"I'll stay with you until you stop feeling lonely."

First, I just have to say, I started this directly after watching A Christmas Carol (2022). After such a dark, harrowing film, I had no idea what a perfect palate cleanser this would be, and I'm so happy it's what I chose to binge. Tooth-rotting sweetness that had my cheeks hurting after almost constant smiling every single episode.

For me, this is close to the perfect fluff-style BL drama. Adorable fluff mixed with tender, heartfelt moments with a dash of reasonable angst that didn't stray into too-heavy territory, just adding the perfect amount of depth and stakes for our main couple. That angst (and hurt/comfort) was rounded out and resolved very nicely as well. The pacing was perfect, and I continuously found myself thinking 'already?' whenever an episode ended, because I was so wrapped up in every moment and was never bored.

I have noticed some comments about the main pairing being "dry". Now, I'm all for 'to each their own'; if that's your opinion, who am I to say your wrong? Except... maybe you are? A little? No hate, I just feel like the people who think relationships and couples like this in BL are "dry" are looking for instant sparks, mutual intense pining, and lots of spiciness. There are plenty of BL series of that nature. But it's this kind of pairing in BL's that I think is exceedingly rare, and is my absolute favorite: quiet, solidly built, based on respect and day-to-day interactions. It's not an instant heart-eyes romance: it's more realistic, arguably more meaningful, and much more introspective. You come to love the characters for who they are and their roots, and from there, you come to root for something more.

As for the main pairing, I personally love their chemistry. There was never a single moment where I felt anyone was reaching too much, trying too hard, nor was there any awkwardness. They met each other perfectly at the middle, and it felt effortlessly real in that way; I found myself completely convinced in the way they interacted each episode. Everyone was fantastic, but I do specifically want to shout-out Iijima Hiroki. The way he portrayed Minoru was equal parts sweet and heartbreaking: the care and absolute love and devotion he had for his brother while simultaneously struggling with the thought of no longer having that independence of someone his age was beautifully done. Further, in the development of his relationship with Yutaka, he really did a great job in portraying that silent battle with his own feelings, how he slowly came to terms with how he felt, but struggled deeply with it, because he so badly wanted to stay close to Yutaka no matter what, valuing his company over anything, even so much that he harbored deep guilt every time he reached out a little with how he felt (which made moments like the cheek kiss, the confession, the hand holding, etc) so much more impactful. Iijima just knew exactly who he was playing, and brought him to life brilliantly.

I also can't end this review without giving a quick mention to little Maeyama Kuuga. Seriously, where did this kid learn to act? For example, the scene where he saw Yutaka crying and instantly broke down himself? What a little talent. I'm usually not into dramas that revolve around a child in some way, but he really made it impossible for me not to love him.

All in all, if you're into sweet fluff, realistically built relationships, and tender/adorable family moments, I would highly recommend this one. As someone with family troubles of my own, I found this extremely cathartic and just such a nice watch. Japan yet again proving that they're owning the BL game atm.

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Shines in some areas, while lacking in others (aka phukao appreciation hours)

This is a show that gives me such mixed feelings that I can't quite figure out a rating I like on any level. Which isn't usually something I struggle with...

Let's get the negatives out of the way first:

- Acting & Characterization: this'll be on the pros list too (did I not say conflicting???), but some of the performances here were a bit distracting. While I don't at all agree that the two leads are terrible actors like I've seen mentioned here, I will say that Supanut's acting was confusing for me. What I initially thought was that he was an actor whose heart was in it, but was a bit too rigid in his facial and body language (his face really remained the same quite a bit of the time, and he often sat unusually still), wound up perplexing me a bit, because I really thought he was quite good in the scenes in ep. 12 being isolated and going mad in his apartment, and in the first scene of the finale, where he was losing his mind a bit after his card was declined. If he is capable of really channeling emotion there, why did it seem so difficult the rest of the season? It often felt like he was reading a teleprompter behind the screen. Chanapoom did pretty well with what he was given... he was impressive in the scenes involving his foster mom. But I just... didn't get any sparks between the two. The chemistry was very off, imo, esp. when compared to a much stronger secondary pairing (which I'll talk about in the pros). With the acting, it can be difficult to tell what the fault of the actor is vs. what the fault of the director is. After all, the actors could've been making better choices, but the director's vision is different. But, if it was simply the actors, I felt like the lines were way off from the chemistry. I felt like the were saying all these grandiose lines to each other constantly (which I'll talk about in the next point about writing), but there really weren't the sparks between them to back it up. From the synopsis, I thought that Gui would be a smiling, kind soul to Solo's darker one. But he was kind of equally stand-offish, and I he didn't smile much either. I never even really saw him be especially friendly to anyone besides the kids or Solo, to be honest. I don't know, their personalities just didn't seem to fit together. Also, lastly.... not really sure where else to put this... why on earth is Perth in the opening credits? He's barely really even in the show! I have no problem at all with Yuuki, but the odd switch from the focus on him and Petch in the first episode to Petch and Khim threw me off, and he wasn't fairly compensated for that switch, and never really developed into his own character. Speaking of Khim.... BL writers. Please. I beg of you.... no more fujoshi......... please................... i am wilting and my crops are shrivelling

- Writing: I want to keep this one brief, even though I feel strongly about it. I mentioned just now that the main couple were constantly speaking to each other like they were straight out of a soap opera.. they had very little dialogue about everyday matters or simple little things. This completely weakened all the love-talk between them, to the point where, by the finale, I found myself pretty damn bored of it.

- Storyline: this is possibly the single weakest link of Oxygen. First off, the storyline was extremely generic. I won't harp too much on it, since this is already so long and it's already been spoken of by another reviewer, but there really is nothing new about this story. Obviously, nothing groundbreaking either, but I'm not even asking for that... I can really appreciate a nice, simple plot. But everything about this seemed like an OUTLINE of a story that got made into multiple dramas... if that makes sense? Like a template. With nothing really personal added. Maybe my biggest qualm of the entire show, though... the PACING. What on earth? When Solo and Gui got together super quickly, I really didn't mind. I figured it was a love at first sight kind of thing, and it actually kind of excited me because I thought that meant some interesting storylines & conflict were coming up. But then the pace came to a near-halt. It was moving PAINFULLY slow. Now, I can deal with slow storylines, if the characters are super well written, and there are interesting plots bubbling under the surface. But this wasn't that. A lot of the scenes were too drawn out, sometimes even becoming awkward. Certain plots were difficult to care about (particularly Khim and Petch... don't get me started on how much I disliked the fujoshi/dr storyline). And then, suddenly, everything seemed to happen at once. Meeting Solo's dad, the rapid explanations of multiple storylines, and a janky anti-climax. And the ending was kind of staggeringly bad. Everyone just magically became nice? Solo's dad, Pam, Linda, everyone. Like magic. And then Solo's dad adopting the kid for Solo and Gui to eventually adopt... all in one episode? What? It's like the writer's asked themselves, "what is every possible ~magically positive thing~ that could ever happen to someone? Oh, okay, make it all happen in the course of one episode! Oh, and make it badly written, a bit cringy, and nonsensical." All of that slowness at the beginning, and the forewarnings of how difficult things would be in the penultimate episode, and then Solo's dad was just like "ah nvm jk I like solo/gui :)" and .2 seconds of prep for 30 seconds of Gui's presentation that was shown, and he magically has the best one in the group and everything is amazing. I just.... long story short, the storyline and pacing were Not Good.

- Solo's dad: SO damn distracting... there is no shortage of older Thai actors?? So why on EARTH would you choose an actor that young and try to pass him off as older with fake grey streaks... I understand he looks a hell of a lot like Solo, but good lord this was such an unnecessary casting choice.

Pros:

PHUKAO: easily, EASILY the best part of Oxygen. They carried the show, end of discussion. None of my ratings (esp acting and overall) would be as high as they are if not for them. These guys are absolutely brilliant together. Let it be known that none of my issues with characterization and acting relate to these two. Starting with Phu/Phuri... he was great. He reminded me a bit of how Solo was, but much more well-done by all parties (writing and acting). Phu, in my personal opinion, is a more skilled actor, and added layers to the character that didn't exist with Solo. In his little smiles that very slowly became more frequent, you could see an entire softening to him. Although he is a man of (very) few words, Phu was able to use the script he was given and deliver the lines he did get in a way that can't help but make you feel for this character, who we know so little about from the beginning. And oh, Boss Thanabat. I'm going to go out on a limb, and say he was the best actor on the show. He lit up every scene he was in, and every episode he appeared in. At first I was worried his character would be too over the top, but he was actually balanced perfectly, and was the shining light of the series. His emotional scenes were equally powerful, and he pulled off this character - that is so easy to do one-dimensionally - so, so well, and allowed us to really care for Kao. Now, together? Their chemistry is phenomenal. I wonder if, at any point, the crew realized that their secondary leads shone so brightly over the main leads. Their storyline had a better build up, the emotions and lines felt WORLDS more deserved, every new step they took (or, rather, that Phu would allow) felt like a damn level up for my heart, and holy shit, how cute are they? When Phuri slowly begins opening up to Kao, calling him Ball and Bunny, smiling gently at him, the playful but careful little touches. Also, their dialogue seemed like it was almost written by an entirely different team than the rest of the cast. It was funny, heartfelt, and even completely heartbreaking at times. The way Phu would tell Kao how much he cared about him in his own way (nursing him back from the fight, covering him with his jacket, all the small pieces of physical affection, saying Kao's the one he WANTS to be right, leaving the painting, etc) was wonderfully done. The only way I'd consider watching a sequel would be if it's centered around these two. It feels odd that a pairing I love SO MUCH was in a show that was otherwise very mediocre. They have main character energy PERIODT ...... okay I could literally write a ten-page paper on these two but let's move on

Soundtrack: I always have a hard time talking too much about the music in shows unless it's super specific, so I'll just say that this show did its music very, very well. Boss has a beautiful voice, and Sanaput did a damn good job on the musical end as well. The instrumentals were also super well done, and not overwhelming, nor underwhelming. Big ups to music crew on this one.

Acting: my points here will be a bit quicker than my acting cons. I already said this, but I will mention it again because I Have To: PhuKao were absolutely fantastic, the lights of the show, and had natural chemistry together. Okay, okay, I'm done. Onto the actors I haven't mentioned a lot yet.. I really liked Natty! Khim as a character.... yeah. I already talked about that in the characterization cons. But Natty did what she could, I think. And when her storyline focued on her COPD and her brother, she was an endlessly stronger character. They never should have added the stupid fujoshi aspect. Kun did a fine job with Petch as well with what he was given - his entire plot revolved around Khim, so that's really all he had to work with, but I have no qualms with his work! I also really liked Michael's work as Jay. Although I couldn't find it in me to care about his relationship with Solo's dad, I thought Michael did a great job at really bringing soulful energy to the character, and the character was one I actually grew quite fond of (you deserve better than Solo's dad bb xoxoxo)

okay I can't bring myself to type anymore......... anyways stan phukao for clear skin :))))))))

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song kang said "i know 2020 is almost over but i'm gonna come through real quick and end every other actor's career" and honestly? we should thank him for that

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This had it all... the directing, ACTING, plot, ost, visual effects... they went off, good lord. The only - and I mean only - negative thing I have to add is that pacing felt a little patchy at times. But if you want my honest opinion, I feel like it wasn't an objective pacing issue, but a subjective one. Even the slower scenes had full purpose for being the way they were, so I really can't fault the show for that. Either way, my own opinions on pacing were flipped upside down in the final two episodes where things completely exploded. Those episodes were about as close to perfect horror/thriller as you can get.

Side note, I really appreciated the lack of main focus romance. I know it's a huge thing with kdramas, but in shows like this, I would rather focus on the story and found family relationships than taking time to focus on romance. If I want that, I'll go to the romance genre. I know this'll probably be nullified in s2 - I'm sure Eun Yoo's crush will be explored more - but for now I'm gonna milk the fact that they chose not to assert any romance with the main characters (although I will say, if there HAS to be romance... the typically cold Eun Yoo's protective nature over Hyun Soo was actually pretty gratifying and sweet to watch. But, you know. Just best friends would do!!!!!!)

Should I talk about Song Kang again? I don't care, I'm gonna do it. Why did he have to body this role the way he did? Who asked him to do that? Who said "portray a self-harming, suicidal depressed teenager with abusive & complicated family and social relationships, who then finds out he'll likely become a monster, and must come to terms with what is happening to him as well as slowly building up a relationship with the people around him... and make it nuanced, heartbreaking, and terrifying"? Who asked him to do that and why did this man deliver the way he did? The scene where one moment his eyes are black, veins distorted, furious & completely submerged in his monster psyche, and in the next he's a terrified, exhausted, sobbing teenager, crying in the arms of the man he just killed? How the hell? Y'all really expect me to just move on from this?

Cut the cameras deadass

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