Ingredients (2020)

Goodbye is not goodbye.

First I would like to say; If slow burn fluffs aren't your thing then it may not be for you. That being said, I absolutely loved it. The story, the chemistry, the music; Everything about it. Jeff and Gameplay took their characters; Marwin and Tops and made me feel very connected to them through their internal struggles of finding their passion, finding their own path in life; Marwin with his music and Tops with his cooking. All while sharing a bond with Tops' recipes made especially for Marwin, who he has feelings for but is too afraid to say so, not realizing he feels the same and vice versa.

The Ost is so beautiful, Jeff's voice is so amazing. Definitely recommend checking on his covers on youtube.

The chemistry was amazing, I would always get butteflies with every stare and touch. I would also burst into tears at the emotional moments with the way they pour their hearts into what is being said.

Sad to see it go but happy with how it ended, wouldn't mind another season in the future though. After all, Tops needs to keep those cooking skills in practice and learn new recipes to keep his future customers happy; His current day one is already satisfied with his love alone but making music can tiring on an empty stomach hehe.

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Adorable Fluff

The slowest burning prettiest little emotional support supermarket advertisement ever to drop into our feeds. Or even, frankly, to exist at all. We did not deserve Ingredients, but we got it anyway, and it was CHARMING. It came from the retail side and it conquered our mushy pre-packaged hearts. Did anything actually happen in Ingredients? Nope. Do we care? Nope.

Ingredients also wins my best trope execution award for "Let Me Sing You My Feelings" for Ep 16. The number of emotions that cross Win’s face in the course of two songs while he watches Tops flirt with someone else is insane. Win keeps singing yet you see him go through an entire identity crisis - realization of love, jealousy, fear, adoration, loss, and more. It’s brilliant. And Jeff’s voice is crazy good. Even if you aren’t a fan of this series, you owe it to yourself to watch this episode.

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A Genuine Surprise!

For the most part, the acting was superb. I was not expecting much. Not with the format and episode length and it being the small studio production that it was. But the actors acted the hell out of those roles and the production was styled to make the most of resources in an artful way.

The storyline was sweet and slightly uncomfortable in the way growing up is at times. Genuinely bittersweet but hopeful at the end. I really enjoyed the story.

The very limited set was utilized in a masterful with believable and minimalist, almost stylize redressing. The light and limited color palette throughout the drama unified everything in a homogeneous visual language where the actors, the food, and the guitar were the pop color in any scene. Very clever use of what I assume was a small budget. It made the show almost feel like a theater production. Which was super cool.

The plot was engaging enough to keep me rushing forward to watch the next episode but light enough to watch on a break. And it was easy to love the characters. The straight forward moments of tension were well done and placed to guide the pace efficiently without being heavyhanded. And the nod to it being early COVID era was a nice touch.

All in all it was a fun experience, if definitely in the guilty pleasure category. The ending was what it needed to be, realistic but hopeful. And it was a nice touch that despite their love, they didn't give up on their dreams in order to stay beside each other. This was a perfect choice. Anything else would have undermined the journey of their final year in school.

I was left definitely wanting to see a sequel. And more of the actors, writer and director of this work. Well done, everyone! This one makes my top 15 list.

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What a wonderful series this has been! 21 (+ ep 0) short episodes full of fluff, sweetness, music and food. Sometimes I wondered if there was even a script, if the actors weren’t simply told the bare minimum and then allowed to improvise because it really felt unscripted, spontaneous, their stories common-days, things that could happen every day to any one of us.

And the amazing chemistry between Jeff Satur (Win) and Gameplay Garnpaphon (Tops) brought the whole thing to life. Because this was not their first series together, AFAIK, there was no awkwardness of getting to know each other as acting colleagues first, they were close and it showed on-screen in the intimacy between the characters, in the small touches and little smiles. And I can’t wait to see them acting together again, in KinnPorsche The Series this time. They’re a marvel on-screen and I fell in love with them.

Also, this was the first series that I’ve seen that acknowledged the existence of Covid-19 and stressed out the importance of washing your hands etc. Kudos.

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Sweet Domestic Love Story

I can't get enough of this sweet web series Gameplay and jeff have my complete heart, and I'm so sad that this ongoing series that felt like it had been on for a lifetime has finally ended. A beautiful friendship turns to romance, with some incredible-looking food, and you have yourself a hella good BL.

Let's Dive In.

Let's start off with Jeff and how amazing his voice is. I don't like listening to people sing, mostly because it's super cringey or off-key, but I can't tell you how many times I went back to replay the parts of his singing. I would pay real money to go see him in concert. Onto Gameplay. Now, I don't know if he really coos, but the food in this was immaculate. I think my favorite parts were him cooking, and putting together the meals he made. It just all looked so delicious, and I'm glad that this show continued to follow the concept of ingredients and cooking.

For the most part, this is a very, very, very slow-burning relationship. I don't think we get to see them actually together until the last few episodes. For the rest, it's these cute moments that build up to them starting to develop feelings for one another. The beautiful domestic dynamic that they had was something I can only dream to have. I think the only problem that I had with this show is the duration of the episodes. ost episodes weren't longer than 15 minutes if that. I would've rather a longer duration and shorter episodes if anything. I don't believe they're making a second season, but if they do, I can't wait to see more of Gameplay and Jeff, and the amazing onscreen chemistry they have. A definite recommendation, it's the best thing ever.

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Worth it ??

This is the first mini series I ever watched...I have watched a lot of bl series bt I have to say this is now one of my fav!!!! The thing I loved the most was the songs tbh bt the actors too were awesome!! Their acting was to the point nd lovely!! Though I would say I'm NOT satisfied with the ending since I feel like they left a cliffhanger there☹️☹️ like would WIN come back nd would they continue their rltnshp???? Or would TOP open a restraunt in the meantime????????? I really reallyyyyy wish they would make a season 2 to continue the story nd give it a more satisfying ending!!!!

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SO sweet!

First off if your kind of BL is Tutor/Fighter Tharn/Type or Knock/Korn then this little BL is NOT for you.

It is a totally sweet, inoffensive, slowly slowly, non-toxic , beautiful little love story.

Win and Tops are both so cute and they are cute together. You don’t find out how they ended up living together in the first place , but that doesn’t really matter.

There is a lot of cooking and a lot of Win singing - which he does beautifully too!

No great passionate scenes but it is still beautiful anyway when they finally both realise they BOTH have feelings for each other. You will need a tissue to two as emotions run quite high towards the end.

The reason it doesn’t get a 10 from me is because of how it ended! You don’t get to know where Win is going and you don’t get to know for how long.....that was a little frustrating for me.

It’s not something I would re-watch for that reason.

Overall it is a harmless, nice, love story told straight from the heart ♥️

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A relationship series around cooking. The concept itself is refreshing, as it’s a huge departure from the usual college or High School settings that the majority of the Thai series of this genre are based. The story is about roommates Tops (an aspiring chef) and Marwin (an upcoming musician/singer) and their budding relationship. I strongly suggest that you watch episode 0 to get the background of the two characters.

The storyline starts off simple and sweet, not sappy but cute yet mature - appropriate for the story. The acting is spot on between Jeff and Gameplay. Not award material but they have good chemistry with each other, which at times is awkward and goofy but works well with their ambiguous bromance or something more relationship.

The overall story is light in content and the episodes short which makes them easy to watch. Over the two years of the series we see a lot of maturing of the writers and production team. The early episodes, although simple and sweet, were too formulaic in their pacing and story presentation. Basically, Marwin comes in irritated or something similar, Tops cooks him something really yummy and esoteric and all is good with their world. This pacing and series presentation got bad from episode 7 to 11 when the series gets bogged down and we end up losing the point of the narrative. A lot of throwaway episodes. Plus, Marwin gets very irritating during those episodes as they turn his character into a bossy, almost ungrateful guy who looks at Tops as a servant rather than a friend, much less a love interest. It was disheartening and a big turnoff. During these episodes the food premise of the series becomes more of an afterthought as well. Thankfully the latter half of the series the producers and writers found their way and spun off a lot of the cooking details and advertising portions (see my caveat about this series in the last paragraph) to separate series’s outside of this one which allowed them to tighten the later episodes to focus on Marwin’s music career and them defining their relationship.

Overall, it’s a good series. It’s very vanilla on the surface which is good if you’re looking to not have to exert your brain on dissecting a series. It’s a simple watch, that’s worth your time.

One caveat is that the series is an advertisement for Tops, the Thai supermarket chain. That’s why there’s an emphasis on the cooking in each of the episodes. Frankly, it’s fine. it blends well with the narrative of the series and isn’t in your face as some of the direct ad placements/endorsements in other series that tend to be obviously forced and sometimes comical in their placement. This was de-emphasized in the latter episodes as they spun off those portions into individual series outside of this one.

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Sweet Boy Chemistry

LIKES:
They showcased very real talents of the Male Leads: Jeff's singing and guitar playing + Gameplay's chef skills.
Excellent chemistry and teasing between Jeff & Gameplay as Win and Tops.
No heavy drama or over the top sex scenes.
Cuteness of the cat and the baby/very young child with Top and Win.

DISLIKES:
Production:
Mic placement; seemed to be in their collars so if the actors touched anywhere near you could hear the impact of the mic being hit. It also cause dialog to be muffled at times too or breathing moments way too loud. For some scenes they could've used a boom mic.
Shaky camera syndrome + zoom in too close (see up noses isn't good & cutting off their heads).
Pacing was very slow.
Directing:
The actors had some very delayed reactions. A few more kisses would've been nice, especially drunk moments and xmas (why no mistletoe moment?), missed opportunities. Even if it was a neck kiss, we would've taken anything.

OVERALL:
It moved very slowly, but really showed us what "boy love" is and how chemistry between actors can really make a show work, without over sexualizing everything as most dramas in this genre do. Also nothing abusive or traumatic needed, which was refreshing. I would recommend this to anyone who wanted to hear Jeff sing and for those just starting to watch BL shows and movies. Because episodes aren't long, it's a quick easy watch and could be rewatched just as fast. However I was left wanting just a little more; more intimacy, more character development for both MLs, more of what happens in the future.

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Sweet but not anything special

I didn't really have any clue what I was getting into but this was cute. Nothing really happens, to be fair, at least not anything that could constitute a plot per say, but some scenes are worth a watch, it's quick anyway. Plus, Tops is ridiculously cute so he alone makes it worth it.
I will say that the last episode is actually much better than the rest of the series.
Oh also, if you want to avoid covid related content, skip this one. I mean wash your hands and all that but I understand wanting to watch something without those constant references to get away from the current pandemic.

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