Beatrice

Architecture nerds love

Rin stretches her pretty privilege and she is ethereally pretty, to the limit being a grade A jerk to everyone and especially to Aokbab who hasn't done anything wrong to merit the hostility from Rin from their first meeting when Rin came upon Aokbab who was at most guilty of talking an bakery employee's ear off about the dangers of the crumbling building. Rin is pure spikes until she spots Aokbab's drawings and realizes that Aokbab is the artist whose pictures made Rin fall in love with the person who drew them without ever having met until now. Aokbab is is not so soft herself and wouldn't have had to deal with Rin except her two older brothers are terrible at running their family business and she has save the business and the customer is a fan of Rin's design. Rin agrees to work with Aokbab, but has demands and conditions, which are actually all pretty sensible. She's entirely right it's a red flag to be "family", which is just code for a company demanding more than what you are contractually agreed to. Rin rightly sets down the rule that she's clocking out on time and will not do work things after work. The one delicious meal a week is a good morale boost. Once Rin starts dating her boss though, of course she does end up being family and doing more than she agreed to contractually.

I like the how Aokbab and Rin's relationship built on them spending time working together and getting to know each other and in particular with Rin helping Aokbab getting over the scars from her previous relationship with Mind. It was already weird that Mind was a university student tutor dating her high school tutee, hopefully their age difference wasn't more than a few years, but she also submitted her high school aged girlfriend's design as her own and didn't even explain to Aokbab, leading to Aokbab getting flagged for plagiarism for her dream university. Mind continues to have to gall to want to keep dating Aokbab 10 years later, saying they never broke up. That is so entitled and delusional. The flashbacks of their relationship shows them as so happy that it makes the betrayal all the more painful. When Mind finally explains herself all these years later, Aokbab tells her that if she had just explained back then, maybe Aokbab would have even agreed to giving the design to Mind, but Mind just fumbled everything, both Aokbab and her belief in her own potential. At least she finally tells the truth when the plagerism issue affects Aokbab's business once again.

The second couple of Tertis and Vee are cute too, it's nice they no longer have to work at competing companies and can work together at Jinta at the end. Aokbab's brother Chan is the only one who seems to meet a love interest outside of work as her other brother Pat seems smitten with a client. I am curious about Chan and his fellow seaside coffee enthusiast love interest Blue, it might be cute. Maybe there will be more of them in the surprise special episode coming out a month after the finale. I was wondering why there is no wedding and of course that will be the topic of the special.

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The haunting of a gentle passionate love

Jom has been haunted his whole life before he even started seeing visions of himself, haunted by the souls and karma that he becomes entangled with from his future past. Unlike the others who move through different lifetimes, Jom seems uniquely caught in the torrent of time within the same life, slipping through, though his gut feeling of familiarity may indicate perhaps a cycle of the same lifetime that's occurred more than once. Perhaps the time slip is triggered by some sort of magic that is tied to his life being endangered and the ancient warrior lifetime version of Yai appears to save him. Answers that won't be answered in this series with the end suggesting another story to fully explore the connection between Jom and warrior Yai and perhaps how even all the 1920s souls around Jom was connected to him from this earlier life time. It's fitting that his first real physical connection is the breath of life that the warrior Yai gives him when pulling him out of the water from 2023 into 1927/1928 into the past where he will meet the 20 year old Khun Yai. While Jom recognizes him as the man in the photos he's seen and the ghostly visions, Yai instantly feels in his heart being pulled towards Jom at first sight.

It's a shame that there's no possibility of Jom having more than one boyfriend because both Yai and James are respectful gentleman green flags from the 1920s that people in the 2020's should emulate. I love how both of them confessed to liking Jom while telling him that there's no pressure or expectations if he doesn't feel the same way. I do like that Jom got to have an intense and real love with Ohm before meeting Yai as well, though it ended poorly. It's interesting that Ohm probably felt indebted in a way to Jom from the past life and the appreciation carried through into a romantic love into the modern life, but Ohm's love and previously interrupted fate with Khaimuk, the reincarnated FongKhaew superseded it. It's still on Ohm for cheating on Jom for maybe the entire two years when he should have broken things off sooner. Both Yai and James even frequent the same secret lgbt friendly club that Yai takes Jom to. James is able to navigate the various social group including with the abusive Robert, which is how he's able to help Jom's group gain the information needed to put Robert and the devious Uncle Dech away.

Though Yai had grown up rich, he has zero haughty airs and is grounded and kind, especially towards his boyfriend. It's helpful that he has his own quote unquote little house that's still a mansion compared to the residences of mere mortals that's far off away from the others where he can live out his romantic life. The depiction of Jom and Yai's intimate moments is truly refreshingly sophisticated in how they express desire and sensuality. A lot if not most queer romance stories conflate maturity with being explicit, which turns into soulless , repetitive actions rather than conveying the feelings of the characters and the progression of their relationship. The olive oil skin care scenes of Jom applying it on Yai's back in tandem with the scene of Jom applying it on himself while thinking back to what happened with Jom technically has nothing explicit happening, but the yearning for each other is powerfully apparent.

Yai is always gently affectionate and respectful with Jom in both actions and words in their everyday life. Always taking care to check that Jom actually wants to do something. The actor for Yai portrayed the depths of love for Jom really well. There is one particular scene where Jom is delivering a heartbreaking monologue of acceptance that though they love each other, Yai has to go through the accepted heteronormative actions of getting engaged to a woman of his parent's choosing and Yai gingerly touches Jom's lips in a way that says how could such sad words be spoken through the lips of the man who is his heart. The actor for Jom is also good at maintaining that line between sweet and cutesy but not childish and also having intelligence.

I wish the show just verbalized if they weren't going to show what in the world Ming saw in their boat that made them flip over, it's so randomly lazy moment in an otherwise story that was made with care, when the character could just exclaim, "a spider!" or anything to facilitate Jom an Khun Yai physically connecting in the water when Yai dives to retrieve him. Ming is the MVP the reason Jom was able to survive long enough to meet Yai, saving this random man from the water and giving him a place to stay and a job intro until Jom is promoted to majerdomo and eventually boyfriend to Yai. Ming is a true friend to gays, going out of his way to help Muey even after finding out she doesn't feel the same way about her and when she was outed. He understands the pain of love is universal after seeing Muey and Jom, two people he cares about a lot suffer.

There's so much trouble that Jom could have avoided if he would just stop hanging out on the pier at night, where so much drama happens. Jom keeps seeing what he shouldn't see and he keeps doing the same thing. It's still understandable that he feels he should go there in case he can gain some understanding in how he time travelled through the water and how he can return. The actors for James and Robert can speak English, but I feel so bad for them for having to deliver what sounds so much like poorly machine translated Thai to English lines. It's a shame that no one advocated on their behalf to edit the lines to make them sound more sensible for speaking. I'm impressed that there didn't seem to be any apparent product placement in the show. You may think a period drama would preclude that, but some may try.

Euengphueng goes from being Jom's sister in law to become his beloved younger sister Jeed. Euengpheung and Fongkaew experienced marital rape and Engpheung also the additional trauma of finding out she was pregnant as a result. I'm glad the show went through with Euengpheung being able to make the decision to abort, even telling her girlfriend Muey she is telling her of her decision because she loves her and is not asking for permission. It's so good to see a woman character get agency in getting an abortion and get to stick with the decision. It's so sadly rare in media depictions. Euengpheung leaves the house with Muey, Fongkaew leaves with her mother without Khamsaen, and Yai goes off to law school in France in that lifetime, but they all return to Jom's life in their next one. A man in modern clothes looking exactly like Yai with his memories appear to to reunite with and hug Jom, but there's no peace for poor Jom, because seemingly no sooner after this moment, Jom in the same clothes awakens to an even more far off past of Thailand to the time of Warrior Yai. It seems like there is a hope and intention to continue the story to explore that part of the romance between their souls and perhaps how Jom got wrapped up in the time travel in the first place, but it's been two years since the show aired as of this review writing. I hope the same leads and production team will get to finish out the story sooner rather than later.

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Suffocatingly Unfunny

The film truly had nothing to say, but attempting to mine gross out humor from the incest concept. I felt horrible for Rin from the beginning to the end having to put up with a creepily invasive and controlling male family member her whole life because he and his father are the only family she has left in the world. Due is awful and selfish and his disgusting behavior towards her is of course enabled by his friend and even his boss. The writing is self aware enough with Due's rash out of nowhere reveal to her that they aren't family, his mind only about being able to date her, while to her she just found out she never had a nephew and brother in law in the first place. Regardless of the truth of them not being blood related, they were still raised as family and she only ever saw them as such. There was never once at any point of the film that establishes that Rin felt anything other than familial towards Due. The ending is even left open ended because they know it's weird that she would ever date him and he just acts the same instead of making it clear he will treat her as just family from now on. There is no point that the film makes either way. The side character of the guy that's obsessed with her is also extremely unfunny. His aggressively unwanted, intrusive advances are really no different than Due aside from the fact that she can't get away from Due because he's family. It's sad that she never even got to try dating the cute college guy that liked her and she also liked back. I'm glad she went off to England to study though, at least she did something for herself though she did miss the family that she grew up with.

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Silly Divas

The cinematography makes the show looks like a indie film, the best cinematographer at GMMTV does it again. Fluke is a total revelation as Nevia, the gorgeous, confident queen. Lego is such a pretty princess as Ingky. I wonder if they made the Air Dolls high schoolers instead of university students despite everything that they do would fit being a university student is purely so they can show how they modify their high school uniforms when in college they can straight up just wear the women's uniform. Also less legal ramifications for stealing the crown and messing with the pageant maybe, that wasn't really addressed. The whole show is very silly and camp, you get exactly what you expect.

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Wednesday's Child is full of Woe

The Wednesday club being named for a group of college freshman all being middle children who in looking for connection also find their various family issues converge. They make mistakes and are taken advantaged of because of their youth, desperation, and ambitions. It's realistic that only some in the club become real friends and the others remain acquaintances that go through some trauma together all the same and in the end they go their separate ways.

The series missed the opportunity to really dial in on the friendship connections. May and Tam seemed like it was developing, but then they don't really interact anymore, being sectioned off to their own storylines. Either someone on the directing or writing team seems to have a thing for urine, featuring it not once, but three times. The lack of emotional connection between any of the club members leaves the ending feeling a tad empty.

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School 2024: Thailand

The intensity of childhood friendships is no less dramatic, complicated, painful, or joyful than romance. Shin and Saint's friendship is the most intense of them all, though it's nice to see the various other ones between the other groups of characters that all coalesce into a heartwarming of peace and friendship between the whole class. Their angst was well acted by the characters, though the reveal of what happened between them took way too long. They should have revealed it to the audience at least in the second episode because it just felt like it dragged the story down. It wouldn't have made the impact of Saint confessing he beat Shin to the point of him breaking his leg and losing his ability to play soccer to the whole class any less or lessen the pain of Shin's being so heartbroken by Saint's not understanding the thing he truly couldn't forgive Saint is for leaving him when things are hard instead of facing it with him. This series is based on kdrama School 2013 where the friendship of the male leads were also the heart of the story. I would say though that High School Frenemy leaves things a bit more open as to the possibilities of what these two friends could become in the future. Aside from their family, and other friends, they love each other the most in the world. They keeping making promises and oaths to each, and tell each other they love each other. The last time they do in the show in the rain and sharing an umbrella, hints to the possibility in the future of more. It's nice they don't have to deal with that on top of the other wild things they've been dealing with and just enjoy their friendship for now. It would be interesting to see how they would deal with trying dating other people once they are in college or something.

Though they have 16 episodes, which is longer than a lot of other Thai series, they didn't get enough time to address a bit more of the home life. Saint's dad is definitely an alcoholic, he's almost always drunk, but he's never abusive to Saint, though him owning money causes Saint to take beatings on behalf of his dad. It's implied that at the very least he settled things with the loans sharks when Saint met up with him outside the police station. It's weird that his alcoholism is never called out though. They saved that for Ken's dad instead. We don't get to see Peeta and her mom come to an understanding, just an off screen acknowledgement that Peeta finally doesn't have to go represent the Thai academic team any more once Peeta is sent to the hospital. Eve and Airy is another friendship that hints at possible romance. They are newer friends and it's pretty blatant from Airy's questions and approach to Eve that she does have a crush on Eve. The teachers also on their journey to learning how to understand and help their students along the way was nice too. It was pretty crazy that neither Mr. Sung or Ms. Jan stepped in after Saint pushed Shin into the mountain of desks that fell on him and he was actually knocked out for a minute and Shin called Mr. Sung for help. Saint wasn't faking it, he was really out, which should be concerning because it's different than all the other times he takes hits and are fine. All lot of the beatings look very realistically brutal, but it kinda breaks the realism that most of the time no one ends up in the hospital after them, like when Saint got kidnapped, beaten, and left outside where Shin finds him.

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Psychological Escape Room Jumanji

It's nice to see teen drama tackle other dramatic instances that can occur other than anything that sexualizes them. Topics such as being a scumbag politician and reckoning with the existential horror of time passing by without you.

A lot of the games are battles of wits and wills between the clever and the devious. At least even the bully kids have some kind of conscience to save Mark and they weren't wrong to expose Mamay for her fraudulent election. She had to make a choice and chose to become the person she was pretending to be. Aom's story is the most tragic, having sacrificed herself to save her friends, she missed out on 30 years of time with her parents, one of whom passed away before she's able to return. The dice was found where Pan left her notes after a decade of searching, so the dice only chose to appear when it wanted to. It also seems to want to collect souls. Sumat is very smart, but in the moment he didn't think to be specific in his wish for the souls to return and poor Aom is trapped again. It's kind of funny that Mark is dating Pie, but he clearly is crushing a bit on Aom too, who turns out to be basically his auntie with her being his mom's childhood bestie. There are plot threads that remain dangling like Don's huge monetary debt and of course Aom's trapped soul by the end with conclusion left open to continuation, but if it never gets another season then it's pretty dark.

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Short of a full or good story

Yot is crass, drinks a lot, and has a high sex drive, but he's otherwise a regular guy who does honest work as a mechanic despite sleeping in and what not. It's kind of understandable for him not to take his mom's chastisements seriously when she's the one with a comparatively more destructive vice of gambling that he implies has left him feeling neglected and that puts their family's livelihood at risk when loan sharks come knocking. She wants Yot to be ordained so she can have something to boast about him to others about and so she can have a good after life. The argument scene between mother and son was acted well. Her seemingly normal request within their culture, but perhaps she's also not feeling so great about life, but her son doesn't pick up on that, but he definitely doesn't or at least doesn't want to really think about what those closest to him need for happiness. He refuses to acknowledge all the signs that M is probably gay and has been in love with him for a long time. M got too drunk and decided to do a very gross thing to molest an unconscious Yot. That's truly terrible no matter the reasoning and Yot was correct and didn't do anything wrong or overboard in his reaction. It's just tragic that M drank and drove into a lethal accident. The horror scenes of M's haunting were surprisingly well done with good direction, editing, and make up work. I do like his one request was just for Yot to honor his promise to ordain upon his death. Despite what M did, Yot clearly did value the friendship at the very least and it's a fair thing for him to do in honor of it as well as something to inspire his mom as well. The show should have shown her quitting gambling or something. It's never resolved if she paid or her debts. Also, it's weird that M's soul seemed to be purified from being an angry ghost, but now he's still somehow eating ghost yogurt and still haunting Yot forever, but in a more childish way. That feels like a homophobic ending to portray him as not being able to move on and chooses to predate on a guy eternally.

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Fluffy finale epilogue

If you weren't sure what the writers intended the main show to be about, the film class pitch that Muenfah's group gives to their teacher is basically the summation. Joy and Type gets to re-join the action after not being around towards the end of the main series. Their penchant for not being able to keep a secret becomes a plot beat in the first ep. It's wild that it's been almost two years and Lee and Ghlai didn't even officially go out yet, but Lee had been acting like the utmost devoted boyfriend the whole time. It was nice to see that Teerak had some friends from his freshman year that he ran into and got some hot pot with along with Muenfah. Of course one of them confesses to Teerak that he had a crush on him, but is chill and is a good sport about Muenfah blocking his every move towards Teerak, complimenting their relationship. Teerak was so popular in his freshman year, captivating so many people.

Muenfah's dad keeps calling him away to Hong Kong to help him with the business. It was never mentioned, but assuming that he's also still co-managing the drinks and eatery place with Real, it's a miracle they are graduating. Joy and Type learned to keep a secret and joined in on throwing Teerak an engagement party in the end. Muenfah really brough the the most giant ring box. It's funny that Babe reminds them not to get married too early though. She doesn't say it, but big sister is basically hinting that she isn't even getting married yet, so definitely not younger bro. Teerak is very, extremely happy about his sex life to the point he was basically boasting about it by even mentioning it to a grossed out Type and Joy, while ironically his brother in law bestie Lee doesn't. The scene where he presents himself with a ribbon around his neck to Muenfah was giving me flashbacks to another series from the company that was too cringey, but it was handled okay here.

Real and Hia give zero romantic chemistry. It's somehow less than the scenes with Ghlai who is still feels like he popped up from out of nowhere, like from Lee's wish one day to have a boyfriend. His feelings for Ghlai is an impetus to give a scene between Muenfah and Lee where Lee asks him why Teerak and they connect over each finding someone that that affects their lives so tremendously. It looks like IQIYI sponsored the three episode epilogue, but not so much that they could keep the original camera and cinematography of the main series. It takes a moment to adjust to if you are watching them directly back to back, but it's okay. There's some behind the scenes clips after the episodes and it shows Teerak's actor coming from and talking about his actual school life. He's filming and handling mid-terms at the same time. I'm always impressed by the young actors that are still attending university at the same time as filming their acting roles.

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Slivers of important messaging within the fluffy clouds

I can see how Teerak falls into the cutesy boy bimbo archetype, but his characterization actually makes sense within the context of the story as the youngest of the three generation household with lots of love and affection that shelters him from hard decisions which is why he will say yes to others at his own expense and also keeps him a bit infantilized with his sister Babe who seems to be just a year or so older than him acting as his fourth parental figure. She does eventually learn to loosen up a big later on, but it would have been nice to have a moment where she finds that she can rely on her brother as well. It's fun seeing him share one brain cell with his three best friends at school and it's a bummer that this dynamic also disappears at the end when both Teerak and Lee who is also Muenfah's younger brother finds boyfriends. Type and Joy are left out of the story, I'm glad they're not also paired off though, it's always great to see male and female characters be platonic close friends and the friendship bond between the four was really nice to watch.

Teerak is naive to the point that he mistakes his heart pounding from being flustered around Muenfah as being ill, but being with Muenfah does make him learn to speak for himself. First with his ex-girlfriend who he agreed to date even though he had no feelings for. It ended with her being hurt anyways and ended the relationship when he obviously doesn't care for her in that way. They both talk it out and she's proud of him and tips him off that Oh was the one who sent her his way to talk to him in order to sabotage his relationship with Muenfah. Next is with Oh who got a whooping after he tried to sabotage Muenfah's food and drink establishment. It was really bad directing to only humanize Oh at the very end of the weird stalking and harassment storyline that was the impetus of the fake dating between Teerak and Muenfah and to show Muenfah has a temper despite being chill all the other times. The show should have shown the scene of Teerak saving Oh from walking into traffic earlier to really show that he did sincerely like Teerak and his tense relationship with his mom instead of him just being soap opera villain until he's suddenly not at the end. It doesn't take away from showing later that Muenfah also first noticed Teerak during Teerak's freshman orientation. It would have been a good connector.

Third is probably the biggest confrontation of Teerak's life, which is to confront his own father's disapproval of his gay relationship. This storyline is one that was probably handled the best out of all the ones in the show. Even otherwise very kind people can have entrenched biased outdated ideas that they can't let go of. Both Teerak's parents expected their son to eventually have a girlfriend and were both shocked to differing degrees to find out that he's dating a man. His mom has tears in her eyes, from guilt that her son was worried about her reaction and disappointment that he is taking a different path from the conventional one of heterosexuality, but ultimate chooses to support her son in finding his own happiness. His dad completely shuts down despite acknowledging that society is more accepting now, but wants his son to have that conventional straight path instead. It's beautiful seeing his much more open minded father and his understanding wife's conversations finally getting through to him that at the core what he wants his Teerak to find happiness. He's a grown up and he has to find his own way and they can be there for him if it doesn't work out. It's so sweet that he dresses up all nice and apologizes to Teerak who he drops off at college, telling him that that he accepts him for who he is. All these conversations is such important modeling for those that have so much cultural homophobia to unlearn and also hopefully catharsis for those who can find comfort from seeing a positive journey of loved ones finding their way to love, understanding, and support.

Fourth is Teerak experiencing and expressing his physical desire for Muenfah. I understand why there would be complaints about the NC scenes, but the portrayal of sex in this show are actually pretty restrained and actually are more focused on emotion and where on the character journey the characters are, which is surprising after the unwatchable unending cringe fest certain dramas from the same production company. Teerak finally being in a relationship is a new stage of adulthood unlocked for him, his family letting loose on their over protection over him and he finds new sides of himself with his partner and sex is definitely part of that journey for him. He finds his confidence in every experience with Muenfah and by the end of the show is almost doing dirty talk. Good for him.

Muenfah is a good introvert representation. He seems cool and assumed to be mean by others, but once you get to know him, he's dorky and warm. His family is quite rich, but he's down to earth and very independent, being able to cook for himself and others despite having a housekeeper compared to middle class and sheltered Teerak who holds a knife like he's about to murder the cabbage when not about to blindly pour sugar instead of salt into the spaghetti pot to Muenfah's horror. It's still pretty ridiculous that he's a full on co-business owner with his classmate and bestie Real while also being a full time university student and also playing sports and later dating as well. That's two full time jobs along with two full time extracurriculars. Doing all that and having time to sleep is so unrealistic. He and Lee have very loving and even more open minded parents who do the opposite of sheltering, giving their eldest child a wild amount of extra responsibility with not only running his own business while still a student, but also to take over his dad's overseas business meetings when he's injured. The rare moments when Muenfah is feeling sad and lost like when Teerak suddenly acts distant and sitting away from him after their kiss the night before and sobbing when he's rejected by Teerak's father, he looks every bit the young university kid he still is. He doesn't like sweets, but he'll eat it for Teerak who keeps making him eat it too. Teerak should have at least found what he actually likes to eat. He has the good sense to know that playing sports triggers his explosive aggression and quit playing competitively though it seems like he still plays for fun. All that anger seems to be an implication maybe all the responsibility he has gives him more stress than he himself realizes, but it's an untapped and unacknowledged idea.

The side romances were variable in quality to say the least. Babe and her boyfriend Dom were cute for the most part, part of the Teerak's supportive circle and classmates to Muenfah, but the incident of him buying a puppy for her birthday present was really gross. She was right to be mad that he didn't discuss it with her first because taking care of an animal is a big responsibility. The twist that makes it supposedly okay is that he asked her father for permission first. That feels even worse and icky that the men folk made the decisions for her. Then it's all okay. Lee's love interest Ghlai started appearing with Teerak friend group out of nowhere, first playing a board game and then just appearing around until finally Lee full on hit on Ghlai who was reading in a cute gazebo like cafe area. It was sweet of Glai to also comfort Teerak who happened to walk by his and Lee's meeting spot on campus all despondent because of his sadness from his father not accepting his sexuality, but he never interacted enough with the group to get past the feeling of being a random stranger to the story. There needed to be just one moment to introduce him properly as someone who caught Lee's eye. The friend to romance storyline of Real and Hia had promise all the way up to the wild moment of Real testing Hia by having Hia help apply sunscreen on him all the way up to putting some on his chest where his heart was beating hard and he also puts sunscreen over Hia's heart as well. That was an amazing way to confess to each other wordlessly, but then everything after that was just unorganized and dragged out. Hia was always the one super attached to Real, but he suddenly doesn't know how he feels. It was never established that he wasn't aware of what he was doing. The actors needed so much more direction that was given to them, but the director also didn't get more of a direction from the writing. It's just a whole mess that was just tiresome and there was no sense of romance by the time they finally just got together.

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Pleasantly grounded idol romance

Immediately the photography of the show really stood out, it's very cinematic and would look good even theaters. The space and breadth within the shots is so nice, it honestly doesn't look like a gmmtv show if I didn't know what channel it's on. The cinematographer also previously worked on F4:Thailand which was also very good. The color grading is on the digital muddy side a bit, but it's not too distracting, because the beautiful photography and lighting makes up for it. The direction, pacing, writing, and acting are generally solid as well. One of the things the show does really well is showing a scene or situation in a certain way and showing a different point of view of what happened later. I also love how they let the romantic moments play out organically, letting the acting and the story carry it in the moment. That's how you respect the audience's intelligence. It's really nice that lead characters actually have a relationship, learning about each other, growing as individuals, learning how to have a relationship.

The story has as grounded of characters as a a romance fantasy can have, but there's still plenty of humorous moments that are drawn organically from the interactions and story, which is how it should be. I really do like Po's journey that he learns that he has no dream and that's okay. That sounds funny, but it's true not everyone needs to have some sort of epic goal, just wanting to live a life with the people you care about is good. His conversation with his tailor shop boss who doesn't have a dream, tailoring is just his job and it's totally fine is so nice to see in a drama. Po's lost puppy face really does give him some cute boy privilege with many people kind of babying him. The job interview panel in the opening gave him good constructive feedback while rejecting him at the same time for his unprofessionalism and bluntness about prioritizing his personal life over film directing work. It's also cute that Po is basically an implied fanboy of Bright Vachirawit who was in F4:Thailand and formerly the Riser labelmate of the real life boyband that is playing the fictional boyband Mars in this drama. Po says he likes the song Good Time and Thame sweetly sings it for him. It's the the ost from Bright's storyline in the anthology drama Good Old Days and he wants to watch Bright's film Love You To Debt which becomes a major part and continuing reference of Po's romantic storyline. I highly recommend the film, it's very bittersweet with romance and a brutal look at cycle of poverty. Po is also privileged in the way that he has a great support system with his mom sending him some spending money, his best friend looking out for job opportunities for him, and his tailor shop boss continuing to give him a flexible part time job along with fantastic advice and time for him to spend with Thame at the shop.

Thame getting furious when he spots Po at the company thinking he's a sasaeng that snuck in is understandable because he is fiercely protective of his bandmates as someone who selflessly looks out for others, especially with the responsibility of band leader. The sasaeng issue is bad in all countries and it's also a real problem with these stalker fans getting jobs at the companies. It was funny that Po didn't think he would have stood out enough for Thame to recognize him just one time, but he was being too cute for Thame not to notice with him thoughtfully picking up a little kid so she could see the band walking out better. Thame trying to get Po to quit opens the door for Po to just to be totally frank and trauma dump his point of view of seeing Thame being just like his ex Earn, being selfish and leaving the band after using them. Thame also starts to open up that he's actually also in a lot of pain which opens Po's eyes that Thame is actually different than what he thought and wants to understand him more, which he asks directly. To anyone it would sound like a romantic request, but Thame hilariously takes things with Po at face value throughout the drama, but thank goodness his observant bandmates help steer him back in the right direction and he immediately take action to rectify the situation. The same with Po getting Thame to realize how he needs to reconnect with his bandmates. Respect to Thame for also knowingly going up on stage for the freestyle rap battle for Dylan who was mad at him and wanted to set him up for humiliation. Thame actually did very well for even getting as far as he did in the rap battle. Freestyle rap is a totally different skill from written, a lot of rappers do not and cannot do freestyle.

Po and Thame staying up all night talking to each other, Thame even staying on the line until Po woke up and sings to him is so cute. The scene captures new love so well. It's funny how Thame is one step behind his feelings, his actions are already all in, he just doesn't understand the context to what he's even doing, but it's great that he has people around him to clue him into himself and he immediately owns up to it and takes action. Pepper pointing out to Thame that this is romantic to Thame and Thame going to Po right away to find out via the proximity and the touch test of his feelings is funny and sweet. The whole band pointing out the Thame that he totally missed out on the atmosphere of physical intimacy time when he and Po went back to the apartment and he also corrects that as soon as possible too is also funny and spicy. I really like how he encourages Po to just walk on his own pace and let Thame adjust to him rather than the other way around. An issue that in asian dramas in general, is that the writing uses shows really toxic behavior with the use of jealousy for humor, but I think this drama struck the right tone without it going overboard. It's pretty funny how Thame really just stood there and watched Po pack up all of Earn's clothes. Thame also read my mind and sharpied over the Earn cup, which I had been thinking Po could have done in the first ep when the cups first appeared. I appreciate that the kiss scenes, which are extremely hit and miss in the asian drama world in general regardless of the sexualities of the characters, look normal. It's a surprisingly hard bar to clear for some actors and directors before they can even begin to convey the feelings of the characters in the scene. I love that Po and Thame act like that adults that they are without being juvenile about wanting physical connection nor the scenes being over done.

Pepper rejoined Thame really quickly, so his storyline is revealed later to be that he has also been dating. His girlfriend Gam is a very pretty staff Oner staff member that Jun also flirted with. Jun keeps accidentally flirting with his bandmate's significant others. The actor who plays Jun looks like a twin of Bilkin, they can totally play brothers. Jun is a fun chaos demon of a character. He's the sharp on the uptick, seeing through Thame's self sacrifice with th eslave contract to pay off the group's debts, and wanting Thame to succeed rather than be held back by the group. Jun may be a flirt master 3000, but he's got the romance too, it's sweet how he does Po's subtitling edit work so Po can focus on their music video work, bringing him to a cool speak easy style spot to work, and serenading him. It's so nice how he immediately backs off once Thame confirms that he really does like Po because he knows that Po already likes Thame. No petty drama, he just goes back to being a great friend to them both. The show via Nano flirts with pairing Jun and the prickly Dylan, but it doesn't happen. They don't have the vibe for it, so it's fine. Their Oner boss is the main antagonist, but since this show is a vehicle for promoting gmmtv's own boyband, it's really funny that it may the reason that they actually make her be a more three dimensional person that a straight up villain. She has a vision to expand T-Pop and she pulls her punches at the end when she allows them to keep their band name.

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Cutie boos

The actors really lucked out twice in a row between this and their next projects that have a generally good writing that focuses on the characters. The leads are both charming, but the acting, particular for Kang's actor I hope will be much improved by their upcoming third project. Moo feels like a comic side relief character that got his lead role spin off, which isn't a bad thing, just an interesting vibe. The actual secondary characters Potae and Yos had a good friends to angst to romance arc and just the right amount of screen time for their story and being friends with Moo.

I don't love the no means yes thing dialogue that came out of the mouth of a woman character no less when Neth tells Moo to keep going after Kang. The two years age difference with Moo still in the last semester of high school is also really skirting the uncomfortable age lines, but the bar is in hell with these high school dramas, at least they are both in college soon. Kang's trauma regarding the tablet and his father was sad, I'm glad he was able to heal from it and re-enroll in university to major in art.

Moo's arc to learn independence is pretty messy, it started strong with him living on his own and wanting to help Kang out at work, but then he gets his way to date Kang, gets his way to go to the boyband audition, and tries to get his way secretly dating despite the contract stipulations, which of course does not work with Moo having zero chill in public even without another trainee intentionally out to get him. The show generally has the characters communicating with each other pretty well, but it gets stuck around the contract plot line that drags the pacing of the last couple eps down.

Everyone but Moo understands the stakes except for Moo. He doesn't really even deal with choosing either his job or having a relationship until it's time to renegotiate the contract when he already has built up enough popularity to renegotiate. He just keeps bothering and guilting Kang without settling the issue that kept them apart by Moo's own choosing for over a year. He wanted his cake and to have it too without a plan. In the end it worked out for him, but it's rather just the timing than his master plan.

The screen kisses is definitely another thing along with facial expressions that the actors need to work on to look more organic. There was one scene at the apartment Moo was staying at before the boyband auditions that they actually pulled off a good kiss scene that even ended up shockingly steamy. And then they completely lost the skill, which I will also blame the director. It doesn't need to always be steamy to be good, I'll take the scene not looking awkward. I think it would be good for them and other contractually obligated to only ever play same sex romance roles forever together actors to actually switch up getting romance pairings with other actors so they can learn from experiences acting with other acting styles and discover different types of chemistry, but alas it's really rare if not never.

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Math Camp L0v3

I'm so glad that the math camp story has it's own page, because the quality is night and day compared to the other story of the anthology that has so far aired. Though the acting of the leads is still greenish, they have lots of room to grow, the writing, direction, and overall production is sharp, producing a very competant, sweet story of friendship and self discovery on the cusp of adulthood in 4 episodes. The humor isn't too exaggerated and overall it's so much better than other full series that just drag on and on.

The math camp itself is already full of kids that are probably on some level of neurodivergent, but Mawin is the most neurodivergent of them all. It's social awkwardness despite wanting to connect with people is so relatable while his genius ability to process math as fast or faster than a computer isn't He's also a really keen observer and solid advice giver. It was unfair of anybody except for Err who he got emotionally and physically involved with to be mad at Mawin because they're they ones who sought out a rando stranger to ask solutions from, it's not Mawin's fault it's him. He didn't even charge any money.

Err is also gifted and is studious towards math, but he's full of self doubt and his loving funny bestie Benz interprets the fortune in the most extreme way and Err just roles with it. I love that Mawin's letter confirms that the fortune just meant for Err to make some friends and not to make him fall in love. It's so such a lovely twist for Mawin that Benz somehow interprets the most general advice into sending Err his way. Err is good at socializing and speaks up for his friends. I love that his friend Mhee from middle school and also at the math camp is also the same way and also gets the math kids to realize what they did wrong against Mawin.

It's lovely the kids reveal they aren't bad people, but it's only because there are other kids brave enough to call them out and correct their their behavior that they made out of fear. This is such a healthy lesson for people of all ages to learn, but especially young adults who are still learning to navigate the world. The way each one of them apologizes to Mawin who has to deliver their laundry as punishment for skipping out on class is heartwarming. Mawin skipping out on the the final exam was handled well. Err misunderstands it concurrently with finding out he was the fortune teller and tragically they don't spend the remaining senior year together while Mawin returns to ostracization. All because Mawin's letter was in the book the ramen coaster course book that Err didn't need to use anymore.

The dramatic irony of Mawin realizing that most everyone just had communication issues and that's what was keeping him and Err apart. I really do like that Mawin gets to have likes and wants and his own set of friends. He didn't want to go overseas, but he wants to learn English to make international calls to Boston, Massachusetts where his boyfriend will be. Good for him for completing his wish of not only making friends, but the bonus gift of getting a boyfriend too. The kissing is the classic awkward stilted jpeg, but the characters are babies and the actors are very young so at least they have reasons. I do appreciate framing them in wide shots.

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Slightly sapphic thriller

The show is a full steam on brutal school bullying, drugs, academic pressure, and murder mystery, packing a lot of story into every half hour or less episode. There is a dream kiss scene. They also hug and hold hands. They don't do that with anyone else. That's about as much for the hetero romances too. That's certainly more than mainstream dramas with a lesbian character *cough GenieMakeAWish cough*. I hope this is a step closer to quality dramas of this caliber with full sapphic romance within it's storytelling too. For a darker show about high school girls, it's really refreshing there is not a single hetero romance. There are also the topics of self pleasure and abuse of teenagers without being exploitative.

Seulgi and Je I are such a fascinating pairing to watch. Seulgi is suspicious, but is warmed by the attention that Je I gives her. Je I is ever ambiguous in intentions, always keeping Seulgi on her toes at the same time as drawing her in. It's usaully Je I surprising Seulgi, but I enjoy the moments where Seulgi is the one being surprising like leaving print outs of her own essay that other people wanted to steal in every one's desk. All the girls are morally grey and look out for their self interests. Choi Gyung also takes so pill helpers to study, her drug of choice to destress for a test is jerking off in public places. She's her mom's visual mini-me and out of everyone has the healthiest home life comparatively. She really learned she needs no man, just career and alone time. Ye Ri has a savvy business sense, but she's not in the situation to put it to the best use.

A couple things that's of character silly though is the girls going through the night club touching their ear like they are playing pretend spies and the psychopath Dr. Yoo's scheme to remove the CSAT pill from the stomach instead of just giving the guy a laxative to remove the pill from the stool. The teacher did abuse his daughter, but not the most efficient way for the scheme if revenge wasn't the point. It's interesting that Dr. Yoo realizes that his eldest daughter Je Na has psychopath or sociopath tendencies like him, but he still favors his second daughter as his project for perfection. He doesn't give the same attention to his Je Na, but still expects the same, maybe as a pacemaker like how he refers to Seulgi.

Je I does also possibly have sociopathy, though she's the only one that hasn't murdered anyone. Her upbringing could have also made her express emotions and love in the way that she does. Her most unhinged moment was when she filmed the threat video to make that girl move schools. She's utterly has no shame or fear when it comes to moments that would be embarrassing or scary to others. She does absolutely care about her sister, her dog, and Seulgi. She thinks about their deaths and she tries to save them. She wins the game against her father, but the system is ultimately unfair, despite the huge scandal csat scandals, kidnapping and faking the death of his daughter, falsifying the identity of the dead orphan, there is nothing to tie the murder to him, so he only has four months of prison and his free to harass and stalk Seulgi and her step mom.

It's lovely that Seulgi did form a little family unit with her step having already lost both her parents and the step mom never getting to have a child with her late husband. She also gets a cryptic photo from Je I of a scene by the sea side where Je I is land surfing. May the sapphics get their sea side happily ever after.

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