Nice combination of wuxia and whodunnit

This series consists of a few connected mysteries with an wuxia setting. The story is really good here although there are some kinks in delivery every now and then. For example, the close friendship between the two male leads is developed from the start, but some time around Episode 16, Zhao Wo Huan seems almost as though he is jealous of or upset with his friend's lover, Zhan Shi Qi. Zhan also seems a little out of character in the same episode. Yes, the two male leads are so close that we see them embracing and holding hands at times, but the plot doesn't seem to be set up to suggest that either of them would be jealous of the other's lover.

Zhao Wo Huan, the second male lead, actually turns out to be the more nuanced character for most part. He is righteous but also has a bit of an inferiority complex due to his background. He is eager to prove himself and boast, but never to the extent of being annoying. His loyalty to Jian is admirable, especially in the part where the two friends quarrel but Zhao still risks his life to deal with a killer saving his friend.

The story has many conventional ingredients of wuxia, but it is not focused on the fighting between different set. Instead, the main character, Jian Bu Zhi, is a detective who know no martial arts. With his intelligence and the help of his good friend, Zhao Wo Huan, he manages to solve several mysteries.

There is also romance in the series, but I don't find the romance that nicely developed. It just seems too sudden that Jian and Zhan would fall in love. The doomed romance between Zhao Wo Huan and Ming Yue starts off a little better but we do not really see the depth of Ming Yue's love for the most part despite evidence of her wavering loyalty to her sect.

The series is one of the many that end with a major cliffhanger to pique the audience's curiosity in case it is commercially successful enough for a second season to be made. Sometimes this gets really annoying as the main conflict in the first season isn't resolved. This, however, isn't the case. The plot ends satisfactorily in Season 1, but a huge twist in the identity of Jian Bu Zhi (which many see coming, so it isn't labored at least) makes me wish that a second season would be made.

Comment involving a major spoiler:

Some understand the ending to be revealing that Jian Bu Zhi is not Jian Bu Zhi but the villain who kills Jian Bu Zhi's father eight years earlier. However, it is also quite clear that the ending does not overturn things more drastically than most fans are able to take. The guy we have been watching from the first episode (the so-called fake Jian Bu Zhi) is not really a villain--he's more like a living person who had been zombified and turned into a killing machine by some evil force. The events eight years earlier have caused him to lose his memory and think that he is Jian Bu Zhi.

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I'm not sure why, but I'm usually not into Korean dramas, but I find this drama to be a strangely good mix of comedy, thriller, mystery.

In her quest to solve the mystery behind her sister's disappearance, Yoo Ryung becomes a police officer and manages to get herself transferred to the subway police department because she believes that her sister has been the victim of the subway ghost, a serial killer who has killed people and dumped bodies in the subway.

Fueled by empathy for the victims and their families, she goes after criminals with a passion, turning the otherwise mundane world of the subway police department upside down. The comic situations are rather funny at the start. However, the series does not go light on the crimes: some of them can be rather violent, and the series does not hesitate to show some violent scenes.

I wasn't expecting it, but the blend of light-hearted comic elements with more serious thriller elements and some heartwarming scenes is splendidly done. They do not feel out of place. There are even a few nice twists that do not feel labored. By the end of Episode 13, I was wondering how the series could have another 3 episodes, but it did and it was done well too. The last episode feels like it has some filler moments so that it can become a full episode, but it's still not a significant problem.

The series also manages to highlight social issues like the struggles of the poor and caregiver stress. There is also a recurring theme of parental love and the lengths (sometimes touching, sometimes frightening) to which parents would go for the sake of their children.

The series is not perfect, of course. There are some slight plot holes and the depiction of dementia in the series seems a little unrealistic. But these flaws do not compromise the quality of the series.

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Could have been funnier

A somewhat weaker sequel to Detective Chinatown (2015). Some of the scenes are visually hilarious such as with horse-riding on the roads of New York (the poor horse comes to an awful end though).

Like the 2015 movie, there are elements of a whodunit/detective story. Much of it is comedy involving situations that you shouldn't expect to be realistic if you want to enjoy the movie.

The story features a few recurring characters that we see in the Detective Chinatown franchise (including the 2020 series). It is weaker than the 2015 movie though the serial killer premise shows promise at first. This sequel ups the anarchic elements of the first instalment, which can make it really funny. Unfortunately, the comedy isn't always done well. The story relies too much on "stroke of luck" situations to solve the protagonists' problems--this is sometimes funny, sometimes insipid. The means by which the main characters escape from a police lock-up is almost cringe-inducing even for someone with a good appetite for absurd comedic situations. Implausible events are fine if they are fun and hilarious. But if they are simply implausible without being funny, they give the sense that they have been included just to move the plot forward.

Like the 2015 movie, this one features an "extra" revelation after the mystery seems to have been solved. It is clever though, this time round, we may vaguely seeing it coming a tad too early. In the 2015 movie, the extra revelation doesn't seem labored though we may begin to see something extra coming our way quite late in the movie. In contrast, the sequel seems to try a little too hard to show that the extra revelation isn't added as an afterthought. Still, I'm nitpicking a little. This movie isn't meant to be taken so seriously and, in fact, it falters when it starts taking itself too seriously with some pseudo-philosophical moments.

As an aside, a sort of formula or template seems to have emerged from the 2015 movie, and this does not necessarily bode well for the third instalment.

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Surprisingly OK

This is a follow-up to The Moment, which was released earlier in 2020 (though it somehow feels like more than a year has passed). It's not really a second season or sequel because it feels more like the second half of The Moment that finally has a chance to be made.

The quality of The Moment Since is consistent with The Moment, and it shares the same strengths and weaknesses though the plot in The Moment Since seems to have gone even thinner. There could have been more attention paid to the characters who are not the main couple (Bay and Mok)--we already know they are in love and there isn't really anything getting in their way.

Perhaps to add some excitement, a new character, Jimmy, is added. However, the introduction of Jimmy as yet another guy who is interested in Bay seems as unnecessary as Jimmy's shirtless scene. No one is really complaining about the somewhat gratuitous scene, but why not a love interest for Boston who is a genuinely sweet guy who is secretly in love with Bay? We get to see more of Boston's inner world here, and it's a pity that the character isn't given more attention.

If the cast and production team had a higher budget, perhaps a more interesting story would have been possible. There have some surprisingly good BLs in 2020. The Moment and The Moment Since may not be amongst them, but it is actually surprisingly "ok".

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Good story and acting

I have not watched the original Korean series, but I have thoroughly enjoyed this Thai remake. The story may not be original, but the delivery of the story is really good.

The story starts with a police officer (Peera) traveling (roughly) thirty years into the future (from 1985 to the 2010s) while trying to nab a serial killer. He helps to solve other cases in the 2010s before being confronted with the serial killer again.

The characters and their relationships are interesting, especially the relationship between Peera and Thanthai (a police officer in the 2010s, the son of one of the serial killer's victims). The cast is excellent; the actors for even relatively minor characters turn out a riveting performance.

Some time travel paradoxes are present, and this is somewhat inevitable. However, one weakness lies in the suggestion that when Peera gets back to his original time in 1985, what he does can change the future, e.g. the present-day serial killer has a new memory of being chased by Peera in 1985 after Peera gets back to the past and tries to catch him. This should also mean that if Peera manages to get back to 1985 and nab the serial killer, the subsequent killings after 1985 can be prevented. It then becomes baffling that he does get back to 1985 permanently in theend, but there is nothing to suggest an attempt to nab the serial killer and prevent the killings that would occur in the 1990s to 2010s. (This is disturbing because most of the killings are actually done after 1985.)

Furthermore, because Peera eventually gets back to 1985, it could mean that the death of his wife (a few years after 1985) in an accident can be prevented, and his daughter won't be orphaned. This may well mean that the orphaned daughter may have a different career and may not help the police of the 2010s solve the serial killer case. In fact, all the events that lead to the nabbing of the serial killer in the 2010s may be changed because Peera returns to 1985 in the end. This then means that the effort Peera puts in to nab the serial killer in the 2010s are likely to be futile unless he doesn't return to 1985.

I guess the ending in which Peera returns to 1985 is aimed to be pleasing enough to most audiences even if it is at the expense of logic. It would indeed be too heartbreaking an ending if Peera doesn't return to 1985 when his wife is waiting for his return. Additionally, people may not like seeing the 2010s characters they have grown to be familiar with suddenly reconfigured by Peera's return to the past.

Personally, I think a reconfiguration could have been done: Peera can nab the serial killer in 1985, preventing more killings. His wife may avoid the accident causing her to die. His daughter doesn't have to be orphaned, but she can still be a professor of criminal psychology and help the police solve crimes. Thanthai (the police officer who happens to be the son of one of the killer's victims may not become a police officer but instead be a doctor/forensics doctor (he gives up studying medicine to be a police officer in order to catch the serial killer). The drawback, of course, is that the audience have spent too much time with the original 2010s characters and their particular histories to be comfortable with their histories rewritten in half an episode or less. But this seems inevitable: e.g. why would Peera's daughter be orphaned if he returns.

While the flaws of using time travel as a plot device are not entirely negligible, the series is still satisfying. The characters and their relationships are engaging without being a distraction from the crime cases. Despite not getting a lot of screen time, the love between Peera and his wife, Wad, is touching. The bond and sometimes tensions between the police officers (Peera/Suchart, Peera/Thanthai and the 2010s team in general) are effectively portrayed without much distraction from the crime stories.

In the end, I still wish that there is a clearer explanation of why the main serial killer changes the sort of targets he had in the 1990s. In fact, I would probably prefer having Peera change the "original" future by going back to the past and nabbing the serial killer. But taking the story for what it is, it is hard to fault the delivery. I'm glad seeing Peera going back to 1985 and having a happy ending. The possibility that his eventual return to 1985 would change the future that he has experienced (including the nabbing of the killer) seems to have been totally ignored in the end, perhaps because the ending isn't meant to trigger a Season 2. If we really demand something that is entirely logical, we are probably better off avoiding time travel stories.

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Quirky but cute and lovable

The starting of the series strikes me as being a little strange. Is it a story set in the 1990s or something? The setting and the set seem rather quaint. It wasn't until smartphones were featured and some explanation of Noey is emulating people from his father's generation that I started realizing that the story is set in contemporary Thailand.

And then we have Noey behaving like someone with multiple personality disorder and different personalities surface at different times. Sometimes the way he behaves is baffling. While somewhat explained, the quirkiness of Noey's character doesn't really seem all that purposeful. I mean, why doesn't he get a smartphone or something? But perhaps it's what makes this series special?

Once I got over the oddness, I found the series pretty engaging. There are a lot of funny scenes, but some might take issue with how it trivializes (or even glamorizes) gang violence at times.

I like it that the series doesn't take the sappy route, with Thi having feelings for Noey, who is going after a girl at first, and going all lovesick. To be sure, Thi does find himself attracted to Noey but his feelings are ambiguous. It can be both a good and bad thing that it's hard to tell where the series is headed, if anywhere at all. Sometimes it feels episodic, but somehow it kept me watching maybe because it doesn't take too much effort to watch and enjoy.

The series does become better after Noey decides to hit on Thi instead of going after the girl he is at first interested in. Although it feels a little random , the turn in the plot marks the point where the series gets more interesting. But it may take some quite a bit of patience before getting there.

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OK BL, but doesn't seem like anything special

Note: I'm reviewing only "Love Mechanics" (4 episodes) without having watched the earlier part of En of Love (TOSSARA) that have the same characters but feature other couples as the main characters. As Love Mechanics has a page of its own here, I hope this review will be be useful for those who may want to watch Love Mechanics without watching the other parts. If I watch the other related parts and change my views, I will add my thoughts after the initial review.

Initial Review:
If you haven't watched En of Love: TOSSARA, which came out before Love Mechanics, you may find the beginning of Love Mechanics abrupt and even bizarre. My guess is that watching the earlier part of En of Love will help make Love Mechanics a bit more appealing.

At the beginning, Mark is drunk and mistakes Vee for a guy he is in love with (Bar). Bar has rejected Mark, and the drunken mark ends up having a one-night stand with Vee. Vee is not drunk, but inexplicably has sex with Mark. It turns out that Vee already has a girlfriend. (Those who have watched TOSSARA will probably already know that Vee has a girlfriend.)

What doesn't quite make sense for me is how Mark and Vee develop affections for each other. I doubt watching the other parts helps with this--after all, Mark has been in love with Bar for some time, and Vee seems to have a reputation for being a faithful boyfriend.

I feel that watching Love Mechanics as a standalone series doesn't make me feel much for the the main characters, Mark and Vee, in the first two episodes. By the time I found myself caring more about their relationship, it's the middle of Episode 3 (and only 2 of the 5 parts of the last episode, Episode 4, actually continues the story).

It's not hard to figure out what's going on after a short while watching Love Mechanics, but this production from Studio Wabi Sabi seems to be rather bland, especially in comparison with the really good (imo) Until We Meet Again. To its credit, the approach of dividing En of Love into different series that can roughly work as standalone mini series on their own may be a good thing. Many Thai dramas suffer from the "Too Many Characters" Syndrome, making the shifts in focus rather disorienting (and not in a good way). Also, at the very least, it hasn't put me off watching the other parts of En of Love.

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Funny and cute though not exceptional

The episodes for this series were released on GMMTV’s YouTube channel on Friday nights after the impressive and much-praised 100stars ended. It seems that this invited some comparisons, but this is a much more typical BL.
In Fish Upon the Sky, the main characters are university students (what’s new?) and we have a main and side couple. But Thai BL series this year seem to have a greater tendency to be self-reflexive, displaying and sometimes questioning BL conventions. This is in many way a typical BL, but like Lovely Writer, it also critiques the dark side of the BL fandom’s shipping.

The main couple is Pi and Mork. We see in Pi a rather familiar ugly duckling trope. GMMTV probably has to try harder to convince me about the ugly part, but it is interesting that Pi’s transformation to a swan takes place quite early in the story. This makes it a somewhat different spin to the ugly duckling trope – Pi remains awkward and diffident in many ways (though this isn’t always made obvious). But Pi’s behavior must be seen in this light. At first, he has a crush on Muang Nan, and seems to be a total dick to Mork, who secretly likes Pi and wants to befriend him. For a while, Pi rebuffs Mork regardless of how nice Mork is to him. This is quite plausible since Pi, as an ugly duckling, is used to people wanting to make use of him when they talk to him—he simply doesn’t believe that people would want to be his friend. (The affable Muang Nan, who doesn’t try to get close to him or get anything out of him, may be different in his eyes,)

When Pi and Mork eventually becomes a couple, Pi’s demands seem a tad unreasonable as one of the conditions is that Mork must keep their relationship a secret. This clearly isn’t because Pi is in the closet—he is quite openly gay except to his parents (earlier in the story). But I believe this is quite likely for someone who feels insecure—he neither wants to be mocked for being with a guy beyond his league nor be laughed at should the relationship not work out. The fact is that he has fallen in love with Mork even whilst he’s trying to convince himself that he is still in love with Muang Nan (his vehement denial that he is actually in love with Mork proves the suspicion). There is a beautifully shot scene of Mork helping Pi wash his hands after a lab session, which shows how in love Pi is.

The side couple is Duean and Meen. The series calls this “The Story of a Firth Year Student”—and the focus is on Duean, Pi’s elder brother, who should have graduated but has to retake a course before graduating. While the Pi/Mork parts of the series can be funny, the really comic parts are in the Duean/Meen segments. They aren’t really that interesting as a couple and they do not even become one by Episode 11 despite Duean’s open admission to Mork (Meen’s brother) about how he feels towards Meen. Nevertheless, Duean’s silly behavior can be really hilarious, especially in the first half of the series or so. He may not be someone you would want to meet in real life, but he’s entertaining as a character. He often behaves like an ass only to end up regretting his behavior and having to make up for what he has done, like when he gives Meen’s bottle away and then has to go through a whole lot of trouble to get it back when he thinks that it is a present from Meen’s late mother (she’s very much alive).

Unfortunately, Duean and Meen do not get developed much as a couple. There are obvious couple vibes from early on, and we know that they are supposed to be the side couple, but there isn’t that much of a love story despite the entertainment the scenes with Duean provides in the series. With Pi and Mork, we do at least get to see the transitions from hostility to tolerance and then to friendship and romance. With Duean and Meen, we get to see Duean’s diminishing assholery towards Meen, but there could have been more. I actually like The Story of a Fifth Year Student and wish there had been more attention on it.

This series will certainly not be everyone’s cup of tea. You are not going to get Tharntype’s sort of skinship (hey, the actor for Pi has not even turned eighteen). Neither will you get the 1000stars sort of touching grown-up love story. But you do get quite a decent BL comedy with rather high production values. To me, it’s better than recent offerings like the somewhat disappointing Tonhon and Chonlatee, the rather forgettable Gen-Y and the disjointed The Cupid Coach.

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Interesting premise but turns out messy

Although parallel-universe plots seem to be getting a little overdone these days, the series still had an interesting premise. Mum wanting to save Dew's life by traveling to an parallel universe is an engaging character goal. Unfortunately, as the story progresses, it gets a tad too messy and bizarre. It can be rather hard to follow (even more so w ahen third parallel universe emerges while the first two parallel universes are not even clearly sorted out). The rather interesting mystery regarding the identity of the person wanting to kill Dew also fizzles out and gets lost in a tangled mess.

To complicate matters further, there is one Mum and one Dew in each parallel universe. This isn't unexpected, but while we start with the idea that Mum in Universe 1 falls in love with Dew from Universe 2 and that the same people can have at least slightly different personalities across the universes, we also end up with the characters behaving as though their love interest in one universe can actually be substituted with their counterpart in another universe: Mum 1 loves Dew 2, but after failing to save Dew 2's life, Mum 1 somehow falls for Dew 1, practically treating Dew 1 as a substitute. Perhaps there is some deep philosophical question to be explored here, but I don't really see it being explored. And it can destroy our sense that the characters are even truly in love.

Eventually, what is there to love about this series? You can take away the parallel universe concept entirely and I dare say most viewers are not going to miss it. You can even make Mum and Dew characters who are not in parallel universes (just turn it into some time travel premise), and the story might well turn out better. In fact, you can even turn Mum and Dew into the side couple and the story might just become better. It seems that what is universally loved is Wee and Game, the side couple who really deserve to be the main couple in a story without any parallel universe premise. And this shows how the main story falls flat.

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Nice addition to The Untamed but doesn't work as a standalone

This is for fans of The Untamed--not in the sense that it is so bad that only die-hard fans will like it, but in the sense that those who have not watched The Untamed or know the story in some other way will not be able to appreciate it. It will seem like a random story with a perplexing ending to those who have no idea what The Untamed is about, so it's not a good standalone movie, At 80+ minutes, the movie isn't exactly long, and there is room for more scenes, especially at the end.

I suppose one difficulty of having more scenes if that it will inevitably involve more actors from The Untamed who may not be able or willing to commit to filming the movie, (Or maybe there simply isn't enough budget.) Also, even if there are more scenes added, there may be overlaps with the series (so is the solution then to re-film some scenes?).

The focus on Nie Huaisang and Nie Mingjue in this movie offers an interesting addendum of sorts to The Untamed. It gives insight into the character of Nie Huaisang and why he may be motivated to orchestrate the downfall of the villain in The Untamed. The ending of The Untamed does give the sense that it is to take revenge, but it remains ambivalent as to whether Nie Huaisang is another ambitious person trying to gain power or he simply wants to see the villain's downfall.

Some questions that one has after watching The Untamed remain though. For instance, how does Nie Huaisang know about the range of the villain's misdeeds? In this movie, he discovers that his brother's death is caused by the villain, buthow about all the other evil deeds? Of course, to reveal more will require the inclusion of characters like Wei Wuxian (is there enough budget to get Xiao Zhan into the movie for a role that isn't the focus?).

One may be happy enough with The Untamed's fifty episodes. We do have a strong hint that Nie Huaisang isn't really an evil person even though he has enough intelligence to be a frightening villain if he wants. (Contrast it with the anime version of the story in which Nie Huaisang may be the next villain rising to a position of power.)

Ultimately, perhaps a better story can be told about the Nie brothers. As it is, we have flashbacks to the past with the brothers as kids, showing how close they are. We also have Nie Huaisang being shown to be clearly uninterested in power--he is rather cowardly but he also has a strong sense of righteousness, so much so that he would admonish his brother for doing questionable things. Why not include how he discovers the way to bring Wei Wuxian back to life and why. Why not show whether he has ruthlessly made use of Mo Xuanyu (who sacrifices his life to resurrect Wei Wuxian) or whether Mo Xuanyu is a willing party? (He starts off being a really good person, but does the quest for vengeance change him?) Instead of protracted fight sequences that don't do that much for me, I wish there had been effort to make the story a good standalone movie that can even serve as a good introduction to The Untamed for those who still have not watched the series.

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It is a good thing that Season 3 of Wu Xin: The Monster Killer is actually a prequel, set centuries before Seasons 1 and 2. It is somewhat predictable, but Season 3 eventually explains why Wu Xin goes into a deep sleep every 100 years, (it's not something inevitable although he might not realize it) after which he forgets (almost) everything. It is not directly stated, but this memory erasure is probably also why Wu Xin does not have any magical powers except for using his blood to kill evil beings--he actually used to have some magical powers, but his memory erasure may also mean that he has no recollection most of his powers. The beginnings of Wu Xin's friendship with Bai Liu Li, alluded to in Season 2, is also explained.

Of the three seasons, Season 3 probably has the best romance plot, which is quite nicely integrated into the main story. Sabrina Chen (the villain in Season 1, and another character in Season 2) plays Wu Xin's love interest in Season 3. For reasons unknown, Sabrina Chen gets to play a male character again (like in Season 2), though it makes sense in Season 3 because there is a pair of male/female identical twins in the story.

The supernatural aspects of the story, on the other hand, doesn't turn out to be as strong. Like a detective series that moves on from one murder case to another, Wu Xin Season 3 moves from one supernatural case to another before finally getting to the central supernatural antagonist. Then in the final episode ... I'm not even sure how the villain is defeated.

On the other hand, beyond the supernatural villains, the human characters are interestingly complex. Some of the most detestable characters have rather poignant moments in the series. The male twin played by Sabrina Chen is also morally ambiguous in a convincing way. Chen's performance is excellent as she not only manages to play both the male and the female twins well but also manages to pull off some scenes when the two twins inhabit the same body (and the personalities get a little mixed).

Elvis Han is simply be playing Wu Xin yet again without much room for him to impress us with his acting. However, the pathos in the character of Wu Xin is surfaced quite well--his immortality brings him misery as he is doomed to repeatedly experience the agony of being separated from people he has affections for no matter how long he lives happily with them: he can have both happily and ever after, but he can't have happily ever after.

Season 3 can either be a satisfying end to the Wu Xin series or pave the way for a Season 4, which I won't mind. Perhaps one set in the contemporary era?

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Good but could have been great

The first twenty episodes were really impressive, but the standard drops somewhat in the second half of the series despite some really ingenious scenes. The scene where the characters start showing a split personality is hilarious, and I see it as the equivalent of showing a hidden middle finger and making a face behind the back of the censors.

It's a pity that some Chinese productions seem to have the potentials to make BL dramas that would easily put the bulk of Thai and other BL dramas to shame but are hampered by ridiculous censorship laws. Still, the entire Guardian team has managed to pull of something quite stunning for 39 episodes. The BL elements from the source material are removed but one does not even have to fantasize about the love the two main characters have for each other because it's so darn obvious despite not being directly expressed. Including obvious supernatural elements under the pretext that everything can be explained by science (even if science can't already explain it) is clever and almost pushes the series to the level of satire, but this is never blatant. Unfortunately, the ending was a bit of a disappointment--it's not very clear what is going on and it seems hurried. The plot is also less well developed in the second half and has some plot holes that could have been avoided because they are just minor details (like how one of the characters claims that he has learnt first aid and knows how to dress someone's would in an earlier episode but is later said to be totally unskilled in dressing wounds).

Certain parts of the dialogue have been dubbed over. I have read that it is because of censorship, but I can't imagine how the characters could even be saying something that the censors would object to in many of these scenes. Whatever the reason is, the dubbing does affect the viewing experience though not to the extent of making the show unwatchable.

The series is clearly one that could have been great but fails to fully fulfill its potential due to external factors like censorship. It's a pity. Still, the series manages to be quite good despite the unevenness of the second half and is worth a watch.

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There's indeed nothing all that special about TOSSARA, but the story is fine and the delivery is acceptable.

Gun has been in love with Bar for several years, but he has never dared to confess to Bar until Bar loses his engineering gear. (Yes, there are several nods to SOTUS, which unfortunately invites comparison with a classic BL).

A lot of people are unhappy with casting Win as Gun because he doesn't look the part of the handsome, muscular guy whom lots of girls in his university go crazy over. I can understand this, and I partly blame it on the make-up department who could have at least given him a nicer hairstyle and image. But I find that he is pleasant looking (he looks better in an interview than in the series) and has played his role well enough. I originally thought that the element about Gun being a very handsome and popular guy was unnecessary for the story and should have been modified after Win was chosen to play Gun. However, it does become quite important for the story, particularly in the freshy competitions scene in which Gun publicly expresses his love for Bar and asks Bar to be his boyfriend.

Win actually plays the part of an infatuated Gun rather well even though it is a bit of a stretch to imagine him as this handsome, muscular popular guy. After a while, he does look fairly compatible with Folk who plays Bar. Folk, on the other hand, is cute but his acting is inconsistent. He doesn't seem able to convey Bar's underlying affection for Gun when Bar is putting up a tough front.

Bar's change from being reluctant to let Gun hit on him to feeling affection for Gun also seems rather sudden. We see that he has fallen for Gun but we don't see why or how this happened. In fact, Gun merely flirts with him for a week and suddenly he seems to be in love with Gun.

The series is not an example of a great BL series, but the couple is rather likable. Both Gun and Bar may get unnecessarily jealous, but the ultimately have rather human concerns and genuine affection for each other. Not a bad watch if you have run out of BLs to watch.

One thing that could certainly be better is a stronger exposition of the characters that would be the main characters in Love Mechanics. I watched Love Mechanics first, but watching TOSSARA hardly makes me understand Love Mechanics better.

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I find this a really watchable BL drama although the story could have been stronger. There is enough to get us to like and care about the characters, but not enough to make the story strong and unforgettable.

The Characters and Story
The main couple, Fighter and Tutor, have interesting personalities. They are similar in some ways, which make them an interesting match. Fighter appears to be the one who is more aloof and even domineering, but he is in fact rather insecure and lacks the confidence to be honest about his feelings for Tutor. Tutor outwardly seems gentler, but there is both a tough side to him and a vulnerable side to him. This may sound contradictory, but it makes sense: while Tutor is by no means a weakling, he often finds himself faced with situations in which he has to be stronger than he really is and has to force himself to act as though he can handle the situations.

The similarity in their personalities is perhaps also what makes them keep their attraction to each other for so long, apart from how Fighter's father is trying to make him date a girl (Hwahwa, Tutor's friend) for the sake of business. In fact, Fighter and Tutor are attracted to each other the first time (or soon after) they meet. Fighter admits it towards the end of the series, and Tutor is shown to have kept the piece of paper on which Fighter has written his name. On Tutor's part, this is already quite strongly suggested from the time Fighter brings him and drink and he tries to get Fighter to say so--his disappointment when Fighter later gives the drink to Hwahwa instead is telling. On Fighter's part, it less obvious, which may cause his behaviour to seem rather bewildering. I think the story would have been more engaging if their mutual attraction had been clear early on, with misunderstandings occurring to prevent them from knowing each other's feelings.

The side couple, Saifah and Zon, is cuteness overload although their story isn't really a strong point in the series. I like the way Zon starts from being shocked by how his sister's BL story is coming true but becomes more open to being with Saifah and eventually fantasizes about it. The main couple naturally needs to have more drama because the side couple has so little drama. Unfortunately, the "drama" in Fighter and Tutor's relationship is one of the weaknesses of the series. The problem with Fighter's father is so easily and suddenly resolved that one may be left incredulous. The ending seems rushed although I believe no one really minds the happy ending.

Saint's Acting
One thing I liked about this series is Saint's acting. I thought it would be hard for me to imagine Saint as anything but Pete in Love by Chance. But it turns out that I didn't find myself sayng, "Go back to Ae, Pete!" It helps that Tutor has a very different personality from Pete, but I find that Saint has portrayed the gentle and vulnerable side of Tutor quite differently from the way he portrayed Pete. I think this isn't easy, and Saint has handled his role well. At times, I did find that the role stretched a young actor like him a little too much. The director has chosen to show Tutor's character in rather demanding ways early in the series, quite often having Tutor put on a strong front in front of others only to turn around and reveal his sadness and vulnerability when no one is looking. Saint handled these scenes fairly well although the transitions from the front Tutor puts on to the revelation of his true emotions could perhaps have been better.

The Male Characters
Another thing to like about this series is the range of masculinities portrayed. The series veers from extremes (as indicated by Fighter and Tutor's personalities), and has male characters who are more conventionally masculine as well as those who are more androgynous or even effeminate without negatively portraying those who are not conventionally masculine. The owner of the cafe Tutor works in may seem stereotypically effeminate at first, but there's more to him than just the usual ornamental effeminate character meant for laughs. Although the series is woke in this regard, some may feel uncomfortable about how Fighter almost forces himself on Tutor after Tutor breaks up with him and pretends to be intimate with another guy. At least, however, Fighter does not win Tutor back in this way.

The Subs
One thing that could have been better for international fans is the translation (though I'm really grateful there are even English subs). For example, the subtitles kept saying "cringy" instead of "clingy". I suspect the translation may affect how international viewers understand the dynamics in Fighter and Tutor's relationship. For example, the subs could be the reason I'm not sure why Fighter seems perturbed by the idea of having sex with Tutor a second time at the beach. They could also be why I'm unsure whether there was any intention to hint that they might reverse their top/bottom roles though maybe it's just me imagining things.

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The most common response I've seen for this series is that it is a disappointment. This is probably because many fans who watched 2Moons (Season 1) were expecting something better as many members of the same cast are in this production.

It may be a little better for me. Although I have watched 2Moons, I merely stumbled upon this series. However, it is still a rather weak production.

The story isn't very interesting, and, to make matters worse, it is full of holes. It also suffers from having too many characters, none of whom is developed sufficiently. There are characters with potentially interesting back stories (e.g. Tone, Toey and Pong), but they do not get enough attention. For example, it remains unclear what Toey's father expects from him. Tone's story involves a sick mother who needs mother for medical treatment, but little so little is shown about their relationship ship from the start that when the mother is on the verge of dying, the emotional peak is compromised.

To be fair, there is at least a fairly discernible story in this series (compared to say, I am Your King, Season 2). It isn't altogether that hard to watch from one episode to another, especially if you have managed to get past the learning curve of recognizing all the different characters.

Unfortunately, the baiting of BL fans is rather annoying in this series. There is a real BL couple, though there is not much about their romance. The consolation is that that the BL couple is the only instance where hints of romantic interest get anywhere, and the couple does have a happy ending. On the other hand, there are obvious moments planted to bait BL fans, e.g. there are moments between Kin and Pong (played by the actors for Ming and Kit in 2Moons I) that seem to have been added in solely to lure viewers to watch the next segment or episode. Toey's behaviour towards Tone towards the end of the series, too, may have hints of BL, but they seem rather pointless.

One positive thing I would like to mention is the casting and acting of Bas as Toey. Although the character got a lot of hate from viewers at the start, I felt that he was quite early on suggested to be a spoiled and bad-tempered person who has moments of soft-heartedness. Despite his anger when he thinks that Tone has got him into trouble, he seems sympathetic when he overhears Tone talking to his aunt about his financial problems. True enough, Toey does prove to be more good-natured towards the end of the series and also does overcome some of his character flaws. Unfortunately, the change in the character suffers from a lack of development and is likely to come across as being rather sudden, even to those who have paid attention to how he isn't a horrible person to begin with.

If you don't set your hopes too high, the series can still be at least ok in terms of entertainment value. But if you are a BL fan who only wants to watch BL, perhaps you can pray that someone makes a BL cut. I'm guessing that cut of the BL couple's key scenes may even be an episode long.

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