UnaSpenser

Dai Zu steals the show. He gets a lot of space to show his acting skills. His physical humor is so over the top that you wonder about it, but then comes the banquet and we get to see a moment of extreme grace in his movements. Once he starts showing tenderness in his expressions, you realize the range of the actor. He lights up every scene he is in. His character gets a lot of nice development, too.

had the same thought.

also, she doesn't remember that she was a violin master, but she can pick locks.

unconditional love doesn't mean letting someone walk all over you. and, as a parent, unconditional love doesn't mean not teaching your child. Its a poorly written arc in the story, with a tinge of misogynist messaging that women should just be doormats for their male children.

I was really appreciative of the relationship between the two leads. It seems out of character, though, that GQF would just ghost her. Out of the mutual respect they had for one another, I would think he would at least explain why he's doing it.

one needs the actor to actually play the instrument. we are asking that the actors fake it a little better. even a child can tell when there is plucking versus strumming and when the rhythm is slow or fast. If they don't know what music will be played during the scene, then patch in some shots of hands afterward. Its very, very weird when the music is playing something really fast and the actor is lackadaisically moving their hand up and down in a super slow pace.

good to hear, since she's such an unappreciative, jealous brat, thus far. (i'm in the part where she's with Shen and I can tell where that train wreck is heading, but feel like she kinda deserves it.)

nitpick*: can they please have actors at least mimic the rhythms of the music they are supposed to be playing? Its so distracting when they're supposedly playing an instrument and the music is beating at one pace and their hands are moving at a completely different one; or when the sound is clearly the plucking of a stringed instruments and they're strumming chords.

rant over. I'm thoroughly enjoying this drama. (at episode 22, now.)

that is not the case here. she said she pitied him. that she was willing to be beaten to death because he's pitiful. its absurd.

same. the acting is lacking. sometimes you can still enjoy it, if the story is good enough. not the case here.

I didn't say he should be used to it. Or night fighting death. The reaper isn't death. The reaper (as understood in this mythology) is simply a kind being who gives souls guidance to the afterlife, once they've already died.

So, I can see the doctor being like, "I'm going to give my all to make sure people don't die." But, I can't see him having no understanding of where the reaper fits in, in the life and death cycle. The way its presented here, this doctor, who supposedly is mature enough to become a chief of surgery (don't get me started on how there are no doctors over 40 in this hospital.....), can't recognize the difference between death and a reaper? He's like a child.

The huge flaw in this story: the supposed tension between the doctor and the reaper about the taking of souls.

First: is the doctor 10? People die. Why is this something a doctor can’t face?

Second: the reaper isn’t killing people. Why doesn’t he ever say, “I’m not killing them. I’m just guiding their souls. Would you rather they wandered and became ghosts (or whatever the mythology of this story is?)

This isn’t a hard issue to put to rest. Is this the best the writers could do?

This had some clunky parts and was a bit leaden in its delivery, at times, but, by far the most rich storytelling in a BL. I almost skipped it, because I thought it was going to be a childish silly thing. Its far from it.

I appreciated most of the message of the story.

One big flaw, which was a total turn off was the victim blaming. A woman is manipulated by scheming people into leaving the man she loves and marrying one of the schemers. And he turns out to be abusive. As a victim of domestic abuse, which is chronic trauma, the writers would have been wise to leave out the claims that "I let him hurt me" and "I wasn't strong enough." Also, the idea that he was owed her love after maliciously conniving her into marriage and that she was to blame for not ever really loving him is a very toxic message. The whole way her character is framed is INFURIATING !

If you're going to include domestic abuse in your story, at least do some research and understand the psychology behind what happens to the victims. No one "let's someone hurt them." She didn't take part in what her ex-lover did (other than not reporting him. but, again, that makes sense as the victim.) It sucked me right out of the story and left me pissed off that this victim-blaming was included. Just don't.

I didn't even want to finish the last episode.

Just starting this and I'm going to have to pause and see if I can get over this horrible plot point:
what parent would rather have their children believe they abandoned them, than tell them the truth and allow them to process the loss and grief of their death? And what psychologist agrees to be part of a plan that gaslights children and traumatizes them in this way?

I absolutely hate stories which try to make it sound like it was some act of compassion to hide the illness or death of a loved one from children, or partners. Its a terrible, terrible trope and some damned lazy writing.

I have appreciated the acting of both of the leads and will hope that this is not indicative of the nature of what is deemed helpful psychology in this story. But, I have to take a break and will see if I even come back to it.

I mean, she was in love with him, though he never reciprocated and was clear about that. And she was a spoiled brat. Even if she was in love with him, the way she treated people was totally unacceptable, until the last scene with her.

All the actors did a great job. Zhou Jie Qiong was lovely and played off of Jeremy Tsui so well. But, Mu Ting Zhou was the character that had the most going on and was the biggest acting challenge of the story. Jeremy Tsui handled it masterfully. I found myself always wanting to see what subtle or not-so-subtle nuances he was going to bring to the different phases of the character's trajectory.

Ep 28 really felt like a satisfying conclusion. What's left to tell? They rushed the resolution of Ming Wei and Mu TingZhou for what? It would have been nice to see more of him courting her in his non-Grand Tutor style. Where we could see how the Grand Tutor was only possible because of who he is at heart, but that, in his natural state, it would have some different flavor. Like the moment where he's in the wedding costume and he flippantly tosses the ribbon behind him. There is quite a bit of warm humor that could have been derived from that. Overall, though, a well done story.

I'm glad they resolved the parents' old business quickly. That story arc had no humor and felt out of place in a light romcom. Too often romcoms lose the com and that was happening here. They recovered a little bit of it.

Mostly, its been a pleasure to watch Jeremy Tsui go through the nuanced changes of his character: from being a method actor prepping for a role, to being a method actor playing a role, to being a method actor who become the role, to being the method actor who remembers none of it, to being the method actor who remembers and integrates the parts of himself. He did a fantastic job with it.

A special charm of the Thai BL series is the friend groups. Such strong messaging about, as long as your friend isn't harming anyone else, be 100% supportive of their quirkiness and their emotional journey. Over and over I've seen these fabulous friends who are patient and supportive. It's awesome to see and hope that this gets normalized.

In this one, its also nice to see that the "popular" group doesn't look down on the queer kids. The writers walk us into that moment, when the popular kids point at the queer kids while asking the most popular guy on campus if he could ever see himself dating one of them. Classic bullying dynamic would have had him rejecting that idea and the other kids laughing at the notion. Here, he says, "why not? " and they all nod in agreement. So refreshing.

That said, I'm struggling to get through the "humor" of this. Its seems antithetical to me for a pro-LGBTQIA+ media piece to use over-affectation of queer kids as a humor device. Who decided that they should sound like a group of hyper-nervous chattering chimpanzees? There are moments when I sort of see the humor, but mostly, I'm embarrassed that caricatures of queer kids - particularly the boys - is the source of the humor. I wish they could have pulled off the pseudo-stalking obsessive thing and the friend support without going there.

The childish part is what killed it for me. She behaves and dresses herself like a teenager. This makes it extremely inappropriate to see her as his romantic partner. Age isn’t the issue, it’s maturity. She’s so incompetent and naive and he has to practically teach her to brush her teeth. They aren’t peers. He’s raising a child. Which we call “grooming.” I can’t watch that.

Thought I would try this, since a season 2 came out. I guess I figured that this meant that it was a quality drama.

Oof. I figured wrong.

Preposterous story of allergy to women aside (because if a story is well executed, a plot device like that can work, as the audience is happy to willingly suspend disbelief. See: Be My Princess), These are a lot of awful characters.

What mother just assumes that her son killed her husband? And willfully misinterprets everything he does in the worst possible light? Please stop writing these sociopathic parents.

The FL has a strong personality, which is good, But, she’s dumb as a post. What would she have done with her life, if the ML didn’t have an extraordinary reasons that he needed to employ her? She, apparently, couldn’t study without 24/7 hands-on facilitation, had no practical skills for work, had zero sense of judgement about people and was totally clumsy. She’s supposedly an art major, but other than the one class she sits in, we don’t see any passion for making art.

The ML delights in tormenting her, because it’s so easy, since she’s so dumb.

The FL’s best female friend is totally vapid.

The ML’s adopted brother just basks in the warmth of the parents’ attention, while watching those parents torment and abandon their bio son. He never defends the ML, to their parents. He repeatedly claims that the mother is a good person, having witnessed her abusing and abandoning her bio son and saying, “I wish you were not my son and the adopted son was our real son, because you caused your father’s murder.” (Where “cause” means, that they happened to move to the US, because of their son and the murder happened there. So, in classic SE Asian drama style, it’s all the “fault” of the son that some criminal committed a murder.) Ah, yes, but, really, she’s such a good person!

It takes minimal effort to get forgiveness for serious offenses.

A 33% shareholder can somehow control board decisions. The two 32% shareholders don’t constitute a majority vote. (Um, that’s not how that works.)

Ugh. I could go on. Well, with commentary. I can’t go on with the drama. After about 8 or 9 eps, I started skipping a lot. At 20, I’m abandoning it.

I don't know what the director is doing differently with these actors, but the acting is so good here. I feel like I'm seeing all them in their best role, yet. Its great to see Hu Yun Hao playing a normal mature character. Xiao Zhao is so lovely. Jeremy Tsui's comedic style and the subtle differences he manages between the character's true identity as a method actor, the character's way of being when inhabiting an acting role, and the character's presentation when he really believes he is that role, are impeccable. The lead female is a solid person in her own right, working hard and pursuing her best life. She's no fragile wallflower. So refreshing. Her sister is the bestest sister.

I'm thoroughly enjoying the understated humor. Its quietly hilarious. I love that that amnesia trope is being used in a way where all the other characters have very normal reactions, no one is over the top and they aren't all geared up to fake their lives for this patient. They're negotiating with him and accepting his self-definition, while continuing to push him to face reality. It feels pretty much what its like in real life, when a person has memory issues. This is a great example of using an absurd plot device in way that allows the viewer to gladly engage willing suspension of disbelief. The characters all feel like real people facing this totally preposterous situation. Also, while we have the one nasty side character, who doesn't show up much, as of episode 8, all the people are just nice people trying to live their lives. Its such a sweet, very entertaining romp. I hope they keep up this atmosphere for the entire run.