Together with Me: The Next Chapter (2018)

When you watch a lot of BL dramas, the tensions in gay couples come from the same issues. Coming out to friends, coming out to co-workers, and coming out to parents. I don't think I have ever seen a show so far where there was an actual sexual affair being part of the drama. The reason why I think it was a great place to go for Korn and Knock is because their personalities were clashing and there were real issues in the relationship that would lead Korn to stray. They didn't even have to make Pete the bad guy to make what happened believable. Knock has always been immature, self-centered and dismissive of Korn's feelings. Anyone would feel exasperated by that situation, and cheating happened. What it did was clarify their feelings for each other, and even though it might seem late in the game, I think there was enough time taken to give Knock space to be angry and sad. The real problem is that the writers don't know how to write about deep emotions - there is never any real deep talking between any of the couples, and they all need to talk more. I am glad they resolved their issues without having to have a dramatic hospital scene, but rather just a realization that their legendary love is greater than the mistake that was made. People forgive people for cheating in real life too you know. I thought the show was great - it made me laugh (the parents were hilarious), cry and worry. That's what any show would want to be able to do. And now I'm sad it's over because Korn/Knock and Max/Tul is one of the best couples in ALL BL. I'll miss them.

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Painful. I hate everyone

So basically Yihwa shouldn't have ever dated anyone in the first place cause she was such a badass and became a weak character once she was with Cho. Knock was fucked up and became a saint, Korn was a saint who became fucked up. Nobody should really date in this series, the proof is that the only person with a brain was also the only single person in the friend group: Fai. Everything about this show sucks, everybody cheats and no one deserves forgiving, I actually wish Yihwa had stayed with her senior. I hate Farm, he was never an interesting character and he did not deserve a happy ending. I hate everybody but Rit and Fai, they should have ended up together just because they are the only ones who are actually good people and should be happy.

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Like others who have already given perfect scores, I've done so because of the low scores given by some viewers who never even finished the series. I won't go through the whole plot again, but I will address a couple of points that some people may have missed...
I know that the biggest complaint by some viewers was the fact that Korn cheated on Knock and the negativity became so bad that the company and MaxTul had to release statements. If they expected an immediate happy ever after then there wouldn't have been any point in making a whole new season - realistically that's just not life. Firstly, Knock was not an equal partner in this relationship and in fact, was acting like a child for the first half of the series - not being responsible in the home or the relationship. He was taking Korn for granted, always expecting him to pay for everything, not doing anything to help around the condo and not being affectionate towards Korn and I don't mean just withholding sex. It's no wonder Korn was starting to have doubts about their relationship. Then along comes Pete, the evil boss, who is adept at grooming young men for his own selfish pleasure, solidifying those doubts. When he finally sets up events, Knock does his part perfectly by being lazy and selfish, leaving Korn to Pete's machinations - after all, Korn thought it was a birthday party and couldn't exactly just up and leave. Pete being the master manipulator that he is, plied Korn with spiked booze and sweet/not so sweet words and we all know what happened next. Now this is what I find totally hypocritical - fans berated Korn for sleeping with Pete after a drunken evening, but conveniently forget that Korn made a pass at his straight friend, (who he hadn't seen for years), after a drunken evening and they ended up sleeping together and despite what happened in the light of day, Knock did so willingly. Don't give me excuses that Korn sleeping with Pete was different because they were in a committed relationship, because if Knock had cared about their relationship, it just wouldn't have happened. The point is, many an unintended mistake is made when alcohol is involved.,, It was inferred at the end of the series that the fathers did something inappropriate, however innocent, when they were drunk, even though they were both in committed relationships, but I can bet that 100% of people who watched that scene thought it was funny. I certainly didn't hear any complaints about it.
People automatically assumed that Yihwa had slept with Art, although no one ever actually said that. Let's all just jump to conclusions again. I do however, think that she treated Cho badly by not being honest with him from the beginning.
The storyline I did not like was Farm's supposed revenge plot against Bright. I expected big things this season and was excited to see Farm appearing to carry out his revenge, but it was obvious fairly quickly that he was falling for Bright again. Yihwa knew about said revenge but said nothing when Rit said he'd broken up with Farm and it was never mentioned again. At first I wasn't sure about Rit, but I grew to love him. What Farm did to him was no better than Bright and frankly they deserved each other. Bright was his usual sleazy self and Farm was no better... and thanks to his unflattering facial hair he played his part well. If I never see FarmBright again it will be too soon.
The other problem I had was the way everyone treated Fai and I do think the series did her a disservice, by having her sacrifice her true feelings to make her friends feel better about what they'd done.
My favourite characters this season were Cho, Fai and Rit.
I really missed the music from last season and some of this season's I didn't like, nor did I like those awful drawings at the beginning, but that's just me. I definitely will 100% re-watch and re-watch again. I just wish that fans would calm down and watch the whole thing before making judgements.

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Just finished it from gvinee.com (for international fans).

I loved it.

Actually more because of the 13th episode. It changed it all. Fixed everything.

No spoilers here.

I saw people ranting about it but I was in the same group too ever since the "cheating" started. But it actually showed a lot of real life stuff that actually happens. Unlike fairy tales like 2 moons (whose next season still hasn't appeared on the watchable horizon).

The beginning was great fpr the story, showed the 2 types of parents right and the struggles related to the ones against and how they should end up understanding (the last scene was the cherry on top XD).

The scripting was a bit wierd and confusing at times (probably because of translation in my case) and music was somewhere good and somewhere bad. The biggest point is for Knock to improve his expressions, they were heavily out of place at many points throughout where his facial expressions didn't match the scene but rest were almost perfect.

The Farm storyline is too gruesome for me and I always skipped his parts. Very iterative and boring. I believe his part wasn't at all necessary in the story just like we had no specific story with Fai. Farm's end could have been more descriptive than depicted. Not necessary to the plot at all as it was really not in sync when he was cheating on his own and sitting together to counsel for others. Wastage of screen time.

My favourite character though in the whole season this time was none other than...Fai...the lovely lady standing as the pillar of support for all of the couples although standing alone herself.

This time Fai was the new Yiwha if I compare to the last season.

But I fear she will no longer be present in the next season as the story decided to send her abroad.

I would really like to see the couple(s) address more of such real world challenges after this in another season.

Let the people behind this awesome storyline take time and make another masterpiece and keep the flame of Together With Me burning just like the Supernatural series.

I love both of these.

Bottom line, I did feel like I watched the Sex & The City Movie plot in a more LGBT friendly scenario.

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I loved it

First of all, I think this season got an unfair bad rep.
I love flawed characters so I enjoyed every minute of it. Cheating is bad but it's also something that happens in real life, I personally think people are more upset that it was "perfect" Korn that cheated, instead of Knock.
Korn and Knock both had their flaws. Knock was childish, self absorbed and took Korn for granted but he also had a legitimate reason to be upset with Korn about hiding him. Knock basically turned his life upside down to be with Korn and now he's partly in the closet because of him.
Korn was basically the adult in the relationship, while also stressed out about his father's homophobia. It's unfortunate that he fell for Pete's scheme but sometimes good people mess up.
Communication has always been an issue with them so I wasn't surprised to see it happen again, yes people should grow but fixing bad communication takes time in real life. I'm happy the show was brave enough to tackle cheating and I'm ok with the way it was handled. Korn and Knock were devastated, but in the end their relationship was the better for it. They both realized that they loved each other regardless of everything happening and Knock especially got feedback from friends and could see how he took Korn for granted.
I'm not much for heterosexual ships, so I can't comment on Yiwha and Cho. I'm also going to ignore the Farm and Bright relationship.
Overall a beautiful end to a wonderful story

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Stronger Than Together With Me

I did not love Together With Me. While I really liked most of the characters, I found Knock to be incredibly frustrating and downright idiotic. I wasn't sure whether to be happy or sad when he and Korn got together at the end because I felt Korn deserved so much better. At the beginning of The Next Chapter, I found myself feeling much the same way. Even after three years, Knock was still an immature pain in the ass and Korn was left acting as more of a parent than a partner. It was honestly sad to watch.

What this show did so beautifully, was show how complicated relationships can be. It had a realism that I really haven't seen in any other Asian dramas. Most of the time, if cheating is featured in the story, it is made very clear who is good and who is bad in the situation. The ambiguity here, was far more realistic, and I really enjoyed that. In the cases of Korn and Yiwha, yes, they were in the wrong, but their reasons for unfaithfulness were, while not justifiable in any sense, understandable.

In the case of Korn and Knock, you have, as I mentioned earlier, Korn acting as more of a parent to Knock. He wakes him up, makes sure he has money to buy food, puts toothpaste on his toothbrush and basically everything else other than physically dressing him. He shows physical affection, worries constantly and basically his love and care of Knock is very much on display. And then you have Knock who's so obsessed with his online games and going out and partying and generally still acting like a teenager that he's barely functional. He's constantly running late and constantly tired because of his complete lack of responsibility. There is a serious unevenness in their relationship that was bound to cause issues eventually. And then Pete comes in playing both of them, acting sympathetic and understanding, particularly towards Korn who's understandably frustrated with how things are playing out with Knock, especially concerning coming out to his parents. A combination of Pete's manipulation, alcohol, and Korn's own conflicting feelings, basically wishing that Knock would be as understanding and mature as Pete appears, and the mistake is made. It's understandable, again, not justifiable in any way, but understandable and realistic because I think that's how it is in many cases of cheating. I think both Korn's and Knock's reactions to Korn's cheating were well done and realistic. Korn, obviously, feels horribly guilty and he apologizes repeatedly, but Knock's reaction is understandable in not wanting to immediately accept that apology and feeling extremely betrayed. And here is where Knock finally starts to grow some. When the two finally reconcile, Korn asks to take care of him again to which Knock says he doesn't want him to take care of him but to just love him. It's a sweet moment and a telling one to see that Knock has grown as a character. The only thing I would have liked to see a little more of is Korn earning back Knock's trust.

Coming out to their parents becomes a big issue between them with Knock showing frustration that Korn won't tell his parents. This issue left me with some questions because Korn's dad tells him that if he's gay, he's no longer part of their family. Korn never explicitly says and Knock never mentions if this fact was communicated between them which I think is hugely important. If Korn told Knock and Knock was still willing to force the issue, frankly, to me, that makes him a colossal ass. I understand not wanting to hide something so big, something that is such a part of you, but to expect and keep pushing for Korn to basically just give up his family would be incredibly cruel and insensitive. On the flip side, if Korn never communicated that to Knock, then that makes him a colossal idiot. Knowing Knock's character, if he knew what Korn's father had said, I feel like he would have been more understanding. I think the fact that its never specified if the two discussed this was deliberate to feed the drama.

In Yiwha and Cho's case, it provided a different point of view. In their case, they seem pretty happy together aside from Cho working too much. Yiwha has a semi-flirtatious relationship with her senior, Art, and eventually that flirtatiousness leads to mixed feelings. The reasoning of Yiwha's infidelity isn't quite as cut and dry as with Korn. She finds her senior attractive, they're thrown together more frequently due to working on a project, spending time alone, and then a few instances that push them together physically as well. Despite both being in relationships with other people, they ignore the warning signs that lines are starting to be crossed and eventually end up almost sleeping together. The difference is how they each react. Like Korn, Yiwha is almost crushed by her guilt and betrayal of his trust while Art continues to pursue even when she tells him to stop even dragging her to meet his girlfriend and announce that he's fallen for Yiwha. I do want to take a second here to commend his girlfriend, Mint, for her poise. She doesn't lash out at either Art or Yiwha and even afterward remains calm despite obviously being hurt. She didn't get a lot of screen time, but I really liked her and that they didn't set her against Yiwha. Anyway, in regards to Yiwha, I really appreciated how her emotions and reactions were played out, particularly the fact that she specifically tells Cho that she's betrayed his trust. She absolutely understands the mistake she made and she regrets it hugely and even though Cho is willing to forgive her and get back together, she struggles to forgive herself. Again, her portrayal felt realistic and nuanced and I loved it, though I really wanted to give the poor girl a hug.

Farm's relationships were more complicated. I have to admit, I missed the Farm from Together With Me, all innocent and sweet. I didn't like this Farm nearly as much, though his insight into his friend's relationships were helpful and spot on at times. He's basically a horny, cheating bastard for most of the drama. I was honestly disappointed in him. He gets his happy ending and all, but I don't think he really deserved it. I totally understand that Bright messed him up in Together With Me and he probably needed therapy after the abuse he suffered, but to see him turning around and basically doing exactly what Bright did to him just to get back at Bright was disappointing and just a continuation of the cycle of abuse. He obviously went back to Bright to get revenge, to hurt him the way he had been hurt, but the fact that he didn't stop when he realized that Bright had truly changed and continued playing both him and Rit was infuriating, especially since Rit did nothing to deserve that kind of treatment. Rit was such a sweetheart, he clearly really loved Farm, to the point he was willing to put aside his own feelings and help Farm get back together with Bright. He deserved so much better and I hope he found it. While on the one hand, I hope Farm and Bright work out, on the other, I honestly wouldn't have minded if he got dumped by both Bright and Rit, it would have been fitting. Of all the characters, he showed the least growth, in my opinion.

Which leaves Fai, who I was honestly disappointed in there for a while. I loved her no nonsense, tough girl attitude in Together With Me and how she was willing to stand by her friends and support them. I felt like they dialed back her character some in The Next Chapter, but not in a bad way. She was still Fai but a little more mellow. My disappointment came from her reaction to her friends' cheating which was so incredibly cold and judgmental, I lost some respect for her, especially since she wasn't willing to listen to any kind of explanation. It's understandable for the rest of the world to react extremely negatively, but you would hope that your friends, especially ones that you've had for so long, would at least listen and not make a snap judgment. Her lack of relationship experience also didn't play well in her favor and made her seem very shallow. I was glad when she finally seemed to come to her senses, at least with Yiwha, and offer comfort and support. There were a couple of scenes between the two that were very sweet and touching. I felt like her growth was a bit more understated than the others, but it was still present and I really enjoyed watching it.

This drama proved to be really solid and enjoyable. It was a bit slow to start with, but once it got going, it was unstoppable. There are very, very few things in this world that are black and white and I really liked how this drama showed that in such a real and grounding way. But what really made this drama is the characters and their continuing friendship. This proved to be one of the best dramas I've watched in a while and I will definitely be watching it again in the future.

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Together with me :The next chapter starts off in a pleasant manner but soon things take a 360 degree turn for the worse for all of the characters (except fai)
Coming to the good points
1 The music is fantastic and all the actors have portrayed their respective characters very well (esp Max and Tul :I simply love their chemistry)
2 The struggles of korn and knock (korn struggling to come out to his father who is homophobic and knock's frustration with the whole scenario and his lack of understanding towards it) all of it felt very realistic and different from the usual lovey-dovey bl dramas
3.Farm who wants to take revenge on Bright all of it was very understandable
4.Yihwa's growing attraction to her boss (even though she is in a relationship with cho)
The story line definitely tackled some real life issues in all of the above cases

Now moving on to the infidelity part:
1.In Farm's case the infidelity part did not feel that weird because he was motivated by revenge.
Korn and Yihwa's infidelity was particularly heartbreaking to watch
But the problem is that how cho readily forgave yihwa like after the whole cheating part he simply wanted to get back together again like it isn't a big deal.(that felt really fake atleast to me)

Here she is confused about her feelings (still understandable) but the problem is that there is no real chemistry or anything between Yihwa and cho they look awkward together from the very beginning of the series.

Secondly I felt the cheating part was added to korn and knock's story simply to create more ANGST and DRAMA when they could have focused more on the struggles of coming out if parents are homophobic and knock's lack of understanding in the situation and all that but all of this is ignored.
The makers tried to create a lot of drama which was dragged to the end some of it was absolutely unnecessary

Lastly They did try to tackle some real world issues and there were some exceptional moments like knock's coming out conversation and we also get to see how much korn and knock love each other
The other couples fall flat when compared to them in respect to chemistry

PS: I read many reviews and comments here that 'Knock being a straight guy only made an exception for korn'
This notion is so not true I feel that 'Knock could either be bisexual or pansexual (definitely not straight) '

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The Next Chapter starts unserious and playful. I suppose this was to appeal to their fandom because it did appeal to me.
It however goes from 0 to 100 really fast, leaving many gaps along the way that leaves its viewers with questions and mixed emotions.

It's theme song compares relationships to a beautiful love song whose melody may fade with time and whose lyrics may become unfamiliar with time. It then goes on to say that if the lyrics of the song still have the same meaning, although the melody has changed, then the love song will be played again. Consequently, if the people in the relationship still love each other, despite what they've been through, their relationship will survive.

When the theme of infidelity was introduced, it made the whole series a little too heartbreaking but the moment you realize how connected the theme song is to the series, you have an OMG moment that makes you realize the series is extraordinarily brilliant as its trying to pass across a message that relationships can be hard and heartbreaking, and that feelings and people can change. At this point, the series is no longer about KornXKnock neither is it about ChoXYihwa, nor is it about FarmXBright. At this point, it is now about relationships in general and how hard they can be. For this reason alone, the series is a 10/10 for me.

As for what part of the plot I prefer, I'm torn between KornXKnock and Farm. While I'm very interested in KornXKnock's relationship, I'm deeply drawn to Farm's scheming. I'm as curious to know what Farm is up to as I'm curious to what will happen with KornXKnock.

With Fai, there's the question of what will happen with her. Does she find a job and a bf or does she end up as the heroine who is happy being single and satisfied with just owning a bakery.

As for ChoXYiwha, even though I wasn't initially interested in their relationship, I'm now waiting patiently to see how it all unfolds.

My conclusion is this, The Next Chapter has a deep captivating theme that people in mature relationships can relate to and learn from. It also makes effective use of suspense to keep its viewers coming back for more.

At the end of the day, its storyline is for mature open-minded people who aren't crazed for unrealistic storylines and happy endings. It teleports you from utopia into the real world without apologies. So, if you are feeble minded, this might not be for you.

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It is better than the first one even though you don't believe me!

Yes, everybody is cheating in this season, including our perfect, caring and loveable Korn, but hear me out... From the beginning the position that Knock put him in it was very exhausting, mentally and emotionally, why? Well coming out to your family is not an easy task, imagine if your family threatens you to erase you if you even think of being gay, korn was overwhelmed and heartbroken because he wanted to show his love for knock to his parents, and make knock happy, but he knew that he couldn't if he wanted to keep being part of the family. I know knock's position too because he wanted to be with him without pretending, however, his parents didn't know either, and he was demanding this from korn, I thought it was a bit unfair on korn to have all this pressure when he as well needed to talk with his parents but korn was not pressuring him. Also, from the beginning you can see all the care and love in the little details that korn always had with knock, however, you don't see this much from knock, sometimes you could even say that he was taking him for granted, not paying attention to him, always distracted with the game on his phone, etc., like I saw little consideration not to say almost none towards korn from knock,

With all of this I am not saying nor condoning the cheating because there is no excuse, however, he was feeling very lonely, heartbroken and needed to be loved by his love and hi love (knock) was acting like spoiled brat as usual and of course like always in life there is someone always ready to temp and take advantage of the vulnerability of others pretending to be your friends and this is exactly what happened to korn. AGAIN, it is not that I am saying that cheating is right, however, he was taken advantage of, and he was destroyed for doing that, he has been the most caring and loving man to knock, but he made a mistake, but I think that under the circumstances that it was plus their immense love for each other he was worthy of a second chance. So I don't think ppl should hate korn due to this, all the good things that he is as a person and as a boyfriend are way more than that mistake to let him be defined or hated by it, he deserved his second chance.

Anyway, like I always say, I am super protective of Korn because he simply is the best, but even the best makes mistakes sometimes. If you love #MaxTul you will love this season the most but be prepared to cry and suffer cause the emotions in this season are no joke!

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COMMUNCATION!!!!

Story
I have no idea why KornKnock loves to not communicate. A lot of their problems could have been solved if they just talked to each other. Otherwise I think the story line is great. However I really freaking hate Pete so a .01 point taken off for pure hatred of him. Also Farm deserved better that is all I am going to say.

Acting/Cast
Of course once again all the cast was amazing especially Max and Tul!!!!! The acting was also great in all the emotion scenes.

Music
Their music is very heartfelt and I loved it. It really made me want to curl up into a ball and cry. It was so good!!!

Overall
WATCH IT!!!!! I recommend watching Bad Romance and Together with Me season one first though.

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Deception .... Heartbreaking.... Enjoyable....

I totally loved this drama, not only for the two main hot leads, but the fact they showed how each of them grew from the first series (together with me).

The story line is isn't your typically BL dramas, and people apparently can't handle that. No, it isn't lighthearted and easygoing like other series out there; but it's raw and authentic and definitely deserves its worth. The actors here are fantastic as always, and the writing is not terrible like some are making it out to be; clearly something's working because it's doing what a good story is supposed to do: it's making people react, it's evoking emotions. I did have mixed emotions, on the whole cheating lifestyle of farm and rit story, but after sticking to my guns and pursed on, Farm and Bright's story (which is essentially Farm giving Bright a taste of his own medicine), this isn't true. Both Yihwa and Korn (the two "cheaters") are placed in situations that test their feelings and relationships. Korn's is induced by mounting pressure from his conservative, overbearing father to denounce his homosexuality and the strain this puts on his relationship with Knock (which causes them to fight about other little things as well), while Yihwa finds herself being seduced by her senior and boss. They're conflicted and act out of moments of weakness. Korn has ONE sexual encounter with his boss during a night of drinking and commiserating. Yihwa, beginning to feel conflicted and confused about her feelings towards Cho in light of the flirtatious attention from her boss, decides to take a break from both and figure herself out. And that's it!

Personnel I think each of these characters story line and how they played out was really good, it showed how each individual dealt with there problems, and how all stood together when times hit rock bottom, especially Fai she never wavered away despite her strong opion on cheating and deception. Korn and Knock story was really strong, although he cheated on his partner he was remorseful and regretted what he did, which showed his love and commitment to him, I found the parents really funny though and they did add a bit of lightness to the drama. Yihwa, who made it seem like she ended cheating, felt bad for own deceitful, but to how her friend did it.

MUSIC: I don't have much to say about the music and I really loved the fact that they used the soundtracks from the previous seasons too, especially from Bad Romance <3 It made it easier to take the feel of that moment. I can't say that I loved all the songs but they did suite the moment when it was playing.

REWATCH VALUE: I would 100% rewatch these series just for the sake of having fun or when I feel bad to make my day better and care more about their problems rather than mine.

OVERALL: I really enjoyed these series and I and really sad that so many people dropped hem in the middle just because they didn't get the classic lovey-dovey BL series they were expecting for. But then again, this is so much more interesting than just another cheesy series where everything is rainbows and sweetness. It's not like that in real life and it nice to take something with you from the series as a life lesson :)

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