bakedbeanbabygurl

The Earth and her Sun

while I understand that 23.5 was a pivotal GL at the time and people may have given it higher ratings to show support for GL shows, I think enough time has passed that I can be a little more harsh with my review.

but first, let's focus on the things I liked:
- the chemistry between all the ships was top tier. I have a special spot in my heart for Nida and Bambam. their scenes had me kicking my feet and giggling. I also really like how they provided guidance to the students (especially that one scene with Aylin). a lot of school romances have a weird absence of adult figures and having teachers who are 1) supportive and 2) actually doing their job is a breath of fresh air
- I loved the focus on astronomy and all the names being related to space. cheesy lines such as "the Earth revolves around her Sun" were cute
- the scenes were Sun and Ongsa were "texting" but they were in that abstract garden in space???? it felt ethereal and was a unique way of showing them talking
- Ongsa never stops wearing her glasses, even after her "glow up." any show that allows the MC to keep wearing their glasses makes my heart whole
- special shout out to View for nailing her character as Aylin

and here are some of my criticisms:
- although I loved each couple, there were too many. I think the story would have flowed better if you had your two main couples, Ongsa & Sun and Luna & Aylin, followed by one of the following: Nida & Bambam, Tinh & Mawin, or Ton & Charoen (if you count them). I think having three side couples led to their stories/scenes being half-baked. I feel like I didn't get enough screen-time of any of them, which is unfortunate because as I said earlier, the chemistry was cooking
- the anti-climatic revelation of Ongsa being Earth. although I am a conflict avoidant person by nature, I feel Sun forgave Ongsa a little too easily. part of that I think is because the conflict was centered on Ongsa's fear that Sun won't accept her for being a girl, instead of the actual catfishing. personally, would have loved the argument to be "no, I don't mind you're girl, I mind that you're my friend and you deceived me". I also think this lack of fighting caused the show to feel a bit slow and boring at times
- but I guess it doesn't matter that Ongsa faces no repercussions for her actions, because Sun doesn't either. other reviews have pointed this out (and will say it more eloquently than me) but the fact that Sun outs Ongsa (and Aylin) to her parents then is hurt/confused about why Ongsa would lie ???? girl where are your critical thinking skills? It really triggered me that Ongsa is the one who has to apologize when the fault lies with Sun. she takes zero accountability in the situation, which unfortunately leaves a sour ending to an otherwise fluffy story. up until this point, I would have given the show a 7/7.5 rating

to summarize, the show is decent at best but tolerable at worst, so if you have free time and it's on your watch list, give it a go and you might like it.

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that summer we'll always remember

I almost didn't watch this because RIP WinnySatang but I am so glad I did!
this show had a great combination of good actors, a well-paced story, a solid soundtrack, and a sweet ending.

I'll highlight a few positives:
- WinnySatang chemistry delivered as always, as did the chemistry between MondRyu and NeoMint (at this point I'm convinced Neo would have great chemistry with a dead fish. he always delivers)
- casting Namtan as a princess and Gawin as a bodyguard was gold
- we get a wedding and babies (rare for BL to show an adoption)
- it was refreshing to watch a show with essentially no real antagonists yet have it remain interesting for the entire 10 episodes
- I like how they handled the second amnesia with it taking time for Wave/Davin to regain his memories instead of it all flowing back instantly (the cliche route other shows have done). under normal circumstances, I would have called out the double amnesia as a cheap plot point to create some last minute conflict, but it was executed so well that I actually really enjoyed it. plus, it allowed the story to stay away from other overused conflict tropes such as the royal family being homophobic or against Davin and Lava's love because he's a non-royal. (Davin's coming out was the sweetest scene, truly. "I'm a prince searching for my own prince.")

I do, however have a few criticisms:
- although I found the story to be refreshing for having no real villains, I thought it was odd that the assassination attempt on Prince Davin's life played such a minor part of the story when it also was the catalyst for the entire show. He only nearly dies twice (once right at the beginning and once right toward the end) and there aren't many fight scenes despite the royal monarchy being in peril. In fact, we hardly even see the monarchy be in peril. on one hand, I'm glad it didn't follow a typical narrative, but as a result something felt absent from this story. They could have had Wave/Davin leave without telling anyone where he went and a random accident causes him to lose his memory, stranding him on the island. No need for the royal takeover. but I digress.
- the boxing scenes. Felt really random with no payoffs whatsoever. I thought maybe Lava's boxing training was going to come handy when the assassins appeared, but as previously stated, they never had that climatic fight scene. Victor just shows up, shoots Davin/Wave, doesn't shoot Lava who was standing two-feet away (and thus allowing him to save Davin/Wave), and then dips lol. also I found it unrealistic that Lava was able to go from barely being able to box Tum to somehow winning an entire competition. it just felt really random and served no purpose.

all in all, though, it was a fun time and I finished the entire series within two days. if you like fluff (and can withstand the pain of WinnySatang's separation as a duo) give it a watch :)

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was not obsessed with this

compared to the other two HIStory stories (My Hero and Stay Away From Me) this is definitely the better story. The acting and chemistry was good, the plot was decent - although some characters made very questionable choices. My biggest issue was the overall lack of consent between the two leads. Shao Yi Chen was way too forgiving of all of the things Chiang Chin Teng did to him. And the biggest point of contention between them (the reason Shao Yi Chen died and was avoiding Chiang Chin Teng) was resolved through a dream? Didn't make a ton of sense, lol but it was captivating which is more than I can say for the other HIStory stories.

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points for creativity

I'm newish to BL, so if this is an overdone/overused trope... well it's new to me! LOL. the overall concept of a former lover dying and re-inhabiting someone else's body and falling in love with that person again is interesting. there's something to be said about love breaking through across gender. but the execution? Mai Ying Xiong (Aaron Lai) ends up picking the OG guy (or he thinks he does) and Lan Hsi (Patricia Lin) let's him go? So what was the point exactly? Also just doesn't really feel like a true BL because of her character's effort to make Mai Ying Xiong fall in love with her in another body.

That said, it was light-hearted and ends happily (well not for Lan Hsi lol) and overall I feel indifferent towards it. Wouldn't say it's a must watch, but I wouldn't tell you to stay away from it either.

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well, they tried.

My Hero: 5/10
I love Aaron Lai and that's mostly why I stayed, ngl. The plot was a bit odd for a BL with the main lead romancing her former lover and making him fall for his classmate. But ~spoilers, when she decides to let classmate Gu Si Ren re-inhabit his own body... that really confused me? Because that's not who Mai Ying Xiong (Aaron Lai) fell in love with right? Unless I'm missing something lol. I also was less than convinced by the chemistry between the two which didn't help. But it was interesting in it's own right. Lin Da Her stole the show with his grim reaper character.

Stay Away From Me: 4/10
I'm honestly not a huge fan of the step-brothers to lovers trope, so that already has me biased against it. It was decent plot-wise. I similarly thought that the main two characters didn't have great chemistry but it had a satisfactory ending.

Obsessed: 2/10
These two actors had the best chemistry out of all three couples but at what cost? Consent. Consent was the cost. I was not into the ending -- he (Jiang Jing Teng / Bernard He) decided to fake get engaged to protect his lover Shao Yi Chen (Teddy Ren) but not bother telling him about it? Why would you ever think that's a good idea? LOL. But this episode was the most interesting of the series, so do with that information what you will.

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