Smile after Tears (2026)

mediocre at best...

What will this series tell us?
This BL did not even have a happy end which I would expect from a BL. They wasted more than half the series with the past... and when boyfriend 1 died I thought, maybe it's something like "Love for Love Sake" where he returns in another body and continues to be there for him. But no, the scene between life and death was only there, so he can get a chance to say goodbye. That was the first bummer. And then we get to see his old child-friend who had a crush on him for most of the time and never told him so... Now after BF1 is gone, he takes care of him and tries to pull im back into reality.

And that worked for the most part. He slowly turns back to himself, dedicates himself to music and is sucessful. The finale gave us nearly a stroke, because we see the same scene with him like it was with BF1. That would have been ok for me, both die, they reunite in the afterlife and that would be an happy end.

But no, he was not harmed, he has his big moment on stage and we listen to the song three times in this episode. That I call excessive and then, he leaves. BF2 should not be, I guess he went to study abroad but we don't get an explaination just "it's time to leave". Not to be BF2 cries and the credits roll. And no kiss be seen in the whole BL...

Acting was stiff for the MLs, I guess BF2 was the best of them. Production quality was good, music was very good, but story wise it did not convince me at all. Yes, it felt like a BL just to boost the status of the MLs but with such a story without an happy end I don't think they could do it. Not much more to say, watch it but don't expect it to be your standard BL.

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Wake me up, plz

This has got to be THE most placid, sleep inducing, undramatic drama ever. Like why? Were the producers afraid we'd be schocked by the turn of events? Are we yo believe that he picked up the guitar and became proficient in less than a year? Were we supposed to believe that he was sad, grieving or sleepy? IT WAS HIS PERMANENT EXPRESSION. Were we to manually adjust the volume when he was supposed to be angry or hurt? He spoke like a mannequin on prozac. In fact, both of them. Only the aunt seem to have a pulse.

I didn't hate the aunt. She wanted him to be self sufficient so that when he is left without her, his last relative, he wouldn't feel as lost as she did with every one gone. She too was grieving. Her approach was as smooth as a nail file but understandable.

The only reason I kept watching was because of Chin. He loved him first, but when he realised Yi was hooked on the next constipated one, Ho, he stepped back. So when Ho died, I kept watching to see where it would go.

This has to be a pbs special on grief, friendship and how to live on. A little emotion would have made it so much better. What we got was a quiet, mouse like lecture on how to grieve. Miss me with that boring mess next time. Why the 6? I liked the opening song and that Ho died. They actually took a gamble on exiting a ml that most would like. The series was simply too soft in every way to have any impact.

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