Middle Love (2023)

If you can handle cringe and full comedy it may be for you

Actually I find it disappointing... why? because the story have a potential, its actually unique a middleman who finally can have his own love life but suddenly it turns out boring, cringe and and not that good. Yim did a great acting in the cutie pie the series so I had an expectation here but yeah his acting was not giving... its to much actually that some of the scene was hard to watch. But if we'll talk about what is good in this series... probably the character of Tutor which really gives me a butterfly in stomach. He's so soft to Jade^^

The phasing of the story was to slow... I think the story got better in episode 6. I finished it because I really love tutoryim... but if you don't want to disappoint then maybe you can skip this series.

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If you liked Jade in the main story, you'll also warm to this series.

unfortunately, i could never really get on with jade and mai. both characters, like the story, are very flat in my opinion. king and uea's relationship is also different, more childish i would almost say, than in the main series. i think that's a shame, because i've always liked their energy a lot. But to mention a few positive aspects, I really liked the intimate conversations between king/mai and especially those between jade/uea, very believable with nice dialogue! The relationship between Tong and Gus is also great and I was surprised by the bed scenes at the end, beautifully staged, nice lighting.
to summarise, i didn't really like the show but it wasn't really bad either. unfortunately i could never really warm up to jade's character so the whole series was exhausting to watch

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The Middleman’s Love was a deal breaker

As a fan of ‘Bed Friend’ and the character Jade, I wanted to love this. In fact, I did for a little while.

Episode one was not a strong opener but I have a soft spot for cringy and slapstick comedy so it was bearable. I highly enjoyed episodes two to four, five started falling off but it was still tolerable. My biggest complaint would be the introduction of the second or even third couple if we count KingUea. This was a sequel/spin-off of the second couple from ‘Bed Friend’ so why introduce a new couple? It might be nitpicking and introducing new couples isn’t a crime but the new couple got so much screen time (I skipped most of their later parts because it was so repetitive and unattractive to watch). Their romantic relationship was also poorly developed and executed.

What the show did well:
- The comedy. It was my cup of tea and I enjoyed Yim as Jade. Some of the better execution would be when Jade was standing in front and middle while they were deciding what to eat as a group. He told everyone to come closer like he was ready to whisper, but he ended up shouting. I laughed so hard
- The consistency between Jade’s relationship with King and Uea. Jade and Uea being the lovey-dovey giggly besties is one of the better parts of the show. Jade’s constant butting heads with King was also great. I only wished his friendship with Gun was more apparent like in Bed Friends. They were inseparable at one point and in Middleman’s Love, they hardly hung out together unless it was a group/company hangout.
- Jade’s family is so precious. The introduction of his brother was funny and his sister is just a ray of sunshine.
- The shot of Jade’s family having dinner in episode 3. They shot it through the door to make it look like a live picture-perfect family. That was brilliant.
- Tutor covering Nunew’s song…OMG, can we get an official cover?

What the show didn’t do so well:
- As comedy was the baseline of this series, continuity errors and bad editing are bound to happen. But there’s only so much you can do before it becomes unforgivable. When Jade introduced the dog to Mai, there was a time when he was supposed to be squatting down beside the dog, but an editor decided to insert a blur, close up of the dog, and in the back, you can see Yim’s shoes as he walked by before they cut back to Jade still being next to the dog. That part stuck out like a sore thumb.
- I don’t know if perhaps Tutor can’t drive in real life or it was a lack of budget but every time Mai and Jade are in the car, they never move. Even when Tutor was ‘driving’ the scenery through the windows remained the same. That was awkward.
- The timeline wasn’t clear and the pacing didn’t seem to match it whatsoever
Jade’s fear of flickering lights in the daytime was never explained…
- Tong and Gus’ relationship shouldn’t have happened. Their amount of screen time didn’t contribute to the main storyline. Their personalities were also swapped halfway through the show. Gus went from a nice, friendly guy to a pouty kid who isn’t easily pleased. Tong wasn’t easily pleased or expressive but was all of a sudden very intimate and clingy. Gus’ relationship with his mother came out of nowhere and went nowhere.
- The NC scenes. Once Mai and Jade got together, they lost their spark and sweetness. The sexual tension heightened and the show attempted to become Bed Friend 2.0.
- Mai’s relationship with his family gave me mixed signals. Sometimes he'd be sweet on the phone with his mom. Other times, he seems annoyed with her. For some time it sounded like he had a falling out with his father and even brother but it was never clear. They also seemed like fine people by the finale episode.
- I'm not going to talk about Jade's uncalled-for, unexpected outburst at his family's lunch gathering because what was that? There was no build-up for that as far as I'm aware.

Though I’m happy to see Uea again, I’m glad this series only has eight episodes.
Unless you’re a fan of the actors, MaiJade, or clumsy comedy, I can’t imagine you’d enjoy this one very much.

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Just hop to episode 5

This is hard to review because I can see both what they were trying to do, and where they got lost along the way. Jade could be a bit of a buffoon who finds himself suddenly the leading man, but they went too broad and he's frequently clownish rather than a lovable fool. In the second half of the series you actually do get glimpses of what could have been - scenes where Jade is interacting with his family in particular. He's a lonely man who accepted his role as comic relief or a NPC in other people's stories. His struggle to start acknowledging he has needs and wants could be so much more. Yim did actually hit that emotional note several times, but quite late in the series.

I did like seeing King and Uea as an established couple. Uea seems like he finally feels safe with King. That makes me happy.

I'd recommend Zettai BL ni Naru Sekai VS Zettai BL ni Naritakunai Otoko instead if you want to see a NPC get a story of his own.

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Too over-the-top for my liking

While this sounds like a run-of-the-mill office romance, Middleman’s Love is, in fact, the most over-the-top show I’ve seen recently. Typical of Mandee BLs, expect off-kilter humour, absolutely ridiculous visuals and wonky sound effects all around.

I love Tutor and Yim’s cute dynamic (and great visuals!) but Mandee’s over-the-top scripting makes the story a little cringey. Some people see it as a way to evoke laughter, but this is just not really my thing.

The side couples, King and Uea (from Bed Friend) and Tong and Gus (new pairing) bring some variety but also predictability to the cadence of the show since Jade can get a little over-the-top as a character.

The censored YouTube cut, which is shorter, gives you the minimum info you would require to understand the story, but the quality of the story and the depth of the relationship development suffers quite a bit from the edit. Spicy scenes are left out (understandably so, since it’s a censored version) and some extended emotional scenes are truncated, which makes the show seem even more shallow than it actually is.

Speaking of which, the spicy scene between Mai and Jade was WACK. I wanted to bury my face in the ground from the secondhand embarrassment. Just, um, sorry, no.

Full review: https://asianblreviews.wordpress.com/2024/01/07/middlemans-love-2023-bl-review/

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Reseña sencilla

Tengo que decir que yo estaba teniendo muchas dudas sobre si me estaba gustando la serie que sabia que si pero como que había cosas que no me terminaban de gustar del todo, en general es un trama sencilla pero aun asi disfrutable siento que lo que me sacaba de mis casillas era la falta de comunicación y a veces como que no entendía un poco las escenas mas asi de comedia tipo sentía que exageraba poquito pero aun asi la pareja principal me gustaba mucho y alch ustedes no estan para saberlo ni yo para contarlo pero el ultimo cap nonono es JOYA asi en mayúscula por asi decirlo me esperaba todo menos lo que pasa las escenas de ellos fueron demasiado pero DEMASIADO TOP JAJAJ:)

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"todos merecem um romance" (e os tutoryim merecem um BL melhor)

? história: o plot deseja passar a ideia de que o amor independe da maneira que um indivíduo é taxado socialmente, desde "desinteressante" a "esquisito", tendo como exemplar, jade, um homem de 28 anos com conduta extremamente infantil e imatura, o qual possui dificuldades em expressar e aceitar sentimentos, sejam próprios ou externos. mai, por outrora, é seu estagiário, a quem sempre lhe foi imposta a pressão de ser um homem "perfeito", sendo este o par romântico de jade.

os problemas dão início assim que a série abre diversas lacunas para, no final, corrê-las em meio a 8 episódios, que por sua vez, possuem diversas cenas sem agregamento com intuito humorístico, mas que somente geram uma enorme vergonha alheia vinda totalmente por parte das atitudes de jade.

assistir esse lakorn foi como aguentar uniformemente a vergonha dos episódios, para chegar no penúltimo e soltarem toda a carga com a famigerada "forte vontade de dropar" nos meus braços, junto a um drama sem sentido*, para aliviar no último episódio, com cenas fofas dos protagonistas, já como casal, e um leve amadurecimento no jade, na segunda metade do mesmo episódio (8)

sobre o "drama sem sentido", este deu a impressão de ter sido feito como qualquer clichê de romance pré adolescente, tirando o fato dos dois protagonistas terem até 28 anos de idade, sobretudo, sendo um casal homossexual dentro de uma empresa. é sem nexo quando aplicado à realidade, e poderia ter sido abordado diversos temas que preferiram somente irrelevar. porém esse é o ponto mais compreensível até então, por se tratar de um "lakorn de comédia" e irrealista.

por último, a indecisão de público alvo em faixa etária. algo comum que eu vejo acontecer em lakorns são temas tão simples sobre relacionamento e maturidade sendo tratados como tentativas de "lições de moral", nos causando a impressão de que é voltado para um público muito jovem que ainda tem dificuldade em compreender a dinâmica de relacionamentos e os sentimentos envolvidos, os quais estão embarcando nesse meio que é a adolescência. porém, logo em seguida, nos é mostrado cenas mais íntimas entre os protagonistas, trocando totalmente o foco juvenil para um público mais maduro, sem manter uma estabilidade de roteiro, ou falhando seriamente em tentar deixar lições de vidas implícitas de maneira mais sútil e "adulta".

? personagens: não me agradou a maneira que o personagem de jade foi construído, nos apresentando claros problemas de socialização, compreensão de sentimentos, autoestima, maturidade, comportamento, além de espécimes de "traumas" gerados pelo seu primeiro relacionamento, que por sua vez tenta justificar alguma de suas atitudes, sem buscar tratar de nenhum deles, ou sequer explorar o seu crescimento como indivíduo. o único feito de jade durante a série, que poderia acarretar em uma "melhora" em alguns de seus problemas, foi namorar e se abrir com o mai.

gus e tong foram um dos pontos positivos desse lakorn, possuindo um desenvolvimento decente para a quantidade de episódios, cativando o espectador sem ultrapassar o tempo de tela e profundidade do casal principal.

uea e king, por já terem tido seu desenvolvimento em "bed friend", cumpriram o papel de mentorear jade e mai em diversas questões sobre relacionamento. vale ressaltar que a maturidade de uea me impressionou, em meio a tanta dor de cabeça que eu estava passando devido ao jade.

? atuação: conheci o yim (jade) e o tutor (mai) por cutie pie, e desde então eu venho vendo um enorme potencial neles, o que não me decepcionou nessa série. a atuação de ambos foi ótima, e creio que eles se sairiam perfeitamente protagonizando um BL com a proposta mais séria. sobre o james (uea) e o net (king) eu não tenho nadica a reclamar, adoro o trabalho deles. e por último, fiquei feliz em conhecer o trabalho dos atores que fizeram os papéis do gus e tong (tai e leo), espero vê-los atuando juntos novamente!

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Lighthearted and fun, contrary to popular belief

I must say after watching the series I was surprised by how low the reviews were on the series.

First of all I mainly was interested in watching the series because of Tutoryim and honestly their performance was great, especially Yim really shocked me with how good he was on the role. It is mainly a comedic series and while people don't like it because of that I found it really fun and lighthearted.

Story wise, it's very basic, nothing that we haven't seen before but as someone that watched it without the knowledge of Bed Friend the series it might have been even better that way, as no expectations were set before hand. So if there's someone that hasn't watched Bed Friend, giving this series first a try might be a good idea!

Of course the series isn't perfect, I resonated a lot with Jade's story which might be why I also grew attached to the show and are biased to some extent, but the way in which some scenes are portrayed in order to make the audience understand the character more can honestly be not as effective as they might've thought. In this case seeing the feedback on the comment section of the episodes was a great help in understanding Jade better. Also the comedy in the series might seem unnecessary at first but I felt like it gave it more of a cheeky and fun vibe to it and unless you're someone that really doesn't like comedy, I don't see it as being that much of a big deal.

It's an overall entertaining show, and while it might not be everyone's cup of tea, I highly recommend anyone that's second guessing to give it a try!

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A missed opportunity?

Now as someone who partially watched this drama because of TutorYim, I won't hide the fact that I was disappointed from the get go.

The plot had everything to make a cutesy yet memorable drama, however the plot flow definitely did not deliver in any satisfying way (imo). I'm all for fan service with those little cute moments between the characters, but the story pacing was quite irregular which very much influenced my viewing experience and impression of the show as a whole. The resolution of the main issue felt very conveniently fixed and enabled a very rushed ending filled with fan service (which in my opinion was too much for one episode, let alone a finale). As I finished the show, I was left wondering what truly happened between episode 3 and 7 that was substantial to the development of the story or characters.

All in all, I have to say I was quite disappointed the way the show turned out and knowing it could have been something much better if a little more care was put in the writers room.

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Y ya acabo...

Waoo tengo tantos sentimientos encontrados con esta serie que no tengo ni idea de por donde comenzar a escribir.

Bueno, vamos por el inicio, esta es la historia de Jen un personaje secundario en la historia de Bedfriend. LA historia de Jen se basa en que el siempre ha sido el del medio, el que nadie elige o quiere y no ve mas allá de formar parejas, ala ecuación llegan Mai y joven pasante del que Jen estará cargo. Por asares del destino Jen le jura al mundo que Mai esta enamorado de otro pasante y se empeña en querer unirlo con el sin darse cuenta que ninguno de los esta interesado en una relación con el otro.

Hasta ahí vamos bien, la premisa promete, pero, de verdad promete? comencémoslos esta historia con muchas ilusiones y expectativas, jamas pensé que fuera como bedfriend, porque el personaje de Jen no era de ese estilo, pero si esperaba una gran actuación y química indiscutible, que ojo, la tuve, son buenos actores y se nota su química, pero la verdad es que la química de ellos ( Jen y Mai) se ve opacada por la misma serie, y si se preguntan que si tiene sentido, pues si lo tiene.

Iniciando por el cambio de personalidad que sufrió el personaje de Jen desde su aparición en Bedfriend hasta esta serie, hicieron un personaje acorde al humor de la serie, pero a que costo, el personaje mas que adorable me parece que es escupido, quisieron hacerlo tan "adorable" que lo único que da es Cringe, y sin mencionar que cambiaron la personalidad del personaje de King (Net) quizás por temor a que opacara a los protagonista, pero la verdad es que el mismo personaje de Jen se encargo de que no lo quisiera, y ojo, soy amante de las comedias románticas, y hay personajes que satirizados funcionan muy bien, pero el mayor problema con Jen es que si ya viste la serie anterior, te va a chocar este cambio drástico de personalidad, aparte de que realmente no veo para nada necesario que se comporte de esa manera, en la serie anterior el también fungía de cupido y no se sentía forzado para nada. entonces porque un cambio tan espantoso para un personaje que ya conocíamos y que me caía tan bien.

La verdad es el punto principal del porque esta serie no me gusto, y si se debe realmente a Jen.

Con respecto a la trama, es demasiado lenta para ser una serie de 8 ep, la verdad me gusto mas la pareja secundaria que la principal, sentí en ellos mas avance de los que vi con Jen y Mai. Realmente mi ep favorito fue el ultimo, y que conste el personaje de Jen no deja de dar Cringe pero hay hay mas comunicación entre los portas y se nota realmente esa química que tienen ambos, si todas la serie hubiera sido como el ep final no me hubiera molestando tanto y tampoco disgustado. Y ojo, no solo lo digo porque el ep final esta lleno de escenas NC de ellos, sino porque realmente sientes esa química y complicidad de enamorados, cosa que en 7 ep no me dieron prácticamente, porque si había química, pero sin desarrollarme nada de nada, y eso es un punto negativo para mi. Ellos son excelentes actores y me decepciono muchísimo esta serie, en verdad quería amarla, pero y como? no vale la pena verlo, literalmente con el ultimo ep, ves mas evolución que en toda la serie junta y eso también me lleva a otro problema, en un Ep, dígase ep8 final, quisieron darme todo, cosa que perfectamente pudieron darme en la serie completa y con mejor desarrollo, el ep8 es en teoría demasiado rápido, pasan muchas cosas y nada a profundidad, por lo mismo, sin un buen desarrollo de los personajes ves todo y solo piensan en que su relación ira mal, no pasan dos días y ya viven juntos y acaban de iniciar, ósea, no me cabe en la cabeza.

Para pasaba a otro aspecto de la serie y dejar ya mi descontento con ella, pasare a lo que si me gusto de ella. primero la musica, la verdad hay que admitir que tendrán mucho de mi descontento pero la musica de ambiente y post de la serie me encantaron y se disfruta, nunca se sintió pesado ala musica, es mas, hacia mas disfrutable ver la serie y mas llevadera. También ame a los actores de la pareja secundaria de esta serie, son de los nuevos actores de dumundi y la verdad lo hicieron muy bien, y espero seguir viéndolos a ambos. sobre las apariciones de King y Uea, la verdad quería que fueran mas y ver mas de ellos, como dije anteriormente ellos cambiaron la personalidad de King para que no opacara pero al cambiar la de gin se opacaron solo y yo solo quería ver mas de King y Uea, aunque no nos dieron mucho que ver de ellos lamentablemente.

Para resumir todo esto es, no recomiendo la serie, le falto demasiado, amo al Tutor Jim (los actores principales) y espero con ansias mas proyectos de ellos, porque se que talento y química tienen y lo han demostrado. sobre la pareja secundaria, me gusto su química y hasta mejor desarrollo tuvieron que la principal, espero ver mas serie de ellos pronto.

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too much

the first episode was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever made myself sit through. it was a constant fight to finish and I kept dropping the show.

it took about five episodes for me to see any appeal to tutoryim, though i found leotai a lot more interesting. the script was all kinds of bizarre, the comedy was laid on a bit too heavy for me, and the times I did enjoy anything, it was really just a quick scene and would be over before I knew it.

it may just be that I don’t enjoy this type of comedy, but it bugged me that it had the potential to be a lot better. I do hope to see more of Leo and tai though.

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