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 17-18 of Pursuit of Jade. It’s still a lot of war. I have a feeling that’s not ending soon.
I also recapped episodes 5-6 of ClaireBell. This Show Is Great, but I’m not buying that bread, no matter how much it lifts people’s spirits when in solitary.
Something New is Coming to my Patreon! I’m going to be sharing commentary on some of the shows I’m watching, but not recapping. Starting, of course, with Knot. Which premieres on the 30th.
What did I watch this week? All The Shows Are Out Right Now. Here is a final review of two of them.
Fake Fact Lips – フェイクファクトリップス – 2026
Recently aired frenemies-to-lovers Japanese BL with 9 eps + 1 special ep.
Coworkers who have been competing since their High School days take things a little too far one night. But, they don’t stop there.
Here’s an almost-spicy highlight from the first episode.
My only worry in my initial review was that they wouldn’t have enough conflict for 12 episodes. Turns out this was 9 episodes + a special.
And perfect. I love both our leads and want them to be happy and together forever and ever.
The main conflict was Feelings and Communication
I’m always thankful when I don’t have to sit through vague work-related scenes with meetings around tables where someone has the wrong spreadsheet, and now everyone has to work through the night with stacks of paper to fix this Urgent Problem.
Our leads are co-workers, and they type on their laptops and compete over their results, but that’s about it. They’re very good at their jobs, and they do what they need to do. Work is a place where characters can interact.
From those interactions, some interpersonal conflict is generated. Work trips force separation and longing. Co-workers ask uncomfortable questions. Secret meetings (but not the My Stubborn kind) with complicated feelings are held in the conference room.
And pretty much all that conflict is about our sweet leads fumblingly trying to create a relationship. They aren’t fantastic at it, and I don’t think either has much prior experience.
I thought the competitive rivalry would be the set-up that would get dropped, as these things often do, as the romance started. But it turns out that the transition from one relationship to another isn’t smooth, easy, or quick. Their early dynamics and long ingrained communication habits don’t resolve overnight.
This leads to misunderstandings and communication struggles. People hate these. Here, I thought they were really well done. The struggles were hard to watch, but never drawn out. And then the resolutions were so, so good. Each conflict led to a deeper understanding of themselves and each other, and growth for themselves and their relationship.
For something so simple, this show is really well done
Outside of our two leads and their competition-turned-romance, very little is going on. They work at a business. Their families and backstories are mentioned early on, but not a source of current conflict. They must have friends besides each other? They have co-workers. There is a standard final boss that appears, but even they aren’t anything more than another catalyst for self-reflection and change.
The show is focused on them and their feelings, and I loved that.
I want to rewatch this not just for all the cute, fuzzy moments, but because I want an even deeper understanding of these characters and their journey.
Also, I watched:
Love beyond Dreams – เพื่อเธออีกครั้ง – 2026
Recently aired timey-wimey Thai GL with 7 episodes.
A young woman is heartbroken to discover the woman who once cruelly rejected her has died. Then she’s also killed. And everything starts over.
This was a fun binge that pulled off being both a timey-wimey thriller AND a GL. I wish it had gone a little deeper into either genre, but it kept things (mostly) light and fun. Also, height difference!
Let’s Talk About the Set-Up
Our Time-Traveler, pre-time travel, gets into college, just like she promised her Grandma. But Grandma dies, and with her parents already gone, she is now totally alone. A tall Senior takes an interest in her, and our Time-Traveler clings to her.
But after flirting with her for years, the Senior cruelly rejects her. Our Time-Traveler goes abroad, and when she returns 5 years later, her Senior has just been killed. Before getting murdered herself, she overhears a very suspicious conversation about her Senior’s death.
Then it’s 5 years earlier again, the night after that painful rejection.
Let’s Talk About Thrillers
Since this show is straddling the line between having a more plot-heavy timey-wimey thriller plot and a more emotion-centric romance plot, while only being 7 episodes, sacrifices were made.
Unlike the more recent timey-wimey BL Love upon a Time, where the Time-Traveler had several episodes to figure out what was going on, our Time Traveler here doesn’t have that luxury. She quickly accepts that she’s gone back in time and comes up with a plan to change things.
And it’s not that sophisticated a plan. Based on a few things she saw before she died, she has some suspects. She also knows she needs to get closer to her Senior and learn more about what was going on, and why she was so cruelly rejected.
There are, however, no timey-wimey rules to be discovered. This isn’t like Reset or Marry My Husband, where being sent back in time comes with any kind of moral dilemma or weird side effects. She’s just back in time and needs to prevent some deaths.
Then, once she discovers what’s going on, the plan there is also pretty simple. There is a Big Bad that needs to be taken down. And there are a lot of people working on it. On a lot of computers. And some people helping. On computers. And with phones.
What are all those people doing? I’m not sure.
At least no one is running around warehouses looking for non-specific evidence. There are some fun locations, and I at least know what they are looking for and why. Later, they explain the plan. So it’s there, but it’s pretty thin.
So Let’s Talk About Romance
Our Senior rejected our poor Time-Traveler for a reason, and continues to reject her for the same reason. Our Time-Traveler puts up with this because she knows if she walks away again, at the very least, Senior will die again.
I liked the emotional arc that they both went through, but particularly our Time-Traveler.
She’s a little pathetic, clinging to her senior as her whole world. Yet, knowing what happened last time, determined to change it, she finds the strength to push back against her Senior’s cruelty. And be honest and open about her own feelings.
It’s not fluffy, it’s more soapy. But pacing-wise, it fits well with the thriller plot.
It never felt like the action stopped so our characters could deal with our feelings. Emotions were stirred up because of what was going on, and our characters would confront them when not shooting guns or running from danger.
But when you get down to it, the issues between them are entirely external. If not for The Big Bad and everything going on there, these two nice young people would have happily gotten together in college.
For me, it was good but not amazing
I like my thrillers a little more intense, my romance more plagued by internal conflicts.
If you’re looking for a quick action thriller with some angst, but not too much, this isn’t a bad choice.
But it may be the worst poster I’ve ever seen.
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