Plot let it down

I am a fan of both Allen Ren and Dilraba so I was really looking forward to this show, especially after how long it ok to get English subtitles. I got to episode 27 before I gave up on the series (which is technically part 2).

First the good things about the series.
1. As to be expected the two leads gave us some great acting, their skills as actors never let us down.
2. The costumes and sets on this show where amazing, someone had obviously put alot of love and effort into them.
3. The music was enjoyable although nothing spectacular it was still a definite positive.
4. The secondary and supporting actors where all good and the secondary couple defiantly had some good on screen chemistry.

This leads me to the big negative which ended up ruining the show for me. The plot!
By episode 27 they had used the 'will she die, wont she die' idea about 3 times in succession, which led to around 10 episodes of almost no character development for the main characters, either separately or together. It seemed like nothing at all was happening between them and then all of a sudden something would emerge about how much they loved each other..............despite the silly lies and hurts that could have so easily been avoided. I know this plot structure is used alot in dramas but after 10 episodes of it the show had just stagnated and I was bored, it needed to move on. This was nothing against the actors, it was purely the problem of the plot which was lazily written.

Also in the plot it seems to glance over a few things I personally would have thought was important. For example I can understand how someone as naïve as ChangYi would fall for Yunhe but it doesn't seem to cover why or how Yunhe falls for ChangYi..........feels sorry for him........yes.........sees her own love for freedom in him.........absoloutly.........sees him as her way of getting redemption.........yep............but love......its not clear.

I wish I could have watched the show to the end but I simply couldn't.

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Defiantly got better.

My original review is below but this is an addition I have written upon completing the show.

Firstly I am glad I finished it as it got much better once you got out two main leads in the same place.......the plot seemed to find its rhythm and it took off nicely. However I have to say that maybe it took off a little two much as (with the exception of the last 2 episodes) the last 4 or 5 episodes felt long and dull. Almost like the plot had peaked too early so they had to go back to the MFL being dumb all over again and 'the hero saving the damsel' type idea which they had already done dozens of times and were writing the MFL out of.

The character growth among the leads also took off...…That's something which I love, and can make or break a drama for me. A great drama can be ruined by long periods of no character growth (like happened earlier this year with the Blue Whisper) or a only half decent drama can be made great by it. Yes this drama had a long period at the beginning of almost glacial character development, especially for our leads, but it was made up for at the end.

Unlike a lot of Chinese dramas the ending doesn't seemed rushed either. It seems well thought out, although not the type I would have expected it is still nice and fits the story.

The acting, costumes and cinematography were all fantastic, some of the shots you see take your breath away.

It is defiantly worth a watch.

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*Original review*
I am enjoying watching this show and will most probably finish it but there are few things about which I feel could have improved quite easily to make it better.

First of all the acting is great, but 18 episodes in a lot of the characters have had very little if any character growth at all. I know there is a second part to this but I would have thought they would have done something with them in the first 18 episodes.

The mother is still as biased and unloving (while kidding herself she actually cares) as she was at the beginning. Basically she hates herself so she's taking it out on her daughter. The father is still a pushover. The step sister/foster sister/whatever you want to call her, has no life in her whatsoever and needs to find something to interest her fast. The two 'love interests' for the female lead, one is only really interested in himself so far and the other is a person who needs a playmate not a wife.

The two leads have had hardly any time on screen together but when they do they light up and you can see they have amazing chemistry. Sadly though even these characters have not had much in the way of development. The ML is much the same as the start, except now he softens when the FL is around, and the FL is just as dumb when it comes to relationships as when she began.

I think part of the problem is something I've noticed in a lot of Chinese dramas and that is that they take so long to build the world in the first place that they seem to run out of time to fit everything in at the end. One example of this is the 'engagement' between the FL and one of the SML's which has gone on for about 6 episodes now. Everyone knows they won't get married so why drag it on for so long when they could be using some of those episodes to establish the main relationship!

All in all it needs speeding up, the story and the character development, so they are not having to rush everything in part two and ruin it. At least that is my thoughts.

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Defiantly finishes stronger than it starts.

My Original review is below but now I have completed the entire series I want to just review how I thought the season went as a whole, including a few things I felt the show didn't do that well.

First of all Xiao Zhan and Johnny Huang just seemed to get better and better in their acting as the series went on, especially as the two characters had their own internal struggles, the actors performed it brilliantly. Thankfully Johnny Huang's character finally grew up before I resorted to throwing something at the tv out of frustration :)

Secondly the story went along at a nice pace (with a few exceptions which I will state in a moment) and didn't bog down like the majority of Chinese dramas I've seen. This meant that you were always interested in every episode and not skipping over bits. Also the Secondary characters got just the right amount of air time without seeming like add on's or taking over completely.

The scenery, wardrobe and music were amazing and I hope all the people who worked behind the scenes get recognised for it. Sadly I know nothing about the army so I have no idea if that was accurate but if it was I hope they do do as well.

Now to a few things about the show that it didn't exactly do badly but I thought could have been done better.

1. The show was 40 episodes long and supposedly followed our leads over the decades of their careers, however the first part (before the first time jump) was over 10 episodes and seemed too long to me. I know they had to introduce all the characters and establish relationships but the fact they took so long on the first part meant they seemed to rush other parts in places. They could have done a lot more with certain years but instead skipped over them as there was no time left.

2. Staying on the first part of the drama for a moment I felt that the establishment of the brother bond between the two male leads was too sudden. Gu Yiye spent the majority of his time either arguing with Gao Liang, ignoring him or simply talking to other people. Gao Liang spent most of his time with a group of friends that didn't include Gu Yiye.............yet all of a sudden the two became close as brothers. There was no life or death situation that made this happen it just came out of nowhere and could have been clearer. Nothing against the actors though they played it brilliantly.

3. The whole 'will they, won't they' idea wasn't needed..........will they be tossed out of the army...........will they be demoted..........will they die..........They are the main characters of the series so the audience knows that won't happen so I don't see the point in wasting time on such things. Much more effective was spending the time on the mental struggles both male leads actually had.

4. I haven't mentioned the FL so far and that's because she became a kind of foil, and go between, for the male leads. She seemed to loose her purpose as the series went on and rarely appeared if she wasn't on screen with one of the male leads or talking about them.

Sorry it was longer than I planned. Below is my original review I wrote after only watching 10 episodes.

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Warning........I do have a few extremely vague spoilers in here.

First of all I have only watched 10 episodes of this show so it's a bit early for me to do a 'overall' or 're-watch' value on it. This review is more of my first impressions and I will edit it when I have finished the show.

With Xiao Zhan and Johnny Huang in the cast I was expecting the acting to be fantastic, and it is. You can see the comradeship/friendship growing between the two male leads nicely and one actor does not overpower the other. The older actors, who I personally have never seen before, are very good as well. Although personally I think they rely a little too much on the cliché of 'incompetent leaders to show how fantastic our leads are'.

As I said before Johnny Huang acts great in the show but his character is annoying. I know nothing about the army myself but I can't believe that a big mouth who talks back to superiors, gets in to fights and gets all his classmates into trouble would be able to stay in the army as long as he has. Not only that but the character is liked by those around him, and I can't see that happening either. The character is just too dumb......and he doesn't learn! No matter what is said to him it seems to bounce off his thick skull. I know the character will evolve at some point but 10 episodes in the character has gone past amusing and gotten to annoying.

The music of this show is fantastic and the opening credits are one of the best I've seen.

If you want a show that shows the layers of the military without just focusing on the leads, then this is what Ace Troops seems to be doing so far. It explores the complexities of things rather than just gloss over them. I am interested how it is going to explore 40 years of experience of the characters as it goes forwards. It is defiantly worth a watch, if it worth a re-watch is something I will see as I watch more.

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COMMUNICATION in a Chinese drama!

I love this drama. It is a nice drama about an adult relationship between two hard working adults, it could be argued they are both workaholics but there we go.

There are none of the normal clichés about them breaking up, falling out, someone thinking another is cheating,,,,,,,,etc.......because this pair actually TALKS to one another! something which is amazing to see in a Chinese drama.

The two leads are amazing and only seem to have more chemistry as the show progresses.

The only fault I would find with the show is the end, not because its bad but because in the last two episodes we hardly see our main couple together at all, in fact they hardly speak to each other even though they are in the same place. All through the show it has been about their relationship and how they communicate with each other to make the relationship last, and yet in the end two episodes that gets completely thrown out the window and you feel like you are watching a Chinese version of Apollo 13 or something, a completely different show. We finally do get our leads back together right at the end but I do feel the deep space arc could have been done much shorter and still allowed for a proper ending for our leads, it was a little disappointing.

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(Original review)

I have only just finished episode 8 as I am waiting for English Subs (I don't speak enough Chinese yet to follow it all without them), however saying that I can already pink up on a few things which I think will make this show great.
The first thing is the actors. YY and DD are fantastic actors on their own, but put them together and they just seem to explode of the screen, saying this they spend very little of the first few episodes together. The show is very slow at introducing the characters so it relies heavily on the two actors on their owns. DD's character Jingjing is very girly and giggly (and lets face it a bit of a klutz at times) but it really shows her abilty as an actress that she can pull off this type of character just as well as she can the kick ass, strong ones.
On the surface it seems YY is playing the normal over achieving genius he has played so often. But the real skill in his acting in the part of Yu Tu is the subtlety he brings to the part. He shows uncertainty, confliction, all those emotions a normal human would have if they are unsure if they have done the right thing.
Moving on to the story. It is a slow burn beginning so if you like shows where the action begins right away or if the two main characters fall straight into each others arms by episode 2 then this won't be for you. There is alot of story and background that is spelled out even before the two meet, and then it is only over an online game.
As I have seen said in other reviews. This is not an Esports show, it simply has a game/Esports element to it.
However I will be following the show all the way to the end and if you like the kinds of shows where the payoff to the slow burn beginning is worth it then I really recommend this show.

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Lazy ending!

First of all the acting was great. Dylan Wang seems to be getting better each time I watch him, especially with the subtle facial expressions and body movements that are needed to play a character like Xiao Duo. The other actors did a great job as well, especially the actor (who personally I have never seen before) who played one of the most insane and neurotic emperors I've seen in a while. When you hate a character that much......you know the actor is doing a good job!

The costumes and sets where lovely and I greatly enjoyed the music, it worked very well. I greatly enjoyed the drama. Even though the plot was a bit tropey at times, they didn't linger too long on it and it didn't ruin the over all fun of the drama itself. Which leads me to my biggest problem with the show.......the last episode, or rather the last half of the last episode..........what was with that ending?

There are open endings and then there are lazy endings and the end of this show was simply just lazy! for reason which I explain below.
1. You had a strong couple in Yilou and Xiao Duo and they run off into the night at the end giving us a message that if you can't beat the system, run away from it! Is that really what the writers had been aiming for the whole season? I doubt it.
Also we last see the two running down one of the many allyways in the imperial city.......did they get out? did they get caught? did they live happily ever after and have kids that they told the story to? We will never know because the ending never tells us.
2. The prince had gone into the imperial city to rescue the woman he loved........Princess Hede..........and what happened with those two? Again we don't know because the plot seems to completely forget why the prince went with Xiao Duo or that the pair loved each other at all. We never see the two get together or even try and look for each other. What a waste of that relationship.
3. The beaurau lieutenants who spend all their lives following Xiao Duo. I love their characters (although i can't spell their names so I wont try) and yet again they seemed pushed to the side and almost forgotten about. we don't know if they follow the main pair into a free life or go out on their own. one is married to Yilou's ex maid but do they stay with their ex employeers?........again nothing given us at the end to say anything about this unusual extended family.
4. The emperor. He ends up collapsed on the floor at the end. OK....is he dead, unconscious, faking it? Again we are given no information on his condition or what happened to the country afterwards.

The ending is simply lazy and ruins alot of the hard work put in for the rest of the show.
If you want a show with an ending which summarises the shows message and characters really well, this definitely isn't for you.

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good premise!

I finished this title a while ago and generally it was good.

The actors were great.

The story was weak, especially towards the end, but it was an interesting concept.

The characters where not well written, there was far to much of the ML understanding the person who nearly poisoned him to death and other characters forgiving people who had done unspeakable things for it to be realistic. Also the characters seemed to reach a certain point and stall completely in development. It was a bit disappointing.

I would not watch it again but i'm glad I did once.

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(original review)

I am half way through this drama and a few things are beginning to show up for me, some good and some not so good.

First of all the acting is good. I haven't seen Ethan Juan since 'Legend of Fuyao' so I was interested in seeing him in this and he doesn't disappoint. Neither does the female lead who I saw in 'Fly with you' last year. So the main cast is strong and easy to watch. The Secondary cast is also easy to watch and very good at portraying their parts.

This brings me to the characters in the story. Now I know I am only half way through but I thought their would be at least some character development by now but their isn't, at least with the main cast. Jiang QianFan began the show as a man who covered his insecurities with a bad attitude, secrets and his ability to show off and he is still doing so. Ke Song covers up her feeling of being 'less' than others by throwing tantrums and just giving up before she starts, although she is beginning to fight back as the story progresses.
It's the 'villains' of the story that are showing the most progression in the story so far but sadly they seem to make the least sense both plot and character wise. Elise thinks she is entitled to Jiang QianFan simply because they were once going out and somehow manages to make it HIS fault that she poisons him, lies to him and eventually cheats him out of everything. Plus her mother seems to think this is all perfectly normal. I really don't see the logic.

I hope the second half of the show starts focusing on the leads development a bit more because at this point the show is really starting to make our leads look a bit dumb!

The acting, set, costumes and music are all great. It is the plot and characterisation that is letting it down at the moment, but lets hope that gets fixed in the second half.

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A love it or hate it drama!

This will be one of those dramas that becomes one of your favourites of 2022 or one you drop after the first episode (if you last that far). The simple reason is the style of the show. For me the style is great, it makes the show stand out from many other dramas, but I can see that being an issue for many people.

As with many shows this one has its own world with its own rules and you slowly get introduced to it. There are misunderstandings mostly due to Xu Kai's character being new to the rules himself but we get introduced to them gradually. The tone of the show (for me) is what sets it apart from other shows. It's somehow dirtier and more down to earth than other shows while still keeping the the martial arts Sects and ideas. There are no cultivators, simply people with good gadgets and lots of years experience.

As of yet they have been talking a lot about the KunLun mountains but we haven't actually got there and I hope the show doesn't change too much when they do. It's definitely an interesting show and I love how all the actors are portraying their (for once) three dimensional characters.

I can see why some people wouldn't like the show though and this kind of thing wouldn't appeal, but if everything appealed to everyone then we wouldn't need the range of shows we enjoy.

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Could have been much better

I don't like to write bad reviews but in this case the show had the makings of something much better than it turned out to be and for me that's sad.
Your main couple FuJiuYun and Qin Chuan seemed to come out of nowhere to me at the end. FuJiuYun obviously loved her from the beginning but she didn't even know he existed, and when she did she thought he was more an annoyance than a love interest. By thee time things might have started heating up between them they went their separate ways for a while and she actually spent more time with her childhood sweetheart and the 2nd prince than she did with him. Then in the span of one moment she turns around and states he's the love of her life and she wants to die with him! it had almost no build up and although the actors where great the story left potholes regarding their relationship that could not be covered up.
Another thing that could have been done better in my book was, the show was called 'love of thousand years' yet only on a few occasions did FuJiuYun even drop hints that he had been watching her that long. There were no flashbacks into past lives, no discussions among the immortals about how long he had been watching. Nothing! it was like the past thousand years of him watching and protecting was something insignificant and could be pushed under the rug. Why bother including it in the title if you aren't going include it in the show?
The third thing I had a problem with was the end. Now I haven't read the book so maybe that makes more sense but the show didn't. Did she go back in time? was it a dream? did everyone come back to life in some alternate universe?......if she went back in time why didn't her face change back again?........it just didn't make sense. As for loosing Qin Chuan her memory of FuJiuYun, again it didn't explain why that would happen. To suddenly get pulled into the painting and find him there was a semi good ending but it seemed to concentrate on everyone but its main leads in the last episode.
The music and costumes where great and the acting was super. The ML and FL had good chemistry, in the little time they had their relationship. It was the plot that let it down. I hope I can see these actors again in something that shows off their skill properly.

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One of my favourites

I only watched this show because I liked period pieces, however I'm not a fan of crime dramas so I nearly skipped over it. I'm very glad I didn't.
I had never seen Allen Ren (Ren Jiu Lian) in anything before and Wow i'm glad I got to see him in this. He played Lu Yi fantastically. Not only the 'normal' Lu Yi who as the second in command of the Jin Yi Wei, a pretty emotionless and stubborn buy. In fact Lu Yi is actually introduced in a way that is more traditionally that of a villain than a hero which show how dark he is at the beginning. However AR also plays the character going mad as well as regressing to a childlike state (which I had to say I found cute) and not many actors could do such a thing. The actress playing Jin Xia was also great in how she balanced a strong female character with her almost childlike personality.
The chemistry between the couple was amazing on screen (I have heard it said that AR has no kissing clauses in his contracts, well he didn't in this show), you could tell just from looks and simple touches that something was going on and the two characters were meant to be together.
The costumes and music were also fantastic as were the sets. However there were things that let this production down a bit.
The story started out great and was something very different to most shows, however it soon turned into the well used 'my family hurt your family and I need revenge' trope that people can see coming a mile away. This change in direction ruined what could have been a really good story and made any surprises for the audience impossible.
Also some of the secondary characters seemed a bit two dimensional to me. Xie Xiao in particular never seemed to evolve much, all the way through he was obsessed with what he wanted and never seemed to understand anyone else's feelings. First it took him far to long to understand the basic concept that running away from his wedding might hurt the other person and then he took far too long to understand Jin Xia didn't like him (despite her telling him often enough).
Little things like that can make this show rather annoying in places but generally it's a fantastic show to watch, especially when it focuses on the two main leads or is early on when they are simply solving crimes and the cliché storyline hasn't come to light yet.

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The ending ruined it

OK.........first off good for them to try and bring the whole Omegaverse to the TV screen, however there were a few areas of it that they didn't really go that far into, and thats why some people (i know personally) seemed to be so confused as to why Babe became so obsessed with Charlie so quickly. The show did mention that Babe doesn't like Alpha scents and Charlie doesn't have one, but other than that it kinda skipped over it and lots of people didn't see that as a reason for their relationship. The whole Way being an Enigma thing was the same. Some people didn't understand it, and it was only partially explained in the show.

Personally I loved it, I loved the way they didn't follow the stereotypes of 'tops' and 'bottoms' in gay relationships.........with Babe being perfectly comfortable being the 'bottom' in their relationship, and not one even raising an eyebrow at it. That was great. Pavel and Pooh had great onscreen chemistry, and really worked together well. It's the first time I had seen either of them on screen and i'm glad I did.
Babe was really well written and Pavel knocked it out the park. Charlie was a little less understandable, but that was his character, still Pooh did well with it. Even Nut in playing Way.......you know an actor is doing brilliantly when you want to reach into the screen and strangle their character!

This show was seriously going to be one of the best shows i'd seen in a while with its new Omegverse plot, cinematography, actors and interesting plot..........until about episode 9...........then it fell off a cliff!

I have no idea what happened after that but YIKES!
There was no reason to 'kill' Charlie except for to devastate Babe and separate our two leads for a while...........and it was WAY too long! But even then, while Charlie was 'dead' how they handled it was seriously messy. After Babe had had a breakdown weeping for the loss of his partner, Charlie was never mentioned again by anyone, except once when Charlie himself asked Jeff how Babe was dealing with his death.......it was almost like the show was going 'ok he died, and now we move on'. It didn't work right.
Then you had the Kenta/Kim/Pete/Way mess. They were setting up Way and Pete only to then set up Pete with Kenta, who they had kinda set up with Kim......they couldn't decide what they were doing. And I'm sorry but turning Kim into basically the third stooge with North and Sonic was just a waste of that character after its great introduction.
Babe's father and his magic 'antidote'.........they spent so much time on that.........but in the end nothing happened. That was pointless and just wasted time.
Charlie's 'plan' to save Babe by dying.......again nothing came of it, and it just wated time the writers could have used better by forwarding the plot, character relationships and development.
The end episodes where a mess and really let the show down!

Still I liked the show and would watch it again, simply for the chemistry of the cast and because those first episodes were well written.

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Deeper than the title suggests

The title would make you think that this is all about 2 characters and them exploring a relationship as 'friends with benefits' and you wouldn't be wrong Uea (James) and King (Net) certainly give you a lot of that, and their chemistry is no joke on screen........however there is a lot, lot, more to the story that this simple idea.

First of all we have the mother from hell! However the actress was extremely good. Uea's mother doesn't like the fact he is gay and basically treats him as a human ATM with no feelings whatsoever.........worse than that we find as the series goes on that Uea has been physically and sexually assaulted from a young age and now has such a low opinion of him himself that he feels he isn't good enough for love.......simply sex.........enter his relationship with King. King on the other hand knows nothing of this, but his actions around Uea seem to make things alternately better and worse, depending on what's happening.

Apart from dysfunctional families, abusive parents, sexual abuse and even workplace abuse.........this show also covers abuse of power, loss of confidence, attempted rape.......and even towards the end therapy as well as the long term effects of abuse on the individual but any relationship they might attempt.

For a show with a name like 'Bed friends' it is actually a very deep and touching story........Net and James, as always, are fabulous on screen together and leave you wanting more of their interactions, but the supporting cast does not disappoint either. Despite the heavy contents, the show still manages to give you a nice blend of comedy and stupidity, which balances it nicely and the music is ok.

If you want a Thai BL that is more mature than most and with great casting, this is definitely one to try.

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Uncertain......

I love costume dramas and heard good things about this so I thought I would watch it. I am only on ep15 so I am going to reserve judgement as to if I like or don't like the show until the end. However I can say there are shows that have grabbed my attention right from minute one of episode one and this isn't one of them.
The acting is good and the costumes and music great, but there is something off about this drama.
Personally I think it is the way the drama tries to keep secrets from every character as well as the audience that seems to hinder the plot and story. Even on ep15 there isn't actually a clear understanding of plot. None of the characters seem to know what each other is doing and why, and as an audience even we don't really know what's going on. Although this can make a great drama when it's done with a few characters or used later in a drama I think when it's used from moment one with every character it just leads to a confusing story that's hard to follow.
I am sorry to say that if you want an easy to watch and relaxing drama this wont be it.
Anyway I will keep watching and see if the plot and story clears up any. We shall have to see.

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The ending ruined it!

OK.........first off good for them to try and bring the whole Omegaverse to the TV screen, however there were a few areas of it that they didn't really go that far into, and thats why some people (i know personally) seemed to be so confused as to why Babe became so obsessed with Charlie so quickly. The show did mention that Babe doesn't like Alpha scents and Charlie doesn't have one, but other than that it kinda skipped over it and lots of people didn't see that as a reason for their relationship. The whole Way being an Enigma thing was the same. Some people didn't understand it, and it was only partially explained in the show.

Personally I loved it, I loved the way they didn't follow the stereotypes of 'tops' and 'bottoms' in gay relationships.........with Babe being perfectly comfortable being the 'bottom' in their relationship, and not one even raising an eyebrow at it. That was great. Pavel and Pooh had great onscreen chemistry, and really worked together well. It's the first time I had seen either of them on screen and i'm glad I did.
Babe was really well written and Pavel knocked it out the park. Charlie was a little less understandable, but that was his character, still Pooh did well with it. Even Nut in playing Way.......you know an actor is doing brilliantly when you want to reach into the screen and strangle their character!

This show was seriously going to be one of the best shows i'd seen in a while with its new Omegverse plot, cinematography, actors and interesting plot..........until about episode 9...........then it fell off a cliff!

I have no idea what happened after that but YIKES!
There was no reason to 'kill' Charlie except for to devastate Babe and separate our two leads for a while...........and it was WAY too long! But even then, while Charlie was 'dead' how they handled it was seriously messy. After Babe had had a breakdown weeping for the loss of his partner, Charlie was never mentioned again by anyone, except once when Charlie himself asked Jeff how Babe was dealing with his death.......it was almost like the show was going 'ok he died, and now we move on'. It didn't work right.
Then you had the Kenta/Kim/Pete/Way mess. They were setting up Way and Pete only to then set up Pete with Kenta, who they had kinda set up with Kim......they couldn't decide what they were doing. And I'm sorry but turning Kim into basically the third stooge with North and Sonic was just a waste of that character after its great introduction.
Babe's father and his magic 'antidote'.........they spent so much time on that.........but in the end nothing happened. That was pointless and just wasted time.
Charlie's 'plan' to save Babe by dying.......again nothing came of it, and it just wated time the writers could have used better by forwarding the plot, character relationships and development.
The end episodes where a mess and really let the show down!

Still I liked the show and would watch it again, simply for the chemistry of the cast and because those first episodes were well written.

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Not perfect........but close

I will definitely rewatch this drama.....however as good as it was it wasn't perfect. I will begin with some of the things I enjoyed though and go from there.

- Phayu's character was definitely, only to be underscored when I realised this was Boss's first drama (I mean wow the boy can act). The character was multi faceted and nicely balanced. Yes, he was pushy at times but he never went over the line, even though the writers did blur the line at times, when Rain made his stand clear. I enjoyed it greatly.
- The chemistry between the cast was amazing. not just between the couples but between the friends. they couldn't have chosen a better cast for this, you could really tell that the 4 leads got along brilliantly.
- The supporting cast were great, not one of the supporting roles let it down, they all acted well and bought something to the table, making the world richer.
- the cinematography was fantastic, with the bike races, the school and even the two showdowns (of Phayu in the warehouse and Prapai in his condo), you can tell they put some effort into it.
- the story worked together well. Originally its from 2 separate books but they managed to link the main cast in such a way that the story followed on without too much of hitch.

What i didn't like about it mainly comes down to 2 points.
- Prapai's character is set up at the beginning as a bad boy racer but soon becomes a pushover who has that edge taken off him. They managed to keep the edge on the phayu character while making the relationship work, and yes the sky/prapai relationship is different. But changing this confident, bad boy into a love strewn pushover, just changed the characters base idea too much for me.
-The plot. Now i mentioned I liked how they melded the two stories into one earlier, and I did. What I didn't like so much is the execution of it. The series is 13 episodes long (not counting the special episode) and it is basically spilt into almost 2 mini series. 7 episodes where phayu and rain are the leads, and prapai and sky are the second couple, then ep 8 onwards as Prapai/sky as the main cp with phayu/rain as the secondary leads. It even changed the theme music halfway through as well as the credits, and you begin again with the story (admittedly not for long). It just didn't work for me, I felt there were better ways they could have done it.

Over all though it was a great show and one I will definitely be revisiting. It is worth a watch if you like BL dramas.

However a warning...........It earns its 18+ rating!

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Personal Opinions

I have been watching Chinese and Korean Dramas for a while but only recently got into Thai ones. I have watched 'TharnType', both seasons and 'Don't say no' before watching this so I know it could have impacted the way I watched this. However I do have some views on it.

Firstly (i don't know which was filmed first TharnType or this, but this was was out a year earlier) seeing different actors in the different series has always been a big turn off for me regarding dramas, and seeing the characters I saw in TharnType played by different actors threw me out of the experience a lot. In my opinion if you can't get the same actors then they should have cut the character out completely, especially as he wasn't a main part of the show. It just made it odd.

Secondly the main leads. Don't get me wrong i'm not talking about the actors, they were great, im talking about the characters. Pete was written too good for the majority of the show, the guy literally had no bottom line. With most people they get pushed around, beaten and hurt have some point where enough is enough, pete never had that which made him a bit unbelievable. Ae as well seemed to go from 'stranger' to 'straight friend' to 'jealous friend without a clue why' to 'maybe im gay' to 'I love you' in the blink of an eye.......the steps that took the guys from 1 - 10 where so quick it was almost not noticeable. Again the actors were great, it was just some of the choices for the characters that could have been improved for me.

Ae's friend and dorm mate pond was just annoying, the man seemed to have no self awareness whatsoever, although at times he seemed to see things others didn't. Some of the other characters where the same, going on the annoying side of the 'funny' spectrum.

The character Tin was just a bully, although one with a sad backstory. Although the two side couples of Tum/Tar and Kla?techno where absolutely toxic. One had an elder brother trying to force himself on him while another had a younger brother who openly took part in his assault. They could have made these storylines work if they had put time into them but it was almost like 'ok that happened now move on' with no follow up on the impact it would have had on the characters at all.

I would still re-watch the show (excluding episode 14) because over all the actors did a great job and it was well shot. I just personally think the characters could have used a bit more thought in certain areas, however it didn't detract too much from the pleasure of the show overall.

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