I was intrigued by the premise of this as it seemed like an interesting departure from normal shows. However, it turned out to be a bundle of all the problematic tropes of every romance (bl specifically) series which made the series spectacularly cliche as well as uncomfortable. You’ve got: manipulation, student adult relationship, boss and employee power dynamic relationship, lying, verbal violence and manipulation (I hesitate on the word abuse but it definitely edged on that in one scene), drunk sex (one drunk, one completely sober), jealousy, controlling and possessive dynamics etc. There’s really a lot- and even the mini stories within were full of problematic narratives (I guess fairly typical of porn there). One could say: “well this is a realistic relationship” but I’m so fed up of gay narratives constantly being associated with these problematic features. Further, the story did not make any obvious criticisms of these aspects which might have made the narrative more compelling as a “realistic” story of a f*d relationship.

Onto the acting- it was pretty wooden and all the characters came off a bit unpleasant in the delivery. I’d put that down to the discomfort of the entire thing and some of the awkward lines they were given so I wouldn’t blame the actors too much there. I felt basically zero chemistry between the leads which just added to the intense awkwardness of the series. The relationship seemed even more lacking as the acting and chemistry didn’t fill in the gaping holes in the relationship progression.

And finally the ending (spoilers in this section)- I hoped it would have redeemed the relationship with some sweet moments or maybe address the problematic aspects and progress onwards. Unfortunately but predictably, the ending was as disappointing as the rest of the series. The relationship fizzled out as fast as it started (one or two rounds of sex and a half hearted romantic convo was the culmination of this romance at its height) and the morning after the student and their relationship was left behind by the older.

I honestly can’t remember what the music was like and don’t want to rewatch any part of this to check it over so the low rating on music may be an injustice in this case.

If you’re looking for something racy or whatever I would even hesitate to say it gives that… the explicit scenes were quite awkward to watch and not at all artistically shot. And the seductive (???) writing bits had the vibe of a wattpad fanfiction being read aloud with the level of writing and word choice. This made each writing scene a try not to cringe challenge.