Adorable but predictable.

I couldn't give the story an extremely high rating because it's pretty average and predictable, however, the whole show is adorable and feel-good, so I went for above average because I find that kind of show enjoyable. The acting was very good for what it was, but again, not an extremely complicated and emotionally charged drama. It's just cute, so even if the characters don't have to actually do much besides eat and smile, it's okay with me. The music was whatever, it didn't detract and was kind of cute. I think they put more effort into the cooking scenes than the rest of the plot, but again, that was okay with me because I enjoyed it. However, I was hungry the whole time! I would recommend watching this while eating delicious take out so you won't feel left out. Some times I laughed about the funny moments. I also laughed about the way they overacted the eating scenes. Everybody would take bigger bites with big smiles and huge eyes while their mouths were already full of food. We get it, you love the food. It tastes amazing. So silly. Still, I loved it, because it's simple and adorable. I would watch it again anytime I just want a simple love story with a light hearted story line. I gave a higher overall than it really deserved, because I like this kind of simple show. Warning: don't watch when hungry!!!

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Great story that failed in the end

The basics of the story are that these special forces guys (two of them) have intertwined past lives and a villain who will stop at nothing to keep them apart. Except he didn't. Spoiler: I mean, the villain literally stopped, gave up, realized that he lost and threw in the towel, but only after causing trouble and threatening to kill everyone to force Tharn to be with him. The acting was pretty good and I was very excited about the prospect of a special investigative unit, but none of that really played out correctly. There was so much potential, but nothing came of it. I mean, it only served as the backdrop for the main love story, without adding much other than the action sequences which were a little bit too scripted and badly done to be interesting. I think they threw in a bunch of pixelated male backsides just to add shock value, but all that did was make me laugh. Good to have some comedy. They had so many subplots, with no direction and no conclusion, just subplots that never gained traction. Which meant as a special investigative unit, they never really added value to the overall story. Then I waited three weeks for the free version of episode 12 just to have the overall plot with the big bad guy decide he's not bad and all's well that ends well, and the lovers have a happily ever after ... well it was just a let down. I didn't hate it, but I wouldn't watch it again and the last episode was a disappointment. Overall: story was lacking, acting was good minus the action scenes, music didn't detract, but disappointing ending.

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Sweet, predictable, but sometimes too annoying.

The acting was good. The main leads had decent chemistry and the story was funny and cute. Fairly predictable, but that doesn't really put me off. The OST was okay, I liked one song in particular. The second and third couples were good as well. The main couple, an actress and a doctor, it was all good minus one thing. The actress is supposed to be this cute and playful girl who is kind and sweet overall, but honestly, she could more likely be described as cunning and flirty as well as airheaded. While it didn't bother me in the long view, some times it was hard to believe a normal man who was smart and warmhearted wouldn't be frustrated that she's mature and kind one minute and childish and petty the next.
The second couple, the actress's manager and the doctor's best friend who is also a doctor. To me, this one was more annoying. They had okay chemistry but a lot of dramas have this habit of having the man chase after a woman that doesn't like him and go so far that he could be called a stalker, but we're supposed to cheer when she falls in love with him anyway? Don't they realize that most of the time, when a girl says no she actually means no? Stop writing the story with a girl who seems to really dislike the man but eventually falls in love with him even though he makes her so uncomfortable that she literally would rather move out of her apartment than live near him.
Third couple, this one was cute and had a reasonable amount of development considering how little screen time they had. They are the main doctor's little sister and the actress's friend who is a famous musician. I was happy to see them get together because I actually liked the musician and wanted him to be happy. Although, honestly in the first part of the show, the sister is the most annoying little brat I have ever seen. How she goes from childish, petty, scheming, and a screetching banshee of a crybaby to a cute and agreeable girl with a mature and caring attitude, I just can't figure out. To be honest, the only parts of the show I fast forwarded were the parts in the beginning when she talked or did her screetching cry. I wanted to smack her and tell her to shut up because she was hurting my ears. She overacted it to the point of being a nuisance.
The rewatch factor is pretty high if you like a simple story with a cute and happy ending. Just skip past the annoying sister until midway through the season and you'll be fine. Overall, a really enjoyable show with happy endings all around.

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Confused

Did I watch a shortened version wherein the rest of the story is told but I somehow missed all the details and just saw a highlight reel? I am so confused. MLs are good looking and have chemisty, but the story of how they fell in love and how they stayed together or fell apart just isn't there. Nothing is there. In what appears to be a momentary flashback we see the ML Yeong-Woo (YW) crying and 2nd ML Yi Bin (YB) consoling him a little. I think they were dating but broke up because YB wasn't in love. Back to the time of the story and YW falls in love (within a few days) of meeting Ki Jin (KJ -- who is the man YB is currently in love with, but remains friend zoned). KJ appears to be an aspiring fashion designer. YB is a famous model. YW is a deliveryman who fits KJ's ideal of the model for his brand. They meet in a bad way, somehow fall in love (no story, just bam, mission accomplished) and YW becomes KJ's model while YB feels left out. Then somehow it seems that KJ is offered an opportunity to go to New York to make his name in fashion, but only if he goes with YB. He says no, but somehow YW hears that he is going to go with YB, believes he is being dumped, and they separate (without story, no talking about it, just bam again, mission accomplished). YB goes to NY by himself. KJ continues his dream by opening his own studio. YW goes back to being a deliveryman and part time model. Now we are going to fast forward to the end... a year later, deliveryman YW delivers food to his past lover KJ. KJ apologizing but they never really talk and somehow get back together or maybe just kiss. Ends with YB and YW modeling together and sitting down to share drinks in which YB says he went to NY by himself and YW and KJ are running back to each other. That appears to be the end. But I still don't know what happened. Did KJ go to NY but just by himself? If not, why apologize? Why didn't they talk it out? Why don't they even speak to each other for a year? Just ghost each other over a misunderstanding and get back together out of nowhere? The music was whatever, but honestly with such a confusing story, even a great OST could only have taken it so far. Since it makes no sense, I can't see there would be any value in watching it more than once. I would just end up confused and wonder why I bothered again. The actors were fine, they did well pretending emotions out of thin air and no plot, but still, nothing can save a story that doesn't actually have any story. If there is another version of this story where you actually have the whole story with reasonable English subtitles, please let me know. Otherwise I will persist in believing that this halfway attempt was somehow meant to be the entirety of this ridiculous series.

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Funny and touching but nonsense.

The story is supposed to be funny with romance and maybe a little bit of drama. I can see where they tried, but the whole premise is off. The romance is fine, I actually think they had decent chemistry but if you watch it more than once, it will be more and more difficult to get into the fun of it. The side characters and romances were fun and some people said they were more interesting than the main pairing, but I have to disagree. I think they added to the show, but they weren't so interesting that they stole it. The main couple: Secretary Kim and Narassistic Boss don't have much character arc, considering the content of the show, but it was still very interesting and I enjoyed watching the entire series once. The music was good, but not outstanding. The acting was also good and I thought very in character. To understand why the underlying story behind the main couple, you have to hear some spoilers, but without spoilers, I can say it wasn't well done and was so nonsensical as to have been ridiculous. I would watch it once, but not twice because those moments of understanding will annoy you more if you rewatch.

With spoilers: the main couple have a history. This explains why a totally arrogant and impatient boss would pick a secretary who wasn't fluent in English and experienced enough in the field. She needed to work super hard to catch up to his needs. Over time as they work together, he grows used to how amazing she is and when he thinks of his life without her, he doesn't want her to quit. He tries mulitiple ways to get her to stay and eventually realizes that he loves her. Naturally, he has to overcome his gigantic ego to get to that point, but still. The process is funny and entertaining. She begins to fall in love with him as she sees his emotional sides. Naturally, the catalyst needed to make them both realize how they feel is the return of the boss's self-centered brother who decides that he wants Secretary Kim. Either because he's so arrogant as to think he can have anyone or because he wants to take her from his brother -- he causes problems between them just as they are getting closer.

The actual spoiler is why the premise is really messed up and nonsensical. You see, way back when Secretary Kim was 4-5 years old and her boss was 9-10 and self-centered brother was maybe 11-12, the brother bullies the young boy boss and eventually leaves him in a deserted street where he is kidnapped. Then baby girl Mi So (Secretary Kim) is also kidnapped. They help each other through the experience and end up home safe and sound but naturally with fears. Why Mi So's family doesn't tell her the truth when she asks if she was ever kidnapped makes absolutely no sense to me. Until you recognize and accept that you've been hurt you will never be able to deal with it on an emotional level. So keeping it from her is like telling her to pretend she doesn't feel the pain rather than taking her to the doctor. The young boss hires her because he remembers her, but she doesn't remember and he also doesn't explain. No reason, but that's more excusable. Last, boss's mom and dad who are supposed to be good, normal, loving parents, are actually full time idiots with hateful and stupid notions about family. When older brother feels bad for what he did, he has a mental break and decides that he was the one who was kidnapped. Then mom and dad decide that it's better to pretend that their arrogant, self-centered older son was actually kidnapped than to make him face his wrongdoing. Which is to say that young boss who was the one who was wronged, has to deal with an insufferable prick brother who treats boss as though he were the one in the wrong. Why would the parents take the side of the bully child over the one who has an actual trauma that needs to be dealt with? Because they are stupid, thoughtless, self-centered, and hateful bullies themselves. I mean, they did raise two sons who think they are perfect and hate each other. Who comes up with these plots? If you're going to make them thoughtless bullies, don't have the main character pretend with them. He was an adult, he should have told them the truth and said that their behavior was stupid and hurtful and then told them they needed to tell the truth and stop pandering to their favorite child (obviously the self-centered brother). I will never understand why people who are supposed to be smart and strong and well mannered never can seem to stand up for themselves or say no when something is wrong. Then again, if they were all people who had backbone and common sense and courage, the show would have been over in 3 episodes. Still, that's why I can't watch it twice. I want to ring the mother's neck and kick the older brother very hard in his self-centered face. I get too angry and annoyed at their behavior to be able to watch it twice, but that's me.

Ok, rant over. If you can deal with this amount of stupidity for the background story, the rest is really wonderful. I think they had great chemisty. I thought it was super funny and well acted. I enjoyed it so much that I was tempted to watch it twice (then I tried and had to go bake for 2 hours to get rid of my frustration).

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Blank Stare

I don't really know how to review this without giving away everything. There isn't much of a story, once the basic plot is revealed (in the first and second episodes) it's pretty obvious what will happen. So without spoilers, the acting was not good.
Or the director made horrible choices and the actors did what he told them. No way to know for sure. Rak, one of the MLs was so blank that he looked stupid. Honestly, minus one or two scenes where he cried and once when he laughed, he just stared blankly at everyone around him all the time. No matter the situation, he just stared. He didn't speak, there wasn't any reason for the blank stares with no dialogue, it was just ... bad. I think the intention was meant to be that he looked innocent and didn't have any kind of bad intention but it just came off as him being too stupid to understand or not having any kind of personality.

There wasn't much chemistry between the two MLs. Mostly because Rak always looked like he had no idea what was happening. There was one exception to his weird face blankness, just before the first NC scene (I wouldn't call it NC really, but I guess the first sexy scene) between the two, Rak actually does not have a blank face. For this one, he looks like he totally knows what is going to happen and is anticipating. This leads me to believe that the director was the problem, not the actor, but I can't be sure. Another weirdness was that Dino, the other ML, seemed to need constant reassurance during the sexy moments. He kept asking how he was doing. I don't know about everyone else, but in my experience, if you're asking while you're doing, you're expending too much energy on the wrong things. Focus is important. I found that strange, but not bad. As far as Rak's reaction, "Dino is the best" with an almost comically wide eyed stare, was the best he could do, but the scene wasn't sexy, it was distracting and cringy. Later Dino was kissing him with so much tongue, it just made me want to wash my face.

Seekram (Rak's ex best friend) was creepy to say the least, but I'm not sure if that was bad acting or just poor directorial choices. Mek (the ex-boyfriend) was just a loser, but not necessarily a bad actor. In fact, Seekram and Mek weren't awesome, but they weren't terrible at their parts. None of the support roles were as weird as the main roles. The guest roles were plentiful. Seriously, they found people from a lot of BLs to come and be on screen for a few minutes without having much to say or anything to the story. Just cameos, I guess. Not really sure why they opted for that. To draw attention to the show? Who knows. Anyway, the story wasn't all that great and sometimes the acting was just cringe, so the show didn't really hit well for me. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't good.

The story is so predictable as to be boring and the jokes were too obvious to be funny. The OST was decent, but I never put too much weight into the music. Because of the predictability and lack of plot outside of the romance, this show has low rewatch value. If you like just a fluffy love story with not a lot of acting ability, this one is for you. I heard some of the support roles will have shows of their own, and I'm interested to see if they are any better than this one.

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Impossible but still interesting.

Basically, the show is very interesting. It has an overall plot that you can follow and makes sense, but the premise is totally impossible. Still, the acting is superb. The characters felt real and I really enjoyed it. However, trying to make the pieces fit when the premise is so unbelievably ridiculous is a little hard to do. OST was whatever, I didnt love or hate, but it didn't distract, so it's good. Would watch again, but must suspend my disbelief in order to enjoy it.

With spoilers: The premise of the show is that the ML of the show was somehow able to have surgery that altered his physical appearance so he now looks like a foreign man who had passed away in the hospital where the ML was recovering. He and his lover (2nd ML) having been nearly killed by a criminal group and his lover now believing he is dead, the ML wants to go back to right wrongs and uses surgery to further this end. The plastic surgery isn't impossible, but this level of plastic surgery is improbable if not impossible. For example, the ML went from being taller and having more narrow shoulders to shorter with wider shoulders (based on my perception, since they were never actually in the same scene together). Also skin color over his whole body changed from darker to lighter. His teeth, jaw shape, and eyes changed. His hair changed. His tone of voice changed. His body type and his face changed. He was unrecognizable, not just from a face point of view but even the way he walked and held himself. So the premise that he was able to get plastic surgery and return to stop the criminal group and see his lover again is just too ridiculous. If they had wanted it to be more believable, they should have at least picked actors who had some overall similarities. Because you start out watching the ML looking so completely different from his original self, it's hard to imagine that he is the same person. The 2nd ML somehow was able to figure it out though, which makes no sense, but they based it on other things besides physical appearance. An emotional connection, i guess. Once you have figured out that the ML is supposed to be the same man as the 2nd ML was dating before, you might feel a little cheated. Like they just thought I was so stupid that I would accept all of these changes as being not only possible but easy to accomplish? It's kind of insulting the intelligence of their audience. If you can live through that annoyance, and as I said before, suspend your disbelief with the amount of physical change that had to be done to make this even possible, you will probably enjoy the show. I rated it fairly well, because I think it was interesting, even if it was pretty much impossible outside of a fantasy series.

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Romance over storyline and a Mary Sue as well

A lot of people had good things to say about this drama and while I am not one of them, it wasn't a horrible show. This show seems to value the romance over any actual storyline. Not an unpopular way to go, just not my favorite choice. I play MMORPGs and I was kind of excited to see where they went with this, but it wasn't very well done.

First off, the FL was boring and unimpressive. Other than the fact that she was supposed to be super pretty, she didn't seem to do anything that well. They did not focus on her intellect or achievements beyond the simpliest. She was a good player in the game, supposedly, but in the end had to be assisted by her boyfriend. It even made a point that she was better than her first in game husband but later she needs her new in game husband and boyfriend to do everything for her. Her dreams and asperations were not discussed. She didn't seem to be anymore impressive in school than her female counterparts, but still seemed to need help from her boyfriend and his friends. Are they all geniuses or do they just think men are naturally better than women at everything? Also, they kept talking about bullying a weak girl in the game, then why did they also keep talking about how men often played as women in the game and she was accused of being a man in real life? If you can't tell if it's a boy or a girl just by their character on the screen, then why talk about how it's bad to bully a girl in the game? That's just plain stupid and sexist.

A Mary Sue (very different from Mary Jane, in case you are wondering), is the type of character who is supposed to be so cool and awesome and wonderful, but then when you look at the actual story, they are just there to be acted upon instead of doing anything for themselves. Especially if there is a man around to help them. As soon as their boyfriend comes into the room, their brains drip out of their ears and they suddenly become useless as human beings and are only supposed to be eye candy. This is the FL of this drama in a nutshell. By the way, someone get that girl a sandwich. She's literally skin and bones. I was worried that she was going to die of malnutrition at any moment. The other girls in the drama are still thin and beautiful, but somehow manage to look more healthy. This FL was so thin, I was actually wondering if she had an eating disorder and needed to see a doctor. This beauty standard is really unhealthy. Also, the second FL, who is her best friend is supposed to be ugly ... they stated it several times, but she was far from. Why call someone ugly but get a beautiful girl to play the part? If she's supposed to be ugly, get a girl who isn't beautiful. If she's pretty, just don't bring it up and don't make a point of calling her ugly.

Okay, now to the ML. Oh my. Handsome, check. Smart to the power of ten, check. Perfect, we get it. Does he have to be so arrogant? He seems to think he can do no wrong and he's got the plot armor to prove it. Why not make him a real person? As a character, he didn't have any growth. He was the same, beginning to end. It was hard to relate to him at all. I've seen this actor in some other dramas and with the exception of "You Are My Glory," he was pretty much typecast. Okay, he was also typecast in "You Are My Glory," but he wasn't as wooden. He had flaws and worries and doubts. I could relate to him in that drama. In this drama, he was unrelatable. Smile once in a while. Laugh. Be sad and dishearted when things go wrong. Maybe have a goofy grin or lose a game and get upset once in a while. By the way, feed your girlfriend, she's starving.

I didn't really pay attention to the OST. Sorry, this one didn't really have anything great or anything bad. It was just middle of the road. Unimpressive but not distracting. Since I didn't love watching it the first time, I don't think it has a high rewatch value. Sorry, but for me, this drama just didn't meet my expectations. All of that being said, it was not a horrible show with no redeeming value. There are some funny moments. They was at least one time when the ML is talking to the idiot second ML and he asks if ML ever doubted FL. He said something like, of course, I didn't doubt her. She's my girl. While he did have plot armor, so he could say that with confidence, I did think that was pretty cool. If you doubt your girl, why are you dating her? So at least one redeeming moment in a sea of banality.

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Mame should not be a writer.

After watching the TharnType 2 and seeing the start of Leo and Fiat, I had high hopes for this series, but as with all of Mame's work, it was just a disappointment waiting to happen. I can't rate it absolutely the lowest, because at least in this series, she didn't make any of the happy couples come from rape or nonconsensual sexual scenarios. It's kind of a first for this particular author.

The story started out cute. Fiat and Leo have loved each other secretly for years and now they finally get together. First love's ship sails and two friends are trying to figure out how to move from just friends to lovers. Sounds like fun, but wait. So many problems await them. Unfortunately, most of those problems are overly exaggerated or self-caused. Some of those problems were serious mental health issues that got treated like a case of manipulation and cruelty rather than being dealt with or addressed appropriately. And some of those problems come from the simple inability to bear the consequences of your actions.

The acting was okay, but unfortunately, not great. Ja was pretty good, but it's easier to be the strong silent type. First was overacting so much in his emotional scenes that I really wish the director would have pulled him aside once and said, "Less is more." Yes, he had a lot of emotional and crying scenes, but he just needed to pull back a little and understand emotion doesn't always have to translate to loud wailing and whinging.

Music never makes much difference to me. It wasn't weird and it didn't distract, so it's good in my opinion. I didn't find any of the music especially awesome, but none of it was bad.

Overall, the rating has to fall in the middle, it wasn't awesome and it wasn't terrible. So in a way, that's a first for Mame. Usually her work makes me want to vomit, so since I am not puking, she didn't completely suck with this one.

Now, onto spoilers, because there are some. Again, I'm blaming Mame because she lacks the ability to write a relationship that isn't terrible and confusing and lacking in communication. Maybe she has relationship issues? I don't know, but her characters get to share.

One relationship in this drama is pretty decent. Second couple: Leon and Pob. They communicated pretty well and didn't have any bad issues that made you hate them. They were just a good couple. Pob decided to leave and didn't tell Leon about it until after it was decided, but I wouldn't call that a total lack on his part, because even if they were dating, they hadn't been together long enough for me to say it seems weird to make a decision like that totally on your own. If they were closer to marriage or in a long standing commited relationship, I would say, discuss so the other person isn't blindsided, but really, it was Pob's decision to make and he was coming back eventually. So that relationship gets an A- from me.

Now the Leo and Fiat pairing. What can I say? They were the main couple, so Mame couldn't leave them unscathed. Fiat was kind of a slutty guy, but Leo knew that going into the relationship, so I don't understand all the freaking out about his past. Anyway, that wasn't too bad, until we inevitably learn that Fiat was raped (I consider blackmailing someone for sex the same as rape) and naturally, Leo acted like a child, which put pressure on Fiat. He knew about it already, so why act childishly later. Shouldn't he have freaked out when he heard about it originally rather than behaving emotionally later? Oh well, he's young, so he's learning emotions sometimes hurt and that wasn't all that bad. But then some girl comes up and says, King is going to do something to Fiat and I'll tell you if you kiss me. And Leo does it! I mean, why not just say no and tell her that you'll tell Fiat and his friends to be on their guard. He must have known she was never going to actually tell him. The whole thing was obviously manufactuered and ridiculous. Fiat sees Leo kissing someone else and rather than confront Leo about this, he ignores it, says he's fine, and cries in private. Why? Because he feels hurt but doesn't trust his lover. Their relationship would have been so much stronger with some honest communication and expression of hurt, but Mame can't do that, because she equates good relationships with the ones where they hurt each other, lie to each other, and cannot trust each other. This is Leo and Fiat in a nutshell. They spend the entire time telling each other how much they love each other while deciding not to trust each other enough to be honest and talk about anything. Ugh. Still they eventually get together, and Leo talks about locking Fiat up and keeping him to himself, which is so possessive that it's uncomfortable. Kind of a red flag, but let's treat it like a joke. This relationship gets a C-.

Now the relationship between Fiat and his family. Problematic doesn't begin to describe this sh*t show. Fiat's dad finds out that his first wife is crazy. Rather than dealing with a mental health issue with a little dignity and reasonable actions (like maybe taking her to a doctor and talking openly to your son so he can learn to adjust and understand) the dad sends mommy away and leaves Fiat feeling like his mother was stolen from him. Then he immediately replaced Fiat's mom with someone else. Fiat gets in an argument and apparently pushes the step-mom down while she is pregnant. It could have been accidental, it could have been in anger but still he was a child and didn't understand. He didn't even remember, but rather than talking to him and working things out, again the father behaves badly and simply kicks Fiat out of the house for Leo's family to take him in. Way to make your son hate you, dad. Saying you suck at this point is just pointless. Isn't the father supposed to be the adult here? Mature and intelligent? No, he's an idiot from start to finish. Even I hate him and he's not my dad. Step mom and step sister are just side characters whose only screen time is supposedly to show how much Fiat has matured. Well if dad was mature, they never would have been in that situation in the first place, but sure, whatever. Now Fiat's mom. I feel bad for her. This woman clearly had mental health issues, but rather than talking about that appropriately, she was treated as though she was abusive and manipulatitive because she was hateful. What kind of man finds out his wife is losing her mind and rather than help her get treatment, he just kicks her out and tells his son that he's not allowed to see her? Are we making mental health a reason for people to be hated and treated like trash now? Is that the message we're sending with this? Sorry, but that was so wrong that it really makes me angry. Then once Fiat understands, rather than saying, hey dad, you could have explained this to me years ago and we might have had a better relationship, and let his dad take a little bit of the blame that was 95% his in the first place, Fiat apologizes to his dad and now everything's good. Dad lying to you, treating you like crap, and kicking you out of the house when you are a child is all your fault because your mother had mental health issues, right? The way this mental health issue was dealt with was 100% wrong and the way that Fiat was treated as a result was wrong as well. I'm going to give all of Fiat's family relationships a FAIL.

Bascially, this is another disappointing series based on characters and story by Mame. Please, stop producing her work. You're just encouraging her to continue writing trash BLs with very little thought and toxic relationships. I really hope to see Ja and First in another series, preferrably one written by someone with talent and maybe even some class and taste. By the way, why was Leo in tails at that party at the end? No one else was, seriously he was the only one and it was too long for him and not properly fitted. Just put the man in a suit! Sorry, that just had to be said.

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Nonsense

I'm not sure if this series was intending to make a mockery of itself or if it just happened naturally. Maybe it was the English subtitles, but nothing in this series made sense or followed logical patterns. The relationships were odd if not pathetic and forced. The whole thing was a let down minus the music, which was actually kind of cute. I'm sure the actors did the best they could with the subject matter they had and they were all very good looking, but it was still awkward and showed little to no character development. That's all I can say without spoilers.
So here come the spoilers: Dee is super cute, and I've seen the actor before and he's good, but honestly, this character was so poorly written. First, he argues loudly and forcefully with his grandfather about his right to intern at another company so that he can try to learn in an environment where is not already the boss. Seems like he's smart and brave. Nope, he immediately accepts a job as an intern in another company that his grandmother arranges for him. So even though he's not the boss, he's already being given a relatively higher status that regular interns won't have. Later, when he and his ex-boyfriend Ohm meet again, he is adamant that they not get back together but later decides to give in and be with Ohm again because the guy he thinks he loves doesn't love him. Where is the rule that you have to have a boyfriend? Where is it written that if you can't have the person you love, you have to go back to an ex-boyfriend because he likes you? Dee was alone during the time that he and Ohm were broken up, so why does he feel like he has to get back into that relationship? He could have just remained single. Later, when he is in a relationship with Knight (the guy he truly wanted), his grandfather got angry at him for being gay and rather than fighting for his beliefs or telling his grandfather that he can choose to have no contact if that's what he prefers and then doing what his heart wants, he absolutely refuses to fight for his love or his freedom. He lets his grandfather completely control him and acts as though he has no choice in the matter. Knight does all the fighting for them to stay together and the grandfather eventually comes around but Dee never acts. He is always acted upon. They have a name for characters who have no dreams or actions of their own and are simply reacting as the world moves around them, but it sums up to being stupid and pointless. So this is supposed to be the guy we want to get his man and live happily ever after? I'd just like to see him make an actual choice and stick to it. Like, have a little tiny bit of a backbone, please.
Knight makes almost less sense than Dee. First, he clearly behaves as though he hates Dee when they meet at work, but actually he is strongly attracted to him. He pretends to hate him and refuses to work with him until Dee blackmails him. That also makes no sense. What does he have against interns? And why play the jerk the whole time just to suddenly change and tell Dee that you love him? Why play games with people's feelings if you are attracted to them?
Ohm was another character who didn't make sense. He supposedly loved Dee so much, but he was so focused on work that Dee felt alone and broke up with him. Then when he comes back, he practically forces himself on Dee, while Dee makes himself clear that he doesn't want to get back together. Once they get back together, for reasons that I've told you escape me, and finally Dee decides to tell Ohm that he loves Knight and can't be with him anymore, Ohm suddenly decides to be a nice guy and wish Dee well. Why spend so much time following him around and forcing yourself on him if you're just going to walk away happily a little while later?
The side characters were wildly ridiculous and though most of them were clearly supposed to be the comedy of the show, they were more cringey than funny. The side relationships were awkward at best and lacked chemistry. Maybe this is just a really low budget production, but I've seen low budget before (the actor who played Dee did another BL production where he was a cook, I can't remember the name of it and I really enjoyed that series) and this is just not well done. It wasn't well written, and the director made some poor choices about how the characters should play their roles.
There is one other thing that I find strange, although I wouldn't say it was really bad, just weird. In the kissing scene between Dee and Knight in the last episode, they are laying on the bed, kissing and obviously preparing to do more than kissing. Dee (fully clothed) starts bouncing up and down awkwardly and making noises like the two are doing what couples do in the privacy of their room, while Knight is underneath him (also fully clothed). I get it, they didn't want to do a full NC scene. That's okay, but the humping and noises were just weird and out of place. If you're going to do a love scene, even fully clothed, it should be done with the idea of making a good scene that revolves around the feelings of the couple, not just trying to make it look exciting or erotic.
Overall, not a series that I would watch again. If you like awkward comedy and feeling confused, this show is made for you.

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Nice effort, but disappointing

I honestly don’t know where to start. There were so many possibilities and they just fell flat or were completely ignored. Maybe I should talk pros and cons? Pros: Ummmm … the actors were good looking. The second couple had awesome chemistry. The music wasn’t bad. Cons: Storylines that were opened and not developed and conflicts that were ignored rather than dealt with. Overall disappointing and would not watch again.

In more detail (warning, spoilers ahead): The first couple (Johnny and Hai Yi). They did not have much chemistry and the acting was off. As far as the plot with this couple — it had a lot of potential but failed to go anywhere. Johnny came from the past and fast forwarded to the future to meet Hai Yi. Exciting possibilities here that were completely undeveloped. The only thing it was used for later was a plot device that might keep the couple apart. Because obviously Johnny wants to go back to his time to take care of his grandma. But she died and Hai Yi knew it and kept this from Johnny for no reason until Johnny attempted to go back to the past and Hai Yi told him. Why conceal this fact except to have a reason for Hai Yi to stop Johnny? Why not tell him as soon as you found out so your boyfriend could properly mourn her? Anyway, there’s no point to the time travel part of the story and it doesn’t appear to affect any other part of the story. So it’s pointless.

For the second couple we at least have some solid chemistry but I had a problem with a couple of major things. First, Vincent and Wynn are just starting their relationship when Vincent appears to be doing something morally ambiguous at best and downright sneaky and wrong at worst. Wynn calls him out on this behavior and plainly says they can’t be together if Vincent is the bad guy. Makes sense. Vincent is not actually the bad guy and is just pretending in order to help Hai Yi. Now, that isn’t bad by itself but the way they handled and then ignored these issues is weird and angsty for no reason. When Wynn questioned his lover about his behavior, rather than taking him into his confidence, Vincent ignored his concerns. When he saw his boyfriend was conflicted, rather than trying to show he wasn’t morally bankrupt, Vincent asked his new assistant to pretend they were now dating in order to make Wynn hate him. And while all of this was going on, other sources are telling Wynn that he needs to trust his lover. Why? Did they have a long standing relationship based on trust and mutual understanding? No, in fact their relationship was very new. So they in no way had enough relationship development to justify Wynn trusting Vincent implicitly. Nor did Vincent give him any reason to do so, he actually did the opposite by giving Wynn multiple reasons not to trust him. I can only assume that this was supposed to make it seem like these two really suffered in order to be together and to give them a conflict. But it felt manufactured and when Wynn finds out the truth, he doesn’t get angry and tell Vincent that he should have just told him the truth. Instead he begs forgiveness for not believing in him and they immediately jump into bed together. So there was a conflict but rather than deal with it appropriately they decided to just ignore the real issue and have a sexy scene and oh “I love you” how cute. Sorry, that annoys me. Why ignore the conflict you created?

Lastly, there is a real disparity in both relationships and it is discussed, and again, ignored. Wynn and Johnny are friends and while Wynn is bemoaning the fact that his boyfriend purposefully mislead him, he notes that it sucks to be dating your boss because they are the boss at work and the boss in the relationship. Rather than dealing with this in a reasonable mature way (like having a conversation with your lover and telling him that he cannot be the boss in the relationship that it has to be a full partnership), Wynn is advised by Johnny to just live with it because there is nothing they can do. Well for one, that mature conversation could take place where rules are set or, if that doesn’t work, you could break up because you don’t need to have a boss at home … anyway — just saying, brought up a conflict and ignored it. Twice. No further discussion needed apparently.

I would also like to discuss the obvious grooming going on the second relationship. Vincent is older than Wynn by I’m guessing at least 10 years based on the information in the story. Vincent is the boss, knows Wynn in a slightly stalker way, and then hires him as his assistant. Then he begins grooming his victim. Vincent (the boss) brings Wynn into his office and gives him lunch, eats with him, makes special time for him, treats him well, etc. So basically the guy in a position of authority going out of his way to approach his subordinate and in no time at all, he and the subordinate are dating. Not saying it was purposeful grooming, but since the characters themselves bring up the fact that Vincent is the boss at work and still the boss in their relationship, I think the comparison to grooming is valid.

While I can’t say the story was completely pointless, There was nothing about this series that stood out and nothing about the relationships that made the characters or romance feel special or worthy of a series devoted to them. I was disappointed overall. Would not watch again.

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Definitely worth watching

Korean BL with a wonderful cast and actual plot. Korean BLs do tend to have plot because they don't have NSFW scenes, but this one stands out. The acting was superb. The plot moved along at a reasonable pace. They didn't throw in any last minute surprises like cheating or sudden forgiveness on the last episode. It actually had rising action, climax, falling action, the whole story. Real character arc. I am really impressed. Sorry, just so many BLs (especially in Thailand more recently) have been wowing me with the low quality of their work, so when I find a BL that I can really relate to and care about the characters and not wonder where the plot has gone, I get excited. I enjoyed the music, though none of it was specifically outstanding, it was enjoyable. I don't want to give spoilers becaue this one had a fairly predictable plot and if I say how it started, it will pretty much give away the whole thing, but it's still worth the effort. The presentation makes it worthwhile despite it being a little predicatable. As I said before, the actors were spot on. Emotions and imperfections and learning to work through the scars of your past. Seriously, I would watch this again and then probably a couple of months later again and then awhile later, again. Whenever I want a reasonable BL without any cringe and with a good story. Plus happy ending. Love that. Adorable and definitely worth watching.

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Good series, better than expected

To be honest, I expected this series to follow in the footsteps of KinnPorche with lots of sex scenes and very little of anything else, but I was pleasantly surprised. First off, it has an actual plot, or at least a story that goes beyond the simple friends with benefits/romance. The characters faced some real issues and on the whole, it was well done. The actors were really good with the exception of one. Net and James were adorable and had amazing chemistry while the villains were easy to hate (which is the way it should be). The supporting cast was good, with one minor exception. Is it just me or does the actor who played Jade (I think his nickname is Yim) seem like he is way overacting pretty much all the time? Like his head bobs forward and he seems way too excited about bringing his friend a coffee. I'm not trying to disparage, because I thought what he did in Cutie Pie was good, so I'm guessing that was a directorial choice and as far as I'm concerned, it wasn't a good one. Other than that, though, all the actors were so good. Also, just want to point out that Mark is so good looking -- would love to see him in more shows. (Realizes that was slightly too much fangirl. Clears throat awkwardly. Back to the review!) Music was pretty good and I actually thought the addition of the "meows" during the kitten scene was so sexy. I really did enjoy their main theme song as well, though I don't care as much about the OST as others might. For me, the rewatch value was high. I thought the show really set itself above the others by actually having a relatable story and a decent romance at the the same time.

Now on to the spoilers! (Which means, if you don't want spoilers, don't continue reading.) The story involved a lot of trauma for Uea and I really felt that James did an amazing job of making those emotions feel real. The child actor who played young Uea was also simply amazing. Having the grace to act that out at that age shows that he has a lot of talent. I think that showing that Uea was still dealing with the trauma long after the event was realistic. So many writers want to move on from the trauma so that the story can develop without it, but in actuality, if you've experienced this kind of thing, you know that it stays with you forever and informs your choices and becomes part of your self. That isn't always a bad thing, sometimes it makes you so much stronger, but it does inform who you become and falling in love with someone, no matter how good that person is, does not automatically erase all the bad things that have ever happened in your life. So I was grateful that this was treated with more realism than you often find in a romance. The way Uea continues to have relationships with people who hurt him is a reflection of reality as well. Many people who have been abused might become abusers or continue to chose partners who abuse them. I don't like it, but it's the truth. Then on top of that, Uea also met with more trauma at work with his new boss. While I don't fault the writers for adding more trauma (since it is a tv series and if nothing ever happened in the series, no one would watch it), but I did have one problem with King at this point. Uea is taken into the office by Krit and almost raped, but when he gets away, he has to deal with King shaming him for his behavior. As if he had a choice and could have said, I refuse to go to your office, boss. The mom did the same thing (victim shaming Uea when his stepfather sexually assaulted him) but when she does it she's the villain and when King does it, how are we supposed to feel? I honestly wanted to hit him and I really wouldn't have blamed Uea if he never spoke to King again after that. Then it got weird when Uea apologized to King. I don't understand why King wasn't the one apologizing as he was the one in the wrong. So that was one little problem I found with the writer's handling of this issue.

Also technically, though no one ever talks about it, Uea was also drunk the first time he had sex with King. Really, King took advantage of him, which could be considered rape. It was weird, because they even brought up a similar situation later. King finds Uea flirting with some guy at the beach bar and takes him back to their room. He doesn't have sex with him, because he's too drunk. Then the next day, he asks Uea for a reward and Uea says that not taking advantage of him when he's drunk is how it should be. So why wasn't that brought up after their first time together? Just a question. I'm going to just be personally annoyed by that and not try to call it rape, but I wish writers would stop using that trope unless both the participants are drunk. Then it seems less like one taking advantage of the other and more like a mistake they both made.

They also touched on mental health, because Uea seems to be taking a medication for depression. At least that's the conclusion I came to based on the subtitles. I love that they put that in this show. I mean what person who goes through that amount of trauma in his life and doesn't need therapy? I'm glad more writers are including mental health as a real issue without giving it a stigma and making it seem like a failure of the person who needs help.

There were some problems with things being disjointed and/or not being sure how much time has elapsed since the last scene. Especially at the beginning. Like why did Uea seem to hate King so much? Why not just be annoyed at having a playboy flirt with you and then leave it at that? Instead, for what seems like no reason, Uea really dislikes King and behaves that way. Also, I would have liked to see a little more development with King. It seems like he likes Uea a lot, more than just flirting but he knows that Uea doesn't like him. But there is no back story. When they start with the bed friend idea, it seems to me that King was thrilled because he already really like Uea and wanted to be with him, but knew that Uea wouldn't date him because he was a playboy so he uses the idea of friends with benefits to get closer to the guy he likes. Is that just me? Anyway, I think we needed a little more in the beginning to set that up better.

The NSFW scenes were good. Thankfully, they were not the entirety of the show and if you don't enjoy them, you can skip them pretty much entirely without missing anything. I think it's great that they included them, but they weren't the main point. Overall, the show was terrfic and because the character interactions and overall plot was interesting and emotional, there is a high rewatch value.

Lastly, this doesn't effect anything with the show, but does anyone else think it's weird that when you look up the cast, Tutor and Yim are both listed just after Net and James, but Tutor wasn't in the show at all except the very last minute of the very last episode? He had one line! I mean, why list him so prominently when he was basically not in the show at all? Sorry, just asking.

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Another Hate to Love Trope

I almost could not watch the first two episodes of this series. I'm not okay with bullying and the fact that the writers had the audacity to have the victim of bullying fall in love with the person who bullied him and purposefully without even caring about the other person, attempted to ruin his life. I mean, later he was like, "I didn't know it was that important to you," but is that supposed to make it okay? That's the lamest excuse I've ever heard and still not an actual apology. In real life, hate to love does not exist because people don't fall in love with people who are cruel, thoughtless, and selfish from the very beginning. Yes, you might find out they are that way later, but if they treat you like crap from the get go, you don't value that relationship or that person. That just isn't reality. Someone will definitely say, "it's fiction" but the reason we write stories, read stories, make movies and view movies is because we want to relate to those characters. If you can't relate to the characters, you won't care what happens to them and won't care about their story. You can't believe in a love that is built on this kind of stupidity.

I was finally able to start watching it without skipping over half the scenes by episode 3. The actors were fairly believable and the music was okay. Korean BLs tend to be very hands off and that's okay, but despite their decent chemistry, I had a hard time finding many reasons to like the bully ML. From the beginning to the end, he wasn't someone I liked. I had sympathy for him for about 2 minutes, but he was such a jerk and often hateful, so my sympathy didn't extend far. The other ML was much more likable, but since I didn't like his romantic partner, it was kind of wasted. To be honest, he had just as much on screen chemistry with his rival archer as he did with the bully. That would have been a relationship I would prefer for them to develop. Two people who are supposed to be rivals but respect each other and fall in love while still having to compete against each other would be a much better story than the hate to love trope that is way too predicatible and unbelieveable. The story of them actually falling in love and getting together got kind of thrown in at the end. Like, two years later we meet again and decide to wait for each other to be ready, then two years later we're sort of in a relationship, but it's more like best friends. Why ask a bunch of questions about your boyfriend at the end? Haven't they been supposedly trying to work things out to be together for the past two years and just now they decide to ask what the other likes? Why not spend some time on those two years rather than just skipping it and leaving us wondering why they stayed around for two years when neither of them seems to have developed closer feelings to the other over all that time?

Despite all the negativity that I feel towards the actual couple, there were some good moments. Mostly the themes of coming to terms with your sexuality, learning how to love and forgive yourself, and finding your way in the world. I don't want to ruin the actualy good messages, because they are pretty much the only redeeming quality of this series. I wouldn't watch it again, but it wasn't a complete waste of time.

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Not the best Two Moons

I should start out by saying that the original Two Moons was my first ever BL, so I am a little skewed in favor of the original cast, with that said, even from an objective point of view, this was not the best Two Moons. From the top, the story wasn't bad. It was a continuation of the original Two Moons cast but add in Lom and Tatch. The story wasn't terrible, just cliche. The actors weren't terrible, just well, inexperienced. It does bother me that the actors didn't match the physical types of the characters from the story. I think Yo was actually taller than Pha or around the same height and build. I'm not saying that they should always perfectly follow the orginial, because you should base it on acting ability, but if we're basing this on acting ability solely without considering the physical characteristics at all, they should at least have gotten more experienced actors and worked a little on chemistry. Speaking of, there was no chemistry at all between MingKit, PhaYo, or ForthBeam. At least the TatchLom pairing did have chemistry, so they did an okay job with that. By the way, since Lom is supposed to be Pha's cousin, why did Tatch get the arrogant prick gene? His beginning treatment of Lom was so much like Pha's treatment of Wayo from the first season that I felt like he was possessed by the ghost of Pha past. Luckily he changed faster than Pha did, so you at least had a believable reason for Lom to start liking him. The music was nothing special. Not bad, not good. Rewatch value is low, because to me the story didn't stand out.

I can't talk about Two Moons without comparing it to the books, which I read (a translation on Wattpad by permission of the original author, but they did a good job before it got taken down and moved to a new site). Going by the books, the 3rd series was well ... I don't know how to describe it. Off. Crazy, Wrong. Taking a different direction. Oh well, you catch my drift. It was not what was in the book, BUT we did get to see the scene with Pha testing Yo and then proposing (which grates on my nerves to this day, like I seriously wish that book was never written). As in the book, Pha treats Yo badly, hurts his feelings and ignores him, then says if you can handle this and still love me you passed my test and we can get married. In this series, we get a much better response from Yo, where he tells Pha that he can handle all the times they can't be together because of work but he doesn't want to feel like Pha doesn't care about him. Then Pha apologizes (still half heartedly in my opinion, because Pha will always be the most arrogant prick ever) and proposes. So at least the writers in the series knew that ending with Pha being a complete d**k was not the way to go for that part of the series. The scenes between PhaYo, MingKit, and ForthBeam all seemed a little forced and weird. Like, where were they intending to go with this? Just ruin the relationships between all the characters, put them back together again as if nothing happened and call it a day? What was the point? We should have all just stuck with Season 1 and been happy. So overall, not a waste of time, but if you're a big fan of Two Moons, you will probably be disappointed.

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