Welcome to my weekly blog post where I give thoughts on dramas I’m watching but not recapping.
This week I recapped episode 2 and 3 of If It’s With You. Our jaded teenager, Amane, can do nothing to protect his heart against the unstoppable force of Ryuji’s charm. We’re halfway through this devastatingly sweet drama and will finish it up next week.
It’s very different from the show that I finished this week:
My Dear Gangster Oppa – พี่นักเลงที่รัก – 2023
A recently aired Thai gangster-student-gamer BL with 8 episodes.
An introverted student with an unrequited crush on his best friend meets an online gamer friend who is an introverted gangster oppa.
For one episode it seemed like this might be a real show with plot, acting, interesting locations, etc. After that the show devolved into the meandering antics of low budget Thai BL. Our main characters fell in love, dealt with organized crime infighting, had skinship, and ate fried eggs in a meaningless series of scenes.
But did I like it?
Not really. Which is a real cause for some soul searching, because we know I like some ridiculous nonsense. For example, I thoroughly enjoyed Ai Long Nhai.
For anyone unfamiliar, Ai Long Nhai stars the same pairing as Gangster Oppa: Meen/Ping. In it they are college students who fall in love, eat food, go to class, drive around, and talk on rooftops. There’s very little resembling a plot and a lot of eating at restaurants.
So how can I like Ai Long Nhai more than My Dear Gangster Oppa?
To me, Ai Long Nhai delivered what it promised in the first episode: A silly show about college students starting a relationship. The rare conflicts were personal, relating to their families and pasts. The stakes were important emotional ones, but never anywhere near life or death. Things weren’t perfect, but our main characters did their best to support each other.
There was also a real life gay couple playing the parents of one of the leads, which was nice to see. There was a ‘bar’ set that was charmingly cobbled together out of lights, food posters and oil drums.
In short, Ai Long Nhai was silly, ridiculous fluff.
By contrast, My Dear Gangster Oppa had violence and betrayals and stabbings and secrets. Unpleasant bad guys took screen time and got away with terrible behavior with no consequences so they could keep creating problems. Our main characters lied to each other and did things that were profoundly stupid considering the life or death stakes.
For me, it just wasn’t that fun. It felt like a wanna-be KinnPorsche but with none of the production value or acting abilities. It didn’t even succeed in being the fun absurdity that was Laws of Attraction, where it at least made sense that the bad guy got away with so much.
When I started watching My Gangster Oppa I thought it was going to be a cute story about a group of gamers with a gangster in their midst. The gangster would get a needed break from his horrible life and fall in love with a college student. Instead the gamers were there for a few meals, and the gangster’s horrible life became the main story.
My Dear Gangster Oppa wasn’t fluff, it was a gangster story.
Don’t worry, I’m fine with you liking My Dear Gangster Oppa more
Whether Ai Long Nhai is ‘better’ than My Dear Gangster Oppa is not a hill I want to die on. Gangster Oppa had some things going for it. For one, it wasn’t just another college love story. There are some low budget fight scenes that show off Meen’s height and good looks. There’s a Shabu Shabu restaurant and an aquarium and a love triangle.
The truth is, I’m not recommending either of these shows to just anyone. You have to be the kind of person who likes watching a disaster on screen in the first place. Lucky for us, we have some great ones to choose from.