The soft buff bod did it for me LOL

Amongst the sea of BLs, it's very nice coming across productions that're made by queer people for queer people. This 20min one shot is short, but full of charm and cute, funny moments! The story is lighthearted and easy to grasp.

It's also SO incredibly nice seeing various body types and types of queer men. I loved seeing the soft muscular types- the "bara" types, if you will. Which makes a lot of sense since bara is a subgenre made by gay men for gay men. They also had the two more feminine gay men in the story. The variety all around is quite nice!

All-in-all, if you want a cute, simple story made by queer people, check this one out!

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Does some great things most other BLs refuse to do

I honestly loved this little show.

As the title states, the greatest thing about this show is that there are great moments where the characters break some BL stereotypes, such as not giving the bottom much of a backbone and having them agree to everything their top says. Now, I would give the story a 10/10, but I didn't because there are times where the writers did falter and add in unnecessary, unhealthy BL tropes. My theory is that unfortunately some people love these tropes, so maybe they felt like they had to add them to make the show more appealing.

But anyway, lets get to it.

(spoilers)
STORY/CHARACTERS

This is a very simple, lighthearted story. There are bits of angst here and there, but overall, it's very easy to watch.
Both main couples are in an enemies-to-lovers situation, but even though the trope is the same, each plot is handled differently and that was honestly great to see! It didn't feel redundant or boring to have to switch between the couples.

As I mentioned earlier, one aspect I really liked was that Teng and Poon (the bottoms of the relationships) stood their ground a lot of the time. See, it's common in BLs to have the bottoms, or "ukes" if you're used to yaoi, give up and do whatever the top says. Maybe they fight a little bit, but then they go along with it anyway. Teng and Poon were refreshing to watch because neither does that with their eventual love interest. In Teng's case, we see that he does do it with his current boyfriend, but the show does a fantastic job showing us that he current boyfriend, Tan, is a piece of shit and that we're supposed to see this couple as unhealthy. Hell, there's even a point when Teng refers to their relationship as toxic, which is rare to do in BLs.

So a lot of the times, the dialogue and actions are FANTASTIC. There's even a moment when Mayom tells Teng that he doesn't have to tell him anything and that he's fine with him meeting up with Tan because he trusts him. This may seem small, but once again, in BLs we'd have moments where the bottom is speaking too much to try and convince the top. It's a trope I'm so very tired of seeing. But hearing this conversation and seeing Mayom being the one to simply state that was so very nice to see.


I also loved most of the characters and their relationships with one another. In BLs, it's common to not see strong friendships between the main character and his friend(s). Usually, the friend(s) disappears from the story and so does the importance of the friendship. In real life, having a good friend help you with your relationship problems is important. And I loved that they kept that in this show. We got a lot of good moments between Mayom and Poon, who have been friends since high school. We even see the three comic relief chefs have cute, wholesome moments with Mayom and Poon.

And about Tan and Teng's relationship: I thought it was handled pretty well and realistically. I've ALWAYS wanted a BL story where the person (it's almost always the bottom) finally breaks up with their toxic boyfriend and ends up with someone much better. I did like that they spent a lot of time with Tan's behavior, because some of the stuff he did was similar to stuff you'd see the top (or "seme") do in just about any other BL out there. They really honed in the idea that his actions are not okay and how manipulative that person can be to the point where they have someone wrapped around their little finger for *FIVE YEARS*.

Now, aspects of the story I did not like:

I was fine with Athip's and Poon's plot and I felt like they had a good start. However, Athip, who's this annoying guy that seems to have some control problems (hinted that it has to do with having to raise his niece), never really gets reprimanded for some of his actions. When they do start dating, Athip changes. But then half way through, he goes back to his old ways. Which is fine. So long as when they do get back together, he apologizes, sees what he did wrong, and actually change.

Except that doesn't really happen. When he says sorry, for some reason Poon is also apologizing? For what?? Poon did what he had to do which was break off the relationship and get another job else where. I thought having Poon apology was gross.

I also was not crazy about how Amy's character was represented. I don't mind the Evil Female Character trope where the girl tries to break up the gay relationship. At the same time however, I can see how it can be misogynistic. And, once again, I didn't mind her character at first. But then they kept up with the "bumbling, annoying" girl schtick for way too long. I would be even more peeved if she was the only female character or if there weren't other great female characters like Pirada and Ping.

Also, as I mentioned before: there are some really strong moments, but then there are some weak, trope-y as hell moments. For instance, we had the great conversation about trust with Mayom and Teng, and soon afterwards, we get that adorable video from Teng. But then soon afterwards, without Teng's permission, Mayom takes Teng's phone and starts a live stream on Teng's YT channel where he announces that they're dating. It's so out of the blue because for a good chunk of the story, Mayom respectfully maintains some distance between him and Teng. So for him to suddenly do that felt very off and pretty much out of character. It is something a top would do in a stereotypical BL though, and I feel like it was the production just trying to add some dumb tropes in there.

There's also the part when Athip was trying to win Poon back. That felt out of place and cheese-y as hell with the whole colored sugar idea that his niece very randomly came up with. The issue with Athip is that he was constantly in his niece's business. He learned not to do that anymore early on and it seemed like he learned his lesson. So it honestly made no sense for Athip to now hunt Poon down the way he did. They had him revert back to his old self. At this point, I didn't really care for their relationship anymore.

But they did have this great moment where even after getting back together, Poon maintains his independence and decides not to go back to work at Athip's. Because of how BLs/yaoi works, I totally expected Poon to go back. But he didn't! And that was a great writing choice. But their relationship writing-wise was pretty much all over the place in the last 2-3 episodes.

MUSIC

Nothing to write home about. It was good enough for the show, especially for a small production show.
As you can probably tell, Mayom and Teng were my favorite character- hell, their actors are my favorite too. So unsurprisingly, I really like their theme song.

However, the use of piano and/or guitar renditions of Christmas songs in some BLs lately is so very weird to me. And there's one guitar song they played during the more woeful moments in the show that was so very obviously a Christmas song. As a westerner in a very Christian based culture (USA), I thought that was a weird choice lol.

ACTING

Once again, for a small production, I thought the acting was great! Some of them I could totally see being in bigger, more costly productions, like Tay's actor for example.

Now, I watched Gen Y 1 and 2 before watching this show. That director clearly loved stunting some of the actor's talents, because I thought Bonus's (who plays Teng here and Tong in Gen Y) acting in Gen Y was pretty stiff at times. Same with Tora, who plays Mayom here and Pok in Gen Y. I think they did great with Gen Y being their first acting gig and having to work with that director, but like I said, I thought they could've used more work.

But then seeing Bonus and Tora in this show made me realize they were better at acting than I thought, especially Bonus. Mind you, this show was filmed *before* Gen Y 2.

There are a lot of actors I'd love to see in BLs again. Or just about any show period. I loved Boss (Athip's actor) and Pete (Poon's actor) as well as Pirada's actress.

SUMMARY

I highly recommend checking this show out! Especially since it's short and easy to watch. There are some bumpy moments, but the great and cute moments are totally worth it.

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"Disenchanted" is a great review title and I'm so mad I didn't come up with it first.

For real though: WOW. This story! How disappointing!

Right from the get go, the audience knows *exactly* what type of story they're getting into: I don't mean they know the genre, I mean the fact that we already know the ending. It's extremely obvious that AkkTheo are endgame. The production could not make this any more clearer with how blunt the trailer was and how blunt the first three episodes were.

The reason why I'm pointing this out because this is one of those stories where we don't care about how it ends because we know they'll get together. So when this happens, the most important thing about your story should be the journey. *How* do we get to the two of them finally hooking up?

And boy howdy did they fall completely flat on their faces with storytelling on this one! Enchante did not need a (TERRIBLY done) plot twist, it didn't even really need mystery. What it needed was to grow these characters and have them slowly fall in love and realize that this whole Enchante mystery isn't actually needed at all. If they went this route, then damn this would've been a great show.

If they explored details that were later dropped and forgotten, then we would've had a better story- hell, we would've loved Theo more. But NO. They chose to butcher the hell out of the main character and expect us to love him and his dumb plight to getting Akk to admit he loves him.

CHARACTERS/PLOT:

Yes, you read that correctly! The character who doesn't want people treating him different, doesn't want people to look at him like he's a spoiled kid does exactly what a spoiled, selfish rich kid would do. See, we all know that Theo and Akk like each other. And come to find out, Theo also knew. From the very beginning. But for SOME reason, he thought that Akk should be the one to get a clue and confess to *him*, not the other way around. So he decides to keep up the charade of not knowing who Enchante is and allow it to blow out of proportion, even though it was him *the whole time*. He allowed Akk to get heartaches and stressed out the entire time and never batted an eyelid. He sat there and let everyone look stupid as hell all because he couldn't be the one to confess first.

The entire time, Akk is the one following Theo around, making sure he's okay, apologizing to him left and right- does Theo do any of this for Akk? *Barely*. There's a scene where Theo, who is Akk's ride to school, drives off in his expensive car and watches in the rear view mirror as Akk runs down the street desperately chasing after his car. This is a great visual that represents their relationship. Speaking of...

One aspect that they never touched on was the fact that Akk is poorer than Theo. Akk lost his job because of Theo (who I don't believe actually does anything about it) and it's very understandably a big deal. They show us that when they played soccer as kids, Akk wore worn out sandals while Theo wore appropriate shoes. Present day Theo states and shows a couple of times that he hates being treated differently because he's rich. Which I thought was interesting about Theo. I saw this as great potential to stir up drama between the two.

Nothing comes of it. But the reason why I'm pointing it out is because in the last tow (VERY pointless) episodes, they have a fight because Akk did something that, in my opinion, was alright for him to do, and threw a hissy fit. And then Theo reveals that this ENTIRE TIME he had plans to move back to France, something he failed to tell Akk, and that he's going to move back in two weeks. The whole time he expect Akk to ONCE AGAIN crawl on his hands and knees expressing how sorry he is. Akk doesn't do it. Theo gets mad, and flies off to France.
And to top it all off? Some time later, Akk shows up in France and says he came for Theo. What. That he's moving here because he wants to be with Theo. *What.* With what fucking money?? Theo legit had this broke kid scramble up money he didn't have just so that he can go follow Theo like a lost dumb puppy.

They do state that Akk somehow in the span of like 2 weeks he managed to get a scholarship, but scholarships don't cover everything.

Unbelievable. Truly.

Now, I have seen people try to explain that Theo is doing all of this because he's lonely. First off, they do a bad job at showing us how the loneliness affects him. It comes off as Theo being on of those people who choose to be alone and don't mind it. Also being lonely can make some people mean, but to this level of manipulation? Crazy. Might be possible, but oh man it's not a good look at all.

Now notice how I haven't mentioned The Four Dudes who acted like they were Enchante? That's because Theo being Enchante ruined that whole part of the story. None of that matters at all whatsoever. But I'll point out a couple of issues I had with these four:

1) Saifa's character was pointless. He does basically nothing the whole time. His role is revealed after we learn about the other 3 and WOW it just made his character and motives uninteresting.

2) Phupha's mom. We find out that Phupha lied because he very desperately needed money to get away from his very abusive mother. I will say, I thought his subplot was great and added some intrigue to everything. Once his jig is up, he tries to reveal that Natee is also a fraud and that was cool too seeing them butt heads. But guess what? In the end, Phupha stays with his terrible mom. Yes. Yep. Mmhmm. You read that right. I was mad when they revealed the end to his subplot and I'm still mad about it.

3) Wayo. Theo is the most gross character on the show, but Wayo is #2. The difference is however that Wayo has an addiction, so that's hard to control. Theo's just sucks. But anyway, Wayo needed money from Theo because he stole a bunch of money from the soccer club. He even went as far as trying to get Theo alone and wasted so that he can steal money. It comes to light to the soccer club, and does he suffer any consequences? NO. Do they handle the whole drunk thing appropriately? NO.

We also have the very poorly used red herring character: Sun. This character should not have existed. They tried to throw us off and make us think that Theo would end up with him, but once again, we already know that he's going to end up with Akk.

The story starts off pretty well! But then episode 8 comes along and gives you a good smack in the face. I'm still suffering from the whiplash.

PRODUCTION:

Now going back to the whole "VERY pointless last two episodes": this show did not need 10 episodes. If you want to watch the show, do yourself a favor and actually don't watch it. But if you *really* want to, do yourself a favor and stop at episode 8. They get together in the end of that, and it should've stopped there.

Another glaring problem with this show is the pacing. Now, I'll give them a bit of slack because they don't control how many episodes they get. However, they couldn't have figured out another way to end the show?? They did what Don't Say No did where the story ended early, but they needed to fill in the rest of the time. So they added very useless drama for last 2-3 episodes that made no sense and gave me a headache.

And just like with DSN, the drama at the end was very random and made no sense. Drama for the sake of drama. Awful.

In terms of set, I liked a lot of the locations they used: that university is pretty! As well as the library and even some of the shots that were shot "in France". Nicely done for what they had to work with.

CAST/ACTING:

Everyone did well, but especially Force who played Akk. A lot of people say that Force carried the show, and to an extent, I do agree.
The acting for The Four Dudes actually wasn't bad; the best one was Phupha's actor. I feel like they all executed their characters well: Natee's actor did a great job at making Natee look and feel creepy as hell. Same with Wayo's actor. Even Saifa who, honestly, didn't have much personality to begin with. He was hot as hell though.

As for Book/Theo...I have mixed feelings. In hindsight, the odd at times stiff acting actually works out very well for Theo. Initially, prior to realizing how awful Theo really is, his acting felt off. I don't think it's the actor's fault, however. I think most of it is due to the directing. However, knowing what I know now about Theo? It all makes sense. It just sucks that you have to wait all the way to episode 8 to fully appreciate it.

I would love to see Akk's sisters' actresses in another show! Egg's actress was SO cute and she killed it.

CONCLUSIONS:

Don't watch this is you want a cute story about a healthy relationship. If anything, watch it to learn how not to write a story.

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WOW.

If you enjoyed how emotionally real I Told Sunset About You/I Promised You The Moon was, then you'll thoroughly enjoy this story too.

I will warn everyone, though: if you are sensitive to body image issues, then please be careful with this story. I was cringing a bit at times, but not because the story was bad or anything. But because of how real the situation with Si-won felt.

See these two characters, well, *bloom* into themselves after years of hiding who they are was very sweet. Even with the mother herself. All 3 characters are victims, and I feel like they did a great job at portraying that. Sure, I wanted to strangle the mom at times, but I also felt for her too.

I'm not familiar with the actors, but I felt all of them did a great job! Especially Da-won's actor. He did a great job at portraying this massive wall his character puts up and hides behind.

The part that actually had me in tears was when Si-won and his mom hug and cry, but then he hear Si-won say that his mom never apologized to him. That hit real deep for me. But more so when Da-won showed up and apologized again and again, and so did Si-won. Growing up hearing no apologies but then being able to unlearn that behavior and try to build healthy communication skills which includes saying "I'm sorry" is so much more difficult than a lot of people may think. And I felt that both scenes portrayed that beautifully.

Visually, this is a *gorgeous* BL. The color grading and cinematography were great. I found myself at times pausing to study the angles and use of colors. Amazing.

One complaint I do have is that while I enjoyed the other subplots, I felt like at times they were a little distracting? The whole thing with Si-won little sister trying to get with his female friend could've been better is A) it wasn't a high school kid trying to get with an adult, but also B) if maybe they had their own little special episode(s). And we get to see how the sister has been affected by everything. Just bump it to a year or so later, and I'd watch it.

All-in-all, a great watch! Very emotional, and yes, you may cry.

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Great Visuals, But A Very Run-Of-The-Mill Story

If you've read yaoi manga for quite some time and enjoy the enemies-to-lovers trope, then you've most definitely read a story *just* like this before.

Actually, does anyone know if it's actually based off of a manga or Thai novel? Because it feels like it.

STORY:

Anyway, the story is nothing new. It's filled with a lot of tropes and at times cringey cliches. The story is pretty predictable, and it's one of those Thai BLs that reads exactly like a yaoi manga because of the structure and main tropes.
The only new thing it offers is that it is a Thai live action production, which honestly adds some intrigue to it. My friend pointed out that it looks similar to a Korean production, and I do agree with that.

Aspects about the story I didn't like:
I have no idea how old the youngest brother is, but I assumed he was in high school. The way they introduced him made it seem like he may be the love interest for Sichol and I was not okay with that. There is no second couple, thank goodness. Speaking of Sichol, I both enjoyed and disliked his character. I felt like having an outrageous character in this kind of mellow story was a good idea; he adds some flavor to the mix. But then he started becoming annoying at times. And then eventually, I flat out forgot about him.

The thing I hated about the story the most, however, is the romantic "plot twist" they tried to add at the end. Maybe I wasn't paying as much attention as I thought when each episode dropped every week, but I actually didn't think they'd try to add last minute drama. If you know me, you know that I hate when a BL resolves a story a couple of episodes too early and then try to fill in the rest of the time with useless drama. And what made it even worse was how dragged out it was and how Nawee kept refusing to let Aioun talk. I understand that on one hand, it would make sense for someone like Nawee to react that way after everything he *just* went through. But instead it felt like they were trying to stretch things out to last until the end.

PRODUCTION/ACTING:

I would say watch the drama for the visuals, acting, and wardrobe. If you pay attention to stuff like cinematography and color grading, then I think you'd enjoy this show. There are a lot of scenes that just look very pretty, same with the sets. Speaking of, they pretty much only worked with two sets (and very briefly with the diner/cafe at the end), and I think they did a great job with that.

The acting is very good, even from the characters that don't really have much to offer. The chemistry between Nawee's and Aioun's actors is VERY good. I would love to see them in another BL some time soon.

I don't know anything really about suits, but I thought the wardrobes looks great right down to the color choices for the scenes. He doesn't wear a suit, but I loved Oab's looks; yes, including the awful mullet. There's something about the actor where he's about to pull it off very well.

And yes. The sex scene is one of the best sex scenes I've seen in a BL. If you want to skip everything and just go straight to that scene, I wouldn't blame you. Not only was the chemistry great, but it was *beauuuutifully* filmed. Like, WOW.

Also, I honestly didn't pay too much to the music, but the theme song is very nice, if anything.

REWATCH?

I would say no. I would only rewatch it for color theory/story/visuals, but that's it.
.....And probably rewatch that sex scene LOL

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A Show That Tries To Do Things A Little Differently

Please note: I have not watched any of the 2 Moons shows. I know what happens in it, however. But, from my understanding, due to issues Star Hunter Entertainment had at the time, they had to make up their own story. They wanted to remake 2 Moons now that they were their own company, but they couldn't. So Gen Y is it's own brand new story that borrows a couple of characters and throws in a bunch more new ones. This is nothing new in media. It's meant to be viewed as its own entity, and thus, I will be reviewing it as such.
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Basically, this show is honestly a pleasant little surprise. If you want an easy to watch, surface level story where you can turn off your brain and enjoy, then this show won't do it for you.

Now, it's extremely easy to argue that all people want out of a BL is to see men kiss and maybe have sex. That's it. Thus the plethora of dramas and other media where the plot is very simple and easy to consume in lieu of some of that Good 'Ol Action.

And that's not a bad thing at all! I mean, it can be a bad. But that's a conversation for another time. What I'm trying to say is that most BLs tend to be very surface level. If there's drama, the issues are explored a bit, not very deeply most of the time, said issues are resolved fairly quickly with not much exploration, and then the story is over. I personally don't have a problem with this formula. And clearly the companies that make these BLs and vast majority of BL fans have no problem with it either.

Just thrown in some good looking guys with at least decent chemistry, a basic plot, a kiss and/or sex scene within the first 2 or 3 episodes to fulfill that instant gratification 90% of viewers have, and BAM you got yourself a pretty damn good start to an easy BL drama to watch.

However, once in a while, it's nice to have a story that really delves into and takes the time to navigate the negatives of relationships and have those negatives be the central point in the story.

STORY:

And that is the prime objective of Gen Y. Instead of having the character easily (and borderline unrealistically at times) overcome their troubles, this show chooses to explore them.
Now, side note: it may seem like Mark and Kit are the main characters and the most important pair, but I would argue that in reality, Wayu is the main character and his romance is the one that gets the most focus. I'll mention this again a little later.

Anyway: the first pair (ThanuWayu) explores not only how indecision can affect you AND others around you, but it also explores two types of love: loves based off of the fairy tale idea of destiny and fate versus love grown naturally between two people from effort made from the both of them. This leads to a character unsure of who he should pick.
The second pair (MarkKit) explores how continuously not addressing issues due mostly to miscommunication can lead to a relationship where things are not as healthy as they seem in the beginning.
The last pair (PokTong) explores the idea that just because we do something that we think is best for someone, doesn't mean it was a good choice to make; your intentions do not always out weight the person's feelings. If you've seen I Told Sunset About You, you will know *exactly* what I mean by this.

Something that's also quite interesting about each pairing is the pacing at which they get together and how it makes perfect since for them. ThanuWayu takes the longest because there are a lot of things out of their control that're affecting their ability to even get together, like Saendee convincing Phai that he and Thanu have a thing together amongst other things. Their journey to out beat destiny and try to create their own is a long one.

MarkKit get together very quickly: by episode two, they're not together just yet, but they're already kissing. Half way through the show, they're officially dating- and it seems rather quick, doesn't it?

And lastly, PokTong are forcibly together. They're the first pair to have sex in the show, but their situation is unhealthy for the both of them. They're also the first pair to make the decision to move in together. Their journey to a healthier relationship is a long one.

There are other characters and subplots that intermingle with these three main pairs. And we see how things from one pair/character affects another: for instance, Mark and Kit getting too involved with Wayu's situation starts impacting their own relationship. Another example is there's a pretty good couple of moments that hint at the fact Saendee has feelings for Phai and we get to see how that affects Wayu and Thanu.

The show takes its time to explore all of these. Alongside that, it leaves little hints and breadcrumbs that, once you really think about it, makes a lot of sense and also just makes the show fun to watch, in my opinion. And, as I mentioned previously, it's nice to see them talk about these problems in an almost realistic sense.

For instance, Wayu gets dumped in a very harsh way. Pha, without any reason or hint as to why he's doing this, suddenly in the middle of a nice dinner breaks up with Wayu and literally disappears; no one, not even his friends, can reach him. And we see how this harsh breakup affects Wayu for the rest of the season. Most BLs would have the character get over it after one or two episodes, but this one doesn't. We see him eventually get over it with the help of his friends and a potential new love interest, only for said love interest to break his trust- just like how his ex did. And it causes him to, realistically and understandably, nearly go back to square one. Break ups for some are easy to get over, but not others. And with the way this break up happened, I feel like it made a lot of since for his progression to take a while- but we do see the progression happen.

However, while I think the concepts are fantastic and very interesting to watch, some of the execution of these ideas tend to fall flat at times, or at least waver a bit.

An example of this may be the plot with Thanu, Wayu, and Phai. I was surprised to see that there were SO many people confused about this plot. On one hand, you have one pair that never get to know each other and never actually speak to each other outside of comments about how they may be destined to be together due to some coincidences that happen. On the other hand, you have a pair who has naturally grown to being friends: they hang out often and chat regularly. They care for each other and that is shown in various ways. Just based off of that alone, it's easy to see which pairing is healthier and would be favored by most in real life.

I think what tripped up a lot of people is the destiny side of things. See, in the romance genre (not just BL), destined love is a HUGE trope with Western audiences. Sure, the idea that we have a partner out there ready for us whenever sounds great. But that's not how relationships work. They take a lot of time and effort from both sides; relationships don't just fall on your lap and magically happen. And the show does showcase this. But I noticed a lot of people got stuck on the whole destiny thing because a lot of people love the idea of destined love. They expected the Thanu and Phai to be together. Hell, there's even a scene where Thanu and Phai have shared visions of their *possible* future.
The show really gets into the destiny/fate thing a little *too* much in my opinion. I think they did that to really emphasis how unrealistic it is. If they had dialed it back a bit, then there wouldn't be as many people here on MDL shocked about Thanu and Phai not being together. And the thing is that it was pretty evident from the beginning: Thanu and Phai didn't seem that interested in the first place. Neither of them actively look for each other or anything like that .But some people only looked at the two of them on the surface and thought their romance was very cute.

A big reason why I bring up the ThanuWayuPhai love triangle as the best possible example is because if you look on the Episode Guide, you can see where a lot of people here on MDL began disliking the story: right as Thanu makes the decision to stop this whole destiny thing. Once again, it's not surprising at all that he chose to do that given the proof we see up until that point. But it's clear a lot of people did not catch those moments.

Other things that could've been better executed were things like showing Saendee yearning for Phai more because those little glimpses we got were very easy for some people to forget, it seems like. More of an emphasis on that would've been great. I say that because it seems like a good chunk of people on MDL, once again, didn't catch that.

But it's also hard to say if it's really the fault of the production crew or if it's a difference in Asian viewers versus Western viewers. I say this because over there, the rating for the show is a lot higher than here on MDL, which is Western based. Maybe the destiny thing didn't really affect the Asian audience all that much because perhaps destiny in romance isn't as big of a trope there as it is here? Maybe? Who knows.

There's also the fact that this show was made, of course, for Asian audiences first and foremost. They knew since the beginning that Thanu and Wayu were endgame because of how super popular of a ship their actors are over there. For us, however, it's safe to say that majority of us in the west were not aware of any of that. Not anyone's fault, of course.

I think the execution of some things could have been better, absolutely, but not so much as a lot people on here are making it out to seem. I think the story is honestly easy to follow.

Also, I've seen people on here have major issues with how "whiny" Wayu is. I've always noticed that people have issues with emotional male characters in media, especially ones that "take too long" to get over their problems. This is a major issue of toxic masculinity that our society needs to work with. I see no issues with Wayu being emotionally open.

Some cons that I think are actually worth mentioning:
One thing that I have problems with is a sense of time- or there lack of. My first time viewing the show, I was confused by certain things because I couldn't tell when things were taking place. For instance, I actually didn't know if the beginning takes place in the very beginning of the school year, like the first day of class, or maybe half way through...?
I think having a better sense of time would've helped, especially for Wayu's story.

I did not think a 2nd year college student (who should've been a 3rd year) potentially getting with a 4th year *high school* student was cute at all. I'm so sick of adult/minor ships in BLs. Luckily its rare with Thai BLs from what I've noticed so far, but still.
Now to be fair to them, Thanu and Phai don't actually speak to each other until Phai and his friends have already passed their final exams and have been accepted into college; though they are still wearing their high school uniforms at this point, they're basically college kids. I believe in Thai schools, you can still attend your classes even though you've already been accepted into your college of choice, and I believe that's what was going on here. Thanu also doesn't know until this scene that the guy he keeps seeing is in high school. But still. It made me uncomfortable that they had these scenes with romantic vibes where they'd stare at each other from afar before this point, because we the audience know Phai is in high school.

My number one problem is how some scenes, but ESPECIALLY the PokTong sex scene in ep 12, had that one Sexy Time song playing over them. Their relationship, especially the sexual side of it, is not healthy. At all. And them trying to sexualize these scenes is gross. I have no issues with them being there, but I have a major problem with sexualizing unhealthy parts of romantic relationships. I hope there's a scene down the line where the both characters sit down and talk about hoe their sex is not good and how they can change that.
I think the reason why it's sexualized is because once again, that instant gratification that the audience has and the desire to see men kiss and fuck pretty much prioritizes anything else in terms of marketing a BL. I'm sure they didn't want to let the fans down with a sexless story, so they (more than likely the company's producers) tried to amp it up. It's unfortunate and I hope people understand that the scenes aren't an accurate representation of healthy sex.

Some people also have issues with the cast, but I'll comment on that down below.

ACTING/CAST:

The acting can be rough around the edges at time. Some of the actors are a little too stiff. If, for whatever reason, you can't stand acting like this, then this show is probably not for you. I don't blame those who couldn't finish the show because of the acting.

However, whenever I come across a show where the acting of one or more actors seems off, I do my part as the viewer and look up the actor(s) and try to see why that may be rather than just chalking it up to "bad acting". A lot of times with these BLs, it's typically that actor's first time either acting or acting in a BL specifically; that person may be straight and is having a bit of a hard time really getting into the character. There are also just a bunch of new up and coming actors. There's typically a reason for rough acting in general, but especially in BLs, so I try not to be too mean about it.

So I did just that with this show. I found that most of the actors have either never acted before, or they have but for one other small show and/or small role in said show. I found out that back in 2019, SH Entertainment wanted some new singing and acting talent, so they held a voting based competition called SuperBoy Project. Their goal was to find ordinary guys who dreamed of becoming stars, regardless of how well they sang and acted; every week they had acting and singing/dancing classes. And, honestly? I LOVE that. I noticed how a lot of the actors are stereotypically good looking (though I think all of them are hot and/or cute), so that explains that too.

I went ahead and watched the whole competition. And some of the remaining members were the ones that show up in this show: Bonus (Tong), Tora (Pok), Pon (Phai), Bank (Saendee), Jet (Jack), Junior (Padbok), Tung (Kalae), and Fergie (Jill). Some of them, like Junior and Fergie are great, but others are still somewhat stiff. However, they do grow as the show goes on, especially when you get into season 2. The two that grow the most are Bonus (Tong) and Tora (Pok) in my opinion.

Dun (Thanu) was not scouted via this competition, but Gen Y is his first ever show. I would say he's the one who needs the most work, but he does get a little better and better as time goes on.

I've volunteered on film sets where there's little to no money involved and you gotta work with what you have at the time. It's made me have this more positive outlook and appreciation for productions (either the whole production or just parts of it) that may be amateur-ish but you can absolutely tell they're making an effort. So the acting honestly doesn't bother me; I actually find it endearing!

Would the show have been better if a bulk of the cast were experienced actors? Yeah, probably. One could argue that. But I'm fine with how it is. I'm glad they're getting this opportunity to work in a drama. And the experienced actors, like Kimmon and Copter, do a great job!

Now one thing to definitely point out is how large the casting it. It can get quite overwhelming, and I don't blame people for feeling that way, especially since we're so used to BLs having a smaller pool of cast.

I personally don't mind the size, but I do think that maybe an extra one or two episodes would've helped to flesh out a bit more of the characters and some of the subplots. However, the reason why I'm not faulting the production here is because the amount of episodes is not up to them. They have to make do with however many episodes they get.

MUSIC:
Not too much to say here other than the music and variety is very good. The theme song is SO cute, and the lyrics are very fitting. As I mentioned before, some of their talent is both singers and actors, so I do like that one or two, maybe more, of the actors got to take part in the OST as well.

They could stand to use maybe one, maaaybe two more background/ambience music, but it's not anything crazy.

REWATCH VALUE:

I would say this show has some BIG rewatch value. As I mentioned before, there are hints and little breadcrumbs here and there that are so fun to pick up on not just as you're watching it, but when you rewatch it to.
Right now, I'm watching season 2, and I've been having a blast going back to season 1 and connecting dots. For instance, going back to rewatch the scenes with Saendee before it's revealed his true nature is WILD. The moments where he stares at certain characters really gave me the creeps when I go back and rewatch those scenes.

I would say that some episodes may not be worth rewatching again as a whole, but there are a lot of scenes that are fun to go back to. For instance, the fight scene is a lot of fun to watch.
I would recommend before watching season 2, just going back and maybe skimming through season 1. I don't think you'll regret it!

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A Great Beginning, And Then...

WOW I have NO idea what I stumbled into, but this story went in a completely different than what my friends and I anticipated.
Now, keep in mind: I didn't read the original novel. I hopped onto this BL because around the time it aired, just about every other Thai BL was full of drama and sometimes nonsensical writing, and this show looked sooooo cute and fresh! It stars mostly new actors and is about cooking! What could go wrong?

And then, well...it became one of those super dramatic BLs with some level of nonsensical writing. And I was beyond disappointed.

POSITIVES:

1) The show has a good start! If anything, I'd recommend watching maybe the first 4 episodes; at this point, the story is cute and lighthearted and has a strong focus on cooking. I could honestly sit here and rewatch the first couple of episodes a couple more times- and I already have! Ahh, the good 'ol days of when the story was good...

2) Friendships! It's rare to have BLs where the main character's friends are important to them. Usually after a short amount of time, the friend(s) disappears for some reason...? And they somehow get so caught up in their own thing, they end up ditching their supposed best friend. Not only does Lukchub's and Ram's groups of friends stick around for most of the time, but they're also supportive! I loved the moments when Phai (Lukchub's friend) and Sky (Ram's friend) would sit down with their friend and get serious with them. The dialogue was fantastic! Not only is it rare to see the friends stick around, but it's also rare to see them try to knock some sense into the main character(s).

3) Acting: For a show with mostly new actors, the acting for the most part honestly wasn't bad! Sometimes they were stiff, but I'm willing to let that pass. The one's who had some problems also had great potential to get better. Namning's actress did a GREAT job in my opinion.

NEGATIVES:

1) I kid you not when I say that the show went from cute and simple to soap opera drama SO quick. Suddenly we're dealing with a character who's so deranged that she eventually pulls out a gun and nearly shoots her own mother. The cute cooking aspect of the story went straight out of the window and never made a reappearance in the spotlight ever again.

2) 13 episodes: this show was way too long. There's one episode where next to nothing happened; episode 5, I think? The second part of the club scene. They could have shrunk it down to 10 episodes and it would have been okay.

3) Lack of story balance: one thing I LOVE about Thai BLs is that we always get some subplot with other romances. Almost always the main character's best friend gets a fun little side story that's just as interesting if not sometimes even *more* interesting than the main plot. LC has a large cast of characters, all of which are honestly very interesting in their own ways and with how they interact with each other. And I was looking sooooooo forward to seeing SkyPhai and TitanPangi!! *Especially* SkyPhai!! They did a GREAT job at showing up little bits of each couple leading up to their romance- and then out of no where, we don't see *any* progression with the two side couples. There's a small scene with Titan and Pangi and that's it. Sky and Phai get absolutely NOTHING. They spend SO much time focusing on Namning, that we're left with mere breadcrumbs for the side couples. I was looking forward to SkyPhai *so* much because they're both similar yet complete opposites. Plus the actors look great together and have some great chemistry. All they gave us SkyPhai fans was a makeout scene with some flirting. Now, mind you...the makeout scene was hot as hell, I will give that that! But that's all we got and I'm still mad about it a whole week later.

4) Ram's acting. Like I mentioned before, the acting was good! Except for Ram's actor's acting. He was the most stiff out of all of the show. The chemistry between him and Mick (Lukchub's actor) is great and can be seen from time to time, but I do think it's odd that he was chosen to play the main character.

5) Namning's role in the story. On one hand, I do think her actress did a great job with the role. But on the other, having a villainous female character in a BL can be very misogynistic because usually the story banks on the fact that the character *is* a woman; they also tend to utilize toxic tropes and stereotypes with these female characters. Now, I don't immediately see having a female bad guy in a BL story as a bad thing because sometimes it works out. But I felt like they went wayyyy too far with her role. I wish the whole thing wasn't as dramatic as it was and that it ended around episode 10 or 11. But no, they went full force and had her stick around until the first 20mins of the last episode.

6) The last episode and they way they crammed some very last minute romantic scenes in there. They didn't show us any progression for the side couples, but suddenly they're together and one of them gets married. And yes, they did a timeskip. TWO of them for some reason.

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All I can say is that despite the immense whiplash I got from this show, I am honestly excited to see what most of the actors will be working on next, especially Boom (Phai's actor), Tachit (Sky's actor), Momo (Pangji's actress), Ice (Titan's actor), and Mick (Lukchub's actor).

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