Honestly I can't believe we're still getting BL series this bad in 2026. This mini series runs about 7 to 8 episodes with a total runtime of just about an hour and it is so boring that I genuinely struggle to find the words. The actors are awkward, the story is as basic as it gets and there is almost nothing about this show worth saving. The makers do try to stir up some drama here and there but even that falls completely flat. Ho Won is a 23 year old university student who spots a man sitting alone at a gay bar and gets attracted to him. The man is Min U, a 33 year old who brushes Ho Won off immediately saying he's too young. Ho Won lies about his age and since he's made a bet with the bartender that he'll get this man home before the night is over, he switches tactics and eventually the two end up at Min U's place and sleep together. Despite being complete opposites in every way there's some kind of pull between them and they go on a couple of dates. But t...
Stephen Fry, the very famous and openly gay actor takes upon this challenge of making a documentary for BBC in which he explores attitudes to homosexuality and the lives of gay people in different parts of the globe. The project was completed over two years and was shown as 2 part documentary series.
Starting with home, Stephen Fry starts in his home country, talking to gay icons Elton John and David Furnish. This was the couple who inspired Stephen to be open about his sexuality as well as many others. He then travels to Uganda, where the government was considering, and in January 2014 implemented, a new law that would make homosexuality a capital crime — putting gay people to death for their sexuality. He then travels to US, a country quite famous for all sorts of 'conversion therapies'. He talks to a therapist and also with a former patient, after which he tells us that for all the talk of his successful conversions, he was unable to find one of his ex-gays to talk to us. Episode 2 starts with Brazil, where one gay person is murdered every 36 hours, and interviews Brazilian anti-homosexuality politician Jair Bolsonaro, who sadly is now the president of the country. Fry also visits Russia and speaks with politician Vitaly Milonov, again to meet with similar responses about homophobia. He finally travels to India, where he thinks things are getting better. He covers the ostracism of hijras community in India, but is happy to see the middle class educated Indians at least doing well.
Unlike most other countries, Fry doesn't talk to any political person in India, where it is more to do with culture and religion. In Russia and Brazil, it was more about the government clamping down and making some very very strict rules against LGBTQ people and their stories. Uganda had some of the most horror stories. I am personally privy to some of that, because when that law was passed I was visiting the country for work and had to be flown out on the first available flight, fearing repercussions of my co-workers knowing about myself sexuality. Interestingly, the minister of ethics and integrity in Uganda almost threatens to have Stephen arrested for his views. Some of the conversations that he has with political people across Russia, Brazil and Uganda are so absurd that they don't make any sense. The, claiming that gay people are out there to recruit, promote homosexuality etc was bizarre to the core. And of course when people like these come to power, one can only imagine what goes on. A nicely made documentary ends well with a very relevant statement "Homosexuals are not interested in making other people homosexual, but homophobic people are definitely interested in making other people homophobic". (6/10)

Comments