I have to say the series was incredibly incoherent. It kept going from comical to very serious. There was a scene of Tum full-on pooping, but then there was also a super angsty coming out to homophobic parents scene. In episode nine, they made this weird montage of the entirety of Gene and Nubsib's families crying. It went on for way too long. The episodes were either really interesting or pretty boring. It was just such a gamble.

Considering this BL was supposed to call out toxic shippers, it wasn't really until episode eleven that came into play. I was so excited about the whole exposing the BL universe. Sadly, I wasn't sure if they were mocking or encouraging the exact thing they were against. An example would be the first episode where they over-sexualized a guy who was auditioning. To me, it didn't feel ironic. Nubsib was also seen many times without a shirt on. It just felt a little hypocritical. Honestly, they really focused a lot on Nubsib's looks. As if it was his only trait.

Anyway, about episode eleven. Is it that hard to distinguish between reality and acting? Some people really think they have a say in other's business. How dare they? Both the company and the fans. Tum's sister was just afwul. She really was selfish and only thought about money. Of course, Nubsib would choose Gene over his career, as he should. Nothing mattered more than Gene. She seriously had the audacity to say, "Do you have to terminate your contract, just for a boyfriend?" Yes. Yes, he did. All I can say is I was disappointed by the cliche cursed episode eleven where the couple breaks up. Is there no other way to make a series interesting?

So, Gene's friends. Could we even really call them that? Why would you ever question or assume someone's sexuality, especially to their face? Why do you care? The entire conversation was gross. None of his friends said anything substantial. Everything they said seemed as if they were making fun of him. At least Gene stood up for himself. That's what I liked the most about him. He rarely would let someone degrade or control him.

My favorite thing about this series was the portrayal of consent. Nubsib was so considerate, and he didn't waver even once. When Gene was drunk, he didn't even consider doing anything to Gene he might regret or forget the next day. Thank you, Nubsib.

A thing I found peculiar was the episode about them as kids. It was shot so wrong. I really don't want to sound weird, but I truly felt like they were romantically shooting some of their scenes. That scene where Gene protected Nubsib is a great example. Keep in mind that at that time, they were five years apart. So Gene was around eleven, and Nubsib was around six. I guess they clarified later on that it was only Nubsib who had feelings for Gene. I mean, Gene said some things that indicated he didn't feel the same. But then why did they have to include the fact that Gene's dad thought they were too close to be just friends? They weren't doing anything out of the ordinary. That episode made me feel weird.

Up, Nu and Bruce were really good in their roles. The others were by no means bad. Kao sometimes felt a bit stiff, but maybe that was just his character.

Lastly, the ending. I honestly wasn't satisfied. It was pretty boring. They didn't clarify the things that I was curious about. For example, what happened to Aoey and Saymork? What was the deal with Jap and Nueng? Instead, they gave us this weird roleplay situation that went on for too long. Also, Gene reminiscing on their childhood. So basically flashbacks. It just seemed so dragged out, as if they had run out of ideas. I don't know what the scene after the credits was supposed to mean. I was just confused.

Gene & Nubsib:

Sure Gene was quite a moody person. I definitely thought people were too hard on his characters, though. He was just very introverted and valued privacy. I can relate to that a lot. I can't even count the number of times someone thought I was ignoring them and being rude when I was just shy. So it saddened me to see people going in on him for that. Maybe Gene did take it the extra mile sometimes, but he was still a kindhearted person. I had hoped he would put his guard down a little around Nubsib, especially after they started dating. It was a little tiresome that Gene constantly avoided Nubsib's attempts to be intimate with him although they were together. It wasn't like he didn't want to be intimate with Nubsib. They just seemed to think he had to be grumpy almost all the time. When Gene wasn't grumpy, though, he was the cutest thing. I just wanted to see more of that side of him. Gene utterly disappointed me in episode eleven. Deciding what Nusib should do about his career/future is not caring about him. Caring would be letting HIM decide. Nubsib begged him to stay, and he still let other people influence their relationship. Nubsib was a little creepy at first. I can admit that. He totally came through throughout the series, though. Like I wrote earlier, he really treasured Gene. He treated him so well. I also somewhat could understand why he withheld the truth from Gene. Gene probably would have treated him as just a brother if he knew. My only real complaint about Nubsib was those times when he, instead of explaining to diffuse a situation, would stare and say nothing. It made no sense. It was as if he purposefully wanted to make the situation worse. Anyway, they had great chemistry. They weren't awkward. They're probably one of the BL couples with the most amount of kisses, good ones at that. Their sexy scenes weren't cringey or uncomfortable to watch either. I also liked how they were there to comfort and reassure each other. Nubsib never fooled around when it came to his feelings for Gene. I greatly appreciated that.

Aoey & Saymork:

There were no excuses for Aoey's behavior. The man was evil, selfish, and manipulative. No matter what he had gone through, he still made his own decisions. Sure, his dad was homophobic, his mom was an enabler, and his sister didn't care bout him either. Still, you don't have to be a product of your environment. His whole scheme to get together with Gene was fucked up. Just the amount of manipulation that went into that was insane. He gave me such serial killer vibes. That scene where he lured Gene out to the bar made me genuinely scared for Gene's wellbeing. He essentially harassed Gene in that same scene. Afterward, he even pretended to have drugged Nubsib. What the fuck? Why would you joke about that? The live stream he did to explain the situation regarding Nubsib and Gene was so calculated. He made himself look good and like a victim. Sure, he apologized later, but did he really not know what he was doing? Aoey and Saymork's relationship seemed complicated. They kissed at the family dinner, and then we didn't see them much together after that. That was until the scene at the bar. Aoey kept complaining that no one cared about him. What he really meant was that the people he wanted to care about him didn't, or at least not to the extent he wanted. Saymork cared about him, but that wasn't good enough for him. Saymork was quite vague in expressing his feelings, to be fair. Also, he definitely shouldn't have colluded with Aoey's sister. I also felt like they didn't give Aoey a proper ending. It didn't seem finished.

Tum & Tiffy:

Ah yes, the seemingly mandatory straight couple in some BL's. Honestly, at first, I didn't mind their presence. Tiffy progressively got worse and worse, though. Tiffy told Tum about her previous experiences with love. Essentially saying that she was pansexual. Then she went on to reject Tum because she was convinced he was gay. We love LGBTQ+ members who think it's okay to decide other's sexual attractions. No seriously. Why did she think that? He had finally built up the courage to tell her how he felt, just to be slapped in the face with such an offensive remark. She really told him to stop playing with her feelings when he never did. That made Tiffy completely unlikeable to me. He kept on trying to tell her he wasn't kidding, and she would not budge. For some reason, what convinced her was Tum's rap about how he felt about her. God, I felt such second-hand embarrassment. I didn't understand why Tiffy blamed Tum for what happened with Nubsib and Gene. Honestly, her behavior was nasty. She broke up with Tum without hesitation. Well, at least they got back together in the end. Tum did deserve better, though.

Gene's parents:

I got these weird vibes from Gene's mom. She was seemingly kind, but some of the things she said were off. She kept defending Gene's dad when he was completely out of line. I don't appreciate when the wives protect their homophobic husbands. That is enabling. In the whole family dinner thing, she had a part in it too. She and Nubsib's s mom were being very ignorant. The things they said weren't helping. It was comparable to Gene's outing with his friends. Gene's dad, I could slightly sympathize with. Having internalized homophobia is hard, but how dare he take it out on his son. He should've known better. At least he came to his senses. I didn't like him asking Gene if he truly loved Nubsib, though. Who allowed him to doubt Gene's love? You could say that he was just worried about Gene, but I have personally never witnessed someone questioning straight love like that.

Nubsib's parents:

They were the worst. I have never understood the whole reputation thing. Is it really more important than your child's happiness? One person in your family being gay would ruin your entire business? That's... sad. Then there was the scene where Nubsib's parents discussed how to handle the situation. For some reason, they added this ominous music. I almost thought they were going to get rid of him or something. But no, they were planning to apply for a parents-of-the-year award for doing the bare minimum. By that, I mean they were planning to not precisely accept but allow Nubsib his happiness, and they were really proud of it too. I can't deal with people who look so proud of themselves because they allow someone to be gay/not straight. As if your opinion matters.

Hin:

I didn't understand his part in all of this. He just came and went. Sometimes we wouldn't see him for multiple episodes, and frankly, that made me forget about him. His entire reason for existing was to become an author. Throughout the series, he kept asking everyone to read his work. Gene always had to help him out. I did feel slightly bad for him. He seemed to be going through a lot. I was happy to see him succeed, though. Other than that, he was also showing interest in Nubsib. I genuinely couldn't tell whether he was kidding or not. I mean, he still showed interest even after Gene started dating Nubsib. I wanted him to get someone too.

Bua:

She was gross. She constantly forced Gene to write NSFW scenes, as if that's what makes a good BL. She also kept disregarding Hin's work no matter how hard he tried, for no reason. It would take her literally a few minutes to read a bit of his work. She was just very entitled. She couldn't even apologize to Gene by herself.