Okay, I was all ready to give Season 2 an 8 rating, but I've dropped it down to 6.5 overall.

Why? Well... the cliffhanger at the end was pretty bad. I'm okay with cliffhangers, but this one was just kind of lame for me. I really didn't buy into the whole "Yo was absolutely scandalized by the pic of him with a hickey." I've read that, apparently, Park broke into sleeping Yo's room, drugged him and then raped him.

Please. I'm just not buying it. It's so unrealistic, I just don't care. Sorry.

But there were a lot of good things about this series! Loved Forth especially (total hottie and a good actor). ForthBeam were so good together. MingKit as well. I give the actor who played Pha a lot of credit... he didn't really look the part, but he pulled it off well enough. Wayo was very cute, his acting was just okay... the scene where he broke down crying was unconvincing... there were definitely no real tears.

I mostly liked it better than Season 1, but the writing was disappointing, in my opinion. Let's get the ridiculous "rape storylines" out of these BLs, unless they're going to make it into a major drama, bringing to light how horrible it really is, and sending the perpetrators to jail.

Read More

One of the worst BLs out there

This was a complete trainwreck, I can't remember feeling so happy to be finished with a series. Here are my pros and cons:

PROS

FILMING. The series was indeed beautifully filmed.

HIA/DIAO SEX SCENES. Total soft porn. Hawt.

CONS

STORY. While I appreciated the families' acceptance and support of same-sex marriage, the idea of arranged marriage of any kind is so antiquated and frankly... gross. Besides that, there wasn't all that much to the story, and much of what was there made little to no sense.

KUEA. Was he ever NOT crying? Okay, that's an overstatement, but his constant whining (mostly about nothing) made me want to remove my own appendix with a knife and fork. He was too immature to be in a relationship of any kind. What Lian saw in him was beyond me.

THE THIRD COUPLE. They got a total of maybe three minutes of screen time for the entire series. Why were they even there?

I could go on, but I don't wanna.

It's a 3.5 from me.

Read More

Intense, unpredictable and... fabulous!

What a great end of the year surprise! After Eps 1 and 2, I wasn't really sure what I thought about this series but, for anyone else feeling the same way, my recommendation is to stick with it! Here are my pros and cons:

PROS:

UNUSUAL BUT COMPELLING STORY. Misfit Hira is persecuted by just about everyone at his school. He even has a stuttering problem that is schoolmates cruelly make fun of. Along comes handsome, mysterious, aloof and popular Kiyoi, who attracts everyone (including Hira) and, while he appears to have a soft spot for Hira, Kiyoi treats Hira abominably, hurling insults at him left and right. But, as the story continues, there are plot twists that take us all on a wild ride.

KIYOI'S APPEARANCE. Damn, the guy is stunning and has a killer body!

SYMPATHETIC LEAD CHARACTERS. Without giving too much away, I'll just say that I ended up sympathizing with BOTH Hira and Kiyoi as the series progressed.

A LOT PACKED INTO SIX EPISODES. Many BL series tend to drag on with 12, 14, 16 or more episodes and, along with that, the stories can drag as well. Not here! This one manages to pack in all the feels in just six, 25-minute episodes. Kudos!

CONS:

"TOXIC" BEHAVIOR. Yes, I realize that "toxic" is today's go-to word for describing challenging relationships but, for my taste, they went just a little too heavy on the toxicity. Not a dealbreaker, but it could have been dialed back a bit and packed even more of a punch.

KIYOI'S BACKGROUND STORY. What we got was okay, but I would have liked to know more of Kiyoi's backstory.

Overall, I loved this one. 9.5/10 for me.

Read More

Interesting, but flawed

Peach of Time arrived on the scene at the end of the summer of 2021, which, at least for me, had aired (mostly) one disappointing BL after another. I was excited after Episode 1, as this appeared to be a series with more quality and on a higher level than previous series. After three or four weeks after excitedly anticipating each episode, my interest began to wane. By the end, my feeling was "okay... might as well tune in to see how this all turns out." Here are my pros and cons:

PROS:

THEME. The supernatural theme is an interesting one which, of course, has been explored in BL before (i.e., He's Coming to Me). This one had a different feel to it... more dramatic.

MUSIC. Really great! Yoon Oh (sorry, I forgot the actor's name) has a great singing voice. (And an alluring speaking voice as well.)

ACTING. The boys were all okay. But big kudos to the actress who played Yoon Oh's mom, she was a real pro and elevated the whole series.

CONS:

STORY. Too many scenes showing Peach publicly conversing with Yoon Oh and/or Mario. Anyone witnessing this would think Peach was batshit crazy (talking to himself), but no one batted an eye. I never fully understood the Mario character... what happened to him at the end? There were some other wtf moments interspersed throughout the series.

That's pretty much it. Pretty sure I'll forget about this one in time. The ending was open-ended, which might suggest a sequel, but I don't feel we really need one. What would it even be about? I suppose it could be more about Mario, but does anyone really care?

7.5/10 for me. It's that high because it started out very well.

Read More

Different.

Color Rush was unique! Here are my pros and cons:

PROS:

INTERESTING TOPIC. We really got a look at what it could be like to live in a world of grays, without color. I began to believe that a "probe" exists! Upon research, I see that it is a fantasy. But it's a great "soulmate" kind of fantasy. I also liked the plot twist at the end (Yoo Han's prosopagnosia).

YOO JUN'S ACTING. As Yeon Woo, Yoo Jun's acting was very effective.

OST. I really liked the theme song.

CONS:

ACTING. Aside from Yoo Jun as Yeon Woo, I was disappointed in the acting. Heo Hyun Jun, as the probe Yoo Han, was pretty stiff and colorless (no pun intended!). The actress who played Yi Rang (the aunt) was constantly mopey and seemed depressed, but what could have been a sympathetic character just came off as cold, boring, and bitchy.

UNCONVINCING. For me, while I liked the show, I wasn't jumping with excitement to see what would happen next. The whole series had an element of unhappiness to it (which can be really effective in a drama) but this seemed rather weird and not compelling enough to draw me in. Despite a "dead fish" kiss, it was nice to get a happy ending, but even that came off as too rushed and almost misplaced.

It's a 7/10 from me.

Read More

I liked the actors, but this was WAAAAAAAAAAYYY too long, with 36 episodes. The story dragged on and on, it could have been done in half the amount of episodes.

What I liked: Noh and Phun have a good chemistry. Ohm is adorable and so are most of the other boys. The girl that played nasty Jead was really good. There was some beautiful cinematography.

What I disliked: the Noh/Yuri "relationship." I know a lot of fans found Yuri sweet and adorable, but I thought she was annoying. And Noh took way too long to end things with her (not that there was any actual relationship in the first place). The scene just after the breakup in the photo booth, where Noh was shown crying for something like ten minutes, was kind of ridiculous. First of all, he wasn't actually crying, there were no tears. Second, he was never into her. I get that he was sad that she was sad, but the reaction was overkill.

I'm glad that I was able to binge watch this, way after it aired, as opposed to having to wait for each episode, week after week after week after week after week after week...

Read More

Overall, painful to watch

I really try to support all BLs, but this was difficult to get through. Here are my pros and cons:

PROS

ACTING, SOMETIMES. Okay, we all know Fluke is an amazing actor. And Ohm is good, too. Jimmy and Tommy have become a beloved veteran couple. There were other fan favorites here as well. I think they did the best they could, given what they were given.

CONS:

THE STORIES. Ep. 1 was really tough to watch, Fluke and Ohm are very capable actors and deserved much better. A depressing episode. Ep. 2 was just stupid. Ep. 3 was kind of cute, I guess. A kiss would have been nice. It's a little strange that this couple has a nine-year age gap between them. Hard to imagine them getting it on in any situation other than anonymously in a sex club. But I digress. Ep. 4 featured a veteran couple with a really weak script. Ep. 5: Jimmy and Tommy were adorable, but the story went nowhere. Ep. 6 was a couple of cute boys acting whiny and toying with each other. Yawn.

I had the feeling the producers were going for an "Our Skyy" dynamic. The only problem: Our Skyy was actually good, endearing, and really well done. Close Friend was just a dud.

Sorry. I will never rewatch this. 4.5 from me. And my rating is only that high because of Episodes 3 and 5, which still weren't really all that great.

Read More

Like most fans, I've become addicted to Love by Chance. While it's not my favorite series, I've been thinking about what it is that makes me like it as much as I do.

I like Ae (and he is a good actor). I think everybody dreams about having (or being) a head-over-heels in love superhero from time to time, and Ae fits that character. Other characters I like are Pond (he's so hilarious and really attractive), Tin (probably the hottest guy on the show and plays the jerk so well), the girl who plays Pond's girlfriend and Trump... yes, I actually enjoy him (although not his character, I realize he's the villain).

There's a good balance of romance, comedy and drama. While homophobia is part of the show (Trump; Tin), it's a small part, with a good deal of tolerance and acceptance of same-sex relationships. This is a good thing.

For me, the downsides of the show (not a dealbreaker) are the over-the-top-oh-so-cuuuuuute scenes between Ae and Pete... I like them but can we tone down the sugar overload just a bit? I know Pete is a fan favorite but, for me, his shyness/cuteness/weakness is so exaggerated that his character doesn't seem real. The Tum/Tar relationship bores me... possibly because the younger guy looks 12 and it's hard for me to imagine him in a serious relationship of any kind. Can makes me laugh (especially when he walks around blabbing to himself out loud in public), but his character is so weird... is he supposed to have some kind of mental disorder?

We're now 8 episodes in, and Ae/Pete are now officially a couple. Yay! They will have sex very soon (it's the big buildup right now) and probably move in together. Then what? If there's a Season 2, I'd prefer for them to be a "happily ever after" couple, and not the main focus, because that would mean a new set of intense drama for them. As for the rest of this season, I'm looking forward to what happens with Trump (you just know he's going to show up), as well as Tin/Can.

Edited to add: my review stands, but the ending absolutely ruined LBC for me. Hence, the reason for my somewhat low ratings. Because of the finale, I feel like I wasted my time watching it. It pains me to say that, because I really liked LBC.

Read More

Interesting concept, but...

War of Y is a story of behind the scenes drama in the BL industry, following in the line of Lovely Writer, Call it What You Want and Call it What You Want 2. Here are my pros and cons:

PROS

WELL KNOWN ACTORS. This series featured some longtime BL favorites: Talay, Billy, Seng... and more.

INTERESTING PLOT TWISTS. I appreciated that the series wasn't entirely predictable, and liked that some of the "victim" characters turned out to be the most devious of all!

CONS

MOTIVE. So it's a series, based on real-life incidents, exposing much of the crap that goes on the BL set. Well, this too is a BL. So what are we supposed to learn here? Should we stop watching BL because it is, in actuality, a completely toxic industry? What was behind the scenes like on the War of Y set itself? Squeaky clean? Or more of what they are claiming to "expose?" I will say this: if War of Y serves to help eliminate fanservice once and for all, I'm all for it. It's soooooo creepy. But War of Y's couples are currently indulging in fanservice of their own... so what's the point, really?

TOO LONG. Four stories was too much. By the fourth one I was bored, and Achi was just a giant turd. I would have liked to see him suffer more, I think he got off pretty much unscathed. At least he and Most didn't ride off into the sunset together, the way Pan and Nott did in the first episode (puh-leeze... I give that relationship about three months at best).

A lot of viewers think this was pretty great, and everyone is entitled to an opinion. For me it was kind of medium. Interesting some of the time, but I never found myself eagerly awaiting each week's episode, the way I do my favorites.

It's a 6.5 from me.

Read More

Three Little Wigs

I started out liking this but my enthusiasm fizzled as the series went along. Here are my pros and cons:

PROS

CHOMPU. I appreciated the feature of a disabled character, and that Nan sincerely fell for her.

THEME SONG. I thought it was catchy and I liked the background ensemble singers.

SERIOUS ISSUES. Especially the Name story.

CONS

WIGS. Wth? Seriously. It was a battle of the wigs and the wigs won. Their evil plan is to take over the entire BL industry and star in their own series. Seriously, the wigs were beyond stupid.

CHAMP. Sorry honey, you're just boring. Way too much time devoted to him, and his sister was weird. She turned her own wedding into a funeral service for her grandfather.

TOO MANY CHARACTERS. There were so many characters that it was impossible to "know" any of them. I suppose we got to know Name more than anyone else.

5.5 from me.

Read More

A guilty pleasure

Yes, my headline pretty much says it all for me. As many have noted in the comments, this series had a lot of troubling issues, and I agree with that. Still... I will admit to enjoying it. Here are my pros and cons.

PROS:

ACTORS. For me, each actor played his/her role pretty much perfectly. Special mention to the actress who played Chon's mom. Loved her!

PODD'S BODY. Whoa! How'd I miss that before? For me, his "Sun" character in DBK was my least favorite, I thought he was boring. And I NEVER expected to see that body underneath. Wow!!

AI, NAI, MIRIAM. Sure, they were silly, but I enjoyed their"Three Musketeers" escapades.

NA. Loved him. Would have preferred him with Chonlatee. But I'm happy he found love in the end.

THEME SONG. I liked it.

CONS:

TON/AI/NAI. So Ai and Nai spend half the series (and a few years) hiding their relationship from Ton, because they're sooooo afraid of his homophobic behavior. Then, when Ton finds out, he's perfectly fine with it. So what was all THAT about?

THE EARLY EP AT THE BAR AND BROTHEL. Worse than ridiculous. I can't imagine anyone going along with that, just to suck up to a friend.

FLYING AROUND IN THE ANCIENT COSTUMES. What the hell?

AMP. She makes everyone's life miserable but, somehow, she talks Chon into drinking with her, and Ton into kissing her. Just... no.

STEREOTYPICAL/OUTDATED TROPES. 1) "I still like women, I'm just gay for you." No, no, no, no, NO. At least call yourself bisexual. So sick of this "gender doesn't matter." Umm... yeah, it kinda does. 2) The homophobia was so overdone, to the point of being laughable. 3) I can enjoy a bitchy ex-girlfriend character, but this was ridiculous, and we didn't get the satisfaction of seeing Amp get what was coming to her at the end. 4) Neung assaults Chon in what looked to be an attempted rape, and no one calls the police? Yeah... riiight.

Ai/NAI'S (hidden) KISSES. So they show a number of "almost" kisses between Ai/Nai, but the camera always conveniently cuts away. At first I thought it could be because of caution due to COVID, but Ton/Chon had plenty of kisses. So what was up with Mike/Toptap? Did they refuse? I'd have rather seen NO kissing attempts between them, than this weird camera cutting away.

BL is evolving in many countries, but Thai BLs appear to be stuck in an old school, formulaic rut. It's not working well anymore, but I did enjoy the actors in Tonhon Chonlatee.

Read More

Some trainwrecks do have some redeeming features, I guess...

I think just about everyone agrees that Our Story was a huge disappointment. And it was. Zeke and Fifth were adorable in My Story, in fact they saved that series to a large degree. As for Our Story, here are my pros and cons:

PROS

SOME OF THE ACTORS. I will give props to Fifth, Kevin (yes Kevin, he played his annoying character very well), Joel, and Sean (the only real likeable character of the series) for playing their roles effectively.

MUSIC. I've always liked the catchy theme song. One of the best features of the series.

LORRAINE/IRIS. We didn't get enough of them, and their road to getting together was not developed well. But they were sweet, and kudos to Oxin for introducing a nice GL couple.

STORY. Okay, don't shun me for this. Was the story a trainwreck? Absolutely. Did it often make no sense? Yep. So why would I list this as a "pro?" Because, unlike so many BLs I've watched this year, there actually was a story. It may not have been the story that most of us wanted to see, but there was a story. A weird ass story at times, but it was there.

NC SCENES. Filipino BLs rarely disappoint when it comes to this aspect.

MATT'S MELTDOWN. Matt's freakout when his underwear sniffing video surfaced was the highlight of the entire series for me!

CONS

ZEKE. Hells bells, he turned out to be a creep. Like many of you, I really lost all interest in FiZeke as a sustainable couple, halfway through the series. They really turned him into a cheating creep. He never apologized for his misdeeds: Fifth did all the apologizing. I was in favor of Zeke reuniting with Kevin and having the two of them get lost.

KIM/PARK/SEAN TRIANGLE. First of all, I found Kim to be unappealing from Day 1. Girl, you ain't all that, you're no great shakes as a businesswoman, and your ass kissing got old yesterday, okay? Sean was so nice and didn't deserve being played. (And whatever happened to Sean? He just disappeared.) Park was as big of a hemorrhoid as Kim, so I guess they deserve each other. Barf.

JELAI/JEROME. Wth? So Jelai, who I guess we're "supposed" to like, decides to cheat on his "boyfriend" (his "baby boy," whoever THAT is!) with Jerome, who seems nice until he goes postal and his head spins around three times. And Jelai ends the relationship by telling Jerome what a good person he (Jerome) is. Sure honey... if you like hanging out with psychos. Their entire relationship was just eww.

TOO MANY CHARACTERS. It was just too convoluted. It took me most of the series to figure out who they all were. At least half of them could have been eliminated... that in itself may have improved this mess.

CHRISTMAS MUSIC. This started in October. OCTOBER. And it continued in every episode after that. There was no talk of Christmas until the end of the series. A complete miss and, frankly, annoying.

But -- somehow -- I still watched. I guess we all did... but why? I think it was because, despite the disappointments and craziness, there was something entertaining about this complete trainwreck that kept us watching. Like slowing down for a car accident.

I'm giving it a 6.0/10.

Read More

Yes, it's a slice of real LGBTQ+ life

While I had my issues with Season 1 (and as a gay, male, and avid BL viewer), for me Season 2 is one of the best BLs of the year. Here are my pros and cons:

PROS

THE FLAWED CHARACTERS. We can all like or not like certain characters, but they were real. There were none of the BL tropes: "I'm really straight, I'm just gay for you," jealous and interfering ex-girlfriend, romanticizing rape, enemies to lovers, etc. (Are you listening, Thai BLs?) I like that the characters were just as flawed as we all are in real life.

GAY RELATIONSHIP DEPICTION. Not all gay relationships are alike and, for the most part, this was a damn good one. Were there problems? Yep. Were there unresolved issues? Absolutely. Do we think it's going to be sunshine and roses for Damian and Jerry from here on in? Probably not. In other words, a real relationship. I think they've developed a great family and look to be great for one another. After all, happily ever after -- while a warm and fuzzy notion -- is fiction. Most of us have exes that pop back into our lives, and there's always going to be jealousy over someone flirting with one partner or the other. In my opinion, Damian and Jerry handled it as well as any couple could have.

THE SECONDARY LGBTQ+ CHARACTERS. Lesbians, trans, femme and straight acting gays... all of them represented as everyday, feeling people, as opposed to provide a comedic or weird aspect to the story. And the little boy who preferred wearing dresses was handled beautifully. Kudos.

CONS

JIMMY'S ENGLISH. I learned to love Jimmy, he was such a cool kid and great with Kai. But I'm sorry... there is no way that anyone was buying that he was an American with English as his native language.

I suppose I could go back and pick at some more things but, for me, the pros far outweigh any cons. I'm satisfied.

It's a rare 10/10 from me.

Read More

The Best BL I Have Ever Seen (so far)

Gameboys is the best BL I have ever seen, period. Here are my reasons:

THE CAST. Most of the credit goes, of course, to the stars Kokoy and Elijah. But every cast member was perfect, in my opinion.

THE WRITING. The storyline was great, always moving ahead, never dull or wasting time. The only time I felt like I was watching filler was at the beginning of Episode 11 which, at least for me, showed Gav and Cai at the playground for a little too long. But not a deal breaker, by any stretch.

THE DIRECTING. Ivan Payawal must be a genius. To take a script like this, and to film it with each cast member staring virtually into a screen, with no contact with each other, and to make it work as beautifully as it did... all I can say is that he has my respect, big-time.

ACTUAL GAY CHARACTERS. None of the barfworthy "I'm not really gay, I just like you" bullshit. Cairo's coming out was a central part of the story, handled with sincerity and dignity. And I think we can assume that Gav is gay, not bi, because both Pearl and Gav admit that their dating each other was a disaster (usually the case when a gay person dates someone of the opposite sex).

What started out as a seemingly lighthearted diversion in Episode 1 turned out to be a relevant and compelling drama, covering life amidst COVID-19 and quarantine, along with important lessons regarding life and love.

10 out of 10 for me!

Read More

I liked it. Not my favorite by a long shot and I don't know whether I will rewatch it or not. But it was a fun, lighthearted comedy that I looked forward to each week, so I'm happy I watched it.

It's true that the plotlines and characters could have been developed more but, overall, I wasn't disappointed. In the end, Pond and Tee ended up together: so did Per and Jasmine. It was hard to tell the other guy couples ended up as actual couples but, at the very least, we knew that they were good friends and everyone was happy. Even Ball, the villain, finally got over Pond and looked to be hooking up with the teacher (not sure of his name). Overall, the story lines were wrapped up satisfactorily, which is more than I can say for a number of "better" series.

TBT explored the subject of homophobia with with the twins' sister, Pad. I'm glad they did this, but it was a bit over the top. Watching Pad beat her brother (not to mention her students) with a big stick was ridiculous... we're not in Saudi Arabia here. And what strong, adult male is going to just stand there and let his sister torture him? At the end, I guess we're supposed to believe that Pad had some sort of revelation after her time at the temple but, if so, I would have appreciated a scene where she apologized to her brother and students, really showing that she understood the error of her thinking. Unfortunately, it was just barely hinted at.

Still, I liked the comedy. The hints of sexual encounters (that really weren't that at all) between Jaet/Kao and Thor/his friend (name?) were hilarious. The Korean guy (posing as Jasmine's friend) had me smiling a lot, I loved him. I get a little annoyed by some of the cutesy music and sound effects used in a lot of Thai BLs, but I liked the ones here, it added to the overall enjoyment of the story (at least for me).

Other things that made me smile: the androgynous school friend with the hairclips, Tee's daydreams where he ended up in a kissing pose (or with his arms outstretched), and the deep, sexy "oh yeah" voice that would come on every time a hot guy was shown scantily clothed. The Korean guy was hilarious in the scene with the cockroach in the shower (although the subsequent cockroach scenes were a bit of an overkill).

All in all, I'd recommend this to anyone looking for some fun, lighthearted fluff.

Read More