Love the drama.
Love SandRay and the pool scene with Boing, this show is pretty much problematic people trying to put their shit together while being depressed and drunk I guess but still love it.Was this review helpful to you?
BEST GMMTV series of the year?
STORY: I didn't expect a good story from a series that focuses on messiness & (let's be honest...) sex. But the story has some twists along the way. There are 1-2 magic moments that wows you in (almost) every episode.ACTING: Khaotung as Ray deserves acting awards! He's (arguably) the best Thai BL actor this year. First as Sand supports him so well. FirstKhaotung is the Thai BL CP that shares a similar level of acting skills (which is rare).
Neo & Mark Pakin's acting are surprising GOOD! They need to be main leads in other series.
Book has 2 scenes that wows me. I was like "Book can act!"
Force is good at side eyes (which he does often in Only Friends.) He's also hot so he fits the character (Top).
MUSIC: The team has great taste in music (3 music types for 3 CPs). The music fits the scenes well. It helps you feel the characters' emotions.
Rewatch value: SandRay (FirstKhaotung) have MANY memorable scenes. Gonna watch them again some time.
At least 2 of their scenes should win (or at least be nominated) for BEST Thai BL scene of the year.
SUMMARY: Only Friends is Director Jojo & Ninew's BEST work so far. They should do a season 2 in the Only Friends Stay (hostel) setting. And add new main characters like Mix, GUN, & Earth...
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This review may contain spoilers
It had potential
In the first 9 episodes this series was addicting. After that, it became a little bit boring and I really lost any interest in Mews and Tops story.I think the last three episodes could been shorten into two or even one. Or they could written a better storyline with Boeing.First of all, I didn't forgive Top and I don't feel like he actually redeemed himself enough, but maybe it realistic that Mew forgave him anyways. But I still felt really annoyed watching their cute scenes after they became a couple again.
Secondly, the Boeing storyline was really weird. It would have been interesting if he actually had wanted to date Mew, but instead he was a one-dimensional bag guy. Also, It was really unnecessary that he tried to get together with Sand. And why did Sand just accept it? I feel like this should have been resolved better, as it seemed like sand wasn't sure if he should pick Ray over Boieng.
Anyways, I still like Sand and Ray together, even though it was unrealistic that Ray suddenly became a better person and suddenly forgot his trauma. To be fair though it makes sense, as Ray is very impulsive and changes his mind easily, I still feel like him improving this quickly should have backfired.
Another "couple" was Boston and Nick. In my opinion, they were the best written couple, even though they broke up, which was the perfect end for them. Boston couldn't have changed that quickly and he didn't. Also, I liked watching Nick's character development!
Would I recommend watching it? Actually, I would, if you like messy drama. It may not be the best written story, but it sure was entertaining.
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Not what I was expecting
I hope this isn’t going to be the norm for GMMTV BL series now. Too mature. I love my sweet, cute, funny GMM actors. There was very little of that. The storylines for each couple was dark and intense. Lots of backstabbing and lies. Focused mainly on addiction. Alcoholism, Drug use, and Sex addiction. Some of it was resolved, some not. My heart broke for Nick and I was disappointed there was no happy ending for him. Hopefully he got together with his coworker. He seemed nice. I’m sure lots of people like this but I was too upset the whole time to enjoy it.Was this review helpful to you?
One of the Best "Gay BLs' Ever Made
One can argue until the cow comes home as to whether it is a BL, but it is without doubt a solid and outstanding gay series, surprisingly. The whole series belabored the negative issues with each couple without concentrating on the thing that would have taken this series to greatness. It lacked human warmth. It tried to do too much to show us the issues that it lost sight of its humanity. What humanity it showed was ugly. What I did greatly admire about this series is that it is GAY. This represents the gay world. This is how the gay world is in reality. I am not sure if this series recognized what it had on its hands. I wish it would have gone just a bit deeper into what motivates these characters.You can read my full review of this interesting and raw gay BL series at BLBliss.com.
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Bagunça!
Apesar da história ter como foco principal a história dos amigos que administram um hotel, ela não conta realmente a história deles. Isso pq logo de EP 2 o conteúdo se espalha e cada vez aquilo que deveria ser o foco se torna apenas pano de fundo.Todos os personagens compartilham da falta de desenvolvimento, a série tem vários arcos importantes mas não traz impacto o suficiente pq os personagens não tem intimida com o público, não são apresentados da maneira correta para o público.
O casal protagonista (Mew e Top) também é apagado, não tendo química ou qualquer tipo de brilho eles acabam sendo ofuscado toda a série pelo casal secundário (Ray e Sand)
Apesar de ser um personagem que claramente foi feito pra movimentar o enredo, Boston ao decorrer dos episódios se torna o melhor personagem da série pois mantém sua veracidade, história e personalidade.
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Finally the real gay community
I was so excited to see the chaos this would be. I was so proud of GMMTv for the audacity. Realistic stuff always get me, it's a love-hate thing.But let's go to the character analysis.
Everyone sucks. The only character who is an actual angel is Sand.
Mew: was descent until he became Harley Twink and turned toxic as well.
Force and Boston: both can't keep it in their pants. Except Force was willing to join monogamy at the end, but Boston couldn't, that's not who he is.
Nick: did some fucked up shit and was very colorblind when it came to red flags, but he was not a bad person at the end of the day and I'm glad he teamed up with the best person in the "group".
Ray: messed up, poor little rich kid... nah 'cause Ray fucking sucked and would make a scene out of every little thing. He definitely doesn't know how to deal with anything and that could be because he doesn't got a mom and a present dad but took him too long to even want to try to be a better person. He hurt too many people. Sand was a saint for pulling up with all that shit.
Sand: I think he is flawless, but he gave too many chances to Ray, also kinda colorblind. It went well at the end, thankfully.
Chuem: I was so happy that this actress would be gay in the show. Also was so happy that she was dating Nanon's sister. But damn, she was so annoying and had no own opinion. She would just believe anyone that came up to her and said like '"your girlfriend said "blah blah"'. She wouldn't even ask or talk about it, she would just come for the person. There was also kinda of a lack of chemistry between her and April tbh.
April: is only there to be Chuem's girlfriend, barely appears.
Yo and Plug: I wish their story had more screen time, cause they meant nothing to me (which is sad 'cause I love Jennie)
Atom: bro was filthy. I tried to understand that he was very confused and fell for the first guy he hooked up with right after he found out he likes men too, I was kinda sorry for him but he fucked up still.
We can see most characters are very well written and developed. I really liked that and the fact that everything was very real, like getting out of that romantic perfect bubble. I kinda wish the couples wouldn't end up together, because that could be like a lesson about real life: some things don't work out and that's okay. I loved that Nick and Boston didn't get together in the end, Boston tried but he was unable to be monogamous, so he should just try and stop making other people's lives miserable. Overall the drama was very nice to watch, chaos is very entertaining. Seeing our beloved actors getting out of their comfort zone and playing shitty characters was an experience.
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only grindr fans who hate romance
Firstly, this is a very watchable departure from the standard BL mode. This is both bad and good...bad that it wasted the actors on a hook-up culture that leaves little room for anything that resembles love or intimacy. And good in the sense that you have good-looking couples with chemistry stepping on and crushing the BL mode. It's great to experiment and change things up..this goes a little too far in the direction of only-fans or the opposite of a romantic comedy.The story is basically each character getting out of their underwear to pass the time on conquests and cruel mind games with others. Toss in drama drama drama and you have a recipe for a hot mess. But, strangely if you get past episode two you can't stop watching. Like with most trainwrecks or messy characters, you root for them to redeem themselves or have fun yelling at the screen when characters do unnecessary bad things to other people.
In the end, I hope this opens conversations and expands future BL shows to show the many different sides of relationships. I tend to connect more with romance, and less trashy characters but maybe there's a way to do both or watch create watchable variations like is show...
but also that can give viewers hope that love exists.
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Entertainingly Messy
This show can be summed up by just one word...mess. This isn't necessarily a bad thing because it was very enjoyable. I binged this series so quickly and most episodes didn't disappoint me. The only episode that truly made me think "was this necessary" was episode 12/the finale. I think some choices on the production side took me out at times (esp audio). I wholeheartedly believe this show would have never been as good if it wasn't for the actor's performances. I'm pretty new to Thai bls and quickly fell for some actors. One of these included Khaotung's portrayal of Ray. He portrayed this complicated character who people could either love or hate and not many could have pulled off this character the way he did. Overall enjoyed the show and will probably rewatch it, especially for the growing and complicated relationship between Sand and Ray who were honestly the only couple out of the main 3 I was rooting for.Was this review helpful to you?
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A strong takeoff that misses the landing
What a true rollercoaster of a show in every sense of the word. This show presents some of the best acting out of GMMTV to date, with incredible performances from Khao, First, Force, Book, Mark and Neo. However, the explosive start to the series finished with a sizzle.If you don't know, this story was loosely based on the writer's group of friends. I believe the biased view of these characters, coupled with the branding of these pairs, forced the story to take a turn that was neither good to its characters or to its audience.
You knew from the start that Top and Mew would be together because they are Force and Book. You knew that Sand and Ray would be together because they are First and Khao. In any other story this wouldn't matter, but you show that these characters are so deeply flawed and dirty and raw, that to try to clean it up in the last act feels cheap. Then your only non-branded pair (and the writers self-insert) ends with one feeling high and mighty, and one slut shamed.
I also think that the show suffered from the classic Thai 12 episode format, because it had its climax so early in the show, that the falling action felt like it was dragging and the fun was gone.
Overall I enjoyed the experience, but know that this is a very complicated fav.
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Some of the known BL couples being challenged in fidelity
This BL is unlike almost all the others, where only the shipped couples are allowed to show kissing. Here they are on a path of discovering who they are and what they seek in a partner.Let’s start with First, who blew me away with his acting so I looked up what else he acted in and realized he was in one of the best BL’s “Not Me”, definitely have to rewatch it. I also binged the shipper where First had the main role and got to kiss with Ohm. So First did get his fair share of kissing with boys. He moved into my top 5 of BL actors. Can we all agree he has such a nice smile?
Khoathung played his boyfriend and when he looks at you intriguing, how can you not fall for him?
The second main also has been together in other BL’s and had a nice storyline. What I didn’t like is they also had to sniffkiss a couple of times where the other couples gave decent kisses. Force and Book did give 2 or 3 times a good kiss, but you could see they’re not so comfortable. Neo and Mark on the other hand where very into their character and had some hot scenes. Mark who played Nick, was so adorable.
Some more familiar faces of BL’s do pop up as well.
Definitely a rewatch, also one of the better BL’s in 2023
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waste of my time and braincells and for what
started great with good potential, ended up being more and more dissapointing each ep that passed until the final ep was in no other words, trash.overall left me with a sense of having wasted my time for 12 weeks. the writing was shit, mewtop was boring as fuck, and the acting in dramatic and emotional (crying) scenes of some actors was cringe im sorry, things i cant say in twitter because they will doxx me and kill my entire family bc you can't possibly have an opinion there.
in addition, ray's addiction problem was dismissed completely??? they could've used it as a major plot device and give proper representation of mental health issues but no, lets just forget about it like its some personality trait and not something that could kill you .
in my opinion, this should've been a series that centered on sandray and sandray alone with bostonnick and cheumapril as 2 side couples. no shade to forcebook im sure theyre amazing people but they should take acting classes i dont mean any wrong with this.
in conclusion, if you're planning on watching this dont waste your time and watch last twilight or i feel you linger in the air as a substitute for a thai bl series, you'll thank me later.
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