(Absolutely Not) Mircro (Mostly) BL Reviews
I really should find a new title for this. So often none of these are micro nor are they all BL. But I am lazy and bad at titles in general, so it will stay this way forevermore.
With that riveting introduction out of the way, let's just get started, yes?
In no particular order.
Completed
The Loyal Pin (Thai, GL): Enjoyed this one a lot for most of it. I had a great time just looking at it, everyone and everything was so pretty. I swear the show lingered on Freen and Becky's gorgeous faces abnormally long always just to highlight how gorgeous they both are. This is not a not a complaint. The acting was on point, as always, especially Freen who I just loved as Pin. And I loved seeing Becky playing the pursuer and the one who was a bit of a spoiled brat. The plot did get a little meandering here and there - I am not complaining about the length because I would have watched 80 more episodes but it did drag on occasion, and some of the cuts were a little odd. Anin especially seemed to have teleporting powers on occasion. One thing I really did like although it made me furious was how it mostly realistically engaged with the real struggles that Anin and Pin would have to go through to be together. I was furious at Pat more than once for ignoring things that were right in front of her face that spelled out what a shit Kuea actually was and just ignoring it, but the reality of Pin having to marry a man she did not love felt very realistic, especially considering her station relative to Anin's. Not sorry that they went the happy route in the end but I did like that Pin's struggles were real. Kuea was an impressive dick. That guy is really good at sucking, kudos to him. My one real quibble (and what dragged this down an entire point in the end) is the "joke" the king played on Pin when she was removed to her forever house with Anin. I'm not against messing with people but they literally ripped her out of a sobbing Pat's arms, blindfolded and driven off to who knows where. The poor girl was terrified and call me humourless but I didn't find it funny in the least. Not with everything else she'd been through. So final verdict is 8/10.
Kidnap (Thai, BL): This one I actually stopped watching about halfway through and then just binged when it was over. It was okay. I didn't have the ton of criticisms others had, but it also really wasn't my favorite, either. It was a turn your brain off and watch the pretty kind of show, I genuinely do not believe that it ever aspired to much higher than that, and I think that as a show like that it served its purpose. To be honest, unless the show was completely unwatchable I'd have finished it simply because the people losing their tiny minds over the fact that Ohm was paired with someone other than Nanon annoyed the everloving fuck out of me. I am not one who is hugely bothered by branded pairs working together over and over but if I was, the reaction to this would have been a great point in its favor (another is the way far too many "fans" of branded fairs treat the less popular or less liked one, but that's also just people being dicks and would probably happen anyway - it's just having to see the same person get it over and over that is rough). Aside over, the show was fine. It didn't do anything revolutionary but I don't really think it was trying to. Ohm was great as always, other Ohm was a great as the little bro, Leng was fine (he's green and it shows, especially when he has to do some of the more emotional scenes, but he's not bad. And I think he did Q's panic attacks and PTSD related trauma very well indeed). All in all, it was your standard romcom fare. Easy to watch, and easy to forget when it was over. 7/10.
Unknown (Taiwan, BL): Adopted brother trop baby. Don't look at me I don't care I eat it up. I love me a good stepbrothers / adopted brothers who fall in love tale, and so does Taiwan. I had a good time with this one. All episodes were out so I binged it all via Viki which is honestly how I like to do it with shows like this - I just don't have the energy or the mental strength to wait on tenterhooks for another episode when I get super invested and things aren't going well (Jack & Joker nearly broke me and THK kind of puts me in a frothing rage - more on this later maybe), plus it helps when I can consume this type of stuff all on my own. Stuff that I imagine people have Opinions about. Opinions that will probably annoy me. It's why to this day I'm still glad I watched most of MLC in a vacuum and wasn't watching live until the final eps. I just know the opinions on that one would have send me 'round the bend. But this isn't about those shows, it's about Unkwon. I quite enjoyed it! I liked that everyone was kind of a mess, pretty much exactly as you would expect them to be, considering. No one here has their shit together, especially not the one who seems to have it the most handled. I also really liked all the pining and yearning. If you know me at all you know that I am the biggest fan of reverse pining and this show delivered that to me in spades. I could have watched thirteen episodes of Wei Qian missing Xiao Yuan so badly he could taste it. Chemistry was also on point, but honestly Taiwan almost always delivers there, I might worry about the story but I never worry about the chemistry. 8/10.
Night Has Come (Korea, gen): This one absolutely had me hooked pretty much from the beginning, and I loved it so much for pretty much the entirety of the drama. The cast is excellent, I was infuriated, I cried, I sat on the edge of my seat wondering what was coming next...and then the end kind of annoyed me and made the story fall apart just a little. Not enough to kill my enjoyment, but enough to drag my overall score down to 7/10. Would still recommend it though, if only for the ride. But man, one thing Kdramas are very good at it making me furious at the characters. Weak Hero Class 1, The Glory, All of Us Are Dead, Squid Game...just to name a few. All of these had me incandescent with rage at some point or another. Kudos?
Peaceful Property (Thai, gen or "bromance"): Oh my gosh this show. I knew I'd like it, but I did not expect to love it quite as much as I did. Home was such a delightful character. Peach, Pang, and Kan (my girl!) were great too, but for me Home is what made the show. He was a little naive and far too unaware of his own privilege, but one thing I loved about him is that he was never cruel or even that greedy. He was a little (a lot) useless in the beginning, but through meeting Peach and Pang and Kan he learned to be less so, and also finally found a place where he could belong - something he was looking for for the entirety of the show. Family. This show did the found family thing so well without making it too treacly, which I loved. These four people needed came into each other's lives, each of them having what the others desperately needed, and I love that for them. This show just had so much heart. I don't know how else to say it. I loved it so much. 9/10
Jack & Joker: U Steal My Heart IThai, BL): Oh, this show. So I only recently watched Love Mechanics for the first time this year, and I had no clue about YinWar until then. I know, right? But hey, I watched it right in time to actually get jazzed for this show. I love that we had two different shows airing about mafia-esque at the same time that took very different tracks. While Kidnap went the more romcom slapstick route, Jack & Joker did engage a bit with the darker side of it. Literally everyone at the top sucked, but Boss was the worst of them all. And the worst part about him was that he convinced himself that he was doing it for great justice. I was amused, though, because Mark was my darling baby who could do no wrong in Love Mechanics but in J & J it was absolutely Jack. I loved Joke too but Jack was my darling boy who was so sweet and hopeful and that just kept getting kicked down by life every time he came close to finding a way out. I felt for that man so much. My one criticism is that I didn't love the end. Everything felt a little too pat and perfect after what had happened. But it's not that big of a complaint. I don't think I would have loved a bleak ending either. So many of the side characters helped make this one - I loved Tattoo, Aran and Hoy, Hope and Save grew on me, and Nang was gorgeous even if sometimes the things she did made me want to scream. Grandma was the best and Toi Ting was a delight and stole nearly every scene she was in. Love that little girl. So often with shows I find myself just wanting the main characters to get back on screen but with J&J I felt like that way less. Also, I didn't even mind the long run time of the eps. One last thing I will say is that I really did wind up enjoying the character of Rose. I know that she was rough for some people - it can be very hard to like someone that has no clue about their own privilege or how their wealth has opened doors for them that are impossible for other people to open, or how the people around her played with the lives of others like it was no big deal - but I do think that her slow realization about it was pretty well done. She may have started out extremely naive but by the end her eyes have been opened and she's committed to making some real changes. I like to think she succeeds - girl's tenacious. Also, even if I hadn't liked her already, the way she reacted to being rejected by Jack would have made me like her. It was classy. 8/10
I went on for so long about High School Frenemy that I eventually gave up and gave it it's own post. Do what you will that that one.
Currently Watching
The Heart Killers (Thai, BL): Came mostly for FK, am staying entirely for JD. This is absolutely going to be one of the shows where it's best if I just watch in a vacuum, I think. Especially because I'm more than a little bitter and it's going to get worse rather than better, if I'm right (and I almost always am It's a curse). I do think that we can all agree that Fadel deserves the world, though.
Spare Me Your Mercy (Thai, BL): I am in love with this show. There is so much going on here and every week I'm excited to watch but also not wanting it to be over. Tor and JJ are doing so well and I like that it's making me think. Dr. Kan has never done a thing wrong in his life and I will fight people for him. I also kind of love that neither he nor Wasan are both playing a game and are still managing to fall into the trap anyway, both their own and each other's. Just a great show. Also has me wanting to watch Manner of Death so I will be starting that shortly.
Petrichor (Thai, GL): it's a procedural but everyone's a lesbian. I love it. And everyone is so hot. Like I can barely focus on what they're saying half the time my god. I'm really having a good time with this one.
Pluto (Thai, GL): This show is so fucking good. Namtan is so amazing - I love how different Oom and Ai are, even when they are making the same expressions the way they carry themselves is so opposite you always know who you're dealing with. Film is also doing great as May - a delicious mix of vulnerability and strength, uprightness and manipulation. Also my gosh I keep getting slapped in the face with how ridiculously pretty she is like very five seconds. Did NOT expect the memory loss curveball but I am here for it. Also if the PimJanPang triangle doesn't end in a throuple I might actually cry, but if they all make out with each other a little I will forgive the show if it doesn't end with them all together.
ThamePo (Thai, BL): still not committed but I enjoyed the first episode. Someone should have told me Ciize was in it and I'd have been there with bells on anyway. I love her. So far though it's not like what I thought based on the mock trailer, so I'm cautiously into it.
Looking Forward To
Ossan's Love Thailand: we'll see on the comedy. Sometimes it hits. Sometimes it does not. The more slapstick stuff is iffy for me but I do love EM so.
The Boy Next World: oh my god this looks like exactly my thing. I can't wait.
My Golden Blood: No trailer but I don't even care. GIMME already it's been 84 years.
