Welcome to my Saturday blog post where I give thoughts on dramas I’m watching, whether at the beginning, middle, or end. Whatever I want, because I’m petty that way.
This week I recapped episodes 7-8 of Japanese College introvert-with-hearing-loss-extravert-with-hearing BL I Hear the Sunspot. My least favorite kind of character shows up to cause problems, but she forces our pair to fight to be together so there’s that.
I also recapped Thailand’s High School BL My Love Mix-Up episodes 9-10 and must admit the show isn’t doing it for me. There are too many standard tropes combined with characters too weak to make them interesting. Gemini and Fourth are cute, so there’s that. Still, read my recaps of this lackluster show?
What did I watch this week? I’ve got two shows to talk about, the first is an initial review of:
Monster Next Door – พี่เขาบุกโลกของผม – 2024
Currently airing Thai college BL, I’ve watched 5 of 12 episodes.
An ENFP moves next door to an ISFJ and drives him crazy, leading to chats on their balconies and a slowly developing relationship.
Random note: I had no idea MBTI was so big in parts of Asia until I watched His Man 2, where it came up frequently. If you don’t know anything about MBTI and don’t want to click this link, just know that our leads here are opposites, I = Introvert and E = Extrovert.
Onto the review
This show is in the same BL universe as Knock Knock, Boys! but is noticeably of a poorer production quality. That’s my main complaint about this show, it feels like each scene has $5 to work with and 5 minutes to set up, along with a choice of 5 locations to film. I like our actors, but they aren’t strong enough to overcome these deficits entirely.
At the same time, I like our actors and our characters enough to keep watching. For one thing, the visuals work for me. Our ENFP is broadly built and our ISFJ is very slightly built. The height difference isn’t as dramatic as some, but the difference in build is a nice contrast. And I like that they are attracted to each other’s very different physiques.
Of course, their personalities are also very different, but there is nuance
Our ENFP falls first and is the one to initiate the relationship. He’s got that puppy personality where he’s casually friendly and outgoing. On the other hand, he’s struggling within his band and seems to be getting bullied. There have also been hints of a past trauma.
Our introvert isn’t just quiet and shy, which is how introverts are most often depicted. He has a friend he talks with very openly and isn’t afraid to express his strong opinions in certain situations. He isn’t even against going to places with large groups of people, it’s just that he’s not going to chat with strangers. I get this 100 percent.
It’s also clear that some of his struggles are related to a past trauma we’ve only seen hints of so far.
This is also a plotless, slow-burn, college romance
Our two neighbors don’t even interact face-to-face much in the first two episodes.
If you’re looking for something to counter-balance the exciting, sexy thriller 4Minutes, this might work. If you’re looking for something like the exciting, sexy thriller 4Minutes, you’ll need to keep looking.
And despite their best effort to keep me from watching the final episode by only having Spanish subtitles for nearly a day, I finished:
This Love Doesn’t Have Long Beans – รักนี้ไม่มีถั่วฝักยาว – 2024
Recently aired Thai cooking BL with 8 episodes.
A grumpy chef runs a contest to sell his restaurant and starts to fall for the guy who can’t cook and is working for the bad guy.
So this isn’t Pit Babe or the omegaverse, but it’s Pit Babe actors in a nonsense plot. I love it. Except for this overly long title, don’t love that.
So we’ve got No-Touch-Jeff and Touching-Him-Alan
Only now Jeff is Huggy-Plawan and Alan is Stern-Oab. Plawan is a disaster who needs money. Even though he can’t cook he hits upon a scheme to compete in a cooking competition as a double agent for an evil rich guy. The prize is the right to buy Oab’s restaurant. Oab is humorless and dour and strict but he’s an excellent chef.
Even though they’ve somewhat switched personalities, they’ve kept the dynamic where Jeff/Plawan needs an older-wiser-mentor-lover and Alan/Oab wants to take care of him. It works for them so I don’t suggest they change it.
A silly thing I like: Even though Plawan isn’t a cook, he’s an eating savant with a strong sense of taste and smell. In his earlier interactions with Oab, he falls into a smell-o-vision of love with Oab’s scent. It’s amazing.
Jeff/Plawan also still has Chekov hair, which is interesting.
For the second couple, we have Kim and Kenta
Kim is Metas, the evil rich guy paying Plawan to infiltrate a cooking contest even though he can’t cook. Kenta is JJ, Palawan’s long-suffering friend currently platonically taking care of him. Metas is awful but then he hurts himself while being awful and JJ is a sucker and also a physical therapist.
JJ discovers Metas is a poor little rich boy and he becomes another person to take care of, though less platonically.
But will you actually like this show?
I mean, I do.
If you liked Pit Babe, this is worth a try. Like Pit Babe, you cannot approach this show with any seriousness. It’s more about seeing what ridiculous thing will happen next. The show didn’t make my heart swell with feelings of love, but I had fun the entire time I was watching.
This show also has some crossover with Love Sea in my mind. The plot is very different, but we’ve got a main couple drawn together by an intense physical attraction in a trope-y and silly show. This show wisely has fewer episodes, and it isn’t trying to hit deep emotional notes (which Love Sea tried and sometimes failed). It also keeps the physical relationship throughout the entire show. Maybe the similarity is only in my head, but I feel like if you like that kind of show you might like this one.
As I’m finishing shows I’m recapping, this is a definite possibility for more in-depth treatment. But we’ll see what comes out in the next few weeks. I feel so spoiled by shows lately, surely a drought is coming?
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