Reviews

First Impression: Jack & Joker

Overall: even though the first episode was set up, I'm already hooked on a plot/tone we rarely get in BL. 12 episodes about 1 hour each. Airing on iQIYI https://www.iq.com/play/jack-joker-u-steal-my-heart-episode-1-l2dlqwi91c?lang=en_us

Content Warnings: theft, past death, violence, blood, bullying, attempted kidnapping, coercion, manipulation

What I Liked
- unique premise
- fight/action sequences
- grey protagonists
- how Jack called out his coach

Room For Improvement
- started with a flash forward
- nonsense thing: the door wasn't locked but people chasing right behind didn't enter the room right away

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Abysmal In Every Way

I would have given this negative stars if possible.

I'll be completely honest and confess that the only reason I didn't stop watching sooner was because I normally like Sung Hoon, and his shoulders looked particularly lovely in this drama.

The biggest problems with this drama are the horrible writing, the female lead, and Sung Hoon's purple toupee. Candidly, I would have kept watching if even one of those things was not on the list, but added up, the drama was unbearable.

The script was horrible, even for a light-hearted fluffy piece. Maybe some of it was due to the translation, but I had the feeling that the writer had never had an actual conversation with another human being. Yes, the dialogue was that bad. Add in stale tropes, unconsensual power-play type touching from the boss, and a female lead who is a nutritionist who can't cook a decent meal, and you get this horrible mess.

Equally distracting was Song Ji Eun's complete inability to move her jaw when she speaks (no, not just when she was wearing the splash guard). I have no idea if that person can act or not because I was so irritated by her whiny lockjawed voice that it became almost impossible to notice anything else.

And finally, poor Sung Hoon. I think most people would say that he is well above average looking, but it seemed like the hair and makeup folks wanted to change all of that. His toupee was, I believe, unintentially PURPLE. That, in itself, wouldn't be too bad if it was normal to see purple hair on a wealthy executive, or even if the toupee was of good quality. It was, however, very poorly made, and the front was placed way too low on the actor's forehead. I spent an entire episode actively trying to ignore it, but I somehow became unable to look away. Bless his heart, poor Sung Hoon looked like he was sweating bullets under all of that man made hair.

If you can see beyond a bad script, jawless talking, and a cheap purple toupee, this might be an enjoyable show for you. Otherwise, don't waste your time.

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This series is romantic, innocent, and very light and fun to watch, what I like about this series is that the visuals of the main couple are very captivating which makes you want to watch this series again and again, at least in my opinion as a woman.

Sarawat's character reminds me of myself, an introvert who becomes awkward when falling in love with someone. It's hard for introverts to fall in love or flirts with someone, and once they fall in love they will love deeply, so it's fortunate if you are liked by introverts because they are the type of people who are loyal to their partners.

Meanwhile, Tine's character is , confident, funny, and easy to get along with people, depicts extroverts in general who always give energy to others, which I like from the character of Tine.

I also like a group friends of Tine , they are so supportive to Tine, I wish I had friends like that in real life too, hehe.

The Sarawat-Tine couple are very suitable because they both have a balanced side.

I can't wait to see how the Sarawat-Tine story will turn out.

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For the reasons that many picked this up because of "It Started With a Kiss" vibes, I dropped it because it gave me ITSWAK vibes. I seriously dislike people (not just females) who don't have the dignity and follow a guy around just because you saw him for like five seconds and devote five years of your life chasing that demon, ahem, I mean, dream. What if the guy's married? What if the guy's a junkie? And I hate the disparity of dumb, clingy female chasing, a good-looking, smart guy who thinks he's all that so it's okay for him to be arrogant. Being a pathetic loser ain't cute. Putting down someone isn't hot. This is clearly an incurable case of toxic behavior.

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This is definitely not a regular BL series.

Perfectly delivered compelling plots and actors,who are spectacular at conveying their characters' emotions,with top notch chinematigraphy, , breathtaking visuals, meticulous script..Every single details was deeply portrayed. If anyone loves new things this story is enough to drag them into their world. The vibe of German web series' dark'was the first thing that caught my attention.They uses reference from "inception 20210."As my preference is suspense, psychological elements, thriller and dark mystery in every part of fiction then '4 minutes' is definitely for those people like me. I'm stunned to see adding my favourites in my favourite (bl). It's a overwhelming happiness that can't be described. No repeating plot points and detours through side stories that do not pertain to the main plot. The story revolves around 4 minutes that is explained with proper term . Every coin has two sides so the negative point of this series for me was nc scenes.I skipped most of them and that wasn't my concern anyway. I repeat it's the only negative point to me. But no one can't deny the fact that those ncs' were better than western also. To sum up BOC always keeps international level so definitely they will put some international quality in nc scenes. They didn't even sell it to another company. That's what calls professionalism.
To those who are stuck with anything and Lost the ability to accept good things should stay away from this series.
To sum up if you're not ready to explore please stay away. No need to hate or spread negativity. When you already know it isn't your type or something you have option to not watch. Don't ruin thier hard work and effort unreasonably.

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10/10 show

THIS SHOW IS SO GOOD, I LOVE IT SO MUCH. THE ACTING IS SO CUTE THE PLOT IS ADORABLE I LOVE THEM SO MUCH AND ITS ALMOST OVER. I CANT WAIT FOR THE LAST EPISODE TO COME OUT BECAUSE THERE ARE SO MANY SCENES I HAVEN’T SEEN YET AND I REALLY WANT TO SEE THEM. IF YOU GUYS WANT A CUTE SERIES TO BINGE WATCH; WATCH THIS!! THE ACTORS HAVE SUCH GREAT CHEMISTRY I RECOMMEND!! 10/10

i am kind of sad for the side characters as they truely love jun however jun & jun will always be the mains and they need to get together. i love this show so much definitely one of my favourite shows i’ve watched in a long time and i have watched quite a few bls in my lifetime including ones from all over the the world. I hope more people come to find this show it deserves so much more attention and definitely deserves higher ratings.

Please watch it if you haven’t already!

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Story

This is why I love Japanese Bls. I loved everything about Toki..
He really was the star of the series.His whole persona made you want to put your arms around him and take him home.
I remember halfway through thinking he's so adorable.
Everyone should have a friend like him.. He never thought himself to be likeable but his over excitable and sometimes
angry outbursts is what made him more endearing to watch
yet he wanted Sahara to be happy and would have sacrificed his feelings for him.All in all ...the actors..actresses did a great job the storyline was fab.. not forgetting the production staff who gave us a lovely feel good series and introduced us to
Toki..he melted my heart...

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nope

I am not sure if it was a good idea to remake Hana Yori Dango into another live-action. Cliche plot and ridiculous storylines about bullying made this story hard to follow. Fortunately, the writers toned down the bullying in this version, but it did not improve the plot.

One of the major issues that plagues all of the live-action version of this drama is the fact that none of them show genuine romantic chemistry between the two main characters. There may be justification for it because the story is set in high school, so it can't be too mature. However, this version is set in college so the characters older. Yet, romantic interactions are still dry and uninteresting. The female lead acts like the male has the plague every time he comes near her. There is nothing to look forward to in their scenes together.

If there is another live-action remake of this manga, I hope the writers show real chemistry between the main couple or stay completely away. We don't need another live-action cringe with more of the same.

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Decent show except romanticised sexual assault

Before the romanticized sexual assault in episode 6 (Edit: detailed spoiler description of it in comments) afterwards which i dropped it and have no knowledge of what happens afterwards, this show with all its cliches and minor faults was a strong 7.5+ for me. Just a regular run off the mill 'hidden feelings surface' plot with time travel sprinkled on top.

The main character was little annoying being 30 year old cosplaying a pre-pubescent teen in a 20 year old body but it was tolerable. Everyone in the show were doing some messed up, problematic or questionable things with Pear and Max being the resident collateral damage but it was tolerable and not bad as a viewer. So that's why it was 7.5 for me and not 8.

What instantly dropped the rating from 7.5+ to 5 overall was the fact that in episode 6 there is a scene b/w main characters where one of them is drunk and the other who is sober, engages in sexual activity (if an activity is sexual or not, it depends on the context) with him and only stops when he notices the protagonist being asleep and not before. All this happens whilst romantic music plays in the background. Thus romanticizing the activity happening in the scene.

Multiple respectable orgs and lawmaking institutions (courts/govt etc.) around the world state that drunk people (or intoxicated people) cannot give consent. And i personally hold the same belief.

Sexual Assault's definition on Wikipedia:
"Sexual assault takes many forms including attacks such as rape or attempted rape, as well as any unwanted sexual contact or threats. Usually a sexual assault occurs when someone touches any part of another person's body in a sexual way, even through clothes, without that person's consent."

That all being said,
Since i didn't watch past episode 6 (except the first 5-7 minutes of ep7 to see how the show handles the convo of 'what happened last night'.... - They romanticized/normalised it further whilst also spouting the dialogue "people have no idea what they do when drunk"), I can't comment if the story improves past ep6 or not.

Maybe they fix all storyline/character issues and the show becomes great, maybe they further mess up storyline and characters and the show becomes worse. I don't know and i won't know.

But what i do know is that the show romanticized sexual assault and i can't continue watching it post ep6. You can watch it, it's a decent show except that thing. And that's why the rating for me is 5 instead of 7.5+

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So beautifully made

okay THIS DRAMA IS SO MF GOOD WTF. i don't rlly watch these kinda genres but damn this hit home like the story is so engaging and just makes you want more. It travels at a good pace so no need to wait forever for romance or whatever but its not slow, just right. The episodes include a lot of stuff too which is great hehe Theres a lil bit of everything in this drama so its perfect if you just want to pass time, its not too overwhelming like Penthouse but not too underwhelming. The aesthetics are so cool too. . But overall i definitely recommend this drama! very mysterious and subtly romantic

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TOUGH LOVE

From friends to lovers between dreams and feelings, obligations and duties alike This is a hilarious drama that blends each of these into one, firstly, watching the trailer set my hopes high and the first episode is off to a fun but not so extreme start, nonetheless watching it was worthwhile.

       The cast is super cool and sexy and after I saw them on screen I was convinced that all the Couples in the very beginning have a very cool and heartwarming chemistry between themselves and they seem to fit one another perfectly and perhaps as a warning the most fun bit of the show is that no part of it feels predictable which makes the screen writers and producers very creative.

       In one of the most beautiful senses Tupfah and Thorn seem to deeply understand the value of their relationship and much as each one of them is constantly worried that they might mess things up concerning one another moreso their friendship from the very beginning it's clear that despite their contrasting characters and their awfully awkward silence they care deeply about one another even by just looking each other in the eye.

      The plotline felt original and watching it the story was unique from a number of Thai BL Dramas where the actors play a romance that is full of hard to get scenes and expressions but from You're My Sky it's a more realistic story of friends that are trying so hard to express their feelings despite the ups and downs they face constantly and practically aside the romance bit of it you won't be disappointed about how the teens live and hustle throughout their high school life.

     I love that almost immediately the story doesn't seem dragged as I can't wait to watch the next episodes while everything fits in the time frame perfectly the production quality was very high and the OST remarkable you won't be disappointed.

    Lastly, the story isn't shallow and all emotions portrayed are very deep much as there are some scenes that need to be worked with this is a very good series that I would gladly recommend to anyone that's chosen to watch it and I got so emersed that I loved it at first sight.
     
 
     
     

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Just Why

A lot of these revenge CDrama stories are steeped so far from reality, even for a fictional fantasy story, that I’m not sure why these writers keep recycling and remaking them.

The Good

Li Jiu Lin is eye candy. That’s about it.

The Bad

Promotes Stockholm Syndrome as a lot of these CDramas do. Sometimes it’s nice to get dramas where the victim who was abused, killed or almost killed by their former lover actually gets revenge on that person. I can overlook it when it’s a misunderstanding. I ended up skipping to the end of this story after 17 episodes to watch the final 4 and see how it would end. Very predictable. There is no reason that the writer should force a person to continue to love a person who physically harms them to the point of death and they still end up being with them. Super weird and pretty sad. It’s a scary thing when you think about it and I hope any woman or man watching these dramas know that these sort of relationships are not okay and should not be your reality. Oh and the acting wasn’t great and overall story was bland.

I think I’ve watched too many of these types of CDramas over the years that I’m starting to view the writers of these type of little fictional stories as odd. Sometimes I can over look these things and accept for what it is if the story is stronger but I couldn’t with this one. I might need to change genres and avoid revenge plots, xianxias, etc where this type of thing happens frequently. Disappointing because I love CDramas but they seem to be getting worse by the year.

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Excuse me, this is not what I want from ROMANCE series

This lakorn's pra'ek is Job Thuchapon, whom I remember from 'Love Lie Hide Fake', so it's difficult to un-think his face wearing girl's makeup... When I look at him, it kinda looks like he's still wearing it:) He'll always look kinda girly to me. There is Chai Chatayodom who is 44, and Big Sarut who is 49, and still I found them both more attractive men.

Also there's Ampere Suttatip, naturally I wanted to skip as many scenes as she was in but anyways, the scriptwriters clearly just used her whenever they needed to interrupt something: they let her come in and interrupt. Or at least she was calling on the phone:)

I appreciated very much that single episode runtime didn't run for almost two hours. Thaank youu:) The number of episodes is considerably high, though. So I thought it very optimistic from the producers but I wasn't sure whether I'll really stick with this for that long:) But, I like the trope where someone does date someone with the purpose or some agenda, but actually likes them anyways. That might keep me onboard.

It felt weird whenever Ae Maneerat's character called Chai Chatayodom's character "dad". Chai is 9 years older than Ae. Kinda weird age to have a child, LOL. Either way she seems very toned down here and I might not particularly notice her, have I not known her from her comedy roles.

There's also Ohm Kanin (I'm sorry, but I reeeally don't find him attractive, either) relentlessly pursuing the bland nang'ek (I didn't even bother to look up the name of the actress) also with some agenda, apparently (else it would be unexplicable) but that one I was not even interested in. When I was about to give up on the cast, there was a night club scene in episode 4 with Jacqueline Muench! Wow, Jacqueline Muench is here? I haven't noticed, LOL. But her face is definitely the most interesting in this show. What a difference to the "main" actress. So, albeit there was no equally interesting guy around, I woke up from my slumber.

The main couple's line got my interest soon, too. The boy dates the girl to spy on her dad. He infiltrates the family house by her side, nevertheless she feels unloved by her dad and gets practically kicked out from that house. Packing her things, the clueless girl clings to the boy (who was still sending her dad's info to his boss a minute ago) as the only one who loves her, when her own dad does not... Not knowing he's only hired to be her boyfriend. But even he gets stirred by watching this. And I continued watching the series: the cast might not do it for me, but at least there was something about the character's dynamics.

But then the girl finds out the truth in episode 6 out of 27. So it was only a prelude... Now she wants him out of her life and I could relate. Both him and the other guy who exposed him (she does the mistake not telling HIM to go, as well). When it's like that, the super secret organization the fake boyfriend works for decides to reveal itself to her and ask her openly to cooperate. Is she going to turn into some kind of secret agent herself? It's the most stupid thing I ever heard, nevertheless it seems the show is aiming there. Either way, it is the bewitching Jacqueline Muench who steals the show even in a side role.

I must say while watching, I was COMPLETELY uninterested in the whole plot and I didn't care who is the evil corrupted one in the family, who works for who and even who murdered nang'ek's dead mother. Therefore, I wished for nang'ek to tell the secret organization to stick it. But, of course, the next scene we can see nang'ek already collaborating with them. Now. If I don't care about the plot, I don't like the main guy, I don't like the main girl, and I'm not interested in further progress of this story, should I continue watching such series?

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Okay, there's an assembly of NINE people on the poster: warning number 1. Aom Piyada is way past her thirties, even. I remember she looked too old for Nut Devahastin in 'Artid Ching Duang' in 2009 already, but this is not her lovestory. We have Vill Wannarot & Jes Jespipat here for this. Their chemistry should work well? The two actors started dating after this aired...

These two start interacting in episode 3. Aom Piyada is Jes Jespipat's mother in this, and goes even more psychopatic than in the mentioned 'Artid Ching Duang'. She almost kills Vill Wannarot's main girl some early episode like 5th, but it passes on more or less like nothing happened. To be honest, I did not want to watch 27 episodes of this. Vill & Jes might have dated in reality but their onscreen connection is nothing much. Not into the half-psychopatic middle aged couple, either... What else is there? Point Cholawit flirts heavily with Janis Janistar, but is that enough?

This is so clearly not my kind of lakorn, lol. Whenever Vill Wannarot's nang'ek finds herself alone on a romantic looking beach, it's not the pra'ek, but the psychopatic middle aged harpy portrayed by Aom Piyada, who finds her there. Vill & Jes's scenes, as meek as they tend to be, take very small percentage of the screentime. As soon as episode 7/27, I was already massively bored and particularly disenterested in the whole plot involving Attempted Murder, Hidden Identity, Birth Secret, Evil Stepmother, Step-siblings Love, Murder and Amnesia. Which seems like a bad parody, but actually is only a listing of this show's Tags (VERY useful tool on MDL, helps me avoid a lot of cr*p:) I had LOADS of thai lakorns already downloaded on my drive, which was the only reason why I even attempted this.

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It seems I'm the only one who's not into this drama seeing how many stars this series is getting. I made it up to episode 2 - ish. Well ish because I gave up half way. Maybe I'm just getting pickier now that I'm older.

The thing that got me is the heroine personality (not hating on the actress because surprisingly she's good). Its her character I have a problem with, I kinda wish she was the type that don't need someone to "rescue" her. I can almost predict what's going to happen before it did like in the first episode when the heroine fell from her bike and oh so romantically the hero was there to help and in second episode where I was hoping she would stand up when the wannabe mean girls clique confronted her. But instead yes you guess it the second guy was there to help. I was rolling my eyes so hard I could almost see part of my brain that actually care.

I do however like the main leads interactions. I even laugh few time.

*sigh* Maybe because I wasn't in the mood to watch these kind of plot after reading too many books with strong characters.

Will I be watching this again? I don't know. Maybe.. when and if I finally found my mood.

Couldn't appreciate the music since I only made it to episode 1 and a half.
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**this is my opinion and rambling to remind me in case I forgot why I watch this or in this case - gave up.

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