Hemp Rope (2022)

A lot of people are saying they were disappointed with this series. The only thing I'm disappointed in is the low rating and negativity surrounding it just because people were expecting something different. As its own series, Between Us was good. But because it is attached to such a fan favorite like Until We Meet Again, it is being held to the same standard and formula.

If you want another supernatural, fated mates sweet slow burn, this is not for you. If you want a closer to realistic drama that deals with PTSD and Survivor's Guilt but still full of heart and passionate characters, then please consider giving this a try.

But I beg of you, don't go into it planning to compare it to its parent story, It deserves its own recognition. I admit, when I started this series after reading all the bad reviews, I found I kept waiting for it to "get bad," if you know what I mean. Usually people are waiting for a show to get better but I had heard so much about disappointment that I had braced myself to feel the same but it never happened. The show was intriguing all the way through although I admit there were a couple of times I thought they probably could have shortened it by one or two episodes. Mainly because there was a lot of flash backs to the same scenes as characters recall and reflect on earlier conversations.

Aside from that, I found it to be a good show and I feel almost guilty going into it prepared to be disappointed. I feel like I owe the series another go 'round since I was watching with tinted pre-conceived notions.

A lot happened in the first few episodes and then it slowed down somewhat but it never got boring. I think because the main couple came out of the gate with such sexual tension and relations, people kind of expected it to stay that way. But it was during these more solemn moments where the characters get their biggest development and they are important moments.

If I WERE to compare the stories of the main couples from UWMA and Between Us, I liked that Win and Team were practically the polar opposite to Dean/Pharm's relationship where there was intimacy first then love rather than love first then intimacy. Dean was searching his whole life for his missing piece while Win wanted nothing to do with love and all the hard feelings that came with it. Pharm struggled with conditions that were beyond his control from a past life he somewhat recalls in dreams while Team struggles from Survivor's Guilt after a tragic accident from his own childhood.

I get that people think the MC relationship was inconsistent but I didn't see it that way. Win and Team understood lust, so they acted on it, then they had a very reasonable and expected internal meltdown when they started feeling more above the belt. Relationships begin and grow in many different ways and it's nice to see different situations portrayed.

While I don't really have any issues with any of the side characters (as they were entertaining in their own right) I think there were just too many of them. It was almost like every character introduced had to end up with someone and to keep track of that many relationships in one series is just overkill.

Overall, I really enjoyed this series and I will definitely watch it again, especially knowing that it wasn't going to be as bad as a lot of people were saying. I think it's unfortunate that the show gets a bad rep because of other's expectations.

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Kinda FWB to a relationship so beautiful and healing

They started out on the wrong foot - a one-night stand, then friends, then lovers. But gosh the development of their relationship is just beautiful. Both are scarred and carry heavy burdens from their pasts, in Team's case it's his brother's death, in Win's case it's his middle child syndrome. But they help to heal each other through a long, arduous, but loving process.

I've seen comments of how it took them until ep11 to confess, but what did you expect from 2 guys, both heavily scarred, both equally as afraid to confess their true feelings to the other? When is love ever easy? The confession in ep11 was done perfectly, it was heartbreaking, yet absolutely stunning, and most important, they TALK and bare their hearts out. Well technically Team did most of the talking, but because of his bravery in taking the first step, he managed to break through Win's gold plated metal barrier.

Onto the other characters: We see little snippets from the og series 'Until We Meet Again' with Dean and Pharm being the absolute cuties that they are. We also see a lot more of the friendship between Dean, Win, and Pruek.

Pruek x Manow and Bee x Prince are just the doses of sugar I needed throughout the series, cuz Win and Team gave me lots of angst tbh. But I do wish we could've gotten a bit more on Tul and Wan's relationship, especially since it's of such a complex nature and Tul seems to be on the edge of starting to explore this.

I feel like the name of the series 'Hemp Rope' actually carries significant symbolism for Win x Team, unlike Dean x Pharm's red string of fate, they're relationship is a lot more grounded and realistic. It's a lot more 'unromantic' in a way, a truly even Team said once that Win is an unromantic person. But while less fantasy-ish, there's no better way than using a 'hemp rope' to describe their relationship. It's one that's rough, been through hard patches, yet creates the strongest unbreakable bound between them.

Overall, the series is just a masterpiece, and I must also mention that i absolutely love the 3 brothers' close connection in Win's family.

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Ah that hairline....

Well, this does not stand a rewatch!

I watched this for the first time when it was first released and I loved it. So a week ago, when I was feeling a bit down and not wanting to start anything new, I decided that rewatching this was a good idea.

No, it wasn't!

It took me three days to finish the first episode and than another two to watch half of the second one before finally abandoning it: it was unwatchable.

The story is not bad, the hook up was all PC, asking for consent and all that jazz.

But: the actors may be cute and handsome, they cannot act to save their lives. The line delivery is monotone, the facial expressions non-existent or rather they each sport one single expression throughout the drama: Boun is trying to be cocky and seductive (just cringy and unconvincing!) and Prem has eternally trembling lips and panicky attitude. And they have absolutely no chemistry between them: Boun falling for Prem when he sees him in the first episode comes from nowhere. I guess that's what they call love at first sight and that is something reason, logic and appearance cannot explain.

Then there is the only actress with lines Samantha, fidgeting and grimacing and trying to show shyness and seductiveness but failing miserably. She was painful to watch. Dean with his expressionless face and zero acting talent is a known and expected quantity, while Fluke cries easily and very often.

The production value is standard though they forgot about continuity when it concerned Boun's blond hair: that was the most amusing aspect of this drama i.e. keeping track of Boun's roots!

I have either seen too many BLs now and my rose-tinted glasses are off, or I am a bitter and blind person who needs to have her eyesight checked.

A good watch once but not to be repeated !

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A Romp Through Boredom

For me, this was a disappointing side story from UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN. That was one of my favorite BLs ever and so it is hard to recapture any magic from that series. There were a few references to it but it is essentially a story that stands on its own. It started out well but then droned on and on into just another Thai BL series. There were some good acting in this series and the whole issue of guilt for perhaps contributing to an accident was handled with sensitivity. That was a painful chapter in anyone's life. Manow steals this series and I just adored her characterizations. Sure, she is sometimes over the top but that who Manow is and good for her. These long belabored recountings in Thai BLs to show love is really getting old. This same theme has been done over and over.

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Watch this because of YouTube Fishing again... Haha... YouTube & their algorithm really understand us... Hoho... But as I watch I wonder this look similar with the other title. Go to MDL just to find out turn out indeed they're connected with each other. Haha...

Story about Team & Win. Team is a talented swimmer who just entered university. Team catch Win eye from the first time they met. That's lead to Win like to tease Team. One day their relationship take a high jump to one night stand, due to one incident that made Team need the 'help' from Win. And since that day forward, their relationship grew closer and closer.

When Win learn that Team has his own struggle and trauma about swimming, that also affecting Team's sleep, Win start to open his heart even more for Team. He offers up his own room for Team to stay in.

Like the MDL wrote: Team isn't the only one with issues from his past preventing him from moving forward. Win also struggles with how to handle receiving love and how to give special treatment to those closest to him. And this story focuses on how Win and Team come to know and inspire growth in each other.

That's pretty much the story without giving the spoiler. Now what I like and don't.

What I like:
+ Watch this really intrigue my curiosity to compare both dramas. But upon re-watching Until We Meet Again, I also found out not all the parallel scene they simply took from Until We Meet Again. They really did re-shoot some of the scene. Like when the swimming team go to vacation, that's clearly different place. And I love the effort the director team made for this drama. This simply not just another extension for Until We Meet Again.
+ I really like the chemistry between Boun Noppanut Guntachai & Prem Warut Chawalitrujiwong. But unfortunately I think they already break this couple.
+ Even though at first this start quite toxic, but in the end I really like how Win and Team indeed come to know and inspire growth in each other.
+ The Win family story.

What I don't like:
- The unimportant story of Tul & Wan or Sea & Prince .Oh please... Why the need to made this other couple in the first place really confuse me...

Overall I quite like this drama. But the toxicity made me can't give this drama higher score...

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Disappointed? No, Not Me

I guess I should count myself lucky that I didn't know to anticipate this series and neither have I watched UWMA so there was barely anything to expect and be disappointed by.

The exposition was nothing exceptional, but maybe because of the actors, I still got drawn into this series and I will say I did enjoy all 12 (well, maybe 11, episodes of it). Sure, the story wasn't anything extraordinary and the direction and execution came across as lacking, but still.

Win/Team. I loved them. Their chemistry wasn't off the charts or anything, but I weirdly just loved seeing them. Another "Hia" for the books, but even though I felt it was a tad bit too excessively used, I didn't find it as aggravating.

The few things that aggravated me with them was I wish there would have been more of a plot. And the plot with the drowning was dragged out too much that it lost any mystery and interest and by the time Team had the full recollection, I couldn't be moved with it. Win's hair was also very distracting in that I couldn't help noticing the growth (and the difference) in every scene. I found myself analysing scenes (which one was shot before the other, etc) instead of being engrossed in the series.

Phruek/Manow. I loved these two individually, but I almost couldn't stand their scenes. As much as I liked Manow, her over the top behaviour when with Phruek was too much for me to watch.

Dean/Pharm. I don't have anything to say about them because they were almost absent from the whole series and when they did appear, it was the same thing.

Tul/Waan. I really liked Tul. I didn't feel Waan that much and didn't feel their relationship either.

I don't know why there had to be so many couples though. All those couples in one series, it's no wonder not much can be said for them. Splitting time to tell all those stories and produce something nice and coherent wouldn't be easy.

The ABC gang, as Win called them. They stole the show for me. There wasn't a single shot with them in it that I didn't like. And Art is so pretty and I really liked his performance. It's too bad we don't get to see him in many things. But I liked all three of them.

The cinematography was good and enjoyable to see, but the continuity was out of sorts. I feel like they had what they wanted to show but they didn't go about it the best way they could have. Still, I enjoyed it and would rewatch it.

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Where were the lays???

Between us is essentially the remake of the bl classic ‘until we meet again’ in the point of view of the side couple WinTeam.

I enjoyed but didn’t love ‘until we meet again’ so I wasn’t particularly excited or expecting much form this sequel. I guess since I has no expectations I found myself really enjoying this series. Its enjoyable despite its flaws, and in fact it made BounPrem one of my favourite ships.


The story -

‘Between us’ presents a more in-depth version of the relationship of WinTeam by giving more context to the short snippets we saw in ‘until we meet again’ although, the scenes from uwma aren’t all shown in between us.

I’d say that this series is more character-driven than story-driven, so you get an insight on both main characters trauma, and how it pushes them towards and away from each other. Due to this, the drama is structured in a way that the relationship buildup is favoured and takes up the majority of the story. I personally prefer this format, rather than the get together then break-up in episode 11 formula.


Another thing I enjoyed about ‘between us’ is that we see the ‘behind the scenes’ of Dean and Pharms relationship and we also get a deeper understanding of the relationship between Manaow and Preuk, giving her character a bit more depth than just the funny supportive friend.

Because I unexpectedly was enjoying this drama I avoided acknowledging its flaws, however when there are 7 days between each episode its kind of hard to ignore so here we go:

As much as I didn’t want to admit it, yes there are just too many side couples. DeanPharm and PreukManaow are essential to the story and cannot be removed but there where two additional couples that literally did nothing for the plot: WanTul and BeePrince.

That being said the side couples weren’t boring and were interesting enough so I’m not necessarily annoyed with it.


Acting/cast -

In terms of acting (as well as script writing), this drama give off the impression that is was filmed and edited immediately after its prequel ‘until we meet again’, so in 2020. I say this because the acting, and how certain scenes are orchestrated feel very 2019-2020 drama reminiscent.

The main characters where good actors back in 2020, and they still are now, although I don’t necessary see any development.
That being said, ‘between us’ has allowed the entire cast to showcase a wider range of emotions, of which they performed greatly.

With Prem (as Team) we got to see a more emotional, traumatised version of himself.
With Boun (as Win) we got to see a more unsure, and worried version of himself, which was convincing.
With Sammy (as Manaow) we got to see a more sad, and emotional person of herself.

This really helped connect and sympathise more with characters, since we never really saw this side of them in the prequel.

Another example of the acting being left in 2020, would be the bed scenes. Due to the nature of WinTeams relationship, bed scenes are unavoidable. In dramas filmed around 2019-2020, there was a specific way to film these bed scenes that was explicit enough at the time (I’m talking neck kissing, shirtless etc), however this aspect of dramas has evolved to the point where this is basically a pg representation.

Of course between us doesn’t need to be so explicit, but the way the scenes were edited and acted felt off and slightly weir to watch honestly. Like when you can help but laugh or cringe (which shouldn’t be the case). I would’ve preferred some kisses and inferred seggsy times.

Nevertheless, being reminiscent of 2020 isn’t completely a bad thing, because it also contributes a sense of nostalgia that can make the watching experience pretty fun.

Music -

I liked most of the soundtrack. Some songs, again sounded very 2020esque and this created a fun sense of nostalgia. Even some of the newer songs where good and are already in my playlists lol.

Rewatch value -

I definitely see myself rewatching certain cute episodes and scenes of this drama.


And lastly, there were not a single pack of lays eaten in this episode?? Whenever Team would go shopping for snacks he would reach his hand past the lays without hesitation and pick up some random chips that nobody cares about!

So to conclude, I really did enjoy ‘between us’ the series from all its emotional, and deep feelings to the funny comedic relief bits. It has a bit of everything and despite being imperfect is an easy and enjoyable watch.

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Sweet <3

Just as sweet as I expected after watching Until we meet again - it just can't go wrong with these characters (and the actors who bring them to life), they are all so loveable. :)

The Bee-Prince and Wan-T. couples' story lines I wasn't that much interested in, but they were okay, the only thing I didn't like in this show is that they made Hia Win's younger brother act like a 5 year-old, for me it was more annoying than cute. I suppose he was "made" to be like this for comical effect, but argh... too much, too silly. Other than that, it was an absolute joy to watch, fit for rewatching.

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Hear me out....

First of all, this is my first review on MDL.
I've only started watching BL's recently as in december (some examples: Bad Buddy, Kinnporshe, History 3: trapped and many more) but boy oh boy do I like this genre.

UWMA was amazing story wise and I really liked the characters overall. They didn't focus on the side couples which is a good thing! This series, however, does and there it all goes wrong for me. I don't even remember the names, which says enough.

Then again, an 8 you might ask? Well, I really loved the parts where they show deep emotions. The scene where Team almost drowned was just heartbreaking, I was captivated to say the least. Win saw his world die right in front of him and even though he didn't express his love verbally, you can clearly see the love through his actions. I love a man who shows rather than one who tells me a 100 times.

Another thing I liked about Between Us was the realism (in some ways) about going from a fwb to lovers. The pace was just right for me relationship wise, because I like a story where they don't get together after only seeing each other two times or so. I actually want to see some growth.

Overall, 8 might be generous but I just love love Boun and Prem. The chemistry got to me. I really hope to see them in other works with preferably less side characters or a miniseries which focuses only on their story. We Best Love has shown that miniseries can be amazing as well!

PS Saying Hia all the time might be annoying but the P'Dean made my skin crawl. I do not recommend to make it into a drinking game, unless you have a strong liver. Oh and Boun's hair...why, why God whyyyyyy????

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Finished Episode Three, And I'm Not Disappointed.

There's FINAlLY another series out there that works as a teaching moment, not just hot guys making out and having "cute" problems to force a plot.

The amount of consent and open communication practised by both Team and Win is amazing. Even with something as simple as when Win leaves Team without taking his hand, to have him choose if he wanna follow or not.

Sure, I'm only at episode three, but oh my god- yes.

Thank you so so much for making this a story that other BLs can use as a role model. Thank you for making it something more than just them making out and having communication struggles that leads to hot make-up sex. Thank you for making them human, and for not making this just another disappointment for me.

I'm so so so looking forward to watching future episodes.

Love,
Samuel

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