I finished this series in about three days on the weekend, and I have mixed feelings about it. Hear me out:

I agree with what the general consensus is in terms of the acting, I think it's relatively well acted. The two main actors do a great job with the roles they're given. And if I can be completely honest, I think the actor who played Lhong was actually the most talented. But that's not what I want to talk about.

I've yet to see a review on this series pointing out a few obvious (to me, at least) problems that the series highlights. I'll just come right out and say it: Type is a terrible person and in no way deserves Tharn, so although I knew they would end up together (how could they not?) I was still hoping in the back of my heart that they didn't.

There will be SPOILERS so read at your own discretion:

Type displayed some of the most abusive, problematic, and downright evil treatment towards not only Tharn but also to the people in his life aside from his parents. This is not acceptable and should not be overlooked. I got extremely tired of their relationship by halfway through the series. He offered nothing to Tharn but skirted by on his looks and the trope that everyone wants what they can't - it was unmemorable and annoying a lot of the times.

Type physically attacked Tharn on a number of occasions, punching him in the face twice, pushing him down, kicking him, choking him, holding him by the collar, kneeing him in the groin (the most fucked up thing in my opinion) and countless others. It is NEVER okay, or cute, or charming, or understandable when someone does this sort of thing. Doesn't matter how cute, handsome or sexy someone is. Doesn't matter if that person has gone through traumas of their own. It's not acceptable and Tharn should've had him charged or at the very least reported him to the school.

Then there's the issue of the constant, brutal emotional abusive, manipulation, gaslighting, and downright cruel treatment from Type when it comes to his relationship with Tharn. He practices so many toxic monogamous traits, the main one being the fact that Type seems to use jealousy as a tactic to maintain interest from Tharn. He uses making Tharn jealous as an indicator of love for himself, and openly admits it in the episode where he flirts with women in front of Tharn. Tharn says "Do you enjoy seeing me upset and hurt?" and Type straight up says "Yes, I do!" with a smile. That's fucked up and not acceptable! That's. emotional. abuse. He constantly accepts Tharn's love and affection and sex in secret meanwhile actively living his life as a vehement homophobe.

To a certain extent, Tharn can be blamed for allowing the treatment to continue, because remember he was given many opportunities to move out, and Type did make it clear at the start that he wasn't interested in a friendship and especially not a romance. So knowing all the signs, Tharn pursued Type anyway, and I think he pursued Type based solely on the fact that he's gorgeous (they had really no other basis for a friendship much less a relationship besides the couple weeks of being roommates before Type found out he was gay.) So in a way, Tharn saw all the warning signs straight up and even tasted a lot of Type's wrath and continued to actively pursue him and defend him to everyone around them, which is unfortunate because he's a sweetheart and really let himself get trampled on emotionally and physically.

Another point I'd like to make is that his friends receive similar things from Type: he is constantly threatening to beat them up (and yes, I understand that it's all in fun so don't get me wrong, friends joke, I know) but you can tell that they're scared of him because they will legitimately stop when they know he's upset. And often they will say "He's hotheaded, high strung, and blunt. That's just how he is." as if they're just accepting and excusing the fact that he's always treating people like shit around him. He calls people faggots, tells everyone he meets that he hates gay people, is rash, angry, and immature anytime someone brings up something to do with his behaviour. And honestly near the end of the series just before the climax of the show I was starting to get really really tired of Type. He was starting to lose whatever special place he had in my heart just because he was handsome. It started to become not enough to excuse his shitty personality and behaviour.

Anyway, that's all I'll say about that. I think as a Westerner I might have a really biased view about how relationships work in Thailand or the differences between values and what's acceptable. I see those things happen in the show and I have a much different reaction, but it seems to be a common theme in most BL dramas: abuse, cheating, manipulation, violence, etc. So I guess I'm not totally surprised. I just wish for once the main character (Tharn in this example, who is such a sweetheart) would recognize all of those toxic warning signs and run away instead of running headfirst into it and getting hurt over and over just because the guy he's pursuing is good looking.

And I didn't want to get into it, but I will talk about it briefly before I finish: Type's sexual assault does not, in any way, give him a free pass to treat everyone around him terribly. Especially to the extent that he treats Tharn. Type needs to seek professional, serious help. His unresolved traumas do no deserve to manifest themselves into poor treatment towards his loved ones. I am not saying that it's not terrible he had to go through what he did, I am also a sexual assault survivor and because of that I have deep empathy for Type. Nobody deserves that - but instead of getting into relationships and using that trauma to fuel dangerous and violent behaviours - you need to get assessed and receive proper help. You're an adult and responsible for that, not other people. Not Tharn, who was such a sweetheart to you and was your emotional and physical punching bag.

So I'll say it one last time: they were adorable together behind closed doors every now and again, but they did not deserve each other and I would've preferred it end with Type pushing away Tharn for good and Tharn moving on, and realizing how shitty their rship was in the long run, and Type eventually healing his own self before trying to explore his "gay" side.

I won't rewatch this and probably won't recommend it to others but if you want to see what it's about it's not insufferable.

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I have to admit I was drawn into this series for two reasons:
1) Dylan Wang is super handsome, and I couldn't escape the millions of gifs of this show while scrolling my Tumblr feed. 2) It's on Netflix.

I didn't watch the original Meteor Garden - it seems like most people have. I had no real intro to the series at all, other than the fact that I knew it was a remake. I went in completely blank slate.

First episode, off the hop, the show came off as well produced, however, was /reaaaaally/ dramatic. The music, the shots, the scenes came off as cheesy and a bit overdone. The whole F4 concept is a bit cool, but I was disappointed with the dynamic that the other three members had with DMS. The three other members are calm and collected and mature, but seem to just "follow" Dao Ming Si, despite him being immature, hot headed, and problematic.

I love drama and I love cheesy sometimes, so I kept watching. The rship between Shancai and DMS seemed to drag on foreeeeeeever to get to the point they were at by half way through the 50 episodes, and I have to say, it was getting really old. Lol. Shancai became soooo annoying by that point, because of how much she "didn't like" DMS, despite obviously liking him. It was frustrating to watch her so far into her relationship with him and still acting as though he was insufferable and the bane of her existence, right up to the point they get married. Like god damn, woman, just admit it and get on with your life, it ain't cute anymore (it only really was for like 4 episodes tbh).

I think this show dragged on way too much, and some of the story lines had me wanting to skip through them (I didn't, but I was close.) For example, Xiao You and Ximen - their whole tale became really hard to keep watching, just because of how slow it dragged on, and how shallow the story between them was. The ex-girlfriend with the short hair (can't remember her name) had way more chemistry with Ximen than Xiao You did, and their story was a lot more believable.

All in all, I think the scenes were beautiful, the cast was beautiful, the clothes, the cars, the sets, the shots, everything was done top quality and it showed. I just think it really dragged on for quite a long time and I was left feeling like everything was rushed at the end, even though it had built up soooo long. Their wedding didn't really even seem planned at all, it just sort of happened? She like had a dream and then woke up there? Lol? Also, DMS's mom just had an entire change of heart and became a COMPLETELY different person after 1 day? Nah, not believable. She was good at her role, being the wicked, vain, cut throat, intelligent, and powerful CEO mother from hell, but despite being set in her ways her whole life, she suddenly is able to change overnight?

I'd recommend watching this, but then again, I probably wouldn't re-watch it. It was a good show though for the most part.

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I'm so upset that it's titled, "Secret Love Affair" rather than something more... poetic? Because that's what I feel this drama was.

The on screen chemistry of the main couple really shone, despite... or... maybe because of their age gap and maturity levels. I don't usually root for story lines like this, because cheating and affairs and the like are usually a tired trope and not done well, and I usually end off feeling really bad and guilty for the third party.

But... I think it's safe to say that this particular instance was anything but an affair, really, considering the relationship and the dynamic that was going on for miss Oh Hye Won. Her acting is so damn good, and at times, despite her rashness and her greed at some points, I felt like I was rooting for her, I wanted her so badly to be free and to love and be just... happy.

The music, the cinematography, the love/chemistry, and the acting were just top notch in this. I really, really enjoyed it.

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This series started off well, I actually really enjoyed the super-human strength, family heritage story. I think the comedic/slapstick spin that the show put on it really helped to make the story flow, since we know it's nonsense, it was nice to see that the show knew itself that it was nonsense too and didn't take itself too seriously.
The two lead men in this show are SO HANDSOME. I can't even, honestly. I am more biased towards Ji Soo because he's more my cup of tea (or shot of soju if you will) than Min, but I seriously think both of them are terrific actors and super super good looking. They really did their jobs well.
Bong Soon is a cute girl, and she's a good actress, I just think her character got old really quickly trying to play out all the crazy subplots and twists that this show tried to stuff into the series. Maybe there were too many episodes, that's it. Probably could've taken away 5-8 episodes and closed it strong, but instead it sort of just dragged on with some more unbelievable antics.

All in all, good show, good looking, talented and believable cast (especially the overly-effeminate co-worker), I would recommend watching it if you're not looking for something too story driven, and if you like male eye candy.

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I almost finished this series, but didn't, I got bored. But! I will say: it's NOT because of the actors. Literally every single actor in this show does a really really good job. Especially the villagers and the leading lady.

I think this show was a little overhyped, I can understand it because, well, EXO fans. However, I think it was a really really good show despite that. The only reason I didn't finish it is because the story to me wasn't all the captivating. I think it was really well thought out, and I appreciated the writing, but I just couldn't get myself /so/ into it that I was like "OH MY GOD I HAVE TO KEEP WATCHING." I sort of just watched because I felt as though I was "missing" something that every one else seemed to be experiencing about the show.

Now that I think about it though, I feel as though it was just a lot of hype and reactions from kpop fans, seeing that D.O. was doing well in the show (we already knew he was a good actor though) and really wanted the show to be successful for him, to support him.

It's a good show, but the story isn't really anything that hasn't been done before, and done better. I would watch for the actors if I were you.

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This series was fun and refreshing to watch for a couple reasons: The "I'm rich etc etc" trope didn't get abused by Pete, in fact, the Pete's richness didn't make him unique in pretty much anyway except for the fact that he had nice things and that he wasn't used to physical labor. He's such a cute, timid character and usually that can backfire (almost did, with the whole "Date Chompoo instead of me thing, but I forgive him because I understand the reason, plus, he ended that quickly) because the character gets too pigeonholed into that role and ends up becoming self-deprecating and whiny, but Pete played it really well. Ae is such a good character, I loved pretty much every part of his role in the show. I also love that he wasn't "conventionally" handsome (he's super cute, just not by idol/actor standards). And I love his humbleness, his drive to "do good" and take care of people, his relationship with his niece, just everything. The other couples in the show may as well have not even existed, aside from maybe the TinCan couple, because AePete was a really solid story/foundation for the show. Also... the show did really nothing for the other couples, like honestly they were so forgettable aside from the teasing we got from the TinCan ship only to have the rug pulled from under us.

Anyway.

I loved the series and it was great to watch, however I wanted to point out two scenes that sort of rubbed me the wrong way (spoilers ahead):

1) The scene with Tum and Tar. Where Tar is upset that Tum is not telling him what's "going on" and why he's being so distant. Then basically attacks him? At first I was like oh he's frustrated and is wrestling him sort of, but then it got super rapey and weird quick. With the whole neck/kissing, pinning him down, lust-filled, etc vibe, and it gave little Tum flashbacks basically of getting raped. That was messed up.

2) The scene where Kla plants himself in No's bed and HAPPILY TAKES ADVANTAGE OF HIM WHILE HE'S DRUNK. There's a word for that, here's a hint, it's called rape. No is so drunk he can't walk, and goes to bed, then wakes up naked and says his "butt hurts." Ummm... what the fuck, Kla? That's a) creepy and b) super super illegal/wrong. And then when he wakes up he plays the victim like "you took advantage of ME!" card, and makes No feel guilty for literally nothing. Idk... really rubbed me the wrong way. I know it's a drama and is over the top/not realistic, but c'mon that scene is too black and white to be misconstrued. I don't know why every one say Kla and No's relationship to be so cutesy and funny, I just found it really annoying and sort of predatory from Kla's side. At first I was like "oh it's cute he's going through all this trouble to get to know No" but then he literally never talks to No or makes any legitimate advances to get to know him in /that/ sort of a way, and jumps straight to having sex with him while he's too drunk to even do anything. Not cool. Coming from a gay man who has had someone try to take advantage of me while I was drinking, this really turned me off the whole show and left a bad taste in my mouth - what was worse was how people were commenting and actually saying how cute it was and how "funny" their scene was, etc. No... not funny. And, if it happened to you, you wouldn't be laughing either. (And no it's not okay just because Kla is handsome.)

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