SpikedBoba

Just binged this and wow, Joong and Dunk have Chemistry with a capital C. I genuinely really enjoyed this series. I think the rating is a little overdramatic tbh. It was a feel-good, primarily uncomplicated and fairly well-written series. Like a lot of projects that come from GMM it was "Disney" grade lol nothing revolutionary but nothing offensive, and certainly not god-awful like some series I've watched, even just this year. I personally like to have a good mix in what I watch when it comes to BL so I'm not one to go above and beyond to hate and criticize the lighter fair. I think there's room for all different kinds of stories to be told, and if I'm honest, even the more provocative series can get a little one-note after awhile. Suffice to say, a good romcom was a great way to lighten things up from some of the more intense narratives we have been getting lately. I was genuinely kind of shocked at how much both Joong and Dunk have grown in this series. Truly, I watched their first series together and they've made some big strides. Are they at the level of some of the stand-out or veteran actors in the industry? No, but for fairly rookie actors I felt like they carried their characters quite well. I won't completely spoil it but there is an episode with a...ahem...loss of innocence for Dunk's character and I thought he acted the hell out of that scene, I felt every hesitation and emotional pull. This was definitely a more mature project than anything I've seen from either of them in the past and it kind of made me excited to see what might come from them in the future, especially if they're acting together again. Chemistry between onscreen partners is a tricky balance in my opinion and they have it in spades, I think with a few more projects under their belt there's potential for something really great to come from them. Anyway, overall was it a stellar grammy worthy production? Obviously not, but I didn't go into it expecting much more than fluff and good feels and to be fair I got way more out of it than that haha. I can see it's apparently polarizing (I mean rating this a 1 with some of the absolute garbage we get is overkill let's be real lol) but for what its worth I'd recommend it if you're looking for something light and feel good.

This is honestly an awesome show, the concept is great. As usual, Joong and Dunk are absolute chaos together, they're such an entertaining and hilarious duo. The places they visit are not only fun but creative and innovative with their marketing and concepts. I wish the restaurants and bars where I live were half as concept-forward. I haven't seen an episode yet where I haven't wanted to immediately go eat or drink at the place they visited. One of my favorites was Revolution Cocktail in episode two; between the taco platter, crazy drinks, hidden VIP room, and fire show, I wanted to book my birthday there ASAP lol. I hope they get another season, I love seeing what new place they'll visit each time, plus watching these two after they've had a few drinks is priceless (especially since it doesn't take much for Dunk to start feeling it 😆). As an aside, this latest episode (ep. 5) is wild, I'm pretty sure the chef was enamored with Dunk 🤣.

I actually thought he got much closer with a lot of the new gen members through the concert, Dunk and him were and have been super playful and close, Pond too. Then again Dunk and Pond are super affectionate and lovey so it's not hard to make friends with them hah. Watching them together it felt to me like he's been adopted into their little crew.

Methinks this project ran out of budget. Otherwise, I need someone to explain to me in simple terms what the hell happened in the last episode because nothing made sense. I mean already the series was pretty bad, but that last episode was definitely...something lol.

The writing for their projects is pretty dismal in my opinion, their production value is high but the story lines are nothing but fluff, sex and some contrived drama thrown in for effect. Bed Friends was probably their first solid release writing-wise but it still wasn't great. I'm not saying their projects aren't entertaining or that, if given better scripts, they don't have talented actors who could pull them off, but I personally wouldn't say their plots are their forte.

There have actually been rumors that New and Double have been cast in a series together as leads, which I'd take over anything connected to this tbh in terms of writing and production lol

I don't think it's you, I think the eye candy over substance model just works well in the BL industry as unfortunate as that is. If standards were higher we would all benefit.

EDIT: to add that I'm not saying DMD don't have some talent, but they definitely don't know how or don't care to maximize their potential which is a shame.

Yim has consistently pulled the short stick and it's sad. To think I was really anticipating Tutor and Yim's first series as leads. But I knew what was coming as soon as the project was announced and I saw the synopsis.

If I'm honest I feel it's very unfortunate that this is the script Tutor and Yim got for their first series as leads. They deserved better. I especially feel for Yim, like damn, what the hell was that? Then again outside of maybe (and this is a stretch) Bed Friend, the writing for projects coming from DMD...isn't great. I know they produce their content but do they also write it and not hire professional writers?? I don't know what the situation is with that, but they're doing a potentially talented roster a huge disservice by making them more eye-candy with a bit of slap-stick comedian thrown in over giving them something serious they can sink their teeth into as actors. I genuinely feel like they could do better. I mean I suppose on a scale of stellar to crap this is pretty middling but that isn't saying much.

While the series was pretty mid, I enjoyed Guide and Poom in this a lot, I hope they get more opportunities to stretch their acting potential as leads.

Just watched the teaser and such a surge of nostalgia came over me it made me kind of emo. I'm genuinely looking forward to watching this, and it's making me want to re-watch Love Sick season 1 all over again (for like the third time lol). I think people really place the OG Love Sick into the context of BL today and forget that it was one of the pioneer BL series of its time and was one of the cornerstone series that launched what Thai BL has grown into today. It was HUGE in its day and unexpectedly so. The original production had to fight hard for the little funding it did have only for it to become a massive hit. It also brought a giant wave of international interest and was many people's (myself included) first entry into Thai BL. Love By Chance (and SOTUS in some respects) gets a similar treatment with people watching it years later and not really understanding how foundational it was for the continued production and growth of the genre. Anyway lol all this is to say that I can imagine there was huge pressure on this production and I hope it's done well and is much better than the OG. That's like bare minimum haha. For all its low-budget production the OG did have something quite special in season 1, I only wish they hadn't completely ruined it in season 2, but we all know a lot of it was due to the backlash that came from the way the original director chose to depict Noh and Pun's relationship, which should tell you how much they were pushing the envelope even then when it's practically tepid water in comparison to what comes out in BL these days. The difference between season 1 and season 2 even in just sentimentality, let alone romantic development between Noh and Pun is drastic.

While I did enjoy watching season 1 this season was so much better, and not only because we got such a lovely couple out of it either. I felt like I was on the edge of my seat watching on cheering for J and S, I think we were all just waiting for S to realize the right man was waiting patiently by his side the whole time. I feel like I laughed and cried with them the whole series, they were a joy to watch and I wish them full happiness. Watching what they share of their lives together now I am hopeful they're in it for the long run.

If I'm honest the best thing about this series was the last episode, I wish the series had focused less on contrived drama and more on actually fleshing out their relationship and feelings for each other.

If you're curious about the "epic love story" between Fifth and Zeke that is falsely advertised for this series, I'd watch My Story and pretend they didn't release anything after that. If I'm honest all of three of the series aren't great, they have horrible writing, plot lines, and direction but the Fifth Zeke story (and actors) hard carried last season.

That's good to know! I'll have to put it on my reading list.

I don't think I've ever seen a company set fire to their biggest on-screen draw and pairing like this. Ever. Was this a deliberate sabotage? For real. How do you take a pairing like Hiro and Jericho, with so much chemistry and potential they shone in a two-bit series, and give them this as their next project?? Not only is it a dumpster fire of epic proportions, you're going to make one of the leads such a trash character the audience can't stand him or the idea of him getting back together with the person he's apparently supposed to end up with? If Fifth ends up with Zeke at the end this series needs to be billed as a tragedy.

Never thought I would say that I miss the ChukChuk drama from seasons past but my god give me asinine, ridiculous ChukChuk drama if this is what we're getting instead.

I loved that the characters were complex but they kept the story of Ryuji and Amane falling for each other sweet and uncomplicated, especially knowing how jaded Amane was before meeting Ryuji. Sometimes love is like that, especially when you're young, and sometimes it's a good reminder to see that and absorb all the feels. I would love a season 2 but I would almost be scared of the wrenches they could throw into the equation hah.

You can't even get your point across in good faith. There are limitless possibilities out there for what you can portray in media between two consenting adults (or non-adults for that matter), but somehow consumable media for adults would cease to be exciting with the exclusion of media that romanticizes predatory behavior toward children? Watching a grown adult romance and be sexually attracted to a kid fits into the "deliciously wrong" category? Forgive me for having the ethical processing of a 10-year-old when I say that's sick. Can you genuinely answer for me why the f*ck any self-respecting adult would want or need to perpetuate the "fantasy" of having a romantic/sexual relationship with a teenager?

I agree with you, but you can't reason with people who aren't willing to see past their own self-gratification. They'll always seek to validate even the most disturbed viewpoint, to the point of justifying predatory impulses as "normal". Never mind that any well-adjusted adult wouldn't need or want to fantasize about having a relationship with a teenager. Stories like these definitely serve a purpose no matter who the audience is that is consuming them, whether younger audiences - as a perfectly acceptable form of grooming - or older audiences who seek "outlets" instead of introspectively trying to understand why they have these "fantasies" to begin with and how wrong they are. I work with sexual abuse victims and a good percentage are those still dealing with trauma from manipulative and abusive relationships they entered into with much older individuals in their teen years, and (surprise surprise) many of the perpetrators had a history of consuming what this person deems as harmless content. What people fail to understand about content like this is that it isn't just about "fantasy", it often can and does supplant urges that easily translate to real-world harm if given enough room to manifest and grow, particularly if the behavior is normalized to the extent that content like age-gap, non-con, and violence toward the most marginalized individuals (including women, people of color, and lgbtqia+ individuals) is. Does it happen with every adult? No, obviously not, but does that mean we need to encourage it and paint predatory behavior as normal and romantic? Hell no. It's one thing to portray these topics and give them the nuance, complexity, and realism they deserve, it's another to fluff them up and pass them off as acceptable avenues to healthy romantic relationships. Anyway, all this to say, I agree with you wholeheartedly haha and I hope you weren't discouraged in voicing your perfectly logical critique of media like this.

I didn't think a series could get much worse for this pairing than Love Syndrome...I was so wrong. They're really scraping the bottom of the barrel now. Seriously no words for how bad this is.