Completed in 2024

The issue I had with this whole series was its philosophy related to life and death. Overtly religious beliefs being passed as truths and extreme victim-blaming. I wanted to stop watching this but pulled myself through. The actors did an amazing job, technicalities were good but I really could not look past the idea they were reiterating, so. 

I travelled two hours to watch this movie on the big screen, and it was totally worth it. 

Watched it a couple more times after that, but I still do not know how to put into words everything this movie made me feel.  Because there's just so much. But to start from the top of my list, let's look at the technical aspects: the direction, the cinematography, the editing, and the acting were all 100/10. I loved the narrative structure, how they showed the events from different point of views, and the question it all poses: Who Really is the Monster? 

Although it wasn't as nuanced as I'd like it to be, because it is quite the murky ground, the movie did treat childhood and sexuality with care. It humanizes the queer identity, emphasizing that queerness is not something that sprouts overnight, that it is not a phase. It felt overwhelming and emotional to see younger characters' struggles with coming to terms with their identity. But it felt relieving to be represented in such a way.

All that aside, something that irked me is the BL audience boiling this down to the love story of two boys. Because it is much more than that. The teacher and the mother are important characters, too. I saw a tweet that explained it in detail, I'll be adding it here if I find it again. That being said, this film is complex on so many levels.

It was super cute, I mostly watched it with my brain turned off because I was super exhausted irl. But watching it gave me so much serotonin!!

For the longest time, I wanted to read the book. I kept putting it off, and I would've continued to do so, choosing not to engage with the whole Three Body Problem franchise as I was waiting for the right moment that possibly would've never arrived. But luckily, I have an amazing oomf who was pretty loud about this drama on twt and I couldn't help but be curious. So, I finally started it. 

To say that it blew my mind would be an understatement. 

From what I have understood, Tencent's Three Body is a line by line adaptation of the first book in the trilogy, with very few changes. It has done complete justice to the source material, can even be considered a bit better, if you'd ask me. Because the characters feel alive and human, the relationships have more dimensions. They really were able to bring the characters and their conflicts to life without compromising on the investigations and the scientific aspects of the story. 

It was pretty engaging, too, and made me feel proud of myself for actually understanding what was happening. AND A HUGE SHOUTOUT TO THE CGI TEAM, LIKE DAMN, YALL KNEW WHAT YOU WERE DOING! And the actors and their chemistry had me squealing. Da Shi and Wang Miao have made it to my favourite ships list. The brainrot is SO REAL that they got me reading fics and making edits.

Shin Hakyun dramas never disappoint! Wrote a more comprehensive review here.

Joe: If I die-

Ming: Death will not save you from this relationship

Forgettable, that's how I would describe this drama in a word. 

Taishin's sparkling eyes and Takara's gorgeous hair is pretty much what carried the whole show, if you asked me. And there was a certain kind of warmth to the drama, which I've come to understand is a characteristic feature of most Slice of Life J-BLs that lack a substantial plot. I guess warmer palettes and prettier frames do help in covering up the lack of a coherent plot and a solid character development, at least for the initial few episodes. But at the end of the day, there is a limit to how much the aesthetics alone can satisfy the watching experience. But I did like the hiking and outdoorsy scenes, they were pretty.

Anyways, there wasn't much happening that really caught my attention but I did like some of the issues they dealt with: admiration, suitability, fear of falling in love, and all that, but it was all explored at surface level and felt too shallow. And the acting was kinda mid too.

I heard there will be an S2, but I don't think I will be tuning in.

I liked this when I first started watching it. But a = few episodes in, and it became painfully obvious that this was just marriage and pro-life propaganda wrapped in romcom tropes, and I just couldn't look at it the same again. 

Though it lacked nuance, I do appreciate the empathetic light in which the drama portrayed ex-convicts and their struggles to start a new life and reconnect with society. And I am all in for an ex-mobster who wants to lend a helping hand while he rebuilds his own life. He deserves to fall in love and start a family too but I guess my issue is with the fact that the whole marriage and kids aspect is treated as the norm. And that felt too heteronormative for me. 

Not just that but also the way they set up Eun Ha's character from the beginning (of course, the kind children's content creator is gonna make an amazing mom, jfc, how did I miss it), it was so obvious where it would all lead to in the end. It is my mistake I was not able to see it because the humour was humoring, and I liked the contrast between Eun Ha and Ji Hwan, and then the second couple happened. And the cogs in my brain started turning and I realized. Oh. 

Giving this a 4.5 feels like I'm being way too lenient, but I have to accept that there were a few things that I liked about this show: the technicalities, the execution, and the acting. 

From the sets, to the post production work, everything screams this had a good budget. The cinematography, the editing, the colouring, it's all a 10/10. Which makes the poor quality of the script stick out like a sore thumb. It is quite the snooze fest with a repeating narrative (Peach apologizing for things he shouldn't be apologizing for and Shin being a piece of shit). Perhaps this might've worked better as a movie, but only if they fixed the script, and focused on better character development and relationship dynamics. It is also lacking in (for the lack of a better term) Worldbuilding because it does not portray the finer details of culinary apprenticeship and the baking experience. I believe it would've better grounded the whole story. I was really hoping to see some pretty shots of gorgeous deserts, and the baking process, but there was barely anything. But I guess we'll have to make do with the Grandma (who was a total sweetheart, btw).

Ngl, I picked this back up because of Poom. You cannot blame me, he's just too good at what he does. And I'm disappointed that this drama did not do his talents any justice. Not just him, but also Guide and Atom. Such a good ensemble but the plot fell too short. I'm not even gonna bother talking about Ohm, a naïve me had once liked him because UWMA was one of my first Thai BLs. Even if his acting has improved (a little bit), his characters are so one dimensional that they only require him to use the same three expressions over and over again. Shin was boring, and Poom clearly outperformed Ohm that Guy was much more of an interesting character than Shin. Which is a pity because this drama had all the right ingredients to make something worthwhile.