This review may contain spoilers
Girl Rules, where the first rule is don’t break your own rules.
That sentiment also goes for the writers too.This was designed to be messy, and if you’re hoping to see good things with established ships, then for the most part expect to be disappointed. If you view GL from a more neutral standpoint and are looking for something different to the usual couples falling in love and ending up together, then this might be one to watch.
Each episode is written around a specific rule, and how each of the characters either breaks it, or show how they handle it. That aspect of the series is well written and directed, and credit should be given for that.
When writing, directing and producing a series like this, your first rule should be to research the content you are using, and the second is ensure you proof read it before using it, especially when using different writers for each episode. They clearly didn’t do this, and at one point they mixed up a gender expression with a sexual orientation, completely erasing bisexual identities in the process. They did reference pansexual, but with the lack of any butch mascs and other transitional gender roles, it leaves a bad taste. If you are going to write about LGBT+ issues, then proper research is essential, and good proof readers need to ensure mistakes like this don’t happen.
As for the plot, it focuses on three main couples, two are established ships, and a potential new pairing. In reality, it centers on one story focused around Namtam/Film, with the other two couples, Milk/Love and View/Mim, getting less attention and screen time, which hasn’t been received well in the fandoms.
There are three guest couples, one is a romantic couple who play Blossom’s owners in the plot, Kapook/Ciize who represent exes that interfere with Namtam/Film, and Emi/Bonnie who get involved in the messiness with Milk/Love.
The setting is split between their homes, work, vacations and nightlife. The work settings are a fashion house, production company and a photographer, that overlap with each other. The nightlife is mostly within a lesbian bar called Blossom, which shockingly has almost no butch representation at all.
It’s fast paced, with quick transitions between each sub-plot and high-octane music that changes frequently within each scene. That’s important, because this doesn’t follow the usual slow burn of a couple getting together, being torn apart by family tradition or homophobia but somehow ending up together anyway. In general, the music matches the messiness that unfolds, and that for me is the best part of this series, although others have expressed a dislike to it. Compared to other GL’s that lack the depth and emotion of the music, this one is on point. The OST reflects this, with upbeat tracks and decent beats.
There were some sound problems though, especially with the live music scenes and the screaming fans, which was largely distorted and lacked quality. In those episodes, I had to adjust the volume down quickly, or remove my earbuds.
Three of the established ships cross over, with Love hooking up with Namtan, Film hooking up with Milk, and to a certain extent, Emi trying to win over Love. For me, the writers missed an opportunity here. They had 12 episodes to completely screw with the ships, but all we got was one quick interaction with each that ended as quickly as they started. I would have liked to see more of these new pairings, and more involvement from Bonnie.
I understand why they didn’t though. They knew by messing with established ships that it would cause problems, which has already been shown with the series being received poorly within the fandoms. If you want something that has good kissing and love scenes, this is not a good choice. The focus is more on day to day lives rather than their intimacy.
Overall, it was a good first attempt at a more soap style GL, but the mistakes they made were poor. Trying to use the established ships meant they had to tread too carefully, when in reality we need to see the more realistic POV of messy lesbian and bisexual relationships, and the difficulties chasing straight girls. They have a good pool of actresses to choose from that are not already paired, and they should have used them. They need more butch and trans representation too.
It would have been better with more episodes, and to slow down the outcomes with more drama and more crossover of the ships. but maybe this was deliberate so they can carry on into a second series, although that seems unlikely. It has almost no re-watch value, because it doesn’t really have an overall storyline, although you might want to relive some of the specific drama scenes.
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