The fame of My Roommate is a Detective seems to exceed that of this series, which is set in a similar era. However, as a detective series, this series actually surpasses My Roommate, with more interesting stories that are solved by a more believable detective, who has good deductive powers without being ridiculously intelligent and knowledgeable. My Roommate is a Detective may have better characterisation and more interesting relationships between characters, but I find the stories in Detective L to be better stories in he whodunit genre.

Detective L consists of stories of disparate cases with something something related to a criminal known as Captain connecting quite a few of the cases. Many of the cases have interesting twists that keep the viewer guessing. I particularly like the penultimate case involving a wealthy man who is rumored to have a valuable painting. The case of the serial killer on the loose is also interesting even though the twists may be overdone (the twists for this case seem to be written in without a care for being realistic because the writers think that the viewer can only be impressed by an outcome that s/he cannot guess correctly). Overall, I find the mysteries with simpler solutions to have a more classic whodunit charm. Apart from the case of the wealthy man with a valuable painting, the case of how a numbers of diamonds go missing from a safe are a case in point.

The biggest problem with the series is that it builds up and promises a story connecting at least some of the cases, but doesn't complete it. I'm OK with cliffhangers and Season 2 teases, but this one goes overboard, promises too much before basically saying in the last episode, "Hah, but we haven't written what you've been waiting to see for the last 20 episodes!" (This also hints at how the writers actually work -- there can be any number of twists and any kind of unpredictable outcomes as long as they feel like writing them into the series. Anyone could have done it in the whodunnits of this series, so the person who has done it may not be really convincingly the one that must have done it.)

Most of the individual cases are engaging on their own to make this series an interesting watch. But reviewing it is like reviewing an incomplete series. If there is a Season 2 that gives the story a sense of completion, it should probably be seen as a part of this season of this series.

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This is a review that requires only a summary of the story because a lot depends on whether you can accept the rather illogical story.

- Neung and Keng have sex when they are drunk. (It's not even clear if it's consensual as Keng later say that he would not have done it to Neung if he had not been drunk. But it doesn't seem like Neung was raped either.)
- Neung seems unable to accept what has happened and quarrels with Keng.
- But later on, Neung looks for Keng in his room again. And they have sex AGAIN, not exactly in a very loving way.
- But Neung and Keng become very loving ... the next morning (maybe the sex did wonders??)
- It turns out that Neung has been dating a girl (who appears and denies to a friend that Neung is gay). Yeah, and also, for some reason, people are gossiping that Neung and Keng are dating (maybe someone has been stalking them???).
- Cut to Tui asking Neung if he's gay. Neung denies it, BUT Tui says that he isn't going to have any gay friends and leaves. Two other friends leave with Tui, leaving Neung alone.
- Neung goes to Keng's room, but realizes that he has left the room, leaving behind only a note. (Aren't these two people in a relationship? What reason is there for Keng to leave so abruptly?) We don't know for sure why he has to change schools AGAIN, but it may have something to do with his sexual orientation. Who knows?
- Neung is depressed, but Tui approaches him and apologizes.
- Apparently Tui's homophobia has magically disappeared after watching My Bromance, which has made him realize that he shouldn't discriminate against friends who are gay. The other two friends (the ones who leave with Tui in the earlier scene) are there too--apparently they don't have a mind of their own and simply behave like Tui.
- Cut to Neung and Tui having a strikingly similar conversation to the conversation Keng and Neung have had about the fish in the tank And ... Neung and Tui end up having sex/being a couple ... possibly with Neung's girlfriend (who never appears again) in the dark.

I understand the constraints of such a short series (more like a short film). But taking out the conversation between Neung's girlfriend and her friend and removing the two friends who come and go with Tui would have given space for more development for Keng and Tui.

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This is a difficult series to summarize. We may say that Praewa is bullied by the cheerleading team, which has more than a few highly awful people. The bullying turns violent and vicious after Praewa is maligned of being the woman in a sex video with the boyfriend (Brave) of Aya, a central figure in the team. Here's where things get complicated: Aya and a few members of the team beat her up viciously (I think almost to the point of dying), one of them even sends a group of thugs to rape her (in her badly beaten up state) and, inexplicably at first, she is the victim of black magic. Praewa struggles her way home to her adoptive mother, a black magic practitioner, who can only save her from being killed by the black magic by transferring her power to her. After this, Praewa's vengeance begins.

The baiting of BL fans is fairly obvious, with Boun and Prem looking basically the same as the characters they play in Until We Meet Again at first. It's not clear why though, other than for the sake of complementing the message that things are often not what they seem to be. Nevertheless, the story is good enough to hold its own without resorting to BL baiting.

The vengeance plot is rather interesting: we may feel a sense of injustice for Praewa, and the members of the cheerleading team she goes after are such awful people that we are unlikely to feel sorry seeing them punished. However, the series also falls short , at some points even making Praewa seem like the villain and the rest victims. Sure, given her actions, she may well have turned villainous, but most of the rest do not seem convincing as victims. Furthermore, she has to fight the black magic inflicted on her until she deals with the person behind it (who also happens to be the actual person in the sex video).

As it turns out, one of the cheerleading team members is the person in the video. Maybe there is supposed to be a twist in the revelation, but, to be honest, the identity of the person is quite easy to guess. There are only so few women in the team, after all. I think Praewa should have been able to guess it by elimination, but she doesn't. What is interesting is why the person did it, which is where the series manages to throw us a few genuine surprises. The loose threads of the plot get tied up in a rather nice way at the end.

Yet, despite the rather clever plot, one may find that the twists and surprises in the last two episodes are somewhat excessive. The twists given to the character, Dan (played convincingly by Mark Siwat), may be interesting for the plot but is also bad for characterization. If it must turn out that he's under a spell, I would appreciate knowing more what sort of person he is beyond the spell that makes him so devoted to Lin. There are hints of it, but I find it insufficient, so what is becoming a very interesting character till/in Episode 7 suddenly gets flattened in Episode 8.

In the end, the villain wins. The twists and connections between events are nicely presented. However, there are also plot holes, e.g. why doesn't the person (seem to) appear in photos with some dark shadow around, just like how Praewa appears in photos with a dark shadow?

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The most daring BL from GMMTV to date

When I started watching Not Me, I started wondering if it's BL at all. Gone is the excessive use of beauty filters or blurring effects to make the actors look unnaturally perfect. Instead, you can see the actors' complexions, pores and all. The cinematographic elements tend to be dark and gritty, and one might be surprised by how politically daring it is to talk about the problems with Thai society. And while fans may start watching the series thinking that it is yet another Off-Gun BL vehicle, the series takes its own sweet time developing their characters' relationship to a point where they are clearly in love with each other. It has the sort of guts to chart new territory that the Thai BL industry needs.

To be sure, Not Me does not eschew all BL conventions. Quite early in the series, we get to see White (Gun's character) and Sean (Off's character) sharing a bed, Gun falling into Sean's arms, etc. However, the ship for the other couple, Yok and Dan, starts sailing faster and one may wonder if the White-Sean ship is going to happen at all. But what is surprising is that it leaves out a whole lot of feel-good fluff. The main characters may be mostly university students, but their vigilantism is legally problematic and morally ambiguous. There isn't much putting them in a glamorous light although they seem to be good people. With Not Me, we are definitely not watching the typical idealized rich-and-handsome or romanticized struggling-poor-but-cute leads though some of the main characters are wealthy and others are poor. They are not guys who go around campus with legions of screaming fans. If they are privileged in some way, the access to that privilege is questioned.

Of course, not everything that is different from the norm is great. So what makes Not Me such a riveting watch? The plot development, for one, is excellent. There is a good story beyond the BL. And while a revelation in one of the later episodes about how Black (White's twin brother, also played by Gun) gets injured at the start of the story isn't totally unpredictable, it is interesting how the person behind his injury is portrayed with a certain degree of ambiguity rather than as an outright villain. It is hard to tell how the story will end until you have watched the last episode.

The story of White impersonating Black and joining the latter's vigilante group isn't a story that will definitely benefit from an infusion of BL into the plot. It is good enough on its own, and having BL relationships may attract more fans while alienating others. If we consider the social impact of the series, it is a good thing to have such a series instead of series that cater only to BL fans because the portrayal of gay relationships can reach more than just a niche audience.

Despite all the praises I can shower on Not Me, I shouldn't exaggerate how ground-breaking the series is. While the social criticism is strong at the start, the society's problems seems to be very much reduced to a single villain (Tawi) later on despite hints that getting rid of him isn't going to change society. Certain deep-seated social issues like how the wealthy have connections that help them get ahead of others who may be equally or better qualified also seem to take a backseat later on. Yet, the series has done what I don't expect from a GMMTV production. (If I remember correctly, The Gifted came close but seems to chicken out of it.) Such a production deserves all the support it can get. If nothing else, the commercial viability of such a production will mean that it won't just be indie, low-budget productions that would venture into the same sort of social criticism.

I don't usually take the numbers in my reviews seriously, but I would say that if we take everything else we can out of the series except for the BL, the BL would at most be 8/10. But it is everything else that is working together with the BL that elevates the series to 9.5/10. With the same cast and production team, GMMTV could well have made another excellent but mostly safe series like Bad Buddy. But I'm really glad it didn't.

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Commendable if imperfect in several ways

Apart from a plot twist that I could see coming from Episode 1, I find this series more than decent. It has elements of horror but its horror is not exactly its forte--some scenes that are meant to frighten are clichéd. (But rarely do we see something in the horror genre that is free of the clichés of the genre.)

The series does much better at telling a reasonably good story about two friends (Chiu and Hung) who do something that get themselves into trouble with supernatural forces, changing the entire courses of their lives as a result. There is a plot twist that I think many people are likely to see coming from Episode 1. This could have been handled more effectively: either do without the twist and exploit it fully to convey nuances in characterization from the start or do it so skillfully that few would see it coming.

Another flaw with the story is that there could have been stronger connections between the part of the story about a building with many inexplicably haunted apartments and the part of the story about how the main characters deal with the problem that has started eighteen years ago. (Perhaps the bad guy in the first part could have been given a role to play in the events of the second part.)

One may also find that many of the ghosts are caught too easily and in more or less the same methods without much of a back story for them. Still, through the events, we see how Chiu is affected by his past. On the one hand, he still has a certain anger against ghosts. On the other hand, he is taught to be merciful and not destroy the spirits. He is also tormented by guilt as he sees himself as being responsible for causing a family tragedy. His coping mechanism is different from Hung's, and he tries his darn best to face things bravely, so he becomes an inspiration for Hung when they meet again after eighteen years.

The human relationships aspect of the story is probably the series' strongest point. It is not perfect though. I find the romance element between Chiu and Siu Mei (Yanny?) somewhat unnecessary. The woman spends too much time being irritating at first. I get the feeling that the romance is added out of a sense of obligation to have some romance, and it is not done very well. In contrast, the friendship between Chiu and Hung is nicely portrayed. The bromance is nicely done, and there might even be slight hints of BL for the imaginative. I'm not saying that the story must focus on bromance or have BL elements to be good, but the romance element pales in comparison to the depiction of the friendship..

The HK drama industry is now a shell of its former self, with an exodus of talents over the years and lack of new talents to replace them. While there are still decent productions, one can imagine that the same productions nowadays would look more slick if they had been made elsewhere. Ghost Hunting Ltd does give the vibes of a production that could appear more polished if TVB were still in its heyday. Still, I did find myself enjoying the series while watching it. Some of the weaknesses that I have mentioned were not something that bugged me as I was watching but rather issues that I started to think about when writing this review.

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The minor characters get ruined the least

If Gen Y 1 and 2 were an earthworm, Season 1 would be when it burrows holes so deep and twisted (e.g. Pha's unexplained break-up with Wayu and Sandees seemingly diabolical behavior) that it becomes trapped in its self-created labyrinth. And Season 2 would be the same earthworm struggling to wriggle out of its own mess. It is a fascinating watch after a fashion, but let it not be mistaken for something that is actually worth watching. (I think this is why so many people are watching and complaining all the way to the finale.)

Essentially Gen Y 2 is this: two men in love with each other but at least one decides not to seeing the other for one reason or another. Multiply that by a few times for different couples, most of the episodes.

I have to confess I did enjoy some parts like the sweetness between Mark and Kit (before things get messy and excessively sappy). What I liked most was the squabbling potential couple, Jack and Koh, who each vehemently denies any possible romance between them while fighting to have their ship named with his own name first.

Season 2 also attempts to resolve most of the problems created in Season 1, even if the resolutions don't altogether make sense. I guess this is one of the few good things about Season 2, apart from how a Season 3 seems highly unlikely. I can't help feeling that Season 2 could have been decent if Season 1 hadn't been such a mess. Too much effort spent needs to be spent to deal with the problems of Season 1, which had: (i) Pha's unexplained break-up with Wayu , (ii) Pha being uncontactable, (iii) Sandee's behavior, (iv) Thanu's random visions that results in a love triangle with him, Phai and Wayu (rectangle if you count Pha), etc.

In the end, the way the mess is slowly cleared seems forced, and the series ends up having to delve into heavy issues like dying and death that appear very much out of place. In the world of Gen Y, having little happen is perhaps a good thing. This is perhaps why the early Mark/Kit and JAck/Koh scenes are enjoyable. But even such scenes become draggy after Episode 10.

Season 2 also suffers from having a tad too many flashbacks: At first, the flashbacks can be forgiven for being reminders of what happened in Season 1, but soon enough, we get flashbacks of the earlier episodes in Season 2 as well. The flashbacks tend to be brief but either pointless or longer than they need to be.

There are also scenes of bare skin or sex that seem rather laughable or seem added in with the hopes of pleasing the audience. A case in point: in one scene, Pok finds out the truth about something and is angry with Tong. He goes home and confronts Tong, who is having a shower. Yet, despite his moment of anger, Pok storms into the bathroom and starts making out with Tong before confronting him about the matter he is angry about.

Since viewers are probably vexed and are likely just watching to see how the mess is cleared (even in unsatisfactory ways), once the mess is largely cleared, the series becomes utterly insipid. If there is anything that I will remember about Gen Y 2, it would be the stuff that are largely left undeveloped like the Jack/Koh romance and Sandee's apparent crush on Phai, The actor for Sandee handles the abrupt about-turns in the character fairly well and his quiet love for Phai is nicely shown.

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A big pity things are left hanging

When I first started watching this after watching The Lost Tomb (2015), I could not get used to the cast. The lack of continuity from what I had watched also made me lose interest. After enough time had passed for me to forget much of The Lost Tomb (2015), I started on Ultimate Note again with a bit more patience and was pleasantly surprised.

Although the references to other events may be confusing at the start, there is no need to have watched other DaoMuBiJi-based series. Apparently they don't join up very well anyway, and the cast, direction and even characterization tend to differ.

What I had hoped for after watching a few episodes was that Ultimate Note would be a nice series on its own. In some ways, it is. Although there are allusions to adventures that are not shown in the series, we can watch Ultimate Note without having to know the details. Ultimate Note is very much focused on Wu Xie and company's attempt to investigate the truth after receiving some mysterious VHS tapes, one of which featured someone who looks identical to the adult Wu Xie even though the tape was made when he was just a kid. One thing leads to another in the series, and we can follow the characters' adventures with relative ease.

Unfortunately, Ultimate Note suffers from the problem that all DMBJ series seem doomed to suffer from: things that do not get fully explained and ending in the middle of nowhere. Too many things that are important to the story in Ultimate Note end up not being explained, e.g. the apparent replicas of various characters, the identity of the man with the sloped shoulders, etc etc etc. This is the equivalent of watching a series about a locked-room murder and then the series just ends without explaining how the murderer has killed the victim and without the murderer being caught.

Despite the sense of incompleteness, the characters really grew on me in Ultimate Note. This was unexpected given how I was not used to the different cast after watching Li Yi Feng and Yang Yang's Wu Xie and Zhang Qi Ling. Whether it is the interactions amongst Wu Xie/Zhang Qi Ling/ Fatty or the growing friendship between Hua Er and Black Glasses or the understated strong bonds between Wu Xie and Hua Er, there is a lot to make them characters viewers actually like and care about.

At least a segment of viewers will like the bond between Wu Xie and Qi Ling, which is practically a romantic one. It's often portrayed through the characters talking about or teasing them about how they would die for each other. Fatty joking that he wants to complain about Qi Ling to Wu Xie or saying that he doesn't know how to account to Wu Xie if Qi Ling dies are just a couple of examples that make the relationship seem more than just strong friendship. The three of them are close friends, but Wu Xie and Qi Ling are definitely biased towards each other as they are extra protective of each other. However one interprets their relationship, it is a good thing that the characters come to life with the different ways one character would behave towards different people.

There is also nice development in Wu Xie's character. The general impression people seem to have of Wu Xie (from watching one DMBJ-based series or another) is that he is always needing to be saved by Qi Ling, like a damsel in distress. But in Ultimate Note, we see that he may not be very physically powerful, but he has the determination to fight for his friends and save them too. Whether it is the way he carries an unconscious Fatty to save him or the way he single-handedly fights off a snake and a monster to keep Hua Er safe, his character is admirable. Joseph Zeng does a good job portraying Wu Xie, managing to bring out both the kind, righteous side of him and the tougher, more jaded side of him when he has to deal with shadier people or challenging situations.

But why must the story end just as it seems to be getting somewhere near a climax? Even if there is no way to solve all the mysteries set up, there may be more appropriate moments to end Ultimate Note, e.g. at the moment he characters set off for the final adventure in the series. Some effort to provide a credible theory of the phenomenon of character replication-- even if it turns out to be wrong or inaccurate in a subsequent series or as compared to the novels--would also give a better sense of closure than what we have in Ultimate Note.

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Impressive Wuxia-cum-BL

Believing that the BL would be transformed into bromance and that the story would focus so much on the (b)romance that it would not be a good wuxia, I did not expect much of this series at first. Surprisingly, the series fares well in both aspects. In the first few episodes, with Wen Kexing blatantly flirting with Zhou Zishu, the wuxia does take a backseat. Similarly, when the story focused a bit more on the wuxia aspects of the story, the BL took a backseat. Nevertheless, give it a bit of time and the series brings both aspects of the series together very nicely.

The BL

The BL was what I started watching the series for, and it did not disappoint. This wasn't simply because I wasn't having high expectations in the first place. It is a pleasant surprise that the series manages to portray what is quite obviously beyond bromance or friendship between the main characters. The way they gaze at each other, dialogue (with them basically referring to each other as family and basically wanting to just live with each other happily ever after) and the body language when they hug quite explicitly portray a romantic relationship.

A lot of the BL is rather sneakily done, of course. For instance, when Kexing and Zishu move to the Four Seasons Manor (a large place that used to house many disciples), they sleep in the same room though I would assume there are lots of rooms available. The other characters sometimes speak to them teasingly, like the way one might tease a married couple (like threatening to complete about one of them to the other).

The BL does eventually integrate well with the rest of the story, showing the transformative power of the characters' love. Zishu, who is guilt-ridden about the things he has done as an assassin, is at first just waiting to die after injuring himself severely so that he can leave his job. Kexing, who is so obsessed with vengeance that he suppresses his innately kind nature, also finds a reason to live besides taking revenge.

There are some moments when the series seem to disavow the gay relationship through apparent hints of heterosexuality, such as when Zishu says he does not mind having a beautiful lady like Gu Xiang tag along and when Zishu tells his disciple, Cheng Ling, that Kexing bought a whole lot of decorative stuff for their manor because they are sold by a beautiful lady. There is something cunning about these scenes for while they may seem to disavow the homosexual relationship between the characters at first, they also hint at jealousy or an attempt to make the other party jealous in a romantic relationship.

To be sure, I do think that the BL would have been even better if the characters can be openly portrayed as having a romantic relationship. But we do not really lose anything significant, which is an admirable feat.

The Wuxia

I couldn't believe it when I first read that this is a low-budget production. It doesn't look low-budget to me though the production could have run into sponsorship problems at some point. Maybe there are those who expect more of the CG, but not being a fan of CG, I'm actually fine with the execution.--nothing stood out to me as being badly done.

What impressed me early on is the choreography of the fighting sequences. There's nothing exceptional about it, but it is very competently done and made it convincing that the makers of the series are taking the wuxia aspects of the series very seriously instead of relying on the BL elements to attract eyeballs.

The range of sects and characters are also typical of the genre, and the series does manage to develop on several of these characters quite well. As with many wuxia stories, the characters from the so-called respectable sects are often hypocrites, bullies or simply unscrupulous villains. On the other hand, those from the unorthodox "evil" sect are not necessarily bad people and can be surprisingly humane. The back stories of characters like the Glamorous Ghost and the Tragicomic Ghost are interesting even if not strikingly original.

The rather perverse relationship between the villains, Zhao Jing and his foster son, the Scorpion King, is rather unique in the genre of wuxia. Despite supposedly having a father-son type of relationship, the Scorpion King's affections towards his foster father appears more like those of a lover. The parallels drawn between his predicament and that of the Glamorous Ghost (a woman betrayed by her lover despite her devotion) reinforces the idea. Yet, instead of being demonized, the Scorpion King's affections with homosexual undertones give a glimpse of the more humane side of an otherwise vicious and ruthless character. We can sympathize with him insofar as the way Zhao Jing treats him is concerned, and he seems to be able to genuinely identify with Glamorous Ghost and wants to help her.

As a wuxia series, Word of Honor displays a very good grasp of genre conventions. It would have been a very good watch even if the BL relationship had been toned down, and I think the makers of the series deserve respect for daring to take the risk of portraying such a close relationship between the main characters. Even if one fails to recognize it as BL, the portrayal of the male characters go beyond conventions of masculine behavior, which is in itself already laudable.

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Rather disappointing

I will make references to some related productions, so I shall clarify what I understand first:
- My Bromance 2: 5 Years Later is the sequel to the 2014 movie with the same actors playing the main characters, Bank and Gold.
- Between the 2014 movie and this 2021 sequel series, there is a short film, My Bromance: Reunion, which serves as a precursor to the sequel.
- There is also a 2016 series, simply entitled My Bromance, which I believe is an unofficial sequel to the 2014 movie. The cast is different.

The 2021 series the sequel that many fans have been looking forward to as it features the original actors of the 2014 movie.

Unfortunately, despite the charm of the original cast, the 2021 series is a disappointing sequel. In fact, the story of Bank and Golf is so weak that it seems as though the stories of additional couples are added in to make things more watchable. Fans who have been longing to to see Bank and Golf again may feel cheated--for quite a few episodes, they take up little of the screen time. Instead, side characters and their stories are introduced. Any link between the stories is tenuous and labored. The 2016 series with different actors playing Bank and Golf, which got a fair share of criticism, now appears to have a fairly good storyline by comparison.

The stories of several other couples do not fare much better. They are unimpressive but they are not really bad either. The story of Nuea and Tar is probably the most interesting and saddening. Tar is asked to tutor Nuea, an adopted youngster with issues. They seem to fall in love, but Tar's work after he graduates causes him to neglect the relationship. It's easy to be appalled by how quickly Tar starts neglecting Nuea, but Tar's wistful expressions at the end of the series add nuance to the story. Nuea and Tar's story makes one lament how the realities of life, like work and family commitments, can get in the way of romance and how a new romance does not necessarily fill an empty spot left by another person.

Yes, I guess a case can be made for including other couples in the series: it shows that different couples end up differently, and not everyone gets a fairytale ending. But the execution leaves much to be desired even if one were to take this to be the intended theme. The fate of Arm (Bank's boyfriend after Golf's fake death) also seems unnecessarily gut-wrenching. (Yes, some people are unlucky. But do you have to go all out and create a character like this in My Bromance?)

I do like seeing Bank and Golf ending up together, but I think it can be done in two episodes instead of ten. Episode after episode, I waited and waited for things to pick up. But they never did.

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Honestly not BL, but who cares?

On every single episode of this series (on GMMTV's YouTube channel), you will find comments on how GMMTV has said that it is not BL. That seems to be very honest, especially considering the shameless baiting of BL fans in some series. But is there anything good about this series apart from the 6 good looking actors who have starred in some of the most beloved BL series ever?

Story wise, there isn't exactly a strong plot. Nevertheless, the series is rather heartwarming, with a groups of guys (all called Tee) who end up renting a room from another guy called Tee (played by Krist who seems to turn in a good performance every time he is in a series with Singto). Each of the guys starts off having some kind of phobia but through their support for one another, they manage to overcome their phobias.

The focus of the series is on Krist's Tee, especially in the last few episodes, which gives the series more coherence overall. He's the most difficult character in more ways than one--he reluctantly rents the house out to five guys in his university after his mother dies, but he has a phobia of trusting others. He doesn't want to befriend the other guys and pretty much tries to isolate himself (though he is softhearted).

Despite honestly announcing that the series is not BL, GMMTV gratifies BL fans with enough Off/Gun, Tay/New and Kirst/Singto moments. Perhaps the makers of the series has a difficulty deciding whether they want it to be hilariously funny or lighthearted but touching. In the earlier episodes, the series can be rather hilarious (especially with Off's Tee and his fear of ghosts). However, the humor seems to be considerably toned down, with rather serious happenings like Singto-Tee worrying about his sick mother and Krist-Tee worrying about his sick father. However, the series is well-produced enough to be watchable as long as you do not demand too much of the plot. Getting familiar faces to play the roles of the Tees is a clever move because the audience will certainly need more time to get used to unfamiliar faces playing characters who are all called Tee. The theme song also sets the mood very well. Overall, everything is put together quite well. What we are getting isn't quite a masterpiece but something that we can love especially when we do not want to watch something emotionally draining.

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I would personally not classify this as BL but as a drama with gay characters and issues. This doesn't make it better or worse, but the viewer's expectations should be set accordingly.

The most significant aspects of the series are that it deals with the issue of homophobia and rape rather seriously. Given the focus of the story, it would have been better if the series had toned down the sweetness at the beginning: Shin's unabashed admiration for Keng (Episode 1) strongly suggests something more than just idolization, and the revelation that Keng is attracted to Shin (early in Episode 2) even before they bump into each other sets things up for the development of a romantic relationship between them.

The tenderness of Keng towards Shin is shown through his inner thoughts and isn't likely to be feigned (unless its an act of self-delusion). It is thus hard to be convinced that Keng would rape Shin (and violently beat him up) at a slight provocation. We do see a hint of a potentially violent streak when he hits Man for an act of malice, but his outrage was justifiable and he certainly isn't hurting someone he is in love with. The sudden and severe violence Keng inflicts on Shin compromises the overall coherence of the portrayal of Keng. Perhaps there is a point being made about how acts of violence like rape can be inflicted by the people one trusts, but it isn't coming across very well.

The depiction of Keng is complex. After hurting Shin, he appears to be sorry and still professes to love Shin. (I guess this happens with a lot of cases of abuse, so it is reasonable enough to show him doing this.) But he also disappears until after Shin has recovered physically, then he threatens Shin with a clip he has recorded during the rape, keeps pestering Shin and even blames everything on Man after Shin attempts suicide. Such behavior threatens to push the character beyond the boundaries of credulity.

As for Shin, it is not clear whether he ever has romantic affections for Keng. This doesn't matter because he was not willing or ready to start a relationship with Keng, so Keng's behavior is wrong regardless of how Shin might have felt towards him. Nevertheless, I can't quite make sense of why he seems infatuated with Keng but tells Keng that he might like guys some day too when Keng confesses that he is gay. It would have been better to show Shin's admiration for Keng without hinting at romantic interest at the start.

For a series of merely three episodes, The Effect deals with plenty of heavy stuff, but the bulk of the heaviest stuff is confined to about one episode. Perhaps commercial considerations are involved here. It invites us the ask what the cause is for the effect that we see. Shin blames himself before committing suicide. But we can also quite clearly see that Keng's violence is what ruins everything for himself and Shin. Even more seriously, the homophobia in society is perhaps to blame for Keng's denial to Man that he is gay (which triggers Man's indignation and leads him to post a photo of Keng and Shin that causes misunderstandings) and the pressure that judgmental comments on social media put on Shin.

The ending is also unsatisfactory. We don't know if Keng or Shin (if either of them) gets knocked down by a vehicle. The ending is open-ended (which is fine), but it is also totally unnecessary (which is not so fine). The series could simply have ended just a few seconds earlier, with Shin graduating (the happy part) and with him reflecting on how he is left to cope while those who have been cruel with their words have forgotten the events (the sad part because we see that there's no way Shin can totally get over his traumatic experiences).

Perhaps one other concern is that the only overtly gay characters are depicted so negatively. Shin's sexuality is too ambiguous although he is not negatively depicted. There is a hint of something going on between Pramote and Bright (Shin's friends), but it's merely a hint. They could have been used as a nice contrast to Keng and Man, who turn out to be really awful gay men. Bright, though, is truly a bright spark in the series. I look forward to his appearance even though Yacht (the actor) seems to be playing a similar role to his role in Love by Chance as a seemingly frivolous but fiercely loyal and true friend. He single-handedly makes the series more enjoyable.

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Other than a touching story, excellent direction and acting make this a series BL fans would not want to miss.

The director has handled elements light-hearted comic moments and serious drama well. When the homophobic Type realizes that his roommate, Tharn, is gay, he embarks on a rather hilarious attempt to either change rooms or make Tharn move out. But the serious parts about the clashes and misunderstandings between Tharn and Type are truly riveting, partly because they have been developed as characters we care about.

Despite having to compress a rather long story into 12 episodes or so, the story does not appear rushed. Both the main characters are developed in well-paced episodes. Tharn's vulnerability beneath his confident behavior is portrayed very well. While he may seem flippant at times, it soon becomes clear that he is very serious about his relationships. Type's homophobia is traced back to the experience of being raped by a man when he was young, and it is sensitively depicted--the series does not make it seem acceptable or excusable to be homophobic just because he has been raped by a man. This is subtly but strongly pointed out by how Type's best friend, who turns out to be gay, is hurt for Type's homophobia.

Credit must go to the actors playing Tharn and Type. They have really good chemistry, and we can really feel that the characters love each other deeply whether it is in the sweet moments or when Type stages a break-up with an unaware Tharn so as to expose how Tharn's best friend has been ruining his (Tharn's) relationships. I can practically feel Type's desire to just hug and console Tharn even as he pushes Tharn away. It may sound strange, but there are moments when I feel as though they are kissing each other tenderly even when they are not actually doing so. This is one of those BL couples (like Krist and Singto) that are going to be hard to unpair.

Despite all the strong points, there are some things that may make one uncomfortable in the story universe of TharnType (which takes place in the same story world as Love by Chance). These stories have serious references to rape (which is not a problem). Type and Tum in this story have been traumatized by rape, and we see just how hard it is for victims to get over the experience. Yet, in the same story world, rape can be trivialized (which is the problem), as we see a hint of in Love by Chance in the Techno/Kengkla couple) as Kengkla basically rapes a drunk Techno and even fools Techno into thinking that Techno is the perpetrator of the crime). Even in the case of TharnType, there are moments before Type actually enjoys sexually intimate moments with Tharn where Tharn's behavior is practically sexual harassment. One example is when Tharn undresses a drunk Type and sleeps beside Type to give the homophobic Type a shock the following morning. If there weren't such moments, the series would be even better.

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An ad compilation with a tinge of BL

10/10 for the cat. AS for the rest ....

This is basically a commercial for a whole lot of different products including cat food. But this isn't what makes it bad.

The production quality is quite low overall, and I think a couple of scenes were added after filming ended, which is why the actors appear with different hairstyles (and even clothes) for essentially in poorly linked scenes. (I guess certain sponsors demanded more screentime for their products.)

All this would have been potentially forgivable if the BL made some sense. First, the main character, Nine, seems to be depressed for no reason. He lives with his boyfriend (Tar), who seems like an at least ok person and understandably feels neglected. Despite having a rather nice boyfriend, Nine someone seems to feel like he lacks a soulmate. They break up, but Nine suddenly starts missing him because, you know, he used to do sweet things like reminding him to consume some supplements from the show's sponsor.

OK, fine, maybe Tar simply isn't the one. And so who's Mr Right for Nine? His cat, of course. And so his cat has to transform into a human. Yet, one wonders how the cat can be his soulmate when the human version doesn't seem to have the emotional complexity of a human but is more like a talking cat in a human body. (He doesn't progress much beyond this.)

The problem with such a "series" is also that once the cat turns into a human, the cat stops being feature. But the cat is the most watchable thing in the series, and everyone knows that. So maybe that's why the cat makes a return: Somehow Tar turns up at Nine's house and sees him with the cat-turned-human, and he leaves but somehow Nine runs after him. Nine then returns home only to find his cat-human missing. While searching for the cat-human, he sees an identical-looking cat.

Look, this is not the way to use BL as an excuse to trick people to watch a gazillion ads. It would be better to just ditch all attempt to have a plot. Get a pair of cute guys to act as a loving couple taking care of their beloved cat for 1 hour. The cute cat can be present almost throughout, adding to the watchability of the ad.

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Detective, mystery, supernatural, revenge, bromance, comedy ....

The story crosses multiple genres in intriguing ways and it cannot really be judged by the standards of any particular genre. There is mystery, for instance, but it would seem to fall short in some ways if we judge it according to what we expect from the genre.

Despite the somewhat convoluted plot, the assortment of characters, who are comedic at times but also multifaceted enough to be interestingly complex, makes the show a delight. Qiu Qingzhi, as one of the main characters, manages to keep the viewer wondering whether he is a good person right till the penultimate episode (though it does become progressively clear). His back story and friendship with Li Bing (the titular white cat) is beautifully portrayed. One might well ship the two characters.

Quite a bit of the humor, however, is unfortunately lost in translation in Alibaba's misuse of Chinese idioms. (I have to admit that I did not get quite a number of the idioms.) Yet, the approach is quite refreshing and adds to the entertainment value of the series.

One oddity of the series is that it clearly has a supernatural element, with Li Bing being able to shapeshift from human to cat form. Yet, Li Bing is the very character who insists that none of the strange cases he encounters involves the supernatural (simply because he does not believe in the supernatural. This seems a little odd.

At one point, I was wondering if the series would be one of those that would end without a proper resolution and leave the viewer hanging in the middle of nowhere because the plot is getting a little too complicated. However, the story does have a proper resolution even if one may find it a little unrealistic--basically the good guys manage to escape being killed by the villains because they public trusts them and will go great lengths to rescue them.

And while the story does not end with a silly cliffhanger, not all the loose ends are tied by the end of the final episode. Most prominently, for instance, the (female) emperor remains a mysterious figure whose face is never shown. At one point, it is mentioned that she seems to be getting younger and younger; later in the series we see her basically having the height of a child. Given that the central mystery lies in the pursuit of some immortality concoction that can reverse aging, one wonders if she might be tied to all the trouble caused by the pursuit of the concoction. Unfortunately, with the apparent death of Qiu Qingzhi, if there is going to be a Season 2, it may lack a significant character.

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Quite funny and entertaining at times

The premise is quite nonsensical. A woman viewing a series is suddenly transported into the series--there is no explanation of any sort. I do, however, like how the protagonist has some "superpowers" as her remote control can do certain things like pausing the scenes without pausing herself.

I'm not sure why, but there seems to quite a number of mini series involving characters who are transported to a fictional world. This one isn't the best, but it is entertaining enough. One of the merits of the series is that it does not take itself seriously. Yet, this is also the Archilles heel of the series as the last couple of episodes descend into incoherent chaos. And since the series is so nonsensical anyway, I don't understand why the series ends with the protagonist being transported out of the fictional world. It would have been better to just let it end more happily, especially since a Season 2 seems unlikely.

It is best not to take this series seriously and watch it for whatever mindless entertainment it offers.

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