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 5-6 of Nour. Ken gets so SOFT it hurts, and James proves he has an iron stomach.
I’m starting recaps on several shows over the next few weeks, starting with episodes 1-2 of The Last Oath. Zombies and romance are a fantastic combination, right?
In this week’s Mid-Week Update on my Patreon, I wrote about Love Destiny, Your Third, Mr Fanboy, and more. Join my Patreon to get a Mid-Week drama report, along with advance notes and rough drafts of the shows I’m recapping.
Much like when zombies attack, I’m still struggling against a hoard of BLs desperate for my attention. This week I have two reviews, starting with an initial review of:
You Maniac – เดี๋ยวจะรักซะให้บ้า – 2026
Currently airing Taming of the Shrew-style Thai BL, I’ve watched 4 of 10 episodes.
One of them treats anyone interested in him terribly, the other changes lovers like sweaters in a drama, and neither starts their relationship with good intentions. Romance ensues?
I think a Taming of the Shrew set-up guarantees complicated, flawed, at times unlikable, characters. If you add more green-flag style characters, do you end up with Dangerous Liaisons?
Anyway, last time I remember this type of set-up was The Heart Killers. And compared to hitmen, these guys aren’t SO bad.
More importantly, I like flawed, complicated, and at times unlikable characters
Sometimes I feel flawed, complicated, and at times unlikable, so these stories are for that part of myself. As far as that goes, I’m way more of a Moth than a Dean.
So let me tell you about them.
Dean is a casual playboy type, who seems happiest surrounded by people at a club sharing drinks. He’s genuinely charming and likable, to a point. He’s also shallow and willing to seduce Moth to help out a hapless friend.
Moth is gorgeous and tired of people hitting on him. As a result, he runs a scorched-earth campaign against anyone who shows interest in him.
Except his one good friend who knows better, but yearns in a way he can’t hide. Moth initially lets Dean chase after him to try and discourage this friend.
So neither of them is initially interested in the other. But both of them are young and hot, so…
Moth seems to catch feelings first
Although it’s hard to tell when both these characters are truth-avoidant, even with themselves. What’s sincere and what’s just part of this weird game they’ve set up?
But Moth, so used to rigid self-denial, seems ready to let himself go a little with this young, attentive, hot guy. And it’s not like he doesn’t know Dean’s personality. He’s very aware. So, maybe he’ll just have fun? No way this can become anything real.
Dean is harder for me to read, possibly because he’s harder for me to relate to. At times I think he’s maybe falling for Moth, but at other times it seems like this is all just cold calculation.
Of course, this is a BL, so at some point he has to fall for Moth, and we’ll get his backstory and evolution. Why is he so scared of having deeper, longer relationships? What will a Dean who wants something real and long-lasting look like?
And I hope we’re not done getting to know Moth, because I feel like there is still more to why he acts the way he does.
The pacing and writing are working for me. Neither guy is changing too fast, and their conflicts force them to take a harder look at themselves.
The second couple, the friends setting all this off, work less for me. So far, one of them seems happy asking Dean to seduce someone, but does nothing to win his own target over. The other has no idea what’s going on, and is just sad Moth doesn’t love him.
I’m here for the personal improvement and tragic backstories
If you need sweet or zombies, well, luckily you have some options there too.
I also finished:
Be My Player Two – ซอโซ่ล่ามธีร์ – 2026
Recently aired esports Thai BL with 10 episodes.
An outgoing esports player discovers a talented but attention-averse opponent online and becomes determined to get him on his team.
With my second favorite pair from the Fourever You series and esports, this was a series I had to try.
After a promising first episode, things slid slowly downhill. It wasn’t terrible, but it was underdeveloped and just passable rather than good.
Also, the romance and esports were not mixed well together
Our leads initially meet in an online game, with some fun in-game sequences and graphics. After that, our Outgoing Guy is determined to get our Shy Guy on his esports team.
Once that’s done, we pivoted to the romance. Our Outgoing Guy woos our Shy Guy with a series of old-as-dirt tropes that maybe fit his character but weren’t interesting. During this section, the team turned into romance side characters, and I guess they were playing in tournaments, but we didn’t see it.
After reaching a romance achievement, we switched back to esports. Both our guys had Sad Game-Related Histories they needed to face if they wanted to win.
The problem was, they didn’t really connect with the romance. Both our guys were nice and supported each other, so their struggles didn’t matter to their love story.
Worse, there wasn’t much esports conflict in the present-day competition. There was something with an old teammate. And sometimes our team would fight among themselves for a minute, but not long. And their main competitor was a team with more money and less nice people.
So the esports conflict boiled down to our nice guys who got along well against less nice guys, trying to win a tournament. And if they didn’t win, they’d be fine.
Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t Knot
Since I was watching them both at the same time, I can’t help but compare them.
Be My Player Two is not an incompetent disaster where very few people involved seemed to care. There are character arcs, a romance arc, an esports arc, a beginning, middle, and end. It is a story.
That first episode was great, and there were moments where I got emotionally involved.
But the whole show was weak. I get the feeling they hoped they could do an adequate job with the production, and the lead’s chemistry and the fun game graphics would win the tournament.
For me, it wasn’t enough. I don’t regret watching it because I like our guys and esports, but I’m not likely to rewatch it.
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