PPBongi

A Complete Miss

I desperately, and I mean desperately, wanted to like this ‘reality’ show about 10 gay guys from Hong Kong getting together for what was posted as a gay dating show. The production company seemed at least to me to be pushing issues where there were none and also contriving things that were not. Their interference either in the dating process or the control of the conversations was inappropriate, leading, and judgmental. This show also did not allow for the possibility that maybe just maybe none of them would want to date anyone on the show. If you are ‘selling’ gayness, then show it. Show these guys are real people not in some contrived or make-believe world that to some degree was unrelatable with an emphasis on what is wrong with them. They had a lot to say even if they did not say it. How? By being in it. That spoke volumes.

That is what you should have shown. You can read my full review at BLBliss.com.

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A Travelogue of Friendship!

What pure joy this bitesize series is! Just about an hour and a half long in total, it is pure pleasure to watch. It is like being with old friends especially if you are gay, young, and into the lifestyle where gayness is your number one priority. I remember the feelings and sensations as if it was just yesterday, although it has been literally decades ago. This journey is a travelogue of four friends talking about and being together as only gay guys can do. We get to see hear, perceive, and be witness to all the snide, snippy, sarcastic comments that only gay people can heap onto one another in a humorous but caustic way. Meaning to be funny yet mostly trying to steer individuals into a better or perhaps clearer path of behavior. Some get it; some do not. Some will listen; most will not. Sometimes the snippets you see are never more than conversations between them in a car. All of it is so spot-on, pure comedy, and so astonishing relatable. If anyone wants to understand what gayness is all about, this is your series. It presents what the average, everyday gay individual is longing for; hoping to happen in their ordinary lives. Knowing full well it is unlikely to occur but, in the meantime, they will have fun and they know that their friends will be there to help pick up the pieces should they fail, falter, or fall. Especially when the pain of cheating or betrayal occurs. They know they will be there.

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Crazy Funny!

This is such an adorably funny creative non-sensical series that if one did not appreciate it, then you have no funny-bone to tickle. One simply cannot take this series with any serious intent. It is satirical; a comedy through and through and I laughed consistently. Honestly, Thai BLs that are ‘comedies’ are exceptionally rare and ones that are done to near perfection are even rarer. This IS funny. It is presented completely in a tongue-in-cheek fashion and I for one utterly enjoyed every minute of it. The whole premise is unmitigatedly absurd, and it was meant to be from the beginning. Although there are certainly poignant moments speckled throughout the series, they become merely more highlighted by the silliness around them.

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Malignant & Abhorrent

To be sure, I have seen my fair share of malignancy in BLs over the years, but this version is the most toxic, unimaginably abusive, comprehensively dysfunctional, and severely emotionally disturbed series I have ever seen. And shame on anyone and everyone who thinks there was any ‘artistic’ value or worse, thought they saw anything that even resembled a loving relationship. This is a sick, toxic, demented series filled with two of the most mentally deranged individuals ever. And we need to stop pretending or excusing that the significant abuse being shown is in any way shape or form signs of “love”. I am sick of balefulness being guised as cinematic artistry. It is not. It is ALL mistreatment and harmful and morally, ethically, and legally wrong and reprehensible. I am disgusted by anyone who has romanticized this nonsense. Are you glorifying and accepting someone being drugged, raped, physically tortured, enslaved, psychologically abused all because he excessively ‘loved’ him! And that is your definition of love!? And for the victim to go back for more! And to not think that is unhinged and as mad as a hatter?! This is a prime example of capture-bonding. What message are we sending to the gay community when time after time we see nothing but abuse and torture as an acceptable path to love? This is NOT love. This is victimization guised as love.

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I Felt A Lot!

This story covers familiar territory, but I still found it tantalizing. It captured me from the beginning to the end. It is mainly due to the mesmerizing impersonations from the actors and actresses, in particular the main protagonists. They kept the ‘slow-burn’ of their relationship just at the simmer stage with it never boiling over – until it was time for it to do so. I just loved the way they kept us entertained and engrossed until we were able to find out who they were. The build-up was such that we really did want to know about them. The overall splendor of this series is its consistency. It never wavered from its intent. Sure, it takes a long time for their relationship to develop but because these guys seem to make it feel fast, it was. And, given the time frame they were in, we understood their hesitancy. Slow-burn series will work if you have the right actors and a great screen chemistry and good dialogue. And this had all three. They were just on the cusp of developing a strong relationship when the series threw in a gut punch that I did not think it needed to. That is what diminished the impact of this series. A standard cliche twist, completely unnecessary.

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This is Soooo Yesterday

This series is so appropriately named as the whole series is ‘so yesterday’. I know that may be parochial, as it denotes something ‘extremely outdated, unfashionable or irrelevant’. The thesis of this series has honestly run its course. Its story is banal, passe, and completely dysfunctional. In addition, it is further encumbered by suspect editing. It tried to encompass yesterday’s actions into current scenes; it did not work. That has to be done with flawless integrity to make the story flow with integrity. When one has a hard time figuring out what time frame one is in, that is a serious deficiency. When you do not have a smooth transition to a story, you literally have no story. The interest wanes and it begins to look like a manipulative tool rather than an explanative function of the happenings. I frankly got lost because I became disinterested. The jumping of the story is erratic and very confusing.
You can read my full review at BLBliss.com.

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FourEver Bad!

Honestly, is it not time for a revolt against BL series wasting time on drivel? This is one of the most mindless, childish, dumb, cliché-driven, and trope-filled stories I have ever seen. In addition to being one of the more rancidly acted series, mainly because it exposed an incapacity to display the protagonists (as well as other major characters) adroit at growing, thriving, maturing, or even becoming an adult let alone being able to face any type of trauma or drama without completely falling apart or reverting to child-like behaviors. Most acted emotionally as if they were somewhere between 5-to-15-year-olds in bodies that are supposed to be young men. And do not get me started on how infantile, pre-pubescent and frankly non-existent they treated the whole concept of gay relationships.

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My Destiny - Indeed It Is!

I loved this adaptation of virtually the same premise of the Thai story completed last year, which I disliked with enmity. The current version has so much more richness, depth, and dimension to it than the presentation from last year. It is an exceptionally good remake. Normally, I detest remakes as they are either unoriginal copies or perhaps only use the title for a completely new story. While keeping the basics, this version made the story so much more tenable and relatable. More importantly, it did not try and ‘fake’ us into thinking it was one thing but only to twist it into another, like the original Thai did. Yet this rendition did present just enough of a metaphysical twist to make me believe there could be indeed a parallel universe. Or, at the very least, believe in the possibility that one exists. Why perhaps I did not make this a higher rating is because the kissing, especially at the end, slipped into the usual Japanese mode of a dead-fish kiss. While not as bad as some Japanese BLs, it was still pathetic. Look, you had such a great passionate series, and you could not put the finishing touches on this series by making their kisses, particularly at the end, ones of passion and sensuousness. Shame and disappointment.

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The Likay dance portion: Great; BL portion: Poor

Here again is another BL that I desperately wanted to like. And oh, did it have some fine moments in it. While I do not know if the performers were master crafters, they made it look professional and very accomplished. For that, the production ought to be commended along with all the performers. I am sure it took many, many hours of practice to display the nuances and subtleties of the dances and movements and I for one am deeply appreciative of those efforts. So, the story around the Likay dance was exceptional. Unfortunately, the romance and drama around the protagonists, sorry to say, was a whole different story. It was unfortunately weak. It got tropey, cliché, and formulaic. Then it took a deeply dark turn that it did not need to take; as a main theme for one of the protagonists was already somber. As long as the story remained on course to the development of Likay, it made sense and was entertaining. You can read my full review at BLBliss.com.

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The Love Did Set

Indeed, there is much to unpack in this series. Unfortunately, rather than trying to deal with it with any cornerstone to reality, they choose to deal with it in the make-believe world of BL. One can guess what the direction is going to be and indeed you would be correct. It is your standard use of tropey storylines. The story tries too hard to cover too much and fails in almost all of it. Through all of this, redemption does happen. While there are certainly redemptive arcs in the storyline, to get there requires twisted logic and implausible plot twists. Plus, the angry rich father who then ‘sees the light’ and/or rejected mother who begs for forgiveness routines are getting way over used and are now officially trite. Each one of those redemption arcs required and should have had a whole episode in and of itself. Regrettably, there is also no serious screen chemistry between the protagonists although they ‘look’ good together. One cannot act out sincerity; it must be felt. It needs to come out of the screen and grab you. Unfortunately, those two lacked a passion in their relationship. They only went through courting motions.

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Thoughtful, Abusive, Sadomasochistic

The is an astonishingly well-thought-out series. A bit weird, however, in its cryptic approach but entertaining from the beginning to its end. I felt manipulated but in a good way and interestingly I was not sure where the story was taking me. Therefore, I also found so much of it intellectually stimulating with a hint of kinkiness. It is hard to dislike this series, really. My only concern about it was its odd obtuseness; it felt at times flirting with abusiveness – like both protagonists were playing games with each other’s emotions, which heightened their veiled sadomasochistic tendencies toward each other. While I have nothing against algolagnia being explored in sexual behaviors as long as both parties agree to its rules and both are equal partners, in a few instances within this story, I was just not sure full consent was the case. The story became a gray zone of morality.
You can read my full review of this interesting series at BLBliss.com.

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Outlived Its Humor

While this franchise started out on an innovative note, it ended on a bromidic tone. It got stale, redundant and formulaic. However, its worst sin is its travesty became unfunny because none of it was visionary anymore. The format, style, and execution had been done ad nauseum previously, so the expectations were the same. It also became rather evident from a physical standpoint that the actors were getting too ‘old’ to play young college students or high school students. Some of them are now in their 30’s. They looked too spurious and heavily made-up. To be sure, this story is a lot more of the same. A few more BL tropey ‘flags’ that trigger Bl developments were introduced. Just like he did in all the other seasons. This time, honestly, I did not find any of it even funny or humorous. It felt old and came across as the usual modus operandi. Even his parents seemed relegated to a more tertiary role. And his brother was, well, just his brother. It was all more-of-the-same. Everyone looked – tired and ready to move on.

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Me and Chanuk and Tailah!

This series tries just a bit too hard and, in that process, expanded the story way beyond credibility. Too bad because its sentiment was good, even if it was not feasible or realistic. While it is another in a long line of soul swapping sagas, the machination got confounding and unnecessarily convoluted. I wish just for once the story went for rich to poor rather than the usual poor to rich. Nonetheless, we are forced to enter yet again into a world that most of us only dream/fantasize about. A world that is opulent and full of issues only the wealthy can relate to. But perhaps that is the purpose and fantasy of BLs. There is nothing wrong with this series, honestly. It is entertaining to be sure. On the other hand, there is nothing much right about it either. The love story is unrelatable to most people who watch this series. The story itself is implausible. It is a comedy for sure with some funny parts but is so overdrawn. What made this series jump out and be noticed is the outstanding performances that Pan Bhumintr as Chanuk and Jeng Chotipat as Tailah did not just in acting but also stealing the interest of the series main theme.

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Almost That Summer

This is a series where you must believe that everything that could go right, does. It is filled with fairy-tale Edenic bliss. Surprisingly, a lot of it works and if they had tightened up the story and made it more plausible, it would have been a great melodrama. Instead, it simply ended up just another good drama, but merely becoming an addition to a long-line of throw-away BLs that have a cookie-cutter premise having a wildly Pollyanna ending. It is not bad; just disappointing. One must really suspend one’s perspectives with this story. The story itself was surprisingly strong most of the time. It is hard to sustain an ‘amnesia’ theme, and this tended to get a bit long-in-the-tooth, as the expression goes. This story was presented way too simplistically and hurriedly to be fully believable or acceptable. Yet, it did make for a cute story. It is an entertaining series to be sure with a stronger than usual BL component than your run-of-the-mill trite Thai BL story.

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