PPBongi
California, USA
Intense
It is very intense and full of assault, violence, deceit, and passiveness, closely bordering on abuse. I for one did not see this as others saw it. Yes, there is violence but not abuse. It seems either the positive path or negative path, it will lead to the same outcome. While it seems destiny is written, there are clues that somehow things are different and the story is not the same, even though the path might be the same. Yes, I do understand why some disliked this series as it is driven by a person’s irrational and negative obsession for another. BUT, that person is not totally powerless to stop it. He just cannot. It may not be the story of redemption that is based on a path of understanding, but it is one based on great pain, wrongs, and toxic behaviors. I thought it was raw, intense, painful to watch, and in every sense of the word, real. Some relationships are based on emotionally painful and toxic journeys before a deeper appreciation and understanding of each other can be attained.Was this review helpful to you?
Only One Reason to Watch .....Perth
Romantic, angst, but misses the mark. This series is a bit better than 'Love by Chance 2' but again, there just is too much of a good thing. Way too many characters and way too many very serious issues that are dealt with so cavalierly. This series tried to do too much with too many people with too many overlapping situations. Sometimes, simple stories work best but this was overly busy and filled with a lot of very unnecessary individuals. Had this story focused on one or even 2 relationships, it would have been tighter, leaning, and a more watchable series. Digressing for a moment, this series does have the one thing in it that would want me to rewatch it. Actually, the only reason. And that is Perth as Ae. He is simply outstanding. He is by far my most favorite actor in any series. He is just a joy to watch. You can read my full review of this series at ppbongi.medium.com. Leave comments if you like.Was this review helpful to you?
Romantic, Beautiful, and Quirky
I really liked this series, although everything in my being at the beginning said that I should not. The first episode is simply awful if not terrible. The acting was bad, and the production value was amateurish at best. You must get through the first episode and some of the second before this story will grab you and it surely did me. What made it interesting is it centered around a boy band’s difficulties in interacting with each other with an odd over the top band manager to guide them. It is so obvious from the beginning that they guys are new and very much inexperienced in acting but yet the story intrigued me, and the dialogue hooked me to watch more and I am so glad I did. The acting, the story, the characters got much better as they became more comfortable in their roles. They let loose and it became a surprisingly interesting and entertaining series. One final word about these actors. In some sense, I found this ensemble of characters interesting, dynamic, and honestly one of the best in a BL series. If you want to review my full review of this quirky series, see it at ppbongi.medium.com. Enjoy!Was this review helpful to you?
Never Reaches Its Full Potential
This is a very romantic story with solid performances and a very nice flow to it. However, it does have its issues. The biggest one is the not quite believable love between the two main characters. While there was some chemistry, there was no spark, no passion, and no real connection between the two. They ‘played’ the parts well and made a beautiful couple, but there just was something about the sincerity of the attachment I found missing and lacking. But that did not totally negate the overall positivity of this series. Everyone here is certainly likeable and all did a good job of acting. However, some I liked more than others. If you want to read my full review of this series, please go to ppbongi.medium.com. I have more to say there and also about the 'Pangs'.Was this review helpful to you?
Tender and Beautiful
This series is superb! I loved it. One of the finest acting BL series I have seen. It is just joyous, funny, poignant, and intensely real. It is a simple story of a student who is paired with a ‘jock’ for a school project to benefit both. The screenplay is simply brilliant. There are no gimmicks or artificial dramas here. You see the characters flawed but each of them grows not episodically but by slow moving connections. It is the little things that they do for each other that lead to profound changes. They did a much better job of showing the raw emotions of the characters and the beautiful split screen shots that made them look like they were actually together than other series which used the same techniques. If you want to read my full review of this wonderful series, go to ppbongi.medium.com.Was this review helpful to you?
Emotional pain is the focal point to this series
It is a story about two guys essentially stuck in a condo because of the Covid pandemic. They do not know each other which makes for interesting dynamics. The dialogue between these two is nothing short of brilliant. This story grows on you because of two things. The acting becomes sincere and believable and the dialogue is superb and top notch. There are such deep meaningful dialogues almost too many to catch in one setting. The screenplay centering around the conversations they had between each other is one of the finest of any BL series. If you want to read my full review of this short but very interesting series, please go to ppbongi.medium.com.Was this review helpful to you?
Profoundly Realistic
This series is hard to describe. It starts out with a comedic flair to it and it is funny to a point. The screenplay for this series is one of the best. It captures in a very profound esoteric way the pain of coming out and how individualized it all is. Some are never able to make that transition while others make it almost instantly while others suffer through it perhaps in a torturous state , sometimes for years. The ending may put you into a deep funk but yet it is so realistic for many, many individuals who are trying to grapple with being gay. My full review of this very likeable and realistic story is at ppbongi.medium.com.Was this review helpful to you?
Disappointing and Meandering
This BL series had such good potential and started out well. But then it meandered and veered off into silly and unnecessary directions, which was too bad because the overall story is actually entertaining. This was one of the few series that I almost gave up watching. The production, editing, and translations into English made it very difficult to watch. The story dragged on and on especially for the' main' couple and I found that relationship insufferable. I thought the 'secondary relationships' (if you want to call it that) were way more interesting and had more potential for development. This could have been a good solid story but it did not believe in itself and then got lost. These actors, for the most part, are very young and inexperienced yet they carried what they could on their own without any real direction or solid production. If you want to read my full review of this series, please go to ppbongi.medium.com. Leave a comment if you like.Was this review helpful to you?
Soft, Sincere, Emotional
This really is an amazingly beautiful love story told softly, subtly, and with great understanding of male bonding. Not every relationship starts with a big bang but more like a slow burn and is almost metaphorically like cooking. All the ingredients must be there and prepared just right for the final outcome to be indelible. These guys are very good actors and conveyed a deep sense of commitment to their roles. This could have been fatalistic, but it does not go there and in fact feels hopeful. These guys are also stunningly handsome with such a boy next door charm about them. These are hard roles because they must carry the whole series since there are only very minor characters otherwise. You can read my full review of this nice series at ppbongi.medium.com.Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
A Secret Pleasure of Mine
This is such a feel-good series particularly currently. Honestly, I should not have liked this, but I did. It is slow, predictable, filled with the usual suspects but so much fun. I could not help laughing at its silliness and cuteness at the same time. If it were not for these actors, this would have been a total disaster. They made this series so real, so comedic, and just a joy to watch. I did not care that it had no depth to it or great message. It was just entertaining. It is a thing of beauty to watch. The ending is as unrealistic as this entire plot but so in synch with the rest of this series. This was a comedy and indeed has a happy ending (well you know what I mean). Everyone wins in the end. Do not read too much into this series. This is not a slice of life; it is essentially asking you to suspend your reality and simply enjoy a feel-good series about love between guys. There are a lot of flaws in this series from ridiculous characters, such as Amp, to crazy plot lines, like a surrogate pregnancy. But for me, it worked. Why? Because I believed the characters.However, there were some situations in this series that made me shudder. One is the overuse of ‘hubby-wifey’ connotations. Again, I am NOT Thai, and I do NOT even pretend to know the Thai culture or customs, but for me these terms are simply cringeworthy. I am hoping we can stop using these terms to define gay relationships. I know that they might help make them more relatable to societal norms, but these terms are simply outdated and literally have no and should not have meaning in the gay world. They make it sound as if these are your assigned roles and duties, thus perpetuating the stereotypical roles of each gender.
The words that Chon's mother is so apt here and we should all remember them, “It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.” If you would like to review my full review of this series, it is posted on my free blog site at ppbongi.medium.com. I have to caution you that I actually liked this series, despite its flaws.
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Standard Thai BL
Admittedly, this series is perfectly named. It did seem to continue to go on and on endlessly. It was like being adrift in a rudderless boat floating in an ocean of tropes, clichés, banalities, stereotypes, and platitudes. Sooner or later, you would bump into one of them on your way to wherever it was you were supposed to be going. Unfortunately, this series went nowhere because it had nowhere to go to. Honestly, you have seen this story hundreds of times if you are an avid BL watcher. If not, you will no doubt run across its plot again because it is standard. It is another high school love story between two best friends. I know that many will no doubt like this series, but I found this series wantoned for its shallowness, use of endlessly tropey and cliché storylines, supporting characters that were superfluously infantile and not funny, the main characters never got to be a couple until the last episode and by that point it was too late, and a supposed secondary couple that was never fully developed into anything meaningful. I also found it quite sad that these two guys, who are otherwise solid and successful, could not bring themselves to communicate with each other. That for me is simply not a subject matter I can find funny.Was this review helpful to you?
It Is Really A Beautiful Story
It is told very well with both storylines and great acting. I was impressed with how engrossed I became in their quest and in the lives of the two main characters. This series had all the earmarks of being just another Thai BL series but this one took itself more seriously and worked very hard to project a moral arc to it with an outcome that was painful, real, and incredibly honest. This is also one of the few Thai BLs of late that had serious conversations about relationships and how impactful they are to one another and what the consequences of falling in love can be.Was this review helpful to you?
Too Pedestrian
This was a slightly entertaining BL series with nothing specular about it EXCEPT it did have a bit of a creative ending to it that was fun to watch and added something different to this rather mundane series. The ending give it a bit more creativity and I was pleasantly surprised by it and it was not expected. It is not that they all are not deliciously handsome; they are, It just that this was not enough to make it that entertaining. It is good; just not great for me. However, the scene between the mother and son is worth noting and is superbly done. Sorry, I found it rather ordinary in story with an occasional twist and turn.Was this review helpful to you?
One of the Best HIStory Series
This is by far, the best of the HIStory series. It is a stunningly superb series told in soft, even tones and with such great care and compassion that I did not want it to end. While, this is a complex story, it is told more intellectual reasoning to stabilize emotional misgivings. A rather brilliant way to storytelling. It is so extremely well-acted with such a great story line that moves along with such energy but never seems forced. It is just there and grows slowly before our eyes. You can see the intensity of feelings develop and, changes the other persons involved. There is also such great chemistry between the actors with the kissing and love making neither feeling constrained nor rehearsed. They seem natural and were displayed with tenderness and in a real sense, a feeling of love.Was this review helpful to you?
Romantic and Sensuous
One other thing this series has going for it is its ROMANCE. They were NOT afraid to show it and it is quite beautiful, honestly. It is hot and steamy. The screen play and directing for the most part is well done. The story flowed well. (With some of the BL series filmed during the pandemic, this is not always the case). There is no question that this quiet series is one of the finest out there not only for its great romantic story and intense love scenes but for its superb acting. And this is the irony. I am so sorry, but I did not ‘feel’ the connection between Tutor and Fighter. They beautifully showed the emotions, but I never quite felt the connection between them. If you would like to read my full review of this series, please go to ppbongi.medium.com. It is free and you can leave comments.Was this review helpful to you?
