Reviews

It is bad, not the worst, but it is bad

If you're looking for a show that will change your life, this isn't it. If you're looking for a good story that will give you a message, this isn't it. But if you have free time, want to watch something with your meal, and are looking for something that won't strain your mind too much, this is it. In the story, all characters are in the gray zone except 3 of them.(two of them are black, one of them white, white is the only girl btw:) Some of them are very light gray, some are close to black. This may be the most admirable aspect of the story. You can empathize with almost all the characters or get angry and hate them at the end of the story. This choice is completely It is left to you.

The first episodes of the series are very fluent and different. But the cliché of bringing an ex-lover to open a new path has turned everything upside down. With such a clumsy move and the continuation of the lazy writing technique, the story jumped out of the window. Even though you understand the motivations of many characters until that hour, everything becomes a confusion after that hour. Characters exhibit self-contradictory behavior. Which is the failure of the scenario. The scenario also has inconsistencies within itself. While the kissing scene of one of the characters who has a boyfriend with someone else may cause major events, another character's not taken into consideration at all and is even applauded. In the series, everyone cheats on each other or everyone kisses everyone else, but these do not serve anything. The characters act as if nothing happened. They made everyone kiss to eache other for just get more interaction on social media and these scenes serve nothing. In short, it is another series where the weak and bad scenario is tried to be saved with popular actors and Nc scenes. It is bad but not the worst, but it is still bad.

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another my comfort drama with criminal genre(?)

I remember the first time I watched this drama I was bored and confused, but then I was very happy to have found this drama because it was rarely talked about.

I watched it right after it ended so I could finish it in two days.

The role I thought was evil turned out to be good and there were many unexpected things in this drama. I really liked the unpredictable dynamics of the story, and the comedy was natural and very funny.

Unfortunately, the ending for one of the characters was unsatisfying even though it made sense too.

Their acting is also good especially with the well-written tone! I was amazed by the unexpected comedy that emerged from the characters. Even though this story only focuses on prison, it's not boring!

You can watch 3 episodes first, it's difficult at first but this drama is worth trying!

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A little confusing but great

The whole Doom and God storyline was a little confusing. What were they doing? What could they do? Did he have powers? He was driving everywhere but apparently could appear wherever he wanted. It was confusing but not to the point that it made the series less great in my opinion.

Park Bo Young is one of my favorite actresses. I thought the chemistry was off the charts with In Guk. The second couple (love triangle) was tense at times but sweet. I think she decided on the right guy.

My favorite character was her brother. My gosh he was super funny and this was needed as I cried my eyes out several times.

it was a big emotional buildup to the last episode and I was ready for a fantastic ending with a beautiful wedding. There was a happy ending but no wedding. I just don’t get why she avoided marrying him. This series needed a wedding and a send off to a honeymoon to make it a really satisfying ending. Not sure why this couldn’t happen since it seems like they were grasping at material. Everyone making kimchi could have been cut for a wedding.

These few things deducted half a point or this would have been a 10!

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Messy!!! (in the best way)

Imagine the messiest person you know - someone that always has drama, makes too big of a deal about things, etc. Now imagine six people like that who are all (loosely) in the same friend group. That's the plot of Only Friends.

The show was NEVER boring. I was screaming at the TV and pausing to take deep breaths every single episode. You've got Mew (Book), Ray (Khaotung), and Boston (Neo) who are all pretty close friends (plus their lesbian friend Cheum (Lookjun)). In an attempt to help Mew get laid, Boston sets him up with his friend Top (Force). Mew and Top hit it off, but instead of a one night stand, start going on dates. Things start getting messy when Boston and Ray seem to be jealous of this relationship for different reasons; things get messier when bar singer Sand (First) meets Ray, and Boston starts seeing Nick (Mark). These six "friends" seem to be anything but - and they are much too willing to hurt each other in order to get what they want.

This show was super fun. It was the boldest show I've seen from GMM, and it was done well. With this many characters, it's hard to keep them all interesting and dynamic, but they did an excellent job with it. It was juicy all the way through without a moment to rest. And while I sometimes do wish there were more happy moments throughout, or more instances of positive character growth, it was extremely entertaining to watch and had me yelling at each character for different reasons. Definitely worth a watch.

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Damn that was Good!

Only Friends is a show with little to no flaws. It is modern so if you are not a fan of mature scenes or topics I can say to skip this one. It's a fun story that keeps you on the edge of your seat on what will happen next. The soundtrack was great, and the setting and direction were great. The actors did an amazing bringing their characters to life everyone has chemistry. From episode 1 to the Final I never got bored they always gave us something to make us excited in every episode, It was a happy ending yall and yeah kind of the Euphoria of Thailand but not as intense. A story you don't see often written about how some young people live and I love that.

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It was so worth it to wait every week

What a ride!! Only friends, a group of friends with a lot of backstabbing, cant stay loyal, a lot of kissing and NC- scenes (mostly from Boston).

It was a very well written serie with a bunch of great actors. Everyone acted sooo good. My favorites were sandray and bostonnick. Almost everyone was a red flag and I loved it! Everyone kissed everyone and there were couples you wont usually ship.

It was the best serie this year (imo). Im gonna miss this. I hope we get a season 2!! I hope Boston comes back from New York and there is Mix who seems interested in Book's character. This is interesting!! Cant wait!!

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Heartwrenching From The Start

I was quite interested in this drama initially because I saw that Park Eun Bin was starring in it and I have absolutely loved her acting in recent shows like Extraordinary Attorney Woo.

From the synopsis and previews, it seems like this drama will lean more on the light-hearted side but from the first episode I was surprised at how much of a more serious and dark tone that the show leaned into.

Will update review accordingly.

Here is my organized yet unorganized overview and first impressions of episode one that I wanted to do because it truly will set the stage for the rest of the series to come and it gives such a well-thought out backstory of the characters we will follow. I thought it was a very strong start to the series. Here we go...

We follow our main character Seo Mok-Ha, who is portrayed on the surface as a "brainless fangirl". She is such a huge fan of Yoon Ran Joo who is a very popular singer and is shown during that time period as having sold the most albums ever as a Korean female singer. Seo Mok-Ha also dreams of becoming a famous singer one day. She wants to enter a fan video contest submission for Yoon Ran Joo and she needs someone with a video camera to help her out, so she enlists the help of Jung Ki-Ho, who is portrayed on the surface as a "money-grubbing lunatic" to help her film and edit it. He is always looking for ways to make money with odd jobs and side hustles at the school. Things like trying to get paid just for letting people borrow his phone or ride his bike. The two students relationship is contentious at the beginning but the filming of the fan video is kind of the starting point that leads to a budding and deeper connection between the two high school students.

As we peel back the layers a little bit though, the audience comes to learn that both Seo Mok-Ha and Jung Ki-Ho are both victims of abuse at the hands of their single fathers. It is very triggering how diabolical the two fathers are and the scenes where abuse takes place are very hard to watch. It honestly makes me think about how many people in this world have to go through the same abuse that these characters have to go through day in and day out. It truly hurts my heart just thinking about it. That's a scarring pain that you carry with you throughout your life.

As we get near the end of the episode, we see that Jung Ki-Ho is trying to make sure that Seo Mok-Ha gets to Seoul to meet up with Yoon Ran Joo and Lee Seo Joon (who I am assuming is Ran Joo's manager and company owner?) since she won first place in the competition. To back track a little, Seo Mok-Ha was discouraged to even submit her video after an incident where she called the police on her father after one of the many incidents where he beat her up so badly. And guess who the police officer ended up being? It was Jung Ki-Ho's father who abuses his son just the same. Jung Ki-Ho picks up on the fact that Seo Mok-Ha is being abused by seeing the bruises on her arm when she's talking to the police (Seo Mok-Ha doesn't realize that Jung Ki-Ho is being abused as well until towards the end of the episode where she sees photos he took of his bruises in his notebook).  Jung Ki-Ho ends up submitting the video without her knowing. After Seo Mok-Ha has a breakdown at school, Jung Ki-Ho lets Seo Mok-Ha know that basically if her father gets violent again that she should come immediately to his house and he will help her and she does just that. 

They end up on the boat waiting for it to set sail to Seoul but Seo Mok-Ha's father ruins the plans by showing up on the dock looking for her and Jung Ki-Ho gets off after letting Seo Mok-Ha know that now it's up to her to brave this journey alone and tries to stop the father as best as he can but he gets beaten up BADLY (WHY WERE PEOPLE JUST STANDING THERE WATCHING THIS KID BASICALLY ALMOST DIE?!?!?!?!?!?) and the father jumps on the boat viciously looking for his daughter and she's running away from him and she ends up jumping off of the boat and the father does too and from there is where the known synopsis of her being a castaway on the island for 15 years starts. I also want to point out that right when she first gets to the island, we see that her father has been washed upon the shore and is dead. The story moves on and we briefly see her life and how she lives on the island in the present day, but quickly a drone spots her and that's basically the point where she's rescued. 

So, now we move into her adjusting to her newfound life 15 years later after being rescued from the island and see all that ensues.

I am genuinely curious about how they will proceed with the characters and their stories as the show moves forward. I want to see who and how Jung Ki-Ho is in the present day. I want to see what this second male lead is all about. I want to see what's the deal between the singer and the manager/company owner. I want to see what happened to Seo Mok-Ha's father after all of these years (I honestly hope he rots). I want to see how they will play out this whole singing aspiration of Seo Mok-Ha as well. I have so many questions!!!--- I hope the show leans more into the human condition and being more on the emotionally gripping side with a dose of comedy but we will see.

Side note: I am already loving the cinematography and editing choices! And the acting is wonderful!

This show has shot up to the top of my list for shows I am most looking forward to watching week by week!

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Unexpectedly Underwhelming :)

Great cast, veterans from other BL shows, a premise with a hint of lots of interaction and sex. What could go wrong?

PLOT: Let’s say the basic concept is pretty interesting, the different members having connections or history with each other, seeing different ships mixing together, this idea would make the show not boring. Well, the execution is quite different. The different plotlines are not detailed enough and also pretty boring, that even the actors can’t make it better. I thought it would get interesting at some point but I noticed that in later episodes I just started skipping some parts because I was so bored with some side plotlines. By the trailer it seemed like a 18+ show, however, let alone some strong and truly hot scenes in early episodes, it gets so soft and boring later that it feels like a Turkish soap opera.

DIRECTION/PRODUCTION: The casual GmmTv issues are present regarding the production: weird sounds/voices, poor sound quality in outdoor takes. The setting sometimes feels a bit contracted.

ACTING/CHARACTERS: This is the heaviest issue for me. The cast is pretty good, well-known faces, good actors. However, it generally feels like poor acting, but I think it’s because of the bad direction and writing. I think the only exception is Khaotung (Ray) who seems to be the most complex character and also the actor is putting all effort into showing us. His performance was outstandingly good compared to others, despite this actor really not being my favourite in the BL world.
Outstandingly bad performance was associated with Force (Top). His plain expressions make it feel like it’s a production from a highschool afternoon acting club. This kinda worked in A Boss and a Babe, but doesn’t work at all in Only Friends. Let alone some good emotional moments in later episodes when his character cries, which is some decent acting.
-After watching the last episode, and the post-credit funny scenes, I realized these actors have so much energy and personality inside them, half of it wasn’t shown throughout the show. These last funny BTS scenes really show a contrast between what could have been and what was.

CHEMISTRY: Chemistry between Top and Mew didn’t really work for me, the other couples and mix-ups had some really intense moments, even some believable drama between each other.
So... Steamy scenes: 9/10 ; Drama: 6/10

MUSIC: The opening is kinda cringy in my honest opinion, but the title song is SO COOL, I never get bored of it, I really recommend you find the whole song on YT and give it a try, it’s pretty catchy. The other musics during the episodes were alright, they didn’t really bother me but also nothing special, however sometimes I felt like I’m listening to a “Teamfight_3” music from Dota2 Music Pack 2018. :D Actually there are some free stock musics from YT, but they are not disturbing at all.

ENDING: Underwhelming. Rushed. Empty. Could have been some real drama. The only exception is Boston’s ending which I found sad but realistic and well-deserved.

VERDICT: I find this show such a wasted potential, with such a great cast and promising premise/concept. Underused cast, lame writing, average, boring plot. A slightly better than average show for me, but maybe I expected too much, therefore I'm giving it a 6.5/10.

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This show gave me anxiety but I loved it

Omgg this was a hot meeeess but in the absolute best way. All the characters are flawed and human and really just looking for Love and Companionship. Usually a messy show means that the plot is bad but Only Friends has to be the expectation for this. The show never lost its way. Yes it got messy and I had to watch through my fingers bcs omggg wtfff but all the characters always stayed true to themselves. Nothing gets brushed over. Emotions get felt! People get hurt, hearts broken but thats life. All the releashionships in this show get portrayed in a deeply human and flawed way. Showing that we enter releashionships and we may open ourselves up and even love someone but that dosent mean that the releashionship is perfect or that it will even last. Love takes so much more than just passion its hard work. Its commitment and always a choice made everyday anew. I hope our Only Friends Couples continue choosing each other.
The cinematography’s and music was also just chefs kiss so good. Someone needs a raise
Also i smell a season two or a special episode. Please please just something. So I can get over my bruised heart from all the pain.

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The most heart warming slice of life bl.

I loved this Japanese bl so much. It felt so realistic and true to life. I loved how it was slow paced and natural. The father was so understanding! I wish a lot of us have parents like that, parents who intuitively understand what their children need.
The child!! omg, he was the sweetest. he made the story so heartwarming.
I love the family vibe this bl gave. It gave us the warm fuzzy feeling of what family can and should be.

I will be rewatching this series more than once! The slice of life, warm and loving vibes with a happy ending is all I need to make a bad day good again.

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=> An excellent healing & feel good series, with great actors and a lot of tenderness

PLOT: The FL wakes up in the hospital after 13 years in a coma. Her family abandoned her and everyone disappeared. She finds herself, hosted by the ML, scenographer, in her old house, with the ML's nephew and the housekeeper (a little pert but philosophical).

PROS:
+ Great actors (ML = Yang Se Jong, FL = Shin Hye Sun, the nephew)
+ A well-constructed, realistic and coherent story, including the evolution of the characters.
+ A dynamic production, with a good balance of romance/humor/tenderness.
+ An adorable chihuahua, excellent actor and well trained (2 in reality :)
+ excellent OSTs

CONS:
- Lots of coincidences, missed acts, "dramaland".

=> An excellent healing & feel good series
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PLOT : La FL se réveille à l'hôpital après 13 ans de coma. Sa famille l'a abandonnée et tout son monde a disparu. Elle se retrouve, hébergée par le ML, scénographe, dans son ancienne maison, avec le neveu du ML et la gouvernante (un peu perchée mais philosophe).

PROS:
+ Des acteurs géniaux (le ML = Yang Se Jong, la FL = Shin Hye Sun, le neveu)
+ Une story bien construite, réaliste et cohérente, y compris dans l'évolution des personnages.
+ Une réalisation dynamique, avec un bon équilibre romance / humour / tendresse.
+ Un chihuahua adorable, excellent acteur et bien dressé (2 en réalité :)
+ d'excellents OST

CONS:
- Beaucoup de coïncidences, d'actes manqués, de "dramaland".

=> Une excellente série healing & feel good

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Yes, gay parents can raise a happy gay child

Occasionally charming, frequently irritating, almost always excruciating in its inept performances and writing, “AiLongNhai” is a potentially good idea that needed more care and thought to pull off.

Can a pair of gay parents successfully raise a child, and can they model a happy relationship to that child, and especially if the child is gay? The point of “AiLongNhai” is to answer ‘yes’ to both questions. It also introduces us to two very different characters, one raised in comparative wealth and who has an assured manner about him in the world, and the other, a young man reluctant to grow up to adulthood (nicely metaphored as the yellow plastic duck found in bathtubs). There is potential here for something interesting, but it fails to do so and became for me one of the hardest series to finish watching.

Ai, played by Meen Nichakoon Khajornborirak as if trying his hardest to remember his lines, has been raised by his gay father and his partner; he falls for the perpetually childish Nhai, played with appropriate surface shallowness by Ping Krittanum Anunchananum. Run Kantheephop Sirorattanaphanit’s debut outing as a screenwriter shows a newbie’s poor scene structure and preference for episodic incident over character development. Even the more experienced Director, Nob Sathanapong Kim Wongthong, can’t save this series from being a continuing experience of under-delivery.

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Everyone's a red flag and we're all colorblind

So. This is the perfect series if you want to have fun, not think too much, and just watch the trainwreck happen before your eyes. It's messy, it's toxic, everyone kisses everyone at some point, and there's some punching, pushing and yelling, too. Just great.
I have to say, this is so not my usual type of series to watch. To go from Cherry Blossoms After Winter to this was such a big jump it gave me whiplash, but I digress. What I mean is: even I, the utmost fluff enjoyer, had a good time watching this. I was invested all the way through.

I generally liked the couples. NickBoston takes the cake for me, the actors were a pairing I never saw coming but they have great chemistry nonetheless. Even with how toxic they were for each other, they had me actually rooting for them at one point. SandRay is also a great pairing. They're also toxic (I'm going to overuse this adjective, apologies in advance), but there's something so natural about the way they interact. April and Cheum were my absolute favorites - I love them. And TopMew I just didn't care for. After the cheating incident, Top just lost all my respect, and I lost interest in seeing them try to mend their relationship. Also, compared to the other two couples, the chemistry wasn't as strong (in my opinion), so that was also a factor.

I think the strong point of this series is its unpredictability. You never know which couples are safe, which ones are not - who's cheating on who with whom, who is whose ex, who has old unadressed feelings, etc etc. I had no idea where the plot was going for most of the series - and I think that's ok in this case. You just enjoy the drama as it comes. It's also as if they randomly chose two of the actors' names and had them make out for every episode, which was messy but entertaining. I swear, every possible combination was tried and tested (some of them multiple times). Even my boy Drake made an appearance (and got with two different people).

However, there are still aspects I wasn't entire sold on. As I said, neither Force nor Book's acting did it for me - they didn't look as into it as the other couples. I haven't seen their other series, so I cannot say if this is a problem they have in general or if it's just here. At the end, I've probably skipped (or skimmed over) most of their scenes. As for their characters, Top became irredeemable after cheating, and Mew lost himself (and also me) with his questionable bad-boy-act. I'm not saying I disapprove of the toxicity (there goes that word again), but rather how the series wanted me to like them, to ship them. How am I going to? There's no trust between them!
Anyway. I digress.
The intimacy scenes were okay. I also skimmed over them, but that's just because it's not usually what I like to watch. So, if you like them, go ahead, Only Friends has loads lol.

I recommend this series, definitely. Not one of my favorites, but it's enjoyable and keeps you on your toes.

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