Oh My God (Vietnamese Series)

Vietnamese BL shows are still going through their multiple phases. While certain production houses are coming up with polished series, some up coming producers are still gonna take some time to reach there. But at least they ar not torturing us with 14 long episodes. Instead this series with only 5 episodes of 20-30 minutes each, is an easy watch and at the end of it, even though you may feel that story is rough around the edges, you don't feel that you have wasted a whole ton of time. The show primarily suffers due to the same BL tropes that Thai shows did few years back. Instead of developing the attraction between the leads, it focuses on tired conflicts, silly jokes, and a scheming love rival. Thankfully we get a romantic finale.

Thanh has a fight with his father for joining music school and he leaves and is going somewhere. We also met An, a young man who lives in the city. Begets a call from his aging grandmother asking him to come visit her since it's been over ten years. ON his journey to the village An encounters Thanh, they have an unfortunate accident on which they both squabble and neither is ready to apologize. When A reaches home, he is surprised to see Thanh there as well. Grandma introduces him as her other grandson, but An doesn't recall meeting Thanh before. He assumes that Thanh must be his cousin from a distant relative. The grandma wants them to get along, unaware of their earlier feud. The two boys are still annoyed with on another and their feud continues until slowly they start to have feelings for one another. One day Thanh kisses him and while he is drunk even forcibly kisses An, who goes into some kind of shock and trauma. A dramatic secret is revealed on how as a kid, A was moletsted by a pervert and since then he has been afraid of falling in love. Thanh then becomes the emotional, friendly and romantic support for An to help him get out of this trauma. In middle of all this, there is also a neighborhood girl, who swoons over Thanh and would do anything to get his love and attention.

Foes turning friends to lovers is a story that we have seen plenty of times, but for such a short show, it over focuses on the conflict than on romance. Also almost two episodes are entirely focused on the girl's obsession taking away the focus from the lead couple. Her over the top humor style works only intermittently, while in other times she comes out just plain annoying. Thankfully, the journey of two boys becoming foes to friend is smooth and believable. Their lighthearted interactions have a good mix of cheeky mischief with playful banter. Also, the beautiful visuals help enhance the coziness. The show would have been just average but bringing in the day secret of An's childhood pivots it to a drama which tries to bring som important topics for discussion head on. The series handles An's emotional arc elegantly and maturely. In addition, the physical intimacy is romantic yet tasteful. As the characters celebrate their love, each kiss feels tender, delicate, and passionate. The two lead actors feel new to me. I haven't seen them in any other show so far and their chemistry is ok. Clearly the focus is more on An. Also I am glad in the end, it is clear that they are not really cousins. Thanh is someone from the neighborhood, whose father became close to grandma and thats how she started calling him a grandson too. The whole character of the flamboyant gay uncle was never really fully explored, barring for a few laughs and then suddenly a very dramatic scene in the last episode. IMO that should have been completely avoided, or just explored a little more in details. Being gay in small villages in not easy and is frowned upon and that is something that some series should explore at some point. 

For a mini series, a new production house and relatively new actor, the show is ok. You know you are going to get a patchy execution, but as long as you preprepared for it, you will be fine. But in the ocean of Asian BL shows, truth be told, this show doesn't offer anything noble and it is very easily forgettable. (5/10)