Interesting, Convoluted, Incomplete

The feeling I get after watching the whole series is the feeling of waking up suddenly in the middle of the dream. I may well wish to continue with the dream but can't. This is another series that is tough to review. There is plenty I like about it, but it's too obviously incomplete to unreservedly give it a good rating.

This series reminds me of Dream Detective, a series with an uncannily similar premise about entering people's subconscious, which isn't as interesting to me overall but has a much more nicely done ambiguous ending.

The revelations in the last episode complicate things a little, so I will just review Episodes 1-35 first.

Set in the Chinese Repulican era, the story starts with Jiang Shuo being found in a ditch. He has lost his memory but hasn't forgotten his special skill of entering people's subconscious. Some incidents result in his forging a friendship with a psychiatrist, Qin Yi Heng, and a romantic relationship with a warlord's daughter, Yuan Mu Qing.

Like a detective series, this series can be divided into a series of cases (which are ultimately tied to a mysterious masked person, Liu Zhi (meaning Six Fingers). The story occupies an interesting position between a conventional detective series and a series about supernatural occurrences: it is actually neither but has elements of both.

Some events in the stories are a tad too illogical. For example, one of Mu Qing's schoolmates is supposed to have lost her mind after a traumatic incident, but she still turns up in school properly uniformed and no one really seems bothered though everyone knows she has kind of gone nuts. There are also occasions when Jiang Shuo could look exactly like another person by simply wearing a mask of the person's face over his head (and the masks get made in an instant, it seems). This is the stuff of some wuxia dramas that are meant to be far-fetched anyway, but isn't what you would expect in a series like this one. Still, if we are not too exacting, the cases can be fairly nice. One involving a trip to an isolated island goes a little too far with its extended dream sequences with layer upon layer of dreams, but still, the story remains quite fascinating.

The main characters help in making the series more watchable. Mu Qing likes Yi Heng at first but shifts her affections towards Jiang Shuo. The romance part isn't excessive in my opinion, but shows the increasing attachment between the characters.

The bromance between Qin Yi Heng and Jiang Shuo is also nicely done, though I suspect it is more like one-sided and repressed romantic affection on Yi Heng's part--it can't be shown anyway, thanks to China's censorship rules. From Yi Heng's expressions as he observes JS while tailing him (to investigate an early case) to how he stops wearing glasses after Jiang Shuo comments that he looks better without glasses, his affection for Jiang Shuo seems to go beyond bromance. There are many more examples though I would urge you to skip the next paragraph if this isn't your cup of tea:

When Jiang Shuo almost drowns trying to save Mu Qing, Yi Heng frantically calls out Jiang Shuo's name though Mu Qing is also his friend. After near-drowning incident, Jiang Shuo is hospitalised and the only person next to him after he wakes up is Yi Heng and not Mu Qing who is starting to fall in love with Jiang Shuo. After Yi Heng is sacked from the hospital (affiliated to his family), he wants to rent a place where Jiang Shuo stays. Jiang Shuo asks him what he's doing there, and Yi Heng just says emotionlessly that it's because he misses Jiang Shuo. (This later leads to some joke about Jiang Shuo being Yi Heng's sugar daddy.) Sometimes Yi Heng is shown brooding in a corner when Jiang Shuo and Mu Qing are being loving, though he could simply be thinking about the mysteries (yeah, right). Yi Heng is always protective of Jiang Shuo: in one scene, he assures Jiang Shup that he doesn't have to fear because he (Yi Heng) is around. Though Jiang Shuo is clearly in love with Mu Qing, the way addresses Yi Heng is also suggestive; he insists on calling him Qin Er4 (short for the second son of the Qin family), but it sounds suspiciously similar to Qin Er0 (which would actually be affectionate). The good thing is the series doesn't bait BL fans in an irritating way; it just doesn't say exactly how Yi Heng feels towards Jiang Shuo.

The revelations in the last episode, however, complicate things too much and the series doesn't end properly as a result. Spoilers are inevitable here:

In Episode 36, it is revealed that everything that happens in the story (so far set in the Chinese Republican era, remember?) is merely occurring in Jiang Shuo's subconscious as he is seeking treatment from a psychiatrist (Dr. Qin, whose alter-ego is Yi Heng). Jiang Shuo is actually someone existing hundreds of years after the Chinese Republican era. Liu Zhi is his evil split personality trying to take over the body fully. To take over the body completely, Liu Zhi has to lock the good Jiang Shuo in the subconscious (as deeply in it as possible) and make him accept being locked. So, because of Jiang's attachment to all this people like Mu Qing in his imagination (these people are very real to him even though he now knows that they are imagined), he will have to destroy the anchor that allows him to get back to the real world. In other words, he has to save these imagined people he loves (hmm...). Well, he also wants to save Dr. Qin. So Jiang Shuo destroys the anchor and lets himself be locked in his subconscious in exchange for the safety of both the imagined people and Dr. Qin, which allows Liu Zhi to take over the body entirely.

But wait a minute. As if the above isn't complicated and convoluted enough, it is very possible that this thing about Jiang Shuo being Dr Qin's patient in the real world could simply be yet another illusion created by Liu Zhi. Perhaps the dilemma between saving Dr. Qin of the real world and saving the imagined people who feel entirely real to Jiang Shuo is itself an illusion. In Episode 35, the environment of the ship the characters are on suddenly takes on a reddish hue. There is some attention-grabbing visual effect in case you don't notice the sudden change in the environment, which makes it seem as though the ship has entered a different realm. So everything that happens after this point, including the "revelations" in Episode 36 could be illusions created by Liu Zhi in Jiang Shuo's subconscious. The purpose could be similar: to trap Jiang Shuo in the world of the subconscious. The ultimate reason for doing so could be different. (After all, the real world hundreds of years later doesn't make much sense. Jiang Shuo tells Dr. Qin that someone called Liu Zhi has been harassing him, and he shows Dr. Qin the mobile phone texts sent by Liu Zhi. All Dr. Qin sees is a blank screen. If Liu Zhi is another personality in the same body, he could well send actual messages using another phone. How does he make Jiang Shuo see something non-existent?)

Nevertheless, if the "real" world of centuries after the Republican era isn't truly the real world, why would Liu Zhi be able to create an illusion of a future in which the Republican era is over and which has things like computers? What sort of power would he need to have to predict things like computers and mobile phones? On the other hand, if everything in the Republican era is is not real but meant to fool Jiang Shuo, why would the stories involve the other characters' personal affairs and interior worlds that Jiang Shuo does not have access to? We end up with a situation where there are many possibilities but none really makes complete sense. Even if there is a sequel, we would likely have to settle for story with significant plot holes. It would actually be less problematic if the writers had not opted for such an unnecessarily far-fetched twist in the last episode.

At its worst, the series is like a bad story that ends with "I woke up and it's all a dream." However, there are also interesting things before the equivalent of the "I woke up" bit that are the story's redeeming qualities.

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Anarchic comedy with some mystery

As a comedy, this movie has several hilarious, if not altogether original, scenes, including one in which the Tang Ren wreaks havoc in a police station to distract the police officers so that his partner can access some information.

There is no gripping mystery but the revelations towards the end of the movie are clever. The main character, an inept or even fake detective, is made the scapegoat of a murder and gold theft. Cops and thugs are both after him. Thankfully, a relative visiting him turns out to be very good at sleuthing.

The movie is most enjoyable as a comedy that makes use of some elements of the detective genre. If you are expecting a solid whodunit, this isn't going to satisfy you. But if you like anarchic comedy that borders on or is downright ridiculous, this is a pretty good one.

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Nothing special but sweet

There is nothing about this movie that makes it stand out amongst other BL series or movies. It is sweet, but not so sweet that you really want more.

Two young neighbors fall in love. There isn't really much tension except for a minor misunderstanding between them and one of them having issues with his parents planning his life for him. Both problems are quickly solved. It's at least ok to watch if you are in the mood for something light, but it also doesn't really have an interesting fictional world to draw you into if you are in an escapist mood.

Still, the movie is decently produced. There's nothing fanciful about the cinematography or editing, these aspects of the movie are fine enough to enable one to enjoy the simple story. Perhaps the dialogue could have been scripted to make things more interesting or moving though.

This is a movie that doesn't try too hard to be anything, and that's both its strength and weakness because we don't end up with something pretentious but we also don't end up with anything that makes you wish there were more shows like it. A few years ago when the market wasn't so full of BLs, a movie like that would have attracted more attention.

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More like Episode 11 than "another story"

This is more like an ending for the original series.

The original ten-episode series ends with Himura seeming to have perished with the cult leader, but at the very end, someone turns up at the landlady's house (possibly Himura).

"Another Story" reveals that the person who turns up at the landlady's house is indeed Himura. He has not died, and neither has the cult leader.

However, "Another Story" doesn't continue the story about the cult leader. Instead, it contains a flashback to Himura and Alice's university days. The case Himura solves is one related to the death of a singer. It gives the impression that another case is added in because it isn't enough to show that Himura has not died. "Another Story" isn't any more interesting than the rest of the cases in the original series. Neither does it offer proper closure apart from revealing that Himura has not died--the cult leader is still alive too and it is suggested that she will continue to be an antagonist.

This is OK as an unofficial Episode 11, but don't expect it to bring the series to a new height.

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A few nice cases with some bromance

This detective series doesn't start off with very interesting cases, but the cases do get more intriguing after one gets past the first few episodes.

As a detective series, it is at least passable. It doesn't try too hard to do something original or have really unexpected twists. However, most of the cases are at least interesting enough to follow. A couple of cases (the teenage killer and the cult leader cases) start from early in the series, perhaps in unsophisticated attempt at creating a sense of connection. However, the cuts to the teenage killer and the cult leader can be somewhat disorienting without really being suspenseful. (On the other hand, especially for the case of the cult leader, it may be difficult to finish the cases quickly if they crop up only in the later episodes.)

The series has a rather nice old-school feel in terms of the setting. The Sherlock Holmes and Watson references add on to this feel. The series is a sort of homage to Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, complete with an equivalent of Moriarty. The equivalent of the Moriarty in the cult leader, however, may just be a little too much of a challenge for one's suspension of disbelief. The effect that she has on people seems a tad exaggerated, and we also don't really know what the cult is all about besides some references to a belief in some utopia.

The bromance between Detective Himura and the novelist, Alice / Arisu, is endearing despite not being the focus most of the time. At some points, it even has hints of romance rather than bromance (though the lines are often blur in other series anyway)--in one scene, the landlady even hints to everyone that they should leave Himura and Alice alone and not play gooseberry, and no one seems surprised. The real surprise is that the series actually does bromance better than some series that bait BL fans only to turn the characters' relationships into rather bland instances of bromance.

This series isn't groundbreaking contribution to the detective/whodunit genre, but it isn't disappointing either.

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From what I see from the comments, the story in this remake of the original Korean series is the same. This means that twists and revelations will not come as a surprise to those who have watched the Korean series. I have watched several Thai remakes of Korean series, and they are all competently made. However, I also wonder if it would be more interesting if they remake the series with a twist or with some surprising differences.

Having said that, I think the Thai version of Oh My Ghost is interesting enough. We can sympathize with the characters of Jiew and Khaopun, but their plights are not portrayed in a way that is too exaggerated. Artit (Chef), on the other hand, could have been developed further as a character. He can be rather childish and wants to get even with some ex-classmates for bullying him, yet he is also kindhearted to the one who has bullied him most badly. However, the nuances of the character are not fully explored.

Prin, the policeman who turns out to be someone possessed by an evil spirit, is another interesting character who is not fully explored. At what point in his life does he start getting possessed? Is he fully unaware and innocent? I'm baffled because the evil spirit appears after Prin is beaten up by his adoptive father as a boy--for trying to kill the adoptive father's biological son. If he is not possessed by the spirit when he almost kills someone, is he really the nice and innocent person he is supposed to be?

The presence of ghosts in the story make it interesting, but it is not clear why some ghosts (like Khaopun) look no different from human beings while others look monstrous and grey. It also doesn't really make sense that Jiew would become unafraid of ghosts (including the scary ones) after making friends with Khaopun, a ghost that really looks no different from human beings.

Of course, the story isn't really big on the typology of ghosts, and minor lapses in logic do not really affect the viewing experience. The disadvantage of producing remakes is also that there is pressure not to just match up to the original but also to be better or more interesting in some ways. I doubt this series has exceeded the original in any way although I have not watched the original.

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The premise is interesting: Using an old phone, Min receives social media notifications from the future. The notifications reveal what would happen to Min in the future, so Min and her friend Sonia are excited about it.

What sets the story back is that the future based on the notifications seem unimaginably ideal to Min, so she shouldn't do doing anything except to let things happen, notifications or not. However, Min and Sonia embark on a mission to make the future come true, which is pretty odd. Needless to say, by trying to make the future come true, they are changing the past (their present) and therefore threatening to make the wonderful future fail to come true.

Logically speaking, Min should have ignored the notifications (though, understandably, it is hard to do so). There is also this idea that the notifications are meant as a sort of message from the future. But Min does not find out till the very end of the story, so she spends most of her time trying to make the future come true (which is rather bizarre if you ask me).

Having said that, the story does turn out to be rather interesting. Min meets the handsome junior, Napat, and they fall in love. There is a love triangle though, because Min's friend, Tong, is also in love with her. Sometimes Min seems to really be happy with Tong, but she also seems averse to the idea of being romantically involved with Tong. Often enough, she accidentally changes the future and the notifications from the future show her ending up with Tong instead of Napat, and she tries hard not to let that happen.

Spoiler:
There is a twist in the story later on that doesn't please many viewers: Min breaks up with Napat and ends up with Tong in the future. Tong is actually a really lovable character and his ending up with Min shouldn't be a problem. Except that the series spends too much time focusing on what a nice couple Min and Napat are. Even by the end, I wonder if Min thinks she doesn't love Napat or if she merely finds it too difficult to change herself to be with him. (Also, Napat loves Min as herself before she changes for him, so it doesn't seem that the two are not really in love).

As for Min and Tong, the chemistry between them as good friends is wonderful, and it is a bit harder to imagine them as lovers, though this is perhaps more a matter of casting and direction rather than a flaw with the story.

The story is quite enjoyable, but I don't find myself entirely satisfied with the ending. Admittedly, it's hard to end the story well. If Min and Napat have a happily-ever-after ending, then he notifications would seem to have no meaning at all, and would seem to be a fantastical element added in for no reason. On the other hand, the Min and Tong pairing (done via a changing of the past that undoes the Min-Napat pairing and involves some strange paradoxes that are best left unconsidered) is not very satisfactory. The Min that we know over seven episodes or so isn't someone who would suddenly realize that Tong is the one for her just because she finds out that he is in love with her. After all, it is not as though she doesn't already know. In fact, she is resistant towards the idea until suddenly* ... Still, it is a very watchable and lighthearted series.

*We are left wondering how many pasts and futures there are. I think there are 3:
1. The past and future without the notifications (Min breaks up with Napat, and Tong dies)
2. Modified past and future 1 (Min who has received the notifications ends up breaking up with Napat, and Tong dies)
3. Modified past and future 2 (Min who has received the notifications realizes how much Tong loves her and that she loves Tong too, and she doesn't start a relationship with Napat).
The last one is the happy ending of the story. But with this sort of stories, there is a paradox. The story has it that, if Tong doesn't die, the notifications to the past will not be sent. And if they aren't sent, then Min can't possibly end up with Tong because of the notifications.

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Not bad, but the ending isn't going to please everyone

Verdict after watching the entire series:

When the series started, everyone was kept wondering if the series would be BL or have a true BL element. By the end of the series, the answer is halfway between a yes and a no.

So the Way/Kim ship really did materialise in the sense that they do turn out to have affections for each other. However, in a modification of the body swap concept, Kim does not really swap bodies with Pan--it's Pan switching between two bodies, and Kim has actually died. Like the characters, we realise in retrospect that Way and Kim do love each other, but nothing really comes out of this because Kim has died.

To be sure, the ending isn't exactly Make-Our-Days-Count sort of awful, it still doesn't sit that well in a series that has spent most episodes being really fun and lighthearted. To its credit, the ending doesn't is not made to seem all that sad, but it is not really a great twist that Kim is actually supposed to die from the start. Also, everything about his affection for Way is inferred by his past actions, and we don't get to see Kim expressing his love for Way. (Couldn't there have been a couple of flashbacks to the time before Kim dies? E.g. how about a flashback to the time he booked the air tickets and wrote #waykimforever on them?)

Yes, I do get it that there is supposedly some deeper message about treasuring today (not unlike MODC), but is this really the sort of message that will be delivered with impact in this series? In the end, the most interesting thing I can imagine the series doing is to make fun of such messages, like how it good-naturedly makes fun of (or at least have fun with) concepts like body-swapping, BL shipping, etc.

The BL element aside, the Pan/Khet story is cute, with Ohm delivering a show-stealing performance as Khet despite not having exactly a meaty role to play. Khet is the most consistent and believable character in the series whereas something doesn't quite add up with the character of Kim despite all the interesting twists.

I actually think the series has the potential to be a classic if it has a better ending. Even if it turns out that Kim's soul has been trapped somewhere and only returns to his body at the last minute, it will be better than the somewhat affected delivering of some "deep message". I see speculations that there could be a Season 2 with Kim not dying--who knows? It would be hard because Kim's body is either buried or cremated since there's a funeral for him. A further twist is likely to stretch the limits of believability too much or invalidate the good ending for Pan/Khet. (But if you see my comments for Episodes 10-12 below, you will notice that the series does tease us with the possibility of a Season 2.)

Comments after Watching Episodes 1-3

Pan fantasizes and writes BL about her seniors, Way and Kim. Way has a girlfriend PhingPhing, but Pan (as well as her friend, Soda) doesn't care.

I have never watched a series with so many possible ships starting from the first episode. (This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it will likely prevent the series from being good BL if it even turns out to have actual BL relationships, so hardcore BL fans may not want to watch it so quickly.)

There is, of course, the ship of Pan and Soda's fantasies: Way and Kim. Despite the fact that Way has a girlfriend, it is not impossible. (We know how it goes in BL--even two apparently straight guys can fall in love.) There is an undeniably close bond between them: Kim (a star student) threatens to quit school if Way is expelled, Way hugs Kim in concern after an accident, and Kim is conspicuously chill when Pan tells him that she has been shipping him with way. Kim guesses correctly that Pan likes Way very soon after meeting her--perhaps they connect because they have something in common: they like Way and want him to be with someone worthy of him.

But if Way and Kim don't turn out to be a real ship, there are other possibilities:
1. Pan and Khet (her classmate, who happens to be Kim's younger brother): Khet is clearly very concerned about Pan.
2. Pan and Kim: the way Pan holds on to him during the bike ride, and the way Kim treats her gently is a hint.
3. Pan and Way: Pan admits to liking way though she fantasizes about Way and Kim.
4. The series even goes to the extent of having a teasing moments between Kim and Khet. They are supposed to be brothers, but Kim doesn't talk to Khet. It is unlikely, but they could well turn out to be those "brothers" who have entirely different biological parents (think: My Bromance).

In fact, Way and PhingPhing, the only real couple so far, appears likely to break up because PhingPhing is a pretentious and awful bitch (and we know how that usually goes).

BL fans who can't take BL baiting should remember that the title of the series is The Shipper, which most likely refers to Pan. If she is the focal point, its likely that her relationships will be the focus. On the other hand, Pan seems to be spending so much time in Kim's body that the actress for Pan seems to be playing a much more minor role. For better or for worse, what GMMTV has done very well so far is to tease and keep us guessing.

Nevertheless, what I really like so far is Ohm as Khet. Ohm seems to have the ability to play intriguing characters who are not the focal main characters but still steal the show from everyone else. Khet's relationships with Pan and his relationship with Kim are rather intriguing. By the end of Episode 3, I'm more interested in Khet than in Kim and Pan (we see mostly Pan in Kim's body) and even Way (too little is revealed about way so far, but this is likely to improve).

Comments after Watching Episodes 4-8
The series keeps teasing us with more possible ships, including Pan/Soda and even Khet/Way. But the ones we really want to take seriously are probably Pan/Khet (rather than Pan/Way) and Way/Kim.

The number of possible ships is either the most exhilarating thing or the most frustrating thing. Perhaps both--the series is light and funny, but it's probably not the greatest love story ever.

One twist that is keeping everyone in suspense is the revelation that Kim to be a terrible person (secretly dating a teacher and stealing exam questions through her). Is he really such a bad person? The unfortunate thing is there is not enough of First as Kim. Pan is no doubt the main character, but First gets the important role of Pan in Kim's body.

Ohm continues to shine in the episodes.

Comments after Watching Episode 9
The Way/Kim ship seems to be sailing, though it might well be a false start. It's entirely possible that Kim doesn't turn out to be a terrible person and the Kim/Way ship works out together with the Pan/Khet ship, but who knows?

I'm not going to like it too much if Khet falls in love with someone else because if anyone is in love from the start, it's him. If he doesn't end up with Pan, it will be sad. If he falls in love with someone else, it will seem out of character.

(Irrelevant: Episode 9 is also the episode in which everyone can get jealous of the Angel of Death who gets to kiss Ohm.)

Comments after Watching Episode 10-12
Watchable, but Episode 12 is somewhat disappointing, not least because Kim does not have a chance to come back to life. The "deeper messages" that the series supposedly conveys are undermined by the story itself. If we are meant to understand that reality is different from fiction, why do Pan and Soda continue writing (by all appearances happy) BL fiction to console Way? If happy BL fiction serves a function, why not give the series a happy BL ending too?

One way to get past this is to understand that the series isn't even trying to convey these deeper messages but is simply making fun of shows with such messages. After all, quite characteristically, Episode 12 teases us right at the end with a very brief scene (after the closing credits) of Kim in the spiritual world and a voice (God?) speaking to him. This is most obviously a way of suggesting a Season 2 and the possibility a different ending for Way/Kim. There's no indication of which part of the chronology of The Shipper this brief scene is supposed to belong to, however. I recall Way making a wish for Pan in church, asking Kim to help Pan by making a heads-or-tails bet with a coin. The coin magically flips: is it Kim blessing Pan from the other world or is it a conspicuously absent God doing something to help?

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This is a mini series with about 20 minutes per episode, so we can't expect a very complex story. The series starts with Time shooting Night by accident and then trying to make amends for it. It's a BL series of sorts, so not unexpectedly, they fall in love. The part about the shooting is ignored until the very end of the series.

There are quite a number of inexplicable moments in the story: what on earth is Time doing with a gun? Why doesn't Time seem scared of being caught by the police at any point in the story? Why does Time suddenly leave Night and asks his girlfriend/ex-girlfriend to meet him?

Then just after I have managed to suspend my disbelief about how Time can get away with possessing a gun and shooting someone and embrace the happy ending, Time is suddenly caught by the police in the ending sequence, almost as if the scriptwriters suddenly thought, "Hey, we forgot to follow up on the shooting incident. Let's use it to create an unhappy ending because we hate the viewers!"

On top of the sudden turn that ends the series, the cinematography is rather strange. The arrest of Time is filmed from a distance without any dialogue. We can guess the emotions of the characters, but why film it from so far away? (Incidentally, there were some scenes where the close-ups were not very helpful.) One wonders if it is because of a lack of faith in the actors' acting. Oak, who plays Night, delivers his role competently enough. The shyness he exudes as Night is endearing if somewhat exaggerated, and it would have been interesting to see how he would act in the final scene.

I think the strongest flaw in the series is the failure to make the shooting incident something that lingers in the background. Time's friends could have mentioned that the police are looking for him, and Night could have at least shown some concern about whether Time would be arrested. Alternatively, the writers could simply have opted for an alternative story and happy ending that renders the shooting incident unnecessary. An alternative story could have Time injuring Night by accident: the rest of the story can still make sense with minor tweaks and the story can end with a happy ending after Night gives Time a watch. This alternative story may have nothing interesting, but the actual story isn't actually any better and at least the alternative story would have more coherence and a crowd-pleasing happy ending.

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It is tempting to give this drama a really high rating, and it certainly has immense potential. The stories are interesting if you do no think too much about plausibility and the roles of Lu Yao and Qiao Chusheng are really well performed.

The individual detective cases are fast-paced (largely) in a good way as a detective drama. Many of the cases get solved within 1-2 episodes. It is not the sort of whodunnit that is suspenseful in a way that invites the viewer to join in the guessing because some of the ways the murders/crimes are committed are so convoluted that the viewer is unlikely to predict them. The forensics and scientific explanations seem somewhat anachronistic for 1920s Shanghai, but I might be wrong. However, there are certainly anachronisms in the language used by the characters and in some references (e.g. the reference to Stockholm Syndrome) made by the characters. Nevertheless, if you don't expect really solid detective stories, the series is fairly good as drama. Another plus point is that there turns out to be a sort of link between the cases that is developed from the start.

The ending and final story seems overly rushed, with the murderer behaving so suspiciously from the start that viewers may assume that she can't possibly be the killer. I can't decide whether this is a stroke of genius or a poorly told story.

The performances of the male leads are really good and make up for a lot of the flaws of the series. In particular, Hu Yitian brings out the subtle changes in the character of the detective, Lu Yao, very well while giving an overall coherent portrayal of the character. Leon Zhang's character has less development but is nevertheless performed with nuance: his confidence and toughness, his sense of justice, his loyalty, his hidden vulnerability and world-weariness are conveyed, often without the need for dialogue to make these obvious.

The chemistry between the leads is good, but the series suffers from schizophrenic tendencies in the representation of the relationship between the main male characters. At its worst, the relationship between them can be construed as needless baiting of BL fans. This is because interactions, which would usually pave the way for the development of a romantic relationship, amount to nothing in particular. There are plenty of examples: when Qiao misunderstands Lu's request and gives him a hug, when Qiao puts his arms around Lu Yao when the latter is seated on a chair, when Lu comically jumps onto Qiao's back when he spots a chihuahua (a very frightening creature in his eyes), when Qiao gently wipes something off Lu's face, when Qiao looks almost forlornly at Lu in the last episode when Lu is leaving Shanghai with his wife. In the last episode, Qiao gives Lu a hug but does not hug his childhood friend (Lu's wife) even though she opens her arms to hug him.

We can probably be understanding and see that China's censorship laws do not allow BL. The homosexual desire could also be taken to be repressed and one-sided as Qiao has a greater tendency to behave tenderly towards Lu. However, is there really a need for such teasing when Qiao is ALSO portrayed as a someone who actually falls quite seriously in love with a woman in one of the cases? I do not mean to say that a series in which the two leading male characters are a romantic couple would necessarily be better. It's all a matter of execution. The straight relationship seems to pale in comparison to the suggestive bonds between the male characters, and if censorship rules must be followed, maybe the BL element should have been written out altogether (though to be fair, I heard that the series was conceived a few years ago, and at that time the censorship of BL had not really kicked in and there were popular BL series like Addicted from China, so maybe.) I also wouldn't really mind if the male-male romantic desire had simply been hinted at, but the inconsistency can be frustrating.

Perhaps the inconsistent BL-suggestive moments would not be so serious if the strength of the series had not relied so much on the portrayal of the two male characters. To make matters worse, the main female character seems to be a joke: she is a tabloid journalist who creates sensationalist headlines and misreports from time to time; her poor writing ability is also harped on again and again, but we are supposed to believe that she is a passionate journalist with principles and is somehow a respectable journalist too. There is an attempt to show the depth of her love for Lu (particularly in a scene when she tells Lu's ex that she does not know how to appreciate Lu), but such moments are few and far between.

In the end, the series is enjoyable but it also seems to be held back from being a classic. I have the nagging suspicion that the story would really shine had it been made in a more ideal world.

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Three brothers with different mothers but the same wealthy father find out that there might be a fourth brother by a fourth woman. The three brothers' father order them to look for the last brother (actually supposedly the eldest one), but that's really important because a DNA test reveals that the "new brother" isn't their father's biological son.

What's important is that the eldest of the three brothers falls in love with the "new brother" who's thankfully not his brother. The story isn't as confusing as it may sound here, and that's a good thing. But there isn't really much of a story because what is really meant to be shown is each brother's BL romance, except that the romantic relationships aren't that fully developed either.

Despite the flaws, the BL aspects are rather cute. Strangely enough, although Brother 2 and 3 (the younger ones of the three brothers) behave as though they have boyfriends from the start, it is later revealed that their boyfriends are actually their best friends, and it is only towards the end of the series that they and their boyfriends confess their love for each other. Nevertheless, their interactions are sweet, and it's hard to dislike the show too much.

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Cute couple who deserve a better story

The BL couple is cute and likable, but you might sense that something is lacking when the side characters like Tanaka and Katori prove to be more interesting as characters.

The two main characters like each other and start dating. But Takara's cool demeanor leads to some misunderstandings. The couple is cute, but it's hard to fathom why Takara would so doggedly act as though he is nonchalant about things when there seems nothing motivating or compelling him to (he doesn't even really care about what others think, so it's not like he is putting on a façade to maintain an image or something). There are some subtle changes in the way he behaves in the last couple of episodes, but it seems to come a little late and pointless.

The weakest part of this series is the storyline. Most of the episodes begin with some sort of problem in the relationship, often because there is some misunderstanding going on. The somewhat confusing editing in the early and final episodes don't really help much either.

There is so much potential for characters like Tanaka and Katori to play a more important role in the story and the couple's relationship. The potential is wasted especially with Tanaka. In the end, it feels like what happens in the last episode could well be in the second episode and real complications can be thrown in subsequently.

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So bad but I'm asking for more

Gen Y offers us what 2Moons 2 could have been if the same actors playing Ming and Kit in 2Moons 1 had acted in it. We have the same actors of Ming and Kit (2 Moons 1) playing the characters, Mark and Kit. (Yes, even the names are a bit of a rip-off.)

The Mark and Kit part of Gen Y is actually fairly decent where BL is concerned -- nothing really exceptional, but it is cute and sweet nonetheless. What I find myself liking even more is Kim and Bas acting as the best friends, Mark and Wayu (the parallels of Ming and Wayo in 2Moons). Kim and Bas work really well as BFFs.

Wayu, if it's not obvious enough by now, is the parallel of Wayo in 2Moons. And his boyfriend at the start of the series is Pha, just like in 2Moons. (The full names differ though the shortened versions of these names are the same or very similar.)

But Gen Y is not merely a ripoff or unofficial sequel to 2Moons 1. It's like 2Moons with a few twists, which are sometimes interesting and sometimes downright bizarre (and perhaps both at times).

For a rather light-hearted series, a couple of characters take a rather sinister turn. Sandee, for instance, seems like a really nice person at first but is given an unnecessarily dark turn later on. The motivations for his actions are vague. The same goes for Pha, who breaks up with Wayu for unknown reasons. There may be extenuating factors in his break-up, but his behavior is either weird or creepy (or perhaps simply badly written): he breaks up with Wayu, but wants to secretly see him and even secretly "spies" on Wayu after Wayu has gotten over the break-up and in the end appears again as though he has the right to ask Wayu to reconcile with him. (Seriously, wtf, dude?)

Wayu, on the other hand, despite his apparent love for Pha, actually gets over him quite easily. It seems that, in this series, that kissing a hot guy would help one get over a sudden breakup with someone one totally loves. Anyway, this is why Wayu shifts his affection to Thanu instead.

Thanu is another fascinating disaster of a character. Perhaps you won't be able to take your eyes off him because the actor playing Thanu looks really good. But, more importantly, you will find it difficult to look away because of incredulity. Have you ever encountered a character who is portrayed as a really nice person and yet inexplicably do things that assholes do?

And perhaps you can't even blame Thanu--just blame his creator, the scriptwriter. Because his creator has decided to endow him with some mystical experiences. He sees a guy once and basically falls in love (ok, this is common in BL, but more is coming). Then one day, he touches the hands of the same guy, and they both have visions of the future, with this guy being hurt (heartbroken) very badly because of him. Wow, magic! But wait a minute. Thanu is also falling in love with Wayu at the same time. He vacillates between the two guys. Surely the destined one should be the one with whom the magical visions take place, you say? No, when he touches Wayu's hand, both of them have flashbacks of the past, which reveal something they don't know. I guess if I have to sum it up, Thanu is basically this good person who inadvertently ends up being an asshole because his creator has overdosed on hallucinogens.

There are also too many characters in this series. I thought Thai BLs of late have started avoiding this, but apparently not. By the end of the series, the series does not even bother to address some of the issues that it has given considerable attention to, such as the problem between Thanu and his ex-good friend, Padbok. (I thought that was an interesting part of the plot, but obviously Thanu's creator had a different idea of what makes a good story.)

Watching Gen Y is like listening to your next-door neighbors quarreling loudly. It can be rather annoying, but you may well find your attention progressively grabbed by what they are shouting about. Then when they suddenly stop, you might find yourself anticipating a continuation.

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Take it as a better way to end Season 1

This is rather hard to review. If I see Still 2gether as a separate season, it has little to offer. The plot in Season 1 wasn't strikingly original, but there was a rather fine story. The plot is much thinner in Season 2. Depending on how much of a cynic you are, you can either say that it is to reward fans of 2gether or it is to milk fans. Whatever you think it is, Still 2gether is largely for fans of Season 1 and is unlikely to win over more fans or the rather harsh haters of Season 1.

However, I can't say I'm disappointed. Season 2 actually makes up for some of the missteps in Season 1, with the first Episode filling in some gaps and clarifying the plot in Season 1 (such as by revealing that Sarawat actually stayed by Tine's side in the hospital, but Tine wasn't aware of it). Having watched on 4 episodes out of 5 so far, I believe it also ends the 2gether story more solidly than Season 1. What this means for me is that Season 1 and 2 should actually be taken as one season. (Ok, I know I'm the one who keeps calling them Season 1 and 2 in the first place, but I suspect it's what people may be expecting.) In fact, if Season 1 had continued and ended with Episode 4 of Season 2, it would have been a great ending compared to the original ending of Season 1.

[Edit: In fact, after watching Episode 5 of Season 2, which is the final episode, I still find Episode 4 a better ending. Episode 5 is really more for the other couples and for the Sarawat/Tine kiss right at the end, something which some viewers seem to see as really important. I kind of guessed that the kiss has been deliberately left to the very end thanks to all the teasing, but it didn't do wonders for me. I like the way Episode 4 ends more. Also, somehow, whereas Episode 4 is brimming with sweetness without giving a sense of finality, Episode 5 gives such a proper ending that it seems to be telling me, "That's all. There won't be any more seasons." This saddens me because there's actually more potential for the story to be developed.]

Still 2gether is a nice addition that tries tor improve on (or salvage, some might say) 2gether, and it kind of succeeds in that regard. But this also means that Still 2gether perhaps does not need to have 5 episodes, perhaps not even 4. (I'm not complaining though. Sarawat and Tine are amongst my favorite BL couples and I don't mind just watching them being loving. lol)

Because of the rather weak story, the way Sarawat and Tine miss each other borders on absurdity despite being sweet. It would have been more convincing if one of them had to go overseas for a semester due to an exchange program or something, but Sarawat merely goes away (somewhere in Thailand that' maybe an hour's trip away) for a few days, and Tine is crying.

I love Sarawat and Tine, and I want a real Season 2 (call it Season 3 if you want). Still 2gether is like a nice cake to wrap up the main course of 2gether--the cake is sweet enough even though it could have done away with some excess cream. If I had to choose between the dessert and waiting a longer time before another satisfying meal, I would choose the latter. (Though if I could have both, why not? Just don't tell me that the cake is actually my next meal, please.)

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Largely pointless but somewhat likable

(Reviewed together with the Special Episode)

The Special Episode is really more like an Episode 5 and final episode because Episode 4 is in no way an ending even for a story with a plot so thin it could break into pieces at so many places.

This series isn't so bad that you won't be able to stand watching it. The main actors, especially Golf (who plays Sky), are surprisingly natural though their roles aren't demanding. Some random parts are funny in rather random and pointless ways--this series probably deserves an award: The Most Ridiculous Costume Ever Designed and Worn for No Reason Whatsoever. You have to see what the woman from the clinic (Jum Pook) wears to believe it, though it is rather pointless, like many happenings in this series.

It is as though the scriptwriters have made a bizarre decision to give only a glimpse of most things that can be developed or turn out to be interesting and opted for trivia. Maybe someone just thought, "F**k it! What can I do with 5 short episodes?" As it turns out, the series is a demonstration of how much one can do with 5 episodes, simply by not doing it. James' growing attraction to Sky deserves more focus while the extent of Sky's affection for James should also get more focus.

It seems quite likely that the production team consists of quite a number of inexperienced people, so various elements like the editing and cinematography are inconsistent in quality. Or perhaps it is simply a matter of a low budget coupled with tight deadlines. I do think, however, that there is some promise shown. The effort may be inconsistent, but many people involved in the production seem to be doing what they can with fairly weak material. The story is inexplicably weak, and it's a pity--catch the right moments and use their comic energies well, and you can have something much better. If I get to rewrite the story for the series to be remade with the same cast and crew, I would start with the part where James and Sky, two roommates, pretend to be a couple to get the free treatment promotion at the skin clinic; thereafter, a series of attempts to keep up the pretense to Jum Pook (underused in the series) can cause them to develop affections for each other.

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