This Was Supposed To Be A Glowing Review

I am acearo but I am now also desparately in love with Man. The amount of times I said "goddamn," in response to his mannerisms cannot be counted– he exudes attractiveness, and I normally only find people pretty at best. Chot is a perfect character, I wish Chot was in every scene, but I am biased here as well as I have been ferociously interested in Bruce since Lovely Writer. Up until episode 8 or 9 this was an almost perfect series to me and I intended my review to be a dissertation on how wrong it is that the rating is 7.1. Obviously, my rating now is now far below that, so let's get into it.

Pat is uniquely irritating. He cries at the drop of a hat, is never in the wrong despite always being the problem, and generally manages to make every issue excruciating to watch. I do not like the character. I actually did at first because he had a lot of pizazz and determination, but that kinda disappeared around the halfway mark.

The storyline gets more disjointed as the show progresses and, at some point, it feels distinctly like the writers forgot their own plotlines. The coworkers (Ying especially) are gossipy, mean, and basically bully Pat and then they all chat happily at badminton?? Jen tells Jaab he'll stay away from him and then....doesn't. Like at all. Not even for one scene. Jaab tells Jen they should stay friends but last we saw them, Jaab was still 300% cooked for Jen and we get no insight as to why he suddenly decided not to go for it. Actually, speaking of JaabJen, I've never been so disappointed by a formerly interesting couple. Up through the kiss, I was invested in them. Right after the party when Jaab for some reason decides to shoot himself in both feet, I had to force myself not to skip through their following scenes right through to the end. It was just so stupid, entirely unwarranted, and woefully under-explained.

The entirety of the Jeng's dad plotline was meh. Put was.....there? I was kind of indifferent to him (I love Up, so he was at least nice to see) and the story around him and Pat, especially after he's shown caring only about Pat, then taking him for granted the moment they get together, then caring only about Pat again once they're apart. He felt more like a plot device than a character. I really want to disparge Pat more right now, but we'd be here all day.

Jeng is perfect, I have nothing bad to say. except maybe he should leave Pat and the company and just vibe at his restaurant.

Tbh, I had a feeling that, to maintain my high rating, I should've just stopped at episode ten because we all know how ep. 11 goes, but I chose my path because Man is not in any other BLs and I do not like him enough to subject myself to any form of not-queer media. I enjoyed how much of the office we saw and the maturity (read: this is not the right word) of the characters (bar Pat and like, all the side character coworkers). It's rare to have older characters be the focus of a BL so I really appreciated it in this series— not being in high-school, college, or fresh out of school is really a blessing for this genre.

The music was okay at first but once the waterworks kicked off (so much fucking crying is2g) it got irritating hearing the sad piano all the damn time. The acting was ok to good. I can see why people might be underwhelmed with Man's acting, I thought he was good though, provided he wasnt trying to act sad. Pat was good provided he wasnt crying or being dramatic or speaking. Chot was perfection, as was Ae and her husband.

I will probably rewatch this, but really just for Bruce and Man, so make of that what you will. Maybe worth one watch if you stop at episode 10 before the bs. 3000% worth multiple watches if you drop it around episode 8. I actually like that the episodes were long, I didnt really get bored, but I always watch everything at at least 1.5x so.

I am once again trying not to hate on Pat but dear lord he is the entire reason this show went to shit. Like even the bullshit storyline between JaabJen has nothing on how annoying Pat's character was. I hate that he was babied throughout the show; everyone can hear mean or realistic things except Pat. But Pat is the one who needs the reality check the most. I had a lot of sympathy when he was being bullied at the office but the moment it stopped he became one of the most insufferable characters I've ever had the displeasure of watching, and I've watched some real garbage. Pat's character feels like the type of person to show up to a wedding in white and then cry when they're reprimanded. Just spoiled and self-centered. My rating was actually still a reluctant 7 until episode 12, at which point Pat wore through my already hair-thin tolerance and I dropped it. What a waste of good potential. Tbh, I'd give this a 9 if Jeng didn't take Pat back. Fuck Pat fr.

Thats about it. This started great and then shot its own feet until it was just mediocre.

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Pretend This Didn't Happen :)

Despite the reviews, Tin Tem Jai is one of my absolute favorite BLs. Its comforting, calming, and just has a fenerally feel-good vibe. That said, I dont know what the hell these special episodes were meant to be. Perhaps special in that they take every good part of the main show and replace it with the least compelling NC scenes I've ever had the displeasure of skipping through.

I recommend Tim Tem Jai as a show to watch when some other messy BL is doing the absolute most. I recommend trying a coma before trying to watch these special episodes. My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is truly ruined because I was so excited My Show™️ had more episodes I hadnt seen. This was so bad I had to go back to the original just to make sure I wasnt under the influence of something for liking it.

There is no plot. To make up for this, characters go to the mall, presumably to do mall things and get food. After getting food, there is nothing to do, so they get food. After they're done eating, they split off into pairs and get food. Once they've finished their food, they meet back up to have a meal. Oh wait look a sex scene (hmm, weird, does it look awkward to you too? Why am I cringing? Why is the scene so long??) Now that the sex is over, they run back to the mall to eat with their friends. Time for bed. Once they wake up, its time to eat food. I was flabbergasted.

Also, how many times do we need to recycle the, "this thing is nice" "oh you mean the thing I am looking at?" "No, i mean you hahaharharharharlmaorofl" joke????? Is four times enough? Five? Is five times not enough??? Isnt once too much?

I feel towards these episodes what reviewers felt toward the main show. I am offended that this has a higher rating because Tin Tem Jai deserves a good rating as long as you pretend whatever the hell this is never happened.

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I Am Conflicted

Im always surprised by MDL comments/reviews because grace is given to garbage and withheld from....everything else lol. This falls in the everything else category: its not good, but its also not bad. It feels distinctly amatuer more than anything else, which I gave grace for considering this is most of the actors first/second series as a main character and its six episodes. The plot is thin to nonexistent: Beboy, Plai, and Pan are supposed be sightseeing but the only sight seen so far is some trees and a mall.

I did find some of the antics funny, which is rare in and of itself. Half of each couple can act, so both couples average out to mediocre. Im not mad at it. The scenes feel....laggy. Like every scene stutters over a good ending spot and putters to a stop somewhere beyond it. It is also noticeably quiet. I've never begged a show for music, but this needs more of it. A lot of what felt awkward or excruciating could be fixed by not having only 30 seconds of music in a 35min episode.

Something I noticed was that the characters are just the actors??? Like they all have the same names as in the actors real names. That is...a choice, I suppose. A choice I dislike, mind, but a choice all the same. I'll reiterate that I don't think this is good, but I do actually want to see episode three, so I dont think its nearly as bad as the comments are saying. I'm usually a pretty harsh reviewer, so that alone makes me want to go easier on this, but I really cant give it more than a 6. This is average. This is....not really consistently entertaining, but there are moments (note: moments, not scenes, not minutes-- moments.) throughout that are funny or interesting. It could use a re-edit to shave the episode down by five to ten minutes.

Episode one is distinctly worse than episode two, but episode one almost always sucks for everything. Get past that, and the sailing gets smoother. In episode three we finally make it back outside which really helps considering the entire premise of the show. Interactions seem a bit forced, even for BL and the dialogue is....still awkward. I swear I like this show there's just a lot. For what its worth and absolutely not to be mean, most singing and guitar playing happens in 10 second intervals or is long enough to scrub past. Do with that info what you must. P's face plus sunlight really did the scene with translating lyrics a huge favor because the dialogue dropped the ball.

I have now finished episode three and I might drop this. The interactions between both couples are beyond forced, actually. P and Pan isnt as bad as Beboy and Plai but its not great. The sex scenes came out of nowhere. I was expecting a kiss, but not Venus In The Sky esque NC scenes for something like this. Even in VITS, scenes that teetered on the line between softcore and straight porn made me less than happy, and that was after 8 excruciating episodes. Scenes like that after two episode with no buildup or......reason?? Idk, maybe I'm not the fangirl for it, maybe its all someone else wants in a show, but I felt personally awkward and secondhand embarrassment for the cast. I had more positives to say before, but this episode made me want to stop watching. Tbh, once they started playing the king game with 4 people I was on edge because literally who does that????

Based on my rating, my overall score should be a 2.5, but I really wanted this to be good or at least average so I'm torn. It had the potential to be a solid C-student, but its kinda flunking now. I was hoping this episode would be what took the rating from 6 to 6.5 for me but, as you can see, it's 4.5 instead, and that feels generous after this episode.

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It's Not Supposed To Be Funny, But...

My expectations begun in the basement level so there was literally no way for this show to disappoint me without first going to hell. The first episode is so rushed I found myself laughing at nearly everything, even now, just after finishing it, I'm still giggling even though the entire episode is meant to be serious. (Especially when Tai appears at the gallery acting like a two bit villain, I nearly died laughing). The lines so far have been exclusively read, not acted, but I always give episode one all the grace I have to spare (and then some when two episodes are released at the same time because obviously, episode one cant stand on its own) so I'll decide on that next week. I hate, hate, HATE being told over being shown and, to me, a montage is exactly that: telling. Montaging the relationship with a main character is wild because it is instantly unbelievable. I just met this motherfucker twenty minutes ago. KRAM just met him twenty minutes ago. And you want me to believe they have deep feelings? Matter of fact, back up, whyre they kissing?? I wish I could insert a picture of my face for that entire section of the episode because it'd say the million words I have much more succintly.

Also the plot??? "If the man who just tried to kill you and has guns (but also chose to use a knife because.....uh, because, i guess) comes back (read: and you survive) I MIGHT have to hire a bodyguard"???? Wild lmao. And then: "hey you just tried to kill me but I just gotta know why, do you per chance have a remote location where we can meet. A warehouse? That's perfect, on my way!" Bro, I was CRYING laughing because they read the lines almost monotone and the lines themselves werenso, so dumb good lord. If I keep both my expectations and standards on the floor, this is a comedy, and I'm loving it.

I could quote so many lines from these two episodes alone, but I'll just do one more and let it be:
Tai: who do i look like?
Kram: tai, son of por
Tai: yes i am he
Kram: but tai has scar on face
Tai: idc i am not he
You cannot tell me this is not a comedy. Or, you could but I have timestamps to prove otherwise. Tbh, i did actually want to see MaxNat in something good because I couldnt get past a few episodes in Cutie Pie or Naughty Babe, but the synopsis for this one killed that dream and now the show itself is beating the dead horse.

I wish I hadnt said no more quotes because Im sobbing this is so funny. One of my housemates came downstairs to check on me and thought I was sad crying but i cant breathe its so funny. I think what really gets me is the utter lack of emotion in literally any line mixed with the plot moving at mach speed but somehow also being empty. I usually wait for 3 - 5 episodes to review but this is such a trip I'll just do it now: I absolutely recommend this. Just dont take it seriously and youll have a blast.

Ill probably updaye this review as I go along since this is one of the few new shows I dont see myself dropping by episode five lol.

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Cortisol, the Series

I like this drama. Theres a lot to love and a lot of things were done well. That said, there are some things I have to get out of the way before I start praising it:

THEY'RE SO DAMN STUPID OMFG
It doesnt seem like the story is going to punish the main couple's stupidity or at least if it does, it won't be punished too harshly, but their absolute refusal to be secretive in any single way had me more anxious than interested. Doors are ALWAYS left open. But, even if the doors were closed, don't worry, they're going to have their private conversations in the downstairs lobby. But, if they don't talk there, no worries, they'll kiss at the lake with 360 degree viewing angles from a mile away. But, don't worry, if that's too subtle, they'll chase each other out of a party in full view of all the guests because one of them got jealous that the other was within a meter of a woman. It never fucking ends omfgggg. I was on the edge of my seat FROM STRESS AND STRESS ALONE. Had me pausing every two business seconds to bemoan the dumbassery. Especially for Jom because he should know better, but also for Yai because HE SHOULD KNOW BETTER. He hears about a gay couple getting killed in the morning and minutes later he's backhugging Jom in public. Every single part of my body was clenched up like "this has got to be a tragedy because they really dont value life." It blows my mind that they don't get murked six ways from sunday because they're basically waving pride flags in 19-fucking-20 like bro please I'm trying to root for you. I've spent an entire episode just begging them to go inside. Is rain so nice to kiss in?? Just go inside, please. You dont even have to go into a room or close the door-- im reasonable, I can compromise, just, please, PLEASE go inside.

Around episode 9, my stress hit a critical point and I just sort of...stopped caring about the main characters because if they don't care anout themselves, why should I? I put down the series for nearly two months because I just couldnt take more anxiety disguised as cuteness. Like every time they had a heart to heart or romantic moment, I couldnt really get into it because all I was thinking was, "the door is open, isn't it?" (AND IT ALWAYS WAS. Which would prompt the thought, "these guys really wanna die, huh?" Because they MUST. Theres no other explanation.)

Much smaller gripe, but Jom losing his shit every time he sees himself or an image of the future really started grinding my gears. I can understand once or twice, but we're like 4 - 6 incidents deep and he still goes running and yelling after the image like he isnt aware every time it happens others can hear and see him running about like a chicken without a head. Like be chill, you already know you cant interact and you've literally experienced this all before??????? stfuuuu.

Ugh.
God.
Okay.

Lastly, the lack of consequence to any action (every action, really) took a lot of the tension out of this story. There's the romance between Jom and Yai for starters (I really relaxed after the father came to Jom to tell him to leave Yai alone because this is obviously set in 2028, not 1928), but it also goes for the lesbian CP, for Ming's decisions, for Fong Kaew's decisions, it's for servants speaking to masters like they're equals, it's for literally every single character. They'll do something that should have dire consequences and then they MAYBE get slapped for it. Maybe. Stern words and angry eyebrows do not build or deliver tension. The only consequences delivered are to a couple that's on screen once, for like three minutes. Very frustrating.


Now onto the good stuff:
The cinematography is beautiful, which I say as someone who does not care about cinematography or notice it unless it is insane. They did a good job making each scene very pleasing to the eye, this show is pleasant to watch. Even if you mute it, it will still grab your attention.

The music is great. It never felt unnecessary, overly loud or quiet, and more importantly, it never stole my attention from the show. A lot of times, unnecessarily sad music for shows can either irritate me or make me crack up, but each piece played fit the scene it was in.

The story is okay. I wasn't blown away by it like other reviewers, but I did enjoy the story once I released my hold on my disbelief and expectations. Without the expectation of too much realism, the story isdefinitely fun though it's not as nuanced as I'd thought it would be. I assume the book was better as shows usually have a hard time fitting a good story into 12 episodes while maintaining its quality.

Ignoring the depth of their stupidity, Yai and Jom's relationship was cute. They have great chemistry and really play off of each other well. I assume I'll enjoy the special episode more because my biggest problem with them was the time period. To the point that I did actual research on LGBT history in thailand, going as far as to find Thai resources, just to ensure I wasn't losing my mind and 1920 did indeed feel exactly what you'd expect for 1920 on LGBT issues. To put it more bluntly, neither couple would be alive, most likely, or at least out of jail, but ignoring that-- very cute couple.

I enjoyed the last couple episodes more than the first ten, the chemistry really is phenomenal and, when there's nothing else to worry about, it's positively showstopping. The music is occasionally overdramatic/mismatched but more often than not it's bangers after bangers (but in a classical sort of way.) I vivdly remember replaying a scene a few times (it was more of a transition, honestly) just for the music, so make of that what you will.

I'd definitely rewatch parts of this, but finally having finished it, it did not rock my world by a decent margin. Also, whatever accent it is that Yai has shows me the pearly gates every time he rolls an 'r' and that comprises of most of the parts I'd rewatch.



Today I learned that i cannot watch the special episode.

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A Great Series (Skip The Last Episode)

Normally I review around episode four or five, but I really wanted to let this series show me everything it had to offer first so I'm writing this after episode 11 and will come back after the finale. Dead Friend Forever is a work of art. I normally am irritated by mystery series because it frequently feels like all the answers are just being handed to you, but not only did this show not do that, it also didnt make me want to guess. I just wanted to keep watching, I wanted to see the story unfold, I was continuously entertained.

The characters are infuriating, Non included, which is what would typically make me tap out, but they also ensure the watcher has enough sympathy for Non and hatred for the rest to create a good, watchable balance. Regardless of what I thought of Non (or rather, Non's decision making skills), I was extremely invested in him getting justice. I didnt care how, I just felt in my heart of hearts that pretty much every other character should end up dead. To make a character so sympathy inducing that every other character becomes irredeemable is a feat on it's own, but to have Non's existence not end up irritating me in the long run is a miracle. This is spectacularly written. Awful people flock to a vulnerability and exploit it for all it's worth, and while each of them has their reasons, none of the reasons justify their actions.

This was an immensely fun watch. I'd watch it again right now if I was that type of human, but I'm more likely to leave it alone for some months to years to digest. The sheer amount of awful is really fun but also really, really sad.


Ugh, i just watched episode 12. Im not really sure how to rate this now. I wish theyd spread out the justice across more episodes intead of all at the end. I wish the ending wasnt open. I wish I never had to see Phee or Jin smile again. I wish New had a better ending. I wish they'd had the balls to end it decisively instead of some "did they, didn't they" bullshit. This was a 9.5 for me before episode 12, so I'll only dock two stars for this shitshow of an ending. The rest of this series was good, as far as I'm concerned, this has 11 episodes and the ending we all wanted is what happened, just off screen.

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I'm Not Angry, Just Disappointed

Episode one is usually rough so I'm giving this the benefit of the doubt, but I have a strong feeling the entire series is going to require a lot of it. Cringe alone doesnt make for a good series and holy hell is there cringe. And not even good cringe or funny cringe, just.... "uh ok, i guess" cringe. We begin with a stalker who refuses to believe he's the weird one. And he is, somehow, slightly less weird than the person he's stalking. Slightly.

Also the 1000 year old supernatural being has no secrecy or self-preservation? Sure cool. I can suspend disbelief there if only because in the trailer we see that he's not exactly attached to living but something about the execution is.....suspect. Again, gonna chalk all this up to first episode growing pains and cross my fingers that it gets better.

After finishing episode two, it was much less excruciating. If we follow this trend, episode three (or maybe four) on should be watchable, so I'm in it for another two weeks, I guess.

After watching episode three, I finally figured out why this irks me: it feels like a middle school fanfiction. The sheer amount of characters repeating lines and staring with no talking, just awkwards giggles, is painful. I was watching on 2x and it took up a lot of the episode even still. Three episodes in and this is the first episode that feels like something happened, but it still feels like nothing is happening. Like the script has so few plot points that they really drag out what should be a cute lil siesta into a nine hour sleep.

Episode four kinda seals the deal, I'm dropping this. It feels like a middle schooler's crackfic which isn't necessarily an awful thing, but all the dead space also makes it feel like filming day was the first time any of the actors saw the script. The humor has not been landing for me, despite being able to see every moment thats *supposed* to be funny. The plot is thinner than one-ply toilet paper and the two new characters managed to somehow be even less compelling than the cast we already know (except Mild, who can do no wrong.) I'm not taking this series seriously at all-- not even remotely-- which usually makes things better, but it's still impressively bad. Alas.

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Hoo Whee

Wow. This is rough. And I'm not talking about the subtitles.

The subs are bad, but I didnt factor them into my rating and they don't factor into this review. Aside from episode one, the subs are mostly understandable even if theyre still a mess. What really made me give this such a low score is the plot.

It's bad. No way around it. The characters are irritating but, more importantly, don't seem to know what to do with themselves or have any real incentive behind their actions. Prod likes Pleum because............????? Pleum is suddenly interested in Prod because.......????????¿¿¿¿¿¿ Sroi knows Prod because???? Pleum is jealous of anything that breathes in Sroi's vicinity because????? Pleum wont take no for an answer but immediately gives up when Sroi starts dating someone else because?????¿¿¿¿¿?????? It's all so aggressively contrived with no care for giving the charcaters any consistency. Throw in a mother who's sick with some undescribed disease (and coughing up blood because how else would we know she's sick) and you've got yourself the world's most boring series.

I wanted this to at least be unintentionally hilarious because bad subs really lend themselves to that sort of thing, but I watched at 1.5x - 3x speed absolutely stone-faced. I forced a laugh at one point just to see if it'd kickstart things, like maybe I'd forgotten to laugh and just needed to get it started up. Nada. Nothing. And the show is actively trying to be funny. But between every single character just reading lines (except Pleum, for whom all lines are overacted in comparison) and weird ass interactions, all opportunities to laugh just inspired grimaces from me.

Speaking of weird ass interactions; the story is tied to like one eating area outside a faculty, the SOTUS room, and The Bar. Bold, underline, capitalize, and italicize The Bar because that is the primary location of all things in this show. Prod works at The Bar. Everyone seems to go drink every night. Pluem frequently acts like an ass at The Bar. Sroi goes there daily with her friend-turned-gf. I wouldnt be suprised if Prod's mother moved into The Bar so they could shoot more scenes in it.

Lastly, the main CP have negative chemistry. I dont even have examples of this to give because its just inherent? Like, Prod has more chemistry with the guy who's obviously going to become a love rival later. He has more chemistry with Sroi, Pleum's ex. He has more chemistry with a random extra who asked for the flowers he was going to throw away. He has more chemistry with the extra who punched him.

Watch this if somehow all of the above sounds like a good time, but I'm tapping out. I really hope Kimmon gets something good in the future because I missed him since 2 Moons but not for this. Never for this.

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I AM BLOWN THE FUCK AWAY

Oh. My. God. Whatta beginning, hoo whee! That slap???? I was clutching my PEARLS. I have never been so surprised watching pretty much anything, the moment it happened I was RIVETED. And also so firmly on my anger muffin's side because bro fr?? You put in all that effort just to squander it? You deserve to be hit again (and hit again he was :D). Whooo I feel exhilarated, it's wild. I will sob and mourn this series like my nonexistent first born child if it goes downhill from here because this is absolutely the gold standard for how to start a sequel, holy shit.

Aaaand, I'm done. This was a masterpiece, good from beginning to end. No time was wasted, even though I have some gripes with the side couples. The music was phenomenal, the ACTING jfc, I'm not recovering from the first few episodes anytime soon. Conflicts were handled understandably quickly considering its a six episode series. Speaking of the length, I really don't know if I want this to be longer. It deserves more time-- it deserves all the time-- but it utilized what it had very well and added absolutely no unnecessary bullshit, which I appreciate more than having a lot of episodes.

The side couple (specifically the mental illness bros one) irked me a bit because I liked their story and how it was handled (mostly), but I also never felt invested in it. I liked both characters as well, but with only 3 hours to see Anger Muffin and Shi De, I was almost counting each second their story took from the main couple. I didn't need their story, even if I liked it, so it was irksome.

All that said, this has my heart. I liked this more than the prequel, and I really, really liked the prequel. Shi De's acting in episodes one and two really cannot be overstated-- any compliment would be too little. Same for Shu Yi honestly. This is worth a watch, an immediate rewatch, and then several more rewatches without a ton of time in between, which I say as a human who doesn't rewatch things ever, really.

Ok bye, I'm gonna go rewatch the first two eps. Maybe the third too.

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Mostly Minuses, But Not The Worst

Another story ruined by the irritating "I spoke to your family and now we cant be together" plot. "Its for your own good" plotlines rarely come across as anything but supremely irritating and this was no exception. I was okay with this show up until that point, then I began aggresively skipping and turned it up to 2x speed. I didn't even finish the episode before I had to accept that I really was too disenchanted to be bothered with the rest of the show. So, let's talk:

This show is slow. The plot is thin-- not spider silk thin, but it's not going to make you feel much. There is a gargantuan amount of fluff but with no plot to support it, it feels.....it's just missing something. I was suspicious of Yuki for almost seven episodes just because he decided he was in love out of nowhere. I was constantly looking for the additional plot in every situation only to find that it is always a matter of what you see is what you get. It is as deep as a tablespoon.

The main couple was cute up until the bullshit. The tension of "will they, wont they," was resolved in less than an episode, but the amount of emotion they resolved it with made it seem like theyd been apart for at least three (and they really should have been), so it felt a bit bizzare. I liked the side couple a decent amount despite the utter lack of....anything behind their relationship, but then they also got hit with the trope-mobile and had a misunderstanding three minutes of conversation and a five minute walk could fix. I'm being harsh, but these characters are all, presumably, close to or over 30. This shit would barely strike me as acceptable with college kids, I dont really have the tolerance for it at their ages.

The best part of this series was the cameo from Be Loved In House, and I dropped that series too, so make of that what you will. I am surprisingly disappointed with this series, most likely because the reviews implied it was much more put together. Which is why I normally ignore the reviews, but I suppose I hadn't been burned by them in awhile and forgot. There is a correct way to do slice of life and this was not it. The pacing is eclectic-- relationship things are rushed, but the surrounding plot (or lack thereof) is glacial. Characters lose or gain traits to better accommodate random conflict.

I had some good things to say about this, so I'll get to that and then wash my hands of this mess. I am always a staunch advocate for relationship building. Plus & Minus does a good job of showing the platonic bond between the main couple. They use key moments and habitual behaviors to show the weight of the years between them instead of a quick montage and, as a proud hater of montages, I really liked that.

The sets were always appealing to the eye, which matters very, very little to me, but I did notice it. I enjoyed the little things the main couple did for each other. A lot of BL make it seems like getting together is the happy ever after, or just have no idea what to do with a couple once they are together. This is not necessarily an exception, but they did cute little things for each other, and that, specifically, was nice to see.

Outside of that, nothing else stood out particularly much, definitely not enough to be worth mentioning so I guess thats it, bye.

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Dont Waste Your Precious Time

Episode one was by far the most confusing yet least intriguing thing I've ever seen. To be honest, I only held out because the reviews and comments made it seem like this would be hilariously bad. Unfortunately, it is just bad. Theres a lot of NC scenes and none of them look that awkward so far but every single one of them makes me fast forward. There's a flashback NC scene in episode two that should've been 30 seconds MAYBE, but it goes on for 6 minutes.

I shit you not, six straight minutes. Which is a lot, considering the NC scene in episode one was at least five minutes. I do not know who these people are, why one man suddenly became the MCs dead bf, or, more importantly, why they are suddenly fucking. Matter of fact, I dont know who any one is because people keep getting introduced. (Also why is a child running a food stand???? She cant even reach the window¿)

By episode three, I'm now skipping chunks of dialogue because its making me cringe so hard my body is pretzeling. The MC yells at a man who doesnt know him from Adam like he didnt just do some fuckshit he deserved to be scolded for. He gets called selfish and that is 300% true, but then he's like, "omg youve never tried to understand me." This man met him less than two days ago, no shit. I hate time travel shows/stories/fics that refuse to make the main characters anything but brash and stupid. Its like hes not even trying to look sane.

Its so stupid, bro *its SO STUPID*. I cant stress it enough. And the acting...well, no, the reading-- no one is acting here, just reading lines monotonously. Its physically painful to listen to. I also take back what I said about the NC scenes not being awkward because omfggg they are. Once I stopped watching at 2x, I could see the MC desparately trying to introduce tongue to the makeout while the other guy was absolutely not having it. They cycle through three moves: kiss, kiss chest, kiss neck, and one optional grope chest move for spice. Every couple does it. Just those three things over and over for five plus minutes, AT LEAST once per episode. Its painful to watch. This is the first time Ive ever found myself begging BL actors to STOP FUCKING KISSING. I dont even know how to explain all that was wrong with it, you'd have to watch it to understand and I would, never, ever ask anyone to watch this.

The plot is nonexistent and, despite being called Time, they do a piss poor job of establishing how much time has passed, so we've got known-you-for-months-to-years energy in conversations between people who, presumably, met less than a week ago. The MC never stops talking to himself, out loud, in front of people. He also never stops standing directly beside people he's spying on, but if I get into that I might have a stroke from pure frustration alone. One of their coworkers casually sells sensitive personal information to some kid she met an single time. The conversations are so dull I had to seriously consider that aliens might exist and their first order of business was to sneak onto earth just to write the dialogue in this series. I could go on but holy hell have I wasted enough time on this dumpster fire.

Do something productive with your time like avoiding Time the Series. Idk, go water the ocean or count sand on the beach, it'll be more pleasant.

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Suprisingly Interesting, Messy, and Fun

I went in expecting this series to suck and during episode one, I thought I was right. Episode one is cutesy but also shows that it's apparently going to be a murder mystery??? It just didnt jive to me. Ive never been so glad I stuck a show out because oh my god did I get invested.

I am desperate for season two. Please make season two. Dear god the cliffhanger at the end????? Im so hype for season two!!

Okay, let's get into this:

The couples are all a mess but in different ways that were all a mix of fun and frustrating to watch. One couple is BDSM heavy and makes you root for them so hard until suddenly one part of "safe, sane, consenual" is thrown out the window.

Another couple is quite literally "omg step bro what are you doing" but with a girl thrown in for funsies. And then thrown off a building for less funsies.

The last couple is a more typical BL set up with a straight guy jerking a gay guys chain but both are muffins so you cant just root for one of them and hate the other.

I love each and every one of them. I'm aggressively invested in all of them. I've never yelled at my screen this much, but god they just make all the worst decisions and it is BRILLIANT.

The murder mystery part of the plot becomes more interesting in the later episodes when everything is so messy that its possible to forget theyre in high school (which, seriously, is this euphoria verse??? The only thing missing is drugs). I won't say more to avoid spoiling that but this series really would be a ten if they'd had 12 episodes to really flesh things out. Considering the run time, I didn't remove stars despite it needing the audience to make some leaps on their own.

This was a wildly fun watch. Im still reeling because I was actively not expecting it to be good but I had the time of my life to the point that I'm about to go rewatch it!

(And you should watch it too, it's very fun I promise okay bye)

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A Perfect Ten If It Wasn't For The Friends

The story is great, the music slaps hard af. I love the main couple and their chemistry, theyre sweet as pie. But.

Their friends.

Their friends are all, and I do mean ALL, genuine awful humans. They drug Bbomb, interfere with their relationship over and over and over again. They badmouth Jin TO BBOMB and try to create issues because that's apparently supposed to make BbombJin closer?? The amount of boundaries absolutely trampled had me shaking with anger by episode ten. Its quite mild up until episode 8 or 9, and then suddenly we're shown its the entire friend group consistently ruining things. And its never addressed. This show should be called "With Friends Like These...." because I'm habing trouble believing they're actually friends at all. Everyone is allowed their privacy and to stress about whatever relationships theyre in, but when it comes to the main couple, every single side character is trying to get their fingers in the pie and it is infuriating.

Ultra was decent at first, making it seem like he understood the meaning of going to far only for him to be 100% on bored with drugging Bbomb's drink in hopes it'd make him sleep with Jin. Aim is the most unlikeable female character Ive ever come across that it being pushed as a fun, fresh mastermind. I hate all of their friends. I could barely get through episode 10 and am still trying to finish it as I write this up.

When I tell you this series would be perfect without the bullshit from their friends, I really, really mean it. Especially since their interference ONLY causes issues. It never helped even one time. Without it, this would just be a mature showing of two people realistically coming together, instead of the off the wall hijinks in most BL, and I was loving that. Was. But they stomped the life put of the good parts of the show trying to make the "friends" over-involvement cute or funny, which it still ended up being neither. It was legitimately concerning to me how many people loved their bullshit, because they never stopped doing friendship-ending type garbage. Even after they established that Bbomb and Jin probably weren't ready to go public. Its so aggressively frustrating because this series is good....without it. With it, its good for seven episodes and then strictly tolerable. Maybe not even that, because I'm considering dropping despite being on the last episode. I'm so annoyed.

Up till this point, I was crowing that it deserved so much higher of a rating, but I understand the seven. Tbh, I'd understand a six, too.
EDIT: Yet another "plan" from the "friends" i will in fact be dropping this halfway through ep ten. What a fucking waste

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A really good start that is then thrown in the toilet and shat on.

The mother is actually quite human, not particularly annoying at all, but she shows up out of nowhere and stays for FIVE EPISODES (or six? I lost count). Solely to force the main characters to stay in the same room. I found her innensely grating and was begging her to leave pretty quick. Literally just started skipping when she appeared, even for important scenes, bexause she felt not only extraneous, but irritating because e v e r y t h i n g in this show DRAGS on for wayy to long. Not scene wise but definitely plotwise.

Everything is going well and everyone is mature even in their childishness and then the ex shows up and we're four, freshly in preschool again, unable to FUCKING COMMUNICATE. I lasted two episodes, which is way longer than I shouldve given it considering how egregiously my time was disrespected the moment the ex showed up. Both main characters ditched the personalities they spent the last eight episodds building and went out of character. I went ahead and spoiled the end for myself and it only made me angrier because the ex plotline is entirely unnecessary. So much potential ruined by a bs, fake, unnecessary, forced cobflict yet again.

Also that 'I do, I do,' song makes me want to surgically extract my eardrums, destroy them, and burn the pieces. For me, this isnt worth a first watch, let alone a rewatch.

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I LOVE THIS LIKE IT IS MY FIRST BORN CHILD (WHICH IS NOT A THING I HAVE, BUT I ASSUME).

It's so cute, the music slaps so hard, the story is chefs mothereffing kiss, the only gripe I have is that I thought it was ten episodes, so I went through five stages of grief when there was no 'next episode' button after ep.8. ALL THE SAME:

REWATCH THIS YOU MISERABLE LANDLUBBER.
It's cute and nothing hurts, which is the antithesis of what I typically enjoy, but dear god is it cute and heaven help me does nothing hurt here in the best of ways. All of my pessimistic predictions were met with MORE CUTE and MORE LOVE until my shriveled soul had to just give in and enjoy the show.

I giggled at parts. Not *laughed*, not *chuckled*, I GIGGLED. Like a schoolgirl, kicking my feet and shit. This is so unfathomably cute (but not toothrottingly, I still have my pride, thank you very much) and I love it. The acting was great, the characters were all likeable, and for 8 episodes at less than 30 mins each, everything was decently fleshed out. I have no complaints. **I have no complains** it's breaking my brain, I ALWAYS complain.

Anyway watch this when some other show inevitably makes you consider the worth of continued existence.

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