Nailbitingly good!

This action packed drama had me on the tip of my seat the entire time.

The actors, especially the 3 main leads put down impressive performances individually. But when they combine their efforts in some scenes, the chemistry and sync are truly amazing. These 3 were so well tuned in to each other!

Mostly for this reason I was a bit disappointed with the ending. What the hell was this baby faced guy PP doing back with Shin? Are they not happily living with the 3 of them?

The inner conflicts and struggles are well portrayed. Neo with his feelings of guilt and revenge, Shin with his difficult relationship with his father and Miw with her troubled youth and mother. The complexity of feelings and how to deal is a theme throughout.

This drama is not a BL, or even a romance drama. For me it handles much more the struggle to becoming the person you want to be, despite your environment pushing you in the opposite direction. It is about survival, relationships, how far you are willing to go to protect yourself and those you love.

The scene where dad threatens Miw and Neo while locking Shin in the office looked rushed and unfinished. There could have been more logical, dramatic choices. The surprise at the end of that scene redeemed it somewhat though.

Best performances are from Jennie and Mild. These are women who stand and fend for themselves. Look into their own heart for guidance and take responsibility for their feelings and actions. Real strong women. I love to see it.

Tay and Joss put down the best performance I have ever seen from either of them.

I would love to see a sequel to this. There may be a task here for whoever feels brave enough..

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Averagely Cute or Cutely Average

Here we are with another University BL. No engineering this time, but still university. The lead cp are forced into a BL series by their college professor and fall in love after initially disliking each other. Their chemistry is good, but not consistent, there are scenes that really did not look sincere to me. Besides the main cp, there are 3 others, 2 consisting of the club members of the main cp (oh, coincedence...) and another of a former suitor with his best friend. All these 3 cp are cute and lovable. There is nothing exceptionally good or bad, just cute. ParkLee and MaiTim had the best chemistry. Mai's performance is great, he stands out regarding acting skills.

The series is riddled with clichés and tropes, but most are not annoying as in some others and quite well worked out:

- university
- accidental kiss
- Enemies to Lovers
- Best friend to Lovers
- Jealousy/suspicion of cheating
- secret love (of course)
- femme fatale
- breaking up for the other's sake
- Bad boss
- proposal gone wrong
- wedding
- drunken confessions
- overhearing key conversation
- denying relationship / feelings

The series is saved by the chemistry, the acting (above average), the multiple cute couples and last but not least, great kisses!

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Sweet and cute, but too fast!

I watched this drama before watching Love Mechanics 2022. I really enjoyed it and the leads have immense chemistry together. I do have a few issues however, that I hope will be resolved om the 2022 version (but I fear....). For one, we never get any explanation on how Mark went from liking Bar to Vee. The first scene gives us the impression that Mark mistakes Vee for Bar, but afterwards we learn that he has liked Vee for months? Second, al of a sudden we have skipped a year, where it first appeared to be just one or a few months. Thirdly, there is no making up scene. Vee confesses and the next scene is Mark with his friend questioning him on why he gave in so easily. That's what I wanted to know!!!
And lastly, there is no real ending. Yes, the story is sort of wrapped up, but there is no real "end scene" and that bothered me. So, why rate it a 7.5 after all that? That is all due to the acting, butterflies and chemistry, mostly on Vee's part. The heart brokenness really got to me and my heart ached for him. There was just too much goodness to put in just 4 eps.

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Medical & fantasy in BL

There are not a lot of medical bl dramas. I never really miss that, since I'm not a fan of that particular genre. This bl has done an attempt at it and paired it with a fantasy soul reaper trope. The fantasy part came out much stronger than the medical, since the hospital staff does all sorts of things that are completely illogical. Scheduling surgery right on the ward floor, no clear roles for any staff member, medical terms are neatly explained, but why they come up remains unclear most of the time. It's a mess.

The fantasy part was done much better, although also in this part stuff is just left hanging. Why does Sanya come back after (only) 7 months? Or was is 2 + 7 months? How was he punished? Why didn't P die when there was a ticket? They could have done a lot more and better with this.

On a positive note, The slow bloom of the main cp is executed perfectly and they gave me butterflies. The other bl cp gave me very uncomfortable feelings. Their kisses all end up in the air or chin, while they supposedly had a hot ons...
The story for the boy/girl couple was rushed, happens all too often in bl.

It did leave me feeling warm and happy, so despite its flaws in rated it 7.5. But I'm not sure if I will re-watch.

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Not memorable but nice

I realized I had watched this series already about halfway through. That is a good thing since it is highly re-watch able, but a bad thing because well, nothing really special happens.

The romance is a slow burn. I usually like those, but the docile and awkward Pai irriteted me a bit. No-one is that obedient.

The ending was a bit weird, where did that scheme come from? Why could the parents not just be supportive?

I hated the hiv scare trope. Its 2020, there must be a better way to promote safe sex without the stigmatisation.

PureFolk is amazing, I would love to see more of these kind of couples. Flawed, but willing to change vs good but not easy.

Overall I thought it a good watch, hope I will remember it this time.

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Summer break fluff

I love Boun & Prem. Mainly because of their chemistry and acting. Well... Boun's acting that is. Prem is seriously lacking, or it must be the bad script/direction. It started getting better the moment Boun showed up. This boy is going places for sure. He is giving me Mew vibes with his looks (jawline!!) and charisma.

The scenery and the interactions between the 3 dads saved the series for me. Without these it would have been Physical Therapy-level boring. And on top of that there were some really confusing bits.

What was the point of the youth miemory? Why was this not discussed at all? What was the point of all the s&m items in the room? I suspect it was solely meant to remind us of a few other (hit) bl-s, because there was no follow up of any kind.

The scenery takes a big part of the plus points for this series. Sea, sand, mountains, monkeys and coconuts. Paradise!

It was sweet, but not cute. It was nice but not good. Just something to kill summer holiday boredom.

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Nice and cute

Nothing really special here. It's that kind of cute and fuzzy BL that we all like. No major plotlines, not too much drama, a lot of chemistry and some nice kisses. 8 episodes is just long enough for these kind of distractions from daily life. I would like to make a special remark regarding the music. This made for a much better watching experience and I love that the makers here understood that perfectly. Also extra kudos for not using the sound effect button too much.

Butterfly levels are ok. Kisses are real enough. No particular peeves, just that it was not very original, but not every drama can or needs to be.

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Short and soooo sweet

I watched this as a new fan of Jeff Satur since watching KinnPorsche.

This is sooo sweet and loving. its a very slow burn, actually more like a slow glow. And the ending to me was very sudden. I wish we could have had a return or reunion. The scene with the little brother gave me ear to ear smiles and I loved the way that food takes such a prominent role in this, its almost magical.

Although it is very short, with only a few minutes per episode, it never feels rushed. The falling in love is so natural and warm, it feels like a soft fluffy blanket. There is plenty of chemistry between the cp, but instead of it being passionate and needy it feels comfortable and logical.

These two really deserve their happy anding and I will believe that somewhere in the world of BL they are having it. I may rewatch when feeling miserable, as this is all very feelgood lovey dovey in a good way.

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Old friends never fade

I watched this drama as a conclusion to my vintage-binge. This is a compilation of 5 stories bringing the series of 5 couples to finalization.

1. Pick & Rome
This was a weird experience. Body-switches are not my favorite trope and this drama proves why. Although I love this couple to death, the switch doesn't work for me. I just wanted to change them back to normal.

In & Sun
To be honest, I had almost forgotten this couple, although I had seen the original series only weeks before, They did not waste time to suck me back into the story, though. If I were to rewatch this, it will be because of these two! Shout out to Mike, who was brilliant as ever.

Tee & Mork
I was never a fan of Drake, but he grew on me in this ep. Great chemistry between Frank & Drake.

Pete & Kao
This one was fun. These two would do anything for each other and that's exactly what they do. Endearing, cute and hilarious.

Kongpob & Arthit
I watched Sotus and Sotus S as one of my first BL's and I am ambiguous about it, just as I am about this ep. Some scenes the chemistry is amazing, other times Krist looks like he doesn't want to be there.

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Not your average BL

A warning is probably called for: this drama contains some triggering events, among which cheating and homophobia. That being said, if you are mature enough to understand that these awful things and awful people are a part of life and living, you will be fine and appreciate the complexity of this drama and the care that was put into making it.

When Haiqing and Fei meet, its love at first sight. They share a kiss and can't forget about each other for over a year, Meanwhile Haiqing meets Pinjun, who is just the greatest guy ever, with looks to match, so they get together. This would have been the ens of it, were it not that Haiqing met Fei first, and Pinjun is simply too late to receive Haiqings heart. Even though there are absolutely deep feelings, its not like the heartstopping BIG LOVE he has with Fei. So as soon as they meet again after over a year, they don't waste time and start an affair.

The first few episodes is all about the question "when will they meet again and what will they do then" after they meet again, the theme changes to "who will be hurt the most and how will it happen". The struggle of mainly Haiqing is heartwrenching, especially in interactions with elders like his dad and Fei's mother (who is not as fragile as Fei thinks she is).

The end was mildly disappointing, as I think I missed Haiqings reasoning for doing what his father suggested. The message is clear: love hurts, you better make sure you are ready to deal with everything is has to offer, good or bad. I would not mind a sequel though... Although it is not really a bad ending, I would like to see a really good ending.

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Engaging stories. Interesting topics

I watched this drama after Kiss Me Again, since the events in this series were supposedly taking place after that one although this drama was shot earlier.

Well, it is not an actual follow-up story. I kept getting confused, mostly because PeteKao is not happening AT ALL until the final eps and even then its not a follow up, but a repeat of Kiss Me Again. Weird.

On the other hand, the stories that we get in this drama are very engaging. We have good guys and villains, we have humor, tension, love and excitement. The story I liked most was the SanDee/Thada arc, where these two are quite obviously in love, but don't want to risk their friendship for a relationship. It takes a pregnancy scare and their friends intervening for them to finally admit their feelings to each other. Their interactions feel very real and raw. Side-note: Thada's hair deserves it's own drama!

The other interesting story is between SanRak and Na. Even though they are both a few years older than SanDee and Thada, they both have a lot of growing up to do, and they both do before they are ready to be together. I got a lot more chemistry from Na than from Rak, but that could be intentional.

Props go to the makers for realizing that side characters matter to the experience of a drama. The villains as well as the friends are well-developed characters with their own lives, hardships and reasons. Pick, Jane, June... thank you for making this drama even better. I'm paraphrasing June saying he may be viewed as the comic relief, but that's because he wants to make his friends' life better than his own. Such a gem!

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A lot of characters not a lot of variety

Since the synopsis mentions that this series' events take place before Kiss:The Series, I decided to watch this one first. This is about the lovestories/first loves of 5 sisters and their love interests. This series focuses on 3 of the sisters, SanWan, SanSuey and SanSon. We see the other two mainly when they discuss their siblings or interacting with their friends. Their stories do not differ from each other very much. They have a boy they like, but they don't know if he likes them back and they discover if they do through various problems, among which of course a rival. We also see a BL couple PeteKao, who are friends with one of the older sisters, SanDee. They encounter much of the same issues, and they hit each other just as much as they kiss. which provides some surprising interactions.

What I liked: Petes Father is by far the best thing in this series. We do not come across a lot of parents who are this supportive in BL-stories. (Most of) the actors. Some are really good (June, Mork, Pete, Kao, SanWan) Some are mediocre but none were really bad. The atmosphere. The series has a relaxed and mellow atmosphere. It gave me a great vibe.

What I didn't like: Very little excitement. The stories move at an equally mellow pace, which is good for some stories in a series, but please not all of them! Even the parts where the love rivals show up are slow and flat. No fire in the kiss scenes. Speaking of kiss scenes, the only kisses we can get an actual view of are the BL couples kisses. Almost all others are feather kisses or completely blocked from view. We'll just have to accept the kiss was real I guess.

Although there was not a lot of passion, It was never really boring. It kept me just engaged enough to finish it with a good feeling.

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Bullies and other suffering

This series made me go from angry to sad to happy back to angry and this several times. Yelling at the screen to either speak tf up already, walk away or grab the boy. Which ever suited best at that particular scene. It was not so much the bullying itself that got me twisted, it was the utter cowardice and disregard of the onlookers and especially the FL. This girl needs some assertiveness lessons. Pfew. I cannot understand why Oh never really calls her out on this.
Characters are on the whole a bit one-dimensional, but thats the kind of story this is.

The BL couple SunInn left me in pain. Sun got the short end of the stick for sure, settling for dating without real commitment from Inn, while being so very much in love. The scene in the bed left me in tears. So painful. Needless to add that there are plenty of feels here, but certainly not all good ones.

SO to the OST, the music was very well suited for every scene. Its a shame I couldnt find an OST album on my streaming app.

Greatest disappointment was the utter lack of skinship. 1 (yes, ONE) kiss ON THE CHEEK fcol. I felt a bit cheated in that department.

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