It's not bad as most the reviews out here, but certainly has its flaws

Well looking at the trailer and the title, I wasn't exactly expecting anything way too serious and dramatic and anticipated it too be all the way fluff for the mainstream female BL watchers out there. But I was wrong! The progression of the two guys slowly getting close and intimate with each other, until one of them gave in and braced his inner desires, felt very natural and realistic to me (Me being a gay guy myself). The situations is somehow believable and something which may happen in real life.

Well most of the watchers out there may disagree with me, but as for the mainstream BL watchers out there, whom I know are mostly female fangirls and not actual LGBTQ people out there, I sincerely request you guys to take know how most real gay relationships work by perhaps asking any gay friend or colleague you may know, before you go ahead and start ranting about your expectations from the show. Most gay relationships, at least the major 90%, evolve from lust, sexual explorations and curiosity, and hardly from just mere emotions and conversations, and your cutesy falls and cheesy gestures. The gay world won't really fit into your typical stereotypical straight world.

The show had its fare share of BL tropes, but were not as much evident and cringey like say Light On Me or Tasty Florida, which I felt had mostly plasticky 2D characters with no sense of realism at all.

The show gave somewhat indie vibes, paired with good amount of OSTs made it a very pleasant and refreshing watch. The show doesn't go hardcore into the gay world like the small production houses like strongberry and matchbox go, but doesn't go too BLish either. It was a subtle watch. The chemistry between the leads felt intimate enough, though i expected more of a proper passionate kiss from them.

Now coming to the bad parts. The script had very lousy writing. The writer just made sure to fit in every cliché BL trope into the time slot, enemies to lovers, evil female villain, drama, happy ending. The female character is not exactly a villain here in the story, for it is her restaurant and the shortfall of profit gives her every right to replace the head chef, but just to maybe have a more diplomatic approach as to not come off as extremely materialistic, made her first employee go through a self test (not so plausible justification of her actions, but yeah :/). The story did have hell number of plotholes. Everything was going on smoothly until we reach the final two episodes

The ending was the worst part of the show. Without giving any sort of justification by Jung Woo for his actions, Do Gun was so quick to forgive Jung Woo for his inexplicable actions which stopped his source of livelihood, just for the pure sake of a Happy Ending. The concepts for the names of the dishes were too lousy and just felt like a freshman winding up his last minute assignment. The colleagues who spend more time with Do Gun, instead of feeling bad for their star chef, started cheering for Jung Woo instead. Why would any sensible colleague do that?

Not the worst show to be watched, but rather a laid back and relaxed watch. Best to be enjoyed in your free time and preferably binge watch as it's short enough. Not to keep too many expectations.

*I AM MOSTLY LENIENT WITH THE KOREAN BL RATINGS AS THEY HAVEN'T YET FULLY EVOLVED INTO A PROPER MARKET YET, BUT I CERTAINLY WOULDN'T LIKE IT DELVING INTO A CRINGEY UNREALISTIC FANSERVICE WHICH MAJORITY OF THAI BLS DO*

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One of the Worst KDramas in history! Period!

I don't even understand where to start with! I honestly, on a very serious note, beg you to not get swayed away by these high ratings on MDL. After all these 26 hours of utter headache, I can very rightly say that all these are either paid or written by crazy, illogical, shallow Song-Joong Ki fangirls. And the entire show just seems to be a total SJK fan-service, and nothing else!

There are several reasons as why to this show piqued my frustrations levels, so let's get to the point with what went wrong with the drama.

WHAT WENT WRONG?

1) STORY/SCRIPTWRITING:
What the heck was with the story??? It merely felt like the show was written by a mere 16-17 year kid expecting the audience to get apalled by lame comedy, which can't even be called BLACK, just dumb lame. The ML just sitting blindly staring at his TV predicts every move of the villain from GOD knows what kind of premonitions. One skinny ken doll crippling an entire mob of gangsters? A middle aged guy stabbing thugs with scissors? The villain killing off all sorts of guys without even bringing a trace of doubt to the public? An international security service police fan-boying a Mafia? Lol even kids can write a better story than this! And don't even get me started on INZAGI!!! Like wtf!! Am I sitting here watching a cartoon in the name of black comedy? The entire point of Vincenzo coming to Korea to come and retrieve his Gold and ends up keeping it back in Korea as a bed for his lover? The main villain can kill off every damn person involved in his heinous deeds, but failed to harm an ant from the Geumgo Plaza? My goodness, it felt like I'm watching some illogical bollywood movie just earning in the name of a Hero!

2) ACTING:
The FL (X_X), I would've been really happy if she was the one killed off first instead of her father! Like honestly, how can you even look at yourself in the mirror after all those indigestible doses of overacting! Like you can call yourself a righteous competitive lawyer and can't even fight a single case with sincerity? All the slapstick comedies from the supporting actors were way too overdone and lame, I couldn't even bring myself to a chuckle, they were all plain annoying! The writer seemed to shock the public with innumerable deaths like some sort of a GOT genre, but failed to bring out even an ounce of emotional attachment for the deceased for such bad character developments! It was majorly Taecyon's and the Female villain's acting that desperately tried to save the show from churning to pieces, but in vain!

3) EXCESSIVE GLORIFICATION OF VIGILANTE JUSTICE:
If some people might be thinking that the core concept of the show was this, let me correct you, it is not. The main character was just an egoistic self righteous dickhead who just wanted to procure his belongings, but got stumbled upon nonetheless. Vigilant justice should be never be, at least in my opinion, ever be justified. There are layers and layers behind any sort of criminal case with loads of loopholes and connected people and it should always be dealt with sensitively with a lot of afterthought. Unlike here, where the law was turned into an entire state of mockery.

4) EXCESSIVE AMOUNT OF QUEERBAITING/ HOMOPHOBIA:
The number of times the show portrayed really unnecessary uncomfortable queer-baiting scenes, with the ML being a total homophobe. Even the gay character was portrayed in such a cliché manner with such terrible portrayal of lgbt characters, as if South Korea doesn't have it's fair share of innate homophobia!

5) NO RESPECT FOR RELIGIOUS SENTIMENTS:
There wasn't any direct attack on anyone's religious sentiments, but it wasn't even shown in a good light, but was instead portrayed as a mere comedic tool!

WHAT WORKED???
Well, I really tried to find it but couldn't! :( No hate here but there wasn't a single likeable element in the entire show that I felt so far. It was a total waste of my time!

I usually have really high expectations out of any KDrama, cause they have never actually ever let me down, at least not to this extent that this drama did, solely the reason that I pulled myself together to finish this hoping something might pull the strings! But Alas! If would've been my 2nd or 3rd Kdrama I would've totally stopped watching KDramas altogether XD! It is really disturbing to see to what extent people can go just to support and promote their favourite actor/idol, even if they make utter shit! Luckily I've chose my dramas list carefully and trusted my instincts! :P

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Cliché plot done well saddled with lacklustre chemistry!

Overall the show is quite enjoyable with beautiful setting and backdrops and fitting engaging music. The show has its funny and quirky moments and moments which will give you butterflies in the stomach.

But there were quite a few elements in the show which kept pulling me back! Let me list a few of my reservatios:-
1. The show still felt heavily targeted towards the female audience, where the entire plot can be easily replaced by a female character and nothing shall change. There is no specific BL or LGBT element that makes it stand out except for the physical traits of the actors!
2. DEAD-FISH KISSES: Well i am certainly aware that the actors cast for the role are slightly veteran actors and their may be a lot of awkward moments during shooting, when the actors themselves maybe straight! But let me get this straight, please don't do BL dramas if you aren't comfortable representing a community if you aren't able to play their roles with full justice! We've come a long way with korean BLs and i feel they certainly shouldn't limit themselves soothing the fetishes of BL fujoshis and have some substance!
3. Flat one dimensional characters: There was no sense of realism in the plot, the entire ambience felt the actors being forced to proximity! Wonyoung being a 26-27 year old behaved like a 20 year old school girl did not befit his role.
4. The second couple had a better build-up and more convincing story, sadly they received very little to no screentime!

Keeping my personal reservations aside, the show is quite enjoyable overall and wouldn't disappoint the likes of people wanted to watch some unrealistic fluff! Thank you! :)

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Gorgeous cast with terrible writing

The show had sooooo much potential. Amazingly gorgeous cast, beautiful sets, chic-ass costumes, vistas and a nice sports theme fallen into the infallible unrequited love trope which unfortunately turning into some weird in unhealthy obsession! This show is nothing but a train wreck!

One thing I don't understand, when MAME decides to write a drama which may have quite a lot of mature scenes, none of the on-screen drama which happens seem to have no maturity at all? No exploration of sexuality, no coming to terms, no bullying or homophobia around, a strict and overprotective parent but none of them seem to have any problem with their kids being gay, mother happily accepts a promiscuous son-in-law, MAME since when have we started living in such LA LA LAND? Even I'd like to know it's address so even I could live by such an overprotective and spoiling partner and not have even a sense of guilt or fear.

Looking at the production quality, music and setup, it had no doubt a high end production value, but did it really do justice to the mainstream LGBT populace you are using in your writing? The writing would have been wayy better to have an in depth character exploration of both the main leads, how their relationship evolves, instead we get a dumb headed ML who goes bonkers whenever his wifey is at threat.

Plus you can't really put this drama in a singular genre, there's slight comedy, but isn't funny at all, there's thrill, isn't thrilling at all, emotional, but couldn't empathise at. The story lacked impact, I feel there wasn't even a story at all, just selling the show for some steamy NC scenes which *no comments*

I found myself mostly struggling to get done with the show even though I wouldn't exactly call it boring but rather unconvincing. People looking to watch it just for the pretty cast may go ahead, those looking for anything more may prefer skipping it. Thank you!

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A Really Pleasant Unexpected Surprise!

I really did not have much hopes from GMM TV because of their usual tendency to go with kiddish unrealistic BL tropes, unlike a few exceptions! But this one really left me short of words! In the beginning it seemed more like a BL version of Crash landing on you, but the story and execution was so unique and captivating in a way and it leaves you with such pleasant and good vibes. The Morales put up at the end of every episode were so thought provoking. The show gave me all sorts of emotions whatsoever, I was happy, sad, excited, numb, thrilled, all at the same time.

The chemistry between the leads was so strong, their gaze, the expression portrayed so much intimacy that no kind of skin-ship was even needed. And Mix's acting was unbelievable, totally couldn't believe he was Rookie actor, his eyes can ease up even the coldest of hearts.

I really hope thailand makes more of such unique and beautiful shows in future! <3

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An absolutely splendid show ruined by unnecessary Melodrama!

A really well written and gripping drama but somehow got really disappointed by the way it turned out into a typical cliché Kdrama. Expected some nerve wrecking noire psychopathic thriller genre but got served a melodramatic soap opera.

Though indeed I really loved the meticulous and fine details taken into consideration and amazing transitions and cinematography by the director! Beautiful OSTs give a breath of fresh air! And how could you forget the amazing acting by Lee Joon-gi! This guy really gave his all! I literally refused to believe that he wasn't actually the antagonist until the reveal! The show really did not fail to keep me on the edge till the end!

I definitely did not understand the thought process behind the writer, like she was really inspired by Hollywood psychological thrillers yet wanted to maintain the likes of typical KDrama watchers, but I really feel negating or at least subduing a little bit of the melodrama would've heightened the psyche of the show multifold! They seemed really unnecessary and forced to me and took away the charm the show would've otherwise upheld! Have a look at Bates Motel if you guys want and see what I'm trying to say! You can literally travel through the protagonists mind!

YET A THOROUGHLY ENJOYABLE SHOW! Period XD

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Started off well and quickly went downhill to the point of being BORING!

Well it was one of my most anticipated dramas of 2021 and it did start off really well but it somehow just slipped down the slope, real quick!

Well the overall concept was to pick out toxic fan-girling and exposing the reality of the BL industry, the producer seemed to pick out the easiest and most obvious issues and just simply decided to not uncover actual darker secrets. And as the producers were trying to portray the ills of the shipping culture, I was sincerely hoping for a much more realistic portrayal of a gay couple than a fantasy BL couple, but all it did was just the LATTER! I mean an industry making off really good money shipping straight male guys, it's high time Thailand use the opportunity to portray more mature, realistic and believable GAY portrayal. The couple really lacked character development!

Well many of you might disagree by arguing by saying how it showed the coming out scene realistically, I would say it absolutely did not! The intense ultra dramatic scene at the dinner table and then everyone being SUPER nice the next day, totally ruined it. I mean no my dear, reality is not that nice! People don't change overnight! The parents should have had dragged the reluctance for a little while at least, you may say one must portray positive and empathetic attitude, but just overnight transformation with little confrontation and absolutely no portrayal of struggles or issues of the leads, totally nullifies the moment. It actually puts an actual LGBT person in a false notion and risk themselves being outed or kicked out by their families, by living in false dilemma without understanding the circumstances. I mean they should live a life without hiding and fear, but not showing struggles and setbacks and expecting someone to just empathize with something to which there is a lot of stigma already attached, it doesn't really go hand in hand.

The chemistry of the couple degraded more and more as the story progresses! I dunno somehow with majority of the thai BL this is always the case, it is all steamy and attractive in the beginning and the moment they actually get together, it just becomes non existent! And yes the childhood connection! I am already bored the Kdrama trope of childhood connections, and here it gets all the way worse, the seriously unnecessary addition with a totally unacceptable age gap!

The only person I could praise in the entire show was Aeoy! Haters can attack, but he was actually one person in the entire show who actually looked like a real human. He showed all emotions that an actual person feels and how one's past affects a person's current state of mind. Even Mork! His affection and yearning felt real. I was really disappointed that the director decided to just ditch them in the end and just show Aoey in the negative light. And yes, the twist in Aoey'e affection from Nubsib to Gene just to garner audience shock was totally stupid and unbelievable!

The story had great potential but failed to pull the strings! I'm sorry!
Thank you!

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Extremely disappointed after such a beautiful 1st season

It looks like after heavily investing in the first season with its astonishing and beautiful visual treats and color exploration and constantly on loop OST, they felt a bit disappointed with the audience turnover and suddenly decided to trim down the budget to such an extent that the show ends up becoming a cheap indie production (which are still better most of the times, at least when it comes to stories).

The production was extremely choppy, music ends abruptly anywhere and there's sudden transitions from one scene to the other. There isn't any grayscale theme or color rush exploration done at all in the entire second season which totally nulls the core concept of the entire show. The charm of the first color rush was it totally transported to an entirely another dimension and gave an strange and mysterious vibe to it. The visual exploration was phenomenal, so much so that it had a potential of a full fledged Kdrama. So naturally viewers will have a lot expectations from the second season, for which the show so badly disappoints.

One thing they were pretty consistent with from the first season regarding the show, the CHEMISTRY! Which was still extremely awkward and felt too forced! Please cast actors who are comfortable with their roles and not just doing it for the sake of clout! Thank you!

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Simply Beautiful and Captivating!

Extremely beautiful and compelling!! Simple plotline yet portrayed so well! The chemistry between the leads felt so connected and real! Everything was produced extremely well. The cinematography and visuals were top notch, the locations were enthralling! The pacing of the show was perfect, never felt it was stretched or rushed, considering the tight time frame it was packed in.
The OST are gonna be on my loop for a long time in my playlist, especially the opening track. The show indeed raised bars! The show is a must watch not just for a BL but as a regular show well! ❤️❤️

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