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 11-12 of Pursuit of Jade. Yan Zheng doesn’t murder enough people in these episodes, but he stabs someone for hurting his wife, so that’s awesome.
I also recapped episodes 9-10 of Love upon a Time. The whole opium-smuggling plot is coming to a climax, but I’m lost on what that’ll do to the time-travel stuff.
What did I watch this week? Shows! And I’ll talk about two of them. Let’s start with an initial review of:
The Air – เสน่หาวาโย – 2026
Currently airing princess-and-bodyguard GL, I’ve watched 3 of 8 episodes.
When a princess is betrayed by her not-loyal servants, the only person keeping her alive is the cop assigned to protect her.
This is the third in a quartet of GL, following after The Earth and The Water.
We’ve got immensely popular actors, a nice tropey setup, and weak writing
Starting with the first episode, which is an hour of our characters doing their “jobs” (if you call being a princess a job).
At the end, something wild and interesting happens, but after that, the story does little with that twist.
Instead, feels like a script written based on someone wanting certain romantic/action scenes, and giving someone else 5 seconds to connect those scenes. The result is that not a lot of it makes sense.
But hey, we know I don’t mind stories that don’t make sense. So that’s not the real problem. The real problem is the characters, mainly the Princess. We’ve had 2 other shows to get to know the Cop. She’s a laid-back but super competent, and has a dozen exes littering all the local bars.
Then we have the princess. She’s Princess. And this is a world where everyone likes princesses and no one questions whether inherited power is a good idea. Don’t worry, she’s a good princess who wants good things for people. I think.
By the end of episode 3, I know she’s lived a sheltered life and isn’t used to people who work for her betraying her. Her name means innocent and pure. She loves her father, the unfortunately named King Arthur. That’s it.
The show is just leaning heavily on its leads to create romance out of, er, air
There’s a lot of staring and protecting, which is great. But there’s not enough talking about things that matter.
I’d love to hear our Princess explain her emotional connection to the people who’ve betrayed her. How does she feel about being a Princess? What does she want to do as a Princess? Why did she learn Thai despite seemingly never having been there or knowing much about the culture?
Since the plot has mainly been about moving the Princess to various safehouses and then chilling until people with guns show up, they’ve had time to talk. I’d love to see them share intimate details and feelings, and connect over something besides physical attraction and keeping the Princess alive.
Regardless, I’ll stick around until the end
I do love a bodyguard + bodyguarded combo. I like the cousin group that this quartet is centered around. I like our leads, Becky and Freen. It’s only 8 episodes, but there’s still time for the characters to get character and do something with it.
Right now, I mainly see this appealing to fans of that pairing or people who liked The Next Prince, which this has a lot in common with, including some of the weak writing.
I also finished watching a very different kind of fantasy show:
Wishing Upon the Shooting Stars – 向流星許願的我們 – 2026
Recently aired slice-of-island-life fantasy Taiwanese BL with 12 episodes.
The island’s beloved son returns home a failure, but when an impulsive wish comes true, he gets a fresh start with an old flame.
In my initial review, I was excited that this show was different and curious where it was going. I had a lot of questions.
The way those questions were answered and the course the show took made for a strange, different, weird slice-of-life fairytale. The plot was fantastical, while the setting and feeling were down-to-earth. Some of what happened in our leads’ past was left to interpretation, along with the specifics of the magic that sent them on this strange journey.
Honestly, I want to recommend this show to everyone, but I think its appeal might be limited.
I never thought I’d reference A Christmas Carol so often in my Asian Drama blog
And I don’t think I’ve ever read it.
But this is all to say that once again I’m reminded of A Christmas Carol, which, yes, isn’t a romance. It’s a supernatural tale of character growth. The supernatural gives our character a different perspective on his life and the people around him, which changes him deeply.
In this case, instead of a horrible old grumpy rich guy and some ghosts, we get a hot young guy trying to escape his shameful past and a wish. And another hot young guy.
In a lot of ways, it reminds me of timey-wimey shows like Triage, 4Minutes, and Be My Favorite.
As I said, there is romance. There are spicy scenes. There’s also a second couple.
But, especially in the latter third of the story, the supernatural plot gets in the way of romance, forcing our lead to fight for what he wants. What he wants is love, both romantic with his partner and the platonic love of those around him.
This external conflict means it’s more about the character struggle than the romance. If you are looking for something more romance-centric, this probably isn’t it.
The last quarter of the show was hard for me to follow
It reminded me of Love for Love’s Sake, leaving me with a hazy understanding of what our lead did, but I’m happy with how it all turned out.
I still loved the island setting, the fact that our guys are so tan, the wistful feeling of the romance, location, and characters. I liked it enough that I want to rewatch it and see if I can make better sense of how everything comes together in the end.
If you’re in the mood for something different, something set on an island with quirky characters and a reality that keeps changing up on the leads, give this a try!
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