A cute teen romance directed at teens, though the final stretch was rather clumsily handled.

There are a lot of things to enjoy about this short webdrama. The premise rather reminded me of some of my favorite movies and shows growing up (anyone remember "Good Witch" (US/CA)?). It made me feel nostalgic. I also really liked the supportive dynamic between the Female Lead and her mother. The Female Lead herself was interesting - a well-balanced combination of insightful, angry, and awkward.

Under it all, there's this message of being the kind of person that doesn't let hatred affect you. To be forgiving. To clap back with facts and proof. There's some merit in these messages, for sure. Especially for the teen/kid audience this was obviously geared to. And in the end, these messages paid off. But I feel like with the prejudice and harassment being as heavy-handed and center-stage as it was, that more action should've been taken. Especially prior to the end.

The romance had its cute moments too. It was definitely one of those awkward teen romances that I think many viewers could relate to. It also had this touch of maturity that comes with 2 teens that were forced to grow up too fast in single-parent households. My problem though came in at the end of episode 4, where the Male Lead acted completely out of character. And then, just as fast, was back to being his normal self immediately into episode 5. Not only did the fact that this was out-of-character bother me, but also the fact that it was introduced and disbanded so fast that it might as well not have been there at all. There were other ways to up the tension just that little bit more.

Also, just a petty complaint: I wanted magic. :'(

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Just watch the cheating scenes on social media. The creep factor is too high.

Here's the thing. I actually really enjoyed the plot and the plot scenes. It rather reminded of US films "Max Keeble's Big Move" and "Sydney White." "Sydney White" the most (and yes, I know Sydney White came later. I'm not claiming it's a remake or inspired by or anything like that). Instead of a stuck up sorority though, the leads in this movie are going against an immoral professor who sees a certain group of students as not only useless to society, but a thorn in his side in the way of getting what he wants. He sets an extremely high bar and promises that it's the ONLY way for the leads to be able to keep their dormitory and stay in school. That bar: all A's across all exams for all the students of that group. Even if they had been traditionally good students, this is a bar with too high of a fail rate. Their solution and perceivable only chance at success? All of them cheat on all the exams.

The cheating scenes are so enjoyable and humorous. I loved them and even replayed a few of them.

But that's the thing. That is all this movie has good to offer. And you can find all these scenes on social media without having to resort to sitting down for this.

Because the cheating scenes and the over the top villain are not the only comedic tools in this film's arsenal. No. In between all these plot scenes is creepy sexual humor. Every male character (you know, except the main male lead that pushes the plot forwards) is so creepily interested in the female lead. Teachers goggling her bare legs. A dormitory manager supposedly drugging her food in the hopes of her seeking him out that night. A whole group of guys getting into her bath water after she leaves to "taste" her. A predatory staff member making sexual advances on a student in order to get information from him about the cheating ring. The students being strip searched for cheating answers, and then getting peeped on and walked in on before they get dressed again.

In essence: the appeal is the plot (aka the cheating scheme), but everything in between just puts a very bad taste in my mouth that left me disgusted. Perhaps this was funny when the movie released, but it didn't age well at all.

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Simple but Fun and Engaging Rivals/Friends to Lovers Tale

Look, I'm not going to lie. It's a simple plot. Boy meets girl. They instantly hit it off. Girl has boyfriend and they don't talk. They meet up again later down the line and it's like nothing happened. Except now theyre rivals pining for funding for their competing app start-ups. Add in some espionage hijinks and friendship messages, and you get a movie that's not entirely unlike what you may have watched when younger.

However, it was *very* engaging. How far would the espionage go? When would the gig get called off? Will they ever decide to just work together and create one app with both of their strengths combined? And somehow, every time I though we would hit such plot points, we didn't. I also loved how even some of the small things came full-circle by the end of the movie.

And then there were the budding romance scenes. Their balance of being rivals and being friends/mutual crushes was just excellently done. They really did forget they were rivals for a period there. They were just two people working towards their ideas and cheering each other on quietly. And the laser tag get-togethers? They had me grinning so much, lol.

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Spouse Lottery: A bill from dystopia for character growth

From the moment I read the synopsis, I was quite taken by the prospect of this drama. A law that requires you to enter into a dating lottery system? With consequences should you come out unmarried? That sounds so much like something you would find in a dystopia! The only other things I knew coming in was that there was social commentary including LGBTQ+ issues and possible ace rep.

And then quickly after starting, i became taken with all the various issues and concerns all the characters, main and supporting, had for choosing or winding up single between the ages of 25-39. Not only were their respective experiences well included, but also the surrounding societal commentary that people seem to think marriage (and having children) is a requirement of being human, instead of a right that people may or may not personally partake in. We see people struggling with this societal ideal for reasons such as career aspirations, infertility, physical or mental health, trauma, gender norms and expectations, sexuality, and many more. It really showed just how many victims of this mentality there are, even if the context it was brought up in during this drama was an exaggeration of real life - as Japan's decreasing birth rate has become a subject of economic and infrastructural concern even in real life.

While we did see lesbians and gay characters, I cannot really confirm any ace/aro rep. Most people were single for other reasons than a lack of sexual/romantic attraction. One could make an argument for our male lead Tacchan (Tatsuhiko), but there's so much intersectionality going on between the plot and his mental illness to say with any certainty. Everything could be explained away. So, a decent headcanon for those who think so (though you don't really need any permission for headcanons, lol), but I wouldn't really advertise it as a story with ace rep.

Another key topic i'd like to discuss is the rep of mental illness. Tacchan has OCD, mysophobia, and misanthropy. I liked that these weren't the product of a gruesome trauma, but rather a moment of humiliation and insecurity that stuck in a different way than most. I liked that it was consistently shown and not forgotten about when convenient. Indeed, the only time he forgets about it is when he's so busy with something else, something that he finds fulfilling and helpful - something that he established in the very beginning of the drama (yay, internal consistency, and i have heard of similar cases in reality). However, I did have a problem with how close we got to "love cures all" with the OCD and mysophobia. We got very close folks. Like a strong hand from a person he cares about will make such an instant improvement. It wasn't cured, but it was so greatly reduced that, well, it could've been. Not to mention that she quite literally says "it's not an illness, it's a habit" and "doctors are just looking to diagnose you" without ever being called out on it.

My main other complaints are that the ending speeches were not satisfying, and even seemed to excuse this inhumane bill to a point. If a government ever did do something of this sort, it should be a program to opt in to, not a bill that has hypothetically severe consequences if you do not follow.

But, I did enjoy the drama for the characters, their growth, and the various perspectives shown in relation to the plot. I can see myself watching this again - especially for the notable character growth from 3 of the 4 main characters that were well paced.


Quotes:
"Saying that marriage is our duty as a human... is a joke."

"If we don't get married, does that mean the country won't acknowledge us as humans?”

"Because all sorts of people live in Tokyo. They're chasing after all sorts of dreams. And escaped from all sorts of things. They may look satisfied... but that's not the case. There are things that they can't let go of. Their feelings become complicated and entangled. It's just a melting pot of those types of people... Tokyo is."

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Trailer Misdirection, Pearl is still Pearl

Sometimes trailers are misleading. It's something I frequently say whenever people tell me they know what's going to happen because they watched the trailer. I should've heeded my own words. Because this movie was a prime example. I watched the trailer and found myself legitimately mad. And it wasn't even because it was obviously going to be more explicit than the other Gameboys-verse stories. No. The reason I was upset is because that Pearl was not the Pearl I know. I wondered how loose of a grip or loyalty the writers must have to the character. Pearl would not hurt, dare I say backstab, a friend in that way. Pearl wouldn't be that shameless and carefree. That wasn't Pearl. And the comment section obviously agrees - as many of those Pearl-hating comments came either before the release or before it was available internationally.

The trailer did this movie an extreme disservice. So many people who were initially looking forward to more from Pearl started actively hating this movie without even seeing it. Myself, unfortunately, included. But I can tell you, Pearl is still very much Pearl. The whole situation was a result of ineffective communication and poor timing.

The only thing I can fault Pearl for is the fact that after she and Achilles found out their mutual feelings for Ali, she proposed and participated in a dating competition of compatibility. Did she learn nothing from her exploits in "Pearl Next Door" the year prior? I also think I would've handled the ending differently, but I get why she did what she did. It was a very Pearl-like choice.

I had a lot of fun here. I laughed quite a bit, as there were several different types of humor included here (besides the sexual humor which just isn't my thing). There was a lot of rep here as well: bisexual and gay leads; enby, pan, and gay supporting characters that were both campy and nuanced. They supported each other and really built off each other's energy in the scene.

The person I watched this with even said she liked this better than Pearl Next Door.

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We open the film with the male lead realizing that his movie showing on love and loneliness is putting people to sleep. No one seems interested in what he has to say. Yumi, a ticket seller at the venue, mentions that it might be because there's no people - and she volunteers to act in his next film. What happens next makes reality and film bleed together in a rather beautiful manner that kept me watching. Is the new film reflecting reality? Is reality mirroring the new film? Are the two indeed different but conflated to us real-life viewers? I can't say. But it resulted in a pretty, calm, and mellow short film which I did quite enjoy. But it was definitely a more atmospheric/vibe sort of watch, rather than a story-centric sort of watch.


"Why do you shoot a movie?"
"Because it's pretty."
"Then you only film things that are pretty, do you?"
"If you care about something, then it becomes pretty."
And that does seem to be the general idea behind the film.

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A mellow ode to the barter system, object value, and storytelling

This film is slow and mellow, like most slice-of-life tales, and I very much came to love it. In the beginning, I was quite put off. Where is this going? When will Josie start running her decisions by Doris? Will we see the less aggravating side of their sister relationship?

The first thing that really drew me in is the fact that their business is based around the bartering system - something I am quite fond of myself. While the coffee and baked goods are still sold using money, the collected items around the store are all for exchange. It's something that they kind of fell into by circumstance, but quickly proved to be the best thing to happen to them. We also got to see how it meant different things to each of them. To Josie, it was an opportunity to exchange up for both parties. Item A means more to me than Item B, while Item B means more to you than Item A, let's trade. Meanwhile Doris saw it as a peek into lives and dreams she never had. Each person's experiences led them to being able to make an exchange and carried memories through the exchange themselves. In these perspectives, you could see these alternative aspects of the leads' personalities that they previously didn't get a chance to explore.

"In this city, surely there's someone looking for bone china, and surely there's someone with a spare set. Surely someone has an empty sofa, and surely someone else is looking for it. They just haven't found each other."

I also like how stories got incorporated. The overall film is sort of being told as a story. Then we have a storytelling traveler who becomes a frequent and important presence. We also have stories being told by visitors about why they want certain goods or are there in the cafe to begin with, and the stories being told by Josie to serve as an exchange for something Doris wanted. And throughout it all, Doris never had a story to tell herself. Which made the ending just that much stronger and memorable.

"You were right to say that by running an exchange, we'd hear lots of stories about things we haven't experienced. But the more of them I heard... the more I wanted stories of my own to exchange."

And it make the subtle subtextual romance a mellow sort of poignant too. Did Doris like the storyteller, or was she romanced by the stories he told and the wanderlust he inspired?

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Amateur Performance of a Short, Intriguing Mystery with a Memorable Ending

I am not gonna lie to you. The performance by the actors here were pretty poor when it comes to any of the big emotions. You could clearly tell which emotions were the hardest for each of the cast, as the story required them all to portray almost the entire range. So it made some scenes truly eyeroll-worthy and hard to take serious. Then you add in the background music - playing just about the entire drama - which sounded like an EDM rendition of a skipping record. So I'm not going to try and sell you on liking this drama.

However, it was an intriguing and short tale of a group of friends connected together in a complicated web of sex, desire, money, and secrets. In each episode we get the tale of what happened from each person's perspective, and then we get the truth contradicting that same tale. Primrose was out there collecting blackmail throughout the night. I wonder what she had planned to do with it all? We don't really find out. But regardless, I found the end very entertaining. As those last credits started to roll I found myself actually wanting to see more, despite the many cons I highlighted above.

I also have to give a shout of recognition to the intro sequence. It was very pretty, eye-catching, and not in the least bit spoilery.

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It was an all-time favorite... till it wasn't. Enough holes to swallow me up.

La Pluie started out on a fast track to being an all-time favorite of mine. It started out so strong. The aesthetic and cinematography of it all caught my attention before a word was even spoken. Then we got that gorgeous monologue overtop Tai riding the bus in the rain. We're told immediately what kind of fantasy world we're getting into. A world where people believe in and even trust in soulmates - because on your 20th birthday, people with rain-affiliated hearing loss can hear another person, and only that person, so long as both of them are in rain at the same time.

An interesting premise. Made all that more interesting by the fact that our main character is stubbornly refusing to acknowledge his soulmate. And that his parents are divorced, despite being soulmates themselves. It had all this set up to create a memorable message about not putting all your faith in destiny, that relationships take a lot more than love to make work. A message that they did exceedingly well throughout.

I fell in love with our 2 main leads immediately. And was giddy when ever they were on the screen together - with all the adorable awkwardness of getting to know and getting comfortable with each other. They were respectful, fun, and very cute together. They both had insecurities stemming from their pasts, as well as all the miscommunication/misunderstanding trappings that a new relationship and those insecurities are prone to. In theory, this all fit who the characters were. Tai, who learned from a young age that talking before things are resolved doesn't do anything. Who prefers to solve things on his own. Patt, who reached out for love and acceptance, and got shot down with silence instead - making him wonder if he's worthy of the love and acceptance he sought out. But when push came to shove, when it was time for the writers to deliver, it felt out-of-character. In one singular fell swoop, it undid all of the progress, development, and communication the leads had had prior.

The major support characters were also so fun. Tien was an adorkable brat and fantastic (and accurate) little brother to Tai. I wish we got more background to why he was so pettily antagonistic to Lomfon in the beginning, but by the end I was solidly sold on the Tien and Lomfon couple. They were equally as adorable as Tai x Patt when they let themselves relax, and they had the benefit of similar interests and passions to keep them talking, even when they clashed.

We even got a lesbian couple! One that felt pretty natural, even though they had very little screen time. But I am a little bit salty that the other pair of girls, who got quite a bit of screen time, did not become a couple. In fact, they gave one of them a HEA with a character we never even saw or heard about! Even if they didn't put Bow in the lesbian couple they seemed to had been hinting at, they could've ended her story in a different way that didn't feel as out-of-left-field. Even just her flirting with a coworker or thirsting after guys as usual. In a story where we literally get told that love can come in several forms, it felt artificial.

But the thing that really put a sour taste in my mouth and changed my overall view of the story isn't any of the above oversights and pacing changes. It's not even about the fact that it started feeling like a different screenwriter took over in those last few episodes. But rather the fact that we have several plot holes.

In episode 1, minute 1 of this drama, we get told how this world works:
- Certain people have a form of hearing loss where they can't hear anything when it rains (as suggested by the fact that everyone knew Tai had hearing loss already before the rain on his 20th birthday, and that he apparently never heard the sound of rain before).
- These people with hearing loss start to hear their soulmate on their first rain after turning 20 years old.
- That hearing loss is irreversible.
- That everyone is only able to hear 1 person

But suddenly, Lomfon spontaneously develops hearing loss. Spontaneously, Lomfon can hear Tai. And Patt. And Patt and Tai can hear him. No where near a birthday that we know of either. Oh, and spontaneously, you can just yell to the universe that you don't want the soulmate bond, and suddenly you won't have it anymore.

Absolutely none of this is questioned. None of this is explained. None of this is even pondered. In fact, in the last few minutes of the drama, we quite literally get told that it doesn't matter. "In the end, the hearing-loss and soulmate stuff are still questions that no one has an answer to. Rather, no one chooses to find an answer anymore." That love is all that matters.

I'm sorry. I'm all for making us and the characters question how the world works, but you don't get to just set rules for the world, break them, and expect us to be content because everyone gets a happy ending. That's not how worldbuilding and writing works.

And the fact that technically, Tien and Lomfon don't have a happy ending yet. Because, what do you know? Tien suddenly, spontaneously develops hearing loss and a soulmate bond too! And not on a birthday!

There's also a few smaller plot holes. Such as how Patt knew where to go to see Tai - when that was not Tai's usual café. And no one knew Patt was going there/went. Also, Patt apparently has had a long-time desire to resign and open up a vet clinic in rural Thailand? That definitely wasn't set up in the story. But the reason for it's existence was apparent: gotta have a good ol' ill-placed and ill-timed tourism ad for that final episode.

I love these characters. Some I loved almost immediately. Some, grew on me as their characters shown more depth in the story. And I loved that this drama didn't go the typical "villain" route, even while it did go the typical "misunderstanding" route. For probably 75% of it's runtime, this drama was a favorite. I was in a rush to get through the week to see the next episode. I scoured every corner of the internet for fanfictions and fan-edits of this story or similar premises. And I still highly recommend it. But I don't know what happened in those last few episodes. The writing went downhill along with the plot conflict's impact on the happiness of our leads. It stopped being thought out, and it shows. But can a terrific start truly make up for a lackluster ending?

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Romcom with Realism, for good and bad

What I loved and hated most about the film is the healthy dose of realism to this romcom. From the stressful in-laws (on both sides, for different reasons) that weren't overdone, to the getting-used-to-each-other phase of being newlyweds, to the stress of living in a place that isn't your own, and more. It was real but it was funny. And the leads were so cute. And despite Angie being hot-headed and Jed being rather weak-willed, I would dare to say that they were a perfect mesh for each other. They knew how to apologize to each other after a fight, and really wanted the other to be as happy as possible.

But, we also get the other side of that realism: the likelihood of a man cheating on his spouse goes up significantly with pregnancy. For a number of reasons. Loss of attraction. Less bedroom activity. Change in the spouse's attitude. Etc. Etc. And in reality, many spouses will still forgive their partner afterwards with the reassurance that it won't happen again, after a good/sincere apology, and/or on behalf of the baby and their post-partum state.

Even when this plot element was introduced, I still really liked the movie. The way Angie handled it was spectacular. And I expected nothing less from my girl. Even when she's on her last leg of pregnancy, she handled that like a boss. And it looked like she was gonna make Jed work for her forgiveness.

But alas, the film botched the story towards the end. Jed didn't grovel as much as he deserved to. And several characters contributed to this narrative of the infidelity being an easily forgiven transgression - on behalf of him being a man and it not meaning anything. For instance, Jed's mother seemingly shocked but relatively okay when it came to light - because, I mean, what does it matter if your son went against basic loyalty morals since you hate your daughter-in-law? And then Angie's father gave this whole spiel about how "men work different" and "just because we cheat doesn't mean we don't love our wives anymore" speech while comforting her.

And then we have Angie saying she feels bad because she married Jed in the hopes of changing him? That didn't even make sense with the movie! Did me and the scriptwriter watch the same movie? At most, Angie hoped Jed would grow more of a backbone and stand up against his parents wishes/opinions. What does that have ANYTHING to do with his ongoing affair?

This could have been a great movie. And I would have loved to debate the "should she/shouldn't she forgive him" aspect of the story. But the ending just really messed that up. It made the cheating out to be much a smaller dealer than it was, and tried to paint hot-headed pregnant Angie as part of the reason it happened.

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These two leads were actually really cute together. The cold male lead was never excessively rude, the warm male lead was never excessively dense. And together, they had a sweet tentative chemistry that felt organic, filled with gazes and smiles. And best of all, they never played coy with their own or each others feelings, nor what they wanted from each other. And the double entendre of "do you want to eat ramyeon" was spectacular to watch develop from one meaning to another.

There were subtle doses of humor sprinkled throughout. From the cliche situational comedy with our leads, to the caring but disgruntled "forever-alone" best friend who was stuck in an ongoing cycle of on-again, off-again with his off-screen boyfriend.

The kiss scenes were built up to pretty well, but generally lacked in the proportional execution for the build-up. I enjoyed it nonetheless though.

What I did not enjoy is how poorly constructed and inconsistent the plot was, even for a character-driven drama. It seemed to want to be a food drama, but lacked the proper attention and care for the food aspect to really warrant the title.

Even with Korean alcohol culture in mind, Jiyu could be interpreted as at least on the cusp of alcoholism for the majority of the drama (before someone comes at me with the most common rebuttal: it's been over half a year since the break up). Meanwhile, Kihoon's reason for not liking alcohol, that we seemed to have been building up tension to for so long, was too flatly delivered to have impact. Not to mention, the pacing from him being angry about the prospect of being around alcohol to selling it to openly drinking it with the rest of the characters was enough to give whiplash. Not to mention the fact that this same man who passed out after one shot is now able to drink multiple glasses with ease in the span of MAYBE a few months...

And then there were other areas of tension that were introduced and resolved too quickly. Or even an area of tension that was consistently put into subtext from beginning to end, but never resolved (the fact that Jiyu's superiors all seem to think poorly of him, resulting in a palpable lack of confidence in their presence).

I liked the ending messages though:
-The prospect of everyone liking the same dish, but liking it prepared in different ways. This same message isn't exactly uncommon with food dramas, and even dramas that only have minor focus on food (Moonlight Chicken for example).
-Food and drinks are best enjoyed in the presence of friendly company and tastes best when celebrating.

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Perfectly Complementary Character Growth in a Cozy Backdrop

Japan just has a way with these food dramas that few other productions can match. It just feels so down-to-earth, real, and cozy. It puts the small details into focus like nothing else can, and somehow manages to soften any societal critique messages and story stressors.

I wouldn't say this is a GL drama, but rather a lesbian adult coming-of-age drama. There isn't that same focus on the *need* to enter into a romantic relationship. Instead, we get to navigate the slowly shifting dynamic between these two women who find their perfectly complementary half. We get to see how the small comments and practices (what has often been coined as "micro-aggressions"), seemingly insignificant to the masses, can have a longstanding impact to others. They can become a source of insecurity, dissonance, and wariness. Things that make you feel "other." But this drama does it in such a way that it feels almost conversational, in such a way that we actually see every day and with responding messages that, while feeling unnatural at times, weren't drawn out and hung up for continuous reference).

I loved seeing the progression of these characters through the work. From shy, uncertain, and insecure, to understanding, to irreplaceable. From a dynamic where one ate and the other happily watched, to a dynamic where they both ate meals together, to a dynamic where their relationship was no longer limited to meals. I really hope that we get a season 2, and I don't say that about many dramas.

And the food looked delicious. I am so glad that the producers included recipes on the drama's website for the key dishes - because I'm definitely going to be trying some of these.

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Turn your brain off and detox with laughter, ghost ships, and pop culture refs

I laughed the whole way through. The half "that was funny," half "what am I watching" sort of laugh. But laughing nonetheless. Truly a good choice for when you need something 100% mindless (and don't mind Thai humor). It's quite similar to YYY in randomness but, unlike YYY, this drama actually does have a plot with some degree of emphasis (thus why I was able to finish this drama, and not the other one).

They picked a great ensemble cast for this production, many of which you don't really anticipate being in a drama together. But they work together really really well. I really want to see them on the same screen together more in the future.

On a similar note, it was FULL of gif-able and meme-able moments to share. And it is probably heaven for the ghost shippers out there (fans who ship together actors/characters that have almost no hope of ever actually being a thing). Because where better to put ghost ship fan service than in a ghost drama, with a fangirl ghost who can make it happen - using inspiration from all her favorite stories (which are of course unnamed to us, but can easily be identified by fans).

Besides the laughter and mountain of screencaptures, I think I enjoyed the intertextual/pop culture references above all else. And the music was extremely catchy (and able to be found on Apple Music!).

A great brain-off, detox drama for when the drama in standard dramas is way too much.
Also, probably a pretty good fit for kids, imo.

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Simple, Gorgeous, Real, and Inspiring

Simple and gorgeous, while simultaneously showing several issues facing same-sex couples. In it, we meet a strong-willed bibliophile who just wants to be treated fairly, and her partner who is still struggling with being closeted and internalized homophobia in the face of prejudice and micro-aggressions. My heart hurt for her when she said that she wasn't allowed to be upset because "lesbians shouldn't walk in the sun."

I love how our two female leads balance each other out, providing each other unbridled joy and courage as they move forward in life. To the point where they truly are able to shake things off, not because they're scared to be upset, but because they have each other's backs.

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A fitting tribute to the reality of adult pressures, relationships, and dreams

I truly fell in love with this drama. It possessed a depth and quality that really felt true to life. Serious and emotional, I was swept away in the emotions of these characters. These people. I laughed when they laughed. I giggled when they blushed. I cried when they cried. You could tell it was written by an LGBTQ+ man, writing for the full array of his audience.

Through this story, we got a taste of what it means to be human. How we're all flawed, trying to navigate new and changing relationships in whatever way we think is best. And we're going to make mistakes. Because hindsight is 20/20. Love, whether it be between lovers, family, or friends, is messy. It's filled with joy and pain, all the best intentions that do more harm than good, and questions that may never get the desired closure. And this was a great tribute to that fact.

But the drama also drives home the power of potential. In love. In dreams. In life. That everyone is the same deep down, just trying to make it through life with what they have - both with privileges and burdens. But everyone's journey is inherently unique and independently decided.
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"I chose to sell chicken rice because it's a simple dish. It's consisted of four components: chicken, rice, broth, and sauce... It might only have 4 units, but yet everyone's definition of 'delicious' differs. That's what makes this simple dish stand out. I see people eat chicken rice every day and they all enjoy their chicken rice in their own way."
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On to more specific details, I really loved the commentary about disability and ableism when it came to Heart's storyline. Both in the large scale (being just as capable of living life as hearing individuals) and smaller scales (preferring international films because Thai films never come with subtitles).

Also, the portrayal of Thai culture was brilliantly done. Each episode takes place in a different month as we progress through the year and Thai festivities. By doing so, it presented viewers with a certain degree of Thai pride, showed the passage of time in the story, and in my opinion, really helped establish a fitting pacing for the story (something GMMTV tends to have trouble with).

The story also presented a fresh look at income disparity. Wen is not wealthy. He's still very much having to work his butt off to get by, finding ways to save money in his daily activities, and trying to work his way up the corporate ladder. But, we are still shown that his has more privilege than the residents and workers of the Moonlight Chicken diner. That there are things that he simply can't grasp to the full scale at which they experience. A scale at which he can't resolve, just watch and comfort. We got to see the disillusionment of society that comes with living so low-income, believing things are at a standstill and will never change. The fear associated with being the man at the bottom, easy to stomp out and take advantage of, perceivably without the power to change anything. Without the power to change anything or even to take up more space. The habits you take up in order to distract yourself, or to faintly indulge hope for change. The same habits that struck close to home.

So even while I'm learning about a culture away from home, the portrayal of life still managed to be so wide-reaching that it fed back into the above-mentioned messages. But unlike other GMMTV social commentary dramas, such as "Not Me" or "The Eclipse" (both of which I did love), these messages weren't as explicitly stated to audiences. They fell into the narrative organically with the right amount of emphasize (and quotability) that drove the message home, but without pushing you out of your immersion with the drama.


On a more non-story note, I loved the aesthetic quality of the series. It was full of screen-shot worthy moments and really set the tone. You knew immediately that this wasn't your standard Thai BL. I wasn't particularly fond of the opening theme song, but i loved the rest of the soundtrack. In fact, Ford Arun's "Tomorrow" is playing on a loop while I'm writing this. The PPL was very apparent, but as it was mostly centered around a cat, I found myself not minding it at all. In essence, the cuteness on the screen made up for the abruptness in my eyes.

The drama was immensely different than first presented to us in the pilot and final trailers. The main difference is perhaps the one that I can't mention here because of spoilers, but I ultimately liked this "deception" as it really calls the audience out on seeing everything in black-and-white before they have all the information. The other one, I didn't mind as well, but I know others definitely did: this drama is not spicy. It's just not. There's considerable tension, but it only really comes to a head in that first episode.

I found myself not into Earth's performance here. Not because of age, like so many others have pointed out (but yes, it seemed like the script kept mentioning Jim's age in order to keep reminding us since he did not have the look or give off the vibe that the character was apparently supposed to have), but rather because he didn't draw me in. There's reserved (like what the character is supposed to be), and then there's awkward. And Earth seemed to fluctuate between those two on a regular basis. I wasn't convinced that the character was feeling all the emotions he supposedly was. It wasn't there in his eyes, body language, or demeanor. I mean, the scenes still went off well, but I suspect it was in large part due to the more emotive actors on the screen with him. I was really hoping to see more from him in this drama, as he seemed to have been doing much better at emoting with his eyes and expressions in "Cupid's Last Wish."

Also, I find it rather ironic that, considering the message about Heart preferring international movies because of the lack of subtitles, we didn't have subtitles for the sign language. You can largely get it through context, especially as other characters will often respond verbally along with their sign. But in the latter episodes, as we get more prolonged use of sign language without spoken language, the absence of subtitles was extremely evident.

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