MidnightReader

It had potential

The biggest problem with this series is the runtime. With this kind of plot, you can't just condense it down to 10-minute-long episodes and expect to get anything of substance done.

Which is why they kind of don't. Ji Han really just stumbles around with no real goal, falls in love, & gets a second chance after catching our fugitive. I didn't believe the romance. The worlds and their connection were never really explained; they are working on the assumption that the watcher has a baseline amount of knowledge.

Why are we spending actual time on schoolwork? Why are there two possible love interests? Most full-length series are too short to involve multiple love interests! Why is there no attempt to "fix" the error? Doesn't the original ledger that Ji Han came with at the end still exist? Is that not going to be a problem? Where is Ji Han getting his clothes from? That last one isn't really important, but it bothers me not knowing.

The acting was at least alright. Kan Hyeon Bae (Ji Han) did a really good job for his first role.

The chemistry really wasn't present outside the NC scene; it was alright then, but the kisses were good & VERY audible.

Not a total waste of time, but it was really disappointing because the plot had potential and the acting wasn't terrible.

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Trigger Warning for SA, Kidnapping, Confinement, Isolation, & Abuse

I was really looking forward to this one. Just a warning; my thoughts are all over the place right now so this review may not be the most organized. It's also almost 3am hehe so there may be some spelling and grammar mistakes.

This is a series where there aren't many characters that aren't going to frustrate or annoy you at least once. The MC's work friends probably won't, and maybe Yi Chen's (the little brother) boyfriend won't, but he also didn't have much personality outside liking little Yi Chen. Ke Lu was fine too, but we didn't see him much either. Lu Feng's sister is pretty cool as well after their father dies, you can tell she cares about her brother at least.

Can I just point out how stupid it was to have the MC & his little brother share the same name.

Don't get me wrong it wasn't bad, but it did feel like it was trying to hard to be something it wasn't. There was always something happening that would remind me of To My Shore & Revenged Love; mostly in the dialogue.

The OST was alright. I didn't hate it at least, there was just too much of it. Once or twice an episode would be fine, but it happened sometimes 4 or 5 times where we would get a flashback/montage with a lyric song overlaid. The flashback/montage's were over done as well. We didn't need that many.

We didn't need so many NC scene's of the second couple either. I would have much rather have seen how the little brother fell in love. I don't believe it was love at first sight like with Qin Lang and Lu Feng. We don't get enough of the second couple.

The fashion was probably my favorite thing about the series. I liked the Yi Chen siblings clothes, especially Xiao Chen, but I also really liked Zhu Sha's. Not many people can pull off a bubble skirt (at least not many I've seen).

I liked that we got to see our main couples relationship at basically every stage. High school, college, right after college, and then meeting again after 5 years of separation.

The acting was good. Xiao Chen seemed overly dazed at times, but I chalked that up to his character being overwhelmed with the situation. I especially liked that you could tell something was wrong with Lu Feng just from his eyes.

The last thing that I feel is worth mentioning on the positive side them giving a reason behind Lu Feng's aggression and impulsive behavior. Bipolar disorder isn't something I know much about so I can't speck for accuracy, but this is the first time I've seen them give, or at least acknowledged, a mental health reason for the ML acting crazy obsessive over the main character. Xiao Chen being a trigger for him also makes perfect sense if his love for him run's so deep, and they are constantly being torn apart. I also like that we got to see him working though it. Was this accurate treatment? I have no idea. It felt like it would hurt more than help, but my medical training didn't cover this type of mental disorder.

Would it be horrible of me to say that I was happy that the parent's all started dropping like flies? I didn't care about any of them and I don't think we were meant to. Lu Feng's father died & Lu Feng's tears felt like those of relief. I'd cry in relief too if my abuser died. The Chen's father? It happened with no fanfare. I'm not even sure they told us why or how he died. The most memorable thing he did was fly into a rage and lock Xiao Chen in his room. The Chen's mother? Lady was really holding on for that wedding wasn't she? She wasn't going to be able to rest till she saw her son in a loveless marriage that anyone with eye's could see would go no where.

(I've heard in the book they actually have a kid and so does Lu Feng from a one-night stand & I'm interested to know how that affect's the whole kidnapping thing. I may have to read the book.)

BACK TO THE MOTHER. This women pissed me off. I already didn't like her for not even worrying about her son who had just been attacked, but was more worried about him not being "normal" as she put it. Then she kept trying to set him up with girls & ignoring what his type really was. At the hospital though was were I really wanted her to just bite it. When she was giving this long death bed guilt trip to Xiao Chen about how at least one of her sons needed to be normal or it was a waste of time raising them, how he corrupted his little brother, how she had saved up so much money for him to start a family with. It's like being normal is more important than her children's happiness. If only she knew that Xiao Chen was picturing himself marrying Lu Feng while marrying Zhou Lan.

The wedding was a shotgun wedding.

Since I brought her up~ I don't like Zhou Lan. Not because she married Xiao Chen, in that she was just being a good friend while also getting to marry her crush. Can't blame the girl for taking the opportunity that landed in her lap. I didn't like her at the beginning because her character felt desperate, but it was near the end where she brings a gun and accidently shots Xiao Chen that really solidified my dislike. Why didn't she call the cops? Why would you enter someone's home with a gun? She didn't even know anything about Xiao Chen & Lu Feng's relationship, didn't know anything about the situation, or weather Lu Feng has a gun, she didn't take into account that Xiao Chen could have been hit. She simply didn't think at all. If you think someone is being held captive, confirm and then call the cops. Don't take the law into your own hands. I pisses me off that she didn't get any punishment for this either, or if she did we aren't told about it. I don't care if her reasons were good it's still attempt of murder.

Episode 9 was were Lu Feng went from a toxic red flag to a psychopath. Props to the actors during this episode because it was a lot, especially the biting which was real at least once. Sadly we only got this level of toxic psycho behavior for only one episode. I know I'm a horrible person for wanting more. I just felt like they tried to pack it all into one episode when it could have been spread out into two episodes and had more impact.

Finally the thing I HATED most. Who thought that 3D model of the city was good? It was so fake & ugly it hurt to look at. I'd be embarrassed for people to see my name attached to it. I don't know what the budget was but it must have been scaping the bottom of the barrel. I'm going to assume they didn't have the funds for a drone, or maybe legally they can't do drone shots. But a picture from Google images would have looked better. The worse thing is we didn't need these city or sky shots at all! When we have a time skip sure use it, but they subject us too these moving 3D model's multiple times each episode for no good reason. Just don't show us anything at all. Transition from one scene to the next using the fade to black method or something.

Was that a bit harsh? Probably, but it bothered me throughout the whole series and I couldn't not say something about it.

While I was disappointed by many aspects of the show I'm still glad that I watched it.

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I was not ready!!!

It took me around 2 hours to finish the first episode. Why? Because I was either in such disbelief at what I just witnessed and had to watch the scene multiple times, or I needed to just take a few seconds for a mental reset because I wasn't ready for the things that were happening. It was a lot to take in when I wasn't expecting this level of intensity from a GMMTV non-OFFGUN BL project.

Safe to say I loved every second of this BL crime version of 10 Things I Hate About You. They even kept the 90s vibe, which was appreciated, and included a bonus 50-minute short of 10 Things You Shouldn't Do In A Prison.

OST was good & fit each scene really well. (I normally don't bother commenting on the OST unless it was really memorable in a positive or negative way.)

JJ being in an actual relationship in a series is already a treat, but with another man? I was very happily surprised.

The plot hit a couple of slow areas in the pacing around episodes 7-9, but otherwise, each hour-plus-long episode flew by. The relationships felt both like they got enough time to develop and didn't, especially the beginning of Style & Fedal relationship. I wasn't surprised at the "plot twist" regarding Bison and Fedal's parents. To be honest, I knew who their killer was in episode 5 & was 50/50 on whether Keen knew about it. The truth behind Fedal's ex-boyfriend didn't surprise me either.

The only part of the plot that I wanted to speed up and just be done with was when Style and Fedal just walked into someone's home, held them at gunpoint, married the couple, and then ended up holding them at gunpoint again. It was such a long scene that I was more than done with it, but I understood the point of it. How did they even go from holding them up to marrying them?

THEN WE HAVE THE LAST EPISODE! 1 hour and 20 minutes long, and we spend almost 50 minutes in prison doing things that should not be done in a prison! I'm honestly surprised they didn't just time-skip over the prison time. Especially considering they tied up a loose end that I thought was already tied.

All the actors did a phenomenal job, especially in the crying scenes. I already knew I was going to love First and Khaotung because I've loved them in everything. Joong is always solid, and it was nice to see him play a more aggressive character. Dunk is the one who really shook and impressed me. I never would have guessed that he could pull off a bold, flirty, sassy, shameless character so well. Shy, blindly in love, Khaotung, and shameless, flirty Dunk are my new favorites. I didn't expect to enjoy Fedal/Style's couple more than Kant/Bison, but I did. I loved both couples, but I found myself more invested in Fedal/Style. Probably because Fedal was more antagonistic, and I probably have a type.

Also, can we just get more of Dunk in a crop top? His showing off his waist was another thing I couldn't get over, and sometimes it produced some funny reactions. Dunk showing off his waist and Khaotung throwing his leg over First shoulder in episode one was almost enough to take me out. Like DAMN let me BREATH.

SO yeah, I loved the series and will definitely rewatch it someday.

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A relationship built on lies & manipulation

The whole plot of this series revolves around lies and manipulation, with a whole lot of fortune-telling and feng shui overlaying it.

I'm not going to say this series is a waste of time, but I will say that it was incredibly disappointing. I'll go into more detail later, but the writing for this series is so flimsy that I'm convinced that this was the screenwriter's first time writing a script.

THINGS I LIKED

* The acting was great. It was a lot of these actors' first role, and they honestly killed it. Sadly, good acting can only save a show so much.

* The only part of the plot I liked was when Ritt didn't get back together with Itt just because he got hurt trying to "save" him. That happens way too many times in drama series, and sometimes it's fine to do that, but like in this series, it made sense for Ritt not to forgive him because at this point every step of their romance has been built on lies and manipulation, and Itt risking himself doesn't solve those issues.

* Using rune stones for fortune-telling is different.

* NC scenes were surprisingly okay. The actors have good chemistry together.

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE
(90% of these things can be chalked up to lazy writing)

* The actors for Pure and Itt looked so much alike that I got them confused a couple of times. Not for a few seconds either, but sometimes minutes. This was probably just a me problem, but it was still annoying.

* Someone needs to tell the writers that Fortune-telling and Feng Shui can not be a person's entire personality.

* Even if you love someone, you shouldn't pretend to be someone you're not just to be with them. Ritt has the excuse that he was drunk and not thinking clearly when he told the lie, but he should have cleared things up as soon as he got sober.

* Was Pure trying to turn Ritt into an alcoholic? He was drinking so much that I have no idea how he remembered anything. Honestly, this was a small example of lazy writing because he really shouldn't have been able to remember everything.

* Pure honestly wasn't a good friend.

* Can we go back to the time when, if a character wanted to pretend to have beaten or kidnapped someone, they have real footage or at least have made it so the said person is busy and unable to answer the phone? Or manipulate the person to the location to falsify evidence against them? I've only watched a couple of series where they pull this "it was faked with AI" bullshit, and yes, it shows the dangers of AI, but at the same time you can't rely solely on that to move the plot forward. It just makes the characters look stupid for falling for it, and in this case also Pure for thinking Itt is pulling a "Ritt was kidnapped" scheme to what? Make up with Ritt? Does that make any sense at all? This whole scene was just to deal with a blackmailer that honestly played such a small role in the story that he could have been written out completely, and they could have just had Ritt's guilt slowly eating at him until he couldn't take lying anymore, only to then discover that everyone around him had been lying to him.

* Ritt has no right to play the victim after learning that Itt knew he was lying the whole time. He had no reason to snap like that. He should have just said sorry and explained why he did it. It's only after Pure reveals that he had known for a while, and that Itt and Phitcha had known the whole time, that he had the right to be mad and hurt. Because let's be honest, Itt pretty much set him up to tell the lie in the first place and then manipulated things so that they had to have a fake marriage, live together, and go on a trip together. He also had everyone around him and Ritt in on the scheme as well. So to me, Itt was the worst of these two, and I honestly wouldn't have been surprised if they hadn't gotten back together.

* They showed the same scenes from Ritt and Itt's past multiple times with little added.

* They had Itt say at the end that he wanted to start over without any lies between them when he manipulated things to get Ritt to the event in the first place. At this point, it felt like Ritt gave in to get Itt to stop, more than him being willing to give them another try. At this point, basically their whole relationship had been built on a lie, so how do you know when the lying stops? Itt's a red flag & everyone is color blind.

* LAZY WRITING! Everything written above for starters, but also the characters have no real personality or growth. The story focused so much on the fortune-telling and Feng Shui that there wasn't any room for either. They decided to add these things instead of building up good foreshadowing or tension, and defaulted to "let's just use AI". We only see Ritt struggling internally about his lie for the first couple of episodes and then again after he's being blackmailed. If Ritt's victim speech had to happen, they could have used better dialogue instead of making the audience completely unable to be sympathetic toward him. Some sympathy was possible because Itt did a lot more lying and manipulating. Itt supposedly tried to get Ritt to tell him the truth when really, after their first date, he didn't at all. Itt also used the excuse that he wasn't brave enough to hit on Ritt, but for some reason he had no problem lying to and manipulating him into dating him.

This series had potential.

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Don't expect anything intense or dark

I saw a few clips of this show before I watched it, and it turns out they were all from the side couples' scenes. After finishing the series, I get why; they definitely had better chemistry than our main couple. Kisses were stiff either way. I liked the back hugs and cuddles, though.

I liked that I actually learned something from this series; I had never heard of Hyperventilation Syndrome or Aplastic Anemia before, and it was nice to learn more about them. I'll remember them, whereas I probably won't remember most of the other details of the show. Not that it wasn't a good show, but it was . . . safe. I feel like this show was sold as something much darker with a toxic, obsessive, and possessive romance, and it did the bare minimum with all of those things. I had really been looking forward to those darker tones.

OST was good; it made me feel like I was watching an anime at times.

The acting was good. I have no idea who played Xiaosi, but he did a great job. I loved his character and the relationships he had with Li and Zhai Qiu Yu. Li is his most important person, and he wasn't going to give Zhai Qiu Yu an inch.

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Not the worst Vampire BL series I've watched

I liked what they were going for, but sadly, they couldn't do much with only 10 minutes per episode. It clearly had a limited budget, even though the effects weren't the worst I've seen.

For some reason, I found Lucifer saying "I'm also a Christian," really funny.

The fighting was laughably bad, and so short that it may as well have been cut out.

The kissing was . . . kissing, I guess. Chemistry wasn't there at all.

What was that ending? No, seriously, what was it? Is Minu alive or dead? If alive, how? And what were the repercussions of what Lucifer did?

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Trigger warning for self-harm and non-consensual sex

This series can be very frustrating for the first 5 episodes because we go from the past to the future a LOT. A ridiculous amount, really. None of it is in chronological order, which makes the story more confusing than it needed to be. It's enough to make someone want to drop the series after an episode or two, but besides this, I felt like it was a solid series. The jumping from past to present pretty much stops by episode 6.

The only other thing I didn't really like was the characters Ken and Lavid (Rawit) being so stupid. The dads are just as bad. I'm not a fan of stupid characters or ones that lack common sense. I deal with that enough in my day-to-day life. It doesn't bother me to the point of mentioning it often, but Ken is literally out here helping run to companies (into the ground but still) and trying to outmaneuver Kelvin & Vier. It just didn't seem believable that either of the fathers would have given him any power to make company decisions. Lavid just doesn't have common sense.

The GL couple was really good, but it did feel like their scenes were filled with literal filler sometimes. Nana kicks ass! I love seeing a female character who can fight.

The OST was great, but for the main couple's NC scenes, it was a bit wild. In a good way. I was not expecting them to use those songs. Also, the kissing noises? I felt like I was intruding.

I loved the acting all around. Peat didn't have many facial expressions, but I don't think the role gave him much room to give that many. I could tell Fort was really enjoying this role, and his crying was captivating.

Non-consensual sex in episode 5? Not sure. The scene cuts off, but it hints at it, so right now I'm going with yes.

There are several scenes where Kelvin hurts himself and has a panic attack. I'm assuming it was a panic attack since I don't know what else it could have been, but it was very tame in comparison to the ones I've had. As for hurting himself, Kelvin cuts himself a lot in the months after he and Vier go their separate ways, and Peat's response, the relief he gets from doing it, is accurate to how it actually feels when you cut yourself. How do I know? I've done it before when I was feeling very stressed and was in an environment that I had no control over, and it was a way of getting things to slow down so I could breathe. Don't worry I haven't done it in years, and I'm mentally in a much better place. The point is, it was realistic.

This show would be interesting to rewatch now that I have all the pieces to the story.

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I had no expectations, but was still disappointed

The best thing about this series is that it shows how AI is ruining creativity and taking jobs.

All the actors did a great job, but good acting can only carry a show so far when the plot and the script aren't pulling their weight. To me, Dew and Gun just didn't have any chemistry, and it felt less like love and more like Pheem imprinted on Jira.

The plot was hollow at best and felt full of loose ends, especially regarding Jira's "job". The script spent more time on the artistic side of things when it should have worked more on the "plot" and developing the characters and their relationships.

I couldn't connect with or care about any of the characters because we really didn't get to know them. I honestly couldn't remember their names until around episode 7, when the show actually started to get a little interesting. Which is sad.

The friendship between Koh and Pheem just fell apart with neither of them actually caring, and I didn't care either because it had no history behind it, even though we are told they've known each other for 20 years. I believe Pheem had Stockholm Syndrome, but they didn't really do enough with it. It's like Jira just existing took him half out of it, and Koh breaking them up cured him. More time needed to be spent on his healing, and not being used like an emotional yo-yo.

Watching this honestly felt like a waste of time; I gained nothing from it, not even enjoyment.

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I went in with high expectations, and I wasn't disappointed.

ACTING: I found a couple of the actors acting to feel very by-the-book, but it honestly didn't bother me; they still did a good job. I particularly liked JJ's acting; I found his energy and facial expressions (especially his smile) to be perfect for a comedy series. This isn't a comedy series, so we didn't get much of that side of him, but you get a good judge of his acting from seeing this and the more serious side that he has for the majority of the show. I'd only seen JJ in "I saw you in my dream" and "The Next Prince" previously and I found his acting very stiff in "I saw you in my dream" which was understandable for his first role, and we honestly didn't get enough of him in "The Next Prince" but based on what little I did see I can tell he's really improved. On a side note, I love it when JJ speaks English, something about it is really cute. JJ & Net really know how to cry.

OST: Was pretty & not overbearing. They went with the mood really well, and the lyrics often matched what was happening in the story or between the characters.

PRODUCTION: Very well done. My only complaint is that there were some moments where we were just staring or rotating around the characters when we could have just moved on, and there are way too many moments where the characters are just standing in silence for too long. Even when we are getting internal dialogue from Nakun, the silence stretches long enough to be awkward.

PLOT: As time-traveling stories go, I think this is one of my favorites. I like how it worked. I do think they spent a little too much time trying to explain it as if it could logically be explained, but it was also nice to hear some of the different viewpoints. Normally, I'm really disappointed when the characters in a series have to investigate something because it feels like they either aren't doing enough or they are overlooking the obvious, which makes them look stupid. Not in this series. I liked it, and the historical setting (which I normally don't like) made it better. I liked that gathering information and proof was harder than it is today, where literally everything can leave a paper trail or video evidence. I also liked that Nakun was noticing the small details; he was really trying to Detective Conan this shit.

ROMANCE/CHEMISTRY: I liked both couples, but the chemistry wasn't anything explosive. For Nakun and Phop, it felt like a natural progression, but with Jom and Kaew, it felt very reserved, which I guess fits with the time period. For Thee and Pun, it didn't make me feel anything at all, and that's probably because we don't really see their progression from passive to interested. Besides My Stobborn, this is the first time I've been interested in the NC scenes.

PRODUCT PLACEMENT: Made no sense, but I found it funny.

SPOILERS:

I'm so used to the main character traveling through time mentally that it was a bit shocking that Nakun physically traveled clothes, jewelry, and all. It makes sense because Klao is dead and there's no living body for him to enter, and honestly, I think I prefer this because it's like Klao's death was the trigger for the time travel. It reminds me a little of Two Worlds, where they can only travel if the other world's version of themselves is dead. I'm assuming that age matters as well, but it was never brought up in all the explanations they were giving us, so I'm not sure.

When Nakun is randomly sent back to the present day, we spend a lot more time mourning than I expected. I love that we got to see everyone in the past mourning for Klao/Nakun, whereas a lot of series would just move on to them meeting again in the future and living happily ever after. We get to see Phop find Klao's body and then slowly waste away till he dies. I do wish we had gotten to know how long after Nakun returns to the past that it took. Nakun is given time (no idea how much) to heal and become more mentally stable after he returns before he meets Phop again. I did tear up a couple of times seeing both Nakun and Phop become so lifeless. Nakun at least had hope that Phop was alive and that he just had to find him, whereas Phop found Klao's body.

I was upset about them just missing each other because it's so overused, but it's probably in the novel as well.

(I may read the novel, actually.)

I also REALLY love that Phop used a wishing stone to wish to be reincarnated near Klao with all of his memories. He got his memories back on his 20th birthday as well, around a year before Nakun traveled back in time, and it was interesting to see him put the pieces together and then set things up for his trip to the past.

Nakun gets his ring back! It's apparently Phop's family heirloom, which I found interesting.

I would have liked to have seen more of their time together inbetween them meeting again and their marriage, but this is me wanting too much, and I'm aware of that. The "wedding," if it can be called that, was literally just an announcement and signing the paperwork, which they somehow made sweet.

What was the bracelet about? What did it actually do, if anything? We see it vibrate or something a couple of times in the first episode, and then it literally does nothing. Did I miss something? If I did, please, someone explain it to me because I was watching for this darn bracelet to do something or mean something in every episode, only for it to amount to nothing. Now that I think about it, this is the thing that annoyed me the most out of the series, and I thought all the scenes with the mom went on WAY too long, especially the one where Nakun realizes that she's the reincarnation of Klao's father. Why did we have to rotate around them, hugging for so long?

A couple of annoying things aside, I really loved this show.

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There is no student/teacher romance

There was no romance at all. There were some one-sided crushes, sure, but it never went further than a confession. A strangely cute confession at that. How else do you confess to your genius math teacher other than with an equation? Anyways, I was glad that they didn't have our main characters get together. They were cute together, but Student/teacher relationships are romanticized way too much. I tend to avoid this trope like I do cheating and terminal illness, but I decided to give it a try because all the clips I've watched made me genuinely interested, and I'm glad I did because it was actually good.

Specking of illness, I found Eui Ju's hospital scene a little too funny. My step-dad has had major blockage twice, and they have considered surgery to fix it, so I know that it's painful and very serious, but somehow them getting stressed out because they were expecting it to be something life-or-death and then they are told it was constipation was so amusing. All of the stress that Ga Woo Su was dealing with while they were helping her also added to it because you could see that by that point our boy was just done. He was mentally exhausted and needed a nap.

I also found it funny how Ga Woo Su was upset about not being the main character in Eui Ju's book. You'd think her writing him in a BL would be the problem, but nope! The man knew he deserved to be the main character.

The only other part that I found funny was No Da Ju being upset that his character was too petty, and that he wasn't petty at all. This was really his only highlight because he was too big of an asshole for me to like much at all. Him using Eui Ju to try and film Ga Woo Su when he has camera-related trauma and his excuse being that "so much time has passed" really rubbed me the wrong way, and I didn't like him at all after that.

I hate the principal as well, but we're kind of meant to. I mean, the old crone drugs her nephew, tries to hide a student like they are a blight on the school, & used Dong Ju's job to threaten Ga Woo Su to be on camera. There was very little to like about the lady.

Dong Ju kicks ass. I've never seen that arm-twisting move before, & I had to watch it 3 times because I enjoyed it maybe a little too much.

I did space out during the "novel mental fantasy" bits because, while I enjoy writing, I found these parts boring, and they didn't add anything to the story. While I'm on the book, I may as well talk about the drama it created. First off, Ha Su was petty, but honestly, it was a very teenage thing to do, so it didn't bother me. Do I support her view? No, but I'm not going to condemn her either. I also thought the punishment was too light. Suspended for 5 days? They should have added something on top of that. Something to do with her grades, or after-school work, something. It just felt like she got off too lightly because the principal was seeing dollar signs. But the one thing that bothered me the most was them saying that you can't base characters off real people without permission. You 100% can. I know many authors (not personally) that have based a character in their published books that were based off someone in their lives. The problem was Eui Ju's characters were her teachers down to the looks, personality, and dialogue. All she did was set the scenario and twist the dialogue to fit a BL. At that point, it's not a novel; it's fanfiction. One that also shouldn't have been published. Fanfiction can be published; I have no problem with that, but normally fanfiction is based off something already fictional, so it's weird.

I really liked all the acting, but I want to talk a little about Kim Hyang Gi (Eui Ju). First of all, all her crying scenes were great, but I was really impressed with how much emotion she conveyed with just her voice. I knew what she was feeling from her voice alone; I didn't need to see her expression. Yes, it's acting, and that is an important part of the job, but I could hear the genuine hurt, nervousness, exasperation, and anxiety fill her voice, and all of it felt real. It didn't sound like acting at all, and I think it's the main reason I got invested in the story when I almost exclusively watch BL.

OST gets a 7.5 for the song & dance at the end because it was cute and I actually liked the song.

They left the ending very open so they could make a second season if they wanted to. Would I watch a second season? I'm not really sure. I am really glad that I watched this series, but I'm really unsure where they can take the plot and what drama they could create other than giving Eui Ju a rival, since we really don't know how Ga Woo Su feels. It depends, but I'm not saying no. Unless cheating is involved, then it's a big NO.

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Insta love with internal struggles

Starting with the things I didn't like!

* Girlfriend has got a lot of balls to do what she did and then act like she did absolutely nothing wrong. She had no respect for Shizuma.
* Shizuma & Minato's feelings developed a bit too quickly. It basically was love at first sight, but also not.

I liked pretty much everything else, but a couple of things more than others, and those are~

* Vet students & they actually worked with animals.
* There was a parent present!
* Shizuma's family dog looks like mine, except mine is all white.
* And most importantly, I really connected with this series because of Minato. I'm a lot like Minato in that when I like someone, the stronger my feelings are for them, the more insecure and scared I feel. I always have 1 foot out the door ready to run, and I hate that.

Many people may find this series annoying because of how indecisive Minato is, but to someone who has experienced that kind of anxiety, it's like I was watching myself fighting to love while everything in me is screaming in rejection. It's hard to explain, but I thought Naoya did a beautiful job conveying that feeling.

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Nothing remarkable, but so far it's the only vampire series I'd recommend

I'm pleasantly surprised that I liked this series. I haven't had the best luck with vampire dramas, so I went in with very low expectations, even more so because of the high rating, & it turned out to be the best one I've seen so far.

For one thing, and I would say the most important, they didn't try to create a whole different lore for these vampires. They also didn't try to make the world bigger than they were prepared to explain. This has been my main issue with almost every vampire series I've watched, so it's nice that they just kept things simple. Yes, there are some things left to question when it came to making supplements & aging, but in comparison to the other series I've watched, those were really non-issues.

In a sense, you could say that the vampire part of the story took such a back seat that you could replace the roles with anything & nothing would change. However, I liked that it wasn't made into a big deal. It mainly focused on the relationships between the characters & I was fine with there not being these tense "I can't control myself" moments. It humanized them in a way, yes, but that didn't feel like a bad thing.

The acting was also fairly solid & the actors did a great job of conveying things through looks, so you pick up on how the characters feel about each other without having to be told, which left more room to focus on our main couple. I never once felt like a character's feelings for another came out of nowhere or was forced.

If I were going to recommend a vampire series, it would be this one. It's short & light-hearted, and most importantly, it doesn't try to stand out by messing around with the lore.

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Trigger Warnings for SA, rape, self-harm, drugs & alcohol, violence, & manipulation.

Even after this series has been over for months, I still see people who are obsessed with it. They post photos and reels almost daily about the show and the main actors, and after finally watching the series, I really don't understand. Overall, it was a good series, but nothing that I would put my time and energy into months after it's finished.

I have one question that I asked myself at the end, and that was, "Is this Stockholm Syndrome?" Is that the real reason Shulang goes back to Fan Xiao?

OST wasn't invasive, and when I do notice it, I like it.

I liked that they made Fan Xiao such a black flag. He's not the worst character in the series by far, but he's obsessive and possessive to a dangerous degree, and had the money to do what he wanted. All the trigger warnings are because of him. The man needs therapy to deal with his past trauma and his current obsession. They made it easy for me to want Shulang nowhere near this man, while also feeling a bit sorry for him when he's trying to be a better person, and Shulang is RIGHTFULLY pushing him away. (Sometimes my empathy is a problem; I see someone hurting and I hurt with them.)

I also like how Fan Xiao marks his territory. Sorry, not sorry.

Shulang was easily my favorite character (even though I got freaked out/worried by his hands a couple times) because of how much he reminds me of my mom. Kind to a fault, but you don't fuck with the people they love. He's stupid for going back to Fan Xiao, but I wasn't surprised either because no matter how bad the manipulation, you could tell he still loved him, and once the good things he did were brought to light, you could see that it was easily breaking down the walls Shulang built. This is why I suspected Stockholm Syndrome; he went back to him so easily.

The only thing I didn't like about Shulang was how quickly he moved on from his boyfriend that he'd been dating for years. At least I think it was years. He didn't seem affected by the breakup at all until he learned Fan Xiao's role in it.

I wouldn't blame Lu Zhen for breaking up with Shulang because he felt like Shulang wasn't emotionally available enough & he didn't see that until Fan Xiao started showing him attention. Sadly, it seemed less like he realized this and more like he liked the attention because after only the second meeting with Fan Xiao, he was already telling him that Shulang was a relative. He realized what he lost too late, and I can't bring myself to feel bad for him.

We have a relationship happening in the background between Xue Bao Tian and Zhang Cho, and I really wanted to know more about it. It was a red flag relationship that they just teased us with.

My least favorite character in the whole series has to be the brother. I don't know how old he was, but it acted like a 16-year-old who thought his brother owed him his life. Anyone who does a fake suicide attempt so they can live an easier life on the back of someone else's work should be ashamed of themselves. And his reasons made no sense. Why was he mad at Shulang for defending himself from bullies, but not the bullies themselves for his mother's death? How do we know if Shulang even defended himself? We get 1 flashback, and it didn't look like he was.

Alright, on to the things that I didn't like/annoyed me.

* The only thing that annoyed me more than it was actually a problem was that the main characters seemed allergic to closing doors sometimes. Multiple times, they just left doors open while having very private conversations or while it's freezing outside. Close the damn door!

* They smoked too much. Every time you turn around, they are smoking. Did they need to smoke that much?

* They say each other's names too much. Honestly, this goes for all Chinese dramas.

* Why are so many people speaking English? Why are so many people speaking Chinese? We are in Thailand a majority of the time, but everywhere our characters go, it's either Chinese or English being spoken. I'm not talking about the main or supporting characters either; I'm talking about the background/extra characters.

* The kissing was just okay, but the chemistry was good.

* Our main actors really didn't show that much emotion, and maybe that was down to direction so that it would be more impactful in the emotional moments. It made their acting feel stiff for the first couple of episodes.

* I didn't get invested in the story or the character until episode 8, where Shulang starts learning the truth behind Fan Xiao's lies and manipulations. For a series that is so highly rated and praised, that is too long before getting pulled in. I should have been gripped from episode 3 at least, but even after I got into the series, my feelings for it were still at "whatever". I was even a bit bored in the first couple of episodes.

* This series didn't need a happy ending, but if they had to give us one, I wish they had spent more time redeeming Fan Xiao in Shulang's eyes. Have Fan Xiao slowly redeem himself, not have them jump back into a relationship after Shulang's friend inadvertently points out that he's still in love with Fan Xiao, and that's why he can't let go. He should have already known that; what's important is Fan Xiao changing and winning Shulang over again.

* I hate that when time passes, they don't tell us how much.

* I would have liked to see Fan Xiao do some actual work, not just control & manipulate multiple people's lives, or drink & smoke.


Despite all the hype, I went into this show with little excitement or expectations, and my feelings stayed at a 7/7.5 the entire time. There was never a moment that got my blood pumping or my heart hurting so bad I cried. Nothing that made me mad or overly happy. I honestly didn't feel much of any emotion while watching this, which feels strange. I'm not going to tell anyone not to give it a try because it seems a lot of people really enjoyed it, but to me it was like throwing a pebble into the water.

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As vertical series go this is one of the better ones

Normally, vertical series just aren't good. They normally have very rushed pacing; the story is choppy, and the script is normally convoluted. The acting is usually meh as well, and the series are given no room for any real character development.

This series had all of those problems, but it was also interesting enough to keep me invested in the story and not counting down the episodes till it was over. A first for me when it comes to a vertical series. The acting also wasn't that bad. With this kind of plot combined with the relationship drama, it really needed to be a regular-length series.

There were some very confusing moments as well that I felt needed a little more explanation, such as why Yun Yeong Won thought it was a good idea to go to the wedding, and who the weird random guy was that was stalking him at the beginning? The guy showed up like an admin in a video game to fix a problem you're having mid-play session, and it was confusing.

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Watched in a single sitting

I thought a show about a fan meeting their bias would be cringy, but this was kind of cute. I found myself smiling for no real reason quite a few times. Some moments made me cringe, like when I think about how I would act this way meeting my bias, and when the fans cross the line, like when the girl asks to see Choi Siyeol's abs & the one asking insensitive questions on the radio show. Fans like this actually exist, and I feel bad for anyone who has to deal with them.

Na Aejoon is the definition of "my bias can do no wrong." This man is literally defending Choi Siyeol when he's still mad and heartbroken. Honestly, I can't say I wouldn't be the same if I was in this position with literally anyone from Stray Kids or BTS.

The plot wasn't the strongest. I'm not talking about it being almost every fan's delusional dream to meet their celebrity crush and said crush show a romantic interest in them; they do make it more believable by making Na Aejoon's cousin Choi Siyeol's manager. So there is a connection. The weak parts are:

1. We don't get enough of the side couple. We have, in my opinion, a really good scene at the end of Yeon Ju Ha confronting Ji Kyuseong, but we never get to see how they make up; they are just suddenly together again. It also would have been nice to see more of their confrontation with the reporter since he was apparently the cause of their breakup.

2. The other group members are not part of the story at all. They may as well not have existed. It's completely unrealistic because even if they are all doing their own thing, they would still be a part of each other's lives. They would be doing dance practice together, recording songs, interviews, etc. We get none of that, and when they are on screen, they don't say a word.

3. There are a couple of moments where the idols have to deal with rude fans, but otherwise we don't see much of what they actually have to deal with as idols.

4. The show they are creating in the show really doesn't seem interesting at all. Would anyone actually watch this? Regardless, too much screen time was given to it when we could have been doing more with the main or side couple.

On to the actors! First off, I love the size difference between both couples. Na Aejoon in Choi Siyeol's clothes is so cute! The acting itself was solid, no complaints, and the chemistry was decent even though the kisses (what little we got) were more like pecks than anything. Ji getting crewed out by Yeon Ju Ha was so funny. Incredible acting from Shin (Yeon Ju Ha). This was easily one of my favorite parts. Yeon Ju Ha and Na Aejoon exchanging pictures of their boyfriends was honestly adorable. We only get to see a little of their friendship, but I loved it.

As Korean BLs go, this was actually really good. Not that the bar is set very high, but I was surprised by the production value, that the actors were good and had decent chemistry, and most of all, the world didn't feel like an empty void inhabited by only the main characters & a couple of supporting ones.

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