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Soul Mate (Japanese Series)

By Golu
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...
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Mr. Cinderella 2 (Vietnamese Series)

By Golu
The sequel to the Vietnamese series that showed us the love story between a reformed gangster and a doctor. The story here sort of continues, a few years later. They are now married and have been together for a few years. But even if you haven't seen the first season, there is no direct connection as such and you can still watch this season independent. This season brings in a villain that is trying to break the couple apart. Just like the predecessor, this season also has 8 episodes of about 30 minutes each.

Khoa and Dung are happily married now and living together. Dung is now reformed and works in a coffee shop while keeping the house together with cooking, cleaning etc. At his private practice, Khoa gets a new doctor Khang who feels a bit arrogant and he likes to brag about his successses. One of his success stories is a skilled procedure where he helped a patient recover his arm after a traffic accident. Turns out this was no other than Khoa' step brother Thanh. Khoa was adopted by Thanh's parents when he was young and apparently ever since kids Thanh is obsessed with Khoa. But Thanh has ben MIA for last 6 years and now he is suddenly back. Both Thanh and Chang end up staying with the lovely married couple but Thanh has hidden agenda of breaking up the lovely couple, so that he can win his love back, despite Khoa making it very clear to Thanh that its only Dung that he likes now. To get his way around, Thanh is using the help of the sinister doctor Khang, who is now secretly in love with Thanh (why, we are never told. No one would want to be in love with a sinister evil person like Thanh). There is also a parallel story of Dung's boss having a secret crush on this doctor. Anyway, as expected some mundane illogical misunderstandings are created creating a rift between the couple. But sense prevails and eventually all is well.

The season 1 of this show was no great shakes by any means. So my expectations were minimal. And so it was no surprise that this illogical story prioritizes idiotic twists and sensationalist melodrama over any semblance of realism. The show is full of toxic stereotypes, and morally depraved behaviour and very over the top melodrama. The characters are reduced to evil caricatures without substance. Firstly , the whole concept of incest even though they are step brothers is beyond me and the show handles these sinister storylines without any sensitivity or tact. It gets a sick thrill from exploiting trauma for cheap entertainment. Had this been a decent thriller, it would still hav been enjoyable, but the actions taken by the newly arrived brother Thanh are so laughable and idiotic at best. He acts and reacts lie those OTT vamps of soap-operas full with garish makeup. The whole angle of the other doctor is similarly very illogical and the tricks thatThanh uses to get his brother's love also is tacky at best. There is very little love and trust between the lead couple. In fact I feel that the actor playing Dung (who, by the way, feels like is in every Vietnamese BL that I have watched) got a raw deal. This season was clearly about the sinister and evil brother. Him and Khoa have such good chemistry and look good together, so its. Shame that the makers did not use this amazing chemistry to the full potential. It is a sequel that shouldn't have been created. (3/10)
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Sailor Maan said…
I got really disspointed with this one as well. The first 4 episodes were actually nice. The couple has a great chemistry and were cute as a couple (although still asking teh bottom if he got "hurt" the night before, you're either clearly not doing it enough, or you're doing it wrong!)
Then comes episode 5 and everything went downhill in the worst way possible. Most of the reactions made absolutely no sense to me. Up to the last minute I couldn't really understand any of their behaviours (they split, and the last 2 minutes they make up again?)
I just have a cruch on the actor playing Khao that I find really handsome. My shallowness and I could at least enjoy some parts thanks to him.
April 26, 2024 at 10:16 AM
Golu said…
Noting wrong with the crush. The one saving grace of these shows is that you need to find something (or someone) that you can hold on to that would make shows like these watchable, even at 2x speed sometimes. I do the same.
April 26, 2024 at 12:38 PM
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