Reviews

Wherein both main characters annoy a certified grump to the near-ruination of the series...

Duang With You is neither good enough to recommend without reservation nor terrible enough to warrant a scathing review. Per its cutomary business practice, Domundi has once again manifested a knack for pairing together cute actors whom BL fans will obsess over. Also per its customary business practice, Domundi has burdened another bright-eyed, eager duo with a script short on actual substance. Of course, well-crafted BL series can get by with minimal narrative substance. All they really need is some sort of idealized romance anchored by barely post-pubescent actors, sufficiently winsome and nubile, who exhibit good chemistry with one another. If the storyboard now and again spices up the whole affair with alluring NC scenes, then enough of the audience will swoon to guarantee a commercial success. Good news for the subset of BL fans who dote on couple pairs and just want to see cute boys kiss! Duang With You delivers more or less exactly those things, which means many reviews of this series will glow so brightly one might conclude it is the most brilliant series ever.

This review, however, was written by a certified grump who has grown jaded after consuming the genre for six years. I need more than a fluffy idealized romance: I crave a fluffy idealized romance that evinces some flair in the telling of the story and that makes more than token attempts at developing characters. Duang With You manages neither, which leaves me to deliver a tepid review of a tepid story with tepid characters. If you enjoy a bit of fluffy romance that you can enjoy with your brain switched off, Duang will likely keep you entertained. Sometimes that is all any of us need. We all of us have a few questionable choices listed among our sentimental BL favorites. So fine by me if Duang works for you. Should you, however, wish for any level of complexity, seek it elsewhere.

As far as the plot, Duang With You is a basic BL. That observation is not intended as a slight. I just mean the plot returns to the genre’s basic roots. There is no murder mystery to solve. No reincarnation twists. No one has swapped bodies. No one possesses supernatural powers. The world is not ending. The storyframe revolves around two young men, college students Duang and Qin, pursuing first-love. That back-to-(BL)basics set-up has worked plenty of times in the past, and the “opposites attract” storyline almost works here. Sadly, Domundi is too busy marketing its ubiquitous couple pairs to invest in quality screenwriting. As a result, episode after episode delivers scenes in which the boyish actors, sufficiently winsome and nubile, gaze adoringly into one another’s eyes. (To be fair, all of that frippery works well here most of the time. Credit to the boyish actors, winsome and nubile.) Nevertheless, in presenting so many instances of Duang staring with mindless devotion into Qin’s eyes—a blind devotion unwarranted by their actual level of human interaction—the series forefeits meaningful attempts to build either character (or their attraction) into more than a cardboard caricature. The best “basic BLs” work when the script delivers delightful characters with interesting lives. For me, the failings in character development, even more than the skimpy plot, prevent Duang With You from exemplifying the best that “basic BL” can be.

It is a problem if neither main character wins the viewer over. In this case, both Duang and Qin became stumbling blocks to my enjoyment. I never warmed to either. Duang is preternaturally ebullient. Qin, preternaturally sullen. Opposites, see? It could work. Maybe, it should work. Yet the relentless cheer of Duang quickly becomes tiresome. By contrast, Qin starts out tiresome. He never drops a gloomy mien. The characters were written this way—that is their schtick—so I am not knocking the performances. At the risk of redundancy, if you enjoy the evident chemistry between the actors, the whole series will likely work better for you than it did for me. A belated attempt to provide Qin’s taciturnity a backstory, one obviously calculated to induce viewer sympathy, fell completely flat for me. A nanny that horrible? Too stupid to be plausible. Even Qin, her ostensible victim, knew the story was absurd, saying at one point, "The nanny never bothered me. I just wanted a hug from my mommy." Well. Those were not his exact words, but they may as well have been. Yes, all that morose glumness stems from a sad childhood because his parents are as implausibly neglectful as Evil Nanny was implausibly hateful. Judging from the comments section, people who liked the series devoured these revelations as if they revealed profound secrets of the Universe. No. It was just hyperactive TV drama doing hyperactive TV drama things. Any character quirk that requires such over-the-top groundwork to justify simply strikes me as an effect in search of a cause. That is to say, the writer began with an idea: “I want a main character who is morose and sullen and silent,” then concocted a backstory to deliver the desired result. Small wonder Qin’s personality felt contrived from start to finish—his peculiarities were made to order for an “opposites attract” storyframe and simply come across as unnatural .

The boyish actors, winsome and nubile, gamely sell the quirks of their characters as they pretend to fall in love for the camera. Their effort makes Duang With You a serviceable BL. Ultimately, however, little distinguishes the final product from a host of other forgettable series starring other sets of boyish actors, sufficiently winsome and nubile, who also manifest compelling chemistry. Again, if that's all you need from your BL, you will enjoy Duang just fine. But for me? File this as the latest example of "watch, then forget." Next!

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Hilarious comedy

Wang CuiHua transmigrates into a drama she was tasked to improve, only to find herself cast as the villain in a Xia kingdom palace. Worse still, her character does not have a happy ending. Deeply in love with Prince Duan, she is instead offered to the emperor by her ambitious father, who hopes to climb the ranks through her.

The emperor is known to be a ruthless tyrant who does not hesitate to kill his consorts. Brought before him to serve, CuiHua is nearly cast aside and buried until she begs for her life. To her surprise, she discovers that he is also a transmigrator.

Armed with only a skimpy knowledge of the drama—having rushed through the script—she must now not only save herself, but also the emperor, who was assassinated in the original story. They begin to suspect that there may be other transmigrators as well. It is a precarious situation: both of them were villains in the original plot, surrounded by enemies. If others know the story, they would likely try to eliminate them. Worse still, as they plot their course, the story begins to change and deviate from the original, leaving them uncertain about what lies ahead.

This drama appears to be a remake of a similar 2025 production, which was rated much lower at 7.5 on MyDramaList. I nearly skipped it on iQIYI, as I usually avoid dramas rated below 8. Fortunately, a second search led me to this newer, better-rated version. Having not watched the earlier one, I cannot make a comparison. Also, the trope of being drawn into a play and becoming a character is all too familiar—another reason I almost passed on this drama. As it turns out, it is well worth watching.

The drama is both hilarious and comical, yet at the same time intense. At its core is a three-way power struggle among Prince Duan, the Empress Dowager, and the Emperor. The Emperor begins as the underdog. Transmigrated at a young age, he was raised by the Dowager as a puppet, with no real authority or military backing. In contrast, Prince Duan controls the military, while the Dowager dominates the court. The arrival of CuiHua, however, shifts the balance. With a capable strategist by his side, the Emperor finds himself in a more advantageous position. How it all unfolds keeps the tension high.

Wang Chu Ran's and Ryan Cheng's on-screen chemistry is excellent and carries the story effectively. While the second leads also perform well, Una Jingru You, a support lead, deserves special mention for convincingly portraying both male and female personas. She plays in one of the most heart-rending moments - the death of a comrade, who, longing to see better days for the kingdom, succumbs to illness on a snowy winter day before that hope can be realised.

The music, however, feels somewhat monotonous. Many tracks share the same sweet, sentimental tone and are not particularly memorable, though a couple do stand out does stand out a little more.

Overall, this is a well-produced drama—with lovely costumes especially for the main leads, realistic CGI, excellent acting, and an engaging power struggle. It is certainly worth the time: entertaining, intense, and filled with moments of genuine laughter.

I debated between an 8.5 and a 9, but ultimately decided on a 9.

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This is an indie film, with inexperienced actors, an obviously non-existent budget and directors who are at least new-ish to the trade. I tend to be extremely lenient with films like these, because there's usually a lot of passion that went into making it, and stories are more often than not deviating from the mainstream.

So, yes, I don't mind the wonky audio quality or how the change between scenes is often less than smooth. I can focus on how the actors do their best (and mostly succeed) and on the interesting camera angles.

What I do mind is if the script is not good. You don't need a high budget to write a good script -- you need a vision. And I think this is where the weakness of this film lies.
The three stories are very good -- on their own. The shy and confused boys experiencing their first love feels very grounded in reality, the close-ups and the wonkiness of the camera work support the viscerality of the story. The second changes genres -- from slice-of-life to horror: And this, too, has interesting lighting and camera angles, and is quite well written, with somewhat of an open end even. And the third returns to a more sensitive topic, and this screenplay makes us feel for all three men in just twenty minutes.

In the last few minutes, the script tries to tie the three storiess together -- but ultimately fails. There's a theory in the comments on MyDramaList, but the mental twisting it requires to make it work (and even then there are too many details that just don't fit) makes me think that these originally were three seperate stories, maybe even sperate projects.
letterboxd lists three directors for this project, and the difference in styles in the three stories indicate that each one was directed by one director. I suspect that they only noticed at the end of their work that they maybe should try to make the stories into one, which is why things don't really fit together.

In my view, they did their project a disservice by doing so. Each of the stories is not bad on its own; this could have been a simple omnibus. Each of the stories shows a different age in life already (teenagers, young adults, adults). The Thai title เพราะรัก...ไม่สิ้นสุด "Because Love ... never ends" would make a perfect starting point for a journey through the stages of life; just choose some middle-aged actors for the third story, and you already have it.

The three directors chose to do differently, but I don't think it works well enough.



Was it good?
Each of the stories were not bad for an indie production. The whole doesn't make sense, unfortunately.

Did I like it?
If I pretend that the stories are independant from each other, then yes.

Who would I recommend it to?
To those who want to peek into the history of Thai gay cinema. Not to BL fans who are used to recent productions and want everathing to have the same production quality.

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Pattaya, pop psych, real psych, pastries, planes, and bike pedals--lots of bikes to pedal

This series swirls around three adoptive brothers. One is a psychologist. One is a former pilot suffering from PTSD after an accident. Now he works as as a bike mechanic. The third brother works at a host bar, where he sells his companionship to the highest bidder each night. The family, which also includes their mother and a much younger sister, operates a combination bike shop and cafe. The brothers' love interests turn out to be an exchange student suffering from PTSD related to childhood trauma. A baker so deeply in debt that he will take any job at all. And a client at the host bar harboring a secret. The series makes good use of its setting in the beachfront city of Pattaya--in fact, it makes such good use of scenic overlooks and city beaches that one surmises that the Pattaya tourism office helped underwrite the production. Not a complaint, since that is how BLs get produced in Thailand, but the city promotion was quite noticeable here. In nearly episode, after all, one or more characters spends the episode biking around the city and its environs.

Somehow, the psychologist fails even to notice his brother's PTSD, but he induces his new acquaintance the exchange student into therapy by episode 3. Then, he promptly passes the new patient off to another doctor in the same practice. Unfortunately, it takes until the finale before the student realizes the doctor punted on his treatment for ethical reasons, even though everyone in the audience twitted to that reality almost immediately. On the bright side, let us cheer a Thai BL production that acknowledges professional medical ethics so directly instead of building a fantasy romance around a psychologist dating his own patient. Will eight episodes be enough to cure the patient's PTSD? You've seen BL before. Guess for yourself.

Meanwhile baker and bike mechanic enter into a tempestuous relationship. (The story drops the pilot angle after e 2, until it abruptly resurfaces in the finale. Silly me. I had forgotten it existed at all.) Ostensibly, this duo manifest an enemies-to-lovers story frame, but the enmity comes across as artificial, even forced. Their early interactions consist of throwing punches, then fucking. Naturally, true love will not be far behind. The debtor's financial situation drives the most dramatic scenes in the eight episodes, as the whole family deploys familial solidarity to defeat the cruel debt collectors. Does any of it make sense? Shh. We are watching BL, and all that matters in the end is the good guys win. Oh, and that baker and bike mechanic grow closer because of the crisis. That matters, too. But they will still throw punches in the finale, just for the nostalgic callback value.

Finally, we have the host and his owner--err, his client. I don't have much to say about this plot, as it is the least compelling of the three and least impactful on the other characters. In keeping with the rest of the series, this couple's sublot also features a serious problem that requires fixing. Like all other problems in this series, the solution arrives too easily, too prettily, and with too much reliance on a convenient deus ex machina. The result proves less than completely satisfying. But it's nice they went through the motions.

In short, Love Like a Bike ranks as a below average BL. Not terrible, but in the end, the final result lacks the complexity in execution that the ambition of its multi-faceted storylines would suggest. To its credit, the series manages to feel different from most of Thai BL, whether by escaping the environs of Bangkok or by focusing primarily on adult non-students. I would not dismiss it out of hand as a complete waste of anyone's time. Well, unless you have important things that need doing. But if you're looking for a brainless lark while on holiday or just want an excuse to procrastinate, you could do a lot worse than this one.

One other note: Netflix has suddenly decided to grace North America with proper BL series. That gives an additional motivation to watch this series--so they keep giving us more. Sooner or later, they're bound to buy an excellent one, right?

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Restart and rewind

There are some great seeds of storytelling in this fantasy tale, but it is a winding road from beginning to end, and not enough is explored more deeply to be truly profound or memorable among the myriad fantasy shows out there. Themes of belonging, love, and brotherhood are touched upon but then are dropped amid the tendency to focus on sudden shock reveals and reversals that may be exciting for the moment but then are ultimately a bit empty in the return. Some parts are redundant when focused on a particular character that did not give any more added weight by the 3rd or 4th time the same aspects of the character were reemphasized. At the end, we arrive at the beginning, and one has to wonder if the whole journey was worthwhile.

Still, this is a pleasing production bolstered by a talented cast that make you care about the characters even though not enough is spent developing them all. The music is creative and certainly adds to the world and makes it come alive. The middle of the story was the standout to me - all the strands of the story build together nicely to an exciting mid-story climax. I only wish I could say the same for the finale.

Ultimately, this is worth checking out for the cast and for its sumptuous visuals and sound design.

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Great standard for cdrama

Kudos, to the production team!! A good mix of romance, comedy and mystery.

So many people have come to watch this series because of Wang Xingyue, me included. He has stared on three mystery shows but this one is the most well balanced. Good story, good cast. It focus on how the story developed and doesn’t overwhelm us with visuals. What I love best about it because it’s something I personally think most cdrama are lacking is that the script extracts all actors full potential. They act well without having to sell their looks to get famous, to outshine each other. Everything is harmonious.

The story is interesting and easy to digest. An easy watch after work. I appreciate the efforts they put in to make the crime scene realistic. The lightings, music and settings are all wonderful. Good transitions between scenes. Portrait the 19th century China do well. I can see how much they put in the effort to capture the essence of that time through small details in their office, cafes and hospitals. Good costumes and designs.

This is how series should be made. Excellent team. Well made. Respect audiences. Much underrated. I hope more people discover this gem.

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its an interesting addition however...

It's an interesting addition, but I find the plot quite basic. The concept was engaging, but the acting felt shallow, and there wasn't enough emotional depth in the story. Watch it only after you've seen the previous Nanno shows, as this might discourage you from watching the other seasons. While it's not bad, I feel Becky is more suited to the GL genre. I know she's been trying to diversify, and for a first attempt in a foreign genre, she did pretty well—so please don't criticize her too harshly. She's trying her best and seems very sweet. However, overall, the show lacks the emotional depth that I appreciated in previous seasons.

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Dislike the abuse faced by FL but overall lighthearted family-focused drama

I was writing a reddit post about vertical drama actors aged 35 and above when I discovered this drama on iQIYI. I wanted to see if this could be my favourite Sean Pai drama so I watched it just before I published the post. This isn't my favourite drama of his.

What I liked:
1. FL characterisation - She was kind & self-reliant. Her medical skills were good but amusing.
2. Supporting characters - I really liked ML's family. They were welcoming despite being rich folks. I also liked the twins even though they seemed too wise for their age.
3. Romance - It was sweet even though the romance arc was underwhelming to me. I liked that FL initiated the kiss.
4. Tone - It started off dramatic with the torture then slowly progressed into a lighthearted tale. One of my favourite scenes is the twins whipping ML into shape!
5. Ending - That abrupt moment was cute!
6. Family - This value was the focus of this drama.

What I disliked:
1. Abuse - I hated that FL was tortured & bullied by various people in this drama.
2. Antagonists - ML's pursuer who proclaimed to be ML's fiancee was annoying & behaved like a petulant kid. I wish she had gotten retribution - I disliked how the character was wrapped up. Now FL's senior was horrible for imprisoning FL and the twins.

Favourite scene
When FL cooked porridge for his brother-in-law

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