Is this technically a gay show? Even after getting through the whole thing, that's still kind of tricky to answer. There's never any physical intimacy shown between the two leads, not even a single kiss. What it gives you instead is something that goes way deeper than that. It traces an emotional bond that spans a full decade between two guys who are both dealing with their own baggage, and what they share basically amounts to being soulmates. The story moves across Japan, South Korea, and Berlin. Honestly, whether people want to call what they have a romantic relationship or not doesn't really matter to me. A relationship doesn't need a label like boyfriends attached to it to actually mean something. And closeness doesn't need to be physical to feel genuine. What this show captures is something quieter but way more powerful, a bond rooted in understanding, respect, and just showing up for each other. Across eight episodes, each running 35 to 45 minutes, this is one...
Q, is a decent student who tries to do his best but somehow always misses by a whisker and ends up second. His mother runs a bakery business and wants Q to talk to his senior Mook, a social media influencer, for promotion. But Q is scared and he sees that she always hangs out with her friend X. X challenges Q on his loser status and says that if he can get Mook to invite Q to the big school event in 21 days, he will accept defeat. Q, along with his 2 friends try to come up with a strategy to get Mook's attention, but in the process one day by mistake X gets into an accident. Q feels guilty and he starts taking care of X and the both soon start getting close. Meanwhile, Q's friend is doing many things to get Mook's attention, and attention she gives, but in the process its Q's friend who starts getting feelings for her. Slowly Q and X start to have more than feelings for one another and one day they end up confessing. Q's mother suspects of her son's sexuality but since her brother is also gay, who makes her understand how important it is to have understanding parents, she also comes around. Eventually even though Q doesn't win the bet, but all individuals find pure love in their own way.
There is a lot that happens in these 4 episodes and I actually liked isa lot. Sure, at places it felt rushed, but I personally thought its a good thing because never even for once it digressed form the core focus of the story. Having said that, I think the scenes of Q with his 2 friends were a lot more interesting and goofy in someways compared to his scenes with X, where romance and drama sometimes crept in. The story is almost predictable where you can guess that it will be Q's friend who will eventually win over Mook. The biggest surprise was the other nerdy friend and you think he has a crush on his tutor but turns out so different and so refreshing actually. The makers also do a good education and balance of internal homophobia with the mother and uncle episode. The storyline is nothing new. Its basic but somehow a refreshing treatment keeps it engaging. Acting overall by everyone is quite alright. No one person stands out, but thats ok. Most characters have been shown positive and thankfully the girls here were not made villains for no reason. Everyone is capable of distinguishing between what's important and what's not. There is a little bit drama that gets added towards the end when Q thinks that X has some elaborate plan to play with his emotions and thats when the show tells us why and how communication in every relationship is important. Overall this show may not stick in your memories for long, but while watching, it had me engaged and kept ay attention and for a change I found myself enjoying the teenage romantic drama, only because it was so focused on what it wanted to say. (7/10)
Comments
Mother and uncle conversations were actually really nice and like you said, very unlike what we are used to seeing in Thai BL. Although I do have to say that the uncle was annoying in an odd sense of way. I can't out my fingers exactly
This was definitely a pleasant little surprise.