Give it a try (despite the crazy plot)

I'm not a big fan of time travel in my media, and while it still isn't my favorite, I do think they worked it well into the show. The plot description sounds crazy, and it is, but you just have to give it a try and let it wash over you.

The show is definitely meant to be a bold statement on a wide swath of topics, and it handles those topics quite well. There's heavy themes of being pro choice, pro kink, sex positive, and educated about sex and consent that are consistently dealt with in different ways each episode. It does at times feel like it's trying to hit some major points as opposed to flowing naturally, but once you figure out what the style of the show is I don't think it detracts.

It's worth giving it a try even if it doesn't sound like your cup of tea!

Read More

Started off great. What went wrong?

The first half of this show was really great! Fleshed out, complex characters were introduced with a wide variety of storylines that made for an interesting watch. The characters were authentically queer and messy, with really fantastic acting coming from everybody. Every character has some pretty serious flaws, and to be honest it looked like everybody was going to hate each other by the time the show was over. I was not expecting a traditional happy ending for most if any of these characters, but that's life! I came into this expecting that it would be messy and disastrous, that would have been a reasonable ending.

However, the last few episodes completely switched their tune. Of everybody in this show, the only characters that made any sense to give a happy ending to was Sand and Ray, with a possibility of Boston and Nick ending up in a successful open relationship. I'm the first to admit that I'm biased as this is the only show with ForceBook that I've ever been able to finish because I just don't enjoy their pairings, but Top and Mew were a disaster from the start and everybody could see that they were going to crash and burn before they even got together. But for some reason, instead of letting Mew go through with his revenge and have a true wild phase, he ends up getting back together with Top??? It made zero sense with the original plot and came across as something that was changed halfway through to appease the fans.

The treatment of Boston and his shitty ending also seemed to come out of nowhere. Initially, it seemed that this show was going to challenge the stigma around queer people who sleep around and don't choose the monogamous lifestyle with Boston's character. I truly thought that he was going to get a "happy" ending where he continues to live that life or has an open relationship. But instead we got whatever that was and a reinforcement of the idea that the only way to truly be happy is to settle for a monogamous relationship. There were plenty of characters done wrong by this change in narrative, but personally I was most disappointed with Boston's treatment.

Really great acting from the cast in this though! Khaotung has proven himself as a very capable and compelling actor before, but he really did an AMAZING job as Ray in this. First also did a great job as Sand, and together the two of them played very well off of each other to create a really tangible dynamic. Neo got a chance to step outside of the roles he's been cast in for the last few GMMTV shows, and his acting really stood out here.

Overall, there's a lot of really talented actors in this who got to shine during the first half of the series, I just wished they had went with a different ending.

Read More

Worth the watch even if you didn't like their en of love series!

I did not enjoy their En of Love series, but I thought I'd give this a shot because YinWar do chemistry so well, and I'm glad I did. The time allowed in a full length series is much better suited to the story, and allowed for a much better plot, more natural pacing, and better resolution to plot points. I don't care for cheating plots in general, and I still stand by that, but I think this series did a decent job of working through it with more realistic and compelling resolutions. The chemistry is, of course, phenomenal, and both Yin and War acted very well in this series. In the time between the En of Love special and this series they both really matured as actors and it came through in this. There's lots of tears, but the full length series also gave us a chance to see them happy together which I really appreciate. It's a true drama though, so be prepared for some tense moments, crying, and broken hears. If you haven't seen the original, I would honestly recommend skipping it and just watching this one. I encourage anybody to give this series a shot, regardless of whether you've seen (even if you didn't like) the original!

Read More