A Necessary BL for anyone and everyone

I've got to say this is the BL we deserved 5 and 10 years ago. While we were crying over the Clown and I, Bangkok Love, and the more recent Method, we over-ate the copious amounts of BL into the modern era of Tharntype and Until We Meet Again full of nostalgia by how similar the formula still is from older Thai and Japanese BLs.

And no, I didn't forget about those new snack-like BLs coming out of Korea? *chef's kiss*

But this review is about a drama that amalgamates all the things we loved about them and buried deep the things we pretend didn't happen(I'm look at you censored Chinese BLs.).

I feel like if you're a long-running watcher of BL and asian LGBTQ+ shows and movies like I am then you'll appreciate every bit of this cute drama.

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It's Really, Really Good. I Wish It Was Great.

This is probably the best Thai BL I've ever watched. It was like a regular show and I didn't feel the need to give it a pity grade(look, we all do it).

That being said, it's still not very great. Good. Not great. Writing still lacks in the pacing department. And, yeah, that makes a difference. I imagine that for some reason an editing department doesn't exist or maybe they think it's unnecessary to have one but, whew, watching fifty different angles and facial expressions as they repeat how sad they are is--it's less impactful not more. And it takes a solid 5 to 8 minutes of additional runtime. Now, imagine this is the worst example but certainly not the only one.

The story is solid. The actors are good. Earth really shines here. And so does the actress who plays Gaipa/Kaipa's mother. And it's egregious that she doesn't have a casting photo or even a blank one on the cast list. She's important dang it! For several of her scenes, I forgot I was watching a genre of television that gets shafted(don't laugh) when it comes to the writing room. And, boy, did this one ever.

I won't go on to complain because that's a bit unfair. The cinematography in the opening shots and the consequential ones were beautifully done. Lighting. Perfect. Set design, environment, and casting, so far as appearances go, are spot on. When Jim and Wen met, I was ready to love this. This was going to be the BL to end all and be all.

But, it suffers from a lack of editing necessary for proper pacing. And it was really only the times involving Wen. Which is unfortunate because I enjoyed his backstory. The funny thing is that for all that time spent on camera angles and repetitive conversations, it would've been better spent on Wen's internalized feelings blossoming into something real. I would've liked to see the differences in Wen's behavior compared to at the start of the drama when he was being flirtatious but lacking all experience in that form of confidence to when he learned to own his confidence completely. Instead, I watched Wen appear to always be confident from beginning to end except during his backstory parts--where he was a normal human being.

I have the typical issues with unnecessary relationship drama(not Wen) that could've been better set off as something that happened prior to the start of the drama and then tying off loose ends in the actual drama. It probably would've cleared up the pacing to make room to focus on Wen. Just saying. I wanted more Wen character-focused backstory but whatever.

I legit have nothing to say about Heart and Li Ming's portion. I think Heart's story is pretty interesting and it seems like it's been done very well. My isolated experiences with the deaf is that I was raised near the Maryland School for the Deaf. And I've probably see more deaf people than others have. It really doesn't give me an idea of what's proper or not. Add on the cherry that Thai sign language is a different form of sign language altogether--it seemed legit.

But yeah, maybe that should've been my headline.

The entire show.

It seemed legit.

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