Just a good premise is not enough

The Heavenly Idol unfortunately suffers from a major case of good premise and weak execution. The idea of the high priest that has to pretend to be a kpop idol was fun and interesting, and Kim Min Gue really delivered on his performance of Yeon Woo/Rembrary. But the plot became stale quickly. To make matters worse, two of the central characters were terribly executed. The Evil One was a kind of villain that lacks everything imaginable. He’s not scary, nor charismatic or even has much to do for most of the time. His only quality is not being called Kim Dal... It’s been awhile since I’ve disliked a character so strongly as Dal. She’s extremely annoying and, I don’t know if thats on the actress, but... she’s got the same facial expression for every emotion. She’s extremely bland and had a serious case of bad writing. Sometimes she acts like she’s 12, other times she’s the best professional in the kpop industry. I almost stopped watching the series because she annoyed me so much.
On the other hand, most of the other characters and actors are great. All the Wild Animals members are amazing, as is the CEO. Although I expected him to do more, Gam Jae was great too.

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Can't believe I cried because of a Teddy Bear

I’m writing this right after finishing the last episode. It’s a very bittersweet sensation to be “happy” that the couple you’ve been following for 15 episodes of 90 minutes doesn’t end up together, even though they are perfect for each other.

Once we had the confirmation of the connection between Tofu and Tarn, I knew this would not be a happy ending. As much as I loved Tofu, I was 100% sure the show would not let Tarn stay in a coma or die. This was never about the love story between Tofu and Nut. They never really had a chance. And that’s how I’m choosing to take this finale. I don’t have Tarn nor do I think him and Nut are a bad fit. I truly believe they are great for each other. I just don’t care much about him. We barely got to know the real Tarn, since we mostly know about him from Nut’s memories and point of view. So, he’s kinda of the perfect flawless guy. Nut always saw him as being perfect, being the polar opposite to Nut’s home life. I know, it’s true that Tofu was also kinda the perfect guy too, right until the end.

I thought Jan trying to poison Tofu would be a huge red flag. It was so obvious once the scene started. I was very surprised by that actually being how he dies. I knew he’d die in the episode, just as he did, but I expected that he’d die literally protecting someone from a bullet or a car trying to run someone over. He actually had a very, very sad death. And to make matters worse, we did not see that he got any justice. Sure, Saen was arrested, but we don’t know what happened to him. We also can’t forget that Jan was actually the killer. It looks like her punishment was losing Saen and Tarn waking up. The TRD lady got even less, the only think was that her project was stopped for good.

I’m happy that teddy bear Tofu came back in the end. I also love his scenes as a teddy bear running from the dog and reuniting with Nut. Them being together is the true happy ending of the show. Tofu will get the hugs and will be able to stay close to Nut. Gen and Song have their happy ending too, with both families both on board. BTW, Gen’s parents definitely earned a spot in the best parents in BLs. Nut’s mom does not, but he also missed the selection for worst moms [that actress being the mom of a BL protagonist is always a bed sign…]. If you really think about it, Na was responsible for everything bad that happened. At least, she was nice to Tofu.

I think 90 minute episodes was a bold choice. Airing three consecutive days also meant that a lot of people probably dropped the show because you don’t have time to catch up between airings. I know a lot of people that only restarted watching after the show was done, so they could do it at their own pace. Most episodes had a good flow. But, the amount of flashbacks annoyed me a bit, specially the ones centered around Na, Saen, Jan and Sib. I feel like we got flashback after flashback of the same things happening with them. The flashbacks centered around Saen at school were better.

Overall, The Miracle of Teddy Bear was a good show. I do think 16 episode of 90 minutes are a bit heavy, but that might be a bit selling point for people that like korean dramas. That aspect, plus the way this show is structured, makes this series more closely related to a kdrama than a regular thai BL. The cast is amazing and the chemistry is great. The acting highlight is obviously the dog. I’m glad he got his happy ending too.

PS: I find it really weird that not a single person thinks it’s weird for Tarn to open a studio right in the same living room where Tofu was murdered recently.

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The main couple is so bad that you HAVE to root for the guy kissing his brother in law

There are many instances where the main couple is not the best couple or the most entertaining to watch, like Until me Meet Again, Wy R U and My Engineer. But usually the main couple has some redeeming quality, like chemistry or a compelling story. You’re Me Sky fails miserably in that aspect.

Yes, I don’t love how much the sport aspect is a major part of the main story, but other shows have done is well. It’s the same problem for some high school BLs, where it’s all about the school. I think the problem for You’re My Sky is that I don’t get the sense that Fah and Thorn are that good at basketball. So, I kept waiting for someone to tell them that they’re not good enough, so they can face reality and move on.

We have three couples and, although I don’t love any of them, Vee and Dome are by far the best one. Yes, their relationship means that Pan is being cheated on by her boyfriend and her brother, but that’s just how things are on this series. They have more chemistry looking at each other from across a pond than the main couple making their relationship official. Aii and Saen are okay and they are cute together, But Saen annoys me a bit sometimes.

I actually like Suar and I think Tae is OK. Suar was great in You Never Eat alone, while Tae was good in Y Destiny, but I think he’s a bit to robotic sometimes. From episode 1 I could feel that Fah and Thorn didn’t have chemistry. As their story progressed, it was becoming more and more obvious that the romance was not working for me. To make matters even worse, their plot is extremely boring, at best. It’s all basketball all the time. We don’t learn anything about them nor do we see them getting to now each other better, since they last saw each other. They only talk about basketball. I couldn’t care less about how much Thorn wants the promises they made years ago to be a reality. Thorn took every opportunity he could to be an idiot at every turn.

Regarding the endings, Aii and Saen got the best one. They are making long distance work and the show remembered that Saen is rich and can just spend his vacations in Japan with Aii. For Dome and Vee, I understand it. They are still, basically, waiting for the time to pass. But it’s clear that they like each other and this is not a sad ending. As for Fah and Thorn, what a surprise, they got all they wanted. I really hoped that Thorn’s leg would get injured again or that he’d have to just keep playing with the university and wait. But no, he managed to get the opportunity to try out and play with Fah, even after that happened at the tournament. In the end, Thorn got everything he wanted, and I’m not to thrilled about that. Also, I’m 100% sure he’ll drop the university team as soon as he can.

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Remember 15 delivers gore and not much else

The thing about Remember 15 is that everyone sucks, so you’re not really rotting for any characters. I personally think that 12 episodes was too much. This could have worked better as a streamlined 8 episode series.

Everybody is guilty of something. Yet, I feel like the show wants the viewer to want Nest to “win” and survive, which I think is insane. Everything that happened is because of Nest. Yes, Mind recorded the video, but everyone suffered and died because of Nest sharing that clip.

I think the ending is a bit too open ended for this type of show. Was it all a dream? If so, from what part of the past? Did the clip get leaked or this is a timeline where Lilly was just jealous of Lyla and nothing terrible happened?
OR did everyone die, including Nest in the boat, and Lilly is just imaging how things could have been different?

The cast is overall OK but most of the characters a very one note, so there’s not much they can do.

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It’s a good season but I wish the answers came a bit earlier in the story

I went into season 2 straight after finishing the season 1 special edition. At first I was a bit annoyed that it looked like we were going back to square one regarding Shu Yi e Shi De, after a whole season for them to get together.

The second season is not bad or particularly worse than season 1, but the amount of time the show took to address a few of the question regarding the time jump bugged me. I obviously was not thinking that Shi De was dating a woman in the US and had a kid, but hinting that the kid is his brother only on the second to last episode was a bit too late. The fact that I was waiting for answers made me less open to have a good time. I wish everything had been explained once the deal with Mr. Zhou was revealed, in the first half of the season, so Shi De would also explain why he spent two years in the US, the blonde woman and the baby. I guess, as we saw on the bridge, that Shu Yi doesn’t care and doesn’t want to hear the explanation, but I do.

I liked that Zhe Yu and Bing Wei were still together and helped She Yi in the 5 years, so he was not alone. But I expected a little bit more of them in the story, they didn’t add much and got the last official scene in the series, with the proposal. The Zhen Xuan and Shu Yi story was weird. It started when Zhen Xuan was in high school, but nothing happened. Then he spent 12 years looking for someone that did not change his name, even though he’s supposed to be good enough with technology to hack the system without getting caught, according to Shi De. I guess they got a happy ending with that kiss.

Lets see what a rumored third season of WBL will bring us.

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Nice soundtrack and characters, not so much a great plot

I enjoyed this show, but I think the structure of the story is kinda bad. It should either be a show with a slow burn of the main characters realizing they like each other, culminating in the kiss on episode 6. Or a show that moved over that part quickly, so it makes sense to have their “happy life” destroyed by reality and fear. I think the “break up” would be more impactful if we got to see them living a happy life together, with the added layer of romance. Everything before episode 8 takes place over a month, so it’s not like they were together for months and then broke up.

I think the actors are great and that they have great chemistry. The soundtrack is amazing.

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I had to take a 1 month break from Andante

I had a real hard time watching this drama. The first few episodes made me stop the show for some weeks, most of the characters were just way too annoying and the story looked just silly. After those few episodes, around the halfway point, the story started to get better and became for mature.

The show that started out quite silly became a sad story toward the end. Besides the characters that most times are just annoying for no reason, the pacing is not good and some plot lines felt out of place (like the hospice closing down). So, end up with a big chunk of time dedicated to plots that don’t mean much, and a lot of Bom and Dad rushed in the last few episodes.

I think Andante might have worked better as a shorter series. I don’t think they would have been able start the dramatic stuff (Bom decease, Bom’s death, grandmas’s decease…) earlier and explore it better.

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One of the biggest surprises of the year

I was honestly not expecting much from Lovely Wrjter, specially because the first couple of episodes didn’t wow me. But things got way better quickly.
Right from episode 1 it’s clear that Sib is being shady and has ulterior motives to get close to Gene. Little be littler started to see layers and piece together that Sib doesn’t seem to be trying to do harm do Gene. At first I thought he was a con artist, I was sure he wasn’t even enrolled in the university, that just wanted to seduce the lonely and innocent Gene.

I did not see the twist coming. I’d never have guessed that they knew each other from childhood. It’s a bit of a stretch that a 10 year old would prefer to play hide and seek or with stuffed animals with a 6 year old, rather than playing with the other boys around his age. But, it serves to show that they have a connection since then.

I like how their relationship is developed within the 12 episodes. Even though they kissed pretty early, I like how things didn’t get rushed even after they start to date. I like how Sib has patience with Gene because he knows it’s all new to him. Yes, somethings Sib is a bit too obsessed with Gene, like telling him not to talk to stranger, when the “stranger” was one of the main characters on their series within the series.

I liked the supporting characters too. I’m glad that the show didn’t try to do a redemption act for Aye. He really gets a sad ending, all alone. I also like how the series uses him to criticize the obsessive nature of the shipping surrounding BLs. I wish we got to see Hin being a best seller and getting more respect from Bua in the end. He deserves that by being an amazing friend to Gene, jeopardizing his career. I also love how both older brothers are 100% supportive of Gene and Sib. If Hin gets the Best Friend award, Jab and Nueng share the Best Brother award.

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DFF tried too hard to be different

This series has probably the worst case of plot development/planning I’ve seen recently. The main issue is the wish to be different and way too mysterious. BoC loved saying this was the first BL with a murder mystery and that’s where they got it wrong. The first 4 episodes are terribly boring. Nothing really happens, while a lot of things happen. But how? It’s all filler.
Once the flashbacks are introduced, the series is light years ahead in terms of quality and actually starts to have a story. Episode 5, out of 12, is when the series really happens for me. BoC missed the mark by not including flashbacks since the first or second episode. We don’t even meet the main character, Non, until episode 5, that’s a bad move.
Regarding the ending, everybody dies is the best case scenario. I didn’t think BoC would actually go for it. The only character I could see living and it working well would be Tee. Being alive is his big punishment after causing everything that happened and literally killing his boyfriend, the only innocent person. Saving Jin would be a major letdown, since he actively caused Non’s spiral and helped destroy his life with that video. All because he was jealous.

I love Barcode’s original song for the series.

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Ridiculously simple yet makes zero sense

From the first episode you already know that Lue is Din. With that in mind, you understand this is a simple story about revenge. Yet nothing makes sense for the entire series. Things just happen and 90% of the supporting cast does nothing. Sometimes it looks like Lue is in two places at once or can teleport. He changes in and out of his disguise quicker can Superman. I was expecting the plot twist to be that Lue is actually a pair of twins.
For the supporting cast, don’t even need to learn their names, it’s not all that important. Ken gets beat up every episode, and so does Lue. Yet, their bruises disappear and reappear at random times. This show does not have 1/10 of what was needed to pull off that ending with them separated, this is not Trapped. the weirdest part is that money was not an issue. This show is just bad because the plot is terrible.
Overall, the cast does a good job considering the plot and dialogues are horrible. The main actors have chemistry and could work well together in a better show.

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Cute simple story. but no side plot or many answers

A Boss and a Babe is a cute story, and the nice series Force and Book deserved after Enchanté. The plot is overall quite simple, but I really liked the main couple. The side characters don’t have individual plots or matter all that much.
Force and Book are great as Gun and Cher, you could see how well they fit into those characters. Force as Gun is the highlight of the series, in my opinion, The entire cast is overall well in the show. Java is the weakest link, but his character is also annoying, so that doesn’t help.
My biggest issue with ABAAB is the fact that the side characters and plots don’t matter. Cher’s friend group is there just to be fun and create lighthearted moments. Zo and Thee have several alone scenes that are bland and don’t go anywhere beyond proving they’re in love. We get a hint about Jack’s backstory and him having depression, but that’s no explored. But not exploring is still better than trying to tackle a heavy issue, like everything involving Tian, and doing a bad job. By the way, Thoop was OK with the mom way to easily.
The biggest mystery for me is Drake's character. Is he the bad guy? What really happened in the past? Did he steal information from Gun’s company about the new game? Was he framed? Did Ink fabricate those logs? I guess we’ll never know… (unless Our Skyy decides to mention it)

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Bad plot development for a potentially fun series

My Ride could have been a nice fun and light BL series. No deep topics, no super complex relationships or plot twists. But the series has two problems: a boring protagonist and a super slow central plot.

Most of the characters on the show are quite okay. Mork is by far the best character, and Fluke in great in the role. The side characters are also entertaining, like the uncles and Mork’s friends. The two side couples work and their stores have a slow but steady development. I enjoyed ToyBoss more than I expected. Unfortunately, Tawan is a very dull protagonist. And to makes matters worse, he’s stuck in failed and uninteresting relationship for 8 episodes.

We get nice moments between Mork and Tawan during the episodes where they’re just friends, but the story cannot develop until Tawan is single. The story tries to show the audience that Tawan might have feelings for Mork while still “dating” Por. But Tawan tries to hold onto that relationship even after Por: ghosts him, lies to him, asks for time apart and cheats on him. Tawan caught Por in bed with another guy and he was still trying to stay together?! The issue is that Por and Tawan never had a relationship. There’s not a single nice moment between them after Por gives him flowers. There’s nothing to make Tawan want to stay together. They have no history. I hate the “ex comes back in the end to separate the couple” plot, but at least Mork and Fern were together for years and had good moments together. Episodes 8, 9 and 10 had nice moments for MorkTawan, but it ended up being too little too late. My Ride could have explored those moments better if the couple started to get together earlier.

I was not expecting a groundbreaking series, but My Ride still left me disappointed with how little screen time the main couple got as a an actual couple and how boring the central story was.

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Finished on the second try

This was actually my second time trying to watch Dear Doctor. The first time, a few weeks ago, I ended up no finishing the first episode because the rhythm was a bit off for me. But this time I endured episode one and finished the series. The first episode is a bit weird because we get dropped in the middle of the story, the protagonists already know each other and we have to understand everything via pieces of plot explanation.

The show actually doesn’t have all that much medical scenes in it, but there’s still a lot of scenes at the hospital, just not treating cases or during surgeries. I’m not the biggest medical drama fan, so that did not bother me. The whole competition to see who’s gonna get the chief surgeon position was a bit meh, because there’s a total of 5 doctors working there, and there’s not a single doctors that’s over 30. The two side couples are ok, I just wish their romances would’ve been developed better. All 4 characters get a good amount of screen time, just not for romantic scenes.

The main couple is probably the strongest aspect of the show. Karn and Nut have known each other for any years and are part of the first wave of thai BLs, with Grey Rainbow. They have great chemistry and their characters have a nice story. There’s no real twists and turns or plot twists, but it makes sense for their relationship to develop slowly at first. The whole thing about them meeting 20 ago and how that explain’s the fact that Prakan can see Tua makes sense. They have some nice sweet moment together.

Regarding the ending, I think it was nice to see Tua mention that, after sometime, he would not be able to accompany Prakan in social situations with his family and friends, since he’d not age. It’s a huge aspect for human x non human relationships, and many series don’t spend time on that. The scene with Prakan turning old and dying was done well, but I wish we’d seen more moments of them together doing stuff during those decades together.

The actual ending kinda surprised me, because I was expecting Prakan to become a reaper so he’d stay with Tua. But, since we don’t know how much time Tua has to stay as a reaper, the jump forward to reborn Prakan was a happy ending that fits with the show, and restarts the cycle. It's a very Goblin-esque ending.

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It didn’t work for me

I know that a lot of people love this series and always talk about the sad ending. I’ve seen “salt” listed as a big villain in the BL world because of it. But MODC didn’t work for me. I didn’t connect with any of the characters and thought that the main couple was a bit forced. To be fair, the ending was spoiled to me, so that could be part of the reason. I think the secondary couple is a bit better than the main one, but I expected them to have more relationship troubles. It always looked like there was gonna be cheating looming around.

Knowing how the ending was, I expected the last episode to deliver some drama. But it only showed a protagonist that’s unbearably boring and sadness about something that happened 6 years before, and that we don’t see. They stayed together for less than a year and he could not move on, besides now having a girlfriend.

I don’t think the show gave us enough moments to show how deep their relationship was and how madly in love they were. With 10 episodes, I think they could have developed a better romance. So, for me, it looks like too much drama. The hallucinations were a bit too much.

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