than anything else. If the main couple were even half as engaging as the side couples, I would've given this an easy 8.5 at least.

Read More

100 cliched forced into one show

I wanted to like this drama so bad because ep 1 was such a strong start. However, this is the polar opposite to Light on Me where the drama gets better with each episode - this one gets progressively worse as time goes. I have to give it to the actors, this would have been way more unwatchable if the actors were slightly less competent. Choi Jun's flirting skills saved the drama, but even then this drama is what I would expect a story written by a teenage girl with a fetish for gay man would look like. The regular misgendering of Lee Jun, the forced love quadruple thing (I will never be convinced that Simon ever liked Jun), fake fiancee that added literally nothing to the plot, they irk me to no end. I can't see myself ever rewatching this.

Read More

Cute but that's all there is

The key to watching this drama is to not have an expectation. This is a cute (seemingly) one sided love of college students and everytime they do something stupid, I think of myself at 18 which makes it tolerable really.

Most people have issues with Kluen (Joong) being the literal worse at communication but honestly I have found so many men older than him who's the same or even worse. Like his case is way more tolerable because he's inexperienced really, and this is his first time experiencing romantic love.

I also found Dao extremely endearing - he's still in his people pleaser era and is still learning how to be kind and not just "nice", which he admitted! Gotta appreciate him for self reflecting.

So I like this drama better than some of the MDL reviews here, but I just don't think the storyline is memorable in any way at all. Like the whole plot is just about a long winded high schooler/college love story which I have experienced firsthand within my friend group previously which is a bad indication cause I'm a wholly boring person.

Anyways it's still worth a watch if you don't have anything else to do. Not for the plot but more for the cast.

Read More