My love might need some long beans

I have a complicated relationship with this series. On one hand, I love the premise, most of the cast, and the couple dynamics. On the other hand, I find the script-writing, the pacing, and the writing of the main character severely lacking. Unfortunately for me, I am heavily reliant on the second half when it comes to fully enjoying a show.

Let me elaborate:
1. Premise: I love the diversity in career paths in this series. I also love the whole infiltrating a competition storyline, because when made well, it can be so fun to watch. I also enjoyed that the second couple has a fleshed-out sub-plot of their own that contributes to the main story but is not heavily reliant on the main couple.

2. Cast: Even though the only actor that I think doesn't have a bad acting moment is the guy who plays Nubnueang, most of the cast were decent to watch. Most of them had their shining moments: Sailub does emotional scenes well, Benz is kind of amazing for being able to make Methas a truly likable character, and Garfield is an all-around decent actor. However, I don't think Pon is an actor seasoned enough to make Plawan likable. To be fair, not many actors can make a character like Plawan appealing to me so I am looking forward to seeing Pon in other projects. I also heavily disliked the voice Benz adopted whenever he was posturing in his businessman role - there are better acting choices that could've been made.

3. Couple dynamics: whatever issues I have with the individual character, it really does not impact my love for the dynamics between the two main couples. I absolutely adore the subtle intimacy between Oab and Plawan - the subtle touches, lingering glances, and the whole shebang with Plawan breathing in Oab's scent. That was feral and I love it. I loved the MethasJJ couple even more than the main couple. They have such an easy rapport with each other and I loved that they don't come into the relationship with this idyllic view of one another but they managed to fully fall in love despite knowing each other's flaws. Methas is so horribly overbearing at first but JJ is written to be such an idealistic person that you know he runs the show. JJ is not scared to call Methas out on his shit and stands his ground. What I loved is that Methas absolutely respects and loves him for it. It's not a case where Methas just gives in because he wants to win JJ over (I mean it does contribute to it) but he actually does respect JJ's ideas and opinion. Anyways, I love Methas and JJ together. They are my favourite non lesbian U-Haul couple.

4. Writing: the script writers need to get it together. First of all - there were quite a bit of lines that noone would ever say in real life and it's so hard to watch. Second, the whole "no long beans" thing is just executed so poorly - if it's the girlfriend who is allergic, why is he so against it even until the end? He said it's because they made a commitment to the customers, but the customers come not because they're all long bean haters - they came because of Chef Oab. Also if he's that famous of a chef, why does he not have enough money to pay for the mentor's surgery? Surely if he was on a Masterchef type of show, he could have sold the idea of that whole successor thing to a network and get a chef to run it while he's still the owner if he's that uninspired. Third - the confrontation scene between Oab and Plawan in the end is absolutely bonkers. I get giving Plawan a chance to explain himself but if you are so adamant on not selling to Methas, why did you give the deed to Plawan anyways? It is also insane for the writers to not give Plawan the character redemption moment - if he had confessed things to Oab first, he would have been a much more likable character in my eyes. I also despise the whole Oab opening a competing restaurant and then it had no follow up afterwards. Like you can't set up a restaurant that quick, do a one man show practically, and they suddenly close? Absolutely ridiculous.
Another thing that I hope more series does is getting actual professionals as script advisors. I don't know about being a chef but the whole Methas's knee injury is just so stupid from my point of view. Why was he using a walker one minute and then using a cane the next minute? The whole post-op plan was stupid and I wish I could get over it. But at least is not as bad as the medical scenes in Wandee Goodday so that's the small win.

So this is not a bad series, but I wouldn't classify it as good either. I would recommend this ONLY to pass time.

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Two predators and their victims

This series deserves all the flack it gets. Yes it's fiction, but there is so much romantization of stalking, SA, and very loose definition of consent. IF they had even addressed that yes! stalking is bad! forcing someone to pay you back with their body is bad! Then I might have liked it slightly more. Not only did they not discuss this, they actually romanticized it.

You'd think that the first couple was problemating with some grooming themes with the sudden (non-sexual) spanking scene that came out of nowhere, the older dude saying shit like "I don't like boys who use bad language", and just literal weird parental dynamics. But I'd argue that the second coupling is even worse, and the bar was already in hell.

At least with Phayu and Rain, they actually started out with a very strong meet cute and very strong attraction even from Rain's end. Like that boy was lusting after Phayu before he even knew that he likes men. Like yes, Phayu did initiate sexual contact without clear consent when he brought Rain back to his room but I can believe that it was a misread signal. I would also thought Rain was hitting on me if his car breaks down the second time in my vicinity after him spending his dinner literally ogling at me. Yes, he should have stopped the moment Rain says no the first time, I am not justifying that. But him giving Rain a proper out by clarifying that he's not going to try anything anymore and that he's not in the mood anymore is better than what Pai did for Sky. For me things really only started getting problematic after Phayu implicating that he wants Rain to pay back the car servicing with his body. That couple went straight to hell after that but became kinda cute again after Rain starts feeling more comfortable in that relationship.

The same thing can't be said for the second couple. With Sky and Pai, the way they started out was already dodgy as it was literally presented to Sky as a "fuck or die" type of situation. Noone would see his reaction after and think "oh, this person just had a consensual sexual encounter." Then this Pai dude went on to just straight up stalk him - and you can literally see that Sky was so distressed in the beginning about this, and then Stockholm syndrome kicked in and he started giving this psycho stalker a chance. And what did this psycho do? Create a copy to Sky's room key and intentionally spread the rumor that they're dating when they were not. He did a couple of decent things like took care of him when he was sick, be a little bit romantic, and then Sky, who already had such a low bar in relationships due to his previous history of dating an abuser, ended up falling in love with him.

I'm sorry but I'd rather watch eat dog shit than watch this hot mess ever again. Yes, the sexual chemistry is there, but if I wanted that I'd just watch porn. At least I can filter out non-consensual contents. I honestly regret this as much as I regretted watching tharntype and dark blue kiss.

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This drama is just your ordinary korean love triangle drama where a hot chaebols fall in love with an innocent hardworking poor girl. Cute, but nothing special really. Although I do love Krystal and Minhyuk.

The actors: the reason I gave a 7 is because of Lee Minho, Kang Haneul, Minhyuk, Woobin, and Krystal. I don't particularly dislike Park Shin Hye, but I'm just not a fan of her acting in this story. She made this story flat for me. She's supposed to be this innocent and lovable girl but pushed got me annoyed really (no offense)

The music: I LOVE THE OST :3 I seriously do. Especially the one by hongki <3 ft island is the best ay?

Rewatch value: nope. never gonna rewatch this again. watched it five months ago and until today I haven't rewatched it.

Overall: this is actually not bad although my review make it looks like its terrible. It's actually cute. It's just that I'm not really into dramas where the girl is so innocent and lovely and all that shit.

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Theo is an actual sociopath

There are three basic things that makes a series good: good plot, characters, and cast. This series somehow fail in all of these three categories.

Let's just talk about the saving grace in this series: Fluke Gawin. This man is incredibly sexy with his guitar and his voice was the only thing that got me through this series. What an insane talent.

There's no other positives other than Gawin unfortunately.

Plot is horrendously messy. The writing lacked purpose and most plot point feels like a filler. The plot twist of Theo being his own enchante could've been fun if only he was written as a more likeable character. But that reveal, combined with the series of selfish and just generally unlikeable things he does prior makes him appear sociopathic. Akk had the potential to be a good character but unfortunately his personality revolves too much around Theo. He didn't get the chance to actually develop layers which is a huge shame.

Cast was also disappointing. I don't have that high of an expectation for GMMTV actors in general, so it wasn't easy to go below my expectations. However, the main cast didn't have much presence on screen and the acting is subpar. Some actors can't act but at least had some magnetism to keep me engaged but I didn't feel much from either Force or Book. I'm sure they have potential and I'm hoping to see better projects in the future.

Unless you're a die hard ForceBook fan, I don't think there's much of a reason you need to watch this. Even 'A Boss and a Babe' is better than this mess.

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Liked it ok for love's sake

With all the glowing review and the current high rating on MDL, I expected much more than this. But even without those expectations, I would still consider this drama as a disappointment personally. Let's just start with things that were done right:

1. Very strong premise and theme. This drama hooks you right from the beginning and keeps you engaged throughout. Seeing the world through Myung Ha's lens (or more correctly a VR game lens) started the drama on a very lighthearted note and disguises its darker themes which I enjoyed. The depiction of emotional turbulences through "system error" is a very good choice in my opinion - it really got me on the edge of my seats and gets me anxious to see whats going to happen next. The way they inserted the mental health theme, loving yourself, and finding a constructive community for yourself is well introduced, although this could have been expanded more if they had more episodes.

2. Some characters are multi-dimensional and well written. Yeo Woon's progression from distaste to liking the feeling of having company is so so so sweet to see. I also love how Sang Won develops from just a rich brat who is a bit of a bully into someone who helped teach Myung Ha how to receive love and help. Myung Ha is the most complex character of all - he started out the journey thinking that this is a self sacrificing journey where his end goal is to make Yeo Woon happy and to save Yeo Woon, but was actually put in this journey to learn how to love himself. I do love that he is so ready to do anything to save YeoWoon but my heart bleeds for him because he just can't extend the same kindness and love to himself.

3. Homophobic bs does not fly in this series! I love how Myung Ha just does not stand for any type of homophobic remarks made towards himself or others. It is rare to also see a character like Sang Won so ready to accept the fact that he likes men that easily. Is it the most realistic depiction of self discovery? Probably not for most people but I don't care. This is the ideal world that we should be working towards anyways - where kids are not afraid to express themselves because all sexual identities are normalized.

Things that did not tick my box:
1. Myung Ha still having the 29 year old mentality while dating an 18 y.o. I understand that he travelled back in time. But maybe get him to start forgetting that he was 29 y.o at some point? There were so many moments where Myung Ha and Yeon Woo's interaction felt paternalistic which was actually expressed by multiple characters. I just could not buy their relationship as a romantic one because of this. In the end, he was given a chance to fully go back and live his life as a 19 y.o, so in my head I am just believing that he will lose his 29 y.o mindset and perspective and start actually living life as a 19 y.o.

2. Series is way too short to successfully execute the intended themes, premise, and character development. This is such an interesting story and there is potential for this series to be iconic. However due to the length of the series, everything felt rushed and nothing was fully resolved. They had so much potential with the mental health and self love themes, and I guarantee that with 8 more episodes and proper character development, this would have been a solid 9/10 from my end.

Yes, there were more positives than negatives, but the rushed execution is just too jarring for this series to be anything but average. The actors were excellent though and I am so looking forward to watching their future projects.

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Not Amazing but better than a lot of other Thai BLs

Let's start with getting all the bad stuff out of the way first:
1. A lot of plot points are not well fleshed out. There are tons of conflicts that should be discussed and resolved better but most of them either gets resolved hastily or are just not talked about anymore. To be fair though, I'd rather have this compared to hugely prolonged conflicts.
2. Acting is subpar. But then honestly that's the case for a lot of Thai BLs except for the very exceptional few.
3. They are still clinging on to a lot of heteronormative gender roles and tropes. Especially with Nai taking on the "wife" role and having that typical reluctance to sex, naggy, and needing to be saved type of character. This is supposed to be an LGBT drama guys, we can do better than this. Although I have to say, Nai getting lost and being forgetful isn't that farfetched, he might just need an ADHD assessment.
4. No real character development. But again the characters started out more emotionally developed and less annoying than most main male characters at the end of shows so I didn't really mind.
5. Ai being attracted to Nai because he reminded him of his stepdad is kinda weird BUT it's literally just Freud's theory in action. And Freud is a psychologist (a weird one but a psychologist nonetheless) so who am i to question his theories.

Now onto the good stuff:
1. Both boys are so proud of their relationship. It's so refreshing to have a drama where both parties are not so deeply entrenched in internalized homophobia. Both Ai and Nan are actually so proud that they bagged each other and that is absolutely adorable. Love it when Ai's dad told Nan that he knew about him because Ai kept bragging about how amazing his boyfriend is to his dad. Seriously, we need more of this in BLs.

2. Friendship group is adorable. I know some people find the friends underutilized and had no real development, but I honestly just love seeing BL leads have actual friends man. I find a lot of Thai BL friendships very stilted in picture (this one is a lil stilted too but better than most).

3. Older gay couples!!!!!! Love seeing Ai having two dads who are still so in love. I also love seeing how supportive and adoring households lead to kids who are generally well adjusted (for the most part).

4. Generally an enthusiastic consent on a lot of aspects of the relationship. I am not only talking about sex in this. I am talking about how Nai, although has not ever considered liking men before, was so open to the idea of "trial dating". The moment he acknowledges his feelings for Ai, he was instantly all in. Yes, Nai gets that "more reluctant to sex" character but he does initiate a lot of intimacy. He also tells Ai that he IS flirting with him and wants Ai to get his hints. In an ideal world, we will have a BL couple who actually displays enthusiastic consent to things but honestly this is a step up compared to other Thai BLs.

5. The other love interest does not get villainized!!!! Sometimes a girl gets infatuated and let's go when she realises that it's not gonna happen. This drama gets the memo. We need to stop turning girls into villain just because of a man!

6. Skinship feels more natural than most other Thai BLs I see. I love how there's a lot of non-sexualized skinship happening in this relationship. The cuddling, hand holding, and the casual side hugs!!! Those things are better to me than sex.

7. Ai's actor is hot. I'm a sucker for that hairstyle man.


Anyways I like this, not enough to recommend to my family and friends, but enough to recommend it on this site.

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Absolute queer goodness

This series along with Diary of Tootsies will be my absolute favourite piece of queer media that has come out of Thailand. Knock Knock Boys is a hugely feel-good story of found family, self-discovery, and queerplatonic friendship at its best. It manages to be sex-positive without needing to have explicit NC scenes and manages to have an amazing across-the-spectrum lgbtq rep without being preachy.

I'm not going to delve too deep into the bad with this series, because I just can't be objective with this. To me, everything questionable in this series is justifiable which is not what I would usually say for any other series ever. I will, however, outline my favourite things in this series:

1. Found family trope done excellently. The progression from housemates to friends to found family in this series will always be beautiful to watch. I loved every scene the four of them had together, even more than any scene between the romantic coupling. The four of them have such an amazing dynamic where they are so comfortable with each other but also have the utmost respect for one another is just beautiful. The breakfast scenes in this series were so wonderfully done and the way you can see the change in their dynamics from the breakfast scenes alone is masterful.

2. Characters are so well written. I am so fiercely protective of the four boys and I haven't felt this much love for a group of characters since the Chinchillaz gang in MSP. These boys are not perfect, not by a long stretch. However, they are just fundamentally good people, which is why this story works.
Yes, Peak appears selfish at first and can appear inconsiderate especially towards Thanhwa, but he was never intentionally hurtful and has always been quick to apologize. I loved the scene where Thanhwa geeked out about food in front of him and went into a self-deprecating mode because he thought he appeared nerdy, but Peak's immediate reaction was just extreme awe. He was not even doing it out of pity, he genuinely just has huge respect for people who have different talents and interests, even though it is not necessarily conventional or something that society deems as "useful".
Latte is kind of a horrible housemate at first, but the way he tried to make it up to Thanhwa by buying him congee is adorable. Latte was also initially portrayed to be a playboy but he takes non-verbal cues and any sign of reluctance as a hard no, which is groundbreaking in the BL consent world (even though this should be the standard).
Almond, my precious darling, does a lot of questionable things out of curiosity but he is so willing to learn. I love how non-judgmental he is towards his roommates from the beginning even though it is clear he was initially very sheltered. His willingness to learn more about sexuality spectrum, consent, and life through the other three is adorable.
Last but not least: Thanhwa. My darling, my love, my universe. He is just the kindest soul who is in a crossroads in his life where he has to deal with the transition between school life and working life AND has to deal with a breakup on top of it. He then moves into a house where he is faced with a huge messy boy and his first instinct is to take care of him. I personally wouldn't have been so kind if my new roommate have 3 other people lying drunk in my bed when I move in - I would have run for the hills. But this guy chose to clean up after him and then cooked him breakfast. How Latte did not immediately fall in love is beyond my comprehension. He is also incredibly patient while Peak sorts out his life - he offered so much kindness and understanding even though it is not an easy situation for him to be in either. Words cannot describe just how much I love this man.

3. Amazing cast filled with people who NAILS both physical comedy and subtle comedy. I don't think anyone can deny the absolute comedic powerhouse these 4 boys make. I usually hate gross comedy or overuse of secondhand embarassment, but somehow these boys still managed to make me laugh even when toilet comedy is in the script. There is a scene where a guy literally puked and shat and that would usually make me gag in the worst way possible but they made it work somehow.

Honestly, if I go on about the things I like about this series, I would hit 100k words so I will stop at these three. I wish for more series that features queerplatonic friendships as well as this one, and I hope this series gets more hype so we can have more series like this.

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Take away her pen!

After watching Wedding Plan, I thought Mame started improving as a writer. However after watching this and LoveSea, I can safely say that this is not the case and she still sucks. I'm not saying that Wedding Plan is good (it's passably entertaining at BEST) but it is miles ahead of her other series, including this one.

Let's list all the things I hate about this series:
- this is not a standalone and requires you to watch TharnType 2 (gross) to follow their story from the beginning. This is literally just them navigating they relationship after getting together so you'll feel like you're dropped into a pre-existing universe. I refuse to watch TharnType 2 so I probably missed a lot of info needed to fully follow this series.
- no trigger warning for complex ptsd.
- most conflicts are stupid.
- The whole calling the guy who bottoms the "wifey". The way they weaponize feminine terms into being derogatory is so common in BLs but the thing is Mame does this too much.
- distribution of someone's nudes and sex tapes is literally called revenge porn and the only legal issue against it that they brought up was extortion. It's literal revenge porn and the handling of it SUCKS. The dad was an asshole too - blaming his son and belittling his worth because his son is a victim of revenge porn????
- Fiat's dad is just a shit parent. Instead of communicating openly, getting therapy for his kids, or even mediating the problems between his new wife and kids, he just does nothing and shouts at Fiat all the time. I absolutely hate him and his reasoning behind doing things is just not acceptable as a human being.
- Leo is supposed to be seen as this green flag character which is true for a lot of the scenes but the moment that he made Fiat's trauma response to be about him was so annoying. The whole "don't you trust me? Am I useless to you?" is incredibly horrible when your partner is literally hyperventilating and experiencing an extreme trauma response. Literally the shittiest and most self-centred response ever.
- If mom had post-natal psychosis, the dad should've admitted her to the psych ward AND because she has harmed Fiat, a restraining order should have been placed. And again my point about childhood complex PTSD therapy for Fiat. This boy is just the victim of so much neglect and the mom is also a victim of an untreated psychiatric condition.
- Consent is not treated as the norm but more of a statement made by the main characters to show that they're a green flag. It feels very performative and not treated as the bare minimum as it should be.
- I don't enjoy Leon's mom testing Pob. Rich people who tests the integrity of less fortunate people are assholes in my eyes. Even if Pob accepted the money for the literal orphans and took on talking to Leon about moving away, it would have been an extremely valid decision. Money and finances should never be used to test morality for people who are struggling.
- Cat death for plot progression. I am a cat person so I'd rather the cat live and the couple break up.
- Unrealistic love solves all trope to trauma. Fiat went from trembling at the sight of his mom to being able to calmly handle his mom's psychiatric outburst just because Leo's there next to him.
- This series does not portray women and femininity in a net positive light. The female characters are either: one-dimensional, scheming, clinically insane, or jealous assholes. They've got the girls here BEGGING for mediocre men and it is so gross to me like make it realistic pls. The script feels like it's written by someone who either hates women and/or has a lot internalized misogyny.
- Leo was so angry at Fiat (who was drugged) for getting hugged when he was literally smashing lips with another girl that same day. Both were tricked into it but why were you so angry when you KNOW Fiat got tricked for the same reason you did.
- The getting back together speech by Leo is psychotic man like he literally said there's a beast inside of him that might hurt Fiat because of how possessive he is like.......... nurse he's out again!

OK now unto the much shorter list of things i enjoyed:
- I do like post getting together fluff so the first episode where they are just navigating how to transition from friends to lovers is cute.
- I love Leo's family and how they just accept Fiat as who he is. They never allowed Fiat's self hatred to fester which I appreciate.
- I do like that Fiat is not portrayed as the innocent maiden that has to be coerced to have sex which is a common BL trope.

Look, the only reason I finished this is because my new year's resolution is to stop being a quitter but man I shouldn't have even started this.

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Good but not excellent

When I initially watched this series, I gave it a very generous 9.5 rating. This was when I first got back into watching BL series again, and the last series I watched before my hiatus was during the 2gether and TharnType era where the standards were much lower. I thought that this series was brilliant because it does not succumb to the early BL days toxic plot, it was very refreshing to see two parties who are undeniably attracted to each other without one person looking like they're about to shit themselves just thinking about kissing a dude.

However, the rating for this series went down quite a bit for me when I watched this without my rose-tinted glasses. Don't get me wrong, this is still a good series and quite enjoyable of a watch, but there are major issues that affects my watching experience. Let's get the bad out of the way first:
1. Pacing is not the best. The ending felt rushed and although I do like that they honor past relationships and did not demonize the ex, it just doesn't make sense to make half the final episode about YuZhen and his ex instead of the main couple. The flow between YuZhen hesitating to take the next step with ShiLei and then finally getting over his hesitance and fear is also not very well written in my opinion.

2. The ex's motives are weird - borderline incomprehensible to me. Spoiler: the ex pretended to be the villain to get YuZhen to move on because he felt guilty that he caused YuZhen trauma. This just doesn't make sense to me, especially with the way it was written. This could have been sold to the audience better if they either: change the ex's motives, or change the writing of the interactions between the ex and the main couple.

3. I am not convinced that ShiLei is YuZhen's first choice. This is hugely due to the editing and writing choices made for the last couple of episodes. They started out so well. The actors had amazing chemistry, they did the enemies to lovers trope well, and the progression felt organic. However, everything they built was ruined the moment they wrote ZiTong's character in. This is just something I can't get over after my second watch.

Now let's move on to the things that were executed really well:
1. The actors were absolutely adorable together. They have a very natural chemistry with each other and I absolutely adore that they nailed the dynamics of being enemies, then friends, and then love interests. Hank Wang is a standout in this drama to me - it is an absolute joy watching him on screen.

2. Characters were written well. Even when they were enemies and were technically hostile toward each other, they were never unnecessarily evil or mean which I adore. I also hate incompetence so it is an absolute pleasure to see two people who are very competent at their jobs with each other. No useless uke trope here! Shi Lei is also an assertive character - even though he is YuZhen's employee, he is also someone who will stand up to YuZhen to defend his team and to defend his stance on issues. Hugely adore this.

3. This was basically the perfect amount of romance, pining, and companionship until ZiTong's character was written in. If they eliminated the whole ex storyline, this would have stayed a 9.5 for me.

4. I did enjoy the fact that they respect previous relationships and first loves - I love that they didn't do the whole "I've never loved anyone until I met you" thing, because people can have big love stories before they find their soulmate and it does not negate their feelings for their current partner. I do not like the way this was executed, but I do respect the decision to showcase YuZhen's previous love for ZiTong.

5. Side couples are sweet.

Look, this still ranks high in my books because I am biased and choose to focus on the excellent first half of the series. I would still recommend watching this drama, but please try to turn off your brain in the second half otherwise you'd be as frustrated as I am with the writers.

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Good effort, overcrowded plot

The Sign is a very ambitious project by Idol Factory and I have to give them kudos for their efforts. The efforts aren't wasted either, most of the series was highly enjoyable, and you can feel that this was made with passion. However, this series is overcrowded with ideas that the execution for each doesn't feel 100%.

Here are the good:
- Amazing chemistry between Billy and Babe. I was not familiar with their game before this but now I am hugely obsessed because of how electrifying their chemistry is on screen. Even from the very beginning where they had minimal physical contact, they've always maintained an amazing amount of tension that keeps the viewers going.

- Their first case as detectives was actually interesting. Honestly this was the more interesting case compared to the main case that they worked on - it was also presented better. I was actively rooting for the murderer to succeed because of how good they sold the motives to me but also I didn't end up hating the cops either. They showed a good balance of humanity for both sides which made an interesting watch.

Room for improvement:
- Premise is super interesting but you need moderation with everything, including excitement. The reincarnation, detective case, and the whole folks tale/fiction thing proved to be too much for one series. The plot is overly crowded and I wish they toned it down slightly or expanded it over a longer series. 12 episodes and 1 special episode is not enough to properly contain all of these stuff.

- Some characters are not written with enough purpose. What was the purpose of Dai? What's the purpose of the last scene with the murder of the employee? What was the reason that the first death happened in the training area? I get that they are used to progress the plot but I wish there was better writing around this.

- I do wish that the handling of the one case with a mentally unwell suspect was done with more sensitivity. The doctor was actively feeding incriminating answers to a mentally unstable suspect and the detectives just let it be. I think it's important in crime series to highlight that people with mental illnesses are way more likely to be victims than perpetrators. This series did manage to kind of relay that in a not so obvious way, but the initial hammering and emotional pressure they put unto the suspect was quite triggering.

The bad:
The acting of the girl who played Dai really needed huge improvement. All lines delivered were stiff and felt like she was reading off a teleprompter. Surely there were better actresses.

Overall this isn't bad but it's a case of flying too close to the sun with this one.

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Not Me's uglier cousin

I have a lot to say about this series but to summarise: amazing chemistry between the leads but very flawed (and kind of lazy) writing. They could have done a lot more with this cast but instead they pulled out a script filled with holes and less than satisfactory conflict resolution.

Let's start with the good. Ryan and Frame has an insane chemistry. They managed to deliver tension, romance, and raw sensuality to their characters. Their chemistry hard carried this series and managed to make me feel very invested in this series despite the flawed writing.

I also liked the way that they don't force all side couples to get together - one ended up as friends - which was refreshing to see. Situationships don't always have to progress to real relationships and that's ok!

That's really where the good ends. I'm not going to go deep into the bad because I'd be writing a full essay but the big three are: plot holes, late climax, and overuse of silly tropes. It's nonsensical that the twins didn't immediately switch back the moment Zee got discharged - how is it more acceptable to be injured in martial arts than volleyball? The moment that Zee's spot as a starter was secured, they should've immediately come clean to First and change back. It's also still a huge mystery on why Zee is so hated and why he is such an ass to his teammates - it seems like he was being an ass without any solid reason. The climax being in EP 12 was also an insane decision and didn't allow for proper resolution. It was crazy how fast they made First forgive Sprite despite the consistent heartaches it had caused him. I'm not even going to get into the overuse of silly tropes part because I don't want to end up ranting. Not gonna lie, the writing feels lazy and they just started to stick overused tropes to save their asses.

If you have extra time, feel free to watch this but this is a series that heavily relies on chemistry and good vibes.

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What an incredible messy but fun ride

If you've been in a an Australian/American queer group chat, you might get a little bit of a traumatic flashback while watching this series. I'm actually convinced the screenwriter just snuck into a queer gc and copied their drama as plot points.

First things first. This is messy but also a good representation of extremely liberal slash problematic queer friend groups. I'm convinced all of them should be in therapy and/or a polyamourous commune where they can just mess around with everyone. I just don't think monogamy works for some of these characters and that's fine!

Secondly, while I do agree that this is an accurate rep of the messy side of the queer community, it can be a triggering to see that many topics of cheating, emotional manipulation, privacy infringements, and violence in one drama. So please proceed with caution. It is good to get a rep of the messy aspect of being queer, but also there is mess in all communities really.

Thirdly, I love having a drama catered for nosy bitches like myself. I thoroughly enjoyed this although I do want to do the Gordon Ramsay's sandwich meme to some of these idiots. Make sure your blood pressure is controlled before watching this fr.

I still highly recommend watching this despite my above review.

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Restored my appetite for food and life

If you are ever in need of a healing/comfort drama, this is the series for you. Calling this a BL does not feel very fitting, as the romance aspect took the backseat, allowing other themes to shine. This is the ultimate found family, hurt/comfort, and slice of life drama to me, with the added bonus of a warm love story.

If you're used to the fast-paced romance centric series, you might see this as an extreme slow burn. However, please stick through and finish this, I promise you won't regret it.

Yutaka and Minoru are just two very earnest and lovely individuals who are both fighting their own demons. Tane, the little angel, brought Yutaka into their family and each member of the family made it so easy for Yutaka to feel a sense of belonging. Every meal invite is very genuine and intentional. Yutaka's love for his newfound family is so heart warming - the way he goes out of his way to make sure he can make the best bento for Tane is just so tender. Minoru, Yutaka, and Minoru's dad became each other's safe space, and I love that they showed the gradual trust they built between the three of them.

I also love how they presented food in this series. Both Minoru and Yutaka have their struggle with food and eating - Yutaka just eating the easiest thing he could find/make just for survival, and Minoru losing his appetite in life which extends to his food too. However because they met each other, Yutaka became more intentional in his cooking to provide the best meal for Tane and Minoru, while Minoru started to found passion in his life again which showed in him starting to cook more of his late mother's recipe. The whole food aspect was presented so well that it inspired me to cook for the first time in a month - they helped me regain my appetite for food and life.

One thing this drama could improve is the fleshing out of Yutaka's family issues and its resolution. It feels half baked and I didn't feel like his sense of abandonment and exclusion was properly addressed.

Despite its flaws, this series will remain one of my healing series and I am so grateful to have watched this.

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Unintentional Favourite

I started watching this series out of my love for B1A4 and Gongchan, so I had no expectations at all. The MDL ratings didn't look promising but I was happy to see my maknae on screen again anyways. However, I am pleasantly surprised at how good this show is. It has been a week since I finished this show and although I usually review shows right after I finish them, it took me a whole week to do this because I have a hard time putting this show's charms into words. This show does not have explosive romance or dramatic confessions, but it captured my heart with its tenderness and that mature romance.

So let's get into the reasons why you should give this a watch (or even a rewatch if the first watch did not do it for you):
- Genuinely loveable main characters. All the characters are just so inherently good that you will root for them. Wonyoung is an absolute sweetheart who has a very strict moral code for himself, that even though circumstances forced him to do something that is in his personal moral grey zone, he still tried to be as genuine as possible. Taejoon is the more guarded and cynical older man (rightfully so) but he is so caring and is a genuinely kind person that it makes sense for Wonyoung to fall head over heels. He also totally abandons his grumpy old man exterior once he got together with Wonyoung and just embraced the loser in love personal which I LOVE.
- Understated chemistry. Yes, Taejoon and Wonyoung doesn't have intense sexual tension, but you can tell that they absolutely loves each other's company and enjoys more subtle showcase of affection. I do think the fact that the actor who plays Taejoon being married in real life affects people's perception of their chemistry, but I do think their chemistry is incredibly understated. This is a couple that I objectively think would last in the real world because their flame is just that comfortable heat that doesn't burn out quickly because they did start out with mutual respect and friendship which is the best foundation for a relationship.
- Realistic pacing. Personally I think the relationship progressed very naturally. They started out with a small one sided skepticism but you can see them gradually becoming more and more interested in each other. The relationship didn't stall at that point because both characters were in tune with their emotion and is mature enough to communicate their feelings. Even the breakup was realistic to me - reaction wasn't over the top, it happened after they have only been dating for a short while, and Wonyoung being the one who wants to reconcile is so realistic considering this is his first love.
- No internalized homophobia. I don't care if it's not realistic, I'm sick of watching series with too much internalized homophobia. It can be a good story telling vessel but for once I am glad that these people just care about their good feelings with one another and not genders. It's so refreshing to watch Wonyoung so easily embrace the fact that he likes a man.
- Side couple would make a really compelling sequel. They don't get as much screentime and relationship development as I would like, but they are interesting and knowing that there is going to be a sequel makes total sense.
- They didn't make the age gap weird. A lot of dramas with age gap is weird to me mostly because of the writing. In this one, you can see that age does affect their worldviews and attitude towards love and life, but it is written masterfully that you can see just how much Wonyoung renews Taejoon's faith in love. Wonyoung is not naive, he is just idealistic and positive which creates such an amazing influence on Taejoon who had spent two years in his "I don't trust anyone and anything" phase.
- The change from "I move away from civilization because someone I loved used me" to "Please use me whenever you need to" was an absolute chef's kiss. The acknowledgement that relationships can have some transactional element imbued but the basis can still be love is such an amazing takeaway message from this. I think it is beautiful to be able to find people in your life that you can do things for but having complete trust that they are not going to take your love and acts of service for granted. It is so lovely that Taejoon has the chance to experience that emotional vulnerability again in a heaps more positive space with Wonyoung.
- Acting is generally quite solid. My Chansik is still a developing actor but he performed really well in this. The other actors were absolutely amazing, especially the one playing Taejoon. His presence on the screen is magnetic and his micro-expressions are top notch.

There is a lot to love about this series. I'd like to be objective and list out the things I don't like but honestly I can't remember anything major that I don't like from this series. Maybe I'll edit my review after a rewatch if I can manage to be objective. One of these days I swear I'll stop wearing looking at this through my pink coloured gongchan lenses and give you guys an actual list of the things this drama can improve on.

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Matched each other's freaks and mine too

This drama gets so much flack on twitter and tiktok but this is actually peak camp queer romcom.

Short review of the things I like:
- Flamboyant gays as the main character! Like they're not trying to cater for female audience in the sense that the usual cishet women is not the audience for Toh and Daisy's charms. Usually BL leads attempt quite hard to cater to the female gaze but I'm just happy to see more flamboyant gay leads (or "tootsies" as Daisy said in the series)

- Great character development, for everyone.

- the stalking is less invasive than what other people made it seem to be and although Toh crosses the line quite a bit, he learns a lot and is quite sensitive to feedback.

- I love that they don't do a makeover for Toh. Seng the actor is incredibly beautiful and I just appreciate that they kept the bowlcut and glasses - they just made him more and more charming by improving his personality. Showing how charming he is without having to change his looks is an exquisite choice.

- Love the friendship group. Everyone is supportive and cute.

- The comedy is so up my alley. I love laughing out of secondhand embarassment.

- Second lead couple is charming but doesn't steal the spotlight. Perfect balance.

Things I don't necessarily like:
- I hate seeing women fighting over men. Like. Don't piss me off.

Other than that I really enjoy this and would recommend.

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