uchiha

a genuine deep disappointment.

when i say i have been feral to watch this show. i mean i have been figuratively foaming at the mouth, shaking in my boots, fiending to watch this goddamn show for weeks because of the intimate scenes. i must have rewatched the first intimate scene in chaeha's bedroom and the kiss at his office desk around thirty times. i deliberately enabled my self-control and did not watch them both more because i did not want to ruin them for when i actually watched the series.

i just finished it and i am saddened to say that you can legitimately see how rushed this series was. i have never even consumed the original piece of work and it is still evident that they RAN to climax this show. the leads were excellent but the pacing was not good. also, i have noticed that BL have a problem with timelines. they need to be explicit with timeskips and time periods as they are not obvious at all. from the discovery of the russian dealer to the second to last episode, three months had past. who would know that? it is relevant because the leads would then be presumed to either have not engaged intimately at all or were building rapport the audience did not get to witness. the former then makes things like saying, "i love you", at the end make more sense.

the story was also kind of convoluted but more importantly, things did not conclude seamlessly. who actually was the son of the director + the chief prosecutor? it wasn't the scapegoat at the end. so.. what? we just never see the casino director again and the made-to-be suspected son gyuho just goes about his business. again, what? how about absolving chaeha's father? did that go into the toilet? there were also some strange goofs that i noticed as well like at the vending machine and when chaeha was assaulted.

after typing all this, i would honestly rate this piece of work lower but i like the leads a lot and think they did well with the material.

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a solid series until the last two episodes.

this is another series that i have been screaming, crying, itching, & throwing up to watch, figuratively. i made the unwise decision of watching the first five episodes after they released then i made the grueling decision to wait to binge the final five. it was agonizing, to say the least. i would say this show went from pretty good to fairly decent. i think i was a tad generous with the rating because i liked the series but objectively the rating is probably lower.

the first eight episodes were ironclad. episode eight being the breakout because of the fluidity and numerous intimate scenes. toptap & minlee delivered in episode eight. the bus scene was hilarious and gut-warming. the reluctance of sun, his worry for jay, and then his eventual submission were displayed well. also, i resonated with the audition scenes regarding suicide and both jay's / sun's reaction + interpretation of what that meant. sun was clearly not a bad person but a good one who made horrible decisions in order to care for his family. i think it was interesting how sun was so traumatized by the result of his actions that he was okay with being used and abused, as long as others were not. i am glad he chose to live his life, in the end.

unfortunately, episode nine and ten were rushed. i have never read the source material but it was still evident. the pacing was just way off and things were not concluded properly. to give some examples, who actually murdered pawinee [songphon partially admitted to it but we never saw the murder or how it transpired]. why was bank suddenly out of his career with no repercussions or explanations? how did the corruption even unfold? why did wave randomly appear again but in death due to an overdose? who is responsible for the killing of the gray haired former executive in the car [MDL, please credit all talent in a work] out of nowhere? i could ask more questions, which is not good.

when adapting from manwha, these thai creatives need to take into consideration how to properly consolidate, if need be. they also need to ensure they have appropriate air time for adapting. this rushing throughout or at the ending is a terrible habit that basically ruins the overall score and effect of the story they are attempting to showcase to the audience. i also noticed that whoever was responsible for translating payback into english did an awful job which is unacceptable for paid users. more importantly, the themes of sexual assault in this are grossly unacceptable but most would not comment on that considering the leads are attractive.

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head-shaking, flabbergasting nonsense.

where do i even start with this? i knew i was going to draft a review about this show the moment i finished the first episode. i waited for this title like i did with payback & prosecutor's proposal to complete. longed for it just like the other two. what a catastrophic disappointment. i need to ignore this community completely and just look for BL to watch based entirely on my own preferences. you people are less reliable than trying sneak around quickly in the dark.

i noticed with chinese BL there are a myriad of issues that make it impossible for me to get through the first episode. the former is why i dropped revenged love and double helix. i CANNOT do the overbearing actions / behaviors that are over-exaggerated. they make me cringe so badly. then i have to deal with the production problem i have noted with capturing the verbal dialogue. why does it sound like dubbing or voice overs in chinese BL ?! every single one of them i started has this problem. is it a microphone industry / quality thing? it ALWAYS sounds unnatural meaning full viewer immersion is not possible, for me. sometimes you can even see that dialogue was dubbed over [apart from horrible singing]. i was able to get through the first episode of this one by a miracle. long story short, deep in had this cringe BS in the first episode AND throughout the show - wtf. example, zhang zhun sliding across the car to save zhen xin from goddamn PVC at a less than one meter drop. be serious.

can someone point me to where i can find what the vision of this drama was? the story just starts immediately without fleshing out anything at all. fine. that could be fine if there were not other observable issues. however, the story of fang chi & gao zhun had three times more substance than the characters "playing" them. WTF? was this deliberate? is it because of the plot-twist at the end? i do not understand why these generic ass cheating scumbags were the main leads. why couldn't we just have the story of fang & gao?

oh yeah, speaking of the cheating, why? why was it necessary? the two had enough plot devices with the antiquated views, personal responsibility, and dealing with society. why did they have to cheat on innocent people? who got dragged by consumers, might i add [for once, i watched the comments while watching]. i am glad xin lost millions to that girl boss and more from the whole ordeal considering nothing of his relationship made sense nor was it healthy ! like, can anyone tell me how in the f these two scraps of tofu managed to FALL IN LOVE? what the actual f happened in their plotline for them to fall for each other except engage physically as actors??? man forget the love. let me bring up the proposal. HUH? it came out of nowhere. why was there any talk of proposing when those two did not even spend more than two weeks living in the same space let alone communicate efficiently?????? their communication was so trash, how could they possibly marry one another?

can we talk about the sensationalizing and downplaying of sexual assault in BL? i will. first off, since i read the comments, i had the unfortunate opportunity of seeing some people downplay cheating, excuse xin's assault of zhun when he was drunk, AND criticize the female victims who were cheated on [by calling them b'tches and other derogatory terms]. zhen raped zhang, FULL STOP. he did not deserve him even though they both were basura. one tell that it was rape was that zhen never told zhang about it and tried to minimize the occurrence by saying that they now loved each other, when zhang found out on his own. apart from the former, all of the SA in this damn work was just disturbing as hell. i could excuse it for the plot if the production and acting were perfect but lol with that.

the whole thing with the "real" characters fang chi & gao zhun was absolutely disgusting. it was obvious the lines would end up blurred between the doctor and the patient for the plot. however, the lines completely disappeared when simulating the rape. the doctor's methods were triggering and so deeply unethical. then, the existence of multiple sexual predators around gao zhun was just skin-crawling and vomit-inducing. there was just predation everywhere, on and off set !

lastly, the intimacy.. girl. the intimacy was a disaster. ollie has a lot of acting potential but his and shuyuan's kissing + erotica were travesties on us all. the kissing made me upset and look away every time EXCEPT the final kisses on stage. it was so dry and void of any feeling. ollie kept his eyes partially open for basically every kiss but also the pacing of the kisses were too fast. is this a production preference? no way, not when feng qing lang & xu chang yang [thailand based but chinese characters] exist. the freaking aggressive humping looked so disingenuous and obviously false that i could not watch those scenes either. what was left for me to consume? shuyuan's acting was okay, for it being his first drama.

the compliments i can give are to the fairly consistent cinematography and the risque of the intimacy that was taken for this drama. the way fang chi & gao zhun were filmed was quite beautiful, at times. the transitions to the film were not always obvious and that seemed cool, for me. there also seemed to be foreshadowing and unspoken comparisons that could be missed, if the viewer was not paying attention. when it comes to the sexual scenes, had ollie & shuyuan connected with more intention and less aggression - i would have rated this an eight despite all the other issues.

regardless, this show has me so heated i typed eight paragraphs. the most entertaining part of this show was reading the goddamn comments. some of the comments had me in stitches. man, even the makeup was sometimes straight suspect; too light, cakey, drier than popeyes biscuits. i mean, is this what we are doing? this BL is so damn popular and for what? remember how i put some things in quotes? yeah, the characters acting as characters in the fiction were the actual fiction and the characters were the real NPCs. boy bye.

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what the hell was this?

the start off was strong. jeonghan's character was cold, disrespectful, horrible, & interesting enough. iljo's character, in the beginning, made sense to a degree - i presumed he was holding onto deep trauma and had no immediate family left. the first rain scene was incredible. however, the jump directly into the story without any real setup for the premise was a choice that i did not care for but it happened.

then it got more toxic and strange, in a bad way. the story is generic but could work just fine depending on the execution. unfortunately, the second half of it did not add up. jeonghan then proceeds to somehow fall in love with iljo? based off of what? the story direction and the acting were not THAT compelling so i do not understand what made the second main lead so obsessive. other than being a giant red football field, nothing can explain his actions to me.

in my previous review, i mentioned something i noticed that is erroneous on the part of these BL creatives. i have now observed another pattern, rushing these adaptations seems to be a standard. this seems to be true so much that often there are mistakes and a lack of seamlessness in aired scenes. for example, the jump from the coffee shop scene into one of the only good intimate scenes in the kitchen and at the dinner table with the fruit legitimately left me bewildered. it made no sense ! there was no sensible transition. the lead was monologuing internally and then the viewer just sees the next scene that is setup as though it were to be a dream. iljo just appearing out of nowhere when jeonghan suddenly came down with a fever made no sense. they both "broke up" three times but somehow were still together, in the end? what?

i could say more but i will conclude this with saying that this was another disappointment. i expected much more considering the first three episodes.

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don't bother.

i think my overall rating might be generous. anyway, i wasted my time watching this a couple of weeks ago. it was not it.

the first male lead was truly pathetic until he had a change of heart when he almost lost his chance. he let projects at work dictate his life and invade into his personal time. the former brings to light a festering issue in japanese work culture. regardless, the person who had seniority over him abused him and he just took it? fear and anxiety are understandable + reasonable / valid feelings. however, he was working over twelve hour days give or take for what months? years? then when kai entered his life, it began to have meaning and he had a real shot at actually living. he promised kai they would attend that festival together then gets bullied into prioritizing work. then he blows kai off for a month to finish a project that would have been completed if he was not there. superiors know how to make things happen just like how they expect grunts to do the same. watari did not deserve kai.

honestly, the intimacy [sexual or romantic] was just wack. some of the earlier scenes like with the relief to allow watari to sleep because he was so stressed out from work were good or funny. the kissing was boring. viewers got more chemistry from the opening credits with the characters than the actual body of work.

i quite liked nomura kota's portrayal of a defeated person who had been so disappointed with life that there were no expectations of others. he felt like a character that was true to himself and uncaring of the perception of others. he lived authentically because he was at his wit's end. otherwise, this body of work was too lacking and too short.

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*clutches forehead*

when will this streak break? the last six titles i have watched have all been lacking in one way, another, or in basically everything. this one is no different so much that i am not even sure i can finish the last episode.

i planned to watch peach and me but then came across that this was the prequel. i was excited and yearning for the BL that would finally hit me like my top three [sigh]. i need to temper my expectations because this is getting downright ridiculous.

i have several things to say about this title. to preface, there is no reason why any thai BL should have mediocre intimate scenes or even actors. my first critique is pond & phuwin SUCK at kissing. i am not sure if it was either or but with how long it took for peach and thee to kiss, i thought their first kiss would knock me out [sigh]. their first kiss was so boring. all of their subsequent kisses were also boring ! it looked like pond was kissing a brick wall doppelganger in human skin. their relationship was like that of roommates who did not live together and were sometimes intimate; not even friends with benefits :'] peach never reacted to all of the actual romantic things thee said to him. was this a deliberate choice? i do not know if it was phuwin or peach but the nearly blank face for all of the serious scenes with thee could have figuratively killed me. i truly felt like it was pond pushing all the weight as though the ratio was ninety:ten. the chemistry was not there and there were not enough intimacy scenes.

in the last six things i have watched, this had the best pacing [thank goodness] albeit the burn was slow as hell. at this point, i do not feel any burn with the characters since i see them as some bastardization of non-roommates with benefits on layaway. nonetheless, i do appreciate that the pursuit took awhile and that peach's character should be awarded for being one of the most healthy of all time in BL [he upheld boundaries so well too]. i am glad that thee respected peach and changed his behavior to accommodate his comfort. otherwise, thee is a red flag but with his background, it makes sense.

[sigh] the second to last episode, peach prohibited being proposed to then was okay with it by the last? i wish i could beg to cosmos the stop pissing me off with marriage proposals that are nonsensical. first off, my interpretation was that sometime had passed based on what thee said in episode ten though it matters not [unless production chooses to be explicit with timeline indicators]. peach and thee never spoke of expectations, desires, compromises nor lived together longterm - how in the f could they get married? nothing about their love or marriage convinced me either were authentic. i beg you BL professionals, please stop with this. also, wtf was the marriage proposal? thee never even asked directly nor did peach respond but he put the ring on anyway? why sway? 😭 i cringed all of episodes nine and ten.

thee seemed to be incredibly romantic and thoughtful. his character did develop but not enough. what he did at the end of episode ten for the children astounded me but i question some of the intention. i question it because he self-labeled himself to them but still acted as infantile as he was before he and peach began dating. i do not like this as a plot device at all.

the following are the rest of the issues i noted that had me head-shake, close my eyes in frustration, or hold my head in agony:

● episode one - a microphone is left in final aired recording [i was shook]
● episode three - fake ass violin playing left in the final recording [this had to be a prank]
● there was an episode with scenes that did not transition properly and were confusing
● the fake kissing sounds and they would be engaged before the leads were actually kissing
● aran getting back together with tawan [guess they had to offset the healthy dynamics with toxic BS nonsense]
● peach repeated why thee watched his mother's dramas as if were new information to the viewer + thee [this was a gag]
● aran suddenly wearing a cap and glasses after asking thee to speak in the following scene even though he had no cap and glasses prior
● peach and thee did not kiss at their reception. they barely kissed at the end of the wedding night. they can no longer afford privacy

some of the choices made in these BL have me questioning if i could make a better one than all of these industries and career professionals WHO GO TO SCHOOL FOR THIS. thailand is the most prominent country in terms of the BL market, as far as i know, there really should not be goofs, errors, blips, bad acting, horrible NC scenes, etc. it feels inexcusable to me when stars apparently are being robbed by most companies taking nearly all of the profits.

to conclude, i do not think i will be watching peach and me.

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another cap for the BL community.

i stayed up late to finish this well into the morning and for nothing. this BL was more-or-less trash. i rated the story high because they had it ! the foundation was stellar but the execution was pure comedy. this could have went down as one of the best of all time considering the plot twist, the excitement, the toxicity, the triangle, etc. but nope. some of the acting was questionable like at the end, in the police station - that made no sense. the intimacy scenes were wack and dry as hell. the one drunken kiss was the best kiss of the whole run. the kiss at the end was that garbage stiff ish that people hate so why did they implement that? the most inviting kiss, for me as a consumer, was the one with the dessert and still that could have been more. what a huge disappointment.

this was definitely way overhyped and overrated by fans. the music was not memorable so i did not rate it accurately. it still pisses me off to know that i watched this even though it was some weeks ago.

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