This review may contain spoilers
Rewatch value 100000000%
A series that will stay in your head and in your heart. A beautifully told story, from the very first episode almost all the way to the end, constantly keeping you in suspense. They could honestly rename it to: Tension in an all-boys school.
What I really like about this series are the natural scenes of tenderness between the characters, without overdoing explicit intimate content. Here, intimacy is built mainly through constant tension and scenes that carry a sexual undertone, but remain unspoken and implied — and that actually makes them even better. But this kind of storytelling and directing requires real skill!
A beautiful plot, of course slightly idealized, but I think we were all hoping for a happy ending — and we’re glad we got it.
I also want to mention two details: the motel scene, Tanrak’s slight clumsiness and shyness — those are scenes full of naturalness, of real young relationships. We really lack that kind of authenticity in series these days.
The main actors definitely deserve praise: Gemini — I’m extremely impressed! Also Fourth, who was sometimes able to convey emotions without any dialogue at all. Later in the series, especially towards the end, his tone of voice and way of speaking became very calm and slow, almost reminiscent of how some priests I know speak :O I don’t know if that was an intentional choice, but if so — chapeau bas!
Although at the beginning Tanrak’s silence fit the mood perfectly, I feel that in the later episodes, especially at the end, his character became too calm and too closed off. After many years of living with Barth, I would have expected a stronger change in his personality. With Barth, it was more visible — from a rebel he became a calm, stable man — while Tanrak remained… well, still calm Tanrak. But maybe I’m just nitpicking here.
One thing I would criticize is the number of episodes. I think there should have been at least one more episode explaining how the boys returned to school after their two-day escape. We only saw the scene where their teacher/guardian greeted Tanrak, but nothing beyond that. When exactly did they leave the school for good? How did it happen? I understand the director wanted to focus more on the present timeline, but in my opinion they could have added two or three scenes showing how it actually led to them permanently leaving the school.
On a positive note, I really liked how their shared life — Tanrak and Barth’s — was shown later on. I’m glad it wasn’t just a “wedding and goodbye” ending, but that we actually got a glimpse of their everyday life together. That was a really nice change for a series like this.
And lastly, I just want to say I’m very happy about Bright’s role, and I hope to see him in more productions in the future :)
What I really like about this series are the natural scenes of tenderness between the characters, without overdoing explicit intimate content. Here, intimacy is built mainly through constant tension and scenes that carry a sexual undertone, but remain unspoken and implied — and that actually makes them even better. But this kind of storytelling and directing requires real skill!
A beautiful plot, of course slightly idealized, but I think we were all hoping for a happy ending — and we’re glad we got it.
I also want to mention two details: the motel scene, Tanrak’s slight clumsiness and shyness — those are scenes full of naturalness, of real young relationships. We really lack that kind of authenticity in series these days.
The main actors definitely deserve praise: Gemini — I’m extremely impressed! Also Fourth, who was sometimes able to convey emotions without any dialogue at all. Later in the series, especially towards the end, his tone of voice and way of speaking became very calm and slow, almost reminiscent of how some priests I know speak :O I don’t know if that was an intentional choice, but if so — chapeau bas!
Although at the beginning Tanrak’s silence fit the mood perfectly, I feel that in the later episodes, especially at the end, his character became too calm and too closed off. After many years of living with Barth, I would have expected a stronger change in his personality. With Barth, it was more visible — from a rebel he became a calm, stable man — while Tanrak remained… well, still calm Tanrak. But maybe I’m just nitpicking here.
One thing I would criticize is the number of episodes. I think there should have been at least one more episode explaining how the boys returned to school after their two-day escape. We only saw the scene where their teacher/guardian greeted Tanrak, but nothing beyond that. When exactly did they leave the school for good? How did it happen? I understand the director wanted to focus more on the present timeline, but in my opinion they could have added two or three scenes showing how it actually led to them permanently leaving the school.
On a positive note, I really liked how their shared life — Tanrak and Barth’s — was shown later on. I’m glad it wasn’t just a “wedding and goodbye” ending, but that we actually got a glimpse of their everyday life together. That was a really nice change for a series like this.
And lastly, I just want to say I’m very happy about Bright’s role, and I hope to see him in more productions in the future :)
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